By: Dr Matevž Tomšič
The university is one of the great achievements, characteristic of Western civilisation. As we know, the first such institutions appeared during the European Middle Ages. Schools that brought together top thinkers who expanded the horizons of knowledge and passed it on to their students had existed much earlier, in antiquity (such as the famous Plato’s Academy). However, universities were specific organisations engaged in the systematic development of learning and the education of future experts in all key disciplinary fields. They became spaces for free intellectual creation, discussion, and the exchange of ideas. As such, they played a very important role in the flourishing of Western societies over the centuries.
These institutions are, of course, different today. Progress has been made. But not necessarily for the better. We are now witnessing renewed protests at many Western universities, this time in support of Palestinians who are said to be suffering terror at the hands of the Israeli state. The left wing of politics and the public, and especially many academics, see this as the activation of young people for a better and fairer world. But it is an expression of ideological indoctrination. These protests are fuelled by radical leftism, which is very hostile to the foundations of Western civilisation, hating its spiritual foundation (Christianity) and its economic essence (capitalism), and blaming Westerners for virtually all the problems of the modern world.
This radicalism is, of course, not new. It began to spread after World War II. At that time, the leftists finally realised that the working class in the West was no longer receptive to socialist ideas, let alone to a socialist revolution. Therefore, they decided on the “long march through the institutions”, as the leader of the German student protesters at the end of the 1960s, Rudi Dutschke, called it. A key role in this was played by the takeover of the educational system, especially universities. And those who protested on both sides of the Atlantic back then, who condemned “Western imperialism” and demanded the abolition of capitalism, decades later occupied key positions at universities (as well as in the media, cultural institutions, and even the judiciary). Gradually, they ousted most conservative and generally non-leftist academic staff. Those who are protesting now are their ideological descendants.
AT MANY UNIVERSITIES (INCLUDING ELITE ONES), A TRUE UNIFORMITY OF THOUGHT HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED OVER THE PAST DECADES, WHERE ACTIVIST LECTURERS AND STUDENTS BULLY AND INTIMIDATE THEIR RIGHT-LEANING COLLEAGUES. THE CURRENT RAMPAGING ON CAMPUSES IS IN THIS SENSE ONLY “THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG”.
Ironically, the greatest university leftist radicalism is found right in the heart of the capitalist world, i.e., in the United States of America. At many universities (including elite ones), a true uniformity of thought has been established over the past decades, where activist lecturers and students bully and intimidate their right-leaning colleagues. The current rampaging on campuses is in this sense only “the tip of the iceberg”.
Well, in Slovenia, the leftists did not have to “take over” the universities. Since 1945, they have been firmly in their hands. When the communists seized power at that time, they began systematically removing “politically unsuitable” academics. The social sciences and humanities were particularly targeted. Thus, the academic sphere gradually became completely purified.
It was expected that the transition to democracy would bring changes towards greater plurality. But at some institutions, the ideological uniformity has only strengthened in recent years. An expression of this is also the statement adopted by one of the members of Slovenia’s largest university regarding the situation in the Middle East, which is completely one-sided, markedly hostile towards Israel, and at the same time indifferent to Palestinian terrorism; in short, entirely in the spirit of Yugoslav non-alignment. It does not matter whether this pamphlet is due to the ideological narrow-mindedness of the leading cadre or their servility to the student pro-Palestinian activists (who staged a sort of occupation of the faculty); this is a blatant political abuse of the public academic space for political purposes, which is “purely coincidentally” fully aligned with the current ruling politics.