minet
- a television series on minorities
The television series „minet – minority magazine“ first started broadcasting on 2 June 2004. The very first broadcast featured reports on the situation in Cypress, the minority conference in Brussels, the Tuvan language, as well as migration in the South Tyrol. Right from the onset, the makers of the programme endeavoured to raise awareness of South Tyrol’s own minority position, in order to place it into a larger context. The aim then and now is to do justice to the complexity of the term “minority” through the medium of television – to illustrate its meaning in pictures from a non-political perspective.
The term „minority“ effectively describes either a group who has less than 50% of the number of members than the majority population, or a group of people whose appearance and demeanour deviates from the predominant conventions in some way. The term, therefore, usually refers to those who have less power in a society than the rest. For this reason, minet has decided to side with the allegedly weaker parts of society in order to unearth the minority‘s richness and strengths. minet’s unique perspective means that the reports in this series are able to highlight a social and cultural wealth that finds less and less room in today’s „dumbing down“ TV culture.
minet Self-conception
minet regards itself as a platform for contemporary consciousness and awareness raising, at the same time it is also a network based on a broad understanding of the meaning of minority. Particular attention is paid to the worldwide development of new concepts, themes and a framework for minorities, who, in the context of a globalised economy, are forced to evolve a new consciousness and new ways for staying connected, be it culturally, politically, socially, ethnically or faith-based. Unlike many other television magazines that depend on viewing figures and advertising, minet is able to depict the most diverse ways of life and therefore manages to reveal a complex network in our politically and economically globalised world.
What do we know about the Aymedija minority in Pakistan, the Russians in Latvia and Estonia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, or the U’wa tribe in Colombia? What about the old autochtonous minorities, and the new minorities that are made up of migrants? What do we know about basque minority newspapers, about child soldiers in Somalia, or about the worries of the Sorb people?
minet investigates and speaks to those who struggle to find a voice. The magazine for minorities does not hesitate to visit the Pakistani owner of a newly opened dry cleaners in a South Tyrolean village, or to report on the apple grower in a small South Tyrolean valley who is fighting to keep his rare apple breed going. minet discovers the subtleties and local variations of sign language and Braille, or the hidden pitfalls of being left-handed in a right-handed world. minet has taken up the role of communicator in a network of multiple minorities and, as a result, has developed a finely tuned ear for languages and dialects. What can we say about the development of the Limburgish language? How many people speak the Turkic Karaite language in Lithuania? What is the connection between the „Guardioli“ dialect and the ancient Occitan language? Have there ever been plans for an „Esperanto State“? The answers to such questions are at the heart of minet.
The television series minet has been running since June 2004 and is broadcast as part of the evening programme of the South Tyrolean German language channel „RAI Sender Bozen“ at the local Rai frequencies.
