By Davorin Kopše
Fascists, Nazis and Communists are all the same. A catchphrase I first heard back in the 1980s, maybe even earlier. These are totalitarian fanatical regimes that each glorified their members in their own way and did not benefit society or the people, which they themselves like to emphasise. With the whole story, it is difficult to find all three totalitarianisms in Slovenia today. There has never been autochthonous fascism in Slovenia, which does not even have the conditions for that, although some ardently want it. We know why. Because communists and their successors need an enemy, not allies, because they are self-sufficient. The proud successors of the Communists, for which they have declared themselves, are jumping out of every possible ambush.
This confirms the thesis that communism is still alive in Slovenia, and the other two totalitarianisms are needed and invented by the communists, as they are their oxygen. If there is no fascism as such, then there are definitely fascist methods. These are used more today than ever by fanatics who glorify communism and the socialist system. In doing so, they confirm the claim in practice that is attributed to Winston Churchill, who stated in his time that the fascists of the future would call themselves anti-fascists. This is exactly what too many members of the now historic KUL fiasco are doing today.
Burning of parliamentary seats
The symbolic burning of parliamentary seats, which took place during the recent protests against the government and the coalition, showed a new level of primitivism brought by the “street people”. Some time ago, tables and chairs were set up in front of the Ministry of Culture, the names of the leaders of this Ministry were written on them, and red paint was poured next to them. This red colour symbolised blood, on the basis of which we conclude that the revolutionary protesters would have a bloody reckoning with the bearers of the written names. The symbolic burning of parliamentary seats in the middle of Republic Square means nothing more than an attack on democracy by igniting a new revolution. The play, staged again by well-known puppeteers and street theatre performers (read clowns) Brane Solce and Sanja Fidler, talks about the revolutionary removal of democratically elected MPs from the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. Both acts are also reminiscent of hanging puppets from the Drava bridge in Maribor during the Slovene beginnings of the renewal of the revolution in Slovenia.
Dragan Petrovec
There is a reason as to why I have a special section intended for this most famous penologist in Slovenia. This time someone sent me a book by Miloš Česlav Captured/enslaved mind and some material about this book. Let me borrow only the thought of abusing the title of intellectual from it. The author mentions our expectations from people of different profiles and professions from whom we expect more in their fields than from others. Among other things, it is written something like this: “If we believe in democracy and accept that we all have the same rights and duties, then we must realise that the obligation of everyone is to oppose lies. No matter who lies to us, we cannot and must not forgive him just like that. Although we cannot expect greater morality and deeper consciousness from intellectuals, we cannot allow them to lie. Namely, an intellectual is someone whose mission is search for truth. If a military officer is cowardly, we condemn him much more than someone who comes from a completely different background. We resent a doctor who does not help a victim more than other passers-by. How can we forgive an intellectual for indifference to the truth?” It is not only a sin to do something bad, but it is also a sin to give up good work. It is an unwavering defence of the truth, even though they say there is no absolute truth.
Did you, like me, recognise Petrovac in the statement? Let us think that Petrovec is a doctor of science and a university professor. In addition, he is said to be an internationally recognised penologist. Because of all this, he pretends to be an intellectual, and many others recognise him as an intellectual. Well, during a street protest against the measures against the epidemic and the government, which kept Slovenia above the EU average in many areas in these conditions, this intellectual climbed the steps of the Franciscan Church from where he poured all his false intellect on the crowd at Prešeren square. The man with a communist soul declared that the proceedings against students who violated anti-corona regulations were tantamount to the Nazi massacre of children. Can anyone at heart be even more stifled in relation to truth and justice than this penologist? This same Petrovec called the insurgents before the court in Ljubljana, who demanded a fair trial, a mob.
In this way, Petrovec proved to be a martyr of his own mind. Penologist, professor and a so-called intellectual compared the treatment of offenses with the conduct of massacres. Penologist! Let me mention, by the way, that a penologist deals with the science of the enforcement of criminal sanctions. Well, from now on I will be even more careful in personally defining who I will consider an intellectual, although I have argued so far that the scientific and academic title does not definitively determine this. An intellectual must have broad-mindedness and understand social phenomena, and above all a man and his feelings at various events. By the standards of common sense, a Nobel winner without a common sense is not automatically an intellectual. What kind of punishment would Dragan Petrovec impose on himself as a penologist, who, with his actions stirs the minds of many uneducated or misled people, who may not be aware of the depth of depravity and the scope of lies of the alleged intellectual?
The power of the people and the street
We have been listening to the term power of the people throughout the monitoring of street events caused by non-adapters. The messed up leaders of the hordes, who stage bloody scenes and the burning of parliamentary seats, keep repeating that they are the people and therefore the power belongs to them. At the same time, they claim that this is written in the constitution. In one performance, I even came across an explicit statement that they should be listened to what they say from the street, and then it should be like that because they said so, because they are the people. These are people from the social and undoubtedly also from the intellectual bottom, who ascribe power and authority to themselves because they are allowed to express opinions. They are equal members of a democratic society, but they are also more stupid than the majority of the population, which, unlike them, is the people, and this is exercised by the government through the democratic elections of its representatives.
The messed up culturist Boris A. Novak is another of those intellectuals who thinks he can spread his stupid views to others. Every time I listen to him, I get the feeling that he got very drunk, that he has actually been drinking his whole life, and he is in a phase of delirium. With his ridiculous monotonous address, he keeps telling the crowd that power is to be overthrown because it is in itself a bad thing. He would like to convince the people who are not there that they made the wrong decision when they expressed their will at the polls. Given the experience we have with protests against the current government, we could say that they are otherwise mostly peaceful. There is not much physical violence and destruction of property, although we have experienced it as well. Most often, the targets were police officers on duty and journalists and cameramen who did not belong to the “ruling” media. Executions of prohibited protests, where the police acted with restraint all the time, were also encouraged by physical violence on November 5th, 2020, but in that case, the police played a top role when they tactically dispersed them.
Violence is not just physical
Violence is definitely not just beating and smashing, but violence against the majority of the population is also if a handful of people persistently gather with the intention of taking power past elections. Protesters, who do not have a creative charge, oppose not only the authorities, but also all the voters of the ruling parties, who are much closer to the definition of the people. What else would it be than violence if a crowd periodically gathers in tight groups during an epidemic, thus accelerating the spread of infections. After the protests this handful of people mixes with the rest of the population in jobs, shops and the rest of the activities that are allowed to take place during the epidemic. The transmission of the virus at protests is disguised by no one acknowledging of being infected. These people spread the virus subsequently after the gathering, and if they become infected, they declare that they have become infected anywhere else but the protest. Constantly doing something that the majority disagrees with feels like violence by most, because you have to face crazy marginalised individuals all the time. Like any violence, this one also certainly has a limit.
To conclude: If you do not feel humanism in yourself, you should rather deal exclusively with technology, construction or anything else. Humanism emphasises the importance of human life and is based on respect for human dignity and care for (fellow) man. A person must feel this in himself, whoever does not, in spite of all his qualifications, is not and cannot be a full-fledged intellectual.
Davorin Kopše is a veteran of the war for Slovenia, a candidate for the European Parliament and an active citizen.