By: I. K. (Nova24TV.si)
“The least we must do to ensure stability and solidarity is to form a strong international coalition. We need to strengthen the fight against disinformation and fake news, thus depriving populists of a critical tool,” said the foreign minister and president of the Social Democrats at the Bled Strategic Forum. She had made promises before the elections that remain unfulfilled to this day.
At the Bled Strategic Forum, Minister Tanja Fajon spoke about “populism”. According to her, populism is the biggest obstacle to “global solidarity” (whatever that may mean) and security.
We understand her perspective and where it comes from. It originates from a tradition where her political predecessors fought against “fake news”, much like the Russians still do today. And when we talk about fake news, we are referring to anything that challenges the narrative of the contemporary left, from migration policies, environmental concerns, to criticism of state redistribution. Nevertheless, it might be time for Fajon to look in the mirror. We are talking about a politician for whom cheap populism is the modus operandi and the core of her career. Do you remember what the Social Democrats promised us before the elections? The most famous catchphrase was “to the specialist in 100 days”. Instead, given the current euthanasia efforts, we will probably only reach an autopsy in 100 days. The Social Democrats party went into the elections with a hands-off approach, knowing that the uncles had side-lined them. Consequently, the entire campaign was practically pure, unfiltered populism under the leadership of Tanja Fajon, where the central motif was handing out candies.
– They promised the legalisation of free school meals for all primary school students by September 2022: recall that the measure was later adopted by the government for the year 2027, when Fajon and Golob will be just a distant memory in the history of Slovenian politics.
– They promised to increase accessibility to the supplement for retired persons – nothing of the sort happened, in fact, retirees are faring worse under this government compared to Janša’s.
– They promised to create auxiliary jobs in the public sector – a measure for which we might be lucky that they forgot about, as it is pure populism.
– They promised to regulate remote work and the right to disconnect – instead of the right to disconnect, we got less money for the work done and working on Saturdays.
– They promised to revive social partnership and initiate talks for a ten-year social agreement: as we know, talks on public administration reform have stalled despite support from these inclined unions.
– They promised to establish reference prices for healthcare services – recall that the previous government under Janez Janša introduced a law on public procurement that established reference prices and established the Office for Reference Prices, which the current government has abolished.
What happened when they started governing? Nothing. They were too busy securing their own political appointments to even have time to defend the fact that they failed to fulfil their populist slogans.
The role of SD party during the pandemic
Let’s remember the negative role the party and Fajon played during the pandemic. While the whole world was locking down and it was universally understood from the US to China, from India to Australia that isolation was necessary, the Social Democrats were “cycling for freedom” – both during the first and second waves of the pandemic. Without masks, which experts recommended.
Let’s not forget that it was the Social Democrats under Fajon’s leadership who started a shameful populist campaign that agitated against children wearing masks and advocated for reopening schools (both of which were in direct contradiction to expert recommendations).
During the shameful political campaign, the National Institute of Public Health released data on the proportion of infections among preschools, primary schools, and high schools. A significant difference emerged between categories of children who were required to wear masks (high schools) and children attending preschools and primary schools. The proportion of infections among high school students during the period between September 26th and November 3rd, 2021, never exceeded 0.5 percent. A steep increase in infections was recorded among children attending preschools and primary schools – reaching 2.8 and 3.5 percent at its peak. These children then went home to their parents, grandparents, and were in contact with elderly individuals in their surroundings. It was due to these groups that the virus continued to spread relentlessly, even reaching the most vulnerable population. This is why there were daily fatalities of up to 60 Slovenian citizens. It can be confidently stated that the populism of the Social Democrats at that time was deadly for many Slovenians. It is one thing to joke with one-liners like “in 100 days to a specialist”, which even leftists find amusing, but it is another when, in the midst of a pandemic, they initiate actions that directly endanger people’s lives.
Was Tanja Fajon talking about herself?
Considering the above statements, Fajon’s speech becomes even more poignant. It truly seems as if she was speaking about her own party and how she led it in a moment of psychological repression.
“The distortion and manipulation of facts for political calculation increase tensions in our society and undermine science, common sense, and our fundamental values,” said the minister who, as a Member of the European Parliament and opposition representative, appeared at mass protests without a mask in the midst of a pandemic against all expert advice, and even added fuel to the fire of discontent.
“How can we fight against climate change when some persistently claim that it does not exist?” she added. Fajon is indeed a master of a special kind of populism known in philosophy as the straw man fallacy or scarecrow argument. In her speech, Fajon encompasses an entire group of people who disagree with the current redistributive green policy, which has no real effect except poverty, and she lumps them into a specific subset of those who claim that climate change does not exist at all. This also lumps critics of environmental policies (who believe in the existence of environmental changes) into the same category as science deniers. This is a common political manoeuvre, but one that is inherently populist in nature.
Tanja Fajon is a politician, and furthermore, a politician from a political faction that has never done anything beneficial for Slovenia in its history (but has done much harm), yet often emerges victorious in elections. For such a political faction, populism is not just a tool, but the central political tool.