The Tea Party Makes Green Tea

Worldwide the right, the left and the beautiful are demonstrating against a system because they cannot change it. That is just a small foretaste of the coming decade. Even here on the “banana island” of the blessed.

It is certainly only coincidence. While a new culture of protests against the financial system and dominance of Wall Street, as a left-wing, urban countermovement to the tea party, develops in the U.S. and elsewhere, the Green party is in session in Vienna. They have decided on a change of statute and mutually clapped one another on the shoulder. The federal Green party politicians have not done much; but being the only party in Austria not suspected of corruption is an achievement. That must be communicated: To further improve image, the rules have been tightened; bills from business trips with diesel taxis cannot be allocated as expenses. Additional work, such as writing guest commentaries for the Slow Food movement, is only permitted in one’s free time.

According to a date preview of the Austrian Press Agency, a few representatives of the Tirol Greens are even supposed to have originally planned a made-for-camera strip tease on the local Maria Theresien Street to point out the opacity in the cash flow of other parties. But it was cool in Innsbruck and after 25 years [in the Austrian parliament] one doesn’t undress so easily.

So the Greens didn’t even manage to get on TV or land any photos in the newspapers for all the young activists who are taking to the streets worldwide. There are perhaps potential Green voters among the young, urban demonstrators in New York, Tel Aviv and — in miniature version — in Vienna, but the second youngest parliamentary party in Austria (first place in this category is within reach of the Greens thanks to the end of the BZÖ, the Alliance for the Future of Austria) looks old in comparison. How attractively all of the revolutionaries dress was immediately apparent to the German and Anglo-Saxon feature writers, with their old man powers of observation. In fact, the earthy tea party protestors and the partially hooded, henna-dyed Attac callers looked rather frumpy in comparison to the members of Occupy Wall Street. What more or less feeds the complexes of both the right and the left comes from one simple reason: In New York, everyone under 40 dresses relatively well.

It is senseless to lament that the behavior of a few speculators and snowballing system has brought a bad reputation for capitalism and entrepreneurs. And exactly the same tightly woven European social safety net that the demonstrators miss so much has caused the debt in Europe; as a result, even more money needs to be pumped into the currency system.

Without being an alarmist, it must be said that in the coming years there will be even steeper cuts — to the greater discontent of our youth. And it will be a merciless distribution battle as even more disenchanted take to the streets. Without parties. Without unions. And in Austria as well.