Balkan love is fake. Before yugoslav civil war we loved each other. Did rock and roll concerts, and had fun. How was it possible to have war and hate each other until this day? It was fake love and never trust balkan friendship again. I am a pessimist same like Slavoj and I think we are all fake with that balkan bs.
People are misunderstanding what he's trying to say. It's not about actually being from the Balkans or not, that's the whole point. "Balkan" is a projection of one's own failures, fears and insecurities onto neighbours you consider even worse. That's why it's expandable to France on the one side and even the middle east on the other (Turks considering Arabs e.g. Syrians as lesser)
Yes exactly, this is the paradox: "Balkan" is always somewhere else, depending on who you ask, but "Balkan" is also everywhere if you take it as a synonym of disorder, backwardness and disunion.
@@maximhornby5493 Jesus Christ. No? Have you heard of the Basque? ETA? Spain's IRA, essentially? Also Galicia has a little separatist movement. And Asturias, Aragon, Navarra, Valencia, the islands, and Andalucía do have their own cultural thing going as well.
You could make a similar joke about who's Middle Eastern. Turks will claim that everyone below them is Middle Eastern for they are truly, Europeans. Egyptians will say that their civilization goes much further back, to the pyramids and pharaohs, thus they aren't truly Middle Eastern. The Lebanese will say that they're truly Phoenicians and that their culture is much too distinct to be merely Middle Easterner. Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain will say that they're Gulf States, with class and wealth that truly separates them from the Middle East. Iranians, much like the Egyptians, will remind you that they're a much older culture and civilization, that they don't even speak Arabic, and thus cannot be Middle Eastern. Georgians and Armenians will say that they're Christian, and that the Caucasus is European. And Israelis will be offended by the question, and pretend that they're a country in Mediterranean Europe.
I think the Caucasus can be safely excluded from the Middle East because it’s very rare that someone refers to it that way and this is all a matter of culture and politics anyway
@@treyebillups8602 I'm Mexican and live in LA, I find it that we think of Armenians as "Middle Eastern" since to us they share more similarities with similar diasporas here, like the Persians and Arabs of LA, than they do to Anglo Angelenos.
Slavoj’s intellectual discussions are second to none, especially geopolitical. What he says in the video, the way he says it, might seem superficial at first, but there is a deeply rooted human psychology message that he is trying to convey. Brilliant
Any non Anglo nized nations are primitive "Balkans" not including Germanic nations They are a synonym for tribal or primitive Europeans which are stuck in the pre colonial era
No we don't, no one in Britain ever says "northern Ireland is balkanised" or would consider part of their own country to be so. The only context in which British people use the word Balkanised, is when referring to the event of 1 or multiple nations, breaking up into smaller and smaller nations, usually when those following smaller countries are even less functional and more problematic than before, especially when this process happens rapidly, this is what we commonly refer to in Britain as "balkanisation". For example if the UK suddenly all became independent as N.Ireland, Wales and Scotland, England would consider that to be balkanisation. I have no idea where you have gotten this idea from.
And still no one talks about how actually all of yugoslavia is technically, based on concrete and innocent physical geography/topography, corresponding to the dinaric alps, while the actual balkan mountains are for 90% of their territorial extension in bulgaria, which interestingly is a country always forgotten when talking about the balkans...
I guess we can just label it inside the wider grographical zone of "eestern yourope", because if romania is balkan at this point even countries like Slovakia or Moldova are balkan, but they clearly aren't imo. Maybe carpathian?
@@user-yr3zp2br3y i don't think balkans include eastern europe. greece and albania are clearly not eastern europe, and there are other discussable parts.
This was so magnificently true as a Turk living Toronto by myself, i can confidently confirm this guy's each line is a fact. Additionally basically describing Balkans being the magnetic point of Europe.
The Balkans are the magnetic point of Europe? The theory of electromagnetism isn't enough to describe the region accurately, because the Balkans are a black hole.
No matter who says where the Balkan is, all of them can agree that R.Macedonia and Albania (and probably Bulgaria) are the Balkan. I don't know about Albania, but we here the Macedonians have always considered ourselves Balkaners. Pozdrav do svima Balkanci, od Makedonija!
As an Albanian, I can confirm we indeed see ourselves as Balkans . But we dislike the term Eastern Europe, we prefer south eastern Europe, or western Balkans XD
As another albanian I would agree but also we have this weird lack of self-criticism but we can be self-depricating compared to western europeans and americans so its strange we are in that sense really balkan.
@@Windsofchange99 The UK are ethnic europeans and are europeans no matter what some anglicans might be kept awake at night about. UK comedy is relatively famous for being self deprecating and self attacking, darkish.
@@Windsofchange99 as a Balkaner and a fluent English speaker I must say I am impressed that you as an ethnic Albanian can formulate such compex and well structured sentences, this in turn makes me believe that perhaps some Albanians are capable of higher linguistic thoughts and abstract concepts that may put some of you on the same level as most modern humans thus shedding the well established stereotypes of being medieval mountain peoples
@@sprig3432 I hope that this was a joke, because I laughed. If it isn't, you are the kind of person that gives the Balkans a bad name. But you're obviously joking and being ironic, in which case, kudos.
This attitude has existed since the Medieval Period. According to Tuchmann's book A Distant Mirror, The English and French nobility considered Germans etc to be cruel and barbaric people.
Which is a bit odd considering the Holy Roman Empire (Germany, Austria, and Bohemia) was arguably more civilized. Same deal with the Romans calling the Gauls cruel and barbaric when there's a case to be made the Gauls were just as if not more civilized.
It is true to some extent. He is referring to the term Balkans in terms of politics, philosophy and understanding Balkans as a place of wars and bad stuff, non-civilization etc. That doesn't correspond with the geographic limits of the Balkan Peninsula, which has its limits in southern Slovenia and Central Croatia, but also in the Central Serbia (Belgrade, for example, is the last Balkan city in Serbia, everything north from the Danube and Sava rivers is Central Europe). But here he talks about cultural conceptions of Balkans. I, as a graduate of anthropology, have been exposed to these theories for almost a decade now and while none all of them are completely accurate from a strictly geographical point of view, they are definitely there as a psychological borders between the "Barbaric" and "Civilized" world. And he is also right, because Slovenia Serbia and Croatia are very, very European countries (Vojvodina and Macva occupy around 40 percent of Serbia, maybe even more), and also he is right because there is always a projection of our INNER BALKANS, our INNER SELF, which we are trying to place somewhere in the subconscious. From that standpoint, every place has its own Balkans-The US had the Old West, now the South as the least wealthy and "civilized" place, Germany has Austria and Bavaria, Croatia has Dalmatia... Balkans is a place from where we all originate, we love that place and also we are ashamed to be a part of that place (but nevertheless we all come back to enjoy it).
@@HaraldSjellose I would say Balkan peninsula is till Attica, Peloponnese and the islands maybe not in Balkans geographically,so you mean 70% is in Balkans, the rest may be not
@@HaraldSjellose Personally, idk the exact percentage, but indeed Turkey also has a European part, the one part of Thrace so in terms of land and historically, and because idk many of Turkish culture,but i can assume we have common aspects, yes Turkey has also a portion of Europe's and Balkan's identity
In sweden the version of this is the southernmost part and west coast are somewhat social and amicable places whereas everything else is stone cold quiet robot land.
@@peterpetrov4809isnt this how it starts? "Proudly rise the Balkan peaks, At their feet Blue Danube flows; Over Thrace the sun is shining, Pirin looms in purple glow."
What is Eastern Europe? - German will say that their country is West Europe and to the east is Eastern Europe. - But Poland would say they are not Eastern Europe, but they are Central Europe, and east of them is Eastern Europe. - According to Belarus, there are no Central Europe and say that they are the border between East and Western Europe. - But in the when you go far enough to Russia, they will say that all of the country in the east of Germany is Eastern Europe. They will even claim that former East Germany is actually a buffer zone between East and West Europe.
I saw this video about a year ago and I didnt comment. The term "Balkans" *did not existed* in the area prior the Ottomans and when we speak about the "Balkan Peninsula" this was named by *a mistake* made by an early 18th German geographer, who confused the span of the Balkan mountains considering them dominant in the wider area. "Balkans" is an Ottoman term which is not being accepted by all. The reasons why this ~500yo term is not being accepted by for example the Greeks (and as a Greek myself I can argue on this) is because *on one hand* the Greeks have their own name for this area which *predates* the term "Balkans" by *3-4,000yo (if not more),* and on the *other hand* this term "Balkans" is being used for vastly political and cultural reasons which does not apply to Greece; *while there's also one more* reason, a more devious one *for all peoples of this area that includes the Greeks:* it is being used by foreign politics, politicians and diplomats as a slang word, in order to describe some uncivilized and primitive kinds of people which stand as an example to avoid. These the latters should be reminded that each and everyone of them played a small or bigger part into actually making a mess of this area for close to a century and even as we speak, and all this time *they stand aside laughing.* Anyways, the term Balkans is not just a toponym and it may refer to one's history or not. As a Greek it does not refer to my history, culture and historical toponyms all of which *predate* any Ottoman term by many millennials. Im sorry Slavoj, you know you cant be 100% right in everything you suggest.
@@me213516 Yeah, I know... I had *the exact same reaction* with the bs Slavoj said on this video. He's no God you know. In the beggining of the 1821 Greek War for Independence, a great movement of Philhellenes emerged in Europe and the US. For example, the German Legion was a military body, consisting of German and Swiss Philhellenes and its purpose was the military reinforcement of the rebel Greeks. *All these* Philhellenes were motivated by the Greek History and by hundreds of some of the most significant scholars their time (eg Lord Byron) who were calling them to aid the Greeks in their struggle for freedom and into reclaiming the _Greek Peninsula,_ *not* the south Balkans.
Kosovo is as Serbian as England is American. Americans know that their culture originates from there, but do they beliefe England should be part of the USA? No.
@@ekesandras1481Wrong. The US and the UK are 2 seperate fully internationally recognised states and members of the UN. Kosovo, the Serbian province and heartland, according to United Nations SC resolution 1244, is Serbian sovereign territory, currently de facto under control by local Albanian sepatarists and occupied by nato (the US).
Sorry for being witty, but as a Greek I TRULY believe that the Greeks are not Balkan. At least, lets say we are the best of the Balkans or an extra-ordinary category of Balkan. And that's due to the fact that the Greeks undeniebly contributed by far the most in the formation of the European and the Western civilization (Europe and America and Australia etc). We had a great civilization. Everhbody has its own vreat civilization. But, lest face is: somw civilizations are STARS. Like Chinese, ancient Egyptians, Romans and a few more... The Greeks were AWESOME and the proof for that is that still today so many countries copy the ancient Greek civilization modus vivendi: eg science, philosophy etc Its not that we Greeks are better than Slavs...nowadays...Nope. Thats not the case. Its just... Our ancestors did a GREAT JOB. FREAKING AWESOME JOB! Maybe in 2250 Slavs will have their own chance in History. Maybe the historians of 3.400 AD will talk about the Great Slavic Civilization that overshadowed everybody ever since. I am sorry to tell you this... But I truly believe that the only one who can compare to the Greeks are the Anglosaxons. The did great. They outsmart us. They are no. 1 in the whole History of Humanity. Not Greeks. Not Chinese. Not Indians. Not Persians. The Anglosaxons! After 5.000 years people are still gonna talk about them. Modern Greece is a piece of sh@t ofcourse. We feel ashamed in comparison to ancient Greeks Thats the hard reality.
Slavs had a great culture and had great Empires in the past. The fact that western powers don't care or apprieciate them does not mean you Greeks have to do the same. Greece is def Balkan, because Balkan civilizations were never less or inferior, that is a western racist trope and I am saddened by a Greek participating in it.
I am Romanian si for me, so if you call me Balkans, it is Ok. I am very Ok to be from Balkans. And I am ok if you say that I have some Slavic blood inside my veins. I like very much all Slavic people. So I am ok, do you understand me?
@@spiritbond8 Being a balkaner is about having a corrupt and conservative mindset. It doesn't matter if you're from Bulgaria or Slovenia. You can be even in country like America and stil lbe balkaner. It's something to be ashamed of btw if you can't tell...
Idk, aside from the Croats, I think everyone else I've met from the area (Serbs, Bosnians, Albanians, Bulgarians, Macedonians, etc) admits that they're from the balkans.
Even inside Germany itself there's this division. We "Prussians" in the North don't really consider Bavaria part of the civilized world. They're too religious and in some ways backwards, they are part of the "weird mountain guys", together with Austria. Bismarck once said "The Bavarian is the missing link between human and Austrian". In Bavaria itself, the northern part of the state, there's a region called Franken/Franconia, around Nuremberg, the people there get very angry when you call them Bavarian, because they really are closer to the neighboring states Hesse and Thuringia in terms of culture and dialect and just happen to not get their own federal state after WW2 and have to stick with Bavaria now. Even inside Cologne, there are jokes between people who live on the left and right bank of the Rhine river. The Romans founded Cologne (as a colony, hence the name Colonia -> Cologne), but the Empire's border went precisely along the Rhine, so that left-Rhinish Cologners are either civilized or weak, and right-Rhinish Cologners barbarians or part of the strong resistance, depending on who you ask of course. I also know that there's a division between northern and southern France too, but I'm not French. All I know is the North prefers butter and the South olive oil.
Nope. Croats and Slovenes want to push this joke since they feel inferior to western and central europe, but all other balkan nations are proud balkan nations. That’s the truth. This joke comes from their shame of being balkan and it’s funny but not true. True only for Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary or should I say catholic countries that always wanted to be separated from Muslim and Orthodox Balkan nations.
Croatians are right. Balkan starts and ends with Serbia for a very simple reason that serbs do not have problem with being Balkan. Everybody else does and would rather run away from its Balkan identity
Greeks are Balkans as much as British are European. For geographic reasons mainly. And MAYBE for historical/cultural reasons a little bit. Mostly for geographic reasons
Actually the main determinants for Balkan in culture wise is the influence of the Ottoman Empire and having historical grievances with your neighbours (Balkan chaos). Greece has all of the cultural Balkan elements: The old chaos namely the grievances towards Turkey, the name wars with Macedonia, territorial disputes, plus the total Ottoman heritage on its food, music and culture. Greece is not just geographically Balkan, but also culturally.
Serbs wouldn’t say serajevo, Bosniaks are lighter than us, this is western propaganda to make it seem like Bosniaks are more minority than us and thus deserve sympathy
Read about the Dinaric race The Dinaric race is largely present among the Serbs, so they appear to have olive skin Many also have Balto-Slav ethnicity The Russians even have a denarius race
Žižek is on point about the "they" and the "we" thing, but otherwise: historically Balkan was a term that one German geographer used for Ottoman European territories, named after a mountain in Bulgaria which is named Balkan (Turkish for a mountainous forested terrain) because he thought that mountain range was all over the region, which is wrong. Balkan penninsula is wrong as well - it doesn't fit with scientific determinaton of a pennisula (wrong ratio between water and land borders). Balkan is in fact a geopolitical term, that is mostly obsolete, it doesn't reflect cultural, historical and geographical realities in their fullest, but only (past) political ones. To make everything short - Balkan is a very vague term that most of people wrongly use as a fixed defenition. Edit: Žižek in video is using the river Ljubljanica as the border for Balkan, when in fact Slovenia was never under the Ottoman rule and before the end of WW1 was never thought of as a Balkan region. Even Serbian geograpers in times of Jugoslavia were using river Sava (and Danube) as the border of Balkan - their goal was to enlarge the borders of Balkan for unitarian purposes (there are many defenitons of Balkan borders).
From most Europeans the Balkans are all the former Yugoslavian republics. Even if technically Greece, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania should be included because they are part of the geographical balkan peninsula, most of us don't consider it as such
@@bulgariainsight429 I thought that it was the peninsula going from the top of the adrian sea to the black see. Looking it up that seems be the definition with the addition that it is only the mountain region. There are also the Balkan mountains wich are much smaller and the word itself seems to come from Asia at some point and was used to simply refer to mountains.
Zanmljiva mi je karta Jugovine od Žižeka, nema autoceste, nema granica republika, Bjelovar je neka selendra kojom se dolazi samo iz Križevaca i nema dalje. Tema Balkan je već stara otrcana, Žižek ju samo obradio. Cijeli svijet je Balkan-balkon.
Can't be more further from the truth. Balkan is the mountain which separates Northern and Southern Bulgarian. That's all. Therefore - You should simply ask a Bulgarian.
