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Colin Peters

Stories from Colin Peters

01 Mike Brennan
Brennan Update
It is a year since undercover police officers mistook school teacher Mike Brennan for a drug dealer as he rode a Vienna subway train, the controversial arrest that followed allegedly left the black U.S. national hospitalised
Colin Peters
01/02/2010

While jittery investigations into the events of that day continue – with authorities recently rejecting the prosecutor’s call to have action brought against one of the two officers involved – Brennan, who considers himself a victim of racial profiling, is intent on keeping the issue alive.

03 stracher NEWS
Austrian Leaders Say ‘No’ to Strache
The far-right politician outraged Chancellor and Church by brandishing a crucifix ‘in vain’
Colin Peters
01/06/2009

When H. C. Strache, leader of the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) waved a wooden crucifix in front of a rain-soaked yet heated crowd at an anti-mosque demonstration in Vienna’s first district last month, he opened the flood gates of criticism from Austria’s leaders.

Not only are Austria’s top politicians now saying “enough is enough” to a man that Chancellor Faymann has recently dubbed a “hate-preacher,” but the country’s highest-ranking Catholic clerics are also adding their voices to the rising condemnation of Strache’s strategies.

Obama in Wien
Awaiting Justice
In the investigation of VIS teacher Mike Brennan, many still fear a cover up
Colin Peters
15/04/2009
Six weeks have passed since two plain-clothes officers of Vienna’s Einsatzgruppe Strassenkriminalität (Taskforce Street Crime) mistook Vienna International School teacher Mike Brennan for a cocaine dealer. The officers jumped him without warning as he stepped off the underground U6 in Spittelau, alleges Brennan, beating him repeatedly as they pinned him to the ground, leaving him in need of hospital treatment.
Mike Brennan
VIS Teacher Victim of Police Brutality
American Mike Brennan’s injuries at the hands of Viennese law enforcement officers have brought denials and obfuscation from authorities at all levels
Colin Peters
05/03/2009
“As soon as I got off, I got hit. Before I could even see what happened I was on my back, my backpack still on. My head hit the concrete, and there was a guy on top of me, throwing punches. He didn’t say a word.”
Mike Brennan2
Brennan’s Injuries More Serious than First Thought
BREAKING NEWS: The latest on the Mike Brennan case
Colin Peters
02/03/2009

Examinations at the Lorenz-Böhler hospital this morning have revealed that the injuries Mike Brennan sustained during the incident at Spittelau U-Bahn station on 11 February are more serious than originally anticipated.

Assaults on the Press in Turkey
Reforms to Controversial Laws Will Make or Break The Country's Accession to the European Union
Colin Peters
02/02/2009

It has been just over a year since the murder of award-winning, Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, and the Turkish government is still stuttering over reforms to controversial laws that limit freedom of speech in the country. Their indecision is understandable: The implications of the failure to do so will be make-or-break for Turkey's accession to the European Union.

Changing the message
Changing the Message
Slovenian journalists attempt to preserve the time- honored seperation between media and government
Colin Peters
02/10/2008

All politicians seeking office campaign on the need for change, but one change that wasn't on anyone's list in the run up to Slovenia's recent general election was a switch in media policy.

Many feel it should have been.

Sinister Talents
Often Treated as Misfits, Left-Handed People May In Fact Turn Out to be Specially Gifted
Colin Peters
02/09/2008

The Romans would bind the left hand of trainee legionnaires to their sides, until they learned to fight using their right. In the middle ages, left-handedness was seen as a sign of satanic possession.

And well into the twentieth century, Roman Catholic nuns would slap left- handers with rulers, until they’d mastered writing with the other hand.

With all these injustices, you’d think that left-handed children might have given up – except that one was Julius Caesar, another Charlemagne, and another Joan of Arc. And then there were Leonardo da Vinci and Napoleon, Kafka, Cole Porter, Charlie Chaplin and Edward R. Murrow.

Jobs Go Begging
The Austrian Economy is Booming; So Why Send the Immigrants Home?
Colin Peters
03/04/2007

Encouraging news: According to figures released in March, the unemployment rate in Austria has reached its lowest levels since 2001 – coupled with the largest year-on-year decrease in the numbers out of work since 1999. The economy is booming, but it’s left the job market gasping for breath: Vacancies for skilled workers just aren’t being filled quickly enough.

To partly remedy the situation, the Arbeitsmarktservice (AMS) has already responded by signaling its intention to double the number of training courses in selected skill areas: for metalworkers, for example, from 5,000 to 10,000.

However, if the skilled labour shortage is really to be addressed, then changes have to be made at the grass root level, that is, in the schools.

Speak No Evil
Last Month, Austria Was Cited Second Only to Turkey for Violations of EU Article 10 on Freedom of Expression
Colin Peters
03/04/2007

The high profile arrest and imprisonment of Holocaust-denier David Irving in Austria worried a lot of people. Among other things, it highlighted the contrasting laws governing free- dom of expression across Europe.

However, it is not only Austrian Holo- caust denial laws that concern advocates of free speech: As of last month, Austria became – sec- ond only to Turkey – the country most often cited for violations of Article 10 of the Euro- pean Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which ensures free expression.

Mobile Phones: ‘Please Leave a Message’
While 95% of People Think Their Phones are Neccessary, A Full 60% Find the Constant Ringing Intrusive
Colin Peters
02/03/2007

It’s hard to get away from a mobile phone these days. Nearly everybody has one, and no one seems to remember how we used to manage without them.

But that doesn’t mean we like them.

In a recent survey of Vienna residents, two thirds rated the mobile telephone among their least favourite technology, an invasive necessity that most feel they can shut off only when they go to sleep.

One hundred respondents interviewed during the afternoon and evening in Vienna’s 7th district were asked to rank five inventions – the mobile phone, radio, television, computer and automobile – in order of enjoyment. The mobile telephone was ranked last or next to last by 67 per cent of those questioned.

Talking Kosovo
Final Round on the Serbian Province
Colin Peters
02/03/2007

The last round of talks on Kosovo’s future began in Vienna Wednesday, Feb. 21. The meagre scattering of journalists in the foyer of the Austria Centre awaiting the third day’s press briefing reflected the languid tone: No breaking news expected here.

Even before they had begun, the results of the talks were considered a foregone conclusion. With the Kosovar and Serbian delegations diametrically opposed – the Kosovars willing to accept nothing less than full independence, the Serbs unwilling to accept anything of the sort – the final round of consultations are expected to end in stalemate, serving merely as a last formal step before the matter is officially turned over to the United Nations Security Council.

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