I met with Eva and Iris at Schaumbad to discuss the logistics of my art brunch. Iris had suggested I invited Steven Weiss to talk about the Murkraftwerk while I had suggested Günter Gruber and Romana Ull. After a lot of back and forth, proposing variations and possibilities, we settled with Iris’ suggestion. Tangentially I tried to improvise some of the conclusions I had reached about the ZSK, the first being the power play between city hall and the protesters. Rather than it being a voluntary situation, I proposed that it may have been a function of the West’s declining power in the world and that the right-wing austerity measures were a larger example of the situation with the power plant: a desperate grapple at a projected value in a near-future in which things are getting more expensive. Eva replied that Austria was one of the richest countries in the world.
After the conference Franz drove me to Flughafen Graz and I tried to ask him basic questions in German on the ride. Franz has such great energy–so funny and positive–that even a person who doesn't speak the language feels ok making mistakes in front of him, or at him.
At the airport a guard there gave directions on separating luggage and checked tickets and passports. The metal scanners were guarded by two happy security guards, and the waiting room was spacious and clean. There were three people in the line for security. Flughafen Graz was what every airport should be, and I feared not even it can continue to be much longer. I expected it would devolve into what most airports are: a crowded perpetual crisis-situation that aspires to monetize traveler's fatigue rather than address the levels of anxiety that the air travel industry mandates.
I returned to thinking about what Eva mentioned about Austria being one of the wealthiest countries in the world. What did she mean? Why did she say it?
In response to my remark about the decline of America and the supposed decline of the European Union, her remark seemed to claim that "they could afford it," "it" being the social welfare that the right-leaning government was cutting.
But wealth is a funny thing. It's inaccurate because it doesn't mean the same thing to different people who are wealthy, and it doesn't mean that everyone is in a country is wealthy. There are different metrics for wealth; the metric to conclude that Austria is one of the wealthiest countries in the world is median net worth, which is the total country's wealth divided by the number of inhabitants. At 8 million people, that's not hard to imagine. In fact, most small European countries land toward the top of that metric. In terms of average income, the US nears the top, which may explain the smartphones. But it curious that most countries that are wealthy have a way of calculating their country is the wealthiest.
My point about economic decline referred to wealth as a function of power, in the context of political and economic bargaining. When the metric is total wealth, and the US sits discomfortable at the top, about double the wealth of China. Japan is third. Austria barely makes the top 20, but really maintains bargaining power as function of its membership to the European Union. My point of decline was also intended to relate to the known and explicit American withdrawal from foreign affairs that otherwise shield Europe; specifically militarily, and the subsequent swing of left-leaning countries to the right, in order to fill the void. German had already begun to rebuild its army over the prior two years. Merkel openly stated that Germany could no longer rely on American military protection. [1] Which other countries will follow suit? The militarization of Europe clearly a recall on America carrying the White Man's Burden, a costly role from which America has at other times retreated.
[1] Germany's Merkel calls for a European Union military. Router's November 13, 2018.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-politics-merkel/germanys-merkel-calls-for-a-european-union-military-idUSKCN1NI1UQ