on integration and isolation in post-national europe · tu felix europa nube: on integration and...

TuFelixEuropaNube:OnIntegrationandIsolationinPost-NationalistEuropeMay20,2016

Thisisatravelessayonpost-nationalism;onwhymulticulturalandmultilingualregionsoutperformthesedaysmonolithicnationstates;whyfarsightedEuropeansmustchooseopennessoverexclusioninaneraofglobalcompetition;whyweshouldblameEurope’scommercial, financial, industrial and political elites for the right shift in so manyelectorates;andfinallywhyAustrianshaveamodelroleresponsibilityintheupcomingsecond round of the presidential elections to vote for the environmentalist andeconomics professor Alexander van der Bellen instead of the airplane mechanic andGermannationalistNorbertHofer.DescribingSlovenia is likewritingontheSlavicbrotherofAustria; it is likewritingonAustria without naming it, because the only thing that seems to separate these twopeoples is their language. Experiencing Slovenia this late April is like picking up yetanothershardofabrokenvase;thebeautifulvasethatoncewastheAustrian-HungarianEmpire,whichStefanZweigsocompellinglydescribedinhisautobiographyTheWorldof Yesterday – Memories of a European: a cosmopolitan and polyglot melting pot ofpeoples who shared one of the most stunning places on Earth to live: the Central-Southeastern region of Europe coveringmost of the Alps and substantial parts of theEasternAdriaticSea.OurshorttriptoPiranandPortoroz,twosmalltownsontheAdriaticcoastofSloveniarefreshedmemories of a few childhoodholiday trips to the same area; the last time Irecallbeingtherewasin1996,exactly20yearsago.InterestinglyallthattimefarawayfromEuropehelpedmetosharpenanewperspectiveontherelationshipbetweenmyhome country and its neighbors. We are extremely blessed to join the wedding of abefriendedcouple,bothlivinginVienna;thegroom,afriendfromViennalawschool,isanative Austrian from the most Southern province of Carinthia, the bride a nativeSlovenian from the city ofMaribor, a part of Carniola, thenon costal part of Slovenia,whichissometimesstillcalledSouthernStyria.

TheirmarriageisnotonlyasuccessstoryoftheEuropeanUnion,becauseitisthroughthe EU that theymet in the first place, but it is also a love story of a post-nationalistEurope which has abandoned the borders that were set up along pseudo-linguisticfrontiersafterWWIandreinforcedafterWWII.Withboththesedemonsofhumanitynotonly the beauty of multi-ethnical co-existence, but also the splendor of tolerance to


different forms of faith came to an end, and made Europe in general and Austria inparticulartowhatmademeleavingit:anassemblyofmonolithiclanguageandculturechunks,whichmaketheirpeoplesvegetateinmentalincest;majoritiesconfinedtotheirownlanguagetribesandartificiallyconstrictedtoanation’sturf.Nomatterwhetheritisinlaw,cultureorpsychology,itisthegreyarea,themargin,theperiphery,thethinredlinedividinggeniusfrominsanity,whichmakeupthemostinterestingpartsofhumanactivity.EuropeingeneralandAustriainparticularweredeprivedfromsuchareasforamuchtoolongtime.InaneraofincreasingnationalismitwouldbeindeedatragedyifEuropewouldlooseaftertheAustrian-HungarianEmpireitssecondexperimentofpost-nationalism:theEU.Ifmarriagebetweenindividualsofthenationalstatesistheonlywaytoblurthebordersonceagain,thenIcanonlyaskEuropeanstointermarrylikeourfriendsdidinPiran:tufelixeuropanube!Ifanybody,thenitistheEUwhocanaffordtorunsuchanexperimentasstillbeingthelargestsingleeconomicpoweronthisplanet–twiceasbigasChinainnominalGDP - if alas a politicallyweak onewithout the characteristics of a state andtherefore – like the formerdiplomat SirRobertCooperdescribed in2012 - same, butdifferentfromtheHabsburgmonarchy.

Jean Monnet and Jean-Baptiste Schumann conceived the EU after WWII as asupranational organization to enforcepeaceon the continentby joining the industrialinfrastructureofGermanyandFrance.Whatistodayacomplex,multi-layeredconstructof28nationalstates,was1951nothingmorethanasingletreatytosharethemostbasicresourcesforthemakeofanindustrialnation:theEuropeanCoalandSteelCommunity.It isquite intriguingthat thebeginningsof theEUwereanentirelyWesternEuropeanendeavor,which bestows its probably unintentional blessings on the Eastern parts ofEurope only several decades later. One can criticize the EU today as an inefficientorganization,whichhasalreadylosttouchwithitscitizensandthusslipsintodecaylikeMingDynastyChina;Ididthis inmylasttravelessayonour2015transalpine journeyfromAustriatoFrance.ButonecanalsofocusonthepositivecontributionsoftheEUtoresolvecenturylongfrictionbetweenethno-linguisticgroupsthroughoutEurope,likeIdointhistravelessay.


When I look at Europe nowadays and 20 years ago, I see indeed two differentcontinents.Partof this isanatural change,whichoccursovera spanofmore than20years, but a big part can be attributed to the impact the European unification had onCentralEasternEurope.IassumethatEUinducedchangehasbeenrelativelylimitedtoWesternEuropeduringthesametime,becausethenationswhichaccededtheEUuntil1986 were not divided by two political systems for more than half a century. Theoutstanding achievement of the EU until 1995 was the integration of the Romancelanguage family nation states with the Germanic language nation states, in particularFranceandGermany,thenationstatesuccessorsoftwoimportantlanguageethnicities,whichhadbeeninrivalryformorethanamillenniumeversincetheEmpireofCharlestheGreatfellapart.Thisprocessofintegrationwasformallycompletedwiththeaccessof Austria to theEUon January 1, 1995. Since then there are in particular two socio-economiccurrentstriggeredbytheEuropeanunification,whichdeservemoreattention:

1. thepost-nationalunificationofGermanspeakingpeoplesand2. the slowbut consistentdisappearanceof the ironcurtain in the consciousand

subconsciousmindsetofEuropeans.Ifweweretospeakofpoliticaltectonics,thentheironcurtaintrailedforthebetterpartof the second half of the 20th century an area with outstanding seismic activity: thepolitic-continental plates of democratic capitalism and communist dictatorship, ofrelativeandlimitedfreedom.TheViennashotfilmTheThirdManbyGrahamGreenisthecinematographic incarnationof thatera, inwhichbothGermanyandAustriaweretheonlyEuropeancountries,whichweresplitinaWesternandEasternzone;africtionlinewhichlastedformallyuntiltheearly90ies,butcontinuestobepartofourEuropeanmindsetsuntil thisday.WesternGerman friends tellme that theystillputpeople inacertain drawer, when they make new acquaintances from former Eastern Germany;someconsciouslystruggletodismissprejudices,othersdon’tevenrealizethattheyarestill caught up in biased thinking. The majority of Austrians stigmatize their Eastern


neighbors in the former Habsburg crown lands in quite a similar way; a muchunderestimatedfeatureoftheAustriancollectiveunconscious.

In1994,whenIstartedlawschoolinVienna,Ifoundacity,whichlikeIstanbuldwelledin nostalgia. Itwas bereft ofwhat hadmade its splendor. According to Orhan Pamukhüzün is the singlewordwithwhich Istanbul can bebest described; sadness, sorrow,melancholywasprobably also thebestway todescribeViennaback in the90ies; andguess what? A substantial Viennese population with Turkish migration backgroundprobably understands, because Turkish is meanwhile the secondmost spoken nativelanguage inAustriaandGermany.Bothcities sharea similar fate: the turmoilofWWIleft themdeprivedof the landswhichmadethemintoregionalandculturalcentersofthenglobalimportance:theOttomanandtheAustrian-HungarianEmpire.InterestinglytherewasathirdEmpire,whichcollapsedwithinthesamedecadeandthereforepushedits capital Beijing into similar decay: the Chinese Qing Empire. Beijing, Istanbul andViennathereforesharesomequitecomplexhistoricaldynamics.Austria’s EU accession in 1995 marked the start of a new era; and I was blessed toparticipateinthisprocessattheveryfrontlinewithascholarshiptoSpainin1997/98.The Erasmus student exchange program shaped part of what I am now, but it neverhelped toovercome the isolation,which I always felt as anAustrian in general and inVienna in particular. Why would a student from Vienna have rather Madrid on hismental map than Prague or Ljubljana? The answer is the iron curtain and the slowreintegrationofEasternEurope.Hitherto theErasmusprogramwas in its initialyearsnotofferedinformercommunistnations.AustriansfledconsciouslyandsubconsciouslytowardstheWest,towardsWesternvaluesandthepromiseofAmericanprosperityandfreedom.Austria’saccessiontotheEUwidenedthegapwithitsEasternrelativesevenmore.WithmyfatherborninthenGermanoccupiedCzeskyKrumlovandmyselfhavinggrownup in thehilly landsNorthof theDanube,whicharegeologically identical toSouthernBohemia, I always had a strong inclination to knowmore about Slavic culture. EventhoughIspokeGermanasmymothertongueIalwayshadthefeelingthatourEasternEuropean neighbor countries were closer than the Germans in many ways. Thisperception led me many years ago to explain the difference between Germans andAustrian as such: Austrians are Germanminds in a Slavic (insert Slovenian, Croatian,Czech,etc)body.Ireceivedscientificproofforthistheoryonlyafewdaysago,because


theresultsofmyDNAheritagetestarenowavailable.IboughtthattestasaChristmaspresentlastDecemberformystep-brother,mywifeandmyselfforUSD200eachfromgenographic,aNationalGeographicspinoff,which isheadedbygeneticistDr.SpencerWells. I found that my ancestors are from all over the place; that my truly feltrelationshipwithevery–notonlyEuropean–humanbeingisscientificfact.

The most astounding fact was nevertheless, that my DNA, although of ancient EastAfricanandmorerecentNorthAfricanandCentralAsianheritage,mostresemblesthatof – guess what: German. Most Austrians like my step brother have a much higherproportion of Eastern European heritage than my DNA mix and resemble probablyrather the Czech, Slovenian or Polish average. The genographic test is warmlyrecommended to everybody who wants to understand his own heritage; it is inparticular recommended to xenophobic contemporaries like German nationalist partyFPÖadherentswhoarenotconsciousthatweareallrelatedtoeachother.

EventhoughsomepeoplelikeFPÖpresidentialcandidateMr.Hoferdon’tliketohearit,I also have to confirm what is commonly said: Carinthians (people of Austria’s mostsouthern province) speak German with a Slavic tongue. Driving our rental car fromVienna airport to Ljubljana, my favorite Austrian radio channel Ö1 fades away and Iswitch to ARS, a Slovenian channel with a similar program of classic music. AfteranotherhourofdrivingItellmywifethatIamtrulysurprisedthatnothinghaschanged


butthelanguage;theprogramisthesameandthemelodyofSlovenianisidenticalwiththemelodyofVienneseGerman.VienneseGermancomparedtostandardGermanistomyearslikeItaliancomparedtoSpanish.Itsoundsadiagoandleggeroinsteadofgraveand forte. I did always wonder where the difference between German and AustrianGermanderivesfromandalwaysendeduplookingatlinguistmapsliketheonebelow.Butsuchmapsneithershowthesubtletiesof language familyoverarchingmelodynorthehistoricaldevelopmentoftheperipherybetweenlanguagecenters.This journeytoSloveniatellsmethatViennese,theGermandialectwhichIfeelmostattachedto,soundsasitdoes,becauseitwasinfluencedoverhundredsofyearsbyitsSlavicandHungarianneighbors. Therefore it can justly be said, that excluding our Eastern relatives on aconsciousorsubconsciouslevelismerelyignoringapartofus.AustriansspeakGermanwithaSlavic-HungariantongueandAustrianswillneverbeGermans,eveniftheytryashard as Hitler did or Hofer will try to, because their genetic and cultural heritage isdeeplyEasternEuropean.

It nevertheless has to be acknowledged that since Austria’s EU accession in 1995wehavecomelikeneverbeforeclosertoaGreaterGermansolutionasproposedbyGermannationalistsseveraltimesthroughoutthehistoryofnationalism.Austriaisatleastsincethen pegged to Germany in commercial terms andmany Austrian companies likemyownemployerarehighlydependentfromtheirlargestexportmarket.WithoutGermanymostAustrianbusinessesincludingtheAustriantourismindustrywouldnotbeabletostayafloat.Thiseconomicdependencefacilitatedbyasimilarmothertonguehascomeatahighcost:MostcontemporaryAustriansarenotawareoftheirownpsycho-culturalheritageandaredrawnintoGermannationalistpropaganda;intothedownwardsspiral


of negative collective emotionsof hate and fear.Andon topof that ourpopulist rightwing politicians push their own peoples for the sake of their power into apsychologicallytraumaticexperience:rejectingourmulti-ethnicheritageaspartofourowncollectiveidentity.Until not too long ago I was a loyal believer that the 19th century decay of Austria-HungarywastoalargeextenttriggeredbyPrussia,culminatinginMetternich’sdefeattoBismarck.MyignorancetothecompletehistoricalinformationmademesusceptibletoanAustrianinferioritycomplex,whichisstillpartofourcollectiveunconscious.HenryKissinger’slastoeuvreWorldOrdertaughtmethatitwasactuallyFrenchforeignpolicyandRichelieu’sraisond’étatpolicywhichkepttheGermansovereignsapart forsuchalong time: For two and a half centuries – from the emergence of Richelieu in 1624 toBismarck’s proclamation of the German Empire in 1871 – the aim of keeping CentralEurope(moreorlessGermany,AustriaandNorthernItaly)dividedremainedtheguidingprincipleofFrenchforeignpolicy.MonnetandSchumannwouldhaveneverthoughtthattheEuropeanCoal andSteelCommunitywouldeventually sabotageover300yearsofsuccessfulGermandivision.Equallytheydidmostlikelynotenvisagethepossibilityofapost-national Europe, which effectively has the potential to reunite the culturalhemisphereofCentralEasternEurope,i.e.formerAustria-Hungary.

My intentions to learnCzech ingrammarschoolwere turneddown in1992.Althoughtheborder to theCzechRepublicwasamere40kilometersfrommyhometown,no Czech classes were offered insecondary education. Itwas then that Ichose Spanish instead. My frustrationsabout the Austrian education systemandtheignoranceofAustrianpoliticiansto the treasure of being multilingualwere confirmed during our 2009holiday in South Tyrol, which in itsessenceisacarboncopysituationoftheborder region of Southern Austria andSlovenia or Northern Austria and theCzech Republic: fertile grey areaswere

artificially cleansed into mono-linguistic white or black nation states. It is only AltoAdige, which preserved its multi-ethnic status due to political autonomy within theItalian federation. It isonly there that ItalianandGermanare taughtona compulsorybasisaslanguagesofthelocalethnicgroupsandEnglishascompulsoryEuropeanlinguafranca.IdescribedinanothertravelessayhowAustriaanditsneighborscouldprofitfromeachother if they were to adopt a similar multilingual cross-border interaction with eachother; if theywere to embrace the treasureof grey zones andwouldhave theguts toenlargethemagain.Politiciansarepaidtomakedecisionsinwiseanticipationofeventstocome;Austria’spoliticiansfailedtorecognizeinthelate80iestheimportanceofre-


connecting the germanified torso-Austriawith its Slavic andMagyar relatives. Insteadthesegreyzonescontinuedtobelimitedtotinystripesofborderareabetweennationstates;duringthecoldwarandironcurtaineratheywerecalledNiemandsland|terraenullius, because nobody lived in the approximately ten kilometerwide border stripesbetween the Soviet block andWestern countries. I still remember how strange it feltwhen I first crossed in the late 80ies or early 90ies with my father into thenCzechoslovakia. We drove a seemingly never ending country road surrounded bylushest and wildest green from the Austrian to the Czechoslovakian border controlstation.ThelandscapeneverthelessremainedsamewithwhatIknewfromgrowingupNorthoftheDanube.

The Niemandsland reflects most clearly what nationalism did to grey zones betweenethnicgroups. Insteadofvast regionsofmultiethnic fertilization they turn intoemptygapsbetweenethnicities;andpeoplewhohaveoncebeenathomeinbothcultureshavetomakeachoicewheretheyspendtherestoftheirdays,abandoningtheotherpartoftheir identity forever. Nationalism created these empty borders to separate us fromthem; but nobody knew the difference before its arrival. Nationalism is a humanconstructiongoneawry,puttingexclusionoverinclusion,hateoverlove.Perhapsitwasonce an important stepping-stone in the course of political evolution, but contrary toHenryKissinger,Iamconvincedthatthenationstatehaslostitsfunctionasthesmallestunitofaglobalorder.KissingerperceivestheriseofChina,supra-nationalorganizationslike theEUand fundamentalist Islamas threats to theWorldOrderwhich isbasedonthestructuressetupattheVienneseCongress1815andthePeaceofWestphalia1648.Ibelieve thathumanity is about to redefine theway it co-exits or about to slowly slideinto a similar traumatic experience likeWWI. The globalization of commerce and theInternetpushustowardsadifferentunderstandingofhowweorganizeorlives.Nationstates loose their tax revenues to techgiants,whichcircumnavigatenational lawsandterritories.Withaweakenedgripontaxation,anationstateloosesthemostimportantofitssovereignpowers:squeezingitscitizens.ToallcriticsofEuropeanintegrationandmostrecentlymigrationfromwarstruckWestAsianandNorthAfricancountries:don’tletpessimismandrejectionruleyourheart,butoptimism and kindness. It is true thatmistakes have beenmade; and itwould not bewrongtoblameAngelaMerkelandotherGutmenschpoliticiansforopeningtheborderswithoutestablishingclearEUwideregulations forasylum.Unregulated immigration is


notasignofhumanitybutofnaivety. Iwrote lastOctober that theChinesehouseholdregistrysystemwouldhavebeenanapplicablemethodtobalancethehumanaspectofwelcomingrefugeestoEuropewiththerationalaspectofconsistentlyintegratingtheserefugeeswithinaclearsetofrulestotheEUlabormarketandthesocietyatlarge.ButeventhoughthesemistakeshavebeenmadeandanevenmoreradicalrightshiftistheconsequenceintheEUmemberstates,thereishistoricandscientificevidencethatopen societies prevail over closed ones. Prosperous and multicultural Tang DynastyChina, which is considered even amongst nationalist Chinese as the peak of ChinesecivilizationasopposedtotheseclusionofMingDynastyChinawhicheventuallyleadtothe decay and collapse of the Qing Empire is considered to be such an outstandingexample of openness. The early United States which had e pluribus unum as their defactonationbuildingmottoareanequallyvalidexample,inparticularifwecompareitsthen governing principles with the current US policy of protectionism and equallyirritating populism. Modern cosmopolitan nation states like booming Malaysia orwealthy Australia are other examples, which can be brought forward in favor of theadvantagesofmultiethnicdemographics.Sloveniansareonthecontraryasmallandratherhomogenouspopulation.Neverthelessthey are described as well educated and hard working people, who have broughtforward amongst other brilliant minds the unofficial top dog of the current EUintelligentsia:theLjubljanabornandLondonresidingpsychoanalyticphilosopherSlavojZizek.Hisworkisdescribedasprodigiouswritingspanningawideareaofinterestsandalthough he is a controversial academic and public figure, by some loved by othershated,heiswithoutquestionanoutstandingmind.IhavesincequiteawhilethistheorythatZizekisnotonlyanoutstandingmind,i.e.awinnerinthegeneticjackpot,butalsoluckytohavebeenborninSloveniain1949.Thistheoryemergedfirstinsummer2013,whenIreadStephenJohnson’sbookWhereGood Ideas Come: A Natural History of Innovation. Johnson brilliantly answers thisquestionbyinvestigatingintothreedifferentspacesofoutstandinginnovativeactivity:thecity,thereefandtheweb.Heidentifiesatotalofsevenfactors,whicharecommontoall these hyper-innovative spaces, amongst them the adjacent possible and the liquidnetwork.Hedescribes theadjacentpossibleas such: themorepartsareavailable, themore likelynew things canbe created; thinke.g. of a soapbox race: youhave tobuildyourownracecart.Wherewillyouhavemoreinspiration;inyourownbasementoratalargejunkyard?InJohnson’swords:Thetricktohavinggoodideasisnottositaroundingloriousisolationandtrytothinkbigthoughts.Thetrickistogetmorepartsonthetable.AsforliquidnetworksJohnsonusesthemetaphorof19thcenturycoffeehouses,wherepeople of all walks of life and interest gathered to discuss the latest concepts ofenlightenment.Coffeehousesstillhavesomeattractiontoourspecies, inparticularifIthinkoftherecentcoffeeboominChina,butourliquidnetworkshavemovedalsototheWorldWideWeb, where digital forums like quora or aeon provide platforms, wherepeoplecanexchangetheirideas.Ifwe apply the adjacent possible and liquidnetworks to Slovenians in general and toSlavoj Zizek in particular, we will see that they speak a many lot of languages. The


average Slovenian speaks at least four languages, mostly Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian,Italian,GermanandEnglish.SlavojspeaksFrenchinsteadofItalian,becausehedidhissecond PhD in Paris back in the 1980ies. Now this might not seem a spectacularachievement considering that we have similarly high language proficiency in theBeneluxandquitesoinScandinaviancountries.IfwelookthoughonalinguisticmapofEurope, we will realize that there are only two countries which according to theircurrent national borders sit on the intersection between the three major Europeanlanguage families of Romance, Germanic and Slavic languages: Austria and Slovenia.BotharealsoborderingHungary,hometooneoftheminorEuropeanlanguagefamiliesUralic,HellenicandCeltic.

Now,ifweconsiderthelanguage,associologistdo,astheprimaryandmostimportantidentificationofmantoadheretoagroupofpeopleandifweassertthateachlanguageor at least each language family opens a door into a newuniverse of thought, then itseemstobeobvious,thattheSloveneshavequitealotonthetabletoworkwith.Zizekhad in addition to this language and culture mix the dynamics of going through theemergence of Slovenia as a nation state as it broke away from Tito’s Yugoslavia andchanged its governance system from communist to democratic. If you ask me, that’squite a lot on the table toworkwith, indeed. I am therefore not surprised that Zizekturned into a psychoanalytic philosopher of extraordinary understanding ofmankind.Whoifnothim?It’s fair to say that Slovenes are in general fluent in four or more languages, no notbecausetheyareallpsychoanalysts,butbecause likee.g. theFinsthereareonlya few


native speakers and a globalizedworld and its economic pressures require especiallytheresidentsofsmallcountriestolearnmorethanjustonelanguage.Austrianslostonthis opportunity, because they mistakenly perceived themselves consciously orunconsciouslybelongingtothelanguagewithmostnativespeakersinEurope:German.Andthatmade itsoeasy inmanyregards likewatchingGermantranslatedHollywoodmoviesorbeingabletodrawonextensiveGermanspeakingprintandonlinemedia.It’salsofairtosayhere,thathavingiteasyrarelyproducesoutstandingachievement.No.On thecontrary tosomemonarchistswithGermannationalaffiliationwhopostedthismappriortothefirstroundoftheAustrianpresidentialelection,Ihavenointention

tomakeAustriagreatagain.ButIwantto make a striking argument for post-nationalist Europe by pointing out theintellectual excellence, which theAustrian-Hungarian Empire created. Iwant every EU citizen to understandthatweneedto–reasonably-openoursocieties and harvest the low hangingfruits of Europe: a multi-cultural and

multi-lingualmix,whichcanberarely foundasecondtimeonthisplanet. It is theEU,which can thrive on the heritage that Austria-Hungary has left as a memory to thiscontinent.AndeventheBritswillhavetotaketheircontinentalEUpeersmoreseriouslysince theyarebereftof their colonial treasuresand thecountry is considered tobe inbotheconomicandintellectualdeclineifnotevenregression.ThequestionIaskissimple:whydidAustria-Hungaryproduceinthe19thandearly20thcentury some of the brightest minds on this planet? Friedrich Hayek, Leopold Kohr,JosephSchumpeter,FerdinandPorsche,JosefRessel,ViktorKaplan,AnselmFranz,KarlPopper, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Fritjof Capra, Ludwig Boltzmann, Carl Cori, Heinz vonFörster,KurtGödel,VictorHess,WalterKohn,RichardKuhn,ErnstMach,MaxPerutz,Erwin Schrödinger, Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Viktor Frankl, Karl von Frisch, OttoLoewi,WilhelmReich,PaulWatzlawick,HermannBahr,MaxBrod,RobertMusil,RainerMaria Rilke, Leon Askin, Gustav Klimt, Adolf Loos, Egon Schiele, OttoWagner, JohannStrauss, Arnold Schönberg, Alban Berg, Gustav Mahler, Heinrich Harrer, PeterAufschnaiter.Tonamethosewhoareprobablybestknownonly.AndwhyweretheremuchfewersuchprodigiesafterWWII?Theanswerisevensimpler:becausetheailingmonarchywasarelativelyopensocietywhichthenlikeSlovenianow,actedlikeafertileturfforideastoblossominanenvironmentwhereindeedmuchwason the table to work with. Vienna was a regional if not global marketplace for ideascreatedinandspilledoverfromfourdifferentlanguagefamilies,i.emindsets.Therewasanextraordinarynumberofpeoplewhowerefluentinseverallanguagesandproficientin the respective cultures.Thegeneralpopulationwas relativelywell educateddue tocompulsoryeducactionintroducedbyEmpressMariaTheresiaalreadyearlyinthe18thcentury. And above all, therewas a prolonged period of peace and therefore growingprosperity.WWIleftAustriabereftof itsmulti-lingualandmulti-ethnic identity;WWII


left it bereft of ist Jewish intellegentia; the remainder is an artificially created, notorganicallygrownandallowmetosay,dullGermanspeakingtorso.IftheEUcouldtaketheAustria-Hungarylegacyatleastintheabove-mentionedrespectsasanexampletofollow,itwouldhaveaclearroadmaptocompetewithintheratraceofinnovationsystemsinwhichalleconomiesseemtoengagerecently.China,meanwhileaforerunnerininnovationandeducationpoliciesissuedin2015a“MadeinChina2025”strategy paper, in which it wants to turn into a modern and most powerfulmanufacturing nation. Japan’s education minister called recently upon Japaneseuniversities to close or downsize their humanities faculties in favor ofmore practicalsubjects like robotics and automotive engineering: the two stronghold of JapaneseindustrywhichheseesthreatenedbyrisingChina.TheWhiteHousereleasedinOctober2015 its updated American Strategy for Innovation and explains the need for aninnovation strategy therein: For an advanced economy such as the United States,innovationisawellspringofeconomicgrowthandapowerfultoolforaddressingourmostpressing challenges as a nation – such as enabling more Americans to lead longer,healthier lives, and accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy. In fact, from1948-2012 over half of the total increase in U.S. productivity growth, a key driver ofeconomicgrowth,camefrominnovationandtechnologicalchange.

Humanactivityalwaystakesplaceinfourlayers:theindividual,theorganizational,theregimeandthenichelayer.Iftheregimesofleadingeconomiesbattlewitheachotherbypromulgating innovation and education policies, a substantial impact will be felt bylargeandsmallorganizationsaswellasindividuals.Suchpolicieschangeourlives.Thequestionisifthefargoalsofourleadersareenlightenedandservetheultimatepurposeofmakinglifebetterandmoreenjoyable.Ihaveseriousdoubtsifthereareanypoliticalandentrepreneurialdecisionmakesleftwhoputthevaluesofgrowthandadvancementofmankindat theverybasisof all their actions.Twoauthorshave recently explainedthat mankind is on the wrong track both in economic as well as in technologicalconcerns.TheFrencheconomistThomasPikettyelaborated inhis2013titleCaptial in


the 21st Century, that the financial and political elites steer us from the regime layertowards a wealth inequality only comparable with the era shortly before WWI. TheAmerican entrepreneur andwriterMartin Ford showed in his 2015 book TheRise ofRobots–TechnologyandtheThreatofaJoblessFuturethatwewillfaceinthecoming20-30 years an annihilation of the labormarket as we know it; a transitionwhich isdriven by the niche or technology layer and its advances in automation. These twodynamics are already underway today and constitute themain reasons for the rightshift intheUSandEUelectorates.People loosetheir jobstomachines; theyfindotherbutlesspaidjobswithfewersocialbenefits.FordwritesthatsincetheGFC2008morethan half of the profit gains in the US economy went to the top 1% of the incomepyramid.Yes,theeconomiesintheWesternhemispheredidrebound,butattheexpenseof themiddleclass.Bothnewcybernetic technologiesandthe financialsystemarenotaboutcreatingmorelivablesocieties,butaboutmoreofeverythingforthosefewatthetopofthepyramid.Itisthiselite,whichistoblameforwherewegoandwhywehavetofacearadicalrightshiftinmanyindustrializednations.With the industrial sector having shrunk to below 20% of the work force and stilldeclining, it does not come as a surprise that the main political movement of theworkingmasses, socialism is loosing support. Those who have been ousted from thelabor market or who experienced the coldness of our financial world have naturallysought refuge with another group. Nowadays it seems, only nationalistic parties canofferthatsenseofsecurity.Afterall,wevotewithourguts,notwithourbrains.ThegrandoldmanofforeignpolicyHenryKissingerconcludeshisoeuvreWorldOrderwithsomewiserecommendationsfortheafterworld.Hewrites:IntheInternetage,worldorderhasoftenbeenequatedwiththepropositionthatifpeoplehavetheabilitytofreelyknowandexchangetheworld’s information,thenaturalhumandrivetowardfreedomwilltakerootandfulfillitself,andhistorywillrunonautopilot,asitwere. But philosophers and poets have long separated the mind’s purview into threecomponents: information, knowledge, andwisdom. The Internet focuses on the realm ofinformation, whose spread it facilitates exponentially. Ever more complex functions aredevised,particularlycapableofrespondingtoquestionsoffact,whicharenotthemselvesalteredbythepassageof time.Searchenginesareabletohandle increasingspeed.Yetasurfeit of information may paradoxically inhibit the acquisition of knowledge and pushwisdomevenfurtherawaythanitwasbefore.ThepoetT.S.Eliotcapturedthisinhis“Chorusesfrom‘TheRock’”:

WhereistheLifewehavelostinliving?Whereisthewisdomwehavelostinknowledge?Whereistheknowledgewehavelostininformation?

Communication technology threatens todiminish the individual’s capacity foran inwardquest by increasing his reliance on technology as a facilitator andmediator of thought.Information at one’s fingertip encourages themindset of a researcher butmaydiminish


themindsetofaleader.Societyneedstoadaptitseducationpolicytoultimateimperativesinthelong-termdirectionofthecountryandinthecultivationofitsvalues.Europeisinacrisis.Europeansareinacrisis.Iftheywanttoovercomethiscrisis,theyhave to embrace their past and strive towards a humanistic future. The globalcompetition of knowledge economies does not make a halt before the EU borders, itdoes not recognize such borders, neither does international taxation law. EUpolicymakersandcitizensalikemustunderstandthatonlyinopennessandintegration;in mutual understanding and cross-cultural fertilization lies the future of peace andprosperity.This isnotonlyvalidfortheEU;thisassessmentalsoholdstruefortheUSand Japanwhich are evenmore than Europe shaken in their self-understanding as aregionallyrespectivelygloballyrulingpower.

Left:presidentialcandidateDr.AlexandervanderBelleninasocialmediapostingcommemoratingtheliberationoftheconcentration camp Mauthausen 71 years ago and calling upon the responsibility of citizens for a free and peacefulAustria.Right:presidentialcandidateNorbertHoferafterthenationalassemblyelections2013withacornfloweronhisjacket’sreversindicatinghisGermannationalistlineofthought.

The similarities between the American presidential election and the Austrian arethereforequitestriking.Theconservativecenterhaslostitssupportfrommostcitizensin favorof quite extreme candidates. ItsBernie Sanders andDonaldTrump there andAlexander van der Bellen and Norbert Hofer here, who stand in both countries forinclusionorisolation,forkindnessormockery;ifnotevenopenaggression.Formypart,IhavealreadymademydecisioninfavorofinclusionandhaveballotedforMr.vanderBellen,butIdonotblamethosewhowillvotethiscomingSundayforMr.Hofer,iftheydonotknowbetter. IblametheAustrian,EuropeanandWesternelites formakingthesamemistakesagain.Asiftwoworldwarsshouldnothavebeenenoughofalesson.IwanttogivethelastwordtotheAmericanfatherofpositivepsychology,tothegreatpsychologistAbrahamMaslow,whoissowellrememberedfordescribingtheneedsofourspeciestoliveacontentlife.Hewroteinhis1964titleReligions,ValuesandPeak-Experiences about value free education. It is education, not immigration or defense


policies where our politicians have tomake a difference for the future if wewant tochangethecourseofoursocietiesforthebetter:ThemostcharitablethingwecansayaboutthisstateofaffairsifthatAmericaneducationisconflictedandconfusedaboutitsfargoalsandpurposes.Butformanyeducators[andIhavetoincludeheretheparentastheprimaryeducatorofhischildren],itmustbesaidmoreharshlythattheyseemtohaverenouncedfargoalsaltogetheror,atanyrate,keeptrying to. It is as if they wanted education to be purely technological training for theacquisitionofskills,whichcomeclosetobeingvalue-freeoramoral(inthesenseofbeingusefuleitherforgoodofevil,andalsointhesenseoffailingtoenlargepersonality).Thereare also many educators who seem to disagree with this technological emphasis, whostress theacquisitionofpureknowledge,andwho feel this tobe the coreofpure liberaleducationandtheoppositeoftechnologicaltraining.Butitlookstomeasifmanyoftheseeducatorsarealsovalue-confused,anditsseemstomethattheymustremainsoaslongastheyarenotclearabouttheultimatevalueoftheacquisitionofpureknowledge.PerhapsIcanmakemypointclearer,ifIapproachitfromtheotherend,fromthepointofview of the ultimate goals of education. According to the new third psychology[comparabletoMartinE.Seligman’spositivepsychology],thefargoalofeducation–asof psychotherapy, of family life, ofwork, of society, of life itself – is to aid the person togrow to fullest humanness, to the greatest fulfillment and actualization of his highestpotentials, thishisgreatestpossible stature. Inaword, it shouldhelphim tobecome thebestheiscapableofbecoming,tobecomeactuallywhathedeeplyispotentially.Whatwecallhealthygrowthisgrowthtowardthisfinalgoal.Itisourleader’sresponsibilitytosupportmankindingrowingtowardsthisgoal.Itistheelectorate’sresponsibilitytovoteforaleader,whohasthevaluesandcompetenciestotransform society therefore. But both won’t succeed without the might of financial,politicalandcommercialelites.

knutk.wimbergerShanghai,FudanUniversity,20.05.2016

on integration and isolation in post-national europe · tu felix europa nube: on integration and...

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