Carinthia, Alps-Adriatic, Southeastern Europe
The ethnic conflicts in bilingual Carinthia - essentially the long-lasting lack of acceptance of the rights of the Slovene ethnic group - can only be understood and overcome in a transnational context. For this reason alone there is a need to turn to the Alps-Adriatic region, which is often euphorically described as the intersection of three cultures and language groups. However, it is still shaped today by the fact that it was one of the main scenes of the "Great War" with the subsequent drastic border changes, as well as the scene of the Second World War, renewed border changes and expulsions. The peoples of this region are connected by a painful history as well as by ethnic mixtures. Only if we come to terms with this past together can we lay the foundations for a lasting peace. The term "Alps-Adriatic" plays a productive role here - as a resolution to dare a new beginning. "Alpen-Adria" is thus the embodiment of a political idea, the focal point of wishes and longings for alternative forms of coexistence.
The multilingual, mixed-population, ever-changing Alps-Adriatic region is a miniature European Union. A cross-border regional cooperation is not meant as a solitary development, but as a building block for a federative democratic Europe in the common "homeland earth".
We must preserve and use the treasure of diversity and the appreciation of diversity that the Alps-Adriatic idea represents. We have more experience here with borders and their changes, with the idea of the border itself and with the necessity of crossing borders than almost anywhere else in Europe. We have a wide range of experience with transnational cooperation, which also took on organized forms with the founding of ARGE Alpen-Adria in 1978. As residents of the region, we have developed "border competence": "Senza Confini/Brez meja" is a slogan against racist differentiation and for the courage to work together.
Turning the (neglected) border area into a new heartland, renegotiating the rules of the game between the periphery and the center is an important concern of transnational regionalism. This means a new understanding of the relationship between the local, the national and the international, as it arises simultaneously in many parts of the world in times of globalization. However, the long-term task is to create an Alps-Adriatic peace region. Peace research can make an important contribution to this.
activities
The conflict over the rights of the Carinthian Slovenes as well as dealing with the reappraisal or non-reappraisal of National Socialism in Austria and especially in Carinthia always played an important role in my work and also led to my participation in the construction of the "Monument of Names". in Villach and the founding of the Villach Remembrance Association (https://erinnernvillach.com). This topic also plays a major role in cooperation with colleagues in neighboring countries.
My involvement with the Alps-Adriatic region originally arose from the need to develop a regional approach to peace policy work, which in the early 1980s in Austria was also completely dominated by the German debate about the NATO double-track decision. In my opinion, however, this did not take enough account of the situation in neutral Austria, which was (and to a large extent still is) confronted with stations of weapon systems and often even nuclear weapons on all of its borders. This was particularly true of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, the "powder keg" of Italy. With this in mind, we established close contacts with peace activists in Friuli and Slovenia, but also in Hungary, Croatia and Germany.
Villach proposal – neutrality policy from below
(A Program for the Peace Movement, 1983)
As a reaction to the realization of the massive armament around Austria, I worked out the appeal against "nuclear weapons on our doorstep" for the Villach Peace Committee in 1983, which soon became known as Villach proposal became known: the demand for a nuclear-weapons-free and militarily thinned zone around neutral and weakly armed Austria, especially the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free Alps-Adriatic region as a first step towards a nuclear-weapons-free Europe. The program of "active neutrality", a component of Bruno Kreisky's policy, was thus filled with life by civil society. The Villach proposal was signed in a very short time by around 50 groups, organizations and numerous, sometimes very prominent personalities from Austria as well as a large number of organizations and peace activists from neighboring countries. Nevertheless, the plan, intended as an offer to the Austrian peace movement, was rejected by a majority. The main reason: The proposal not only criticized NATO, but also the Warsaw Pact. But the Independent Peace Initiative (UFI) supported and promoted it Villach proposal. In any case, from 1984 it became the focal point for transnational cooperation in the Alps-Adriatic region.
Peace movement Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia
(civil society cooperation since the 1980s)
This cooperation between the peace groups found expression in seminars lasting several days, in which fundamental questions were discussed, and in mutual invitations to peace events. The plan also came up to set up a joint magazine, which, however, proved to be unfeasible. So the Villach Peace Committee decided in 1986, alone and only in German, that Quarterly alpe-adria to release. It existed for 15 years, until the year 2000. Political and civil society developments of this period are documented in this journal. The civil war that accompanied the collapse of Yugoslavia was undoubtedly the most drastic event and threw back the peace movement, but did not mean a break in cooperation. Some issues of the journal are reproduced here in the original:
- Villach proposal 1984
- alpe-adria 1/1986: the very first number with an overview of the peace movements of the three countries
- alpe-adria 19/1990: Slovenia without an army
- alpe-adria 6/1991-92: Nationalism and war using the example of Yugoslavia
- alpe-adria 1/1992: Europe of Regions
- alpe-adria 2/1994: Europe – Peace in War?
Alps-Adriatic alternative
(An organizational mainstay of peace work, 1990s)
With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the independence of Slovenia and Croatia, I saw the conditions for a new step in transnational cooperation. This step was the founding of “Alpen-Adria-Alternativ. Association for Peace, Human Rights and Intercultural Cooperation” (Graz and Villach, 1990–2000), together with Doris Pollet-Kammerlander. It was an Austrian association, but with close connections to organizations and individuals in all Alps-Adriatic countries. Important political personalities from South Tyrol, Slovenia and Hungary were represented at the founding congress in Graz. The association organized seminars, studies, projects on cross-border intercultural cooperation, intercultural learning and peace education, including the "European Youth Academy" (1993-2001), and it also developed a lively publishing activity. (See also the field of work peace education).
Alps-Adriatic Peace Region – the work of the ZFF
(Interlinking of peace work and peace research, since 2005)
New opportunities opened up with the founding of the ZFF, which from the outset defined the Alps-Adriatic region as a central field of work and established contact with the partner universities. The most important milestones:
- 2008: Conference Multilingualism, transculturality and education. Regional development of the Alps-Adriatic region in a global perspective. Program folder: https://docplayer.org/16390970-Alpen-adria-universitaet-klagenfurt.html
- 2009: Organization of the Summer Peace University in Tarcento (together with the Universities of Udine, Koper and Klagenfurt). See also: Bettina Gruber/ Daniela Rippitsch: Learning beyond the limits. The Alps-Adriatic Summer Peace University. From a culture of war to a culture of peace in the Alps-Adriatic region. The Peace Lookout. Journal of International Peace and Organization, Volume 85, Issue 3/2010, pp. 101-119. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26524860#metadata_info_tab_contents
- 2011: Publication of the book publication based on the seminar in Tarcento Model Peace Region Alps-Adriatic? Learning experiences in a European border region (Edited by Bettina Gruber/Daniela Rippitsch).
- 2011: International conference to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of the war in ex-Yugoslavia 20 years later. War(s) in Yugoslavia. 20 years later. Was(s) in Yugoslavia. https://docplayer.org/22408473-Krieg-e-in-jugoslawien.html
- 2012: Book publication “Carinthia is by the sea. Conflict stories about power, trauma, identity” (edited by Wilfried Graf/Gudrun Kramer/Wolfgang Petritsch), in which the deep dimensions of the conflict about the rights of the Slovenian ethnic group are illuminated.
- 2012: International Conference "Peace Education in the Alps-Adriatic Region". https://docplayer.org/7877523-Friedensbildung-izobrazevanje-za-mir-formazione-sulla-pace-peace-education.html.
Dealing with the Past: the PRAA Project
(Civil Society Austria-Slovenia, 2014-2020)
Another opportunity for action arose from a synopsis of the domestic and foreign policy dimensions of the so-called "minority conflict" in Austria and the controversies surrounding Slovenian history since the end of the Habsburg monarchy. This is how the Austrian-Slovenian project “Building the Peace Region Alps-Adriatic. Envisioning Future by Dealing with the Past. Promoting open and inclusive public discourse within Austria and Slovenia and between the countries”. The title says it all. It was an effort to find a common civil society Historical processing of the mutual relations and neighborhood of Austria and Slovenia - organized by a consortium of different institutions of both countries. In workshops, people came together who differed greatly in terms of ideology, age and gender as well as professional and field of activity. Nevertheless, the participants were finally able to choose two Explanations (file:///C:/Users/Anwender/Downloads/Building-PRAA-NEM4.pdf) communicate. The book Slovenia | Austria: Liberating Remembrance. Dialogic processing of the past (https://www.morawa.at/detail/ISBN-9783854359487/Brousek-Jan/Slovenija—%C3%96sterreich) is a presentation and at the same time a part of this project.
Alps-Adriatic Peace Manifesto
(A "program" of the movement, since 2018)
A new upsurge in the Alps-Adriatic movement has been evident since 2018 with the event "War is over. If you want it”. This joint Italian-Slovenian-Austrian event to commemorate "100 years of the end of the First World War" gathered around 300 people in Klagenfurt and developed a new dynamic of contacts and cooperation that continues to this day. This is also because with the Alps-Adriatic Manifesto some kind of program and roadmap for future activities has been worked out.
The manifesto was followed by the book of the same name, which reflects the intellectual efforts to create a region of peace in all three countries and is intended to spread this idea further. 30 personalities contributed their thoughts to the manifesto and the future of the region. (https://www.aau.at/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Manifesto_folder.pdf)
Dialogic memory in educational practice
(Common teaching materials for a transnational understanding of history in the Alps-Adriatic region, 2022-2023)
Unquestioned nationalist narratives still exist in the Alps-Adriatic region. Their spread is to be counteracted with the development of common, multi-perspective materials for school lessons in order to develop a transnational understanding of history. In a post-nationalistic joint regional history of the Alps-Adriatic region, a critical analysis of historical sources is encouraged and thus one's own understanding of history is challenged. In this way, empathy for the point of view of the "others" can develop, trust and insight can grow - a process that is open-ended. Historians, teachers and other experts from Italy, Slovenia and Austria are involved. Please refer: https://dialogischeserinnern.at/
Info: Alps-Adriatic region: teaching history in a new way: https://kaernten.orf.at/stories/3175022/
important links:
- The Alps-Adriatic Manifesto - DEU/ITA/SLO
- The Alps-Adriatic Manifesto - English
- The History of the Alps-Adriatic Peace Movement
- Selected civil society activities in 2020
- Selected civil society activities in 2021
- Selected civil society activities in 2022
- Ausgewählte Aktivitäten der Zivilgesellschaft 2023
publications
BOOKS
Jan Brousek / Danijel Grafenauer / Werner Wintersteiner / Daniel Wutti (editors | right): SLOVENIJA | AUSTRIA: Liberating Remembrance – Osvobajajoče spominjanje. Dialogic processing of the past – Dialoško obravnavanje zgodovine. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Drava 2020. ISBN 978-3-85435-948-7.
Ulrich Kaufmann, Werner Wintersteiner (eds.): Dober day. The Greeting Machine | Pozdravni stroj. A mouthpiece for better understanding in Carinthia | Glasilo za boljše razumevanje na Koroškem. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Hermagoras/Mohorjeva 2020. ISBN: 978-3-7086-1141-9.
Werner Wintersteiner, Cristina Beretta, Mira Miladinović Zalaznik (Eds. | a cura di | ur.): Manifest|o Alpe-Adria. Voices for a Europe Region of Peace and Prosperity | Voci per una regione europea di pace e prosperità | Glasovi za evropsko regijo miru in blagostanya. Vienna: Löcker 2020. ISBN: 978-3-99098-027-9.
ESSAYS
Visioni e percorsi. The cooperation of the società civile in the Alpe-Adria region. In: kadmos studia, anno II N. 1 (2022). 70-94. ISSN 2785-4132. Downloads: https://www.kadmos.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Kadmos-Studia-2.1-04-Wintersteiner-pp.-70-94.pdf
Werner Wintersteiner / Marjan Sturm: Visions and Ways - Civil Society Cooperation in the Alps-Adriatic Region. In: Karl Anderwald/Karl Hren/Kathrin Stainer-Hämmerle. Carinthian Yearbook for Politics 2021 | Koroški politični zbornik 2021. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Mohorjeva/Hermagoras 2021, 277-293. ISBN 978-3-7086-1182-2. Downloads: https://www.jahrbuchkaernten.at/kaerntner-jahrbuch-fuer-politik.html
The Carinthian future is more than the future of Carinthia | Koroška prihodnost je več kot prihodnost Koroške. In: Lojze Wieser/Jani Oswald (ed. | ur.): Kärnten neu | Koroška za novo. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Wieser 2020, 93-110 and 79-91. ISBN: 978-3-85435-928-9.
PUBLISHING
alpe-adria. Peace Education and Peace Policy Journal. Quarterly together with Bettina Gruber and others. 1986 to 2000.
BOOKS
Josef Feldner/Danijel Grafenauer/Wilfried Graf/Janez Stergar/Marjan Sturm/Werner Wintersteiner (eds.): Building the Peace Region Alps-Adriatic. Alps-Adriatic Peace Region. Klagenfurt/Celovec 2018.
Cordula Wohlmuther and Werner Wintersteiner: "There, where our grandfathers fought against each other..." The "peace paths" on the front line of the First World War: Tourism and peace in the Alps-Adriatic region. Klagenfurt / Celovec: Drava 2018. ISBN 978-3-85435-767-4
Bettina Gruber/Werner Wintersteiner (eds.): Learning Peace – an Integrative Part of Peacebuilding. Experiences from the Alps-Adriatic Region. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Drava 2014. ISBN 978-3-85435751-3.
ESSAYS
Great War at Little Pal. In: Gerhard Pilgram/Wilhelm Berger/Werner Koroschitz: Out of the narrow. Hiking and stopping off in north-west Friuli. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Drava 2019, 131-137. ISBN 978-3-85435-918-0.
Carinthia - land of extremes. A personal approach. In: Karsten Krampitz (ed.): Three ways to the lake or another city. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Wieser 2018, 45-57. ISBN 978-3-85435-891-6.
Road to reconciliation in Bosnia? Commemorate the victims together. In: Science & Peace 2018-4, 43-44. ISSN 0947-3971. https://wissenschaft-und-frieden.de/artikel/weg-zur-versoehnung-in-bosnien/
“Impadronirsi del ricordo nel momento del pericolo”. In: Sergio Cosolo (a cura di): 25 Aprile. Tra storia e memoria. Vivere gli ideali della resistenza per difendere la democrazia in Italia e in Europa, San Canzian d'Isonzo 2017, 9-15.
Politics of remembrance and peace education. An approach or politika spominjanja in pedagogika miru. Približevanje. In: Jürgen Pirker (ed.): Carinthia and Slovenia: Separate ways - common future. Youth between homeland, nation and Europe. Koroška in Slovenija: Ločene poti – skupna prihodnost. Mladi o domovini, narodu in Evropi. Baden-Baden: Nomos 2015, 55-68 or 69-81. ISBN 978-3-8487-1123-9.
From a Culture of Memory to a Culture of Peace. Perspectives for the Alps-Adriatic Region. In: Bettina Gruber/Werner Wintersteiner (eds.): Learning Peace – an Integrative Part of Peacebuilding. Experiences from the Alps-Adriatic Region. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Drava 2014. (Yearbook Peace Culture 2014), 187-208. ISBN 978-3-85435751-3.
Cordula Wohlmuther/Werner Wintersteiner/Mira Wagner: Connected by the Trails that Used to Divide Us. Peace Trails in the Alps-Adriatic Region, in: Cordula Wohlmuther/Werner Wintersteiner (eds.): International Handbook on Tourism and Peace. Klagenfurt: Drava 2014, 321-334. ISBN 978-3-85435-713-1.
Emotion, memory, education. On the depth dimension of political education and peace education. In: Jürgen Pirker. We are Carinthia - Mi smo Koroška. Youth, encounters and political education in ethnic group issues (=EURAC research "Minorities and Autonomies", Volume 22). Baden-Baden: Nomos 2013, 21-31. ISBN 978-3-8329-7449-7.
Peace needs structures. Promote transcultural exchange and multilingualism in the Alps-Adriatic region. In: Georg Gombos (ed.): Multilingualism across borders. Models, concepts, experiences. Klagenfurt/Celovec and Merano/Meran: Drava and Alpha Beta 2013, 14-34. ISBN 978-887223-205-7.
"Carinthia is by the sea". Vision of a peace region. In: Wolfgang Petritsch/Wilfried Graf/Gudrun Kramer (eds.) (2012): Carinthia is by the sea. Conflict stories about trauma, power and identity. Klagenfurt/Celovec: Drava/Heyn, 524-545. ISBN 978-3-85435-647-9.
"Cypresses. War. Peace. Children". War and peace using the example of the Alps-Adriatic region. In: Bettina Gruber/Daniela Rippitsch (eds.): Model Peace Region Alps-Adriatic? Learning experiences in a European border region. Schwalbach/Ts.: Wochenschau Verlag 2011, 57-92. ISBN 978-3-89974696-9.
Neva Šlibar/Werner Wintersteiner: The Alps-Adriatic region as a challenge for didactic literature. A "transcultural" literature project with students from Slovenia and Austria. In: Annette Kliewer/Martina Čeřovská (eds.): Against unitary instruction. Learning German at the border. Technical University of Liberec 2011, 141-152. ISBN 978-80-7372-760-4.
BOOKS
Werner Wintersteiner / Georg Gombos / Daniela Gronold (eds.): Border traffic | Ména|mejà; Confini|confronti; Border dis|solutions: multilingualism, transculturality and education in the Alps-Adriatic region; Večjezičnost, transkulturnost in izobrazba; Plurlinguismo, transculturalità e istruzione; Multilingualism, Transculturality and Education. Klagenfurt: Wieser 2010. ISBN 978-3-85129-880-2, 279-282.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::
ESSAYS
Learning and teaching in the Alps-Adriatic region. Preliminary remarks on inter-regional teacher training. In: Rudolf Denk (ed.). On the way to Europe. Cross-border models of teacher training under the sign of European identity, culture and multilingualism. Herbolzheim: Centaurus 2005, 209-231. ISBN 3-8255-0528-6
BOOKS
Werner Wintersteiner (ed.). The new Europe is growing from below. Peace education as a culture of peace. Klagenfurt: Drava, 1994. ISBN: 978-3-85435-216-7.
::::::::::::::::::::
ESSAYS
Small Carinthian pornography. In: Wladimir Wakounig/Werner Wintersteiner (ed.). Concrete peace education. School practical handouts for peace education. Volume 4 (1996): With each other. Orientations for a multicultural Austria, 8-29.
Peace work and peace education in the Alps-Adriatic region. In: Werner Wintersteiner (ed.). The new Europe is growing from below. Peace education as a culture of peace. Klagenfurt: Drava, 1994, 16-22. ISBN: 978-3-85435-216-7.
Bettina Gruber/Werner Wintersteiner: Multiculturalism versus nationalism. Intercultural education in the Alps-Adriatic region. In: Devetak, Silvo/Sergej Flere/Gerhard Seewann (eds.) Small nations and ethnic minorities in the upheaval in Europe. Results of the International Scientific Conference in Maribor, Slovenia, 3-5. February 1992. Munich, Slavica Verlag Dr. Anton Kovač 1993, 267-272.
The Alps-Adriatic Peace Movement: Building Block for a Europe of the Regions. In: Birckenbach/Jäger/Wellmann (eds.). Yearbook Peace 1993. Munich: Beck 1992, 220-231. ISBN 3406340806.
Intercultural learning in the Alps-Adriatic region. In: BMUK (ed.). Future Forum II, Education in a new Europe. Vienna, 1991, 205-211.
Peace movement and foreign policy from below. Using the example of the Alps-Adriatic peace movement. in: Arno Truger/Thomas Macho (eds.). Central European Perspectives. Vienna: Verlag für Gesellschaftskritik, 1990, 121-140. ISBN 3851151291.
The leader as democrat, the reactionary as rebel, the demagogue as ombudsman. What makes Jörg Haider so successful? In: Aufrisse 3/1990, 33-37.
ESSAYS
Alps-Adriatic - a model for a peaceful Europe? In: Alps-Adriatic Alternative. The First Congress. A documentation. Graz 1989, 5-12.
The contribution of discotheques to international understanding. Intercultural learning in the Alps-Adriatic region. In: information on German didactics (ide), 2/1988, 115-127. ISSN 0721-9954.
For a nuclear-free and militarily thinned belt around Austria! 7 theses on Austria's responsibility for detente. In: Peace information from the ARGE of independent peace initiatives, Innsbruck, No. 8, spring 1984, 3-6.