The Bridge to Eternity

1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-148
Author(s):  
Oskar Gruenwald ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Spiritual Renewal ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Cultural Policies ◽  
Mountain Village ◽  
South Slavs

This essay considers Medjugorje, a small mountain village in Bosma-Hercegovina, as an icon or a bridge between God and man. The contemporary quest for national roots in the Balkans has led to cultural policies in the Yugoslav successor states which deny all common bonds among the South Slavs, resulting in a Kafkaesque civil war. Drawing on the crisis of liberal democracy and community in the West, the essay explores the prospects for peace in the former Yugoslavia, as reflected in Our Lady of Medjugorje's call for moral and spiritual renewal. It concludes that the quintessential, universal. Christian, and ecumenical Medjugorje message of peace represents a bridge to eternity, just as the historic Old Bridge in Mostar and the Višegrad Bridge over the Drina River are symbolic of a common South Slav history and destiny.

The Third Yugoslavia

1998 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-141
Author(s):  
Oskar Gruenwald ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Historical Memory ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Spiritual Renewal ◽  
The South ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
South Slavs ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation ◽  
Individual Human

This essay offers hope that beyond the specter and tragedy of the Yugoslav civil war lie the prospects for peace, democratization, economic and political reconstruction, and the evolution of a democratic Third Yugoslavia. But, to realize this hope, there is a need for the development of a genuine civic culture and civil society in the Yugoslav successor states based on democratic values, pluralism, and tolerance, rooted in the conception of universal human rights, constitutionalism, and equality before the law. The South Slavs may have to retrieve their historical memory which predates the fateful divisions along ethnic, cultural, and religious lines. The Swiss model of autonomous cantons, four major languages, neutrality, but a pronounced common national identity is also instructive for democratic prospects of a possible future South Slav (con-) federation and peace in the Balkans, A proposed Illyrian Constitution would bind the South Slavs together, reconnecting individual human rights to community. Above all, moral and spiritual renewal are the necessary precondition for peace and reconciliation, as well as economic and political reconstruction and the genesis of a democratic Third Yugoslavia.

Afghanistan

2019 ◽  
pp. 95-106
Author(s):  
Anthony Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Concerted Effort ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
Central Highlands ◽  
Soviet Invasion ◽  
The Church

With Turkic and Tajik peoples to the north, Tajiks and Pashtuns in the west, ethnic Hazaras in the central highlands and the Pashtuns to the south and east, Afghanistan’s diversity stems from its history as a regional crossroads. Christianity began in Afghanistan in the fourth century and was later revived by missionaries in the frontier areas, but there was little concerted effort to spread the faith until after 1945, when the Pashtun monarchy sought to modernise Afghanistan. However, the Soviet invasion prompted fighters to repel the forces under the banner of Islam. Amidst a civil war, Christian NGO’s continued until expelled by the Taliban in 2001. The new government allowed Christian NGO’s to expand into new areas of the country. For the sake of believers’ security the most visible fellowships have been limited to foreigners. Most find it difficult to sustain everyday life in the country while openly professing Christianity due to ostracism from society. While Islam has been linked with Afghan identity, worldview has begun to change. Unfortunately, there has been an exodus of Afghan believers, usually after social and legal ostracism. Nevertheless, due to sacrifices by Afghan believers, the church is growing in numbers despite all the challenges.

The Second Crusade as Seen by Contemporaries

Traditio ◽  
1953 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 213-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giles Constable
Keyword(s):  
North Coast ◽  
Holy Land ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The North ◽  
River Elbe ◽  
Medieval Europe ◽  
South Shore ◽  
Naval Force

The years between 1146 and 1148 were signalized in the annals and chronicles of Medieval Europe by Christian campaigns on all fronts against the surrounding pagans and Moslems. The most important of these was directed towards the Holy Land, against the Moslems, who had recently seized Edessa. It consisted of no less than five expeditions. The two largest armies, commanded by the Emperor Conrad III and King Louis VII of France, followed the same route overland across the Balkans to Constantinople; both met with crushing defeats in Asia Minor and finally reached the Holy Land, as best they could, by land and sea. A third force, under Amadeus III of Savoy, moved down Italy, crossed from Brindisi to Durazzo, and joined the army of Louis at Constantinople late in 1147. In August of the same year a naval expedition led by Alfonso of Toulouse left the South of France and arrived in Palestine probably in the spring of 1148. At the same time, a joint Anglo-Flemish naval force sailed along the north coast of Europe, assisted the King of Portugal in the capture of Lisbon, proceeded around the peninsula early in 1148, attacked Faro, and presumably reached the Holy Land later that year. Meanwhile, in the northeast, four armies co-operated in a campaign against the pagan Wends across the river Elbe: a Danish army joined the Saxons under Henry the Lion and Archbishop Adalbero of Bremen in an attack on Dubin; another, larger, army led by Albert the Bear of Brandenburg and many other temporal and spiritual lords advanced against Demmin and Stettin; a fourth expedition, finally, under a brother of the Duke of Poland attacked from the southeast. In 1148, on the south shore of the Mediterranean, a powerful fleet under George of Antioch extended the control of Roger II of Sicily over the entire littoral from Tripoli to Tunis. In the West, four campaigns were directed against the crumbling power of the Almoravides. The Genoese in 1146 sacked Minorca and besieged Almeria. During the following year, the Emperor Alfonso VII of Castile advanced south through Andalusia and captured Almeria with the aid of a strong Genoese fleet, which in 1148 sailed north and joined the Count of Barcelona in his campaign against Tortosa. In the previous year, Alfonso Henriques of Portugal had captured Santarem and secured the assistance of the Anglo-Flemish fleet for an attack on Lisbon, which fell late in 1147.

Der Wiener Studentenverein Bar Giora und sein Einfluss auf die Entstehungsgeschichte des Zionismus im kroatischen und südosteuropäischen Raum des Habsburgerreiches

Aschkenas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-395
Author(s):  
Martina Bitunjac
Keyword(s):  
Great Influence ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Nation State ◽  
The South ◽  
Regional Networks ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
University Of Vienna ◽  
The University ◽  
Student Association

Abstract The establishment of the Bar Giora Zionist student association at the University of Vienna in 1904 was an important factor in the development of Zionism in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The Verein jüdischer Akademiker aus den südslavischen Ländern (Association of Jewish Alumni from the South Slavic Countries) and its committed members had great influence on the transfer of the idea of a Jewish nation-state to the South Slavic region by creating multicultural supra-regional networks, organising conferences and publishing nationally oriented journals. The young Zionists from the Balkans also faced strong criticism from assimilated Jews. This paper explores the origins of Bar Giora, its self-understanding and its impact, as well as the assimilationist challenges faced by the Zionists.

Federalism in Yugoslavia

1955 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 416-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Frankel
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Political Consciousness ◽  
The South ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
South Slavs

Yugoslav federalism does not begin with the federal constitution adopted eight years ago. Federal ideas among the South Slavs followed the stirrings of nationalism and the struggle for independence at the end of the eighteenth and early in the nineteenth century as the logical solution for a situation in which the various tribes wished to be united but not unitary.With the exception of the Serbian Highlanders in Montenegro, who had been enjoying a precarious independence since 1697, the South Slav tribes were divided between the multi-national Ottoman and Hapsburg Empires. They generally showed little political consciousness either as separate tribes or as members of the Slav family. The first integrating movement among them began in the last three decades of the eighteenth century in the shape of vague Pan-Slav ideas stimulated by the Russian advance towards the Balkans. Pan-Slavism appealed both to many South Slav intellectuals and to the illiterate masses, but was too vague and too weak to counteract the various religious, linguistic, political, and historical differences among the tribes. Moreover, the relations between the three major tribes were disturbed by violent territorial disputes: Macedonia was the bone of contention between the Serbs and the Bulgarians, while Bosnia and Herzegovina were disputed by the Serbs and the Croats.

scholarly journals Orientalism, Balkanism and the Western Viewpoint in the Context of Former Yugoslavia

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 311
Author(s):  
MA. Atdhe Hetemi
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
The People ◽  
The Way

This research paper examines the role of the Orientalist and Balkanist discourse in the Former Yugoslavia with a particular focus on Albanians. Here, Western Orientalist and Balkanist stereotypes of the Former Yugoslavia are examined arguing that the Orientalism and Balkanism of people living in the Former Yugoslavia is and was viewed differently from the standard by the West and by the people living in the Former Yugoslavia in the way how they perceive each other. The first part of this research paper treats the Orientalism and Balkanism in the context of people living in the Former Yugoslavia, in general.The second part of this research paper analyzes the case study of the application of the Orientalist and Balkanist theoretical lenses on one of the nations living in the Former Yugoslavia, namely Albanians. Here, some explorations and thoughts are provided on how Albanians define themselves and how they were perceived by the South Slavic majority living in the Former Yugoslavia.There are three authors and, subsequently, three seminal works that shall serve as pillars of this theoretical analysis: concepts of Edward Said’s “Orientalism,” Bakic-Hayden’s theories on Orientalist variations and nesting Orientalism, and Maria Todorova’s ground-breaking analysis of the external practices of Balkans representation. These provide a useful theoretical framework through which to explore the distribution of the Orientalist and Balkanist discourses in Former Yugoslavia.

scholarly journals The Balkans and Syria’s Civil War: Realities and Challenges

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 357
Author(s):  
MA. Perparim Gutaj
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
The West ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The Future ◽  
Prime Objective ◽  
Media Reports ◽  
Balkan States

The prime objective of this research paper is to look at the realities and challenges confronting the Balkan states and societies in light of Syria’s civil war. By examining the mobilization process of Balkan militants who are joining Syria’s rebel cause, especially the Islamic radical groups linked to al-Qaeda, this paper proposes a model that explains why and how Balkan militants are joining the fight in Syria. Drawing upon reliable media reports, personal observations, academic accounts, and other consistent sources, this paper argues that Balkan militants are joining Syria’s rebel cause because foreign Islamic radical groups (that have been operating in the Balkans since the early 1990s) have successfully indoctrinated them. This paper challenges the argument that Islam in the Balkans is a threat to the region, and the claim that Balkan Islam and Muslims in the region are becoming an increasing threat to the West. The central findings of this paper exemplify that the future of Balkan militants is bleak and that they will be confronted with a massive modern and democratic resistance that offers them nothing but reintegration into Balkan Islam, their natural “religious nest.” Notwithstanding the trends related to Syria’s civil war, Balkan Muslims belong to the West, culturally and mentally. 

The Oriental Menace Comes to the South

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Hinnershitz
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Civil War ◽  
West Coast ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Economic Opportunities ◽  
Early Twentieth Century

This chapter follows Chinese and Japanese who migrated from the West Coast to the South following the Civil War through the early twentieth century. Both Chinese and Japanese laborers and farmers sought economic opportunities and reprieve in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas from growing anti-Asian hysteria. However, when they arrived in the South, the reality failed to live up to their expectations. Although small in number, the very presence of Chinese and Japanese in the South triggered a fear among southerners of a yellow invasion of their territory. In response, southerners’ distaste for Asian settlers later gave way to legislators passing laws and amending constitutions to prohibit aliens ineligible for citizenship (Asians) from owning property in their states.

Making different choices in the Balkan wars of the 1990s: Bosnia in 1992–95 and Kosovo in 1999

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
The West ◽  
Muslim Population ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Balkan Wars ◽  
Break Up

The historic Russian interest in the Balkans cmpeted with the American-led, changed NATO mission to generate considerable conflict in the immediate aftermath of the 1991 break-up of Yugoslavia. During the ensurng Balkan Wars, American and Russian interests clashed continuously during the Bosnian civil war of 1992-95. Further, the distinctiveness of the Kosovo republic within the shrunken Yugoslavia intensified these American-Russian differences. NATO air strikes took place both under the sponsorship of Operation Allied Force in Bosnia and in response to Serbian military incursions its own republic of Kosovo that included a 90% Muslim population. Conversations continued sporadically after completion of the NATO-Russian Founding Act in 1997, but military initiatives by the West threw them off the tracks.

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