Posted on 09/28/2005 4:27:09 AM PDT by RWR8189
IN A move that spells trouble for half of Europe’s national anthems, Austria’s Minister for Women’s Affairs has demanded wholesale changes to her country’s paean to purge it of sexist references. Mentions of the “fatherland”, “great sons” and “brotherly choruses” should be replaced by gender-neutral terms such as “homeland” and “joyful chorus”, said Maria Rauch-Kallat, whose quest stands a fair chance of success.
No matter that Austria apparently has the only national anthem in Europe written by a woman. “Our national anthem is discriminatory,” Frau Rauch-Kallat, of the centre-right People’s Party, said.
“The federal hymn should be part of every Austrian’s identity . . . Women’s politics are also the politics of language and of shaping consciousness.” If she gets her way national anthems across Europe could be in for a shake-up, because all too often they celebrate male heroism hand in hand with national identity.
The Italian anthem opens: “Brothers of Italy . . .”. The French Marseillaise, the most blood-soaked of national anthems, begins: “Children of the fatherland . . .” and complains about soldiers who “come to slaughter our children, our wives”.
Germany’s Deutschland über Alles is unthinkable without the fatherland, and in its second verse makes women seem like a quaint tourist attraction: “German women, German loyalty, German wine and German song/ Shall retain in the world/ Their lovely old ring.”
Perhaps the least sexist of all national anthems is Britain’s God Save the Queen. Since 1745 it has swapped King for Queen, depending on the monarch of the day.
The Austrian national anthem, sung to the tune of a 1791 Mozart cantata, was written by the late Paula von Preradovic in 1947, two years after the modern Austrian state was formed. It won a hotly contested competition in which 1,800 possible anthems were submitted to the Government.
Frau Rauch-Kallat’s call for it to be rewritten has sparked controversy.
Uwe Scheuch, the general secretary of the centrist Alliance for the Future of Austria, called it senseless, and suggested that the minister concentrate on more practical ways of improving the lives of women and girls.
But Liese Prokop, the Interior Minister and a former Olympic pentathlon silver medallist, said that it was only natural to change an anthem to reflect changes in society.
Fritz Molden, Frau von Preradovic’s son, told the Kurier newspaper that he had no problem with the proposed changes. The opposition Social Democrats and Greens have also expressed support for the changes, making it likely that they will win the approval of the national assembly in the coming months.
Frau Rauch-Kallat’s move is timely. In neighbouring Germany Angela Merkel remains just about on course to become the country’s first woman Chancellor, prompting Austrians to ask whether enough women are involved in their country’s politics.
Empress Marie Therese was one of the most influential of Habsburg rulers and is considered, in Austrian textbooks at least, to be a great role model.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I was going to make an obscenely sexist pun out of "Deutschland, Deutschland ueber alles" but didn't want to get banned.
(And yes, that IS the Austrian national anthem, just a slightly different version from that used by Germany.)
Oh, good grief.
As a woman, I resent the implication that I'm too stupid to understand that "mankind" or "brotherhood" means all people.
Someone give this "person" something useful to do - she's got too much time if she can be worrying about inconsequential stuff.
Now I'm off to work with my "fellow men."
Oh, give me a freaking break!
How exactly does one say "Non-gender-specific-human-type-life-form" in Austrian?
No no. I believe the word is humyn.
Land of mountains, land on the river,
Land of fields, land of cathedrals,
Land of hammers, rich in outlook.
You are the native home of great sons,
A people uniquely gifted for the beautiful,
Much applauded Austria.
Fiercely embattled, ferociously contested,
You lie at the center of the globe,
Like a strong heart.
Since the days of your early ancestors
You have borne the burden of a sublime calling,
Much-tried Austria.
Courageously we stride
Into the new times, free and devout,
Industrious and of firm heart.
In unison choruses of brotherhood
We pledge our allegiance to thee,
Fatherland,
Much-loved Austria.
I can see where women might feel left out... but then no one ever sings all the verses of an anthem anyway.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Amen and thank you for posting what I was thinking also.
Sigh. Thy days are numbered.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Are the women implying this needs to be taken out because there are no great sons left? (Of course w/women like these, it's totally possible).
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Nichtgeslechtspezifischmenschlichlebensform.
"Land of hammers"??? WTF?
Someday, the ACLU of Austria and athiests will DEMAND that "cathedrals" be expunged from the anthem since it .... oh never, mind, you get the point.
It's pronounced very slowly. ;^)
Or are they forgetting who BEARS those great sons? (Again, considering what women these are, it's totally possible.)
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