Initiative Minderheiten
The NGO Initiative Minderheiten holds a special position among the minority NGOs in Austria. It constitutes a broad platform for a wide range of minorities, including national minorities in Austria, migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, LGBTIQ* persons and persons with disabilities. This is achieved by emphasizing what all minority groups have in common: lesser power compared to a hegemonic majority, as well as the struggle against discrimination and for equal rights. In this way, alliances for joint action can be formed without having to obscure the differences between the individual groups and communities.
This approach makes the IM a highly relevant cooperation partner for the MMRC, and thus the discourses that have shaped the IM since its foundation – and that are continuously negotiated in intensive content-related discussions – flow into the research at the MMRC. This is particularly evident in the definition of the term minority of the MMRC, which is very similar to that of the IM.
The cooperation between the MMRC and the Initiative Minderheiten as the main cooperation partner of the NGO sector encompasses constant content-related exchange and will also become publicly visible through the joint design of events and publications. Planned projects are: joint events, for example academic symposia, a jointly designed edition of the Stimme (the IM magazine), contributions by MMRC team members to the IM blog (IM’s weblog) and the presence of the MMRC's activities on the social media channels of the IM. In return, the MMRC can provide its expertise in the field of minority music, for example in the organization of events.