By: G. B.
“In Ljubljana, writer Svetlana Makarovič will be defending herself in court due to her satirical poem ‘Beat of Lies’,” yesterday the STA summarised the start of the trial in the editorial of its court events preview for the week. So, according to the STA’s reporting, Makarovič is supposed to defend herself due to satire, from which it quickly becomes apparent that the media are portraying her as a victim.
Let’s see what else the STA writes: “On Monday, a hearing was scheduled at the Ljubljana District Court in the case of a lawsuit by Radiotelevizija Slovenija and journalist and editor Jože Možina against writer, musician, and actress Svetlana Makarovič. The lawsuit was initiated by the institution and Možina in 2022 due to the poem ‘Beat of Lies’, which Makarovič read a few months earlier at one of the anti-government protests in Republic Square. As reported by the Insajder.com portal, Možina decided to file the lawsuit due to ‘psychological suffering’ caused by the ‘Beat of Lies’, thus demanding an apology and 2000 euros plus statutory interest.”
In the tone of the mentioned report, one can detect considerable disdain towards Možina and bias in favour of Makarovič. However, RTVS is also involved in the lawsuit as the plaintiff. Given the current events, it is entirely possible that RTVS will withdraw the lawsuit and not protect its employee.
And what is this about? On January 22nd, 2022, Makarovič, acting as a leftist influencer at a political rally of left-wing supporters, attacked and grossly insulted the author of both Utrip and Pričevalci broadcasts, Možina, amid an outbreak of hate speech. She incited the gathered crowd against the aforementioned RTV journalist and labelled him as a traitor, a fascist. In the lynching atmosphere amidst enthusiastic cheers from leftist extremists, Svetlana Makarovič called for his silencing.
The recording of this hateful outburst is available in a video, starting from 29.40.
You judge for yourselves whether this is indeed “satire”, as implied by the STA. However, it is certainly primarily about public defamation and intimidation of a journalist due to his work.
As Možina told us, there are well-known cases of how RTV, especially in the national television’s news programme, behaved and reported in the event of attacks on its journalists, even in cases of minor or entirely marginal incidents. “We will closely monitor how they behave this time. If we are still a rule of law, Svetlana Makarovič has no chance of escaping punishment for such a blatant incitement of hate speech against a journalist of public television. However, since she is, of course, an icon of leftist extremists, the question is whether the court will rule fairly,” he communicated.
If she is acquitted, it will be a clear signal of double standards (or, as current Minister of Justice Andreja Katič would probably say, double “waffles”) and evidence that there are sacred places in our country that are not allowed to set boundaries. This, in turn, spreads the virus of violence.
Let us also remember that the Ljubljana court convicted former Demokracija editor Jože Biščak for publishing a post that was actually satirical – but this did not convince the courts. Well, in the case of Makarovič’s appearance, it is in no way about satire, but about foolish insults, which also have dangerous consequences, as they incite crowds and legitimise violence.