“Janez Janša needs to be publicly slaughtered like a pig, there is no other solution,” reads one of the hostile comments on the 24ur web portal, where, based on false information from a non-governmental organization, they are showing Slovenia in a bad light.
On Thursday, the 24ur.com web portal reported on the latest report by Monitor Civicus, which ranked Slovenia among the countries with a narrowed civic space. Prior to that, according to this organization, it was ranked among the countries with an open civil society space. According to 24ur.com, the lower score means that democratic freedoms are increasingly being violated in Slovenia, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association. The restrictions have deepened under the government of Janez Janša, the portal summed up Civicus’ findings. Civicus also highlighted the suppression of media freedoms in Slovenia, including threats that were made to journalists and independent media outlets. They also reported on the alarming attacks on civil society organizations and groups involved in the fields of culture, human rights, media freedom and the environment. Their report also mentions the cycling protests, which have taken place in Ljubljana for several weeks in a row, starting in March 2020, as a response to the government’s repression, 24.com reported.
Monitor Civicus also mentioned that while our government has taken steps to reduce media independence, funding for media outlets such as Nova24TV, Nova24 online and Planet TV is increasing. These media outlets are funded by the parties and individuals close to Janez Janša’s close ally, the “Hungarian authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, known for suppressing the independent media,” Civicus wrote. They also added that the authorities had tried to use the new coronavirus epidemic as an excuse to further restrict the civil society, in particular by imposing financial restriction and obstructing the work of the environmental NGOs. Similar restrictions of the civil society and the media are occurring in other European countries as well, Civicus found, in particular, in countries such as Hungary, Poland and Serbia, where the authoritarian leaders are using the coronavirus epidemic as a pretext to restrict freedoms. Interesting, this seems almost as if it was written at the behest of our opposition, the left-wing media outlets and some of the non-governmental organizations.
Who reports to the foreign media and organizations and who is financing the “assessments” of the situation in Slovenia?
It is interesting to see how recently, the foreign media and apparently foreign organizations as well, have received an incredible amount of information about the situation in Slovenia under the government of Janez Janša. The information is, of course, distorted and often almost verbatim copied from some regime media outlet or from the members of the opposition. It is even quite precisely known which of the journalists are spreading these lies outside Slovenia. Considering that the Civicus organization is a kind of a global association of non-governmental organizations, it is not difficult to find out who is communicating with them from Slovenia. This is probably also the reason why they mentioned the eighteen non-governmental organizations that are being threatened with “forced eviction” from the state-owned premises on Metelkova in their report. Of course, there is no mention of the reasons for this in the report, and 24ur.com also does not explain it.
In its report, Civicus also cited a number of Slovenian tweets and statements, such as one that was made by the director of the Peace Institute, Iztok Šori, so that the tweets would also make it perfectly clear who was behind this specific case of “denouncing.” Among their contacts, we can also find Brankica Petković (the Peace Institute), Goran Forbici (Centre for Information Service, Co-operation and Development of Non-Governmental Organizations of Slovenia – CNVOS) and Tea Jarc (Trade Union Youth Plus). So is CNVOS, the extreme left-wing NGO that is well-funded by the state budget, among others, also responsible for assessing the situation in Slovenia?
The Apple of Inspiration for death threats?
While our opposition creators are spreading distorted truths and expressing concerns in media outlets such as 24ur.com, about the government interfering with media independence, about the deteriorating working conditions for journalists, and about the curtailing of the rights to expression and socializing; apparently none of them find it problematic that the Prime Minister is openly being threatened with death. It is also difficult to understand that, given the apparent state of the country in which we live, people even dare to write such threats. And that the media outlets even dare to not delete such posts. In a different time, and perhaps even in a different place, the authors of such threats, and all who participate in such discussions, would miraculously and expeditiously disappear. In Slovenia, however, they even sign their name under the threats – Peter Mlačnik is definitely very brave. Or perhaps, he is well aware of the fact that in our country, nothing ever happens to the people who send death threats to Janša, who burn the paper mache mannequins of the Interior Minister Aleš Hojs in front of the Parliament and spread malicious lies about our country – both in our “narrowed civil society,” as well as across the border.
They don’t even get fined. What’s more, some bullies are even rewarded and invited to the National Assembly. It is only a matter of time before they receive another Apple of Inspiration.
Sara Bertoncelj