Fraternity Ball not Unesco heritage

The UN cultural body Unesco added the Viennese Balls to its list of intangible cultural heritage in Austria in 2010. Now the organisation is reviewing the decision because the so-called Fraternity Ball, the controversial ball of the Wiener Korporationsring with far-right leanings, features on the Unesco Calender of Events as an official component of the ball season. The left-liberal daily Der Standard considers a revision necessary: "Not everything that is well intended turns out well. The tourist industry's hopes of raising its profile will be disappointed - instead one must fear that the world will label Austria as stronghold for incorrigible right-wing extremists. And Unesco has also seen better days regarding its decisions. After all, it defines intangible cultural heritage as heritage that is 'transmitted from generation to generation, and is constantly recreated by communities and groups' and provides them with 'a sense of identity and continuity'. One could add that it doesn't seem to matter whether the guests to the ball scrape against the anti-Nazi law in Austria, the main thing is that they are well dressed and can dance waltzes."

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