Campo minado. Una reflexión sobre los Balcanes

Abstract

This article, conceived from the starting point which is the shocking work of the Austrian writer P.Handke, is a reflection, taken from an initial and formal detachment but with a significant personal involvement -which is expressed in a very personal style- about "the wars in the Balkans", comprehensive term which means, really, the things happened in the old Yugoslavian Federation -and close territories- since the fall of the Berlin Wall, into the wide context of a changing Europe. A State´s disintegration implies asking about the conditions which lead to it. The frightening term selfdetermination, used by many in an opportunistic and ambiguous way, is issued and analyzed here in its historical dimension. Anyway, what is intended to point out clearly is that selfdetermination and secession are not synonymous. Besides various reflections, exposed in a personal and direct style, this article proposes the search of common values into the rich world of the religious spirituality, formally free from its nationalist and violent implications and misuses.