y

IS HISTORY REPEATING?

By dr.  sc of sociology Miss Spomenka Hribar – Ljubljana

We know more and more about history as the course of events in time, but very little about its back side. Does history repeat itself? Do similar events follow each other over time? Can their repetition be seen, expected? Prevented or accelerated? Or is the repetition of an event a deceptive appearance?

I don’t know. But the similarity of events from earlier times is sometimes so striking that it makes one think: Have we not seen this before?

Events such as those that are now taking place in this country and in some countries of Europe have already taken place. In the 1930s in Germany. The similarity is, of course, only in the basic premises. Hitler, that miserable creature who thought himself a great artist, a painter, one day “felt” his election, supposedly by God’s will, to lead his nation to earthly-heavenly heights, and to change the whole world as a result. And he began to occupy all positions, state and public, on purpose. At the same time, he kept an eye on what was going on in the people and directed them, including by organising parastatal institutions and semi-military platoons. At the same time, he constantly pointed the finger and the word at who was the enemy of the Fatherland in the Fatherland. The first repetition of this history took place in Hungary. (See the study by Paul Lendvai: Orban, the new European autocrat; Cicero 2020.)

I see in what is happening in my own country today a similarity with what happened in Germany almost a hundred years ago. Slowly but steadily, without scruples, without any scruples, Janša is taking over state positions, public institutions, the media, the army, the police, the control mechanisms of state bodies, the judiciary, culture – and all this with a naive (?) President of the Republic of Slovenia!

But there is a difference: it was the German communists and even the clergy who stood up against Hitler; it was the communists and the Catholic priests who were the first prisoners in the concentration camps (and here the RCC is the main support of Janschism!) and of course the Jews. Janša’s political opponents are supposed to be former “communists”, those aged eighty and over and those who criticise his governmental behaviour, and those who advocate national reconciliation – all of them play the role of “internal enemies”, in this sense “Jews”, in the structural sense of Janša’s ideology. Only on a verbal level, of course! But such a “classification” of (equal!) citizens is logical: what is worse than calling for national reconciliation for one who builds his politics on a schism in the nation, which he consciously deepens with his sectarianism according to the matrix: he who is not with us is against us! More precisely: Whoever is not with me is against me! And whoever is not with me, or even against me, cannot be in a position of leadership in any institution! Especially not in the institutions that are supposed to control power, and not in the judicial branch of power, and not in the media, especially not in the STA, which collects information and supplies it to the media and the public in general.

I would rather be wrong than right! Because we do not ‘deserve’ what is actually happening now! For Janša to push us into the zone of new authoritarian states (Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, etc.), and this after we have escaped from authoritarian Yugoslavia and established our own democratic state together with the former communists, is truly absurd and completely contrary to the expectations of the people in the plebiscite. We had a chance for a new beginning! But no: despite the RCC leadership’s appeals to love of neighbour and reconciliation, the biggest stumbling block to this is the right-wing “revolutionaries” led by Janez Janša – as they have done so many times in history!

I wonder whether it is still time to avoid a “repeat of history” in Slovenia – as is happening in the above-mentioned countries, where the government is already authoritarian, if not totalitarian?

I fear that time is running out. For two reasons. The first is that Janša is making rapid progress in his conquest of all levels of state power and public institutions! The second is that there is, in fact, no effective resistance: neither within the coalition nor outside it. Those who give him power, his partners, are co-responsible for what is happening and for what will follow! And the opposition – when it was still a position, it did not was aware of what could happen and was playing around … – each party in its own way! It is high time they took responsibility for the future of the Slovenian nation!

I call on the members of the SMC and DeSUS to come to grips with what Janša wants and is building! It is their historic responsibility to stand up to the robbers of Slovenian sovereignty and prosperity, to put an end to Janša’s usurpation of the fate of the entire nation! Now it is not just about personal gain; everyone is personally responsible for our common “tomorrow”, because it is about the future of Slovenia, its state structure and its spiritual image!

What else can be done? Yes, what we have missed, what we have swept under the carpet – just to have peace at home! For example, this is what Dr. Janez Drnovšek did when he believed that, for the good of the country, he had stopped the research into the sale of weapons bought by the JNA and abroad for resale to Croatia. There are about ten authored books (studies) with dozens of photocopies of original documents – and the incriminating documents are also allegedly in Croatia. Is Slovenian policy towards Croatia also being tailored in the light of these documents, which can be brought to light at any moment. … This arms racket at the expense of the state has never been resolved; it has also harmed the state financially, the proceeds from the arms sold never reaching the state budget.

In addition, there are many other alleged offences by Janša which show his moral image and his political damage to the Slovenian state. All his business dealings should be opened up; there are enough allegations of his strange dealings, not to mention allegations of fraud – the media have already written about this. Janša is, of course, innocent until proven guilty, but he will not be proven guilty or innocent until the judiciary (on reasonable suspicion!) starts and completes an investigation!

Democracy is a system that settles disputes peacefully, by argument, by persuasion, by law. For this reason, and because it will otherwise be impossible to convince Janša’s followers of his harmfulness to the country, all his allegedly criminal and morally reprehensible exploits must be exposed.

But if he is innocent, it is also time to rid him of suspicions and allegations. It will be no different a task to launch an investigation into Janša’s dealings than the criminal dealings of the HDZ’s front man, Ivo Sanader, were investigated in Croatia!

Slovenian citizens have a legitimate right to decide with whom we will associate, what our priorities are, what cultural image we are creating, what kind of future we want! This cannot be the decision of a single politician or coalition! In the plebiscite we decided for our own, free country – without this or that “Vanguard”, that is without the “one-party system”, which the Slovenian Democratic Party is increasingly pushing us towards. And it shames us: by denying the importance of the rule of law for the existence and functioning of the EU, it undermines its very foundation! What else is the EU supposed to be based on if not the rule of law, which also governs the relations of its members with each other and ensures that people’s human rights and civil liberties are protected? No wonder that 150 eminent academics, experts from various professions from all over the world have reacted with concern and criticism to Janša’s treatment of the media and especially STA!

Where are the right-wing “revolutionaries” taking you, Europe?

I expected that Janša, with his determination, would really do everything to curb the coronary pandemic, but it turned out that here too he has failed. I believe that he has wasted too much time and energy on consolidating his power, which he is also exercising according to the principle: even if he is illiterate, just so long as he is Ours! In my own opinion, in view of the controversial actions that have become publicly apparent, Janez Janša is a politician who is also implementing decisions that cannot be reversed or corrected, but are vitally damaging to the Slovenian nation!

If Janša leads the government to regular elections, will these perhaps be the first government-protested, party-biased elections since the introduction of democracy?

(Published in the special supplement of DELO on 23 December 2020)

What goes on in the Europe!??

Telekom: A new far-right alliance declares war on the EU. It gathers the political heavyweights in the right camp and numerous smaller parties. Only the AfD has so far not been allowed to join – and it will probably stay that way.

A few days ago, 16 right-wing parties published a manifesto that aims to reform the EU and announces “legitimate resistance“. The Brussels authorities, it says, are increasingly a “tool of radical forces” that undermine the right to national self-determination and strive for a “European superstate”. In order to stop the destruction of traditions, national-minded parties must unite and return the EU to a “community of free peoples”.

Among them are the political heavyweights of the European right: the Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the Polish ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Italian Lega of former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and the French Rassemblement National under Marine Le Pen.

Spain’s Vox, Austria’s FPÖ and Italy’s Fratelli d’Italia have also signed. The 16 signatories are currently based in the two major right-of-centre groups, the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID).

Of the major far-right parties, only one was missing from the list: the AfD.

“We would sign this 1:1”.

Is a right-wing power bloc forming here in Europe without the German right-wing populists? “We are not there yet. But the declaration is a first step in this direction,” says the head of the Lega delegation in the European Parliament, Marco Campomenosi. The alliance respects the existing EKR and ID groups, but he hopes that there will soon be a new group that unites all right-wing parties under one roof.