By: Sara Bertoncelj / Nova24tv
The majority of the opposition rejoiced yesterday that they had succeeded in rejecting the amendment to the law on the protection of public order and peace, which the coalition had prepared mainly because of spitting on MPs leaving home from parliament. Their joy is somewhat unusual, as it is from their ranks that accusations of insult, intimidation, inappropriate communication and so on are most often heard. Well, we are used to double standards in the opposition – they should not be punished, they would punish others.
“Good news! Fines for punishing protesters and critics of the government have just fallen with a score of 43 for, 44 against,” said the Levica party yesterday, chaired by Luka Mesec, – by rejecting the amendment to the law on protection of public order and peace, 44 MPs of the National Assembly enabled spitting at MPs, physical attacks on police officers, journalists, photojournalists and others. The amendment was supported by 43 MPs, so the difference was only in one vote. “The Italian minority MP Felice Žiža did not betray the historical facts that Italians cannot be trusted. He also voted today in violation of the agreement signed with the government,” commented SNS MP Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti on the result of the vote.
Tanja Fajon, the leader of the SD party, was also delighted: “The law on the protection of public order and peace, which introduces a thousand euros in fines for indecent behaviour, has fallen in the National Assembly. Well done, opposition! Reason won over the attempt to impose a new form of repression.” All is well and good, if it were not for extremely double standards, which was also pointed out by the Vice-Dean of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Boštjan M. Turk: “Luka Mesec has just voted against the fines, and he is suing me for alleged insult or comparison. It will be in the court file. They say one thing, they do another. They should not be punished, they would punish others,” he described the modus operandi of the entire KUL and others. Fajon also reported someone to the police who only liked the insulting Facebook post – she reminded Johanc.
All the misery of modern leftism
SDS MP Branko Grims said at the parliamentary session that now, in a way, all this misery of modern leftism has been seen beautifully. When it was about animals, the emphasis was – if someone commits violence, yells at an animal, pushes it away, God forbid spits on it – he should be severely punished, years in prison, any punishment is too low: the debate went roughly like this. When it comes to people, we hear from exactly the same side: No, this is a disproportionate and unacceptably high fine – 500 to a thousand euros. “That is, we will protect the animal, but you can do whatever you want with a human. That is modern leftism. It is nice that you showed it in such a way that people finally see it and also understand what it is really going on,” Grims added.
A tweet by SAB MP Mark Bandelli also surfaced online, welcoming Russia’s decision in 2019 to punish journalists who insult politicians and public figures. At that time, he was probably still haunted by an event when journalists asked him if he would resign from the position of minister – the then Prime Minister Marjan Šarec called on him to resign due to inappropriate communication. Apparently, he blamed all the journalists for asking if they had not denigrated his family, children and himself enough, and uttered his most famous sentence: “My children are crying at home.” This time, however, he was of the opinion that they only want to silence the nation, as the coalition no longer likes to listen to protesters. The law seemed unnecessary and harmful to all. We will see how he will feel when someone spits on him in front of the parliament or something worse.
It has not been long since the SD Young Forum cheered for an online police force that would “intensively suppress hate speech and punish users appropriately based on their IP address”. But opposition parties are apparently quick to change their minds when the coalition proposes something – even if they were more in favour for it five minutes ago. They probably do not want to be spit on in front of the parliament in any party, and it will be interesting to see the reactions if something similar really happens to any of them.
Yesterday, Levica MP Miha Kordiš, out of joy over the fall of the JRM, opened a commentary for anyone who would (un)justifiably reprimand him. “Let off steam,” he called on Facebook, and then him and his party colleague Primož Siter talked the most. Given that his opponents probably do not come to his profile very often; no excessive insults were observed. However, one of his supporters wrote in a comment: “I am looking forward to the arrival of the ‘left to power’. I hope you will keep your word and expropriate the left and right bourgeoisie. Otherwise, the voice of the “proletariat” will declare you a traitor.”