We are introducing an employee of the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, Jasminka Dedić, Ph.D., who is also a former employee of the Peace Institute. She was also a candidate in the 2014 European Parliament elections. As a member of the Initiative for Democratic Socialism (Iniciativa za demokratični socializem – IDS), she ran on the joint list of today’s Levica party (The Left). As a government employee, she crossed the line in an interview with STAV, with some very inappropriate statements about the government, which is her employer and also pays her salary. Can you imagine a Slovenian migrant employed by the BiH government slandering it in Slovenian media? That is practically impossible to even imagine.
In the last 75 years, the so-called right-wing political option was only in power three times. First, in the period between 2004 and 2008, then from 2012 to 2013, and currently, from March 2020, up till now. In addition to the fact that the media outlets close to the left like to write about the current government’s alleged dictatorship, they are also very fond of accusing it of carrying out a personnel tsunami. Just think back to all of the times when the leading left-wing politicians complained about the current government replacing their “independent and professional” staff. This time, we are presenting Jasmina Dedić, Ph.D., employed in the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy. Her job is to deal with European structural measures. In her spare time, however, she is politically active in the radical Levica party, which is by all standards an unconstitutional party, and should be banned in a democratic society.
Dedić has a doctorate in political science. She received her Ph.D. thirteen years ago, with the topic The Construction of Collective Identity and Genocide in the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. She was also employed at The Peace Institute (Mirovni inštitut), and in 2014, as a member of Mesec’s Initiative for Democratic Socialism, she ran in the elections for the European Parliament. She worked as a young researcher at the Peace Institute, within the research project of the European Roma Rights Centre. The title of the research she was involved in was The Roma People Without Citizenship and/or Personal Documents in Slovenia. And for the last ten years, she has been employed by the Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy. Dedić would probably not have caught our eye if she had not given an interview as the newly-elected president of the Bosniak Cultural Association of Slovenia. Her true personal nature was revealed in an interview for the Bosnian media outlet STAV. In the interview, the former “peace-making radical” was quickly awoken in her – there was no shortage of criticism of the government that employs her, and that was also Dodić’s main intention – to internationalise the left-wing agenda of sullying the government’s reputation as much as possible.
The newly elected president of the Bosniak Cultural Association of Slovenia slammed the government which employs her
The “child from Tito’s Velenje” could not avoid the classical stereotypical answers about the oppression of the Bosniak community in Slovenia in her interview for the aforementioned media outlet. What brought the conversation to the issue of the largest government party – SDS – and the political right is the artificially created “non-paper” about the dissolution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodić said that as a Bosniak, she expects to be harshly attacked and condemned “because Janša simply does not tolerate criticism.” She went on to say that she expected that social media users would now start to call her a traitor and that Janša’s supporters will tell her to go back to Bosnia and Herzegovina. “For Janša’s party, this media machine is like a combine harvester; when they leave, they grind, destroy everything in their path.” Dedić has therefore already put herself in the role of a victim, an oppressed Bosniak migrant, who will surely be attacked by the rabid right-wingers when they receive the command.
As an example of the right-wing’s hostility towards the descendants of Bosnians in Slovenia, she mentioned two other victims, the former juror in the show Masterchef Alma Rekić, as well as TV show host and editor of the show Tednik (Weekly) on RTV SLO, Jelena Aščić. “When she decided to run for the position, she started receiving anonymous threats in the sense of ‘go back to where you came from’.” Dedić also pointed out that supporters of the SDS party and the right can “behave very nastily towards women. I do not know if you know about the case of Jelena Aščić. They always talk about personal stuff when trying to discredit her. If you are a woman, it is even harder because this is a different kind of chauvinism.”
In addition to the stereotypical social prejudices, the social scientist should first justify her doctoral degree and explain the situation in Slovenia and Slovenian politics in accordance with her education and profession. And, above all, she should have done it objectively, and not by showing political support for anyone – unlike what the left has been doing in foreign and domestic media outlets, in a very organised manner. Uncultured individuals with hostile behaviour are found everywhere, but this should not be a criterion that can simply be applied to an entire political group. What Dedić is doing is basically causing harm to the country that is giving her, as a migrant, everything she needs for a good life and even a privileged status as an employee of public administration.
Luka Perš
