Page - 81 - in Media – Migration – Integration - European and North American Perspectives

Petra Herczeg | Migrants and Ethnic Minorities in Austria 81 committing suicide. The aesthetics of the image reminds one of videos of hostages, in which “prisoners” of terrorists appeal to the public to free them. Here, liberation would mean the right to remain in the country. With tears in her eyes Arigona appealed to minister Günther Platter to allow her brothers and sisters to return. She repeated that she would rather die than return to Kosovo, where she would have no future. In the 5-minute video, Arigona stressed, “I cannot understand at all why Mr. Platter does not allow us to stay in Austria. We did not do anything wrong. I miss my family very much…” This example illustrates that in public discourses a distinction between “integration” and “assimilation” is becoming blurred. This family consents to complete adaptation, which is regarded by the public as successful integration, but for some of the political actors the legal basis for their continued residence is lacking. For this reason, the Austrian Minister of the Interior publicly interpreted the girl’s desperate appeal as attempted extortion and refused to revise his point of view. This interpretation, with the contention that the state could not allow itself to be blackmailed, had the effect of criminalizing the case. These circumstances parallel a tendency to construct negative images of victims reported on in a considerable number of research studies – with the distinction that this time it was politicians and not the mass media that exhibited this tendency (see e.g. Müller 2005, 112; Bonfadelli 2007a). Commentaries were in widespread agreement in denouncing the “inhumane procedure” in handling this case. In his analysis in the “Salzburger Nachrichten”, Andreas Koller wrote: The secrecy of the political basis for decisions (the list of criteria regulating deportations - P.H.) results in the inhumanity of the political practice. Government bureaucracy acting in secret nearly inevitably leads to the abuse of power and to despotism. For this reason, the fathers of our democracy established instruments to monitor and control government bureaucracies. One of these instruments is the parliament, another the freedom of the press, a third a critical public. Austrian policy on foreigners is carried out under the observation of these three monitoring authorities. At least, that is the way it seems. Humane treatment only takes place if some extraordinarily dramatic fate (a girl who goes into hiding or a six-year- old is threatened with deportation) is portrayed. (Salzburger Nachrichten, 4th Oct 2007) The general public sympathized with the fate of the girl and her family. The fellow residents of the township organized a demonstration with ca. 500