Months and months of undermining and slandering of the measures, legitimizing convicted criminals as “representatives of the protesting people” and promoting anarchism, have finally erupted. On the 4th of December 2020, criminal investigators received several reports of threats made against the members of the government advisory group for COVID-19. The letters that were sent to the homes of the victims were filled with threats against their safety and life. The letters have been seized by the criminal investigators, who have already begun working on prosecuting the unknown perpetrators, on suspicion of committing criminal offences. This is the end of the road, for which the mainstream media and the central left or the opposition are entirely to blame for.
In recent months, the mainstream media and the central left-wing politics have obviously been working together, as they have been undermining and challenging the credibility of the current government from its very beginning – even before it was fully formed. They were slandering the government measures that were adopted to contain the spread of COVID-19 and encouraged every obscure covid sceptic to share his opinion for a few months, but then they suddenly decided to switch things up and began to argue that the measures were too mild or implemented too late and that the government was to blame for the second wave of the epidemic and its intensity. On Friday, the consequences of their fairy tales, lies and manipulations finally became obvious. The matter became serious, as the members of the government advisory group began receiving threats – and there is no way to blame the government for this.
Prime Minister Janez Janša, also responded to the criminal investigators’ reports on death threats: “The police have received several reports of threats made against the members of the government advisory group for COVID-19. The threats of violence and death threats which are coming in daily are also the result of the passivity of the prosecution, and – in some cases – even its passive support.”
The first protests happened even before the government was fully formed, soon after the resignation of Marjan Šarec. Friday’s cycling protests began after the episode of Tarča, in which the national television one-sidedly and insufficiently presented the situation in which the recently formed government found itself when it had to somehow provide masks and medical ventilators for the completely unprepared healthcare system, while competing with many other countries, in a more or less hysterical world market.
Death to “Janšaism”
Banners reading “Death to Janshism!” began appearing at these protests. The central media, the central left-wing politicians and their “on-call intellectuals,” used rhetorical acrobatics to justify and relativize these threats, and the prosecution more or less ignored them.
The protests were branded as “popular” by the mainstream media and were also given a lot of media space and a voice. Even though the protests were illegal, since, to this day, no one has dared to declare themselves the organizer, and they were also unreported, in contradiction with the measures that were implemented at the time and happening in the middle of the first wave of the epidemic, the mainstream media and the opposition passionately gave them the “thumbs up.”
The left-wing opposition opposed the preventive measures
The next phase of the “fifth column behaviour” towards the government and the citizens who adhered to the measures soon continued. Certain central left-wing parties, such as the SD, called to abolish the measure of wearing masks in schools. They were soon joined by the LMŠ, Levica, and all of the other left-wing opposition parties in directly and indirectly calling for non-compliance with the measures.
At around that same time, the “folk” covid sceptics began to appear – influencers Marko Potrč, Zlatan Čordić, and the likes. The response of the media? They gave them lots of space and did not critically distance themselves from the sceptics’ opinions. The response of the politicians? Harmony, harmony with the central media, and advocacy for the influencers. No criticism whatsoever.
The illegal protests turn violent
The efforts to block the government’s measures began spreading over time and began to take its final shape in November. Characters such as Anis Ličina (who took part in and was noticed at Friday’s protests) began to appear and began to speak contemptuously of the Friday’s protests. They also announced the “real,” “serious” protests, saying that real protests are also violent. At the same time, on the same day, the protests were also announced by the Slovenian “Anonymus” group, Ivan Gale, Jaša Jenull, and the likes. Eventually, the latter began to distance themselves from the violent protests, saying that they did not advocate violence. Ivan Gale was then spotted at the protests, and the straw that broke the camel’s back, when it comes to the lies of the left-wing extremists, was Jaša Jenull’s outburst that happened a few days ago when he himself began threatening the police, digging a hole for himself, and denying previous claims about his pacifism or the pacifism of the Friday’s protesters. Another indication of the connection between the central media, the central left-wing politics and the protests, supported by the first two.
The effects of the tolerance for protests? Beaten photographers and journalists. Zlatan Čordić attacks our cameraman. Čordić threatens an employee at the ministry. Ličina and the team are intimidating the residents of the capital. And the media? POP TV and RTV Slovenia defend Ličina and try to pass him off to the public as a legitimate protester, a representative of the people, who are supposed to speak up. Politicians on the left are defending Čordić. The prosecution? Staying silent.
When you allow someone who has this much hate in them to gradually move the boundaries of what is allowed, and you leave them alone, you end up with death threats. And here they are. Specifically, they were sent to the members of the government advisory group for COVID-19. Because the media and the opposition have made sure that the hooligans, criminals, barbarians and others, feel safe with us.
Aleš Ernecl