Well, it has been making the news. Surprised to see this discussed on FYM though.
Of course, it is a terrible accident so condolences to the family.
Politically, my initial rection was, one Nazi less, good for the country.
He drove 90 mph instead of allowed 45 mph. His long time friend and minister of the same party, Gorbach, wanted to rise speed limits in Austria but it didn´t pass legislation, so there you go, sorry but it´s his own fault.
The reaction of Austrian politicians of other parties, who hated him, to his death is indifferent - they say they didn´t politically agree with him but he was a great political figure with lots of charisma etc. and what a bad accident so they are so sorry. Of course they are only trying to fish voters, who will the people who saw Haider as the strong leader, turn to?
Martha, no worries for racism in Austria - we officially love tourists especially from rich countries. Every Austrian will welcome you, but many won´t welcome asylum-seeking people from Eastern Europe, xenophobia has spread. Haider is responible with his extreme propaganda; one of his last political actions was to send criminal foreigners to a camp.
The party is not the only far right party in Austria, apart from Haider who, like last unicorn descibed, split the party a couple of years ago you also have a certain Strache who bakes up the old racism and has success with these topics here.
Of course, the racism always goes against Nigerian immigrants (in the local media, they are "drug dealers" anyway, and some were beaten to death by Austian police with a police doctor watching), or against well-integrated teenagers who, according to new Austrian immigrants laws, "have" to be sent back.. this was quite a big media story in Austria, a young girl ran away and threatened to commit suicide if the Austrian officials wouldn´t leave her in Austria - she then hid in a church - and still Austrian politicians rip immigrant´s families apart, while being supported by a certain part of the Austrian population who is talked into hating immigrants - it is ugly, they say the young "bitch" "blackmails" the country -
so you can imagine it is an ugly mood in Austria, looking at these events. However, racism never turns towards tourists.
Naturally, there are problems when the country has many immigrants (after the fall of communism, people who either seek asylum or who wanted to enjoy some meager fruits of capitalism by working in shit jobs here, even if they would often be academically qualified for other jobs - but who wants an immigrant in a high paid job?) and with some, there are problems because it is hard to learn German, it is hard when immigrant youth gangs beat up others, etc. On the other hand, this situation was used by Haider to get popular. He rode big campaigns, making so many people hate. He was/is always present in media because he always makes good headlines. And for the few Austrian milliardaires, for big business, injecting xenophobia is a welcome distraction so folks don´t think about who really steals their money, no, immigrants, the poor, are an easy scapegoat, the ultimate punching bag. Send them back where they belong to!
As you can imagine, I can´t manage to feel real sadness when the manipulator, liar and crook that Haider politically was, dies. There are quite a few Austrians who think like me, cheered and drank a beer on old Haider; but there are many Austrians, especially Carinthians, who feel their everlasting idol, their winner, their leader, the young, smart, guru who always shook hands and had a smart grin and "provoked them up there in the EU", "told the truth about priviliedges of politicians" (what about his priviledges, in compare to those of immigrants?) has left them alone.
I remember when the fashion of integrating NLP in politicain´s speeches started - you could hear the most blatant, easy-to-fall-for arguments, pure propaganda, it went well with most of the Austrians, they believe this shit and they like to believe it. The young generation cares about drinking and partying, and both right wing parties present themselves well in that style.
His death will not change the immigrants´situation in Austria, but it remains to be seen if his fans find a new leader who is as charismatic.
Politically, I´m thankful he´s gone.