The 5th European Tolerance Talks 2019 in Carinthia have set a new visitors’ record. Nearly 800 participants took part in the three-day dialogue forum in Fresach, another 200 attended the tourism forum and the opening reception in Villach. More than 500 people watched the discussions over the Internet. A record of the more than 20
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The chances and risks of digitalisation and the applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Europe were discussed by a well-attended panel of experts at the last Panel of the Economic Forum on Friday afternoon. The technology researcher Petra Schaper-Rinkel of the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) warned against caution to possible monitoring by sophisticated algorithms.
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Demographic changes such as population decline, emigration and outflow of resources from rural areas and appropriate responses and counter-recipes were the central themes of the Economic Forum on Friday afternoon. It turned out that attractive education and good jobs alone are not enough. The speakers agreed quickly that the rural area for locals can only
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The power of global capital, the looming sale of natural resources and a lack of awareness of the protection of agricultural land were the focus of the Economic Forum at the European Tolerance Talks 2019 on Friday morning. The panel discussion saw the need for action in particular in politics that has so far failed
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The European Tolerance Award 2019 for Democracy and Human Rights of the Austrian PEN Club and the City of Villach goes to the author Sonia Boumad, who was born in Lebanon and since 2007 has found a new home in Austria. The award was presented Thursday evening 6th June during the European tolerance talks in
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Brexit, new nationalisms and the climate uprising of youth were the focus of the European tolerance talks on Thursday afternoon. It became generally clear that the UK’s exit from the EU, the strengthening of European rights and the growing social and environmental problems need to redefine the continent. It was also agreed that creation myths
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The discussion of whether open (boundless) or closed (isolated) state systems are more successful in the long term is as old as the history of Europe itself. While the ancient Greeks never granted land and civil rights to strangers and immigrants (metics), in Roman Empire even slaves become citizens. The origin of foreign soil was
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The European Tolerance Talks 2019 were ceremoniously opened in the Carinthian mountain village of Fresach on June 6th. In bright weather, numerous representatives of politics, economics and culture gathered in the Protestant church to hear the eagerly awaited opening speech of Italian linguist Maurizio Bettini on the roots and identity of Europeans. The university professor
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“Adapting to mass tourism has nothing to do with cultural ‘prostitution’: Hospitality means flexibility towards guests without denying one’s own values, which is why tourism centers like Zell am See have to approach their visitors instead of burdening them even if they arrive in large numbers,” said Nadine Scharfenort, member of the board of the
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People who are looking for a new start in another country can not be stopped. They are looking for a better life and new perspectives, but also answers to questions about their homeland and the living conditions there. Only by sharing with others do they gain certainty and understanding. But they also put up with
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Clearance of land, loss of home and alienation in one’s own country – these are the major topics of the 5th European tolerance talks, which take place from 5 to 8 June 2019 in Villach and the nearby Carinthian mountain village Fresach. The four-day dialogue forum will open on Wednesday at 14.00 with the Tourism
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Right-wing parties provide an outdated picture and false narrative of Europe. They transfigure the nation and the warlike past and declare everything foreign to be an enemy. “The idea of ​​a united Europe, in which different cultures live together peacefully, therefore has to be retold again and again, and many do not understand what the
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Agriculture can benefit from growing urbanization and the spread of cities. But for this purpose, the obstruction of agricultural land in the wider environment must stop. Only if there are enough fertile soils farmers can supply enough of the urban space and thus secure their economic future, believes Kurt Weinberger, CEO of the Austrian Hail
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Austria benefits from mountains and lakes and a culture of hospitality that has been well maintained and developed over decades. But more and more people are worried about sell-outs and alienation in their own country. Experts at the International Tourism Forum Villach, which takes place on June 5 in the afternoon at the Hotel Holiday
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Digitization and automation offer the opportunity to save rural areas from emigration, thinning and brain drain. Above all, crafts and agriculture could benefit from new technologies. But that is only possible with a strong digital infrastructure. This is the conclusion of futurologist, technology and innovation expert Petra Schaper-Rinkel of the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT),
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When it comes to the survival of humanity, securing natural space and soils become more and more important. To do this, today’s economic system must free itself from unrestrained competition and growth thinking and redefine it altogether. Economic growth just for the sake of growth is nonsensical. The starting point must be the question: What
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Austrian tourism needs clichés like Wiener Schnitzel, Dirndl, Schuhplattler and Lippizaner. Common images of home are a “well-functioning currency” in the application of guests. However, it is important that these pictures also correspond to reality, because clichés are also promises in tourism, says the Tyrolean folklorist and author Elsbeth Wallnöfer, who will adress the tourism
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The German-British literary scholar Rüdiger Görner, one of the star guests of this year’s European tolerance talks in Fresach, will speak about the difficult relationship of the British to the European continent and in particular to the European Union. In an interview with the news agency pressetext, the sympathetic literary connoisseur let us see what’s
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The well-known German business journalist Hans-Jürgen Jakobs, bestselling author of “Who Owns the World: The Power Relationships in Global Capitalism”, will speak on Friday June 7 at the European Tolerance Talks in Fresach on the risks of selling land, economy and Industry. If the interests of the rich and powerful of this world are at
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The classical philologist and anthropologist Maurizio Bettini from the University of Siena (Italy) will open the European Tolerance Talks 2019 with a keynote on the topic “Home Abroad Earth – Who owns Europe?” on the 6th of June in the Carinthian mountain village Fresach. Born in Brixen (South Tyrol), his latest book “Roots: The Deceptive
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The organizing team of Denk.Raum.Fresach and its cooperation partners presented the program of the European Tolerance Talks 2019 on Tuesday 22nd January in Klagenfurt. On the podium were Villach City Councilor Harald Sobe, Fresach-President Hannes Swoboda, psychotherapist Margarethe Prinz-Büchl, Superintendent Manfred Sauer and PEN Vice-President Harald Kollegger. Among other things, the preview stated that the
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At the memorable Riedergarten Villa in Klagenfurt, currently hosting the office “For Forest”, Denk.Raum.Fresach held its retreat on January 22, 2019 to mark out the program guidelines for the next three years until 2022. It showed that the team wants to step even more than before “from word to deed”. In concrete terms, steps to
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As part of a panel discussion of Club Carinthia DRF chairman Manfred Sauer and president Hannes Swoboda presented the program of the 5th European Tolerance Talks 2019 on Tuesday evening, which will take place from 5 to 8 June this year. Mr. Sauer spoke of a “big event” before Pentecost and thanked all partners and
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9th December 2017, a great day for the organizers of the European Tolerance Talks. The Carinthian Human Rights Award 2017 was awarded to the “Denk.Raum.Fresach” for its efforts towards tolerance and humanity. The DRF was selected from 17 submissions, and together with the entire DRF board Superintendent Manfred Sauer got the award in the Hall
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Federal Minister Thomas Drozda, friend and promoter of the European Tolerance Talks, signed the Freach Freedom Declaration Charter in the presence of Hannes Swoboda and Peter Nageler from Think.Tank.Fresach. For Drozda, the declaration, adopted in June, is a great opportunity to put the concept of freedom and civil liberties on a new basis for understanding.
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Former Federal President Heinz Fischer signed the “Freedom Charter of Fresach” on 3 July 2017 in Vienna. In a conversation with the President of the European Tolerance Talks, Hannes Swoboda, Fischer underlined the importance of individual and common freedom for democracy and peace. Only those who are free from state paternalism, oppression and dependency can
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The participants in the European Tolerance Talks 2017 in the Carinthian mountain village of Fresach have drawn up a Declaration of Freedom which will be presented to the provincial government in Klagenfurt, representatives of the federal government in Vienna and later the European Parliament in Brussels. The “Fresach Freedom Charta” was created by intensive discussions
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The “Young Poetry Slam” in Fresach 2017 was dedicated to the Motto “freedom for whom and for what”. The poetry contest was launched this year by a star guest from Germany. Daniel Wagner from Heidelberg delivered a parody on the PEGIDA movement right from the start – and out of competition. With his “Käsida” tirade
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Peter Heintel, professor for philosophy and group dynamics at the Alps-Adriatic University of Klagenfurt for many years, spoke in Fresach about the pros and cons of freedom. Freedom has developed over the centuries from dependencies. It is therefore associated with positive feelings and is regarded as an instrument of self-empowerment. In authoritarian systems and dictatorships
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The controversial psychoanalyst Prof. Klaus Ottomeyer in his contribution to the Tolerance Talks warned that the whole life is determined by the logic of “Homo Oeconomicus”. He criticized the fact that exchange values ​​such as money or gold and their accumulation today are the most important values ​​in our society, while living values ​​such as
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Europeans will only exist in the global village if they concentrate on their strengths, reject national egoism and understand digitization as an opportunity. Free trade, free markets and free entrepreneurship are the main drivers of prosperity. In an increasingly interconnected world, they can only be secured and expanded through MORE instead of less freedom. Protectionist
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Within the framework of the European Tolerance Talks 2017 PEN Club Austria celebrated the 70th anniversary of its re-establishment with a reading and a “long night of literature” in the Carinthian mountain village of Fresach. PEN President Helmuth A. Niederle and Vice President Kurt F. Svatek therefor asked for the issuance of 20 Nansen passports
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Decades of unresolved promises made by the democratic forces have led to the emergence of more and more people. The success of authoritarian and illiberal politics in Europe, therefore, can not be attributed solely to propagandist attitudes. In Fresach, experts analyzed the concept of right-wing populist politics to position themselves as a patron of protection
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“Freedom can exist in a country only if it is also a paradise for heretics.” With this remarkable sentence, the Protestant bishop Michael Bünker opened the European Tolerance Talks in 2017, which also included the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. However, liberty in Luther’s time had a completely different meaning and would probably not be
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The heads of the Carinthian state government and the churches recognized the European tolerance talks as an “extraordinary event for Austria and Europe”. “The tolerance talks are a great enrichment for the country,” praised Carinthian Gouvernor Peter Kaiser. Many important impulses would emerge from Fresach. Villach’s mayor, Günther Albel, spoke of “a strong sign that
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Freedom is being challenged daily anywhere in the world, not only in far-off countries, but in the middle of Europe, as recent developments in Poland and Hungary show. More urgent than ever, therefore, we need political education as an obligatory teaching subject to consolidate democratic consciousness. Ronald Barazon, the disputable chief editor, said this in
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This is the way to look at fates of people who are confronted with war. Leyla Imret left her Turkish hometown Cizre as a four-year-old girl, after her father had been shot under suspicion for the Kurdish PKK. Twenty years later, she returned from Germany and will be elected mayor by overwhelming majority in 2014.
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“Freedom as an innovation driver for the economy” is the topic of the European Tolerance Talks on 2 June. On the podium of the Entrepreneurship Day there are among others Economic Chamber Vice President Sylvia Gstättner, Infineon CEO Sabine Herlitschka, demographer Elisabeth Gruber and the beauty entrepreneur Katja Wagner, who became known as “Waxing Lady”.
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She was an icon, an opportunist and a fellow traveler. Few artists were as ambivalent as the Swedish NS-film actress Zarah Leander. With the play “I, Zarah or the wild flesh of the last diva”, a production of the neuebuehnevillach http://neuebuehnevillach.at, the Austrian author Franzobel raises a critical look at her brittle biography and asks
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With a series of high-quality cultural events the “European Tolerance Talks 2017” will be accompanied during Pentecost week. Film and theater performances (30 and 31 May) in Villach, jazz concerts (June 1 and 2), a “Long Night of Freedom” as well as readings and a poetry slam in Fresach deal with this year’s topic –
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This year, the participants of the European Tolerance Talks 2017 will experience a true premiere: The “Long Night of Freedom” from June 1st to 2nd, is the is a place where we present a multi-voice message in the form of poems and lyrical prose. Authors from all over the world read from their works –
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The European Tolerance Festival will be opened on 30th May in Villach with a film documentary about the life of the 26-year-old politician Leyla, who returns to her Kurdish homeland on the Syrian-Turkish border 20 years after her flight to Germany. Leyla becomes the youngest mayor of Turkey, but her past is catching up quickly.
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The presentation of the European Tolerance Talks 2017 on 24 January in the mirror room of the Carinthian provincial government in Klagenfurt was the prelude to the new “Citizens’ Dialogue on Freedom and Democracy”. Villach’s mayor and sponsor of the event pointed to the historic importance of his city in the struggle against paternalism and
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Does freedom need democracy? And what is freedom worth if decade’s value building and systems collapse. What happens when long-standing traditions are thrown overboard or hard-won human rights are abandoned voluntarily on the Internet? These and other questions were discussed within the program preview of the European Tolerance Talks 2017 on 18 January in Vienna
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“Does freedom need democracy?” This is the title of a preview of the 2017 European Tolerance Talks organized by Club Carinthia together with PEN-Club Austria, Travel Industry Club and the international tax consultancy TPA on 18 January 2017 at BKS Bank in Vienna. The keynote statement is given by columnist Anneliese Rohrer, who has already
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Over the past few years, Claus Reitan, a long-standing editor in chief and partner of Fresach, has dealt intensively with climate change, globalization and its consequences. A personal blog on sustainability communication and numerous contributions to specialist media testify to this commitment that goes far beyond day-to-day politics. Reitan now presents an interview book, which
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The Carinthian School Authority (Landesschulrat/LSR) is going to support the European tolerance talks 2017. Within the framework of the “The Future of Freedom” generic theme, Think.Tank.Fresach is planning an own conference day for pupils and students at the Congress Center Villach (CCV) on 31 May 2017. LSR-President Rudolf Alterberger welcomes the initiative to give young
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It flows out of lines and is perfect for swimming. But very few of us really think about how long this will last: Water is omnipresent in Austria in large quantities. Elsewhere the blessed abundance is already come to an end – a consequence of climate change. The Austrian Broadcast “Heimat Fremde Heimat” beamed the
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The second edition of the European tolerance talks from 11 to 14 May 2016 in Carinthia’s picturesque mountain village Fresach has been very well received by politicians and the media as well as by the lecturers and guests. Thanks to numerous radio broadcasts, newspaper reports and online publications, the media coverage compared to 2015 was
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“Refuge – migration in our history,” is the motto of this year’s special exhibition at the Tolerance Museum Fresach. It creates awareness of the needs of people on the run, but also allow a look into their own (Protestant) past which was marked by expulsion, flight and deportation also. Migration and refuge have accompanied and
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