On Thursday, we recorded as many as 192 new infections with COVID-19, which is a new infamous record. All in all, the number is not that surprising, considering that we have recently witnessed the propaganda of the self-proclaimed infectiologists, such as Marko Potrč, Tanja Ribič and Werner, who call for the non-wearing of the protective masks. However, the opposition parties, which cannot accept that they are no longer in power, are not far behind in their efforts to raise the number of new infections, because of their desire to gain political points. The SD and LMŠ parties were especially active in their efforts.
At the time when the epidemic was declared, the SD party was already shouting about how they do not like the measures adopted with the intention of curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus. When the leadership which the SD party was close to had suddenly changed, they began to pour out their anger and frustration onto the current government, which had to take action right after taking office, practically overnight, in order to make up for the lost time, due to the inaction of Šarec’s government. Despite the apocalyptic events in neighbouring Italy, the Šarec government, along with Nina Pirnat from the National Institute of Public Health, kept on insisting that there was no need to panic.
Despite the fact that even people from abroad had acknowledged that our government had successfully curbed the spread of the novel coronavirus infections, the SD party has not been able to say a nice work about our government, let alone cooperate with it. Together with the non-governmental organizations, they began to participate in the protests, which are illegal and, on top of that, dangerous, as they pose a risk to public health due to non-compliance with protective measures. Despite the fact that after Croatia had been included on the red list of countries, the number of infections has begun to rise sharply; they did not call for compliance with protection measures. They even went so far as to take advantage of the children for their own political propaganda, after stricter measures on the use of masks during school lessons came into force this week.
They used children for their propaganda
In their propaganda bulletin, they emphasized that they support the call of principals for schools without masks. “We call for the measures for kindergartens and schools to be designed by profession. In addition to epidemiologists, this also includes pedagogues, social workers, psychologists, and practitioners. We demand a clear and predictable plan involving everyone, not decrees which are adopted practically overnight. For a school without masks,” they were clear, despite the fact that many studies have revealed that children are carriers of the virus, especially teenagers. Apparently, the SD party does not care much about the health of the parents of the children, or their grandparents, who are part of the risk group.
Despite the fact that the Social Democrats publicly advocated for not wearing the protective masks, they did not hesitate to condemn Minister Simona Kustec, Ph.D., when a slip-up at the event organized by the Olympic Committee of Slovenia was revealed. As many people criticized them because of their attitude, the leader of the Social Democrats, MEP Tanja Fajon, took to Twitter and wrote the following: “It is not true that we are against wearing masks. However, we insist that the management of the crisis must be taken over by independent experts, who should communicate with the public. Not ministers, not the Prime Minister, or the government spokesman! As long as COVID-19 is abused for political purposes by anyone, there will be distrust in the adopted measures.”
The SD party shifts the blame onto the government
Prime Minister Janez Janša faced the Social Democrats with the truth, as he pointed out that one of the reasons for the unbridled spread of the coronavirus was the propaganda of the extremely destructive SD party, with the Slovenian Syndicate for Upbringing, Education and Science as their satellite. “With their careless performance, they are directly threatening hundreds of thousands of people in Slovenia,” he was critical. However, as the Social Democrats clearly do not handle criticism at their own expense well, it did not take long for them to come forward and wash their hands of guilt. The party’s Secretary-General, Dejan Levanič, blamed the current government for the situation, and described it as incompetent. “The incompetent government, which has apparently lost control of the situation, blames everyone else for the rise in infections. This is the result of their political decisions, which will soon become apparent. You knew exactly what was waiting for us, so stop being hypocritical, start listening to the profession and adopt sensible measures,” he pointed out.
The illegal protests are supported not only by the SD party, but also by the Levica and LMŠ parties, which find it difficult not to criticise the current government whenever the opportunity arises. Despite the fact that the LMŠ party is the one most responsible for the fact that the state did not adopt the necessary measures in time, the party just had to take all of the responsibility off their shoulders and shift the blame on the current government. Instead of the LMŠ party accepting the invitation to cooperate with the government and help adopt measures that benefit citizens with it, we only heard criticism from them. First, they were bothered because the measures were too harsh, then they were bothered because the epidemic had not been declared.
The LMŠ party has different criteria for “their” people
Recently, we could see how the LMŠ champion Marjan Šarec, just like Fajon, reprimanded Minister Kustec for not wearing a mask at the table at a charity event, while one of the MPs from their party, Jani Möderndorfer, resisted wearing a protective mask in the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, right until they became mandatory. Of course, Šarec was not critical of the deputy from his own party, although the deputies were supposed to set an example for the citizens. Given that Šarec himself did not care about the protective measures when he attended the anti-government protesters, this is not surprising.
With their reckless behavior, the opposition MPs are contributing to the spread of COVID-19, rather than setting an example and calling for responsible behavior of all citizens. Public health is in everyone’s best interest. Will Möderndorfer, Fajon, and others who think like them, be willing to take responsibility for all the deaths caused by their irresponsible actions, even when they supported, among other things, the unreported anti-government protests?
Nina Žoher
