By Jože Biščak and Vinko Vasle
Dear Mr Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic,
we are writing to you because of your statement after the summit of EU leaders and because the press agencies put you at the top of the news in their reports.
You say that the EU is fighting a »cultural« and »civilizational« battle to stop illiberal ideas that are supposed to jeopardize fundamental European values. You pointed out Poland and Hungary, and the agencies also mention Slovenia and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša.
If you see things that way, that’s fine too. This is your opinion, which we, as Slovenians and Europeans, do not share with you.
You are talking about »illiberal democracies«. Let’s clarify something: have you ever lived in »illiberal democracies«, experienced them? Have you ever felt non-democracy and totalitarianism in your life? We wouldn’t say you have. You lived and grew up in France, which for us who were born and raised in the totalitarian communist regime in the former Yugoslavia was one of the countries of the »promised« Western Europe, which was supposed to be famous for its freedom in democracy and, above all, for accepting various opinions and views. So what is illiberal (totalitarian) you can only know from books and from other people’s narratives. Therefore, be careful when choosing words when accusing someone of illiberalism or totalitarianism.
You say that now some countries are undermining the values that have built the core of Western civilization for centuries. If we understand correctly, you are saying that, for example, the LGBT agenda is several centuries old and has built Western civilization. As we know, Western civilization grew up on competition between individual nations, on love for their homeland, on religion and family, and on respect for certain freedoms: freedom of speech, private property, and the inviolability of human life. And it is precisely these values that Hungary, Poland and Slovenia are trying to protect today.
For example, Hungary. Have you read the »controversial« child protection law? Are you just familiar with it because you read about it in the media mainstream or your consultants told you about it? This law has a single purpose: to protect children from the state, NGOs and the media, the law in no way restricts the rights of homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people. The basic premise is that sex education of children is in the domain of parents and not a matter of education. This applies to both heterosexuality and homosexuality. If you in France allow children in schools to be taught how to put on a condom, how to use erotic devices and how to masturbate, or that there are more than 100 genders, and that it is perfectly normal for the youngest to change their gender and worse, that’s fine. This is an internal affair of France. But, for God’s sake, respect countries that do not allow such psychological and physical violence by LGBT activists against children.
Dear President of France. Today, Slovenia is celebrating 30 years of independence. That is when we decided on freedom and democracy. And let it stay that way.
Jože Biščak is the editor-in-chief of the conservative-oriented magazine Demokracija, president of the Slovenian Association of Patriotic Journalists and author of the books Zgodbe iz Kavarne Hayek, Zapisi konservativnega liberalca and Potovati z Orwellom.
Vinko Vasle is a longtime journalist and editor, former director of the national Radio Slovenia and the author of several novels, including Purgarji, Darovalec, Arhivar, Prva hiša na Marsu and Pisma podpore in upora.
