By Domen Mezeg (Nova24tv)
“He really does not know what he is talking about regarding that. There were only communists on Goli Otok. They were all old Partisans and Communist Party members. They were interned for various reasons, they were supposed to be Stalinists, but for many this was not the case. Goli Otok was one of the worst concentration camps in general, without any fascists! Let him read a book about Goli Otok, because there are enough of them!” Andrej Aplenc, an internee in this camp, responded to the nonsense of SAB MP Marko Bandelli who said that there were fascists on Goli Otok.
At the debate before the interpellation of the Minister of Culture Vasko Simoniti, a heated debate broke out. SAB MP Marko Bandelli also spoke, uttering some harsh and insulting words unworthy of the parliamentary function he holds. During the debate, he accused Simoniti of paying too much attention to Prime Minister Janez Janša, and that, instead of resisting him, he even helped set up “some nonsensical National Press Agency that even declares itself to be fascist. It is not funny; at different times these people would go to prison.” Bandelli also scandalously mentioned Goli Otok. “Just so I remind you how history was fair sometimes,” said the SAB MP, who, of course, did not experience the horrors of this terrible place, but at the same time burst into ignorance of history.
Among the ignorant public, one can repeatedly hear how Goli Otok was a penitentiary for tycoons and criminals, which would be needed even in modern times for punishment, and is being promoted as an alternative to a failed rule of law. Well, one of those who has little knowledge of historical facts and how unjust and humiliating the former totalitarian system was is also MP Bandelli.
There were old Communist Party members and partisans on Goli Otok
We also asked Andrej Aplenc, a former internee on Goli Otok, how “fair” he finds such a “history”, and he said the following for our media: “This statement is extremely inappropriate and only deepens the rift in Slovenian society, and is in no way in line with the conciliatory statement recently published by the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It is characteristic of this opposition that it does not use any decent terminology and does not respect human rights. It also does not take into account the highest scientific and cultural institutions such as the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. It is catastrophic for MPs to have such an attitude.”
We were also interested in what Mr. Andrej Aplenc thinks about Bandelli’s belief that there were fascists on Goli Otok, to which he replied: “He really does not know what he is talking about regarding this. There were only communists on Goli Otok. They were all old Partisans and Communist Party members. I was a student; I was a kid. Bandelli has absolutely no idea about this. They were interned for various reasons, they were supposed to be Stalinists, but for many this was not the case. Goli Otok was one of the worst concentration camps in general, without any fascists! He does not even know what he is talking about, let him read a book about Goli Otok, because there are enough of them!”
Bandelli’s vulgarity is already a tradition: Recently, he described half of Slovenes as “vermin”
But this is not the first time that MP Bandelli has used such common statements. He will be inscribed in our historical memory especially with an extremely vulgar insult, when he described half of the Slovenes as “vermin”. His whole piece of work was: “You know, I really mean something. I would not be bothered by the right wing if it was constructive with the opposition. Sometimes, a bit of different ideology is good because it breaks the monotony of politics. It is just… in our country, that is NOT RIGHT WING!! It is vermin, destructive dictatorial radicalism. An autocratic and absolute monarchy.” He shared his statement on Twitter. Some time ago, Bandelli had to resign as a minister due to inappropriate communication. Is it time that, due to inappropriate expression, the president of the SAB party, Alenka Bratušek, considers replacing him with someone who will be able to behave in a more dignified and respectful manner in the parliamentary seat?