“Without democracy, there is no space to protect minority rights”
Marta Bainka opening speech at the 10th Annual Summer School on National Minorities in Border Regions, a joint initiative of the European Centre for Minority Issues and Coppieters Foundation to bring young students, researchers and activists together for a full week to discuss and learn about minority rights.
Marta Bainka is Silesian and sits at Coppieters Foundation’s Bureau meetings. She delivered an opening speech during the 10th Annual Summer School on National Minorities in Border Regions, a joint initiative of the European Centre for Minority Issues and Coppieters to bring young students, researchers and activists together for a full week to discuss and learn about minority rights.
This year’s edition took place in Flensburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany and focussed on “Minorities and Referendums: Shaping or Being Shaped?”, 100 years after the Schleswig plebiscites which determined the future border between Germany and Denmark.
This year, we celebrate the centennial of Schleswig’s and the 99th anniversary of Upper Silesia’s plebiscites. As I reflect on these direct votes, I find that those meant to determine future borders do give the power back to the people on the one hand but create new borders that divide them on the other.
An element that minorities all around the world have in common is that they often believe that they are the only group facing problems and nobody can relate to them. Often, their lack of knowledge about other minorities’ struggles and the belief that the world is made from national States make minorities feel powerless and alone. Therefore, I believe all of you being here together and learning and sharing knowledge about minority issues is important.
Just two days ago, checking-in for my flight here I had to choose a nationality from the list. No surprise: mine was not there. But that is not the only problem. Drawing the equal sign between nationality and citizenship is a big issue, which in everyday life makes members of minorities feel excluded, like there is no space for them in society.
The current pandemic pushes us, as a society, to make changes. It forces us to redefine things such as our lifestyles or our economies. Maybe it could also be a good moment to redefine the way we think about the concept of nationality and what it means to us. Maybe we could also redefine ways in which to protect democracy in an age of growing populism and strengthening far-right movements. Because without democracy, there is no space to protect minority rights.
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