By: Dr Andrej Umek
In European history, we are familiar with numerous dark periods that Europeans, with their belief in humanity and its fundamental rights, have been able to overcome. Without going too far back, if we just look at the history of the twentieth century, even a superficial observer will notice a phenomenon known as ideological totalitarianism.
This ideology degraded individuals to the level of domestic animals, exploiting and oppressing them, denying all human rights regardless of their colour or name. There are well-known totalitarianisms of the fascist-Nazi type, often associated with the far-right of the political spectrum, and the totalitarianism of the communist type, typically associated with the far-left. Regardless of whether we categorise them as left or right, both have the same characteristics: a small ideologically orthodox elite loyal to a supreme leader, a political police force – be it called OZNA, Gestapo, or otherwise – and it makes no difference whether it is concentration camps like Teharje, Roga, or Auschwitz, or numerous hidden mass graves of extrajudicially murdered individuals. Europeans, at least I hope, have definitively overcome the evil of ideological totalitarianisms by the end of the 1990s.
After the victory over the last of these totalitarianisms, as described by Peter Schweizer in his book Victory, there was a prevailing belief in the European Union that true democracy, respect for human rights, and equality for all people could only be achieved by maintaining equidistance from any form of totalitarianism. Hence, the European Parliament, albeit somewhat belatedly for some of us, adopted on September 19th, 2019, with a significant majority, the resolution titled Importance of European Remembrance for the Future of Europe. In this resolution, the clear expectation is emphasised that Europeans will never forget the complete dehumanisation and horrors caused by the three totalitarianisms in the past century on European soil. Furthermore, there is an expressed expectation that Europeans will clearly distance themselves from any of these totalitarianisms. This means maintaining equidistance from all three manifestations of totalitarianism. As a committed democrat, I welcomed this resolution because I believe that democracy can only function when maintaining equidistance from the three forms of totalitarianism. Only a functioning democracy can provide better conditions for me, my family, Slovenians, and all Europeans than those experienced in the past century. However, there was soon a somewhat disappointing development – the Slovenian National Assembly has not yet adopted this resolution. While they still have the opportunity to do so, I hope they will, as hope dies last.
ONLY A FUNCTIONING DEMOCRACY CAN PROVIDE BETTER CONDITIONS FOR SLOVENIANS AND ALL EUROPEANS THAN THOSE EXPERIENCED IN THE PAST CENTURY.
Because I am convinced that the future of Europe, including Slovenia, relies on equidistance from all forms of totalitarianism, I have been negatively surprised by some contributions in the Slovenian mainstream media lately, indicating a significant lack of equidistance. In this column, I will mention just two examples. In the latest Saturday supplement of the newspaper Delo, Mr. Branko Soban published an article titled Fear of the Letter F, where the letter F supposedly denotes fascism. I agree with Mr. Soban that recent events and processes in Europe suggest the possibility of a resurgence of fascism, and I, too, am monitoring them with concern. However, events are also taking place in Europe that suggest the possibility of a resurgence of communism. So why is there no letter C in Mr. Soban’s article? I thought, and still think, that Mr. Soban’s article does not respect, or at least not to a sufficient extent, the principle of equidistance, a fundamental principle on which modern Europe is built. I was convinced that it is only right to respond to Mr. Branko Soban’s article and point out the lack of equidistance in it. I wrote my response and sent it to Delo for publication, and I was unpleasantly surprised that the responsible individuals at Delo did not want to publish my contribution. I am left wondering whether equidistance is still the foundational principle for those responsible at Delo on which Europe builds its future or whether they do not see it in the approach to any of the totalitarianisms, regardless of the starting letter. I wonder where my freedom of speech is.
The second such event, which at least for me shows a lack of respect for the principle of equidistance, was Mr. Bergant’s comment in Saturday’s Dnevnik on RTVSLO. In it, he labelled the current government of the Republic of Slovenia as centrist. This can be his opinion. But an objective observer cannot ignore that prominent representatives of this government claim to be proud successors of one of the totalitarian systems, and ministers of this government attend commemorations of the establishment of the nuclear group of one of the aforementioned totalitarianisms. The opinion of whether such a government is genuinely centrist or respects the principle of equidistance from all totalitarian systems is for each reader of this column to form on their own.
It is an undeniable fact that a free and democratic Europe, including Slovenia, was established and exists on the principle of equidistance from all totalitarian systems that caused us so much harm in the past century. My wish is that as many Slovenians as possible, regardless of their party affiliation or preference, follow the concept of equidistance, and that the media support them in this.