By: Dr Vinko Gorenak
Unfortunately, Hannah Johanna Arendt, the German-American historian and philosopher, passed away long ago in 1975. If she were still alive, she could teach our rulers in the Golob’s coalition quite a lot. She was a German of Jewish descent who, of course, knew Nazism very well and fled to the USA during World War II. This lady wrote the following: “No one has the right to call themselves an anti-fascist if they are not also an anti-communist.”
The European Parliament adopted the Resolution on European Conscience and Totalitarianism long ago in 2009, condemning all three totalitarian regimes of the last century that have significantly marked Europe and Slovenia. This includes fascism, Nazism, and communism, the three most brutal systems of the last century, responsible for millions of innocent victims. In the case of Slovenia, this particularly applies to communism, especially regarding the extrajudicial killings after World War II. In the European Parliament, all Slovenian members of parliament at that time voted for the resolution, regardless of their political affiliation.
However, in Slovenia, different standards apply to different groups. Our National Assembly has repeatedly discussed the resolution since 2009. Proponents typically wanted its adoption in the Slovenian translation and nothing more. However, the transitional left, which currently makes up the coalition, has always been against it. Thus, the European Parliament has one set of standards, and at home, they have another.
Moreover, while the European Parliament condemned all three totalitarianisms of the 20th century, fascism, Nazism, and communism, with the support of left-wing political party members from Slovenia, the coalition goes even further. They have submitted an amendment to the law on “the protection of public order and peace” into parliamentary procedure. Nothing special, you might say, but the essence of the proposed law is its content, aiming to prohibit the glorification (what this means is still unclear) of fascism and Nazism, and as interpreted, also the home guard, but says nothing about communism. This is another example of double standards. Why would they ban the glorification of fascism and Nazism, but not communism, which is responsible for far more extrajudicial killings after the war?
There are as many double standards in the coalition as you want. As you know, at the beginning of this mandate, they established an investigative commission to investigate the financing of the SDS and media that they believe are close to the SDS (Demokracija, Nova24TV). They appointed then-loyal MP Mojca Šetinc Pašek as the head of the commission. When Golob threw her overboard, she publicly stated that the commission’s purpose was and still is the discreditation of the SDS.
However, they have completely different standards in the coalition when it comes to controversial dealings Prime Minister Golob. Nothing about his million-dollar salary and bonuses, nothing about the €100,000 transfer to Vesna Vuković, the later general secretary of the coalition, nothing about his controversial dealings in Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo, and certainly nothing about his bank account in Romania or the million-euro loan to the Gibanje Svoboda party with almost no collateral. No investigative commission is needed for any of this. Only when the investigative commission was literally forced by the National Council did they establish it, appointing a reliable person from the coalition, Tomaž Lah, whose task is obviously to discover nothing.
Double standards also prevail in the National Assembly under the leadership of Urška Klakočar Zupančič, a member of the coalition. This lady has distorted the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, which is considered a mini-constitution and is adopted by a two-thirds majority, to such an extent that it practically no longer applies. Furthermore, she almost literally expels opposition MPs from the National Assembly. But more on that another time.
Finally, let’s return to Hannah Johanna Arendt and her famous statement: “No one has the right to call themselves an anti-fascist if they are not also an anti-communist.” This lady could teach the rulers from the coalition a lot based on practical experience. There are even more people among us who have experienced the horrors of all three totalitarianisms of the last century: fascism, Nazism, and communism, who could tell the responsible people in the coalition much more. One such person was certainly the late Boris Pahor. To be continued.