The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 28 May 2021. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here
Mladina: MPs must listen to the people's protests
STA, 28 May 2021 - The left-wing weekly Mladina says in its latest editorial that Slovenia has never had such prolonged and massive protests against the government, and that it is the members of parliament who should acknowledge the increasing discontent among the people.
Under the headline People in Front of the Parliament, Mladina says that the prolonged anti-government protests in the last year have been the largest in Slovenia's history.
"Protests are no joke - when major protests start, authorities have to respond very wisely and proportionately. But Janez Janša is enraged by the protests because the protesters are telling him what he finds so hard to accept: that he is not a good leader, but a divisive and poor prime minister. You cannot run a country like that, it is not acceptable in modern democracies," reads the editorial.
Mladina adds that "Janša is trying to demotivate protesters with fines. In order to crush protests, he has turned the Slovenian police into a violent force over the past year, to the detriment of their reputation."
The weekly also notes that "the level of violence demonstrated by the police in the last year in the name of the Janša government has never been seen in Slovenia under communism or in the past thirty years."
The protests first started at the end of April 2020 and another rally is scheduled for this Friday, with five of the largest trade unions associations endorsing the protests this week.
At the very time when the protests are scheduled on Friday, the National Assembly will hold an extraordinary sitting as the MPs are to vote on the dismissal of the speaker, Igor Zorčič.
According to Mladina, the goal of the protesters is clear: "rallying in Republic Square in front of the National Assembly and conveying a clear message to the MPs sitting inside."
"We wish to say that the members of parliament have a duty to listen to the people. And if the people are making it so clear that they want early elections, it is the duty of the MPs to face up to that and realise that [...] they must act in the interest of respecting the foundations of this country - so as not to damage them with their actions," concludes the editorial.
Demokracija: Growing number of potential terrorists
STA, 27 May 2021 - Demokracija says in its latest commentary about last Friday's anti-government protest that "the usual criminals were now joined by potential terrorists in their fight against the government". And by potential terrorists it means the supporters of Islam.
"It is unbelievable how many Palestinians are suddenly in Slovenia," adds the right-leaning weekly in the editorial headlined Don't Fear Bad Words from Bad People.
"It is now clear that Hamas is no Palestinian resistance movement, but a killing machine that wants complete domination of Islam, which is being quickly exported also into Europe."
The commentary expresses concern that one day, "the terrorist organisations will order these people to pull out their AK-47s and start shooting in our homeland."
It also points a finger to activists, such as artist Jaša Jenull, rapper Zlatko, youth trade union president Tea Jarc and Branimir Štrukelj of the KSJS public sector trade union confederation, who would call this "eradication of fascism, which is like a phantom that they see ever too often."
The paper concludes that those whose opinion is even slightly different from theirs is then publicly condemned and blemished with the help of the mainstream media.
Demokracija thus calls out to the like-minded people not to be afraid and to stand strong in their beliefs.
All our posts in this series are here
