By: Nina Žoher / Nova24tv
Political pressures on the account of Dr Jože Možina are escalating after Saturday’s show Utrip, in which he put the cat among pigeons of the cult of the Battle of Dražgoše. The management of RTV Slovenia, together with the editor of the news programme Jadranka Rebernik, called him to defend the director of television Valentin Areh. The reason is said to be protests from the left. Možina shed light on the battle of Dražgoše from the point of view of surviving locals, witnesses who remember the events of 1942 in this Gorenjska village below Jelovica somewhat differently from the myth of the Yugoslav era and which still feeds the Slovene left for daily political needs.
“As I hear, the management of the house is under great pressure from those who have probably thought and acted as if this house is theirs and not public. It is owned by a certain political option. I cannot understand it any other way,” said RTVS presenter and journalist Dr Jože Možina and added that he expects strong support from the management. “But we will see what happens,” he said.
Some politicians reacted sharply to the broadcast, especially the president of the SD party Tanja Fajon, who wrote: “Public service = government service of RTV Slovenia. Shame! Možina and the team. There is no excuse for an editorial policy that no longer works in the public interest.” Asked how he experiences such records, Možina said that he is not bothered if anyone, including politicians, do not agree with any of his work, quotations or in anything. “I understand all this because we are public figures.” Možina believes that Fajon probably inadvertently proved her intention with her record that this house is theirs. “That she/they are the ones who represent the public interest on RTVS, which is completely inadmissible. And to embarrass an author of a show, without one of all this pleiad of left-wing politicians and activists and others reproaching what exactly is wrong,” Možina was critical.
He said that in the past it had happened in the Utrip show that some unverified claims had escaped his colleagues, but this always came to the fore that it was just a comment and that there was freedom of comment here. “In my case, there is not a single mistake. I am waiting. Maybe they will complain and say, this is not true. As far as I was able to verify in good faith everything, I said is true. Of course, I have every right to interpret what I interpreted,” he added.
The locals themselves said that the emperor was naked, that Santa Claus does not exist
According to Možina, for the first time it probably happened in the prime team that they did not listen to politicians in the interpretation of the Dražgoše tragedy, but to those to whom the tragedy happened. To a man who lost three brothers and a father, to a woman who lost three brothers, and to a man who lost a father. “Let them tell you what they actually think, and they said it. One of them also stated that, according to him, the partisans were to blame for this accident because they knew what was going to happen, and they sacrificed this village. These are his words. I do not comment on them, but I understand them. Let us once and for all finally listen to those affected, not the politicians who still, after so many years of knowing what happened, when this farce is over, when this fairy tale crashed into the abyss, speak of a great victory. It was not a big win unfortunately. It was a great defeat. This same battalion staged a great victory a month earlier in Rovt pod Blegošom.” Namely, 45 occupying soldiers fell. No locals were killed out of revenge. “But they do not worship that. There used to be one small tablet on the rock to commemorate this battle. Here, however, the accident in Dražgoše is turning into a mythology that is not true. The locals themselves said that the emperor was naked, that Santa Claus does not exist,” Možina criticised.
As some on Twitter call Možina a fascist, Možina said his attitude towards fascism is like that towards communism and Nazism. “Our family has concrete experiences with fascism. Grandfather was imprisoned on the island of Ponza for his anti-fascist activities in the 1930s, when our communists finally fraternised with fascists and Nazis. The other grandfather was imprisoned by the Germans. My father was twice expelled from school because of his anti-Italian attitude, that is, because of Slovenian nationalism. These various Bandellis, who have Italianised their surname, will not say who is anti-fascist and who is not. What also encouraged me to comment and point out former President Kučan is that it is indecent that the bearer of totalitarian communism (Slovene), which caused the death and misery of tens of thousands of Slovenes, speaks of modern fascism and the age of democracy, when you can say whatever you want, except apparently in Utrip you are not allowed to say such words. I confronted him with a different opinion,” he was clear.
According to Možina, it is striking because there are various shows on RTV where everyone can talk and comment. “But after a few years, it happens for the first time that someone sees things a little differently. What shocks me is that part of politics, even Tanja Fajon as President of the Social Democrats, MEP and promoter of freedom and thought, cannot understand, and accept this. As well as not an extreme minority on RTV Slovenia.”
We should always act with the same watts
As the employees of RTVS reacted violently in the case of criticism of Erika Žnidaršič after the Tarča show, but not in the case of Možina, he said that if they tried to show and prove that they are plural in the news programme, they should always act with the same watts. “So far this has not happened yet. Maybe it will. There must be a bunch of emails waiting for me on this topic. I will take a look because there was no time yet. This would be useful for the news programme itself, as it would show that we are roughly equal. If this does not happen, it will be another proof that, unfortunately, the news programme in a radical composition (does not apply to everyone) does not reflect the pluralistic views of Slovenian society,” he stressed.
He says he is aware that there is a big thing in the game. “Will we let ourselves be free to speak and comment in 2022? We absolutely must defend it to the last.” He says that as far as he is concerned, his attitude will not change. He will continue to work in a respectful and inoffensive way. “I do not have a self-censorship chip inserted that Kučan and Fajon should not be touched,” he added.