By: Sara Kovač
Rapper Zlatan Čordić – Zlatko lost his status as self-employed in culture, and with it some of the privileges that status brings. In the order of the Ministry of Culture, they explained that in the last year he devoted a significant part of his creative time to actions that are not related to demonstrating the ability to perform cultural activities. As a key reason, they list the rapper’s involvement in illegal actions that are being prosecuted under criminal law.
Rapper Zlatan Čordić – Zlatko, one of the most prominent faces of the protest movement against the government, has lost the status of self-employed in culture, and with it some of the privileges he was entitled to since July 15th, 2014, when he was entered in the register of self-employed in culture.
However, Čordić did not lose his self-employed status in culture because of his opposing views to the government and the latter trying to revenge itself for his anti-government activity. He lost his status because he repeatedly crossed the line of what is permissible and even criminal with his public outbursts.
Zlatko is not an example of a Slovenian cultural figure
Remember how from the very beginning of the anti-government protest Čordić stood out for his audacity. He frequently attended the protests, despite the ban on gathering, and shouted with a megaphone, thus influencing the crowds. He did not respect preventive health measures, although the experts have warned from the very beginning against the second autumn wave of the covid-19 epidemic – with more deadly consequences than the first. At the same time, he publicly called on protesters to take their masks off their faces and show disobedience to the state.
Čordić first showed his problems with self-control at a national celebration on Statehood Day, when he wanted to break into the scene uninvited and with a megaphone interrupt President Borut Pahor’s address. Even then, he insulted the police with “robocops” and compared security to the occupation of Ljubljana under fascism. It only went downhill from there as his outburst became more brutal, and the police tolerated his behaviour with incredible patience.
On Nova24TV we will undoubtedly remember him mostly due to his attack on our cameraman. First he attacked him verbally and then he stole the camera from his hands. The event is certainly one of the most daring attacks on journalism in the history of Slovenia, which has been confirmed and condemned by many journalist associations. But if we expected Čordić to sober up after all this, we could not be more wrong.
To make matters worse, in the incident on Wednesday, November 23rd, in broad daylight Zlatko with his acquaintance “surrounded” the director of the National Institute of Public Health, dr. Milan Krek, and started harassing him under the pretext that he wanted answers to some questions. The pursuit and filming took place all the way from Kotnik’s to Trubar’s street, and Krek, shocked by the incident, reported it to criminal investigators.
After everything seen so far, rapper Zlatko will have a hard time convincing the public that he is merely a victim of revenge by the evil authorities. Čordič is above all a victim of himself and his own recklessness, and in a free country it is necessary to take responsibility for one’s actions. Fortunately, the times of hereditary privileges based on ideological or blood ties are over, and the status of the self-employed in culture should be subject to the strictest standards, among which, in addition to an important contribution to Slovenian culture, is the high integrity of the individual.
