SUNY New Paltz Hosts International Discussion of New Austrian Government

NEW PALTZ — On Wednesday, March 15, SUNY New Paltz will host an international panel of government officials and scholars to discuss the controversial new Austrian center-right coalition government, as well as reactions of other governments in Europe, Israel and the United States. The forum, “Austria 2000: Return to Fascism?” is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. in Lecture Center 100.

“We are delighted to be hosting this high-level forum on a topic of such great concern to many people around the world,” said the event’s organizer and moderator, Peter D.G. Brown, Distinguished Service Professor of German at New Paltz.

The evening’s prestigious panelists will include: Harald Miltner, the Austrian Consul General in New York City; Ambassador Shmuel Siso, the Israeli Consul General in New York City; Minister Counsellor Wouter Wilton, the European Commission’s spokesman in New York City; Professor Karin Andriolo, director of the Honors Program at New Paltz; and Professor Hans-Georg Betz of the Center for European Studies at New York University, who is also the author of several books on radical right-wing populism.

According to Brown, “Ever since the new center-right coalition government took office on February 4, hundreds of thousands of people in Austria and elsewhere have demonstrated in opposition to the government’s inclusion of an extreme right-wing party for the first time since World War II.” He also said that the Freedom Party, led by its populist chairman, Jörg Haider, has been accused by critics of pursuing xenophobic, anti-immigrant policies.

The panel discussion, which is open to the public free of charge, is being sponsored by various campus groups, including the departments of Foreign Languages, History and Political Science, the Honors Program, the Dean of the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences, and the Office of the President. For more information on this event, please contact Brown at (Tel.) 845-257-3492, (Fax) 845-257-3512 or (E-mail) brownp@newpaltz.edu.