The sudden removal of Viennese balls from UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list is the result of a review by an Austrian commission group, stating the ball has links to far-right politics. The commission alleged that far-right groups and politicians such as neo-Nazis dominate the annual Ball des Wiener Korporations Ringes (WKR) Ball. The ball, which tends to draw protesters, has been determined to violate one of UNESCO’s key principles, “giv[ing] a special priority to tolerance and respect for other cultures, and to esteem for cultural diversity.”
In the future, a revised list of Viennese balls without connections to extremist political groups could be reestablished on UNESCO’s “intangible cultural heritage” list.
Read the full article from BBC News: Vienna ball dropped from UNESCO Austrian heritage list.
Thanks to Kristina Bauer for her assistance with this post.
wgsant
January 24, 2012
I’m not a fan of Neo-nazis, but who decides what is culture and what is not? We just saw a big flap over a piece of bronze from the buttock of a Saddam Hussein statue being touted as cultural property and this Austrian event is not cultural? Did Saddam show “tolerance and respect for other cultures”? Somebody is getting way ahead of themselves in deciding what the world should look like. Frankly, I think it’s all politically motivated and what is really intangible is any common sense behind it. UNESCO is a sad, sick joke.