Tu Fascho Austria

The activist-discursive engagement of Tu Fascho Austria with the Alpine hellscape — so near and yet so far — enters its second round: On the occasion of World Refugee Day, we are screening the documentary film Bürglkopf (2025) by Austrian director Lisa Polster.

The film, awarded the Grand Diagonale Prize at this year’s Diagonale Festival in Graz, offers an empathetic yet unflinching look at the so-called “return center” Bürglkopf in the Tyrolean Alps — a powerful symbol of the moral and political failure of European asylum policy. The construction of this camp traces directly back to former Interior Minister Herbert Kickl.

On the weekend of June 20, we stand in solidarity with those people and refugees who have become targets of unrestrained right-wing populism and structural xenophobia — with those whose fates are being instrumentalized by political decision-makers to deepen social division and entrench authoritarian hegemonies.

Even though a chancellorship under Herbert Kickl has narrowly been averted in Austria, the far-right FPÖ remains the strongest political force. The values to which much of the global community committed after 1945 are increasingly disintegrating. Neo-fascists are openly infiltrating democratic institutions and no longer even pretend to uphold international law or human rights obligations.

Following the screening, we will hold a discussion with director Lisa Polster and Tareq Alaows, spokesperson for Pro Asyl, about the current situation in Germany and Europe.