By: Tomaž S. Medved
As it seems, the latest political scandal involving the well-known “artist” from Novo mesto, Dušan Josip Smodej, has actually already reached its peak, as yesterday many well-known representatives of the Levica party (including Luka Mesec and Asta Vrečko) and various left-wing civil society members swore, saying “I do not know this man”, while the “lower cadres” have already started a counter-offensive on social networks, saying that the scandal is fabricated, that the opposition SDS is behind it, which would like to hide its real problems.
Of course, such a reaction was expected, but it shows that in the ranks of those who had contact with Smodej, a very serious nervousness prevails, because they know that they recently had a similar affair in Germany (and there their Social Democratic Chancellor Olaf Scholz even attended such parties) and that this can have a devastating effect on the public’s attitude towards the most revolutionary-oriented party. Well, on the other hand, even in the Gibanje Svoboda party, they happily rub their hands and wait for the bodies to float down the river. Therefore, it is not surprising that even in the ranks of the largest government party, “everything is quiet” at the moment, while Prime Minister Robert Golob promises expensive additions, which are actually cosmetic in nature and ordinary change. As if to say that they will not say that we did not give anything.
Police “waiting for lemonade”
What is, of course, also expected is the behaviour of the police, who do not mention any names in their public messages, but instead call on potential victims or victims to report the actions if they really happened. Otherwise, they act very passively, saying that they will not investigate until they receive reports, regardless of the fact that the suspicion of a criminal offense was given a long time ago and they should have reacted due to the media reports about sexual abuse and the use of drugs for rape. In short, the reactions of the police, apparently also due to the directives of the Minister of the Interior Tatjana Bobnar, are reminiscent of 2010, when the police during the affair with bullmastiffs were especially careful not to let anything like that become public, which could compromise the then minister Katarina Kresal. Who later resigned due to other matters, experienced a debacle in the elections, and then returned to the public a few years later as a media star.
Of course, it is now becoming clear why the transitional left has carried out such a fierce media offensive on all fronts in the last two weeks. The underlying motive was to remove the affair from the public as soon as possible, even before it could reach the “unhallowed”, i.e., the media, which is not under the control of the deep state. That is why there was also nervousness at the events at RTVS, where they are trying to bring down the new director of the national television, Uroš Urbanija, because of the latest decisions related to business with Mladina, where the editor Grega Repovž, otherwise a media spokesman for the Levica party, called for purges at RTVS. For now, he will not have to clean up RTVS, because there they still take exemplary care of the censorship of the names of those in power who could be compromised.
Raising the smoke screen
On the other hand, some other media tried to divert attention with fabricated scandals (for example, the alleged rape in the elevator in 1997, which was highlighted by Odlazek’s Reporter, but the story very quickly faded away – however, unlike the Smodej affair, the media, which summed it up, did not hide the names!), and activists like Nika Kovač, with bizarre actions to introduce laws, which were supposed to return hot meals to schools, i.e., what was already introduced by the first Janša’s government, but abolished by Pahor’s, while all attempts to return hot meals to schools were persistently rejected by the parties of the transitional left. Despite all this, Nika Kovač even used the slogan she stole from Aleš Primc and his initiative (“It is about the children”).
And, of course, another “awkwardness” befell Nika Kovač, which we have already reported on – namely, the fact that, according to her, taking drugs is not controversial, but there may be a problem with the legality of doing so. Of course, not a single word about the fact that abused young girls got to debauched parties through the March 8th Institute?
Luka Mesec would just file lawsuits
In any case, what will be most noticeable is how all those who had any connection with Smodej intensively clean traces that could compromise them. Luka Mesec, the coordinator of the Levica party and the current Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs, is even threatening legal proceedings, thereby degrading his own country to the level of the most hideous banana republic?! And of course, no one had anything to do with Smodej, everyone condemns sexual violence and is terribly principled.
Apropos: it was Luka Mesec who recently had a lot to do with embarrassment, saying that he should be tested for drugs, just yesterday the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin did it, who paid for the test herself. And the test showed a negative result. By the way, when we mentioned Katarina Kresal earlier, many people will remember how, when Kresal was in politics, there was a request for her to be tested with a hair sample – but she flatly refused it.
And to be clear: the Smodej affair is largely the result of mutual struggles within the transition left, where control over the presidential candidates of the transition left is established by Gregor Golobič, since all three of them (Nataša Pirc Musar, Marta Kos, and Ivo Vajgl) have people’s advisors from the Golobič’s circle (Stojan Pelko, Pavel Gantar, and Franci Kek), while SD party decided not to have its own candidate at all. And it seems that the Levica party will not have it either…