Radio Ognjišče prepared a show on the topic of 30 years of the independent path of Slovenian politics and civil society. They talked about this with a respected lawyer Vera Mejak, former President of the National Assembly and director of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Spatial Planning and Environmental Studies Janez Podobnik, and head of the Fokus 2031 think tank Marko Balažic. “They shout there on The Triple Bridge, how everything is wrong. How wrong everything is! You know, there is nothing wrong. Democracy is the rule of the people,” said Vera Mejak, a respected lawyer, regarding the demonstrations. In doing so, she observes that this is a group of annoyed people slandering something they do not even know about. “A minority disintegrating group of people cannot take power as they imagine, but will have to go to the elections.”
SLS President Marjan Podobnik, who led the temple of democracy for an entire term, pointed out that already three presidents had changed in this convocation: “I have fond memories of those times. It was not easy, just as it is not easy today for our colleagues in the National Assembly today. My only wish is for capable, talented and ambitious people to make decisions and then get seats in the National Assembly.” On what we would need today, he added: “And the Demos coalition, which was a broad programme coalition and is key to Slovenian independence, is the one that today’s Slovenian political space, of course, within the current possibilities, needs again.”
Mejak remembers the years of independence several years before that. At that time, she headed the Directorate of the International Bank of Slovenia and emphasised that at that time they did not have the communication technology we have today, and reporting on foreign currency and inflows took place via fax. “Foreign currency was going to Belgrade promptly, we did not have enough for neither diapers, nor coffee, nor bananas, nothing, and that was already in 1982, when Milka Planinc led the government in Belgrade,” she explained. She points out that the situation was even worse later, as there was not enough money for petrol, and reminds citizens how they had to stand in lines in front of banks to get those rare foreign currencies that they happened to have in their foreign currency account, and they were only able to withdraw it in limited quantities.
On the other hand, the black market on The Triple Bridge was flourishing. “Today, as I listen to this rookie Mesec, I would like to ask him to ask his mother where she bought food and diapers for him when he was born,” she was critical. She is certainly convinced that everyone who had experienced this knows what the real situation had been like at the time. “They do not respect the current regulations, but they do not know the previous one, which was catastrophic. Memories of that period are bitter-sweet,” she added.
According to Mejak, Pučnik was too lenient with old ideologues
She goes on to believe that judges should be replaced every as often as they were in ancient Athens, as they have become lazy after a while, according to their observation. Regarding independence, she believes that Slovenia could not carry out the process itself in any other way than it did in those circumstances, and with the political forces it controlled, it had at its disposal and so on. “After the plebiscite, and when we got our first government, we should have treated the ideologues of communism more strictly and thoroughly. Here, I think that Mr. Pučnik was too lenient,” she explained. Pučnik fled communism and its terror for 30 years, but he was a kind-hearted man.
Mejak listened to the interrogations of the commission headed by Pučnik, which interrogated, among other things, the last president of the Communist Party, Mitja Ribičič, who had many people imprisoned. Later, these ideologues of communism occasionally hid, and later emerged, and some are demolishing the democratic system even today. “Either personally or through descendants, they are raised in the spirit of communism. We also did not change educators in schools,” she explained how the old system moves forward. “We were brought up in obedience to the socialist Slovenian government, which was then led by Kidrič.”
They protest against things they do not like, but because of the opinions of others, they do not even know what they are like
The show also touched upon demonstrations and opposition to the current government. “They shout there on The Triple Bridge, how everything is wrong. How wrong everything is! You know, there is nothing wrong. Democracy is the rule of the nation,” said the respected lawyer Vera Mejak, and Podobnik asked himself: “Do we have more Slovenias? Or do we have this protesting Slovenia on Fridays in Ljubljana, and a large economic development majority that is successfully operating in Slovenian companies, Slovenian development centres and municipalities?”
She was further clear that in this case it is a group of well-fed, well-nourished, well-stocked with money, and that none of them lack anything. In doing so, she is critical of the failed Health Minister, who commented on the situation in the country. “Where was he when they stole and cheated at the clinical center?” As she observes, they slander things they do not like, but in reality do not even know what they are like.
Protests are not the way to go, the minority will have to give their opinion in the elections
Political analyst Marko Balažic warned that it was not wrong for there to be protests, which were triggered as a valve also due to epidemic restrictions. They are legitimate, but he wonders: “Is it really the right way for this valve to be played exclusively by Prime Minister Janez Janša, or should we take another path here?” Changes on the political stage can only happen with the help of elections, for which Mejak said: “A minority disintegrating group of people cannot take power as they are imagining it, but will have to go to the elections.”
“Politicians are exactly what we elected and deserve. As such, they best reflect some people’s beliefs,” said Balažic. He emphasised that as a society we are connected, we are connected by Sloveneness, we are connected by a respectful attitude towards independence, we are connected by our history and we will look for common ground to be connected as a society.
Sara Rančigaj
