By: Dr. Matevž Tomšič
Finally, someone has appeared who has decided to try to put an end to the financing of left‑wing ideological projects with taxpayers’ money. On the government’s website we noticed that the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth has published a draft law on the termination of the Academy of Sciences for the Sustainable Development of Slovenia. This is an institution that likely very few citizens have even heard of. It is, of course, not an academy in the true sense of the word – nor any kind of scientific‑research institution. We are talking about a group of people who indeed mostly operate in the academic sphere – or have operated (as many of them are already in advanced years). However, most of them are known primarily or exclusively for political‑ideological activism. They are regular authors of public letters, signatories of petitions, and initiators of referendums – always in favour of the left political option, usually its most radical part. Their activities are entirely in harmony with street protesters who mobilise whenever the “wrong” government takes office.
This quasi‑academy is therefore merely a façade for political agitation. On its own, that would not be a problem if it were financed through private contributions from its supporters. But it is not. The Golob government adopted a special law to fund it from the state budget. The new government now wants to stop this. This has provoked great outrage among the members of the “academy” and, together with them, the entire left‑wing scene. They have begun writing public letters – of course, for most of them this is their favourite activity – claiming that this institution is almost indispensable for Slovenian science and society as a whole. But its scientific achievements are very modest. In reality, it is yet another channel for rewarding “deserving” personnel.
It is interesting how eagerly left‑wing actors invoke environmental issues, especially sustainable development and the so‑called green transition. Green has in fact become the new red, as Tanja Fajon said years ago. But this is no coincidence. Today’s environmentalism belongs to the ideological currents of modern left‑wing thought. What connects them is resistance to capitalism and the social order based on it. Capitalism is seen as the main culprit for environmental degradation, because its market logic demands constant growth, which supposedly threatens ecological balance and sustainable development. However, left‑wing environmentalists overlook the fact that systemic alternatives to capitalism, such as communism with its planned economy, caused far worse environmental destruction. These consequences are still visible today in former communist countries.
Another common point of all left‑wing movements is the tendency toward social engineering. They strongly desire to direct people’s lives and shape their character according to their ideological principles. Much like communists aimed to create a “new human”, “liberated” from bourgeois values and morality. They seek to achieve this through state regulation – laws, rules, and decrees that dictate what people may and may not do.
The supposed concern for the environment is an almost ideal disguise for imposing a left‑wing ideological agenda. In reality, it is not about reducing pollution or preserving natural heritage. If it were, modern environmentalists would not oppose nuclear energy, which is one of the cleanest and least environmentally burdensome energy sources. The key goal is control over citizens. We often hear from their ranks that, for the sake of sustainable development, it is necessary to “change people’s consciousness and their lifestyle”. But this is not only about attitudes toward the environment, it also concerns other issues that are part of the doctrinal corpus of the new left. What is crucial, therefore, is not the protection of nature, but the maintenance of ideological hegemony.