The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 30 October 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here
Mladina: Incompetent populist authorities exploiting crisis
STA, 30 October 2020 - The latest editorial of the left-wing weekly paper Mladina speaks of populist authorities that are not really taking the situation seriously but exploiting it. It argues that the only way for people to resist is taking the protective measures even more seriously.
Mladina's editor chief Grega Repovž takes issue with the appearance of Archbishop of Ljubljana Stanislav Zore at Wednesday's coronavirus briefing of the government and his call to people that they should "donate for holy masses and for the maintenance of parishes" instead of buying flowers and candles for All Saint's Day this year.
An hour after Zore's appearance, the Bishops' Conference issued a statement as well, "with the bulk of the call consisting of a harsh attack on protesters, criticism of the public broadcaster and a disqualification of the opposition".
"On the same day the coalition led by Janez Janša submitted to parliament changes to the media act through which it will secure public funding for its Hungarian-owned TV Nova24. Are these people really taking the situation seriously?" Repovž wonders in the commentary headlined Multiplication Tables.
"But we need to be better than them, than the government and Church. The same behaviour is required towards them as was the case with the former Communist Party: in these circumstance and given their character one needs to primarily make sure not to give them a fresh reason to torment us."
Repovž argues that the measures are not working "because there is actually no real content behind them, because they are only about dramatic labels that are not backed by any real plan" or effective execution.
He says despots are thriving in chaos and argues that the worse that the crisis will get, the more citizens will be vulnerable and powerless in relation to the government.
Repovž says that the people, trying to honour the instructions of epidemiologists "even though these are ignored and violated by the authorities" are actually left to confront the crisis alone. The only way to resist is to abide by the protective measures even more diligently and hope that "the public system is robust enough to withstand even incompetent holders of power".
Demokracija: China needs to pay for its handling of outbreak
STA, 29 October 2020 - The latest editorial of the right-wing weekly paper Demokracija, headlined Six Crucial Days or China Needs to Pay, says it is clear that the Chinese Communist Party was withholding key information about the coronavirus pandemic in the critical early stage of the outbreak.
Editor-in-chief Jože Biščak says that the top brass of the Party already knew on 14 January that a health crisis of global proportions was in the making, but kept silent until 20 January, allowing mass celebrations to continue at the centre of the outbreak and not suspending travel around the world that started ahead of the Lunar New Year.
Throughout this period China had the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), which thus shares part of the blame for everything that followed in the months after and is yet to come.
"And it is perverted that the Asian superpower is selling medicine and medical equipment for the fight against Covid-19 to the entire world now, making a good profit and being on course to recording (unlike the rest of the world) 5% GDP growth at the end of the year."
China is rejecting any responsibility, but in a very unconvincing fashion, since all facts show that this health crisis could have been avoided to a large extent had China been fair and transparent.
"But of course it is an illusion to expect this from the Communists, who have lies inscribed into their genetic code. Instead, they first rounded up, locked down and silenced the scientists who were warning the world of the disaster through different channels.
"Only then did they close Wuhan Airport, which provides flights to destinations around the world, including to London, Rome and Paris. The door to the world was opened wide for the virus. Despite all the evidence, China, in a typical Communist agitprop fashion, accused the US army of bringing the virus to Wuhan. This was of course debunked quickly.
"The withholding of data, the half-truths and lies coming from Beijing and above all the unbelievable negligence in dealing with the virus brought hell to the world. China needs to pay!"
All our posts in this series are here
