By: Dr. Vinko Gorenak
Hypothetically imagine an organisation of the Social Democrats (SD) party assembly ((LMŠ, Levica or SAB)), which is organised and, of course, registered. Let’s add the hypothetical situation that their president is Tanja Fajon, who is also the Prime Minister, and the ministers of this party gather there, let’s speculate that it is Matjaž Nemec in the role of interior minister, Jernej Štromajer in the role of foreign minister and others. A group of about 400 or 500 of their members and supporters gather in a large tent. Let us continue the hypothetical situation that members and supporters of the Slovene Democratic Party (SDS) announce an undeclared gathering in front of the SD tent a few days before, which the police fence with security fences. With the arrival of Tanja Fajon, Matjaž Nemec and Jernej Štromajer, SDS members and supporters start throwing eggs at their cars. The sequel can also be hypothetically imagined. Tanja Fajon has a speech, ministers Nemec and Štromajer also speak, and all together loud members of the SDS, in front of the tent, are disturbing with roaring and shouting.
How would the media react to such a situation? Their way of reporting is quite predictable. Of course, they would report on the greatness of Tanja Fajon and her ministers, but on the other hand, they would bleed dry, insult and disparagingly report on the violent members of the SDS, who are fascists and more.
Well, the above situation really happened today in Marezige near Koper, only the roles were changed, the regional meeting was organised by the SDS, the SDS president and Prime Minister Janez Janša came, some ministers and MEP Romana Tomc. In front of the tent, however, there were leftists (not just members of the SD) at the unreported protest. Maybe someone will say how do you know they were leftists? Well, they were certainly not members of the SDS or other coalition parties, they would be welcome in the tent. The aforementioned threw eggs at vehicles, waved the flags of the previous totalitarian regime, and literally threatened.
But the event in Marezige is not the only one. I can never remember any rally or protest rally organised by right-wingers and it being not registered. I have also been to many such gatherings, often as a speaker. But there were never any threats against them, there was never any smashing or breaking in Ljubljana or any other place, Slovenian songs echoed and Slovenian flags fluttered, and at the end we cleaned up after ourselves and parted peacefully. On the contrary are the leftists and their supporters who are characterised by unreported rallies and protests, which are often violent, they often smash, obstruct traffic, threaten and shout at the iconography of the totalitarian, communist regime.
The SDS regional meeting in Marezige was one of the last, before such meetings had already taken place in most regions. Of course, most of our people do not know this at all, because the media did not report on it, but they certainly report on today’s meeting, more precisely on today’s protest in Marezige, they are not even interested in the SDS meeting. Politics behaves accordingly. All the leaders of the opposition parties (Fajon, Šarec, Mesec and Bratušek) are, of course, silent and giggling, as they know very well that those who protested in Marezige are voting and will vote for them.
The biggest absurdity, however, is that some now claim that the SDS abused the police to guard the party rally. Of course, the police were not there at the request of the SDS. The SDS rally was completely peaceful and the police could have stayed at home because of the SDS. However, they were there due to an unreported rally of thugs who threatened the registered assembly of the SDS.
Finally, a few words about our media reporting. POP TV, or their web portal, wrote as follows: “Protesters gathered in Marezige” … Yes, well done – SDS members and supporters gathered at the registered rally in Marezige, and at the unregistered rally they were disturbed by left wing extremists – that would be objective reporting. And Odlazek’s tycoon Dnevnik reported as follows: “In the Fortress of Slovenia, Janša was denied hospitality”. So there were no SDS members and supporters in Marezige, there were peaceful patriots who refused Janša hospitality. You should be ashamed. What about the national TV we all pay for? Its web portal reports as follows: “Protest at the regional meeting of the SDS in Marezige”. The title would somehow fit the truth, but the content of the post is a disaster. Practically all the pictures and videos are intended for the hooligans, as if there was no SDS meeting at all. Shame on national TV, which we all pay for.
Dr Vinko Gorenak is a State Secretary in the PV Cabinet, a former Member of Parliament and Minister of the Interior, a university professor and a member of the SDS.
