The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 15 January 2021. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here
Mladina: Slovenia's future in hands of SMC MPs
STA, 15 January 2021 - The left-wing magazine Mladina appears to be appealing to the conscience of the Modern Centre Party's (SMC) MPs ahead of a potential vote of confidence in the government in the latest editorial. The weekly also finds the release of police pay data is an act of revenge and anger.
Under the headline Decision Week, Mladina writes that Interior Minister Aleš Hojs released the names and pay data of Interior Ministry employees in revenge for part of the police going on strike. However, it also says that the data released make it obvious why the minister was so angry.
"The salaries are irregularly high indeed. Police officers are indeed getting highs bonuses from this government - not based on collective bargaining but based on the government's or the minister's arbitrary decision.
"To put it bluntly: the government has been buying their loyalty with bonuses. That is why Hojs was so angry, because it was his firm belief he has the police on his side, that he has got them on his side with all the bonuses given to them by the government."
The paper says it all goes to show how this government is operating, that the solutions are political and follow the logic that those who are on our side will be rewarded, and those who are against will be punished, a pattern that can be found elsewhere, including in the case of the STA.
Ahead of a potential vote of no confidence in the government next week, the weekly says the decision of Slovenia's future is in the hands of SMC MPs.
"When the SMC joined the Janez Janša government, they pledged to act as a corrective to prevent Slovenia from straying from its democratic path. They did not succeed in that, on the contrary, all gloomy premonitions have come true.
"The police force is beheaded, culture mangled, media that those in power could not reach are under continuous pressure, criticism is not allowed [...], public institutions are witnessing ideological purges, the battle against the epidemic has failed [...]," writes Mladina.
Demokracija: Upbringing benefited by remote schooling
Ljubljana, 14 January 2021 - The right-wing magazine Demokracija writes about the historical trend of political correctness or a "new normal" in the latest editorial, asserting that the spread of this "ideological poison" in Slovenia has been hampered due to the centre-right government and the "Chinese virus", offering distance learning as an example.
Under the headline New Normal, the weekly quotes Archbishop of Krakow Marek Jedraszewski in warning against the rainbow plague, born in the same spirit as the Bolshevist and Marxist plague, and against a new normal, the historial trend of political correctness.
However, the magazine says that as the flow of transmission of that "ideological virus" in Slovenia has been hampered, those disseminating the 'new normal' are "nervous knowing well things are getting out of hand".
"Remote schooling is one such example. If you listen to them well you will notice they will mention the impact on the transfer of knowledge of natural sciences from teachers to pupils only in passing, they are concerned the most about peer socialising and upbringing that is now left to the children themselves and their parents [...]
"If in school the children were forced to spend half a day in the company they did not choose themselves they are now socialising with the peers they pick themselves. Those are usually the kids their parents favour too. It means they are no longer being raised into sheep where the wolfs of the 'new normal' decide what they serve for dinner."
As the second example the magazine offers the government, saying the 'new normal' "does not foresee anything conservative in power, hence the protests (including violent protests), the search for a new PM-designate among people who in normal circumstances would not get even close to politics".
The magazine also notes the announcement by Luka Mesec, the leader of the Left, that if the vote of no confidence in the government is not successful, they will continue filing ouster motions.
In conclusion, the weekly hopes that post-coronavirus "the 'new normal' painted by political correctness will not continue its devastating march, which it is stepping up now by abolishing free internet platforms and profiles of conservative users".
All our posts in this series are here
