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Political theorists frequently hail non-territorial autonomy (NTA) as a modality of governance that allows national minorities and indigenous peoples substantive rights to cultural self-determination without linking this to authority over a given territory. What, though, does the actual practice tell us about the possibilities for ‘deterritorialisation’ of minority identities as well as the ability of NTA to ensure their protection and longer-term reproduction? This paper addresses these questions by critically analysing two forms of contemporary NTA that are frequently portrayed as good practice examples—the Hungarian National Minority Council (HNMC) in Vojvodina, northern Serbia, and the Sámi parliaments established in the Nordic countries. Although the contexts in which these two NTA arrangements were established are very different, I argue that they highlight common issues and challenges that call into question some of the core assumptions surrounding NTA.
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In recent years, NTA has developed into a broad, often vaguely defined concept denoting a variety of arrangements for the accommodation of diversity in settings across the world. Thus, alongside the plethora of different forms of NTA catering for national minorities in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Balkans, one can cite those that exist in the Brussels-Capital Region in Belgium and for Francophones living in provinces of Canada other than Quebec. Other well-known contemporary examples apply to indigenous peoples—the Maori in New Zealand and the Sámi populations that live in the Arctic Sápmi region today divided between Norway, Sweden and Finland. Nearly all these arrangements, however, share features derived from the original NTA model devised by the Austrian Social Democrats Karl Renner and Otto Bauer at the start of the twentieth century.
This original incarnation of NTA was closely bound up with questions of national self-determination that arose within the context of the Habsburg and other polyethnic empires of CEE during the second half of the nineteenth and early years of the twentieth century. This period saw the development of substate movements among these empires’ subject peoples exemplifying the three tenets of nationalist discourse outlined by Özkirimli (2017): they defined different groups of the population in national terms, as having a shared cultural, historical and political identity; they sought to create and preserve distinctive boundaries and sovereignty for these national groups; and, finally, in nearly all cases, they asserted a claim to rule over a defined territory deemed to be the national ‘homeland’ of the group in question.
As Social Democrats belonging to the dominant German-speaking political elite of the empire, Renner and Bauer feared that these nationalist movements would undermine the integrity not only of the workers’ movement, but also of a Habsburg state that they wished to preserve within its existing boundaries and reform along democratic, federalist lines. To counter this threat, they sought to ‘[decouple] the politics of “people” and “place”’ (Spitzer & Selle, 2020, p. 1) by framing the nationalities of the empire not as territorial entities, but as ‘communities of persons’ defined by identification with (and commitment to maintaining) a shared cultural identity. Renner and Bauer argued that each such community should be recognised as a distinct political subject with rights to cultural (but not territorial) self-determination within the framework of common belonging to a single federal state. Belonging to a particular national community was deemed to be a matter of personal choice for each individual citizen, regardless of where they lived within the state. National affiliation was to be determined through voluntary enrolment on a separate electoral register for each community, which would elect a cultural self-government responsible for native-language schooling and other cultural matters specific to the community in question (Renner, 2005).
While Renner and Bauer defined nations in ethno-cultural terms, as historically constituted ‘communities of character’ with a common origin and shared political interests, they clearly regarded language as the primary marker of ethnicity (Bauer, 2000, pp. 100–102). This assumption is problematic, in so far as linguistic and ethnic identity do not always coincide in practice (Smith & Hiden, 2012, pp. 59–63). The assumption is nevertheless still widely held by minority actors in CEE, many of whom continue to adhere to the multinational conception of statehood and society advanced by Renner and Bauer over a century ago. In one of the project interviews used for this paper, for instance, a Hungarian–Romanian respondent stated that autonomy should give citizens belonging to a minority the possibility to ‘live the same full life’ as those belonging to the majority. For him, a ‘full life’ implied ‘the ability to use our symbols, and the ability to use my language in administration and governance, and about having the same chance of getting a well-paid job as the other’.Footnote 1 By this understanding, effective equality for minorities means not only freedom from discrimination on ethnic grounds, but also the right to preserve an already established societal culture and ensure its longer-term reproduction (Kymlicka, 2007).
How tenable, though, is Renner and Bauer’s NTA vision? Given the diverse range of minority identities, situations and claims that exist in the world, the definition of and practical possibilities for ‘living a full life’ vary widely. Can one therefore ‘prescribe uniform solutions for diverse needs’ (Purger, 2012, p. 12) in the way that Renner and Bauer did, and can attachment to place ever be fully taken out of the equation? Surveying the field of NTA scholarship back in 2010, Osipov (2010, p. 30) pointed to a preponderance of legal and political philosophical approaches, encouraging a normative ‘focus on what could and should be done rather than on analyzing and describing what, in fact, exists’. A subsequent shift towards studying the actual practice of NTA in different contexts (Prina, 2020) has cast critical light on key assumptions of the original NTA model relating to deterritorialisation, political participation and group identity, themes which I examine here through an exploratory analysis of two cases: the Hungarian autonomy established in Vojvodina under Serbia’s 2009 Law on National Minority Councils and the Sámi NTA arrangements operational in Norway, Sweden and Finland. The paper brings together findings from two research projects: the first, carried out in 2014–2018, investigated the contemporary politics of NTA in six countries of CEE (including Serbia), with a particular focus on semi-structured elite interviews exploring the perspectives and experiences of minority political actorsFootnote 2; the second, from 2021 to 2022, explored current practices relating to protection and promotion of the Scottish Gaelic and Sámi languages, through a series of webinars uniting academics and practitioners from the two settings.Footnote 3 While the two cases I discuss are very different in terms of socio-political context, they nevertheless highlight some more general issues and challenges related to the practical application of NTA. In what follows, I first briefly overview recent scholarly debates on NTA relating to deterritorialisation, participation and identity, before illustrating these further with reference to the two case studies.
From the preceding overview of Renner and Bauer’s thought, it becomes clear that NTA was originally conceived as an instrument of statecraft driven by a securitised understanding of ethnic diversity. In other words, it was posited as a catch-all alternative to territorially based claims for national self-determination that were deemed to threaten the integrity of existing states. A similar approach was apparent in the initial revived discussions of NTA in CEE during the 1990s, following the collapse of communism and the demise of Yugoslavia and the USSR. At this time, NTA was often understood as a kind of ‘“magic bullet” in the armoury of those seeking to cope with problems of ethnic diversity and conflict’ (Coakley, 2016, p. 166). Similarly, Roshwald (2007, p. 373) observes that NTA was ‘presented as situated at the golden midpoint between Balkanization and banalization … [offering] … minorities the option of substantive cultural self-determination without linking it to territorial autonomy, with all the centrifugal tendencies the latter may awaken’.
Other authors, however, have questioned whether it is possible or desirable to ‘deterritorialise’ minority identities completely, arguing for a need to shift the paradigm away from state security towards a focus on justice and optimal arrangements for minority empowerment in particular contexts (Bauböck, 2001; Kymlicka, 2007). Even if minority claims do not follow the Westphalian logic of seceding to create a sovereign state ‘of one’s own’, it is doubtful whether the politics of people and place can be decoupled by limiting self-determination to functional control over language and culture as opposed to land and resources. This is especially so in the case of linguistic minorities that live compactly, for here, ‘living a full life’ would imply the possibility to use the language in communications with state authorities and other routine everyday interactions. Moreover, one might ask whether ethnic demography should be the determinant factor when deciding on optimal arrangements for minorities. For, even where a given community has become numerically small and dispersed in terms of settlement, the distinct ‘way of life’ that it aspires to protect is invariably rooted in connections to a specific place (MacKinnon, 2021).
While Roshwald (2007, p. 373) speaks of NTA as offering the possibility for ‘substantive cultural self-determination’, reference to this concept is today lacking from key international documents on minority protection such as the Framework Convention on National Minorities and the various recommendations and guidelines issued by the Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. In so far as autonomy is mentioned in these documents, it is typically referred to as ‘self-governance’ and is bracketed under the heading of ensuring effective minority participation in public life. The key yardstick for assessing the functionality of NTA has thus become the extent to which different arrangements give minorities a meaningful voice in decision-making on matters relevant to preservation and longer-term reproduction of their identity (Malloy et al., 2015). Linked to this are issues of legal entrenchment and status, competences and—not least—access to funding and other resources (Salat, 2015). Also crucial is the extent to which an NTA arrangement accommodates the range of different voices typically found within minorities’ communities (Marsal, 2020), which brings into focus the relationship between autonomy and collective identity. Central to any form of NTA (including the two considered here) is the question of what criteria should serve to define identity and belonging within the community that constitutes the legal subject of autonomy—and, by extension, who decides on the criteria. While Renner and Bauer’s NTA model made ethnic identity a matter of individual choice and group membership a matter of voluntary adhesion to a register, critics frequently contend that this approach rests on an essentialised ‘groupist’ logic (Nootens, 2005, pp. 56–57; Osipov, 2010). The necessity to opt for one ethnic identity, they argue, is ill-suited to the complex realities of a social world in which individuals frequently have mixed ethnic backgrounds and multiple cultural affiliations. Whatever view one takes on this issue, ethnic identities are never fixed or monolithic, and the political communities constituted through NTA are therefore always internally heterogeneous. If this intragroup pluralism is not properly accommodated and NTA institutions become monopolised by one section of the community to the exclusion of others, the representativeness and legitimacy of the institutions—and the willingness of individuals to participate in them through elections and other channels—will suffer accordingly (Salat, 2015; Smith & Hiden, 2012). In the remainder of this paper, I analyse how these issues surrounding deterritorialisation, participation and identity manifest themselves in the cases of Vojvodina Hungarian and Sámi NTA.
2 Hungarian NTA in Vojvodina
Numbering just over 250,000 according to 2011 census data, Serbia’s Hungarian minority is concentrated in the Vojvodina region that was detached from Hungary in 1920. Highly politically mobilised and well organised, the minority has received strong support from neighbouring Hungary. These factors, coupled with the legacies of institutionalised ethnicity inherited from the Yugoslav system, would appear to offer good preconditions for preserving Hungarian minority identity. The Vojvodina region, however, has always had a distinct, strongly multicultural identity within Serbia, with traditionally high levels of inter-ethnic marriage increasing prospects for longer-term acculturation and assimilation (Smits, 2010). Hungarian minority parties were instrumental in pushing through Serbia’s 2009 law on elected national minority councils, which follows the precepts of the NTA model. At first sight, therefore, this appears to be an instance where a minority community that is comparatively large and relatively compact in terms of settlement has embraced non-territorial over territorial autonomy.
This impression is, however, misleading, since the proposals initially tabled by Hungarian minority representatives at the start of the 1990s in fact envisaged a three-tier system of autonomy: territorial for Hungarian-majority districts in northern Vojvodina alongside non-territorial for Hungarians living in more dispersed fashion elsewhere, with this arrangement nested within regional autonomy for the multiethnic province of Vojvodina as a whole.Footnote 4 In the event, the proposal for a Hungarian autonomous area was never adopted, meaning that only two of the initial demands have been realised in practice. Yet, NTA alongside regional autonomy has represented an acceptable political compromise in so far as it has gone hand in hand with a framework of territorial decentralisation in Serbia, which provides for the official use of minority languages alongside Serbian in municipalities where the relevant minority constitutes more than 15% of the local population. Thus, we see a combination of territorial and non-territorial arrangements which—at least on paper—has been well suited to the practical requirements of the Hungarian minority, though perhaps less so to that of smaller, less politically mobilised groups.Footnote 5
Among contemporary NTA arrangements established in CEE and the Western Balkans since the early 1990s, Serbia’s system of national minority councils is often hailed as one of the most substantive in terms of actual practice (Korhecz, 2014; Malloy et al. 2015; Petsinis, 2012). The original 2009 law indeed introduced far-reaching provisions, under which the Hungarian Minority National Council (HNMC, first elected in 2010) not only had to be consulted by state and local authorities on all matters relevant to the minority but was also entitled to claim cofounding rights in relation to minority schools and other institutions. If the establishment of the HNMC initially brought a ‘new quality of life’ to the Hungarian minority (Korhecz, 2014, p. 162), the 2009 law was soon contested by more nationalistically minded elements among the Serbian majority, resulting in a 2014 Constitutional Court ruling that significantly diluted the competencies of national minority councils. This had significant implications, with one member of the second HNMC (2014–2018) noting that its opinion was no longer decisive if, for instance, a local authority decided to change an historic street name within an area where Hungarians live. The HNMC, he suggested, ‘lost its essence’ when it ceased to have any meaningful role in decision-making and was downgraded to little more than an advocacy body, since minorities cannot rely on goodwill from the side of municipal authorities. In the sphere of language use, the same respondent noted that even where the law provides for use of Hungarian alongside Serbian in local administration, public organisations often do not employ any Hungarian speakers. This is one factor that has fuelled calls for the introduction of policies of proportional representation in public sector employment.Footnote 6
Proportionality within this sector obviously requires that the people employed are fully conversant in Serbian as well as their mother tongue, a consideration that brings into focus the quality of Serbian language tuition within schools that teach primarily in Hungarian. Here, a member of the second HNMC highlighted the fact that Serbian is taught as a native rather than a second language—i.e. there are no separate materials or pedagogical approach specifically tailored to the needs of school learners from minority-language communities. As outlined further below, this language barrier has had significant implications, with the HNMC often struggling to persuade ethnically mixed Serbian–Hungarian families to enrol their children in Hungarian language schools. The HNMC has lobbied (thus far unsuccessfully) for reform, drawing attention to the inadequacies of a system that leaves students in Hungarian language schools better practically equipped to speak English than they are the majority state language.Footnote 7 In practical terms, HNMC’s main contribution has been to fund additional classes in Serbian (often immediately before graduation) for students in Hungarian language secondary schools, in an attempt to equip them better for study in Serbian universities and for the demands of the national job market. For many of our respondents from the HNMC, the Serbian state’s rhetoric of ‘integrative multiculturalism’ was therefore not matched in practice. A further key issue here relates to the limited funding made available to the HNMC by the authorities, where it was noted that the annual sums received from the state budget were barely sufficient to cover administrative running costs.Footnote 8 In this respect, the Hungarian minority has relied heavily on financial support from its external kin state, with one respondent noting that around seven-eighths of the funding allocated to Hungarian language schools is provided by Hungary itself.Footnote 9
This external kin state support has enabled the HNMC to perform valuable work towards the promotion of minority education and culture. Nevertheless, these efforts have been undermined by the difficult socio-economic situation within Serbia more generally. One theme to which respondents alluded constantly was the long-term existential threat to the minority posed by emigration and demographic decline, with one HNMC member noting that ‘lots of people go abroad and try to find their happiness there, either alone or with their whole family. This obviously influences the number of children, students and schools. … From year to year, the number of students decreases by hundreds in our secondary schools and universities. And we know what it means; if the number of students decreases, then the teacher’s work decreases as well, which slowly leads to the teacher being unemployed, which again leads to more people going abroad. We are already in this process, unfortunately’.Footnote 10 Another similarly observed that ‘the biggest challenge is to keep the youngsters here somehow. … They think whatever is here is bad and everything that is beyond the border is good and they just want to leave and continue their lives there’.Footnote 11
The existence of the HNMC has allowed Hungarian elites to address this problem, by channelling funds in a way that encourages young people to commit their futures to Serbia rather than leaving for study or work in neighbouring Hungary or elsewhere. In addition to Serbian language classes for secondary school students, the HNMC has established a variety of scholarships and other forms of support (e.g. the Vackor programme) for students to study in Hungarian schools, on the condition that they undertake higher education in Serbia itself. Those who complete primary and secondary school in Hungarian and university in Serbian, it is reasoned, will possess an excellent knowledge of both languages and will therefore be more likely to remain in Serbia once they have completed their education. By contrast, those Hungarian minority students who travel the short distance across the border to study at Szeged University in Hungary ‘still cannot say three sentences in Serbian’ following graduation, according to one respondent, and are accordingly disadvantaged within Serbia’s labour market.Footnote 12
For all this, the functions of the HNMC remain limited to issues of language, culture and education. Members of the local Hungarian minority, our respondents suggested, did not always understand this, and turned to the Council with ‘problems of migration and unemployment’ it is not authorised (or indeed practically able) to address.Footnote 13 In the words of one respondent, ‘some think that the National Council can influence everything—economy, agriculture, industry. But we are only authorised to make changes in education, culture, official usage of language and public information’.Footnote 14 In this respect, the Hungarian minority’s close relationship to the kin state can be seen as a double-edged sword: on the one hand, Hungary has made considerable economic investment in the local area in an attempt to curb emigration, including establishing the Európa Kollégium dormitory for Hungarians studying at the University of Novi Sad. On the other hand, the mass passportisation of local Hungarians which Viktor Orbán’s government initiated in 2010 has given local people an additional means and incentive to emigrate. As noted by the same respondent, ‘sadly many don’t choose to use [local scholarships] but to go to Hungary—with Hungarian citizenship—where they receive free education as well. Hungary has a much better system of dormitories than here. It is very competitive and difficult to keep the students here’.Footnote 15 A member of the first HNMC, meanwhile, called the extension of Hungarian citizenship:
catastrophic, because we are becoming empty. … We really appreciate that we are welcomed as Hungarian citizens since our ancestors appeared to have been locked out of their own country; … but, in practice, since 2008, there has been a decreasing standard of living. People put up with this for a while, but they can’t any longer. Thousands of young Hungarians are leaving as there is a huge existential uncertainty; this is the easier way, as working in the EU becomes an option for them. And I don’t think it will change. … I don’t know how we could stop it or reverse it, … as who has the right to put the Hungarians over the border into ghettos? … We simply have to face the fact that the law is de facto and objective, carrying the death sentence of the Hungarian community here.Footnote 16
A member of the second HNMC concurred with this view, noting that when he had finished secondary school in 2003, 24 out of 28 students had gone on to university and all had continued their studies in Serbia: ‘It never even occurred to us to study abroad. Now out of 16 students, 14 are going to Hungary to continue their studies’.Footnote 17 While this exodus was partly attributed to a lack of adequate Serbian language knowledge among students, respondents also alluded to a sense that Hungarian university degrees were of higher value, since they can be used anywhere in the European Union. Local students thus do not travel to Hungary to study because they want to stay there but use the kin state purely as a launch pad for a career in another EU country. It was claimed that many later regretted this decision, as they fail to find employment abroad that is commensurate with their qualifications. By this point, however, it is often too late to find a good job back in Serbia.Footnote 18
Critics of Hungary’s post-2010 kin state policies whom we interviewed further contended that passportisation of Hungarian minorities abroad (which includes the entitlement to vote in parliamentary elections in Hungary) has been done with an eye to the domestic political interests of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz Party rather than to those of Hungarian minorities themselves. According to several respondents, financial support for the HNMC had been used to build a clientelist relationship between Fidesz and the largest Hungarian minority party in Serbia, VMSZ (Vajdasági Magyar Szövetség/The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians). One noted that whereas under Serbian law political parties cannot be financed from abroad, this restriction does not apply to HNMC as a non-governmental organisation. He alleged that VMSZ and its sympathisers (having held the overwhelming majority of seats in the HNMC since 2014) had used cultural and educational funding to promote the particular interests of the party, without regard to wider views and concerns within the community itself.Footnote 19 Others alluded to a diminution of internal democracy within the HNMC from 2014, with the executive committee assuming an increasing share of decision-making power at the expense of different functional committees.Footnote 20 The incumbent VMSZ President of HNC stood accused of ‘ruling from above and directing from above’, shutting down debate and ostracising opposition voices within the organisation.Footnote 21
Criticising this turn in governance after 2014, a member of the 2010–2014 HNMC asserted that ‘in minority society, one must be open for all interests and layers of society and all needs to communicate and aim for consensus within the given possibilities’.Footnote 22 Closing down space for internal pluralism within the HNMC runs the obvious risk of undermining its legitimacy and standing as a representative organ among the community whose interests it is supposed to protect and promote. In this respect, it was noted that levels of participation in elections to the HNC were already low, with 130,000–140,000 citizens having signed up on the Hungarian electoral register but only 50,000 having voted.Footnote 23 In instrumentalising Hungarian minorities for its own domestic political purposes, the Fidesz regime in Hungary has frequently cast them as members of a single, undifferentiated ethnic Hungarian nation that extends across borders. This essentialised framing disregards the local particularities of Hungarian minority identity, which one respondent encapsulated in terms of a desire to ‘keep my Hungarian ethnicity here, where I live. I am a Hungarian who lives in Vojvodina, which is a special kind of animal as we live in a very multicultural community. I am very proud of and am holding on to being Hungarian in this multicultural community’.Footnote 24 By treating the Hungarian minority as a diasporic extension of the Hungarian state and its policy agenda, Hungary completely disregards questions pertaining to the minority’s capacity for agency and actorness on its own behalf.
Some interview respondents alluded to this problematic situation, arguing in effect that kin state engagement should more properly function as a complement to (rather than substitute for) a better functioning framework of multiculturalism within Serbia itself. Here it was noted that it was wrong for the Hungarian state to have the primary role in supporting the HNC and its activities, when this responsibility should fall primarily to Serbia itself.Footnote 25 According to a representative of the opposition Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians, for instance, it was not appropriate that the terms of reference concerning language rights should be assigned to national minority councils, when this was in fact the duty of the state under the relevant international documents which Serbia has signed.Footnote 26 In the meantime, the shortcomings of the current system lend further weight to arguments by Serbian critics of the NTA system such as Goran Bašić, who argues for fully ‘integrative bilingual education’ for minorities (Bašić, 2018). This suggestion was, however, rejected by our respondents, who saw it as a stepping stone to longer-term assimilation.Footnote 27 Referring to the perceived current deficiencies of the NTA model more broadly, an opposition representative within the second HNMC restated the case for a form of Hungarian territorial autonomy in northern Vojvodina, arguing that functional competencies related to ‘culture, education, official use of language and the public information are not enough. The whole thing must have an economic and thus a territorial element to it as well, which makes people stay, do business, farm and make decisions based on a faith in their own micro-communities’.Footnote 28
3 Sámi NTA in the Arctic Region
In the case of Vojvodina, we see NTA applied to an ethnic Hungarian population in a territory detached from the Hungarian national state and attached to a neighbouring one. Sámi NTA, by contrast, applies to an indigenous people whose minority status derives from settler colonialism within its historic area of settlement, known as Sápmi and extending from the northern parts of present-day Norway to the Kola Peninsula in Russia. As part of processes of modern nation-state formation within the region during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Sámi populations were historically subject to racist discourses and practices of forcible assimilation, later mitigated (but not reversed) by the development of comprehensive welfare states that drew Sámi more closely into the ‘mainstream’ society of Norway, Sweden and Finland (Spitzer & Selle, 2020, p. 12). Those identifying as Sámi across the three Nordic nation states are today small in number and territorially dispersed. Most now live outside Sápmi, with an increasing concentration in the larger cities of the south. The different varieties of the Sámi language are all severely endangered. From the 1970s onwards, however, a discourse of Sámi self-determination gained purchase, as minority activists began to ‘[demand] not mere integration but accommodation as a distinct, rights-bearing Indigenous nation’ (Spitzer & Selle, 2020, p. 13). In all three Nordic states containing Sámi populations, these claims for accommodation have since been met through structures of NTA.
In the academic literature, Sámi NTA is frequently held up as an example of good practice, being categorised by Malloy et al., (2015) as a system of ‘voice through self-governing institutions’ and—in the same edited volume—described as ‘one of the most prominent models for addressing indigenous rights questions’ (Salat, 2015; Stępień et al., 2015, p. 117). The title of ‘Parliament’ often ascribed to elected Sámi NTAs is, however, something of a misnomer, since these bodies have no legislative authority and function primarily as consultative bodies rather than organs of self-government as such (Stępień et al., 2015, pp. 121–124). This is especially so in Sweden, where the Sámediggi simultaneously functions as a national administrative authority—so, basically as an arm of the Swedish state government (Lawrence & Mörkenstam, 2016). It is only in Norway and Sweden, moreover, that rights to personal autonomy for Sámi extend to the whole of the state territory—in Finland, the right to vote in Sámediggi elections is limited to four municipalities in the northern Sámi Domicile Area.
The claims in the literature and the external image held by these arrangements, moreover, prompt deeper reflection on the nature of the Sámi ‘voice’ articulated through the parliament, as well as on the essence of indigenous peoples’ rights questions more broadly. In the case of indigenous peoples as traditionally defined, the territorial aspect can hardly be ‘decoupled’ from claims to self-determination, given that such claims have typically focused on claiming control not just over the ‘lives’ of the community but also over the lands and resources through which it has historically secured its means of subsistence (Stępień et al., 2015, p. 120). The Sámi offer a clear case in point, given their identification with a pre-existing territory (Sápmi) and the fact that the political mobilisation of the post-war decades was largely inspired and underpinned by conflicts over land use. Use of land, moreover, remains central to Sámi politics, as witnessed by the ongoing fallout in Sweden from the 2020 Supreme Court ruling giving the Girjas Reindeer Herding Community the right to control hunting and fishing on what it considers to be its ancestral lands (Orange, 2020; Ruin, 2021). A further contemporary example in Sweden can be seen in opposition to the planned establishment of an iron ore mine on Sámi ancestral lands in Gállok, which was given approval by the Swedish government in December 2021 (Boffey, 2022). As Spitzer and Selle (2020) also observe in a recent article, Sámi self-government in Norway has recently begun to expand beyond NTA to encompass more and more elements of territorial authority, a move which reflects the perceived inadequacies of the NTA model.
The aforementioned developments would seem to confirm the view expressed by authors such as Kymlicka (2007, p. 390), who claims that, from the point of view of state authorities, NTA has often been conceived not so much as an optimal model of accommodation for indigenous peoples, but rather as a convenient way of ‘sidestepping’ far more politically contentious disputes over ownership and use of land. In this regard—precisely as Renner and Bauer intended back at the start of the twentieth century—NTA has the potential to limit the discussion to issues such as language protection and promotion, without deeper reflection on how identity and way of life might be linked to place. The competencies and funding devolved to Sámi NTAs have indeed enabled them to undertake and support important educational and cultural initiatives geared to the younger generation of Sámi, while helping older speakers to reclaim an ethnolinguistic identity previously lost to them through forcible assimilation. As in the case of Serbia, this support through NTA has been supplemented by measures of territorial decentralisation that allow for Sámi language provision within designated administrative areas or municipalities. In only two districts of northern Norway, however, do Sámi speakers constitute a majority of the local population. Limitations of this system remain apparent, with Sámi language activists who participated in project webinars alluding to insufficient state funding. Although Sámi language support has helped to instil a new pride in identity and dispel previous ‘feelings of hopelessness’, the small number of speakers means that these measures might amount to little more than ‘palliative care’ for languages that remain severely endangered.Footnote 29 Thus, echoing recent debates in Scotland, it would seem more appropriate to talk about symbolic promotion of Sámi languages rather than measures to ensure their protection as a means of everyday communication (Ó Giollagáin & Caimbeul, 2021).
As already observed, the Sápmi case mirrors that of Vojvodina, given that in neither context has it proved possible to ‘decouple the politics of people and of place’ entirely. In the case of the Sámi, however, Spitzer and Selle (2020, p. 22) come back to ethnic demography as a central factor limiting the scope for further territorialisation of self-governance, given the increasingly dispersed and urbanised character of the referent population group. Among other things, the fact of demographic dispersal raises important questions around how Sámi identity should be defined and who speaks for ‘authentic’ Sámi interests. Until now, the work of Sámi NTAs and influential NGOs has focused primarily on preserving core Sámi livelihoods (most notably reindeer herding) which are intrinsically linked to place; such a focus, however, has only limited relevance to the interests and concerns of those Sámi (the majority) who live outside Sápmi, often in big cities, and who may have reconnected with their Sámi heritage only later in life. This inevitably feeds growing contention with Sámi NTA bodies, with those speaking for traditional livelihoods finding themselves challenged politically, not only by the majority within the respective nation states where they live (over issues such as hunting rights and access to mineral resources) but also by other elements within their own community which perceive them as representatives of a traditional ‘elite’ that disregards other voices within the wider community. Here one clearly sees the dilemma (intrinsic to all forms of NTA) of how to delimit the ethnopolitical group that forms the basis for autonomy and ensure that all elements of it are adequately represented within structures of self-governance (Stępień et al., 2015, pp. 135–136).
This exploratory paper has analysed two contemporary cases which, while they in many ways differ completely in terms of context, both cast doubt on understanding of NTA as a modality that can ‘decouple the politics of people from the politics of place’. The paper argued that NTA was originally conceived from the top-down as an instrument of statecraft, reflecting a securitised view of diversity that casts national minorities and their self-determination claims as an ‘anomaly’ (Nancheva, 2016) and a threat to existing sovereign states. It can thus be understood as an attempt to deterritorialise (and depoliticise) such claims by confining them to functional autonomy in matters of language and culture. This understanding has persisted into the contemporary post-Cold-War era, when notions of collective rights for minorities have slipped down the international agenda and ‘autonomy’ has come to be discussed not under the rubric of national self-determination but rather under that of effective participation by persons belonging to minorities (Csergő & Regelmann, 2017).
In discussing the practice of NTA in the two cases, the paper sought to show how they illustrate the inherent difficulties of deterritorialisation, while also highlighting some problematic issues and essentialist assumptions relating to participation and identity. In the case of Hungarians in Serbia, the arrangements put in place since 2009 have indeed forestalled (until now) initial claims for an autonomous Hungarian region. However, Hungarian NTA has arguably proved workable only because it complements a system of territorial decentralisation (language thresholds in areas where minorities make up a sizeable share of the local population) which caters for the needs of those Hungarian speakers who live compactly. This whole arrangement, moreover, is nested in provincial autonomy given to Vojvodina, a region with a historically multicultural identity. It would therefore seem more appropriate to talk of a combination of territorial and non-territorial elements.
Does this, though, equate to genuine autonomy or self-governance that meets the needs of the minority concerned? The respondents from Vojvodina who were interviewed for this paper were preoccupied above all with the growing emigration of Hungarians from the region, largely for economic reasons. This is a problem that functional autonomy in the spheres of language and culture alone cannot address, bringing into focus the importance of control over local socio-economic development for the protection and longer-term development of a minority societal culture. In this regard, the extensive support provided to Vojvodina Hungarians by their neighbouring kin state (a factor usually seen as highly beneficial for identity protection) has in fact been a double-edged sword, since the blanket extension of extraterritorial Hungarian citizenship by Viktor Orbán’s regime has only served to give further impetus to out-migration. This is symptomatic of a kin state policy which has increasingly been conducted with an eye to the domestic political interests of the incumbent Hungarian government rather than to the context-specific identities, needs and claims of Hungarian communities abroad. The increasing financial dependency of these communities on Budapest (see Udrea in this volume) has done little to boost their agency and scope for effective participation within their home states, while also shutting down internal pluralism in a way that denudes the legitimacy of the HNMC. One obvious conclusion that emerges from this is that state and regional authorities in Serbia would do well to give more practical substance to their declared policy of fostering integrative multiculturalism, through a more holistic approach that would include greater attention to the socio-economic development of the regions where Hungarians live compactly. Without this, claims for greater minority agency will most likely be expressed through continued calls for a territorially based form of regional autonomy, giving greater control over economic resources.
It is harder still to take territory out of the equation when it comes to Sámi autonomy, given that this relates to an indigenous people. Even though the Sámi are today small in number and live dispersed both within and beyond their ancestral Sápmi homeland, their claims have continued to be bound up with rights to land. NTA has brought at least some tangible benefits regarding the promotion of Sámi language and culture, though in this case too it is hard to talk of genuine self-governance. Until now, moreover, issues of language and culture (the core focus of any NTA arrangement) have also been inextricably linked to land use as the basis for a traditional way of life centred on reindeer herding. This understanding of Sámi identity has become increasingly contested within the context of territorial dispersion. Nevertheless, if existing communities of first-language speakers disappear within historic areas of Sámi settlement, it is hard to see any continued role for Sámi as a societal language, as opposed to one that receives only symbolic recognition. In this respect, our recent project uncovered interesting overlaps with the debate over the future of Gaelic in Scotland, where, in the context of a shrinking ‘vernacular’ community of first-language speakers, critics contend that current policies amount to language promotion but not to the actual protection of Gaelic as a societal language rooted in a traditional way of life. They thus call for these (territorially rooted) vernacular communities to be given a greater say in their own cultural affairs via a set of new arrangements—an ‘ethno-linguistic assembly’ for the territories where Gaelic is still widely spoken (Ó Giollagáin et al., 2020). If adopted, this would amount to a further example of NTA, though one that would be dedicated to preserving the link between people and place rather than decoupling it.
Interview, 25 April 2016. ROM-1.1.1 in Smith (2020).
‘National Minority Rights and Democratic Political Community: Practices of Non-territorial Cultural Autonomy in Contemporary Central and Eastern Europe.’ Economic and Social Research Council, Grant Number ES/L007126/1. The project interviews cited in this paper are all drawn from UK Data Service Data Collection Number 852375 (Smith, 2020). Interviews were conducted on the basis of respondents giving active consent to be named or—where consent was withheld—remaining anonymous.
‘Gaelic and Sámi: Promoting Mutual Learning in the Protection of Indigenous Languages’, Grant Number ACF21-09, Scottish Government Arctic Connections Programme 2021–2022. https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/research/cees/currentprojects/gaelicandsami/#d.en.833631.
`Interview with member of first HNMC (2010–2014), 19 May 2016. SERB-2.1.3 in Smith (2020).
Interview with member of first HNMC (2010–2014), 19 May 2016. SERB-2.1.3 in Smith (2020).
Interview with member of second HNMC, 16 May 2016. SERB-2.3.1 in Smith (2020). On the plus side, this respondent noted that the HNMC also provides legal aid in cases where language rights have been violated and that this has helped people to gain a greater awareness of the rights available to them.
Interview with member of second HNMC, 16 May 2016. SERB-2.3.1 in Smith (2020).
This can be attributed partly to a difficult socio-economic situation, but one respondent framed it as a matter of political choice, alleging that the annual sum allocated to the HNMC was less than the daily sum that the Serbian state allocates to support Serbs in Kosovo. Interview with member of second HNMC, 16 May 2016. SERB-2.1.4 in Smith (2020).
Interview with member of second HNMC, 17 May 2016. SERB-2.2.1 in Smith (2020).
Interview with member of second HNMC, 17 May 2016. SERB-2.2.1 in Smith (2020).
Interview with member of first HNMC, 19 May 2016. SERB-2.1.3 in Smith (2020).
Interview with member of second HNMC, 16 May 2016. SERB-2.3.1 in Smith (2020). Respondent SERB-2.2.1 made a similar point, claiming that [in 2016] if ‘there are twenty-odd students in [a] class, … 19–20 of them are going to Hungary; only two or three are staying’.
Interview with Chair of HNC Language Use Committee, May 2016. SERB-2.3.1 in Smith (2020).
Interview with VMDK Member of HNC, 16 May 2016. SERB-2.1.4 in Smith (2020).
Interview with member of Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians (VMDP), 18 May 2016. SERB-1.3.1 in Smith (2020).
Interview with member of VMDK, 18 May 2016. SERB-1.2.1 in Smith (2020).
See recording of second project webinar, Gaelic and Sámi: Digital Aspects of Indigenous Language Learning, 3 March 2022. https://play.umu.se/media/t/0_9w9znf0x.
Bašić, G. (2018). Policy of multiculturalism in Serbia: Between legal confusion and social segregation. In G. Bašić, M. Žagar, & S. Tatalović (Eds.), Multiculturalism in public policies (pp. 63–95). Institute of Social Science Belgrade.
Bauböck, R. (2001). Territorial or cultural autonomy for national minorities? [IWE Working paper 22]. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Forschungsstelle für institutionellen Wandel und Europäische Integration.
Bauer, O. (2000). The question of nationalities and social democracy. University of Minnesota Press.
Boffey, D. (2022, February 11). Greta Thunberg condemns UK firm’s plans for iron mine on Sami land. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/11/sami-people-said-no-british-firms-plans-open-pit-mine-divide-sweden-greta-thunberg
Coakley, J. (2016). Conclusion: Patterns of non-territorial autonomy. Ethnopolitics, 15(1), 166–185.
Csergő, Z., & Regelmann, A.-C. (2017). Europeanization and collective rationality in minority voting. Problems of Post-Communism, 64(5), 291–310.
Gabrić-Molnar, I., & Slavić, A. (2014). The impact of emigration from Serbia to Hungary on the human resources of Vojvodina. Scientific Association for Hungarology Research, Subotica. https://mtt.org.rs/wp-content/uploads/Gabric-Molnar-Slavic-Emigration-2014.pdf
Korhecz, T. (2014). Non-territorial autonomy in practice: The Hungarian National Council in Serbia. In Z. Kantor (Ed.), Autonomies in Europe: Solutions and challenges (pp. 151–163). L’Harmattan.
Kymlicka, W. (2007). National cultural autonomy and international minority rights norms. Ethnopolitics, 6(3), 379–393.
Lawrence, R., & Mörkenstam, U. (2016). Indigenous self-determination through a government agency? The impossible task of the Swedish Sámediggi. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 23(1), 105–127.
MacKinnon, I. (2021). Recognising and reconstituting Gàidheil ethnicity. Scottish Affairs, 30(2), 212–230.
Malloy, T. H., Osipov, A., & Vizi, B. (Eds.). (2015). Managing diversity through non-territorial autonomy: Assessing advantages, deficiencies, and risks. Oxford University Press.
Marsal, S. (2020). National minority rights and democratic political community: Experience and perspective of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. Nationalities Papers, 48(2), 267–272.
Nancheva, N. (2016). Imagining policies: European integration and the European Minority Rights Regime. Journal of Contemporary European Studies, 24(1), 132–148.
Nootens, G. (2005). Nations, states and the sovereign territorial ideal. In E. Nimni (Ed.), National cultural autonomy and its contemporary critics (pp. 51–62). Routledge.
Ó Giollagáin, C., & Caimbeul, I. (2021). Moving beyond a social minority-language policy. Scottish Affairs, 30(2), 178–211.
Ó Giollagáin, C., Camshron, G., Moireach, P., Ó Curnáin, B., Caimbeul, I., MacDonald, B., & Péterváry, T. (2020). The Gaelic crisis in the vernacular community. Aberdeen University Press.
Orange, R. (2020, January 23). Indigenous reindeer herders win hunting rights battle in Sweden. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/23/indigenous-reindeer-herders-sami-win-hunting-rights-battle-sweden
Osipov, A. (2010). National cultural autonomy in Russia: A case of symbolic law. Review of Central and East European Law, 35(1), 27–57.
Özkirimli, U. (2017). Theories of nationalism: A critical introduction. Red Globe Press.
Petsinis, V. (2012, March). Minority legislation in two successor states: A comparison through the lens of EU enlargement. Baltic Worlds, 1, 31–35. http://balticworlds.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/BW-1-2012.pdf
Prina, F. (2020). Nonterritorial autonomy and minority (dis)empowerment: Past, present, and future. Nationalities Papers, 48(3), 425–434.
Purger, T. (2012). Ethnic self-governance in Serbia: The first two years of the national minority councils. South-East Europe International Relations Quarterly, 3(2), 1–17.
Renner, K. (2005). State and nation. In E. Nimni (Ed.), National cultural autonomy and its contemporary critics (pp. 15–48). Routledge.
Roshwald, A. (2007). Between Balkanization and banalization: Dilemmas of ethno-cultural diversity. Ethnopolitics, 6(3), 365–378.
Ruin, P. (2021). Girjas Sami village vs. the Swedish state: Breakthrough for indigenous people. Baltic Worlds, 1–2, 4–11. https://balticworlds.com/girjas-sami-village-vs-the-swedish-state/
Salat, L. (2015). Conclusion. In T. Malloy, A. Osipov, & B. Vizi (Eds.), Managing diversity through non-territorial autonomy: Assessing advantages, deficiencies, and risks (pp. 249–272). Oxford University Press.
Smith, D. J. (2020). Elite and expert interviews on non-territorial autonomy practices in Central and Eastern Europe 2014–2017. UK Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-852375
Smith, D. J., & Hiden, J. (2012). Ethnic diversity and the nation state: National cultural autonomy revisited. Routledge.
Smits, J. (2010). Ethnic intermarriage and social cohesion: What can we learn from Yugoslavia? Social Indicators Research, 96(3), 417–432.
Spitzer, A. J., & Selle, P. (2020). Is nonterritorial autonomy wrong for Indigenous rights? Examining the ‘territorialisation’ of Sami power in Norway. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1163/15718115-BJA10009
Stępień, A., Petrétei, A., & Koivurova, T. (2015). Sámi Parliaments in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In In T. Malloy, A. Osipov, & B. Vizi (Eds.), Managing diversity through non-territorial autonomy: Assessing advantages, deficiencies, and risks (pp. 117–137). Oxford University Press.
Editors and Affiliations
© 2023 The Author(s)
About this paper
Cite this paper
Smith, D.J. (2023). ‘Living the Same Full Life’? A Critical Assessment of Non-Territorial Autonomy Practice in the Vojvodina and Sápmi Contexts. In: Smith, D.J., Dodovski, I., Ghencea, F. (eds) Realising Linguistic, Cultural and Educational Rights Through Non-Territorial Autonomy. ENTAN 2022. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19856-4_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-19855-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-19856-4


The Cincinnati City Council voted to eliminate mandatory parking requirements in several downtown neighborhoods to improve walkability and lower housing costs.
What about San Antonino City council and parking requirements? City Council will soon vote on proposed Infill Development Zoning (IDZ) changes. IDZ is a zone that helps promote development in the inner city and reduce sprawl. Currently, it does not require parking. The proposed changes would reduce parking requirements by 50%, meaning a developer will have to provide 50% more parking than they currently need to.
Parking is expensive to provide and thus leads to higher housing costs. It also causes more parking lots that make walking more unsafe. Additionally, if the city gets serious about transit, parking is extraneous. Cities, including San Antonio (8 parking spaces per capita), tend to have an abundance of parking. This will lead to more parking than is necessary.
The Zoning Commission votes on the IDZ proposed changes on Oct 2nd at 1 PM (1901 S Alamo St) and City Council votes on Oct 11th (114 W. Commerce St, Council Chambers). Consider going to testify to ask that they remove the parking requirements from the proposed changes to improve the future of our city.


text:
Dreaming Up an Active Retirement
When you retire, how will you treat your next chapter?
Have A Question About This Topic?
Estimate how long your retirement savings may last using various monthly cash flow rates.
How long does a $20 bill last?
There are unique risks of owning a second home and obtaining the proper coverage may protect you from financial risk.

domain: economics


Well, do you want the bad news or the worse news? The bad news is Australians haven't had a "noticeable pay rise" for six years.
The worse news is it could be another decade before we see one. Oh, and did I mention living expenses are continuing to rise?
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest wage price index, which was released yesterday, wages rose by just 0.6% in June quarter, and just 2.1% in the year.
But given this growth mirrors inflation, basically there has been no real wage growth at all.
Similarly, the past two years has revealed a similar trend with real wage growth flatlining. Meanwhile, our everyday living costs, including power prices and household expenses, continue to rise.
A leading economist tells the Daily Telegraph the last time we had a "meaningful" pay rise was way back in 2012, with a real wage growth of 2%. Before then, between 2000 and 2012, wage growth had been humming along nicely - reaching up to 4% - thanks to the country's mining boom, Capital Economics chief Australia and New Zealand economist Paul Dales says.
Looking ahead, things aren't looking great, unfortunately. While Dales predicts a steady wage growth of "probably 2.5%; maybe 3% if you're lucky" over the next decade, the Reserve Bank is forecasting a similar level of inflation over the same period. In other words, you're not likely to see any extra cash in your pocket for next 10 years either.
But hey, at least housing is super affordable. Just kidding.
At this stage we're about to be priced out of avo on toast.
Meet the women making serious bank! 5 self made billionaires.0:46
Some of the worlds richest women - all self-made billionaires.


text:
Education and Assistance
The IAF has provided professional development training and financial assistance to Inuit artists and cultural workers in the North and South. The Foundation has also created a wealth of educational materials about Inuit art, health and safety practices and copyright legislation.
To increase the accessibility of Inuit art in both the North and South, the IAF has created online exhibitions showcasing works from across Canada.
Partnering to increase arts infrastructure in Cape Dorset

domain: artistic


text:
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the Florida Pre-Paid College Board will lower pre-paid plan prices by $1.3 billion.
The reduction will benefit 224,000 current customers.
Nearly half of the affected families will have refunds available totaling more than $500 million.
The remaining plans will have lower monthly payments and may be paid off even earlier than expected.
The savings are due to successive years of lower than anticipated tuition increases and fee inflation.
Pricing for the upcoming 2020 plan year will have the lowest rate in five years, starting at $44 per month for a newborn.
For more information go to MyFloridaPrepaid.com.

domain: news


LONG BEACH >> Bicyclists can look forward to having some of the town’s asphalt all to themselves when the sixth Long Beach Bike Fest takes place May 3 in the East Village area.
“I like the idea that we can close the streets and have them reclaimed by pedestrians and cyclists, a la, CicLAvia,” said Kraig Kojian, CEO of Downtown Long Beach Association.
CicLAvia, as spelled in Los Angeles, is a similar event in which streets are closed to automotive traffic and opened to cyclists. The most recent CicLAvia took place April 6 along a 6-mile stretch of Wilshire. The tradition can be traced to Bogota, Colombia, where CicLAVia’s organizers say the idea was born more than 30 years ago.
In Long Beach, the upcoming festival’s schedule includes the Shortline Crit, a short road race on closed streets in the East Village area, as well as another event called the City Cross Race obstacle course and exhibits from bicycle merchants.
Wolfpack Hustle, race organizers who trace their own history to bicycle rides to a Silver Lake doughnut shop in 2005, is organizing the “crit,” or criterium race. Race director Don Ward said the race will be open to competitors riding track or road bikes, as long as racers’ bikes are of sufficient quality to be safe in a competitive situation.
“It’s a tight, fast course, and we try to keep the crashes to a minimum,” Ward said. “People have to have serious equipment.”
Registration for the Shoreline Crit will cost $20.
Participation in the City Cross Race, which Kojian said will be a more family-friendly activity, will cost $5.
The event’s plans also call for an activity called Gold Sprints, in which participants will be able to ride a stationary bicycle while their virtual progress is shown on a screen.
The event is to be hosted by Downtown Long Beach Association and is set to take place from 2-11 p.m. on May 3 in the vicinity of First Street and Linden Avenue in downtown Long Beach.
General admission will be free of charge.
For more information on the event, call 562-436-4259.
Contact Andrew Edwards at 562-499-1305.


Millions of malicious e-mails are sent every day. Symantec reported that in 2016 1 in 131 e-mails sent contained malware. This figure dropped in 2017 down to 1 in 412 however according to Verizon’s 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report, two-thirds of all malware distributed was installed via malicious e-mail attachments.
Once installed the end function of this malware can range from allowing malicious actors remote access, encryption of files (ransomware) or theft of credentials.
Recently a Cyberseer customer fell victim to such attack. The customer’s existing endpoint solution was not able to prevent the attack which was, therefore, able to bypass their security controls. Through the use of an advanced network monitoring tool, Cyberseer were able to identify and notify the customer before any harm could be done.
The aim of this blog is to look at a typical infection by malicious e-mail attack vector, and how the use of a next-gen anti-virus solution can first prevent an unsuspecting user from becoming a victim and secondly; through the use of an accompanying incident response tool, can allow for incident responders to see a detailed view of the attack timeline.
For the purposes of this blog, a Word document with a malicious macro has been created. When run the macro will invoke Powershell, reach out to an online service and download the post-exploitation tool Mimikatz. Following a successful download, Mimikatz will then be invoked to gather credential data from the Windows system.
This type of attack methodology is commonly referred to as a memory-based attack that focuses on getting data out of the memory, rather than traditional focus areas, such as local file directories or registry keys.
To mimic a real-life scenario, an e-mail with a malicious attachment was created.
Upon running the macro little is seen by the user but in the background, an attempt to read/scrape the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service or ‘lsass.exe’ is observed and subsequently blocked by the antivirus engine and accompanying Memory Protect agent.
In many breach events, a benign process is initially exploited by malicious payload code. When this occurs, the malicious payload code executes in the memory of an application without attempting to create or execute a new malicious executable. In the case of this example, the malicious code is executing in the memory of the Powershell application.
The Memory Protect agent hooks various user-mode application program interface (API) functions in order to maintain state and watch for certain hard-coded behaviours considered to be indicative of a compromise.
Whenever such a behaviour is detected, an event is communicated to the service before the hooked API function is allowed to complete. The service then responds with an action for the agent to take, such as:
In the case of our malicious macro being executed, the following timeline of events is generated:
Moving from left to right we can initially see the start of the WmiPrvSE.exe process followed by the start of powershell.exe executing the embedded command:
Next, we can see the creation, writing, overwriting and eventual deletion of temporary files to do with the event:
Following the launch of powershell.exe, the next stage of the malicious macro was to firstly connect and then download the externally hosted Mimikatz script:
Upon invoking the Mimikatz script, the antivirus deems this activity as malicious and blocks the interaction with the lsass.exe process:
To conclude the timeline, the powershell.exe process is then exited.
Scripting engines such as VBA and Powershell can often be the workhorses of day to day IT operations but at the same time expose a significant amount of functionality that can be leveraged by malicious actors.
Next-gen solutions such as Cylance understand the behaviours, traits, and features of malware, pre-emptively stopping new and emerging threats whilst giving security teams a timeline of activities leading up to an attack that can highlight existing weaknesses in security infrastructure. This combination of visibility and autonomous incident response workflows within Cylance frees up business resources.
CylancePROTECT redefines the thought process behind anti-virus (AV) by leveraging machine learning aspect of AI on the endpoint. The CylancePROTECT machine learning model sits within the endpoint and looks deeper into features of each executable to define the good and bad aspects associated with it, pre-execution.
In the split second CylancePROTECT takes to analyse the executable it can determine an action depending on whether its malicious or not. CylancePROTECT has been independently proven to prevent, pre-execution in excess of 99% of threats.
CylanceOPTICS, installed alongside CylancePROTECT is the prevention first, endpoint detection and response (EDR) piece to the Cylance solution. CylanceOPTICS will store forensically pertinent data in a secure database on the local machine.
It operates by deploying sensors into the device’s operating system at various levels and against various subsystems to collect information, then aggregates that information into a localised data store to track, alert upon, and respond to, complex malicious situations as they unfold.


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'The Democracy Project,' by David Graeber
Updated 4:53 pm, Friday, April 26, 2013
The Democracy Project
A History, a Crisis, a Movement
By David Graeber
(Spiegel and Grau; 326 pages; $26)
"Creating a new, alternative civilization" in the teeth of opposition from political and economic elites with militarized police at their disposal is "a difficult business," David Graeber acknowledges. He ought to know. An anthropologist who teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London, Graeber also played a prominent role in the Global Justice Movement and Occupy Wall Street.
In "The Democracy Project," he analyzes the origins and impact of OWS and provides a provocative perspective on the history and philosophy of democracy and a primer on the tactics and strategies necessary to bring about transformational change. Stimulating and seductive, "The Democracy Project" is also, at times, simplistic.
Graeber maintains, unpersuasively, that Occupy Wall Street succeeded because of its "anarchist element" and the willingness of Americans "to entertain radical solutions." He blames the "apparent" collapse of OWS on a coordinated strategy of police violence against protesters; abandonment by liberals, who made no effort to challenge the repression; and a sudden media blackout. He then insists that the movement "has not been stopped" and is now searching "for new alliances."
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Graeber also stretches his history to fit the Procrustean bed of his politics. He claims that "the entire purpose of the Constitution" was to limit participation by the people, conflates democracy and federalism, and tries too hard to anoint Indians and pirates as apostles of equality. And he maintains that when state control disappears, people "pretty much carry on as they had before."
Just when you're ready to dismiss him, however, Graeber reminds you of the unhealthy domination of FIRE (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate), suggests that the communist principle - "from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs" - is a sound basis of amicable social relations, and maintains, not unreasonably, that "there are times when staking out a radical position is the reasonable thing to do."

domain: library


text:
Protein Yogurt Glaze Ingredients:
- 2 Scoops of NutraBio Creamy Vanilla MRP
- 1 Egg + 2 Egg Whites
- ¼ C Coconut flour
- ½ C Almond Flour or GF Oat Flour
- ¼ C Non-fat greek yogurt
- 2 Tbsp Applesauce
- 1/4 C Almond Milk
- ¼ C Dried blueberries
- 1 Tbsp Organic chia seeds & flax seeds
- ½ Scoop Vanilla Classic Whey Protein
- 3-4 Tbsp Almond Milk
- Mix all ingredients together. Don't I've mix batter
- Grease muffin tin with coconut oil spray then scoop in the batter to fill the tin.
- Bake at 350 °F for 18-20 min.
- While cupcakes cool prepare the icing by mixing ingredients together.
- Store in the fridge until ready to ice.
- Wait till muffins cool then drizzle on the icing and enjoy!
- 180 Cals
- 7.4g F
- 15g C
- 13.5g P
1 Muffin w/protein frosting

domain: food


Minimum hole size for installation is 1 1/4", maximum counter thickness 1 1/2 inch. Flow rate: 2.2 gpm
Our faucets are constructed with high quality, low lead brass. Our lavatory faucets are lead free per California AB1953. They meet all current regulations with regard to lead composition. All faucets feature 1/4 turn ceramic valves, which consist of 2 ceramic disks that rotate to open and close the valve, minimizing mechanical wear. Includes turn and lift drain.
Solid brass available in Chrome (as shown in photo), Polished Nickel, Lacquered Brass, Matte Nickel and Matte Black finish.
**NEW** Finishes are available in Un-Lacquered Brass, Un-Lacquered Raw Brass & Un-Lacquered Satin Brass. Classic, timeless un-lacquered brass will patina and age with time.


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・Fatdori is an all-in-one system that allows you to perform all steps of fat transplantation in a one-stop manner.
Fatdori enables smooth and efficient fat transplantation with its centrifugation function, pneumatic devices for fat suction and injection, along with all the necessary accessories for fat control.
・In Fatdori, the fat that is suctioned undergoes all the processes from suction to transplantation within a single syringe, without the need for transferring between containers. This ensures a safe, clean, and convenient surgical procedure. Moreover, thanks to the specialized functionality of the dedicated TP-101 (FPU), the post-transplant survival rate is significantly higher compared to conventional centrifugation methods.
・ By utilizing the features of Fatdori, it is possible to obtain highly pure fat for stem cell extraction and ECM (Extracellular Matrix) production. The system also allows for the separation of PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma), expanding its utility beyond the scope of fat transplantation. The versatility of Fatdori is continually expanding, opening up new possibilities in the field of fat grafting.

domain: medical


text:
Holisticanine Holistic Balm
holistic balm is an all-purpose balm that is both human & pet-friendly. use it as a paw balm, snout balm, skin balm for your fur baby and a lip + skin balm for you!
we recommend the unscented option for cats and puppies, as they are more sensitive to essential oils. unscented is also a great option for sensitive dogs + humans :)
⋒ handmade in small batches
application directions: apply to desired area and let soak in for 3-5 minutes. if your fur baby licks the product it is 100% safe, but for best results, allow product to soak in for as long as possible

domain: pet


Funny Snoopy Sunflower Summer T Shirt - HotVero
Funny Snoopy Sunflower Summer T Shirt digitally printed with the latest and greatest in direct to garment printing. Digital printing delivers a smooth and soft finish that will not crack or fade. The shirts are handmade to order using only the finest quality, longest-lasting, environmentally friendly inks.
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The first two parts of the Janet Jackson documentary aired Friday night, and they were hits.
Lifetime-A&E played the two parts across both networks about nine times, and the numbers seem to add up to around 9 million viewers. The biggest audience was Lifetime at 9pm with 2.114 million viewers.
(UPDATE TUES 2:15PM) Lifetime says the total for the whole weekend was over 15.7 million viewers counting in Saturday, Sunday, on TV and streaming platforms.)
The Friday night installments were the best because Janet’s got the two husbands in the rear view mirror, didn’t have NDA’s with them, and the filmmakers weren’t constrained in their story telling.
The Saturday night chapters, 3 and 4, were more problematic. Part 3 was mellow and trod old ground. Part 4 was just filled with lies, fabrications, and half-truths.
Completely scrubbed from the documentary is Janet’s third marriage, to the father of her son, Wissam Al Mana. He simply doesn’t exist in this account of Janet’s life. She brags about being a mother but how did she acquire this child? There’s no explanation.
al Mana split from Janet two months after the baby was born. During the short marriage, Janet was seen wearing Muslim garb and was rumored to be converting from Jehovah’s Witness to her husband’s religion. The doc never addresses any of this, or the enormous settlement she is said to have received in the divorce. We can surmise that the money came with a legally zipped lip.
So Part 4 especially feels like an infomercial and not a documentary. We learn nothing about Janet’s career after the split. the fact that some tours didn’t happen or were canceled, that records didn’t sell anymore, nothing.
The worst part of all this is Janet not being real about her abusive father, Joseph. She feared him, and hated him. He had a mistress for a long time, and illegitimate daughter. When Janet and her mother found out, they went after Joseph physically.
Right before he died, Joseph went to Brazil for an 88th birthday bash put together by one of his many lackeys. He expected to party hard. Instead whatever he did caused a heart attack and strokes. It was Janet who had fly to Sao Paolo and bring him back on a plane that was likely paid for by al Mana. Is any of this in the four hour doc? NO.
But A&E-Lifetime did very well on Friday night. We’ll see soon if that carried over to Saturday and Sunday.
More numbers to come…


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Through Japan’s handling of the novel coronavirus, it has become obvious how behind the curve the country’s administrative bodies are in digitalization.
Online applications for one-off handouts to the public and corporate subsidies failed to function. The fact that hospitals were communicating information on patients infected with the novel coronavirus by sending handwritten forms to public health centers via fax shocked those overseas.
The administration of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is planning on establishing a digital agency in the 2021 fiscal year, which will promote the digitalization of administrative bodies in an integrated manner. This is because officials deemed the negative effects of vertically segmented administration to be too large with digitalization split into the jurisdictions of the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, among other bodies.
In Denmark and South Korea, digitalization took off with the establishment of a government body that cuts across ministries and agencies. What the Suga administration is aiming for is understandable.
But there are many challenges in realizing a system that the Japanese public can use both with ease and with ease of mind.
Ever since the 2001 launch of the “e-Japan strategy” by the administration of then Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, the Japanese government has upheld the promotion of digitalization. Through the administration of previous Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, related budgets rose to several trillion yen (tens of billions of dollars). However, the government was unable to realize a digitalization system in which the public could feel user-friendliness in fields including medicine and welfare.
The government dubbed the newly established position of Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Information Technology Policy “the control tower of digital administration,” and aimed to demolish vertically segmented administration. However, the systems of each ministry and agency, as well as local governments, stayed separate, and when it came to dealing with the coronavirus crisis, the government could not even hold satisfactory video conferences that cut across ministries and agencies.
There is also the problem of there being a dearth of human resources well versed in information technology among the bureaucracy. Establishing a digital agency without an investigation into “the lost 20 years” will fail to get any results.
Suga has also put forward his position to promote the implementation of the My Number individual identification card system among the public. This is due to the fact that online applications for the government’s coronavirus handouts did not go smoothly because the percentage of the public who have My Number cards stand at less than 20% of the overall population.
Deliberations are being made to tie My Number with driver’s licenses, thereby increasing their convenience. But what stands in the way of My Number card adoption by the public is deeply rooted fears regarding security, including the possibility that personal information could be leaked.
The digital agency scheme is said to have been proposed by members of the Investing in the Future Conference, including former Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Heizo Takenaka, and has the support of the business community.
What’s crucial is whether the government can create a digitalization scheme that places the public in the center, and one that will be widely used. Administrative costs must also be cut back. If that doesn’t happen we may face another failure.

domain: politics


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Indigo improves grower profitability, environmental sustainability, and consumer health through the use of natural microbiology and digital technologies. Utilizing beneficial plant microbes and agronomic insights, Indigo works with growers to sustainably produce high quality harvests. The company then connects growers and buyers directly to bring these harvests to market. Working across the supply chain, Indigo is forwarding its mission of harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional offices in Memphis, TN, Research Triangle Park, NC, Sydney, Australia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and São Paulo, Brazil. http://www.indigoag.com/
Indigo is seeking an energetic person to join our team and help in the development of micro-organism based agricultural products that improve stress tolerance and crop yield using organisms isolated from the plant microbiome. The Co-op Formulations will assist in the development of stable and robust seed coating formulations containing living organisms for a variety of crops. The candidate should possess a general understanding of microbiology and chemistry and be able to apply their knowledge to industrial problems. The Co-op Formulations is a laboratory based position and will work in collaboration with other scientists and engineers to carry out their work. The candidate will be a part of the Formulations group focused on the development of commercially scalable and cost effective formulations that can be brought from the lab to commercial use.
The candidate should be enrolled in a B.S. program in the area of microbiology, chemistry, biochemistry, crop sciences, chemical engineering, or a related field. Experience with microbial stabilization and/ or seed applied product formulations is a plus.
The ideal candidate for the Formulations Co-op will be knowledgeable and has practical expertise in the following areas:
Basic microbiology and aseptic technique
Wet chemistry skills including preparation of complex mixtures or formulations
Stabilization and preservation of bacterial and fungal species
Water and oil based coating chemistry
Mechanical aptitude and comfortable operating lab scale equipment
Agricultural seed treatment processes and characterization of seed coatings and formulations is a plus
The candidate should also possess the following qualities:
Ability to work in a diverse, fast paced, start-up environment
Flexibility and acceptance of change
Keen interest in understanding complex chemical and biological systems
Observant with a strong attention to detail
Perform laboratory work in a clean and safe manner

domain: chemistry


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contemporary work table / walnut / beech / rectangular
Min.: 74 cm (29.13 in)
Max.: 103 cm (40.55 in)
A light table desk with elevating trestles, that belongs to our collection of Contemporary High Quality Furniture. Original design of the ArtesMoble brand, which is inspired by traditional working tables for Technical Designers, Draughtsmen, and Architects.
Classy, elegant and light appearance table desk for home offices and living areas, which can go against a wall or in the middle of a room, According to the selected tonality, this table can be integrated in contemporary and classic styles. Matching other furniture from our collection, such as bookcases and chiffoniers, to create elegant and functional work environments.
The working table is composed of two trestles, each one is adjustable and liftable in different positions, up to a maximum height of 103cm. The lid consists of a Spanish walnut wood board with mitre framed beech wood, supported on the tretles. As a remarkable feature the lid has a concave recessed cuts on each side, to avoid slide down objects, when it is tilted.
Traditional Architect table, that combines the beauty of Spanish walnut wood, the robustness of the beech wood, the know-how of great Spanish joinery, and the experience of the best furniture professionals in Spain.


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I am trying to find out more about my great grandmother’s native American heritage and my own. Her maiden name was Jones. I’m assuming this us an assumed name. She lived from 1898 to 1992
All Things Cherokee is an online resource for Cherokee genealogy information, history, culture, and art.
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domain: hobby


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In-car tech blamed for increased road deaths
Figures show number of drivers killed or seriously injured as a result of in-car distractions has risen 11 per cent over the last decade
In-car distractions are causing hundreds of deaths and serious injuries every year, according to official Government figures.
An analysis of Department for Transport stats shows there were 88 deaths and 614 serious injuries caused by in-car distractions, an 11 per cent increase over the course of the last decade.
Road safety campaigners have ascribed this worrying increase to the rise of in-car technology systems and drivers being distracted by mobile phones. A research paper by IAM Roadsmart (formerly the Institute of Advanced Motorists) highlights that “with the steady rise of new, potentially-distracting in-car technology being added to vehicles on an almost daily basis by manufacturers...it seems intuitive that the situation is indeed worsening.”
The number of deaths related to mobile phone use behind the wheel rose from 27 in 2007 to 43 in 2017 – a 59 per cent increase – while serious injuries went up 39 per cent over the course of the decade, from 97 to 135.
According to IAM Roadsmart, 29 per cent of in-car distractions are caused by children, 27 per cent by changing the radio channel, 26 per cent by backseat drivers, 24 per cent by mobile phone calls and 15 per cent by sat-nav systems.
Distracted drivers are a worldwide problem, too, with figures from the European Commission suggesting that between 10 and 30 per cent of collisions in Europe are caused by road user distraction, while US Department for Transportation statistics from 2015 showed 3,477 people died that year in the country due to a driver being distracted by a mobile phone.
Back in 2017, a joint investigation by IAM Roadsmart and Auto Express found programming a sat-nav was the worst distraction for drivers. This was followed by the head of Highways England last year questioning the safety of in-car infotainment screens.
Tony Greenidge, business development director at IAM RoadSmart, commented: “Our white paper shows that with increasing the sophistication of in car technology there is an unintended consequence that requires drivers – typically in real time – to decide how to best process and utilise the information provided.”
Do you get distracted by in-car tech? Let us know your thoughts below...


Believe in Your Wild and Free Women's T-Shirt in 5 colors
This bright and bold horse reminds you Believe in Your Wild and Free and share all of your colors wherever you go.
Our Bella / Canvas t-shirts are made from a 50% cotton / 50% polyester blend and are available in five different sizes. They're stylish, soft, and incredibly comfortable. Machine wash with cold water, and tumble dry on low heat. Available in 5 colors in 5 different sizes.
You will be making a purchase with purpose as $1 from the sale of this shirt will be donated to reputable charities that care for and protect horses on our planet.


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The comedy week programme comes to an end in Coronet Theatre. The Theatre will now be screening from Monday to Thursday, a splendid drama 'The Woman and the Puppet' starring Geraldine Farrar and Lou Tellegen. The drama was shot in Spain. Film synopsis included.
Hong Kong Telegraph News 1922-07-01
Day by Day
Film Projector / Film(s)
The Woman and the Puppet (View more)
Pierre Frondaie (play)
Don Mateo, a swaggering Spaniard, tosses women aside without a care. But when he falls under the spell of the tempestuous Concha Perez, it is Don Mateo who finds himself tossed about.
View more in Imdb
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domain: entertainment


1977 Mopeds has announced a major new upgrade to their Garage website where moped owners can share their custom builds. There are lots of tools built in help you share photos of your bike and specify exactly what it's made of.
This kind of tool that is completely aligned with the goal of Moped Army to promote sharing and community within the moped world. Congrats to Dan, Caleb, and Tyler!
You can read more about the new site on the 1977 Mopeds Blog.


Safety Management System indispensable for High Reliability Organizations today
In October 2018 and March 2019, 346 passengers and crew member died in crashes of two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. As a result, aviation authorities around the world grounded the aircraft. They are still on the ground today, waiting for re-certification. Experts are still rubbing their eyes how it was possible that the renowned aircraft manufacturer acted in such an unprofessional manner.
As a result of these events, the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) submitted a bill to the US Senate in June 2020 that would oblige aircraft manufacturers to operate a Safety Management System (SMS). With this, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) will address the most glaring product certification deficiencies that have come to light as part of the Boeing 737 MAX certification.
Serious deficiencies and poor decisions
The accident investigations have shown that the FAA did not understand the technical issues surrounding the flight control system of the 737 MAX during the certification of the aircraft. Boeing had submitted a design that was irritating for experts. The control system was a key factor in both accidents. The authority did not recognize as well that Boeing had failed to provide adequate instructions on how pilots should react in emergency situations. These instructions were not sufficiently verified by human factor specialists. And last but not least, Boeing made questionable decisions regarding the required training concept for the pilots. The company prioritized the costs at the expense of adequate training for the crews. The FAA also accepted this.
In this context it is important to understand that since 2013 the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has required aircraft manufacturers to operate a Safety Management System (SMS) in their standards. For airlines, SMS are a matter of course for years.
Why a Safety Management System is so important
Safety Management Systems enable proactive safety management. They identify risks before they cause problems. SMS are operated by departments that are independent of line management so as not to be exposed to financial or management pressures.
Although complex processes must be mastered in an SMS, its structure is manageably simple. In a policy, the top management commits itself to safety. In risk management, risks are recorded and risk assurance ensures that they are actively managed. Employees are informed and trained about safety aspects through a special development program. Together with the policy, this program creates the framework that ensures that the entire organization is culturally involved and that a "Just Culture" based on trust can be lived. A culture that sees mistakes as learning opportunities and where they are openly discussed. Everyone involved agrees today that mistakes are important indicators of a complex system that does not work as it should. It is a culture in which employees and managers work together to continuously improve the system. In this way, they ensure that the organization is not unexpectedly confronted with system failures even though everyone has done everything right. A fact that unfortunately is inherent in complex systems.
Boeing has suffered massive damage to its reputation as a result of the two serious accidents, which has also placed the company in great financial straits. The aircraft manufacturer is probably right to ask why it did not rely on a safety management system earlier. An SMS has become indispensable for a "High Reliability Organization". Anyone who wants to be safe and who is committed or feels committed to reliability, who operates critical infrastructure or offers system-relevant services, can no longer do without such a system today.


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DETROIT (AP) — An 89-year-old Holocaust survivor has fulfilled her longtime wish to sing the U.S. national anthem at a Major League Baseball game.
Hermina Hirsch sang Saturday at Comerica Park in Detroit before the Detroit Tigers played Tampa Bay.
The Czechoslovakia native lives in Southfield, Michigan. She was 17 when her family was split up and sent to concentration camps in 1944. According to her granddaughter, Andrea Hirsch, Hermina Hirsch and her older sister were shuffled between five concentration camps, including Auschwitz. She was liberated in January 1945.
WWJ-TV has reported that Hirsch has been a Tigers fan since she moved to the Detroit area more than 60 years ago. Hirsch has been singing the anthem for years during Holocaust survivor meetings in the Detroit area.
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This week, Rocket Crafters, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a $542,600 contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to build and test a large-scale hybrid rocket engine using D-DART, or Direct-Digital Advanced Rocket Technology. The recently patented technology will be used to design, build and test a throttle-capable hybrid rocket engine with 5,000 lbf peak thrust over the course of eight months.
So what exactly is a hybrid rocket engine? It’s a rocket that uses a combination of solid and liquid or gas fuel. Hybrid engines have several advantages over their strictly solid or strictly liquid counterparts. Solid rockets cannot be throttled and restarted, while hybrid rockets can, and hybrids are also faster and less expensive to develop than liquid rocket engines, thanks to their mechanical simplicity – Rocket Crafters’ rockets have only two moving parts. They’re also safer to handle than either liquid or solid rocket engines, because storing the fuel in two different states safeguards against accidental detonation.
These advantages would make hybrid rocket engines seem to be the obvious choice, but while both governments and industries have been trying to develop large-scale hybrid rocket engines for a while, they’ve run into some difficulties, mainly with excessive thrust and unpredictable vibration.
Those issues are nonexistent with Rocket Crafters’ D-DART hybrid rocket engines. The company uses 3D printing to create near-perfect fuel grains from its patented high-energy polymer/additive formulas. The grains serve both as the rocket engine’s fuel source and its combustion chamber. So far, Rocket Crafters has worked with lab-scale prototype engines, but with the DARPA contract, it will begin building a flight-capable rocket motor using a custom static test oxidizer system mounted on a new hybrid rocket test stand, which will be constructed at Florida’s Space Coast. The tests will aim to verify the reliability and consistency of the hybrid rocket engine as well as to demonstrate its throttling and emergency shutdown capabilities.Rocket Crafters’ original test series demonstrated a 97.5 percent thrust profile consistency, and did not show any signs of combustion instability or vibration, which is unprecedented in hybrid rocket engines. Scientists and engineers from Rocket Crafters are now working with researchers at the Florida Institute of Technology to ascertain the optimum solid fuel formulation and oxidizer/fuel mixture for the 3D printed rockets.
The end result of the work will be Intrepid-1, a safe and affordable hybrid rocket-powered launch vehicle that will send small satellites and spacecraft into Earth orbit and further, for commercial purposes. Intrepid-1 will be the first in a family of hybrid rocket-powered launch vehicles designed for this purpose. Like many other companies and organizations that have been using 3D printing to change the way we manufacture for space, Rocket Crafters’ intent is to make space travel more accessible to more people by creating rockets that are safer and more affordable than they’ve ever been before. Discuss in the Rocket Crafters forum at 3DPB.com.
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domain: design


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It's even cold in LA! Make-up free Rachel Bilson wraps up in knitted sweater as she greets her parents at LAX
She's a famous television star, known for her role on Hart Of Dixie and formerly The O.C.
But even Rachel Bilson isn't too proud to get picked up by her parents at Los Angeles International Airport.
All bundled up, the 32-year-old actress appeared winter chic as she greeted her mum and dad, Janice Stango and Danny Bilson, on Tuesday.
Cosy and casual: Rachel Bilson was all bundled up as she arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday
The brunette beauty kept cosy in a zig-zag striped grey sweater, matching beanie hat, plum knit zip-up, baggy tracksuit pants, and snow boots.
She also opted to go make-up free, showing off her flawless fair complexion.
Rachel was seen without her beau Hayden Christensen, who she's been dating since 2007.
Though the pair don't have any kids of their own, the Jumper star recently gushed about her Hart Of Dixie co-star Jaime King's baby boy.
How sweet! The star was picked up by her mum Janice Stango and Danny Bilson
Someone's chipper! As Rachel laid low, her father smiled during their stroll through the airport
'He is beautiful, so adorable!' she told E! News.
Rachel also discussed her role as Dr. Zoe Hart on her hit CW series.
Though it's a stark contrast from her portrayal of Summer on The O.C., Rachel explained that she thoroughly enjoys pretending to be a medical professional.
Momma's girl: The OC star seemed to bond better with her mum
'It's pretty fun to pretend to be a doctor.'
She continued, 'because then you think know what you're talking about and you throw out these really big words that are medical terms that you really don't know what you're saying—but you sound very impressive!'
Where's your beau? Rachel's boyfriend Hayden Christensen was not seen at LAX#
What a difference! Rachel currently plays Dr. Zoe Hart on CW series Hart Of Dixie
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domain: celebrity