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One report said that not since the 1930s, on the eve of World War II, had so many people gathered in Vienna to demonstrate. According to the official police count, there were almost 40,000 people. But the number of people in the protest was out of sight for the naked eye. Rivers of people protesting together and for the same reasons: government-ordered lockdowns and vaccine mandates. In other words, against health tyranny.
Although the mortality rate in Austria due to the coronavirus is minimal, the government is reacting with tyrannical measures to deal with what they call an “upsurge” of the pandemic.
It’s true that there is a considerable increase in cases. On November 8, there were more than 8,000 new cases reported. On November 18, just over 15,000. These figures are alarming. However, let’s get to the point: on November 8, 13 people died nationwide; on November 18, 55. In other words: the mortality rate in Austria varies between 0.1 % and 0.3 %. It is minimal.
Far more people die in Austria from traffic accidents than from the coronavirus. And yet the government has decided to subject the entire population to one of the most rigid lockdowns in modern history. Severe confinement and, in addition, what seems to me to be the most tyrannical measure possible: a vaccine mandate.
The damned fascism of specialists and governments. Sanitary tyranny, which imposes dangerous apartheid on the population. Segregation paves the way for the gradual reduction of freedoms, as is already happening. Separating citizens into first and second classes. Some are supposedly more apt to live in society. Others are marginalized, excluded, by a legitimate, personal medical decision.
Apropos of his death, it is worth remembering one of the most important phrases of the renowned philosopher Antonio Escohotado: “From my skin inwards, only I am in charge”. Because there is nothing more sacred than property and the absolute right to decide what to do with oneself. Nothing is more sacred than respect for this fundamental principle: our absolute sovereignty over our body. Because, also, each person has the sacred right to distrust what is in front of him; to be skeptical; to form their criteria; and based on that, to manage his property.
Furthermore, there is no argument more anti-vaccine than that of imposing a vaccine mandate and confinement to protect the vaccinated population. The premise of this insanity is that an unvaccinated person could be a threat to a vaccinated person. It is anti-vaccine and anti-science nonsense. Precisely because I believe in the vaccine, I believe that thanks to the vaccine we can get back to normal and protect ourselves from whoever is infected with the coronavirus.
All the figures support vaccination: it reduces mortality to almost zero and this is what is important. Because something must be understood: the vaccine does not prevent you from getting infected. No one has ever said otherwise. You can still get infected, but you are almost surely not going to die. Therefore, it should be up to each individual to decide whether to get the vaccine. Once the entire population has access to the vaccine, it is clear that the pandemic is over.
And this brings me to the other point: as vaccination progresses, of course cases will increase. For instance, I am already vaccinated and choose not to wear the mask when I can. I try to live a normal life by regularly dealing with people, whether in open or closed spaces. And that’s how most people think: once you are vaccinated, you are free from the paranoia and hysteria that took over the world last year. People are taking less care because the fundamental protection is already there. People are back to normal. Consequently, cases are on the rise.
But none of this matters. Any excuse, no matter how illogical, is enough for governments to impose totalitarian measures that take away their citizens’ freedom and right to live in society. Now, whoever distrusts the vaccine, for his legitimate reasons, cannot be integrated into normal life. He deserves the repudiation and contempt of the rest: vaccinated allegedly now means “superior”. In the face of this madness Austria rose up this weekend.
“No to the division of society!” shouted demonstrators in Vienna, marching through the historic Heroes’ Square. One brandished a banner: “The best slave is the one who thinks he is free.” Another, read, “Obligation to think instead of obligation to vaccinate.” “For freedom, over my body I decide,” another.
The police were alert, ready to disperse the demonstrators with tear gas. But they did not oblige. The protest, peaceful and massive, ended well. It was a triumph because the message was clear: Austrians will not tolerate having their freedom, their right to live in society, taken away from them. They may try, but the government must know: its efforts to impose an authoritarian state will clash with the rabid will of thousands upon thousands of citizens to defend what is theirs.
Now, when the world is plunged, almost entirely, into the same health tyranny of Austria, it is imperative to follow the example of those who marched on Heroes’ Square. Be it a vaccine mandate, the card, the passport, the confinement for the unvaccinated or quarantines, in general. Every measure, irrational, anti-science, and dangerous must face the reaction of a society ready to disobey and fight for its rights and freedom.
No matter what argument governments try to sell us. It is clear that, regardless of its benefits, the damage generated by the imposition of vaccination is much greater than the advantages of something that should be voluntary. Not to mention the thousands of bankrupt businesses and unemployed left behind by these lockdowns, we must consider the terrifying social impact there could be if we erected a new and deeper system of segregation in the world.
Of course, vaccinating is desirable, but it must always be voluntary. The only way to armor a society with vaccination is to increase trust and this will never be achieved by political imposition or arbitrariness. As Jordan Peterson rightly said: “Compulsory vaccination does not increase trust, but the opposite. It is, in fact, a recognition that trust has already been lost and an attempt to regain it by force.”
The citizens of many countries have meekly submitted to the tyrannical health measures of their governments. They surrender their freedoms in exchange for government protection, not realizing that they are losing one of the most important things in their lives. This must change. Austria teaches us that freedom and our right to decide and think are worth more, especially when the argument to take them away is based on a series of irrational premises.
There should not only be thousands marching in the streets of Vienna. There must be thousands in New York, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Amsterdam or London. All, in one voice, rejecting everything that reduces the most sacred thing that the individual has because how can we celebrate being in good health without being free?
Orlando Avendaño is the co-editor-in-chief of El American. He is a Venezuelan journalist and has studies in the History of Venezuela. He is the author of the book Days of submission // Orlando Avendaño es el co-editor en Jefe de El American. Es periodista venezolano y cuenta con estudios en Historia de Venezuela. Es autor del libro Días de sumisión.