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The xenophobic KHD unwilingly gets p0wned with a bilingual sign.
There are about 14,000 Slovenes living in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Unfortunately for them there are also about 25,000 members of the Kärntner Heimatdienst (KHD) in the same state. The KHD is a group that organizes such wholesome, fun-for-the-whole-family activities as the memorial festival for Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS veterans in Ulrichsberg every year. They’re also fighting on the front lines of the most important battle in Carinthia today: stopping the Slovenian minority’s nefarious plan of putting up bilingual signs in towns where they live. (Oh no!) In a dastardly set-back, Austria’s Constitutional Court ruled in 2001 that towns whose populations are at least 10% Slovene should put up such signs. But luckily for the KHD and other xenophobes, Austria’s highest court is more of an advisory board than anything else, because Governor Joerg "An-orderly-employment-policy-was-carried-out-in-the-Third-Reich" Haider has refused to put it into effect. (It’s worth noting that Slovenia has put up Italian-Slovene signs in coastal cities and that, so far, there have been no casualties, and no apocalypses.)
Which brings us to the photo you see above. It seems that someone (a genius by any measure) went to the lair of the KHD and replaced their sign with a bilingual one. Needless to say, the KHD didn’t think it was funny — it was "provocative." Their press release also included this very revealing sentence: Auf
diese Aktion wurden Funktionäre des KHD heute Nachmittag erst aufgrund eines
Berichtes im slowenischen „Volksgruppen-Radio“ des ORF aufmerksam. (KHD officials first became aware of this deed after a broadcast on the Slovenian radio service of ORF.)
That’s right: A group whose entire raison d’être is that bilingual signs would be catastrophic for Austria didn’t even notice when someone put one up at their place. They had to hear about it somewhere else first. There’s a lesson there, but I think the members of KHD aren’t sharp enough to get it.
(Many thanks to AZ2SI!)
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Given their aggressive instincts and numbers, if fascists were sharp, they would have finally ruled the world.But then, they wouldn’t be fascists, would they?
Good one.
I cover up the ‘Ortstafeln’ topic for months now. It is getting more
& more absurd. Haider proclaimed to move the signs for several
meters, so that the decision of a supreme court would de facto could
not be applied. The Carinthian Slovenes want to prosecute him. It’s a
huge theme here in Austria.The problem is that chancelor
Schuessel & president Fischer are on the move. Yet especially
Schuessel hands are tied since Haider has the powers to (again) crash
the government with his orange minority on power. A classical no win
situation. The tension gets higher every day and the EU watches closely
but silent.
To think the KHD has sunk so low as to actually understand the language of The Enemy (or do they have spies to translate the content of the Slovene-language radio programmes for them?), ts, ts…No, seriously, as a Carinthian whom heated discussions about bilingual signs have accompanied for 3 decades, let me assure you that the majority of Austrians find Haider’s actions just as bewildering and stupid as the Slovenians do. And embarrassing to boot.
Ulrichsburg is actually Ulrichsberg.
Thanks, somebody. I’ll fix it as soon as I can.Also: are there bilingual signs in the Hungarian-Slovenian border areas? I seem to recall that there are, but wasn’t sure.Slightly related to this, and also a good read, is the recent Economist story on What makes a good prank? I think this one fits all the criteria.
This is just brilliant:o)))))))And yes..there sure is bilingual signs in Prekmurje, in the villages where hungarians live.
There sure ARE not IS..in the above post ;o)
I love it… striking where it hurst most. But the most astounding think is the fact that they were apparently genuinely shocked at this. You know: "How could they!?!" I guess it’s somewhat similar to 1960’s when Rosa Parks refused to make room for that white fellow on the bus. It’s just within their mental scope that someone would to that to them. :))) BTW: Michael! Is the proteus at the bottom left corner really moving? I’m getting all paranoid here :))
What’s really surprising to me is that Heimatdienst actually issued a press release and published the photo on its site, thereby giving publicity to this brilliant act of political protest. You would think that just keeping quiet about it would have been the smart thing to do. Maybe they thought that energizing their base was more important, but then again, Heimatdienst isn’t known for being smart.
there is no words to describe the briliantness of this action! why
can’t all political fights be as ingenious as this? thanks michael,
once again you made my day a brighter one.
pengovsky: if you find the proteus disturbing, you
might wanna steer clear of the blinking bridge dragon on the top of the
page…
Pure genius! Classy, not vandalizing, to the point.
Great post!The situation with the billingual signs is getting more and more absurd every day. Now Haider’s come up with the "solution" to move the ("monolingual") sign of Bleiburg (not Pliberk
for some meters: so the decision of the Constitutional Court won’t affect it.There is a film about this absurd situation that was made by a Slovenian from Carinthia studying in Vienna. If you have the chance, you have to see it!!And there are more than 14.000 Slovenian-speaking in Carinthia, they just don’t want to "come out". According to Church statystic there are around 40.000 people who speak Slovene at home, and according to the University of Klagenfurt/Celovec around 54.000.And please, check out this link!! It’s a web page put up by Carinthians that want visible billinguism: if you feel like it, I recommend you go to the "Mach auch mit/Sodeluj tudi ti" section and join the petition.And, Mike, just by the way: it’s Ulrichsberg, not Ulrichsburg. There’s actually a funny story behind this so very German name: it comes from Slovenian "vrh" (dialectal ""urh") and has nothing to do with St.Ulrich (whose old Slovenian name is Urh): however, Slovenians took up the German (misinterpreted name) and now say "Šenturška gora".
OK, I guess my previous comment wasn’t published, so again:Great post (as usual), Mike!Just a small correction: it’s not Ulrichburg, but Ulrichberg. Actually, there’s a funny story behind this name. It comes from the Slovene "vrh" (locally "urh") and has nothing to do with St.Ulrich (also "Urh" in archaic Slovene). However, the Slovenes picked up the German misinterpretation (very similar to the near "Tanzenberg" which has actually very little to do with dancing, because the Slovenian "Plešivec" refers to "pleša" and not "plesati") and now call the hill "Šenturška gora".And another thing: there are more than 14.000 Slovenes in Carinthia, they are just afraid of "coming out". According to Church statystic, there are around 40.000 Carninthians that use Slovene at home, while according to a survey of the University of Klagenfurt/Celovec, there are up to 54.000 of them. (Useless to say that 150 years ago, 97% of the population of Southern Carinthia was Slovene-speaking, rappresenting 25% of all Carnthians; now they are less than 3%).And if you will, please visit this site. It was put up by Carinthians who stand for a visible billinguism. In the section "Mach auch mit/Sodeluj tudi ti" you can join their petition. Please do so!
"It’s worth noting that Slovenia has put up Italian-Slovene signs in coastal cities and that, so far, there have been no casualties, and no apocalypses."Yes, it did so 50 years ago…The whole situation about billingual signs in southern Carinthia is getting more absord every day. Check out this link.There is an excellent movie about the whole thing, made by a Slovenian from Carinthia studying in Vienna: he made a Michael Moore-style documentary about Carinthian Slovenes, called F.A.Q. If you have the chance, watch it! It’s great!!
Luka: "There is an excellent movie about the whole thing, made by a Slovenian from Carinthia studying in Vienna: he made a Michael Moore-style documentary about Carinthian Slovenes, called F.A.Q. If you have the chance, watch it! It’s great!!"Sounds very interesting! Where can we see it?Cornelius and Pengovsky: The dragon freaked me out when I first saw it blink!
@AZ2SIIt IS interesting. I saw it on the Ljubljana Film Festival this year. There were some 20 of us watching it, more for curiosity and I guess nobody was expecting such a hillarious spectacle. The movie’s a true piece of art ("ein Juwel", to quote Haider:)). Afterwords, we had the chance to chat with the authors: great guys!Anyway, they didn’t have any arrangements with the Slovenian TV at that time, but I’m sure we’ll see it on the National TV eventually. Try not to miss it.
@AZ2SI & Cornelius: Oh my Gawd! I feel like I’m in Madamme Toussead’s and the puppets are starting to move… A great touch by site designers…. I just love the little thing you come to discover as time goes by.
That’s just too funny about the sign! Good work!
The situation of bilingual signs is really interesting actually. Thanks for the link to www.heimat-domovina.at/index.php/news/.So, Slovenian has co-official status in all areas where 10% or more of the populaton is Slovenian, or is it just bilingual signs? Do these bilingual signs apply on to the name of the town, or in general (i.e. all public institutions are bilingual in these localities)? Or are there no bilingual signs *at all*? That’s quite unacceptable (if that’s the case).
@Mihai: "So, Slovenian has co-official status in all areas where 10% or more of the populaton is Slovenian?"Ha, ha… oh, I had a good laugh. Yes, it would be nice if it were so. Slovenian has a recognized co-official status only in 6 municipalities (Zell, Eisenkappel-Vellach, Globasnitz, Feistritz, Bleiburg and Ludmannsdorf) of about 40 that make up the bilingual area (as recognized by the Regional Government in September 1945: the so-called "Tischler School Ordinance"). However, since billingual signs are in the competence of the regional Government, even in those municipalities there are very few billingual signs. Even at the petition of the local authorities, the Regional Government refused to put one. When the District Office put one to accomplish the Court rulling, the sign was removed, as you can see here .Mihai: "Do these bilingual signs apply on to the name of the town, or in general (i.e. all public institutions are bilingual in these localities)?" Localities that have over 10% of Slovene-speakers ARE NOT bilingual. However, the Constitutional Court ruled in 2001 that bilingual road signs (just road signs!) should be put in these places. They have been not.Mihai: "Or are there no bilingual signs *at all*?" Exactely.Mihai: If that’s the case, that’s quite unacceptable." Exactely.
@Mihai:Some fugures. In the bilingual area, there are around 450 localities that have place signs. Of those, some 350 should have a bilingual sign, according to the ruling of the Constitutional Court. According to the 1977-law (that is: the law that was invallidated by the Constitutional Court in 2001), there should be 92 billingual signs. In fact, there are actually around 70.The Slovene minority propsed a compromise: 158 bilingual signs. It was rejected by the KHD.
That’s really strange. In Romania, we take it for granted that all localities with over 20% population of any minority group has bilingual signs. You see them all over the place where I live, in Bihor County, near the Hungarian border. I was expecting it to be the same in Austria (since in Hungary and Slovenia and I think Slovakia it’s the same).What’s more worrying is that the Carinthian state government seems to be blatantly breaching the order of the Constitutional Court. To have to go to compromise situations between Slovenians and the KHD reminds of what happened in Communist Romania during Ceauşescu, not what should happen in a progressive European state! It’s odd that local councils in Austria don’t have control over signs. How are the general attitudes towards Slovenians in Austria? I’m interested in these issues.
"How are the general attitudes towards Slovenians in Austria?"I can only speak for my personal account: I go to a walking tour in Austria (Carinthia) every year, and I’ve always encountered only kind people. However, the issue is complex. The fact is, that in Souther Carinthia in 1880, 95% of the population was Slovene-speaking. Today, the official figure is 12% (although two unofficial statistics- by the Church and by the University- speak of 35% or even 46%). That means that every Southern Carinthian has at least one grandmother that speaks Slovene. And that the majority of Slovenian speakers hide their identity (and don’t send their children to bilingual schools- athough that’s rapidly changing the past 10 years).The negation of identity (especially after the plebiscite of 1920, when almost 60% of Southern Carinthians voted for Austria) became the central psychological tract of the people. They invented new "traditional" songs, clothings, everything. Most of Carinthian "folk" traditions is a lie, fabricated after 1920.It’s typical: you can walk through a Southern Carinthian village (as far west as Hermagor) and you’ll see no Slovenian sign whatsoever: but enter the church or the local graveyard- you’ll see almost exlusevely Slovene inscriptions, even new ones.It’s difficult to understand, but a lot of people still think that the use of Slovene in public will somehow undermine their "Kaerntentum", their "Carinthian identity" (Austrian identity has very little to do here: actually, the Slovenes are the ones who rather use Austrian symbols than Carinthian ones). Bilingual signs are thus crucial. If a town has an official sign in Slovene, some kind of shame will fall on it, like a "scarlet mark" that says what everybody knows anyway: there are and have always been Slovenians here.It’s an issue of the (German speaking) Carinthians themselves. They have to come over their traumas and admit the simple fact- their land has always be also part of Slovenian culture. Their past was Slovenian and there still are some Slovenians- just let them the chance to live their culture and use their language freely. Nobody wants to "slovenize" Carinthia again. Actually Slovenians from Slovenia couldn’t care less.
That account was very interesting. I didn’t know that Southern Carinthia had been so predominantly Slovenian in history. The Slovenian-Carinthian situation is similar to the Aromanians of Greece - an ethnic group closely related to the Romanians, many of which have assimilated into Greek society, and due to Greek nationalist pressures, many feel it is shameful to see themselves as Aromanians. Cases like these happen all over Europe, and it’s really disappointing that they do.
Yeah, Greece is a very bad example to follow. The same as you wrote with the Aromanians happened to Macedonians. Their community nearly desappeared.