“At a recent session of the National Assembly, MP Alma Intihar of the Freedom Movement party (Gibanje Svoboda) showed what the ruling party really thinks of people who are fighting for their rights,” the largest opposition party – Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka – SDS), expressed its criticism, which cannot help but be shocked by the Freedom Movement’s humiliating attitude towards the people. “This is shameful!” they were clear.
The ruling party did not hide its displeasure when the SDS party decided to collect signatures to call a legislative referendum on the law on the supplements for pensions for the recipients of outstanding achievements in arts, and they have not tried to hide it since, as it is known that the necessary number of signatures has been collected, and that the referendum will, in fact, take place. So, in recent days, we even heard calls from the President of the Freedom Movement party and Prime Minister, for people not to take part in the referendum, but the recent characterisation of the people fighting for their rights, such as the one we heard from the Freedom Movement MP, in order to send out a message about how inappropriate it is to call a referendum in which a few are given a large supplement to their pensions, has gone beyond all limits.
“People do not even know what you have made up and told them in relation to these pension supplements. And you should be ashamed of yourselves,” pointed out the Freedom Movement MP, Alma Intihar, and began to describe what the situation looked like at a stand for the collection of signatures in Radovljica. “There was an older man standing behind the stand, he had a few teeth missing, and he also smelt a little. Do you know what that looked like? A colleague came and asked him why he was standing there, what he was doing, what signatures he was collecting. And he said, ‘It is for these pensions, they are taking money away from us’,” she stated.
The SDS MP did not hide her criticism of the statement
The statement by MP Intihar greatly bothered the SDS MP Anja Bah Žibert, who made it clear that the Freedom Movement MP should not allow herself to speak like that and define people in such a way. The fact that the Freedom Movement MP told Bah Žibert that she had not been at the specific stand, but that she had only heard what happened there, made MP Bah Žibert even more angry. “You accuse us of lying, but what are you saying? You are talking about things where you were not even present. That is to say, that the gentleman smelt and that he had no teeth”, she was critical.
The SDS MP went on to point out that if she were the one who saw what happened, she would ask herself why we have people in this society who, according to the Freedom Movement MP, smell and have no teeth. “It is also because they have to wait for a year to get to the dentist. You can probably get to a dentist, this gentleman probably can’t. It is because we have a healthcare system where people are left without teeth. Because they cannot get to the dentist when they need one. Even to save a tooth. Let’s leave it at that.”
As Dostoyevsky was also mentioned, MP Bah Žibert explained that Dostoyevsky was much more than what was said. “Dostoyevsky was also concerned with how to bear the weight of the real world and the weight of existence. And that’s what we’re really talking about today. On the one hand, we have people struggling to exist, and on the other hand, we are talking about some allowances. And here, things are clear,” she explained, adding that the reason why people have signed the petition is because they do not want allowances which were proposed by the law. She stressed that it was a fact that a sufficient number of signatures had been collected to call for a referendum, and that was why it would be held. “The people will decide. Let them decide. But let’s not fool ourselves here and claim that justice is being taken away from artists who cannot make a living. It was almost said that they cannot survive at all, and some of them are sole proprietors. Do you know how many sole proprietors there are in this country who also have to survive? And they just have to make their way on the free market,” she added.
Representatives of the people should undoubtedly set an example for other citizens, and it would be appropriate for them to think about the way they express their beliefs before they express them. It is always possible to argue one’s point of view in a respectful manner – if, of course, there are even arguments to be made.
S. K.
