What’s Liste Gaza, the new Austrian political party supporting Palestinians

A Palestine solidarity initiative called "Liste Gaza: Raise Your Voice Against Genocide" has gained enough traction in Austria—a landlocked European country of nine million people—to become a proper political party eligible to contest the general election scheduled for September 29.

Liste Gaza appears to be among the world's first political parties to enter parliamentary politics on the single-point agenda of ending the Israeli war on Gaza.

The grassroots campaign is gaining steam in the small central European country where Muslims constitute only 8.3 percent of the population. Liste will run candidates in seven out of nine of Austria's states, said Irina Vana, a leading candidate for Liste Gaza in Vienna.

"About 89 percent of eligible voters will have the opportunity to vote against the genocide. This is already a great success. The crime of genocide, in which the Austrian government is complicit, must not be concealed," she said.

Speaking to TRT World, she added that the anti-war coalition of activists hopes to win a direct mandate at least in Vienna South—an area where Liste Gaza candidate Sali Attia is running for a National Council seat.

Many people with Turkish and Arab origins live in the region, she said. "(Attia) has the chance to become our representative… demanding the Austrian authorities end their support for the genocide in Palestine."

The word “liste” in the party's name refers to an “electoral list” that anti-war activists are joining in large numbers, she said.

Hate crimes rising

The Austrian government has stood by Israel during its war on Gaza in which more than 41,000 people, mostly women and children, have died over the past 11 months.

Austria was one of the four nations in the 27-member European Union that voted against a UN General Assembly resolution that called for an "urgent, durable, and permanent humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza.

Since October 7, Liste Gaza has been holding anti-war rallies and protests in Austria where the number of hate crimes against the Muslim population recently hit an all-time high.

On average, four anti-Muslim racist cases a day were documented in Austria during 2023, according to Dokustelle Austria, a civil society group that monitors racism against Muslims in the EU nation.

The number of hate crimes against Muslims in the last three months of 2023 was more than the combined figure for the January-September period.

The civil rights monitor attributed the sharp increase in the number of cases to the "local impact of global phenomena" such as Israel's indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, which has wiped out 97 percent of Palestine's GDP.

Challenging Austria's stance

No new political party in Austria can take part in the national election unless it collects a statement of electoral support from a sizable number of eligible voters through the election board.

Liste Gaza collected the required number of signatures to become one of the only 11 political parties on the ballot for this month's election.

The main slogan of Liste Gaza—which claims to enjoy support from a "broad coalition of various ideological positions"—is neutrality, peace, and justice.

"Of course, official Austria sides with Israel. That is why we demand that this complicity with genocide must be ended immediately," said Vana, adding that the government's stance violates "constitutionally regulated neutrality" in Austria.

Under the 1955 Austrian State Treaty and its constitution, Austria is bound to maintain neutrality in international affairs. As such, it can't enter into military alliances or allow foreign military bases on Austrian territory.

Liste Gaza, which launched after October 7 as an anti-war movement, has called for an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza and urges the Austrian government to recognise the state of Palestine.

In its election programme, Liste Gaza promises to oppose the violation of fundamental rights—such as the right to assembly, marches and free speech—while denouncing anti-Muslim sentiment in particular.

Vana said activists and candidates of Liste Gaza belong to "very different backgrounds" and consider themselves to be harbingers of a "new democratic and social opposition."

"Some are autochthonous (indigenous) Austrians, some have a history of migration, some are Muslim, some Jewish, some atheists. What unites us is our common commitment to humanist values, against genocide, chauvinism, racism and apartheid," she said.