(Anti-corona) Liberation Front, 2021; Slovenia
Cover photo: Jang Man
On Tuesday, 27th of April in front of the parliament in Ljubljana, Slovenia, there was the formation of the anti-corona Liberation Front, 2021 and this was announced in the name of the people by Anica Bidar. The date coincides with the 80th anniversary of establishing Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation during WW2 (though Wikipedia source cites 26th of April, 1941, the official day is the 27th of April when it’s also yearly National celebration). The connection the current day protesters draw with the Liberation Front from WW2 is said to be strictly symbolic in nature.
The cover photo, for which I’m grateful to the author Jang Man for granting me permission to publish, is photographically excellent and politically significant. But I have placed it a bit manipulatively because of …
… the compelling story behind the event
There were actually two, more or less similar, in a number of groups that happen to mixed into that large crowd on the certain moment and went without general prior notice. They evaluate ten or fifteen thousand people were there at the peak time and that is quite a lot for a protest in Slovenia.
The first group
This group was initially on the Trg republike square, in front of the parliament ignoring all masks and other social-distancing measures because they wanted an end to this kind of politics. They also established (anti-corona) Liberation Front, 2021, on that day as well.
Photo: Ula Gojo
This picture on the right was taken at 17.38 by Ula Gojo and it represents the first group which was later greatly overlooked with MSM reporting on the event.
And these pictures further on were taken by Bojana Pustinek and they are additional proof about the numerous gatherings and the people’s demands. On the banners in the same order: against corona measures (proti koronskim ukrepom); Liberation Front, 2021, we are the people of Slovenia, we know who will win (OF, 2021, mi smo ljudstvo Slovenije, mi vemo kdo bo zmagal); power to the people (oblast ljudstvu); respect, connecting, liberty (spoštovanje, povezovanje, svoboda); connecting = winning (povezovanje = zmagovanje); medical liberty (medicinska svoboda), we are 1 heart of Slovenia (mi smo eno srce Slovenije).
Photo: Bojana Pustinek
The second group
Photo: Jang Man
The same or perhaps a slightly larger group gathered at Prešern's square, also in Ljubljana, (the space there is smaller, so it's easier to fill it up) on the same day and similar hour. Generally, they promote mask-wearing and often cite 'epidemiological circumstances'. Ideologically, they most often cite the slogan: death to fascist and freedom to people, but that's all as they more or less actively repress corona policy criticism. Their alma mater goal is the fall of the current premier, Janša’s government. In this context, they criticise the covid measures of Janša's government, and they believe that the political 'opposition' would form ‘better’ measures.
One might argue they represent controlled opposition and that their job would be to divide the people.
Around 18.40 (approximately an hour later from the time of when the pictures of the first group were taken), this second group came to the square in front of the parliament and they mixed with the first group.
Therefore, the facts are: there was (for geographically small Slovenia) a huge crowd and they were protesting. But who or what were they protesting against or for? It’s not so easy to get to the bottom of this issue.
Non-surprisingly, Slovenian MSM mostly managed to only report that this was this year’s biggest anti-government protest. But that’s not the whole story and the fact is that a huge crowd also opposes corona policy, whether MSM wants to report this or not. Not to mention they also skipped the formation of the Liberation Front, 2021 and the slogans of the first group. But that’s how it goes…
Political appetites around the protest
Do the people of Slovenia hardly have any voice? I have written about the break-through of the people’s voice in the context of the first anti-corona measures protest in Slovenia, on 13th January, 2021. At that time, the political ‘opposition’ and the acters of this the second group were actively against the people’s protest, which is evidently shown in the linked article. Prior to that protest, there was a systematically enforced idea that the critical voices of corona policy are very rare and characteristically highly into conspiracy theories. (Nevermind the fact that the whole western world is facing huge people’s back-lash over the “new normal”.)
One thing is sure; now the political opposition obviously doesn’t mind the “covid-idiots” anymore. Therefore, is the oppositional political partly Levica, kind of contributing to the mixed crowd too? They posted on their Facebook: “Let the values of the Liberation Front (I guess they mean the one from the WW2) once again sparkle the fire of rebellion.”
The leader of another oppositional party, SD, Tanja Fajon is talking about winning the next elections on the grounds of speculated organisation of the event. State’s premier Janez Janša twitted that the organiser of the illegal political gathering is the party SD, on which Fajon answered: “Good, that we know now. This will mean winning result on the next elections. I hope as soon as possible.”
A collaboration between the (anti-corona) Liberation Front, 2021 and the second group of the protestors?
For a moment, it looked almost like a collaboration between the both groups: those who established (anti-corona) Liberation Front, 2021, and the other group which is presumably politically close to the political opposition. One of the leaders of that second group, Jaša Jenull, said that “whoever wants to wear a mask, can wear it and whoever doesn’t want to wear a mask, doesn’t have to wear it.”
But in reality, the people of Slovenia are probably still a considerate way to go, before such a collaboration can happen.
The message of growing groups of corona critics are clear. They were mentioned before and a couple of them you can see here: from left to right: let as live (pustite nas živeti), down with muzzles (nagobčnike dol); love, freedom, friendship (ljubezen, svoboda, prijateljstvo); friednship, playing, love, society, freedom (prijateljstvo, igra, ljubezen, družba, svoboda); no testing, vaccination and everything else that is under corona mark (brez testiranja, cepljenja in drugega kar obstaja z korono), etc.
Photo: Jang Man
And here are some other photos of the two originally different groups of people. Looking at it objectively, there might not be so much division between people as the divisions are politically played and MSM launched. Their ‘combined’ message is: we are one heart of Slovenia (mi smo eno srce Slovenije); medical freedom (medicinska svoboda); respect, connecting and freedom (spoštovanje, povezovanje, svoboda); national radio-tv station = defender of freedom (javna RTV = branik svobode); house of cards is crumbling down, you will be persecuted, Nurnberg 2, 2021 (domine se podirajo, odgovarjali boste na Nurbergu 2, 2021; obituary - project covid etc. (osmrtnica projekt covid itd.); goverment behind the bars / death to jansism and liberty to people (vlado za rešetke / smrt janšizmu in svoboda narodu); let’s stop the slovenian pacient (ustavimo slovenskega pacienta); the darkest corners of hell are reserved for those who keep neutrality in the times of moral crisis (najtemnejši deli pekla so rezervirani za tiste, ki v časih moralne krize ohranjano nevtralnost).
Photo: Jang Man
Video of both groups and later mixing of those two groups:
Because at the end of the day breathing is essential
Flames of corona measures criticism do glow in Slovenia and the word on the street is (and as they say also documented fact) that many people from the second group, which are the alleged corona measures supporters, took off their mask, because at the end of the day breathing is essential, isn’t it?
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