By: Peter Truden
In a recent episode of the show “Ura moči” (The Hour of Power), which is hosted by Bojan Požar on Planet TV, his two guests were Boštjan Turk and Edvard Kadič. In their analysis, the commentators also touched on the Institute of the 8th of March’s controversial election campaign on the social network TikTok.
The Institute of the 8th of March (Inštitut 8. marec), which began its journey as a non-governmental organisation that highlighted the issues of women, but has transformed into a left-wing political activist group in recent years, launched its latest campaign on the social network TikTok, with the intention of inviting young people to participate in the upcoming elections.
“This is a call for everyone to go vote and elect a new government, which will replace the existing one. However, this is the mother of all scandals. This is about the sexualisation of children,” said commentator Edvard Kadič on the show “Ura moči” on Planet TV. The campaign is taking place on TikTok, under the hashtag “#potrebninovevlade” (the translation of this could be “in need of a new government,” or “horny for a new government,” as the verb “potreben” is used in Slovenian to indicate that you need something and that you are horny), and according to the latest data, various videos filmed by young people who use this hashtag have gotten 1.4 million views already.
We are dealing with an ideology
“We must be aware of the fact that we are dealing with an ideology with which all ties must be severed as soon as possible,” Kadič said. In the short videos that are being posted on the popular Chinese-owned social network and are part of the election campaign, we see young people, supposedly of age, expressing their “need” for the new government in many obscene ways. TikTok users must be at least 13 years old. However, the Chinese social network is said to have no age checks for people who actually sign up to the app, meaning that not only children over the age of 13, but potentially even younger ones with access to smartphones and the web, are given access to explicit and inappropriate content.
Teenagers in the videos in question, which use the hashtag “#potrebninovevlade” (“In need of a new government”/”Horny for a new government”), talk about, for example, how other users should stop asking them if they have their own OnlyFans profile, and instead go vote. OnlyFans is another social network, with distinctly explicit, even pornographic content, which flourished during the Covid-19 pandemic. Followers on the social network in question pay a subscription fee in exchange for access to explicit videos and photos of the so-called models.
A new class of the Party bourgeoise
“This is an encroachment on the most intimate sphere of the most sensitive people, meaning young people. In this election campaign, we have to be prepared for almost anything, apparently,” Boštjan Turk pointed out.
Meanwhile, the host of the TV show, Bojan Požar, highlighted the problematic fact that the representatives of the non-governmental organisations, who are calling on young people to take an active part in the overthrowing of the current government of Prime Minister Janez Janša, are themselves “safe” abroad. Director of the Institute of the 8th of March, Nika Kovač, is supposedly in New York at the moment, while the President of the Youth Plus Trade Union (Sindikat Mladi Plus), Tea Jarc, is in Seychelles. “This is a new class of the Party bourgeoise,” Kadič commented on the situation.