By: G. B.
It was only a matter of time before the regime-controlled media pointed fingers at the residents of border municipalities, who are being imposed with migrant centres by the government. Among them, the Maribor-based newspaper Večer has particularly “excelled”.
Commentator Urška Mlinarič, in her commentary Almost two decades after Drnovšek, believes that “we must ask ourselves again, are we humans, or what are we?” With this, she pointed a finger at the resistance of citizens from Središče ob Dravi and Brežice, who are prepared to physically stop the establishment of asylum centres. The author believes that the reason for rejecting people fleeing comes from an inability to accept those who are different.
“Since 2015, when we faced the first major influx of refugees and migrants since 1990, the state has not fulfilled its task of adopting a reassuring, explanatory approach to this issue. This has widely opened the door to xenophobic, intolerant rhetoric, which only fuels people’s fear of the unknown. Many European countries have failed this test. That is why in Slovenia, for a decade now, we have been primarily looking for ways to pass the problem on to others, rather than finding ways to detain people at the border. The best solution, as agreed with Brussels, would be to keep them out of the EU fortress, disregarding their fates. Therefore, each of us and all of us together must ask ourselves, are we human, or what, when we deny adequate accommodation to fellow human beings,” wrote the commentator, who apparently does not distinguish between refugees and (illegal) migrants. But why would she, when even Prime Minister Robert Golob equates legal and illegal migrants.
This is, of course, just one textbook example of psychological intimidation and stigmatisation of the local residents, who have very weighty and justified reasons for their resistance. Apparently, it does not help that even the municipal councillors of Brežice’s Gibanje Svoboda party voted against the asylum centre. It seems that the current government is incapable of engaging in a reassuring dialogue with the local population, instead acting as the red regime did in the past.
It is noteworthy, however, that Svoboda MP Tereza Novak admitted that there was apparently a “communication glitch” between the party “headquarters” and the Brežice committee.