In addition to the heroism of firefighters and civil protection services, as well as the sacrifice of many volunteers, the floods that hit Slovenia over the weekend also brought out the ill-concealed hatred and biases of the so-called civil sphere. It was a source of great irritation to well-known left-wing activists that members of the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS) were among the volunteers helping those affected by the floods, with the party’s President also working hard to help others. The leftists exposed their bias under a Facebook statement by Boris Vezjak, who was particularly bothered by the fact that the SDS party President was not dirty enough while helping clean the houses that were flooded. It is not yet known whether Vezjak also picked up a shovel to help others.
On Sunday, the SDS party released a video of its President Janez Janša describing the situation in Slovenian towns and cities. “These days – today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and probably all week, we will need millions of hard-working hands in Slovenia, because machines are not an option when it comes to cleaning homes and other buildings. Anyone who is not affected and who can help should contact their friends and acquaintances who need help.”
The call for help, however, seemed to really bother the aforementioned Vezjak, who wrote: “They are correcting their mistake. The SDS party’s PR service did not want to repeat yesterday’s mistake with Janša’s clean hiking boots, so today, they have soaked his T-shirt in mud.”
People who bring shame to the “journalistic” profession
Marko Milosavljević, professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and journalist-activist Petra Lesjak Tušek, President of the Slovene Association of Journalists, both commented on Vizjak’s post. Both have, in the past, tried to present themselves as “independent” experts in their field. As we all saw, both are, in reality, far from it. Lesjak Tušek wrote: “They spillt mud all over him, one bucket, and we’re done.” And Milosavljević responded by posting a photo of former Minister of Defence Matej Tonin in a muddy shirt, writing: “Any similarity to this old spontaneous mud on his former Minister is, of course, merely a coincidence.”
The coming media storm in support of the authorities
The online comments of the above-mentioned have also been noticed by investigative journalist Bojan Požar, who predicted that in the coming days, we will witness “a fierce PR campaign in favour of the current government, especially through POP TV (the largest commercial television station in the country) and Radio-Television Slovenia (the national media outlet). There will be enough money for this, but the journalistic approach this time will be completely different from what it was during the early days of the Covid-19 epidemic and the start of the Janša government,” and also “in the meantime, opinion leaders and political activists of the left, such as – for example – media professor Marko Milosavljević, will be publicly trashing prominent politicians of the right. And at the same time, they will talk about the need for political unity.”
How this process usually goes is evident from the posts described above.
Sara Kovač
