Separatism and Media in Italy: The Case of South Tyrol

Abstract

The analysis of the context of separatist radicalisation in South Tyrol – the Alpine region between Italy and Austria with a German and Ladin speaking population – highlights both how different radical ideologies may combine and how a polarised environment fosters and feeds individual radical ideas and actions. Unresolved grievances in South Tyrol stemmed from numerous boundary changes, policies of forced assimilation, and international disputes that culminated in context where an “us vs them” narrative is sometimes further reinforced by systemic divisions. From the late 1950s until the end of the 1980s, this polarisation escalated into a conflict between organised separatist groups and Italian institutions. The violent actions targeted Italian institutions, monuments, infrastructures, and police forces, and were perpetrated in most part by the separatist organisations Befreiungsausschuss Südtirol (BAS, translated as Liberation Committee South Tyrol) and Ein Tirol. Fortunately, nowadays, South Tyrol is widely considered a successful laboratory of local autonomy and power-sharing, and the violent period of ethno-nationalist terrorism seems to have come to an end...