Erstellt am: 26. 9. 2012 - 14:42 Uhr

The elephant in the room

Reality Check: U-Ausschuss resumes, Jean Ziegler, Spanish protests turn violent, mobile phone sweat shops, Das Leben auf der Flucht

The parliamentary inquiry into corruption swung back into action today, or perhaps one should say it stumbled back into some sort of halting movement. After 3 weeks of stop-go, yes-no, will they-won't they, the massive parliamentary white elephant seems to have morphed into the elephant in the room.

Yes, they will continue to "investigate" until mid October, but no, Chancellor Feymann will not be appearing in person. He's not the only one. In fact, this morning the meeting broke up shortly after it began, because 3 of the 4 witnesses called refused to appear.

Although scheduled to resume in the afternoon, it's hard to see how anything more than some party political mud-slinging and insult trading is going to emerge over the next two and a half weeks.

And then what? You might well ask. Probably, proceedings will be wrapped up in some some nebulous and elaborate language, put in an elephant sized box and labelled "completed". The politicians they will all go back to slagging each other off in preparation for next year's elections, and the issue of corruption will slide off the agenda again.

Perhaps I have become cynical over the years of watching parliamentarians all over the world dig themselves holes, fall into them, and then climb out and carry on as though nothing had happened.

So what do the political movers and shakers of tomorrow think of the performance of the politicians of today? Fiona Kaiser of the Youth SPÖ gave her reaction to the tumultuous events of the last week to Steve Crilley.

Jean Ziegler

Chris Cummins meets anti-globalization veteran, Jean Ziegler.

Rubber bullets fired at protesters in Spain

When anti-austerity protests were raging across Europe earlier this year, Spain's "Indignados" had a rather softer profile than their equivalents in Greece and Italy. Their protests were restrained, and had something of a carnival atmosphere. They wanted to make a point, but in a non-confrontational and non-aggressive way. They weren't demanding that heads roll in the government, but that the whole system of government and wealth distribution should be reviewed.

Now, it's turning ugly. With austerity biting and record unemployment (over 50% among young people) the mood is changing, and it's much more sinister.

Last night, police broke up an anti-austerity rally with rubber bullets and baton charges, and further protests are expected in the coming days. Guy Hedgecoe reports from Madrid.

Mobile phone sweat shops

The NGO "Südwind" investigates conditions at mobile phone factories in India. Chris Cummins reports.

Lange Woche der Flucht

Irene Jancsy from the Austrian branch of Médecins Sans Frontières talks to Joanna Bostock about the exhibition "Das Leben auf der Flucht" and the "Lange Woche der Flucht", which opened today on Vienna's Karlsplatz.

FM4 Reality Check

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