The Declaration of Independence - the Austrian Connection - Austrian Information
Slovenia – The Land Between – Hard Talk with Vlado Bevc, Book Reviewer, Author and Scientist
A Smiling Slovenia, Interview
The Slovenian State Idea
•   »County people«? with idea of their own state! (Dr. Šavli's reply to Božo Repe)
•   The Influence of regional Differences on the formation of Slovene national Identity and the Foundation of Slovene State - (Dr. Šavli's reply to Božo Repe)

The article presents the rise of Slovenian nationalism...
State Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia
State Council of the Republic of Slovenia
The Sorbonne and the "Slavs"
A moral scandal at the University of Lublana
In Search of its historical identity
In Slovenia, the Yugoslav (Serbian) underground is as active as ever
We show our solidarity with Minister Janez Drobnic
SOVA (abbrev. Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency)
Country profile: Slovenia
Slovenian PM Janez Janša in the White House
PM Janez Janša and the Slovenian delegation in Cleveland, Ohio
Carantha's clarification on recognition for Prof. Edi Gobec
Janez Janša and his coalition
National Police Day in Slovenia
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
The problem with Slovenian and other citizenships
Remarks concerning a declaration
Abuse of legality and democratic values in Slovenia


  
The Declaration of Independence - the Austrian Connection

by Valentin Inzko

While preparing the draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson searched for those democratic principles and ideas that would best serve the young American nation. There were only few examples of living democracy at hand that helped him in this important undertaking, and the scholar and bibliophile Jefferson consulted all of them.

Among those was the author Aeneas Silvio Piccolomini, who later became Pope Pius II (1405-1464). Another was the eminent French lawyer, Jean Bodin (1529 -1596) who had written The Republic. This book describes a remarkable Carinthian custom relating to the installation of dukes by ordinary people.

...There is nothing to compare with this custom observed in Carinthia, today's southernmost province of Austria, where in the vicinity of Saint Vitus [St. Veit] one can see a stone of marble in a meadow. A peasant sitting on the stone cried out in Slovenian:  Who comes forward so boldly?  The people answered it was the duke. The peasant asked again:  Can he be a judge? Is he concerned with the well-being of the country? Was he born a free man? Does he observe the true religion?...

The people answered:  He is and he will be.  Then the peasant slapped the duke gently. After promising the peasant he would be exempt from public burdens, the duke stepped upon the stone and brandishing his sword, he promised the people to be a righteous judge. He attended the mass still clad in the same vestments. Later he donned the ducal vestments and returned to the stone, where the people payed homage to him and rendered the oath of fealty.

In November 1967, Senator Frank Lausche addressed his colleagues in the U. S. Senate and spoke of this custom and the possible impact it may have had on Thomas Jefferson while he was drafting the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson evidently considered the ancient ritual of the Installation of the Dukes of Carinthia a common law precedent and a confirmation of the Contractual Theory upon which he based his claim for American Independence. And only six years ago, President Clinton referred to this ancient Carinthian ritual in one of his speeches during a visit to Slovenia.

The history of the installation of the dukes is described in the book, The Genesis of the Contractual Theory and the Installation of the Dukes of Carinthia, by Dr. Joseph Felician, a former member of the faculty of St. John  s College, Cleveland.

Herzogenstuhl (Ducal Throne), Carinthia, Austria

In Jefferson's copy of Bodin's work Professor Felician discovered that Jefferson had initialled two pages. On one page was Bodin's definition and characterization of a tyrant, which was quite similar in concept to phrases used in the Declaration of Independence. On the other page was a description of the installation of the Dukes of Carinthia, a ritual which as I have already mentioned may have contributed to the draft of the American Constitution.

Dr. Felician makes several assumptions, one being that all men are equal in a political sense and that no person has a natural right to rule another. But since society must have some form of government, a theory developed based on these two assumptions - the denial of the natural right to govern and the need for government.The theory stipulates that there is a contract between those who rule and those who are to be ruled, and each party has rights and obligations under this contract.

This ancient Carinthian custom was practiced until 1414, when Duke Ernst der Eiserne, the grandfather of Maximilian was installed in Carinthia. There are many villages left where free peasants once lived. These villages are called Edling or Koseze in Slovenian. The family name Edlinger, for example, is quite common in Austria as is its Slovenian equivalent Koseski.

The installation of the dukes of Carinthia can be seen in the hall of the coat-of-arms of the Carinthian Landhaus, seat of the Carinthian parliament. Here a large painting by Josef Ferdinand Fromiller depicts the installation of the duke.

As a Carinthian of Slovenian origin, I am proud of this particular segment of history, most probably connected to the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the United States of America.

Ambassador Valentin Inzko, born 1949 in Klagenfurt, studied Law and Slavic Languages at the University of Graz. He attended the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna and was posted in Mongolia and Sri Lanka (UNDP). He also served the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Belgrade, New York, Prague, and Bosnia Herzegovina. He is currently Ambassador to Slovenia and is married to opera singer Bernarda Fink.
  

Slovenia – The Land Between – Hard Talk with Vlado Bevc, Book Reviewer, Author and Scientist

Scenic Slovenia. According to former Slovene Prime Minister Janez Jansa, Slovenia is on the crossroads.
Which road Slovenia?

By Irena Knehtl
Published: 7/2/2009

The British ambassador should be sent home with a note. It would be of an enormous political significance if (once) a Big Power would be held accountable for its crimes against humanity.

Book reference: The Land Between, a History of Slovenia (English)

First comprehensive history of Slovenes in English, published by Peter Lang Publisher Gmbh Frankfurt, 2008

Contributions by Oto Luthar, Igor Grdina, Marjeta Sasel Kos, Petra Svoljsak, Peter Kos, Dusan Kos, Peter Stih, Alja Brglez and Martin Pogacar

Contents: From Prehistory to the End of the Ancient World - The Early Middle Ages - Feudalism - The Early Modern Period - Modernization and National Emancipation - From the Habsburg Monarchy to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia - From a Socialist Republic to an Independent State

Carantania, sometimes Karantania, Carentania, also Korotan or Karantanija, was the first independent state of ancient Slovenes. Founded in 6th century, it lasted almost 300 years. First mentioned in 595 as "Gorostan", the mountain homeland of ancient Slovenes, situated north of the Karavanske. Also named Carantanum, which today demarcate the sovereign states of Slovenia, Austria and Northern Italy, and crudely designate the historical interstice of Europe’s Germanic, Romance and Slavic language area.

This mountain zone is a separate region in its own right, a discrete cultural area, a cultural climax, a  finely integrated pattern revealed through inter - play of man and environment. Since pre-historic times also an important thoroughfare between the Northern Adriatic and the Panonian plain, as well as other points to the north and east.

Forming a freer space for the formation of several issues, such as greater independence and self-determination among then powers was as much a challenge then as it is for present day Slovenes today, Perhaps this was the basic aim of Carantanian foreign policy. The secret target may have been the incorporation into a sphere of political influence within which the Carantanians had the upper hand in the sector of trade.  Carantania  possessed a location that used to be of key strategic position: the control of trade routes with the Middle East and Western Europe. The economies of northern Europe were similarly linked – indirectly like a train of interlocking "gears" – to the Indian Ocean monsoon. Goods such as spices, textile, traveled overland and by internal waterways via Carantania to the trade fairs of northern Europe.

Part Two of the hard talk with Dr. Vladislav Bevc about the first comprehensive history of Slovenes in English under the title "Slovenia - The Land Between", an exclusive interview.

Vlado Bevc: What should be done in my opinion, instead of making obsequious spectacles out of receiving the Queen of England and the Heir-not-so-Apparent, the British ambassador should be sent home with a note stating that before he is received again, Britain should for each and every individual whom the Brits sent back to the Communists - knowing fully well that they would be executed – as Stalin made it clear in Yalta to Churchill –  pay  a pension for life  to his dependents. In practical terms there are preciously few survivors. But it would be of an enormous political significance if (once) a Big Power would be held accountable and made to pay (that is the only thing it understands) for its crimes against humanity.

This may never happen, of course!

Personally, I seek no reconciliation and remain aloof from any Slovenian patriotism.  Before erecting a monument to the victims, I would strongly suggest that Tito’s statues and monuments, as well as those of his henchmen be removed.

Another thing which should be done - if there is any intention of having a "reconciliation" (Concorde) is to remove the status of "un-persons" from the non-Communist notables in the Slovenian Encyclopedia. That book lists only Communist approved persons, none of the democratic politicians. If any others are mentioned, as for instance Dr Pavel Pestotnik, they are designated as "traitors."

Traitors of what?

My cousin, Joze Bevc, motion picture director and screenplay writer, however,  made it into the Encyclopedia.

It would also be necessary that Milan Kucan (former President of Slovenia and Communist Party boss) and his henchmen disclose where are certain political opponents after being murdered buried. For example, Dr Crtomir Nagode, Andrej Ursic and others. As head of the OZNA/UDBA political police, Kucan should have the knowledge or at least resources to find out where the bodies are buried. Some of the remains would no doubt show evidence of torture prior murder which would further complicate any "reconciliation."

It was reported that in the case of Dr. Nagode the executioner used to shoot him gradually in the legs until he fell on the ground before finishing him off - if indeed they finished him off. In addition, records of UDBA dossiers may have been stashed away by  Milan Kucan, Zdenko Rotar and other Communists.

To this date it is not possible to obtain information or have access to UDBA police dossiers, while this is possible in former East Germany and even in Russia . The Russians, for example, have released the KGB files on Josip Broz alias Tito which document how many of his comrades he turned over to NKVD for execution all in order to remove competition.

There is the Reparations of Injustices Act and victims of Communism can get compensation for the abuse suffered under Communists. After such former victims goes through many hoops demanded by the Commission for the Implementation of the Law on Reparation of Injustices, he or she may be awarded the status of a "former political prisoner." Relatives and families of political émigrés and refugees who were held as hostages in Yugoslavia also can be awarded such status. The Communists then pay $146.05 Euro of indemnity for each month of captivity or accorded status of former political prisoner, however, not to exceed 8,435 Euro in total. There are more hoops laid out for them by the Slovenian Indemnity Fund or even the Parliament which constantly interferes and modifies the law retroactively. In many - if not most of the cases -  the award should be approx 20,000 Euro.

I leave it to the public to decide whether this is proper way a "reconciliation" should be carried out. Children of former political prisoners can obtain compensation only if they obtain a finding from a court in Slovenia that they are indeed the inheritors of the "newly found estate." As it is well known, Slovenian courts are almost hundred percent staffed by Communists, usually lazy females, not professional and who do not bother to look at the cases properly. The best bet is that a court will take a year or  year and a half. Most of the time the "judges" are on vacations or maternity leave.

This obstacle, undoubtedly a deliberate one, is probably reason why many people do not even bother to file for reparations.

Q. Introduce us to the Slovenian Diaspora, who and where are they, activities, outstanding individuals and are there any projects by current Slovenian government to get them involved?

Vlado Bevc: Slovenians extensively publish in Argentina, United States and everywhere in the free world. I am still keeping the archive of the Slovenian Democratic Party in Exile and part of documentation has been donated to Hoover Institution on War Revolution and Peace at Stanford University in California. This essential part of it is included in my father's book "Liberal forces in twentieth century Yugoslavia".

There are extensive publications by Miha Krek, chairman of the Slovenian National Committee, Ciril Zebot, a noted separatist, Janez Arnez, and others. The Slovenian Democratic Party in exile used to publish "DOMOVINA" (Homeland), a paper which used to come out at irregular intervals. That was the reason, why the Library of Congress, which normally requests a copy,  decided not to keep it. We understand that brother in law of Milan Kucan (former President of Slovenia and Communist Party boss) worked or works for the Library of Congress.

In Buenos Aires Milos Stare used to publish SVOBODNA SLOVENIJA (Free Slovenia), a weekly paper. In England Plenicar used to publish KLIC TRIGLAVA (A Call from Triglav), a mimeographed monthly paper. The Yugoslav Sokol (Yugoslav Falcon)  in the Free World was publishing quarterly SOKOLSKI VESTNIK in Milwaukee , Wisconsin .

Projects by current Slovenian government? Consolidation of their power and restoration of Communism – as far I can see.

Q. What are your views and comments, behind the scenes scenarios following the secession of Slovenia from Yugoslavia ?

Vlado Bevc: Best described in the paper by Ljubo Sirc: "The Communist Takeover – Slovenian Example with Possible Lessons for All", published in The South Slav Journal, 17, No. 65-66, 1996, and reprinted in "Smiling Slovenia" (Peter Lang Publishing, New York , 2008). I would hardly have anything to add.

As you know hardly anything ever changes in Slovenia .

Q. In the absence of accurate documentation, the political right wing is being accused by trying to rewrite the history. Isn't it high time to set the record straight?

Vlado Bevc: I know of no efforts of "rewriting the history" by the political right wing. Which parties are considered "right wing"?

Q. If you do not have an accounting of the past you cannot move forward. In essay "Choose Life Instead of the Culture of Death", the former Slovene Prime Minister Janez Jansa says that Slovenia is in crossroads and that by declaring independence and democratization in the years 1990 and 1991, Slovenia achieved the basic condition for the initial transcending of its fatal "divisiveness". He calls for rejection of "culture of death" and proposes to end divisiveness. What is your view, what is the way forward for Slovenia?

Vlado Bevc: Former Primer Minister Janez Janša is without any doubt an extraordinary politician of whom Slovenia has very few.

He was able to unseat the Communist continuity and, within the possibilities available under the law, clean up the administration of some Communists. He, unfortunately, could not do anything with the so-called courts which are almost hundred percent staffed by Communists and where the rule of law or any legal expertise is totally unknown.

Most Slovene judges are females who have little talent to work in judiciary, are ignorant of the basic concepts of law as understood in the West, generally lazy and malevolent and incapable of resolving even the most simple cases. But the way laws, that are written in the Balkan manner, are of course also a millstone around any jurist’s neck.

Recently United States Supreme Court judge Mrs. Sandra Day O’Connor visited Slovenia. According to the skimpy US Embassy report, she discussed "important judicial issues." Apparently this was the topic of employment conditions for women. The visit took place roughly at the same time when the mass grave at Huda Jama was discovered, one of the many which contained also the remains of infants buried alive with their parents.

Fact is that nobody to date has ever been held accountable before a court for complicity in such crimes against humanity, and which obviously did not impress Madame Justice O’Connor as an "important judicial issue."

I personally think that the cause of the rule of law and respect for dignity and the worth of the human person has been lost in Slovenia and will remain so for a long time to come.

One miracle per century namely  – the disintegration of the Soviet Union – is probably all one can expect.

Q. The "culture of death" seems to be prevailing in this region. An Austrian journalist looks at the election results in the State of Carinthia this spring 2009 and comments how a dead Haider could win an election and comments how Carinthia is a disgrace to democratic politics. How to choose life?

Vlado Bevc: Fate sometimes smiles at you and removes an enemy of life and liberty such as the Nazi Joerg Haider. Fact that such persons can hold a political office in Austria shows clearly that the de-nazification process has never been carried out in Austria. Yet the Austrians were the most virulent supporters of the Nazis.

The Fuehrer himself was Austrian, of course!  

Q. In our lives there is time for everything. It is time to cry, and it is time to smile. It is time to be hungry and thirsty. It is time to eat and drink. It is time to play and it is time for solution. It is time to divide, and it is time to meet. It is time to start and it is time to end. Where would you place Slovenians on this road.

Vlado Bevc: Mihajlo Pupin, an American of Serbian origin and inventor of long distance telephony, talks about people who do not know what their goals are, as geese lost in the mist and fog. Slovenia is a place from which it is good to be away. And a place for fellows like me to forget!

Q. Man often seeks the truth outside - on ground or underground and forgets to like inside ¬himself. Where and what is the truth?

Vlado Bevc: The truth is neither hard to find nor difficult to understand. It is the state of things and ourselves, and our interaction with and recognition of reality. Caves such as envisioned by Plato and the shows going on in them are not reality. We can do much better. Slovenians, on the other hand, when trying to escape reality including their former, now late President Drnovšek are contend that there are many "truths".

For them living with themselves should be quite difficult.

Imagine a nation that used to execute infants!

Those personal "truths" of Slovenians are the ultimate perversion of The Eternal Truth and the Ideals of Man. And the Eternal Truth will always triumph no matter what the Slovenians, or anyone else for that matter, says or do.

Final thoughts, views, summary about the book…?,

Vlado Bevc: In his interview to the Slovenian Press Agency about the book "The Land Between, co- author Grdina explains that the history of the Slovenian space regardless of its small size -  is "great history". The title "The Land Between" according to him refers to some sort of place between Germany and Russia otherwise also named Eastern Central Europe. Here everyone is "small", including Poland with some 40 millions of population.  That Slovenia has experienced Fascism, Nazism and above all Communism for the longest period of time which  apparently has had an indelible influence on the character of its population. Parliamentary democracy, says Grdina, also had left its mark.

I would like to offer a somewhat less nice opinion, that the Slovenian land is split between the deeply rooted heritage of Communism and the still very distant allure of democracy. In the motion picture "Juarez", Emperor Maximilian sends an emissary to Juarez with the mission to explain that the only things separating them is democracy - as both have the welfare of the country at heart. Juarez ’s response is devastating: it is democracy that sets them apart forever.

Grdina’s assessment of Slovenian historians is to certain extent accurate. Although he was involved in government project which distorts the Slovene history of the 20th century, he presents a good assessment of the current situation. He distinguishes between those historians who would do anything for money and those who want to establish the facts, possibly at political cost for them. But I do think, he told it as it is.

I sense almost embarrassed  for being part of a project that presents the "Communist Revolution" and take over as "War of National Liberation."

Also interesting is the fact the co-author Grdina points out areas of research which are not yet researched. For example, the Slovenian People’s Party, the largest democratic party. Virtually nothing is written about it by Slovenian historians. As for the Slovenian democratic parties in exile, operating abroad, they were never mentioned in Slovenia by indigenous historians.

There is no paucity of information about the émigré politicians, starting with the extensive – but never released—files of the Yugoslav secret police which monitored their activities, to the records of the players and the records by various foreign governments about them and the contacts with them which were no doubt shared with the Yugoslav government. In Slovenia such records have been stashed away by former Communist officials or even -  destroyed.

Co – author Grdina does say that ignoring the history of Slovenian democratic parties between the two Wars is indeed the flaw of his and his comrades’ book. He expresses hope that efforts will be made to minimize such deficiencies in the future. He is quite reasonable in saying that certain periods in Slovenian history may be mostly based on myth but does not sum up that the greatest myth of all, which is the ridiculous pretending that the Communist Revolution was a struggle for Slovene National Liberation. (Note: In the USA, Communist is not capitalized, but Nazi is).

I wonder if Slovenian historians ever asked themselves the question what would happen if the Germans remained in Slovenia – and Yugoslavia – if there were no Communist Partisans. Of course they would not. As they did not remain in Denmark , Norway and perhaps a few other places that had no "national liberation resistance". Not to speak of the Channel Islands (part of England) where no "national liberation movement" existed at all.

As an apology for the confused and in places deceptive writing of his comrades, the author points out that historical theories cannot be checked in the same way as  the theories are checked by experiment in natural sciences. While one cannot use the time machine to check the facts – at least not yet, but it will be fun if such a machine is ever discovered – there are quite a few methods available for finding out  what was going on in the recent past.

Just because Slovenians are unwilling to use them, it does not mean it could not be done.

The school has a dominant influence on forming the "historical recollections" of the youth, elaborates co-author Grdina. According to him, the influence of the media is not all that great. There is no question that the myth of the "national liberation" is being diligently pumped into the pupils in Slovenian schools. In the thinking part of the population periodic discoveries of mass graves testifying to the cruelty of Slovenians, which does not seem to have been surpassed by any totalitarian regime anywhere in Europe, must  cause bewilderment and dilemmas with which they seem incapable of coping.

Grdina points out that many have a tendency to expect others to have the same view of past events as different people have different experiences and there is a question where would the demand for a consensus lead. In his interview he mentions revisionist trends and tendencies in writing and rewriting the history of the 1940—1945 period. As an example, he cites the approach of historians to the history of the Soviet Union where for a time there was presentation of a "good" Lenin and "tyrannical" Stalin. Today it is known that the first eight years of Stalin’s rule were much milder than the previous rule of terror by Lenin. The exception was, of course, that Stalin was killing also Communists while Lenin did not. Similar seems to be the current myth of Che Guevara, supposedly the most humane revolutionary.

Any political hero will sooner or later turn out to be of questionable character. Take for instance Winston Churchill who was an imperialist, drunkard, and an adventurer, but so far as Hitler was concerned Churchill was right long before others figured him out – but Churchil’s views were considered warmongering. He was right as far as Europe was concerned but with respect to India, for example, he was very wrong.

Discussing Josip Broz, alias Tito, and the incomprehensible infatuation of Slovenians with that repulsive Balkan dictator, Grdina thinks that life in the former "democratic" Yugoslavia was hard for most of the Slovenians as it was immediately after World War II but that later matter were looking brighter and it was later turn of events which made Slovenians so enamored with their Tito.

In reality the living standard in Tito’s Yugoslavia was lower as it was in Yugoslavia in 1939. Grdina points this interesting fact in the interview, but it is not mentioned  anywhere in the book, on the writings of what he cooperated. People tend to remember only good things and are forgetting the misery of the socialist system, scarcity of provisions and practically everything else, prohibition of traveling abroad, concentration camps, political show trials and the general reign of Communist terror which in later years tried to put on a mask of a civilized and well ordered society.

All in all, it seems to me as if Grdina is somewhat apologetic or rather attempting to put some distance between himself and the piece de resistance of the communist view of Slovenia ’s history.

It is necessary to read between the lines and do a lot of subjective interpreting of what he said.

Dr. Bevc, thank you very much.

References and further reading
Choose Life Instead of the Culture of Death
By Janez Jansa, Ljubljana , Demokracija, 12/XIV, March 19, 2009

Haider in their Hearts: Joerg Haider has just won the elections in the state of Carinthia .
Eva Menasse, Signandsight.com, issue 13th March, 2009, originally published in German in Die Zeit on 5 March, 2009

Vladislav Bevc, Smiling Slovenia , Political Dissent Papers, Peter Lang Publishers 2008, New York . An extensive interview with the author was published on Buzzle under the title A Smiling Slovenia in two parts  

ABOUT VLADISLAV BEVC
Vladislav Bevc received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from University of California , Berkeley , and was a postdoctoral fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and Air Force Office of Scientific Research at Oxford University St. Catherine's College , England . He has conducted scientific research in defense and aerospace industry and taught electrical engineering as Associate Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey , California , and as a part-time lecturer at the University of Southern California and San Francisco State University .

Bevc was also senior staff member at the California Public Utilities Commission and a consultant to the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice as well as a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University .

Vladislav Bevc is the author of research papers on applied physics and a contributor to the Reinhold Encyclopedia of Electronics and The Wiley Encyclopedia of Environmental Pollution and Cleanup.

He is also the author of Liberal Forces in 20th-Century Yugoslavia (Lang, 2007) as well as of research papers and book reviews on Yugoslav politics published in The South Slav, Journal and Canadian Review of Nationalism.
  
Vladislav Bevc
A Smiling Slovenia, Interview

Collection of articles and essays on Slovenia's current political scene declaring boldly dissenting view

By Irena Knehtl
Published: 7/2/2008

Smiling Slovenia's collection of articles and essays on Slovenia's current political scene boldly declares its dissenting view from the political mainstream beginning with a declaration of prominent intellectuals presenting their views of Slovenia's political situation.

Topics range from recent Slovenian history, Slovenia's role in the breakup of Yugoslavia, foreign policies, including liaisons with the Islamic terrorists to present -day Slovenian-American relations and Slovenia's admission into the European Union.

Although Slovenia has risen to prominence due to its presidency of the European Union, little is known of its recent history.

Mr. Vladislav Bevc, welcome to the interview.

Q: Collection of essays of which you are editor but includes also some of your writings has been just published under title "Smiling Slovenia". Any reason for the title?

Vladislav Bevc: I had quite a discussion about with the editor. I considered a long list of titles. But finally I thought of Act I, scene 5 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet where, after Hamlet had been told by his father’s ghost that his own brother had murdered him, he exclaims: "O, villian, villian, smiling damned villain!"

Q: As you would want to say that despite outward successes – EU and NATO membership and current EU presidency – Slovenia did not quite make it to a "good laugh"?

Vladislav Bevc: There always was a tendency for countries like Slovenia to seek international prominence. Slovenia’s idol Josip Broz, alias Tito, made himself a self-styled leader of the "non-aligned" countries of the Third World. The Nazi Germany, for example, just prior embarking on world wide aggression, presided over the Olympic games in Berlin. Whether this is a matter of a "good laugh" I cannot say. I believe this is rather a sad state of world affairs, which promotes a country that does not respect human rights, especially property rights.

Q: The subtitle reads "Political Dissent Papers", can you explain and why now?

Vladislav Bevc: The last chapter "Media Bliss" may provide a clue as regards to the timing. Hopefully, with Slovenia’s current presidency of the EU more people will reach for my book and discover what lies behind the smiling mask – a grinning skull. The selected papers were translated from time to time as they appeared on the internet, mainly in Google groups.

Also from time to time they were made available to American Congressmen and, of course, to the Department of State. However, am afraid they did not get much attention judging from "fawning" policy towards the so-called "fledgling democracies," i.e., reorganized communist countries of Eastern Europe.

Q: The book is dedicated "to all those who will read it". For whom are the writings of particular interest, and who do you expect will read it?

Vladislav Bevc: Peter Lang is publisher of academic books and, so far most of the sales go to university libraries. The book is rather expensive therefore it does not get such prominent display as, for instance, the series on Harry Potter or the numerous writings by Hillary Clinton.

One can get the book at Borders or even Barnes and Noble by special order. They do not display promotional posters like the one appended. I therefore thought to dedicate the book to persons who would take the trouble of obtaining it and reading it and – hopefully – will get an idea of what a "socialist reality" looks like.

Q: The opening chapter quotes a verse from France Preseren`s "Baptism at Savica": "Forth he goes to his compatriots and further far beyond their land, dispelling to the last days of his life the clouds and errors of then ways"…can you explain the meaning in relation to the "Smiling Slovenia"?

Vladislav Bevc: The book is actually intended to go "beyond the land of the Slovenese" and dispel the errors of international fawning over "the small communist enclave on the sunny side of the Alps".

But I have no illusions that it will actually dispel errors of their ways.

This is made clear in the Introduction and in the Conclusion. I purposely selected Crtomir’s decision, or rather, Crtomir’s resignation because in some way resembles the present situation. Christianity seemed – at Crtomir’s time – to be inevitable – as socialism and regimentation appear today. He felt that by bringing the "Word" to his compatriots, he may at least to some extent ward off the German expansion which was masquerading under the guise of bringing the Christian religion to the pagan Slavs and - who, so far as I can tell, were quite happy with their old pagan ways.

Q: Czech author Milan Kundera in one of his essays about "Sensucht", or desire says that "Sensucht" (for Homeland) existed on both ends, at home and in Diaspora. Why then do you claim that Slovenia cannot reach you and touch you any more?

Vladislav Bevc: The book is my final, a belated goodbye. Writing it, the song "Ja se oprastam, Cigani, sa vama..." [I am bidding my farewell, oh Gypsies, from you...] kept coming to my mind.

Indeed, from time to time "they" do manage to "touch me". For example, whey they come up with something like "reparations for the injustices payments" to their victims. These are examples of the Slovene arrogance with which they try to manipulate people without the slightest intention of actually trying to act in a conciliatory way. Such program is simply a mockery to their former victims and it can be annoying if one allows get it on you.

At Thanksgivings I always forward thanks that I am far away from Slovenia and that I live free under the American flag.

Q: Given the human nature of things, "truth" can be a difficult concept. You say Slovenia has "many truths". Isn`t time to tell the "whole truth" in order to move forward? Or is the Polish way – to look back with anger for example – a viable approach?

Vladislav Bevc: As an engineer – or even as part-time physicist and a pilot – I believe that I deal with matters where truth is established. And while it may be hard to find an firmly established "truth", I believe the later is not impossible.

Not many may recall Grand Admiral Doenitz’s parting remarks on how National Socialism actually brought German together and left a lasting legacy [and also left it in ruins]. In the same manner Slovenes indulge in an almost a sickening nostalgia for their Marshal Tito. And dealing with the faceless bureaucracy of Brussels, they must feel rather disoriented in the absence of a "strong" leader.

Slovenes can get very defensive when, for example, the matter of 200,000 plus corpses on their territory is brought up. They feel that since they did not take part personally in the genocide - the essence of communism and their state - they should not be held accountable.

I came across a rather different attitude in Germany after the end of World War II. Germans, even those who were directly subjected to the process of de-nazification, did not think that the process was not proper or unjust. Of course, my experience may be limited but that was my general impression. Slovenes, for example, take a rather different stand, they opted to bear the mark of Cain on their forehead rather than confronting the truth.

Q: In the declaration "The hour of European Truth for Slovenia" stands written that the issue for Slovenes today is - what can they do for themselves. What can Slovenes do for themselves, what do you propose?

Vladislav Bevc: I believe that the declaration – which could only be published by purchasing the advertising space in the Slovene newsprint as none of their communist party controlled dailies would publish it – tells what the intellectual elite thought and may still thinks. But I think they could do equally well by sending radio messages to distant stars where there is no chance of getting a reply - for the next hundreds of years.

Q: Even the media did not escape your critique. You say there is a silent treatment of matters of "importance". Which are those matters of importance for Slovenia?

Vladislav Bevc: The media are controlled by the so-called "continuity" which is actually a code word for the communists. Apparently straight talk has to be avoided. Consider only the article discussing the temerity of Slovenian media to censor the Chief justice of their Constitutional Court. Shortly after the book came out I received a message from the Third Secretary at the Embassy of Slovenia in Washington suggesting that I look up their penal code which provides sanctions for "insulting" Slovenia.

In other words Slovenia continues to carry on its statutes of laws on "verbal delicta" which do not belong to norms of civilized countries and are apparently even ruled out by the Helsinki Agreement.

Number one, I would suggest that Slovenia should get rid of all the laws and repressive provisions which were enacted by the communists. Moreover, they should return all confiscated property to the rightful owners. Seventeen years of chicanery has clearly demonstrated that Slovenia has no intention to return the property of the so called "class enemies."

Foremost is the respect and scrupulous observation of the Rule of Law. This is unlikely to happen during next few generations. I rather think, that Slovenes think that the rule of law means uncontrolled abuse of the people by government bureaucrats.

Q: Which conditions are required for understanding of the specific position of culture in Slovenia. Can culture play a role where politicians seem to be failing?

Vladislav Bevc: In the case of Slovenia, I would say no. The youth in schools is being brought up by the "tovarišice", or comrades – as they used to call the teachers– which inculcate the current views of the Communist continuity.

This may not be the case unique to Slovenia. Many of us, for example, think that the schools in the United States are failing the society badly. I rather think that schools and the culture should primarily develop the youth’s ability of thinking critically. It appears to be anathema to any government. If matters continue in this way and the people are not taught to analyze what is placed before them, personal freedom will be lost, perhaps irretrievable.

Q: Do you think that "time" is a good factor, and that 'time" is required for Slovenes to come into terms with their own history?

Vladislav Bevc: In physics "time" of course is one of the operators. But, if things are left to themselves, passage of time only leads to an increased entrap, that is - chaos.

Q: Patriots always talk of dying for their country, and never of killing for their country. Murders are not yet solved, who are the patriots?

Vladislav Bevc: As General Patton – one whose straight talk led to his undoing while idiots like Eisenhower floated to the top – said

"You do not win a war by dying for your country – you win it by making some OTHER poor bastard die for HIS country."

I am out of this and I cannot judge who is patriot and who is not.

Q: Why are not the full facts about the events following WW2 genocide presented to the Slovene public?

Vladislav Bevc: I am not sure what is meant by "presented." There certainly was an extensive parliamentary inquiry in Slovenia by the Pucnik commission. But the parliament never acted on it or formally published it. Pucnik got the Brnik airport named after him, but he never got his report published by the Parliament.

Slovenes do not want to hear about it. They will tell you that they have not personally taken part in killings but would not dream to stopp privileged pensions to those who are responsible, like Mr. Ribicic and alike. Even less summon them before court or hold them accountable for their crimes.

Q: People are at their most creative when things are very disturbed, You say that "freed from paralyses", Slovenes can move forward. Can you elaborate, what is your plan of action?

Vladislav Bevc: A. I do not have a plan of action for the Slovenes, am fortunately - out of it.

Q: Why was important for Slovenia to join NATO, who are now "the enemies", where lies the danger, what role can Slovenia play in this organization?

Vladislav Bevc: A good question. The same was asked by Jack Kennedy some time ago: "Fellow citizens of the World – ask not what America [NATO] can do for you, ask what together we can do for the advancement of mankind." And when you look at what Slovenia can or is willing to do for the advancement of mankind, or even its own citizens (party comrades excluded, of course) you will find that it is one big zero.

It is reported that Slovenia hosts the largest CIA base in Southern Europe. It certainly has aspirations – megalomanic - I think - of becoming a country that would lead the rest of the Balkans to democracy. This was apparently suggested to the U.S. Ambassador Nancy Halliday Ely Raphel by her Slovene mentors like Dimitri Rupel and Milan Kucan.

Ely Raphel was formerly in the Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor which is notorious for holding the view that property rights are not human rights.

Currently Slovenia is useful to the United States as member of the Vilnius group supporting the coalition against Iraq. But as far as any contribution to the United States policies, the results will turn out to be negligible. As for exporting democracy to the Balkans, I always thought, it is hard to export what one does not have.

Q: There are no exact parallels, least of all between democracy in the United States and Slovenia, but common questions can open fresh lines of thought. There is second old rule in politics - stick with friends, but stick closer to enemies. Brief us about Slovenia/ US relations, are they good and can they be better, what can be done differently?

Vladislav Bevc: In a sense the Slovenia/US relations are - a mystery. Judging from the quality of the ambassadors the United States is sending to Slovenia – with one exception – there seems to be little expectations on the part of the United States about the performance of Slovenia in the world affairs.

A most cursory observer and reader of the Slovene press would notice a deep anti-American attitude enhanced perhaps by envy — a specific characteristics of the Slovene character. It probably does not matter much to the United States what goes on in Slovenia as Ljubljana seems to be a pleasant place for American diplomats. And those who do not play along with the local establishment, well, they can always be transferred to Fiji...

Q: It is as you are looking into mad eye of history and not blinking. There may be no political messages, but there is no hope either, can you reflect on this?

Vladislav Bevc: That`s about it.

Q: Both the right and left seem to be misread in Slovenia, are you reformer or spectator?

Vladislav Bevc: Have you read Arthur Clarke’s 2010? There’s an astronaut captured by higher beings who in turn is gradually being transformed into one of them. He becomes the "Star Child." He no longer visits the Earth out of his own motivation but is sent there more like a probe by his new relatives. He no longer is what he used to be.

There is a curious statement about him in Clarke’s novel. Although he no longer is part of the Earth, compassion and some other feelings have not quite left him yet.

REVIEWS:
Although Slovenia has risen to prominence due to its presidency of the European Union, little is known of its recent history. Vladislav Bevc’s collection of papers—some his own—is a welcome contribution to our knowledge.

No one interested in Slovenia should miss this book that shows the difficulties of overcoming the baneful heritage of communism. This problem, to which much attention is devoted in Smiling Slovenia, transcends borders. In various ways and degrees, it besets other post-communist countries as well."

Andrzej Brzeski, Professor of Economics Emeritus,
University of California, Davis
  
The Slovenian State Idea
In opposition to great-national ideologies
In the academic world, it is still denied
Dr. Jožko Šavli

After the WW2, while Slovenia, in the frame of Communist Yugoslavia, was totally controlled by Belgrade, the Serbian metropolis, only a small group of Slovenian emigrants cultivated the idea of an independent Slovenian State. It was the circle that gathered around Mirko Geratic, a Styrian from Chicago (USA), who at the beginning of the 50s began to publish the monthly "Slovenska drzava" (Slovenian State). Some years later, the monthly was transferred to Toronto (Canada) and continued to be issued, until Slovenia declared its independence. Another group of partisans striving for the Slovenian State idea was found in Argentina, where they issued the paper "Smer v slovensko drzavo" (Slovenian State Line).

"Smer v slovensko drzavo" (Slovenian State Line) was called the paper, published after WW2 in Buenos Aires (Argentina).

In the period after WW2 these humble papers preserved the idea of an independent Slovenian State for decades, so that it should not be wasted. They critically affronted a conviction, which Slovenian emigrants in general felt too. That is, Slovenia is too small, as to be independent. It should be menaced continuously by its western and northern neighbours, the Italians and the Germans. To save them from their imperialism, Slovenians could only find protection by their supposedly Slav and Southern Slav brethren.

It was a "realistic" point of view, but it was suggested by some confidants of the Yugoslav secret service. But one had to ask himself: if Slovenia really had to be protected by its supposed Slav "brethren", why would such a protection exclusively mean its appurtenance to Yugoslavia. The Slav "protection" was interpreted only in this way. Why not interpret it also in another way? That is, Slovenians in their independent State should have been protected by their Slav brethren or brothers, too? Indeed, the so-called "protection" of Slovenians in Yugoslavia was only a mask for a pure imperialism, albeit it was camouflaged by the supposedly Southern Slav brotherhood. The imperialism in Yugoslavia could have been but only a great-Serbian one.

Slovenians, who lived in an "autonomous" federal republic inside of Yugoslavia, knew very well, that Yugoslavia would not have protected them. On the contrary, the Communist and great-Serbian regime of Belgrade exhausted Slovenia to the fullest. The well-known journalist Viktor Meier, originally a Swiss, who wrote for German papers, stated in one of his articles that: In the fullest sense of the word we can say, that in the post-war history (after WW2) there has been no case... that a nation has been exhausted and plundered of the fruits of their work in such a massive way, like Slovenians have been... ("Yugoslav Communism", in: Communism in Europe, M.I.T. Press, Boston 1964).

After WW2, the partisans of the independent Slovenian State idea were very rare individuals. One of the most visible was certainly Franc Jeza (cf: Concealed and Forgotten Persons Part I), journalist and writer, who lived in Trieste (Italy). He originated from Hajdina near Ptuj (Styria), and he studied in Lublana before the WW2.  After the beginning of the war, he collaborated as a member of the Christ-Social group with the so-called Liberation Front, which was under the Communist control. But Italians discovered him soon, put him in jail, and later, during the German occupation of Lublana,  he was sent to Dachau. He survived the lager and went home. But as an opponent of the Communist regime, he left for Trieste (then Anglo-American zone, later Italy), where he tireless laboured for an independent Slovenia, until his death in 1984.

Undoubtedly, it is very uncommon, that only some individuals pursued the Slovenian State idea. If the very true history has been denied to Slovenians, one has to ask oneself why? - That was a true fact, the answer to this question, however, must be given in a longer explanation.

A Missed Interpretation of the Very Slovenian History

In the 19th century, when the concept of the Nation began to be identified with a linguistic group and not anymore with the historical State tradition, Slovenians stood before an unexpected fact: in the territory of their historical State Carantania, called thereafter Austria (after the Habsburgs, the House of Austria), the German language had already diffused its greatest part, and the German speaking Austrians (Carantanians) started to be considered "Germans".

When during the revolution of 1848 the national idea of the linguistic groups diffused in Europe, the Slovenian national idea was reduced to the Slovenian speaking area only. For this particular territory Slovenian intellectuals claimed from Vienna the foundation of a "Slovenian Kingdom" inside the Habsburg Monarchy. But since this did not happen, the Slovenian national movement gradually began to search the realization of their claims outside of the Monarchy, in connection with the supposed Southern Slav brethren. Indeed, at the end of the WW1, Slovenians entered the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, later called Yugoslavia.

The then Slovenian political leadership was convinced, that with Yugoslavia (Southern Slavia) the "historical dream" of Slovenians will become true. But Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, remained the centre of political power in Yugoslavia, and soon after it became the centre of the great-Serbian expansion.  In fact, Yugoslavia was considered a "Great Serbia", and in this structure there was not granted any form of political autonomy to Slovenians. Moreover!

For Slovenian intellectuals, Yugoslavia represented at first a salvation from the expansionism of the German national movement in Austria. A movement, which intended to expand the German speaking area up to the Adriatic Sea near Trieste, so that the Slovenian speaking territory was to be Germanzied. This movement tried to minimize the history of the Slovenians, proclaiming them as historical "servants" only. Because such an interpretation was taught by professors at universities, in particular at the one in Graz, Slovenian intellectuals, in their ingenuousness, started to accept such an interpretation.  

They never imagined the existence of a historical Slovenian State, but they imagined, that their very national State should be a part of Yugoslavia only. Therefore, they blindly accepted the conditions put in front of them by Belgrade for its "protection" from German and also Italian expansion, which the future would bring. One such condition was, for example, the change of the former Austrian currency at a ratio of 4 Austrian crowns for 1 Serbian dinar, which was implemented in 1920. In the following decades, Belgrade burdened Slovenians with more taxes than the rest of Yugoslavia, evidently the reason was the salvation from the German "millenary yoke", which the Austrian Monarchy should have meant for them. Such a reason was substantiated with the explanation of history. In sense of this, Slovenians never had an own State in their history. Their Carantania should have been a brief formation only, which soon was absorbed by the German empire (Holy Roman Empire), representing the aforesaid yoke. So, Slovenians should be obliged forever to their Serbian brethren, who saved them from this yoke.

The denial of the Slovenian State idea and tradition became one of the basic items of the hegemonistic Yugoslav ideology. The university and the academic circles were constrained to acknowledge this idea, if they wanted to achieve a secure career and hold well paid positions. And, in contrast to other people, they could afford a very good life with their salaries. The ideological terror connected with the Yugoslav ideology was violent in such a manner, that it survived Yugoslavia and still continues in independent Slovenia. In this connection, an event like this one becomes very characteristic. In 1996, when Pope John Paul II visited Slovenia, a denial of the historical Slovenian State was submitted in his address to the Slovenian academicians, when he said, that Slovenians "for the first time in their history" got now their own State. It was obviously the trait of a confidant of the former Yugoslav secret service, who composed the text for the Pope's speech. And the faithful, of course, should firmly believe, what the Pope said.

First Attempts in Discovering the Slovenian State tradition

In connection with the aforesaid political conditions, the Slovenian public thinking in Yugoslavia was usurped in a massive way.  Through educational school programs, the idea, that presented the Slovenians as "historical servants", was inculcated in the public mind. And this occurred in a "scientific" way, so that such an explanation coming from the university, or academy and other institutes seemed to make it legal. Soon after WW1, Belgrade sent his confidant, Prof. Nicola Radojcic, to the University of Ljubljana. There he lectured "Yugoslav" history, perhaps in Serbian language. Thus, already at that time, a particular Slovenian history was not researched.   

As to substantiate the interpretation of "historical servants", the Yugoslav regime, in a skilful manner, used the ideas proclaimed by the great Slovenian writer Ivan Cankar. He was a Socialist, and in sense of the proletarian ideology, he stressed the idea of a "servant nation" that, of course, only through the revolution should have suppressed the "exploitation of men by men". Cankar's "servants" were simply identified with the Slovenians, and the Yugoslav apparatus continuously repeated: "Servants, born for servants..."

No one could have imagined the ideological lie, which systematically was inculcated in the general thinking of Slovenians.  This occurred in such a totalitarian manner, that one was afraid to think different, much less than to talk in public. It was like a quarantine of thinking. In spite of this, there appeared people on the public scene, who dared to think in a different way also.

"Slovenska drzava" (Slovenian State) was the title of the paper, that after WW2 continued to maintain the Slovenian State idea, lanced by Univ. Prof. Lambert Ehrlich. The paper was issued first in Chicago USA), and then in Toronto (Canada).

The most visible of them was certainly Univ. Prof. Lambert Ehrlich, (cf: Concealed and Forgotten Persons Part II), a priest and theologian of Carinthian origin, who after WW1 acted in Lublana. It is true, he was not able to take a critical standpoint towards the interpretation of Slovenian history in an ideological way of perpetual servants. But he launched the idea of an independent Slovenian State, which was a very bold act under the Yugoslav regime. At the pilgrimage of Svete Višarje (1766 m), which is found above his birth place of Zabnice (after WW1 under Italy), he collected Slovenian students, and he spoke to them of the need of the foundation of an independent  Slovenian State. His ideas went into Slovenian history under the name "Višarsko slovenstvo" (the Višarje Slovenian idea).

After the outburst of the WW2, in 1941, Slovenia, too, was occupied by the central forces of Italy, Germany and Hungary. Univ. Prof. Ehrlich lived in Lublana, which was under Italian occupation. But already on May 26, 1942, he was shot to death in an attempt on his life carried out by a Communist assailant. This was done very probably by order, coming from the circles around Stalin, i.e., from Comintern, which was contrary to the independent Slovenia, and which in the post-war period foresaw a (Communist) Yugoslavia only. A question, which still has to be researched by historians.

Another partisan of independent Slovenia was Dragotin Gustincic, a young idealist and Communist.  He even prepared ideological materials for this purpose. When he, toward the end of the 20s, was constrained to leave Yugoslavia for the Soviet Union (Russia), he was given the materials of the Comintern (Communist International Movement). Obviously, he cultivated the full confidence in the "Slav" Russia and in the "international" Communist movement. But his materials were given to Edvard Kardelj, a Yugoslav oriented Slovenian Communist, who published them under his name (1938), as to attract the national sentiments of the Slovenians. In 1945, when Dragotin Gustincic returned to Yugoslavia, he was sent to one of Tito's lager soon after.

In this way, in the same Slovenia after WW2, the idea of an independent Slovenian State was wasted. Among the Slovenian emigrants into the free world, as already said, only a small group of Ehrlich's pupils and some individuals continued to cultivate the idea. The most part of Slovenian intellectuals in the world were simply inculcated by the idea of a continuous German menace prompted also by Belgrade's confidants. So they firmly continued to believe and proclaimed, that, after the end of the Communist regime, only a democratic Yugoslavia should have been able to protect Slovenians in the best way.  In the same Slovenia, the people saw very well, that not one Yugoslavia could have protected them. On the contrary, Yugoslavia was more and more a ruin for Slovenians. So, in 1990, in a referendum, they voted for an independent State.

Ideological interpretations and falsifications

Modern Austria and Yugoslavia have been most interested in falsifying the true Slovenian history. Probably, we could speak rather of a well-calculated interpretation of historical events in sense of the pan-German and pan-Slav or Yugo-Slav ideologies. According to such ideologies, Austria should have appeared historically as a German State formation. Therefore, its very beginning in the Slovenian Carantania (6th century AD) was, and still is, suppressed. Even the historical beginning of the same Carinthia (Carantania), from which the Austrian statehood descends, is reckoned not earlier than the year 976, in which this duchy supposedly had been separated from Bavaria. In fact, for some decades both countries had a common duke, but they were never united in a unique duchy. - And so on.

The historiography of Slovenia (Yugoslavia), on the other side, had to subordinate its interpretations to the Yugo-Slav ideology. According to this, Slovenians have been only a stock of the original historical nation of the Southern Slavs. Slovenian national identity should have come into existence as early as the 16th century, when their Protestant reformer, Primus Truber, issued the first book in Slovenian language. Carantania should have been a brief formation, and not a Slovenian but a "Slav" State only.  That is, since 820 AD Slovenians should have been under the "German" yoke. At that time and still much later, the language of the (later) Slovenians did not differentiate from the common language of the Southern Slavs. Etc, etc. These are not only easily demonstrable errors of interpretations, but more often it is also public falsification of historical things.

Such thesis are diffused in the public thinking with the pretext of being "scientific", because explanations were given by the authority of academic institutions, in particular by universities. In ex-Yugoslavia, the chief creator of the Yugo-Slav ideology and its surveyor was the Serbian academy of Belgrade. Its ideological thesis was spread to the academic institutions, schools and mass media editors through the net of the secret service and its confidants. In this way, the directing of the public mind, in a totalitarian State like the Communist Yugoslavia, was perfect.
The present-day aspect of the castle Krnski grad (Karnburg) in Carinthia  (painting by  P. Fister). It was at one-time the residence of the Dukes of Carantania. The church, dedicated to St. Peter and Paul, is mentioned already in 927. Close to it we see the chapel of St. Anna.

Moreover! Yugoslav and Austrian secret services, Udba and Kobra, collaborated harmoniously for the purpose of interpreting Slovenian history. So, in accordance with their guidelines, tourist offices in Slovenia (Yugoslavia), that in the period after the WW2 guided numerous tourists to Carinthia (Austria), were not allowed to lead them to the most important historical sites of Carantanian and Slovenian history. This is castle Krnski grad (Karnburg), the seat of the Carantanian dukes, and Gospa Sveta (Maria Saal), the Carantanian cathedral founded by St. Modestus, apostle of the Carantanians - Slovenians. As to mention only one of the most visible examples!

The ground-plan of the Castle, as it was discovered by archaeological unearthing works. The numbers denote: No. 1, the place of the ducal palace, No. 2, the military rallying-point, No. 3, the one-time place of the Prince's Stone, on which the Carantanian dukes were installed by the representative of the people (kept now in the Provincial Museum of Klagenfurt - Celovec).

In the Austrian Monarchy, toward the end of the 19th century, depreciating interpretations of Slovenian history were carried out in particular by the professors at the University of Graz: Hildebrandt, Gumplowicz, Peisker,... Their thesis and theories were considered so scientific, that they were even adopted by several Slovenian professors like Vladimir Levec, Arnold Luschin, Janko Polec, Ludmil Hauptmann... After WW1, Janko Polec was professor for history of law at the University of Ljubljana and he based his lectures on the (pan-German) interpretations of Meitzen, Peisker and Levec (cf. Sergij Vilfan: Wirtschaftsgeschichte und Rechtsgeschichte, Der Grazer Beitrag zur Theorie, in: Kleine Arbeitsreihe zur Europäischen und Vergleichenden Rechtsgeschichte, Graz 1985).

The most fateful for the interpretation of Slovenian history, intentionally in a negative sense, was undoubtedly Ludmil Hauptmann, who was after WW1 professor of history at the University of Lublana and then at the University of Zagreb. He based his interpretations on the so-called slavery-hypothesis of Peisker, in sense of which, the Slavs throughout all their history should have been servants only. By using the word Slavs, Hauptmann denied the national identity of the Slovenians. Of course, his interpretation in sense of the pan-German ideology corresponded to the aims of the unitaristic yugo-Slav (great-Serbian) ideology in the new constituted Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians. But in this general Slav humiliating, he must have saved the honour of the Serbs. Therefore, he declared: It is true, that they were under Turkish authority for half a millennium, but in this period they enlarged their national territory from little Raška (near Kosovo) up to the Danube in the north, and they conquered the strategic Ditch of the Morava and Vardar Valley. Thus, only to the Serbians pertains the leading role on the Balkans. - Of course, in this way his career was assured by the Belgrade regime.

Thus, the academic circles in the same Slovenia (Yugoslavia), financed and conditioned by Belgrade, denied the idea of the national Slovenian State, which people always had in mind.  During the WW2, in the rebellion movements either against foreign occupation or against the Communist revolution, i.e., irrespectively of the "partizani" or "domobranci", the mass of Slovenian men and boys fought not only for freedom, but only for the Slovenian State. They spontaneously bore this in their mind. It was but a fatal fact, that this idea was not elaborated in the Slovenian academic world on base of the Slovenian historical tradition, as to offer them a common aim.

In his way, the ancient ideological images, promoted since 19th century by different political regimes, prevailed absolutely.  These were the ideological images of a Slovenian nation either in connection with Catholic tradition or with a pan-Slav (Russian, Soviet) revolutionary movement.  A common aim for a free, democratic and independent Slovenian State could not begin its life. Of course, after WW2 the Yugoslav Communist regime too suppressed totally the Slovenian State idea in Slovenia (Yugoslavia). It was identified as a possible Slovenian separation from Yugoslavia.

The one-time mosaic (19 m long) at the façade of the Student House "Korotan" in Vienna.



It depicts the Installation of the Carantanian Duke. Korotan's rector, Fr. Ivan Tomazic, had it installed at the beginning of the 80s. After his retirement in 1985, the façade was renewed by the architect Boris Podrecca, who let remove the mosaic.

In the free world, the confidants of the Yugoslav secret service continued to diffuse the opinion, that Slovenians only in association with the Southern Slavs, their supposed brethren, could have survived, whilst the Belgrade regime already began directly to destroy the Slovenian national identity. Under such conditions the work of Prof. Joseph Felicijan was published, called "The Genesis of the Contractual Theory and the Installation of the Dukes of Carinthia" (Cleveland 1967), in which the author pointed out the democratic political tradition of the Slovenian Carantania. The Installation of the Carantanian Dukes by the representative of the people was an act of the early Carantanian - Slovenian democracy, mentioned in the book of Jean Bodin (1576), and in this way also Thomas Jefferson (1776) received knowledge of it.  In Slovenia (Yugoslavia), of course, Felicijan's work was suppressed.

Slovenia has been not the only nation, whose history was distorted with a view for ideological and political purposes. In Europe, we find other cases, too, as for example: Macedonia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Pomerania, Abodritia (Mecklenburg)...  Some of them, like Slovakia, Ireland, or Catalonia, asserted the right to their proper statehood and their very history in an independent state or national autonomy. In present-day independent Slovenia, a revision of the history has not been possible yet.


  

The seal of Rudolph IV, Duke of Austria (1339 – 1365), holding the shield of Austria, but in his other hand he is holding a standard which depicts the Black Panther. It was the sign of ancient Carantania, which was the predecessor of Austria.

»County people«?
with idea of their own state!

by Dr. Jožko Šavli
April 21, 2009

Further comments to my published answer in Carantha of Nov. 2008 on article “The Influence of regional differences on the formation of Slovene national identity and the foundation of Slovene State”, by Mr. Božo Repe, Professor at the University of Lublana. His severe criticism was directed towards me and my research about the Black Panther, the coat of arms of Carantania, and Carantania itself as the historical state of Slovenians. It is mentioned in the historical records as “Provincia Sclaborum” as early as 595 AD. Mr. Repe presented his objections in a paper delivered at The 39th National Convention of American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (New Orleans 2007). He declared both, the Black Panther and Carantania as »mythos«.

I, of course, protested such a denotation. Firstly, because Prof. Repe is a historian and not a heraldist. Nor have I come across any heraldic studies published by him. Secondly, even though he is a historian, his approach toward Carantania is not a correct interpretation but an ideological one. He rejects the statehood of Slovenians and their national identity in sense of the obligatory ideology, which in ex-Yugoslavia was dictated by the hegemonistic Belgrade regime.

Above is the reproduced seal of Rudolph IV, Duke of Austria, which succeeded Carantania. It was the same State called thereafter Austria (after the Habsburgs, the House of Austria), which first ruled in the province alongside the Danube, which in origin was called Austria, (today's Lower and Upper Austria).

Prof. Božo Repe, historian, University of Lublana (Slovenia).  

Mr. Repe, can you and your colleagues deny this historical document? – The seal depicts the duke on horseback, holding the shield of Austria in one hand. The horse's blanket is symbolized with the coats of arms of Carinthia, Styria and Pfirt. On his head, the duke is wearing a crown with a tuft of peacock feathers on the helmet, the original crest of Carantania, which thereafter became the symbol of Austria. But most important, he is holding a standard with the Carantanian Panther image in his other hand. The banner is a sign of statehood. - This can be understood even by someone, who is not a heraldist. And you, Mr. Repe, speak about “mythos”!?

Mr. Repe, do you really imagine, that merely the epithet »University of...« after the name is sufficient to build credibility in public eye for quotations of an individual, published in several papers declared as scientific?

Evidently, in the paper presented at the above-mentioned convention you overlooked several proofs in favour of the authenticity of the Black Panther. One of them, which I already quoted in my previous answer to you, is the seal of Ulric III of 1256, the Duke of Carantania – Carinthia. Furthermore, I found several other quotations in your paper concerning the Slovenian people, which I consider simple distortions.

Your quotation: The strongest myth in contradiction with historical facts about the Slovenians as “county people” which in retrospect strives to establish them as a nation and which persisted well into the 20th century is the one about their continuing national rise. It was nourished by the belief that the Slovenians had been longing for their own state for ever and declared it for the first time in the programme of the Zedinjena Slovenija (United Slovenia) in 1948. In the years to follow they strived to realize this goal within diverse historical circumstances and finally succeeded in 1991. In fact, only a small number of intellectuals stood behind the programme whose objective was not the founding of a separate/individual state but a union of the Slovenians within an own self-governed unit with their own national assembly.
Arnulf of Carantania (ca. 849 – 899), Duke, King and Emperor.

•   My objection: The point of view you want to develop here (in retrospect strives) is equal to that of Karl Marx (cf. Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany, written 1851 and 1852). Hence, the remnants of numerous nations, which in 1848 claimed their proper political entities, Marx proclaimed »consumptive« ones, which tried to restore their political status quo of 800 AD. Among them Marx also quoted »Carinthians« (i.e., Carantanians, Slovenians), »Dalmatians« (Croatians) and others...

At that time, it is true, in Slovenian political history it was first outlined in the program of the United Slovenia in 1848. Because, the Slovenians lived in several provinces of the then monarchy. These provinces, it is true, originated from their primordial state Carantania. However, after several centuries a great part of its inhabitants spoke already German and so they considered themselves as (German) Austrians. In sense of the program of a United Slovenia, the Slovenian speaking area claimed from Vienna the foundation of a united Kingdom of Slovenia inside the Habsburg Monarchy.

I sincerely believe, that you could only have been manipulated by the ancient Yugoslav lobby, which still today controls Slovenia and continues to inoculate the old-new Southern Slav ideology into the mind of the Slovenian public. It is clearly about »farbanje« (painting the Slovenian people), to whom you and your fellows negate the rank of a normal cultural and historical nation.

Towards some of them I would like to take a critical standpoint, including you. Not at last, because you appear continuously as a historian on duty, in particular on TV Slovenia. In this way, you alone are making the final judgments on modern or ancient history, irrespectively if it is about heraldry and, of course, about policy, culture, contemporary history or questions about Tito etc.


The Slovenian Hat (from the coat of arms), sign of people’s sovereignty, and the Dukes Hat, sign of state sovereignty of Carantania as principality in the confederated Kingdom of Middle Europe.

From the historical viewpoint , Karl Marx classified the Carantanians (Slovenians) as being among the »consumptive« nations. Prof. Božo Repe, you, a Slovenian historian (from the University of Lublana) are not willing to commit yourself explicitly. However, you consider Slovenians a non-historical nation, too.

Moreover, your saying »a small number of intellectuals stood behind the program« is evidently an intentionally pejorative characterization of Slovenians. For that matter, from all nations in that period we encounter only “a small number” of intellectuals. I understand this quotation as an humiliation of Slovenians.

Further, what does your epithet »county people« precisely mean for Slovenians? From my understanding, this quotation measures the population's reputation as »country people«. Hence, it was often adopted for Slovenians in a pejorative sense, like it is now used by you, Mr. Repe. And you still quote: the belief that the Slovenians had been longing for their own state for ever.. This is not true. In fact, because Austria was the successor of Carantania, Slovenians always lived in their proper state. Indeed, they did not need to long for it.

As early as in the 19th century, when Austria (the Habsburg Monarchy) began to be Germanized, the idea of a United Slovenia within the frame of the monarchy was born. But since this did not happen, the Slovenian national movement began to search the realization of their claims outside of the Monarchy and they abandoned Austria at the end of WW1. Your explanation of Slovenian history, which you fail to present in an effective manner, bases on the “fact”, that in 820 AD Carantanians lost their independence and came under the millenarian “German yoke”. This type of explanation of Slovenian history has been obviously dictated by Belgrade's hegemonistic regime.

Farmers’ performance in Globasnica (Globasnitz) in Carinthia today. Only a “county people”?

Your further quotation: The national liberation movement strived to reform the national character and change the ’nation of servants’ (such image of Slovenians emerged from major literary works of the time from Prešeren to Cankar) into a nation of heroes, which was even a programme point of the Liberation Front.

•   My observation: Yes, “from major literary works of the time”. Not only that, it also emerged from the works of professors at the then Austrian universities, in particular from those at the University of Graz, like Richard Hildebrand, Jan Peisker, Ludwig Gumplowicz, and others. You should closely examine their works and you will discover that “this image” is not only used for Slovenians but for all Slavs. Besides, Ivan Cankar (1976 - 1918), was a Socialist. So, he subordinated his writing to the Socialist ideology, in sense of which all people are servants, determined to withstand their oppressors in a revolution, who in this case were the “Germans”…

You, as a historian, Mr. Repe, do not make a distinction between the literary free idea and historiography. Moreover, you are not aware of the ideology, in this case that of the great-German and  the Southern Slavs (Yugoslavs). As you can see for yourself, both ideologies declared Slovenians a historical nation of “servants” without providing sociological, cultural or any other proofs. It was and still is, I repeat, about an intentional humiliation from the hated enemy of the great-Serbian oligarchy. And regretfully, you are not able to find the actual cause. In the contrary, you cite Cankar as a reliable source for your quotations of historical facts!?

Ivan Cankar (1876 – 1918), Slovenian writer and Socialist ideologist. His literature is considered a historical source for the historian, Prof. Božo Repe. But Cankar, too,  derived from “county people”!

Your further quotation: With the formation of the independent state, the dilemmas addressed above were not solved. Squeezed between the Germanic and Romanic world, the Slovenians seem to be reviving the national dilemmas from the end of the 19th century. At the same time the question arises as to whether the state with its views according to which culture is the foundation for the nation’s identity (the concept “Slovenian economy” has long ago ceased to exist) and the measures it takes really support or rather hinder the Slovenian belatedness.

•   My observation: Of course, the “dilemmas” did not arise spontaneous but have been deliberately orchestrated by the ex-Yugoslav lobby in order to deny Slovenians the right to exist as a separate people with their own historical state tradition. In sense of this, not the Slovenian political tradition, which emerged from Carantania in the 6th century, but the beginning of linguistic education in Slovenian language should be decisive to weld a people into a nation. The primary standards for  Slovenian written language were established by Primož Trubar in the 16th century with his contributions to the linguistic, religious and general cultural education of the Slovenian people. Until that time, Slovenians were portrayed as a “people “ without national culture and identity. Hence, they were not a nation.

You quote: The sociologist Grega Tomc thinks that we are facing the “Dežman Case” again (Karel Dežman, a politician from the end of the 19th century who believed that the Slovenians should accept the stronger and better developed German identity, since they themselves were too weak to be able to follow the progress.) According to Tomc, in two generations’ time there will be young people who will ask themselves “why should I drag up that ‘Slovenianhood’ if it is lagging behind so much and nothing interesting seems to be going on? Of course this will not be a conscious decision. There will be simply a growing number of Slovenians who will not support the Slovenian culture in their homes; a kind of silent assimilation will take hold. Nothing radical will happen at all; we will just not be creative enough in comparison with the foreign environments.” (Mladina No 421, October 13, 2007, p. 38 - 42).

The uncritically self-satisfied Slovenian politicians believe that the Slovenians reached the peak of their history by attainment of independence and formation of the state, and that the growth of the gross national income (which by the way is less a result of innovativeness than of the service and similar activities) means that we are on the upward path. The critical intellectuals however caution that the way backwards, from the citizen of an independent state to a mere ‘county man’ is an equally realistic option if the Slovenians will continue to persist in the presently prevailing traditionalism, seclusion, and prejudices and not manage to activate sufficient intellectual power (cultural, educational and scientific) to carry out modernization processes, which the Slovenians have been unable to catch up with for over one hundred years.

•   My objection: Your free reflections upon the (Slovenian) national character as “a nation of servants” (after Cankar's line of thought) are nothing else but an expression of belated Marxist – communist ideology. To save them from the “millenarian German yoke”, Slovenians could find protection only under the powers of the Liberation Front (led by the Communist party) during the WW2? Very amusing, isn’t it?   

In fact, Prešeren, Cankar and others you refer to, lived in the 19th/20th century. I repeat, Cankar was a Socialist, not a historian. He presented a Socialist ideology, an opportunity for oppressed peoples and nations, that were subjugated for centuries, to rise up against the oppressor, in the case of Slovenians against the “German domination”. This meant the necessity of revolution!


Yugoslav official ideological immobilia today. Portrait of Josip Broz Tito for sale at Lublana's downtown flea market.

Mr. Repe, you are a historian. Anyway, in this connection it is not about historiography but about  ideology. I recommend you to examine any work on that subject, for example, H. Lefèbvre: The Sociology of Marx (London 1969) or M. Mannheim: Ideologie und Utopie (Frankfurt/M. 1952) etc.

Besides, all further quotations from your presentation I consider pure fantasy: firstly, the revived national dilemmas of 19th century and, secondly, your question whether the state with its views according to which culture is the foundation for the nation’s identity… In fact, you take standpoints which reflect only your own views. Of course, they are not scientific but certainly ideological. This is in sense of a rejuvenated Yugoslav unitaristic idea, which denies to Slovenians to have their own historical and national identity.

Your above citation of the opinion of Grega Tomc, a sociologist, who in the following generations of Slovenians raised the question in people's mind: “Why should I drag up that ‘Slovenianhood’ if it is lagging behind so much and nothing interesting seems to be going on?” can only be regarded as a purposive manipulation. Thus, you choose only a citation, that suites your thesis and neglects other authors. In this way, you get grounded a theory thesis tailored to your needs. Is that not so? If I am not wrong, the well-known Karl Popper (1902 – 1994) wrote already something about such manipulations.

Mr. Repe, once again I must state that your quotations concerning Slovenian identity, history and culture are not scientific i.e., of historical value, but highly ideological ones.

Echo from B. Jezovnik:

It is not hard to imagine for the individual or average Slovenian in what direction Mr. Repe, Prof of the University of Lublana, directs his criticism concerning the discoveries of the Black Panther, the coat of arms of Carantania, and Carantania itself, as the historical state of Slovenians. Every Slovenian knows that a historical unity of Slovenians with Serbs and Croats does not exist and that the people of Slovenia have achieved their modern independence in 1991. Mr. Repe's criticism of the historical State of Slovenia falls under category of negative bashing of historical Slovenia. He should better examine the mood of Slovenians toward Independence and the Black Panther. He will notice that many changes in the people's mind have taken place since the day of independence and that Slovenians do not wish to be in orbit of Belgrade's regime.
  
The Influence of regional Differences on the formation of
Slovene national Identity and the Foundation of Slovene State

by Božo Repe. PhD, Full Professor, University of Lublana (Slovenia), Faculty of Arts, Department of History – On the challenge answers Dr. Jožko Šavli PhD etc. Gorica – Gorizia (Italy), November 28, 2008.

Joško Šavli answers:
November 28, 2008

!
Prof. Božo Repe, University of Lublana (Slovenia):
Another myth is about the continuous identity of the Slovenians from the 6th century on, about the lost state... the suggestion to include the Carantanian panther into the Coat of Arms, according to Joško Šavli “the very symbol of every Sloveninan”...

The 39th National Convention of American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies, 15th - 18th November, New Orleans 2007, USA

Mr. Repe,

I only learnt the contents of your paper, which was published on Internet and presented at the above-mentioned convention a year after the fact. Hence I am responding to it here with a significant delay. With all due respect, your criticism toward me is almost an attack. I consider its contents influenced by the Yugoslav ideology in such a measure, that it shows a entirely false picture of the very history of Slovenians and Slovenia.

You say, among other things: »The Slovenians formed their country as well as their national identity during the period of Austria-Hungary.« – This is false; you evidently are not acquainted with the conceptions “national identity” and “country” (dežela, in Slovenian). You perhaps meant a “political identity”? This would have been closer to the situation of Slovenians in Austro-Hungarian Empire (19th century).

Further on, you neither are adequately acquainted with the concept of  “state”. In this case, you must have mentioned the “provincia Sclaborum” (595 AD) quoted by Paul the Deacon in his Historia Langobardorum (cap. 7). It was a state on the level of a kingdom, Mr. Repe, because the same Lombards called their kingdom in Italy by the name “provincia”. Why do you conceal this historical source?

Above all, I wish to respond to your paragraphs, which pertain to myself. They are as follows:

Another myth is about the continuous identity of the Slovenians from the 6th century on, about the lost state –  Carantania and the never ending longing for it (a part of this search for links can be observed in the symbols, i. e. the suggestion to include the Carantanian panther into the Coat of Arms, according to Joško Šavli “the very symbol of every Sloveninan.” The central theme of the whole story is that the Slavs (in the ‘myth’ variation indeed the Slovenians) inhabited their present territory as the Avarian subjects towards the end of the 6th century, then managed to establish their own state, to be later enslaved by the Germans. It was until the World War I that they remained under the German domination (and Carinthia, also referred to as the “cradle of the Slovenianhood” remains so for ever).

This type of mythology seems to be typical for all central European (and also other) nations, which are believed to have had a kind of state …….. (which they later lost) in the early Middle Ages (though the nationality played no role in those times). In reality, “the identities of the people were different in those times.” While people living northerly from the Karavanken Mountains perceived themselves as Karantanians and were also addressed as such by their Bavarian and Langobard neighbours, those living to the south of the Karavanken were called “Karnolians”. They were both of Slav origin, yet by no means Slovenians (Peter Štih). P. Štih further claims that the Karantians were “made” into Slovenians only from the time of Linhart on (the term ‘Slovenians’ was first mentioned in Trubar’s Catechism dating from 1550, the term ‘Slovenia’ even later, in a poem by Jovan Vesel Koseski dating from 1844); to speak about Slovenians in the early Middle Ages is “nothing less than nationalising history in retrospect; it means a creation of an imaginary picture of the national history before it even started.” As outlined at the beginning, regional identity indeed prevailed with the Slovenians for as long as until the end of the 19th century. It is a fact however, that Karantanians can be seen as Slovenian ancestors, yet not the only ones.

My answer:

Mr. Repe , so far I know, your are not a mythologist, your are a historian. Please, let the scientists and the mythologists estimate what can and cannot be a myth. I consider your quotation, in which you lack any evidence and/or any concrete argumentation, that my statements concerning Carantania is a “myth”, unsuitable exhibiting superficiality and ignorance of someone not worthy the designation of a University Professor.

With regards to the matters concerning the Black Panther as coat of arms of Carantania, I published a paper in Glas Korotana 7/1981. The study was greeted by Prof. Hans Jäger Sunstenau, charman of the heraldic society Adler in Vienna. He even reported of it in Archivum Heraldicum (1982). His report bore the title (in translation): »Heraldic Symbols in the Ancient Slovenian Carantania«. And once again, I believe, you are a historian and not a "heraldrist".

The seal of 1256, pertaining to Ulric III, duke of Carantania – Carinthia, clearly depicts the elements of the Carantanian full coat of arms: panther on the shield and a crest with tuft of peacock feathers. The first seal with the panther on the shield appeared already in 1160 AD and pertained to Otokar III, margrave of Carantanian March (Styria). Could you deny this historical facts, Mr. Repe? – You cannot!  However by overlooking these facts, you may pretend the anti-Carantanian theory is preserved and secured.

Seal of 1256 pertaining to Ulric III, Duke of Carantania (Carinthia). He holds a shield with panther sign and bears a helmet with tuft of peacock feathers. Besides, the corresponding coat of arms.

To argue the national and ethnic identity of Slovenians which you insist on presenting as “Slavs”, it is not enough to quote Primož Trubar, or Jovan Koseski, or perhaps your fellow-worker, historian Peter Štih. They cannot be considered as  historical sources, neither are the other authors that you quoted in the Notes: Janko Prunk, Franc Rozman, Vasilij Melik, Dušan Necak, and Johann Strutz, or yourself for that matter.

As I warned you, your presentation, Mr. Repe, would only have credibility if you would have quoted primary sources provided by first-hand like in the case of Paul the Deacon. I quote some of his statements as an example:

…. in finibus Sclavinie ad a. 824, (Kos II, 78), in partibus Sclaviniae ad a. 824 (Kos II, 102), ... in Slougenzin marcham ad a. 860 (Kos II, 169), Sclavinia ad a. 870 (Conversio, cap VII), ... in Sclavinia ad a. 870 (Conversio, cap VII) etc.

Beside, also the name Carantania is quoted, for exemple: In Sclaviniam, in partes videlicet Quarantanas atque inferioris Pannoniae... ad. a. 870 (Conversio cap. VII),... ad Sclavorem gentem quod corrupte vocitant Carantanum ad a. 780 (Paul the Deacon cap 22)...

In particular characteristic is the quotation of the Carantanian army: ... cum manu valida Noricorum diversorumque Sclavorum Italiam ingreditur...ad. a. 877 (Kos II, 247), etc... (cf. A. Kuhar: Slovene Medieval History, Selected Studies, Studia Slovenica IV, New York – Washington 1962, pp. 2 – 11)

From these and other similar documents one can clearly extract the fact, that Carantania is a geographical and Sclaunia an ethnic name. Therefore, already in that period one can reasonably (if not with absolute certainty) conclude that the national identity of Slovenians was based on their proper state, ethnicity (language) and army (mano valida). I am asking myself, why the lobby of historians from Lublana has sown ground for such distortions of Slovenian history?

Why are you and your fellow academics omitting historical documents, Mr. Repe? Do you still have to obey the ancient masters from Belgrade, who used to control your publications, which always had to be presented in an anti-Slovenian arrangement, perhaps even today in »independent« Slovenia?
Dr. Joško Šavli
  

The article presents the rise of Slovenian nationalism...

Publisher: Instytut Slawistycky Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Issue no.24-25 /2004 (highlights in colour by Carantha)
written by Bajt Veronika

In the background Great-Serbian and Masonic circles are working on the destruction of national and cultural identity of Slovenia and its people.

Veronika Bajt is a researcher at the Peace Institute in Lublana, Slovenia. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the University of Bristol, UK. As a lecturer, she has worked at the University of Lublana, at the Masaryk University in Brno (Czech Republic) and at the International University Institute for European Studies in Gorizia (Italy). Her research fields are nationalism, xenophobia and racism, migrations, globalisation, discrimination, and construction of national identities. (Our Notes)

The article presents the rise of Slovenian nationalism as an ideology founded and spread by the Slovenian national movement. As an opening remark the author stresses that nationalism is a modern phenomenon. She also introduces the division between ethnic nation (Kulturnation, narod) and political nation (Staatsnation, nacjia). The Slovenes first defined themselves as an ethnic nation but having gained their own nation-state in 1991, nowadays, they are free to redefine their nation in civic terms. The dynamics of Slovenian nation-building unfolded in agreement with the Czech historian Miroslav Hroch’s scheme. It shows that ethnic nation states start as an idea of a handful of intellectuals, before the national message is taken up and spreads among the members of the postulated nation. Then the nation has commenced its existence indeed.

The term 'Slovenia' though known since the 16th century, intellectuals have used it consistently for denoting the Slovenian nation only after 1848. Still the Carniolan identity persisted. The 1840 national program demanded the administrative unification of the lands inhabited by Slovenes, Slovenian as a medium of education, and it opposed the construction of a German nation-state that would include the Austrian Empire along with Slovenia. Like the Czechs of Bohemia, the Slovenes did not crave for independence but Vienna's protection. In the second half of the 19th century the mass Slovenian national movement grew frustrated by the progress of German nationalism and the continuing division of the Slovenian lands between Austria, Hungary, and Italy.

The »nationalism« - Black Panther, coat of arms of Carantania, the historical Slovenia. It stimulated the ex-Yugoslav structures to take up an ideological fight against the Slovenian historical and cultural identity.

Only during World War I the idea of independence gained popularity but was not actualized due to the inclusion of the Slovenes in Yugoslavia. It appeared a backward and heavily centralized state that thwarted the national goals of the Slovenes despite the administrative unification of almost all their lands. Another World War split Slovenia among Germany, Hungary and Italy so communist Yugoslavia appeared the only way to ensure national survival. Federalization of this state with a national republic for the Slovenes too, did not ensure economic stability. This bred discontent in Slovenia - Yugoslavia's richest region - and spawned systemic-cum-nationalist opposition during the 1960s and 1970s. After Tito's death (1980), in the next decade Slovenian politicians and intellectuals openly advocated independence. The establishment of the independent Slovenian nation-state finally fulfilled the program of Slovenian nationalism as well as commenced the breakup of Yugoslavia.

The national identity based on the great poet Prešeren already for a long time was not enough. There was lacking the idea of Carantania, the first historical state of Slovenians. The ex-Yugoslav circles were struck with panic.

Carantha:
The so-called Peace Institute of Lublana is a foundation, which ex-Yugoslavia (great Serbia) bequeathed to »independent« Slovenia. Its main task is to destroy the image of Slovenians as a historical and cultural nation in the eyes of the world public. The very master of this »institute« is the Serbian secret service. Anyway, it is financed by the same Slovenia, which in fact is still under Serbian control. In Slovenia, the »institute« has no influence on the country. But internationally, mainly in the academic arena, it is trying to spread the idea of the »Southern Slavs« (including Slovenians) as the one-time historical nation of the Balkans. Such an action is not without consequences, because this is the first step to the creation of the conception of the Western Balkans as an entity.

It should replace the ancient term of Yugoslavia and it should enter imperceptibly in the consciousness of the Slovenian and world public. This is not a certainty, it is true. But in case that the right circumstances can be created and the time is right, the corresponding elaboration is already there. Until »then« institute officials, like Veronika Bajt - and there are a number of them - are receiving salaries on academic levels from Slovenia, even though they are destroying its image and its raison d'être worldwide.
  
State Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia
Drzavni zbor Republike Slovenije
Changes of the Constitution

Before entering the European Union, Slovenia has to adjust its Constitution in sense of European directions. Slovenia's national interest is also focused on full membership of NATO. For this purpose, a discussion of necessary changes in the Slovenian Constitution took place and was presented to the deputies of the State Assembly (Lower House) of the Slovenian Parliament. One of the proposed changes, at last, shows a very interesting background. In sense of this it seems, that Yugoslavia will return anew, and if it cannot enter through the door, then it will definitely climb through the window. What's the matter?

On October 28, 2002, the president of the State Assembly, Borut Pahor, convoked in Ljubljana a public presentation of several opinions concerning the completion of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia for the above-said purpose. This occasion instantly inflamed a heavy discussion among the delegates. The problem to deal with a certain proposal was the same as ten years ago, when in 1991 the Constitution was deliberated. Formally, deputies were divided into a "laical" and into a "Catholic" front. And because the Catholics prevailed, their version of Constitution was deliberated. Enticing the Catholics with a candy, the introduction of the Constitution was written as follows: "After many centuries of fighting for liberation, Slovenians formed their self-existence and put their statehood into operation."

Indeed, such formulation was based on false interpretation of Slovenian history in sense of Marxism-Leninism. According to this model, people were always oppressed and had to fight for their liberation. This was also made plausible to the Slovenian public through the school apparatus of the ex-Yugoslavia and even before under the Austrian Monarchy. And because deputies never were in the past or presence especially interested in the authentic story, such a formulation passed.

When we are getting to the roots of it, we encounter that the above-mentioned preamble refers to falsifications of Slovenian history, which were dictated from central institutions in Belgrade during the Yugoslav regime. Because Serbs had to live for some hundred years under Turkish authority, their national pride did not allow a small nation like Slovenia to have their own State in history. Therefore, Carantania (Slovenia) had to be denied. The concrete falsification still exists in schoolbooks as follows: When in 820 Liudevit, the Duke of Slavonia (today a Croatian province) rose against the Franks, Carantanians associated with them. But the rebellion was defeated, and the Franks punished the Carantanians by deposing their native duke and nobility; since that time Carantania was nothing more but a common Frankish county. And this version still is enlarged with the slogan: Carantanians, i.e. Slovenians, fell under the millenarian "German" (Franks were taken as Germans) yoke, from which their Serbian brethren  saved them not earlier then in 1918.

Such an interpretation is an easily demonstrated lie. It is, however, firmly diffused by official historians, and financed by the government in sense to create a corresponding public thinking. And this did not happen only in ex-Yugoslavia, but also still exists in Austria, Germany, Italy etc.

Because of financial support received by universities and other institutions, the academic circles keep repeating the lie and keep spreading it among the public as a "scientific" statement. In fact, the historical documents did not produce a basis for such a historical formulation. On the contrary, the statehood of Carantania continued in the later Austria until the present-day Slovenia.

And even though this fact appears very disturbing for the ideologies of modern nations, Italy, Germany... the same attitude prevailed in Serbia by wanting to become like them through Yugoslavia (Great Serbia) Therefore, the Serbian secret service, who is still operating in Slovenia today, sees a new opportunity in the coming up constitutional changes and makes full use of the situation. Any reference connected with the historical Slovenia should be cancelled. So, the Serbian secret service did put the words of a proposal into the mouth of 25 deputies from Littoral formulating the introduction as follows: "Slovenians, throughout centuries fighting for linguistic rights, as well as for anti-Fascist and national liberation and emancipation, finally acquired their statehood."

Such a proposal clearly reveals a stroke from the Serbian secret service. It implicitly contains no less then the acknowledgement of the Communist revolution during the WW2 in Slovenia. It justifies the Yugoslav period and occupancy of Slovenia by Belgrade. It is true, that Slovenian boys, partisans of the so-called Liberation Front, fighting against German and Italian occupation during the WW2, dreamed of a Slovenian State, but it was never exposed to them as an independent and internationally acknowledged Slovenia.

Instead it was suggested, that this State should be part of the association of the South Slav fraternal nations of Yugoslavia under the great Tito, and again, this association would be part of the great community of all Slav peoples led by "daddy" Stalin.

The "proposal" was put intentionally to the Littoral deputies, because this province, between WW1 and WW2, pertained to Italy with its Fascist regime, who tried to eliminate the Slovenian ethnic community in this territory. Therefore, Slovenians from this province saw in Yugoslavia the unique salvation, and this was conserved for a long time in the minds of the public. It is conspicuous, that the Serbian secret service still today reckons its sentiment in Littoral, and takes advantage by abusing the Littoral deputies with such an action. Moreover, the proposal had to be presented as a "people's will". Therefore the proposal was acknowledged by the people with no less then 3000 signatures, among them 20 academics and 80 "visible" intellectuals.

Such a mise-en-sccne reflects nothing else but a public terror. Obviously, all people who through the net of the secret service received good paying jobs must have signed the "proposal".  In this connection the formula is very simple. "We procured for you (in times of this terrible unemployment) a very good job, so you are obligated to sign."

Such conditions demonstrate that the underground terror still exists in Slovenia, as it did in the former Communist Yugoslavia. And it is obvious that the terror is carried out by the same forces.
  
State Council of the Republic of Slovenia
(Drzavni Svet Republike Slovenije)

Lecture "History as an Element of Marketing"
held by Dr. Jožko Šavli, October 24, 2002

The poster in the Hall of the Slovenian Parliament announcing the lecture of Dr. Šavli

October 27, 2002

It definitely was a big surprise, that the State Council of Slovenia (comparable to the Upper House or Senate) added to its education program a lecture on the above-mentioned subject and invited Dr. Jozko Šavli to be the lecturer. A surprise, because the topic deals with the history of Slovenians, which until now was a complete ideological interpretation, subordinated to the pan-Slav or yugo-Slav as well as to the socialist proletarian and revolutionary ideology. Dr. Šavli of course, stood in contrast to such "scientific" interpretation of history in sense of ideologies and official historiography of Slovenia.

He said, it is well known, that interpretations differentiate considerably between the same historians, i.e., the one-time Yugoslav (Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian...), the German and the Austrian, as well as the Italian, Hungarian etc., with the same topic: "Slovenians, as they appear in history". And all of them, in spite of discrepancies, present their papers as strictly "scientific".

This time, however, Dr. Šavli dealt with another aspect: "History from the viewpoint of marketing". First, he pointed out that several States, like France, Great Britain, Italy and others enjoy a great image in the world because of their glorious history and culture. Therefore, their products are more in demand, and fetch, because of their national image, sizeable higher prices. In contrast to those we have States, whose image has a bad reputation or was destroyed, in particular the ex-Communist States, and which are politically and economically not free, and therefore do not enjoy such a prestige; their products, in spite of good quality, will sell for much less profit.
The lecturer alleged some examples!  Spain has a very glorious history and a rich historical patrimony, but it was unfree for decades under the dictatorship of General Franco, and therefore its national image in the world still today is low. On the other side, Switzerland enjoys a great image, because it was always a stabile and ordinate State. From the one-time glorious Bohemia with "golden Prague" and the even more glorious Russia of the Tsars did not survive anything after they were taken over by the Communist regime.
We still don't know, said Dr. Šavli, which road the globalisation of the world market will take. It is but certain, that the demand for selected products (for the "elite") will increase because of higher purchasing power in developed countries. The "elite" already today is searching for products with limited quantities, and which are not available to the masses of the people. Thus, as to demonstrate even the appurtenance to the elite.
Is Slovenia able to elaborate its historical and cultural image, or better said its prestige in the world? Yes, of course, reckoned Dr. Šavli. Until now, because of foreign rule, which manipulated the interpretation of their history in sense of ideologies, Slovenians were depicted as a people of "servants and maids". Such an "image", elaborated first by German and then by Yugoslav historiography, is still presented in Slovenian schools today. But it is not a true picture of Slovenian history.

Dr. Šavli brought forward the remark made by President Clinton during his visit in Slovenia in 1999. The US President stressed the importance of the Slovenian democratic tradition, which was performed in the Installation of the Dukes of Carantania (described in Jean Bodin's book of 1576). It was used as a good example for the Declaration of Independence (Constitution of USA), issued by Thomas Jefferson in 1776.

Further, Dr. Šavli pointed out, that Slovenian women, in distinction to German and other women, were emancipated. Even the family succession could continue in the female line, in sense of the Carantanian law (institutio Sclavenica),

By quoting these facts, the prestige of Slovenia will increase world wide, in particular among movements and women associations. We also have to pay attention to several queens of Slovenian descent as for example, Adela of Champagne, Queen of France († 1206), daughter of Princess Mathilda of Carantania, and mother of the famous French King, Philip II Augustus. Further, there is Agnes Andechs of Carniola, Queen of France († 1201), consort of Philip II. Her sister Gertrud Andechs of Carniola, was Queen of Hungary († 1213) and consort of King Andrew II (Arpàd). Princess Ann of Celje († 1416) became Queen of Poland. Princess Barbara of Celje († 1451) was Queen of Hungary, then, through her consort Sigmund of Luxembourg, she also became Queen of Bohemia, of Italy and of Germany, and finally Empress. She also played an important political role in her persevering opposition toward the Habsburgs. - Most of these facts are published in Carantha!

The Republic of Slovenia descends from ancient Carantania, which was mentioned in the records already in 595 AD. One of its dukes was even a Saint, Domitian by name († ca. 802). And since 1012 we have a Carantanian dynasty...  Dr. Šavli pointed out, that official historians always reduced the presentation of Carantania to a very brief period. They pretend, that after 820 AD, meaning after the defeat of the rebellion of Duke Liudevit of Slavonia by the Franks, Carantanians associated with the rebellion and Carantania should have become a "common Frankish county" without proper dukes and nobility. In their opinion this was the start of the so-called "German (Frankish) yoke", from which Slovenians were apparently "saved" by their Serbian brethrens not earlier than in 1918.
This is not true; it gives a very distorted picture of Slovenian State tradition and of Slovenia's historical image. In this connection Dr. Šavli alleged some facts like the Installation of the Dukes (mentioned already above) and the existence of the Carantanian dynasty etc., which under a "German yoke" never would have existed. He also highlighted the importance of the Carantanian arms - Black Panther - which is a unique heraldic sign in Europe and beyond. A sign, which is also suitable as a trade mark. When a wine bottle with the panther sign was marketed, it yielded a very success. In the sixties, still under the Yugoslav regime, bottles of Slovenian Vermouth called "Kralj Samo" (King Samo) had to be recalled from the market, because its image was offensive to the circles of Great-Serbia.
After the lecture the floor was open for discussion. A representative of the official historiography took the word, and in a quite long speech with vehemence he tried to reject Dr. Šavli's representation. Carantania should not have been a Slovenian State; Slovenians at that time still should have been (common) Slavs without proper identity... But soon he was admonished by the moderator of the lecture, reminding him that his commentary was out of context (History as an Element of the Marketing).
Then, many people from the audience, including some Univ. professors, offered themselves for the good course. Not one person agreed with the representative of the official historiography, and with different points of view in a very dignifying way they associated their opinions with Dr. Šavli's standpoint . It felt like a new breeze, a new spirit begins to blow in Slovenia.
  
Sorbonne University Paris
The Sorbonne and the "Slavs"

Dr. Jožko Šavli

We came across a work entitled Les Slavs. Aux origines des civilisation d'Europe (Paris 1986), written by Francis Conte, Professor of Russian Civilisation at the Sorbonne. Within a few years the book was translated into several languages. Unlike the book's title »The Slavs«, the author is exclusively limiting his treatment to the Russians. Without critical approach, he evidently copies the »method« from Russian writers, who are generally using the title »Slavs« in their papers, even though they are mostly dealing with the Russians. The standpoint of Russian authors and that of Prof. Francis Conte is based on the conception that all nations speaking Slav languages descend from a primordial people of »ancient Slavs«, the homeland of which is assumed to be behind the Carpathian Mountains, meaning Russia. It is about an academic construction on linguistic basis, which was and still is the starting-point for the pan-Slav ideology.

In today's western world we do not come across papers with similar titles. As for example, »the Germans«, meaning peoples speaking Germanic languages, this is, from Germany and England up to America and Australia, one would derive from a primordial people called »ancient Germans«. Similar, it would seem to us to be a pure construct, if the author of a work entitled »The Romans« would have foreseen, that all peoples speaking Romanic languages should have descended from a primordial Roman (Latin) people. But in case of the »Slavs« this is still happening at the Sorbonne. Such an inaccuracy of Prof. Francis Conte is covered by the prestigious title »Sorbonne«. Its glory should serve as a guarantee for the correctness of his work. However, the truth can be very different. Not only for the Sorbonne, but also for other universities and high schools.
  
A moral scandal at the University of Lublana
Once again, the University of Lublana lost its prestige.
Its principal was forced to support the immoral political behaviour of one of its professors.

Students protest was ignored

In our last comment, we pointed out the declaration made by Amnesty International concerning the »erased«. (They are Serbian people, who abandoned  independent Slovenia and then returned several years later, claiming  full rights and indemnity for »lost years«). The intent and purpose of this declaration was to compromise Slovenia before the world’s eyes. Thus, its very existence is disturbing to the Masonry, which also controls Amnesty International. Disturbing, because Slovenia sets an example for many minor nations without a proper state, like Catalans, Scots, Flemings, Bretons... Their possible existence as a national state would pose a threat to the Masonry in their world domination.

This is our standpoint concerning AI and its blaming of Slovenia, as we find confirmed in the following event that took place in the same Slovenia, and which was intentionally ignored by AI. Why it was so, we explain in the following.

Igor Lukšic, Professor at the University of Lublana, feels priviledged to violate the dignity of his position and any moral codex.

During the last presidential election campaign Igor Lukšic (of Serbian origin), Professor of Politology at the University of Lublana, sent his students to spy on the Catholic church and the clergy and to report the sermons that were held during Mass. Here we encounter the traditional Serbian (orthodox) and Communist contrariety against Catholic religion and Church.

His instructions were made public and ca. 200 students signed a petition, in which they requested the dismissal of Lukšic, because he violated the moral codex and greatly damaged the prestige of the University. Anyway, Mme. Andreja Kocjancic, the principal of the University, rejected the petition and declared. »A claim for  dismissal of a University Professor must be founded on more clinging arguments than those quoted in the petition.«

Andreja Kocjancic, the Principal of the University of Lublana under control of ex-Yugoslav (Serbian) structures, was obligated to support the immoral behaviour of Lukšic.

Not very correct, but why? – The above mentioned Igor Lukšic is the type of person, who is also a deputy in the Slovenian Parliament and vice-chairman of the Social Democrats, a Yugoslav oriented post-communist party. The ex-Yugoslav structures in Slovenia control the majority of political, economical and cultural institutions including the University of Lublana. And they are also linked to the world Masonry.

Therefore, the AI, under Mason control, ignored this case of human and civilian rights violation in Slovenia. In particular, because the question concerns the Catholic Church and Catholic people, towards  which the Masonry always was and continues to be a constant opponent.

In this case we are aware of the fact, that »human rights« are exploited for political purposes. In this concrete case it was done in order to exculpate further great-Serbian penetration in Slovenia.
  

The aftermath of the elections in Slovenia

In Search of its historical identity



Has the Janša coalition already missed the train?
A comment from Carantha

The results of the last presidential elections in Slovenia surprised many observers. Or not, it all depends, if one knows the local political and historical situation. Lojze Peterle, the candidate of the Jansa government coalition, was ahead with 28, 5 %  of votes, far short from the public opinion polls. Danilo Tuerk, the candidate of the Social Democrats (post-communists), won 24.7 percent of votes -- 4 percent less than Peterle. Mitja Gaspari, the candidate of so-called Liberal Democrats, trailed Tuerk by less than a percentage point, and then followed Zmago Jelincic, the candidate of the SNS (Slovenian National Party), with nearly 20 % of votes. A surprisingly low voter turnout of 50 per cent characterized these elections. Adversaries of the government coalition “established”, that the low  turnout was related to voter discontent with party members, which form the present-day Janša government coalition. A pleasant surprise was the high turnout of young Slovenians under 30 years of age.

The successful outcome for Zmago Jelincic irritated the circles in Zagreb (Croatia). He, as a Serbian confidant, is a great opponent to Croatia and the Croatian people. Zmago Jelincic was the runner up in Maribor and Ptuj in Styria, that marks the border with Croatia. It was a kind of media-simulated alarm. The Croatian television – HRT quoted, that Jelincic led his campaign in skepticism towards the EU and nationalist rhetoric against the neighbouring states (meaning Croatia).
The Zagreb daily, Jutranji list, alarmed the public with the following provocative comment: Only 20 % voted for Fascist Jelincic! It is, of course, an agreed play strategy. Several Croatian media outlets are under Serbian control in Croatia, and they respond almost immediate to the provocation, which Serbian confidants in Slovenia fabricated against Croatians. The “comment” made by Jutranji list, it is true, was not directly aimed at Jelincic but at the “nationalistic” Slovenians. Great Serbian circles behind the scenes are interested to destabilize the relations between Slovenia and Croatia.

Anyway, the circumstance that a large turnout of young Slovenians under 30 participated in the elections, and that most of them voted for the “nationalist” Jelincic must give the opposition something to think about. This is a warning signal for the Jansa administration. The Jelincic SNS bears already for several years the symbols of the Slovenian historical lands, among them also the Black Panther, the coat of arms of Carantania. It is already some time ago, since the Panther-revolution sparked in Slovenia. This “revolution” was born by young Slovenian people. It is a sign of the ideological fight for the historical identity of Slovenia, which has its origin in the time of Carantania, the first Slovenian state mentioned already in 595 AD. Some years ago, Zmago Jelincic and his Serbian allies made the Carantanian ideological field work in their favour.

They reckoned right. Teenagers, who showed great interest for the Black Panther, represented a large part of voters. The fact, that the voter turnout of young Slovenians was unexpectedly high in the last elections, is only the first sign, that the Carantanian idea is making progress in Slovenia, unlike the Slovenian mass media, wholly under Serbian control, never published anything about the Black Panther and Carantania.

Lojze Peterle, (an old caricature), after Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

On his chest the Black Panther, on his back the motto: “Slovenian knight in Rome” and “Fight for sovereignty”.

Now, through his own negligence, the panther passed into the hands of Jelincic and his allies, who might win the elections.

Because of pressure from the mass media, and because of silent Serbian confidants in government coalition parties, the younger generation was constantly overlooked and neglected. The coalition parties never took a stand against those who mistreated students for wearing shirts with the black panther image. They were persecuted in schools and attacked by the Serbian mob. In this connection, the Jansa administration never presented a declaration of protest in public. Now they have to carry the consequences. The coalition is losing young people, who trend towards a “determined” Jelincic.

The Carantanian idea, or, shortly said, the Black Panther, because of many years of negligence, is making a comback and puts the Jansa government in an unstable position. The coalition does not understand that the very national idea is indispensable for the unity of a nation and its statehood. But because out of fear of the (post-comunist) media backlash they do not dare to bring true Slovenian culture and history to the attention of the public. The next parlamentarian elections in 2008 could be decisive in moving the Slovenian national idea and identity in the right direction. Anyway, maybe the Jansa administration already missed the train.
  
In Slovenia, the Yugoslav (Serbian) underground is as active as ever

The so-called Liberal Academy


The Yugoslav oriented apparatus of this »academy« is giving ideological and political directives to the party of Liberal Democrats - LDS, which in 2004 lost the elections and is now in crisis. The party, totally under Serbian control, continues its secret anti-Slovenian operating strategies.
from a Carantha contributor

In autumn 2006, several members of the so-called Liberal Academy joined a small group of protesters in the streets of Lublana, demanding respect of »human rights« for the notorious Gypsy family (with a high record of criminal offences). According to media reports, this family was removed from their illegally constructed houses in Ambrus. The so-called Liberal Academy of Slovenia, an association gathering Slovenian left-wing intellectuals, is monopolizing the ideological leadership of the Slovenian Liberal Democratic Party (LDS). As it is known, the LDS party, with help of the Social Democrats (ex-Communists), was in power for 12 years. It lost the 2004 elections to the present-day Janez Janša government.

The LDS party built its base on the ex-Yugoslav (Serbian) underground, which has preserved a network of political operatives in Slovenia. Moreover, through ancient Yugoslav (Serbian) relations with the international Masonry, the LDS party, too, is linked to world wide institutions under Mason control. In this way, the Gypsy affair of Ambrus was published in several influential papers and found a world echo.

The LDS party, desperate to cling on to power, is eager to play down the »human rights« situation under the Janša government in both, Slovenia and the world. At the end, they did not succeed in their action or better-said conspiracy. But who is the team leader behind the scenes of these Slovenian intellectuals and its prominent sounding Liberal Academy? The name appeared for the first time in independent Slovenia, but the ideological group of intellectuals and quasi-intellectuals was formed already in ex-Yugoslavia.

The »new magazine« (Nova revija)
During the Yugoslav period, toward the 70s, the local Communist Party ruled in Slovenia, which was Slovenian and not centralistic Yugoslav oriented. This fact presented an obstacle for Belgrade and its traditional great-Serbian unitarism, centralism and hegemonism. The Belgrade secret service, which already at that time maintained its net of confidants in Slovenia, was not able to destroy the Slovenian national consciousness or, let us say, the Slovenian ideology. In order to reach its aim, Belgrade chose another more subtle way.

In 1980, a group of Slovenian »young intellectuals« and confidants of Belgrade submitted a proposal to Mitja Ribicic, the then chairman of the Association of the Working People (SZDL), requesting permission and financing for the publication of a new magazine called Nova revija (New Magazin). The proposal, of course, was being studied by the summit of the Belgrade secret service. An ideological plan was elaborated in connection with the new magazine, and two years later permission and financing was granted to publish the new magazine.

Svetlana Makarovic
(* 1939), a female writer for children, was one of the »new« group members of Nova revija. At that time, she was an appreciated writer. But after several years, when Slovenia was already independent, she began to write and publish offensive atheistic articles. Supposedly she was under pressure from the Serbian underground.
At first sight, the new magazine had a cultural connotation. The paper published a variety of literature and poems. The authors were strict adherents to the »new cultural« current of thinking, and they received good royalties for their work. In this connection it has to be mentioned that the »human rights« issues were put in foreground, even though the corresponding explanations appeared on the last page of the new magazine. Another purpose of the so-called new magazine was to make the names of the authors known to the Slovenian public. Several personalities, who today are still active in Slovenia's cultural and political life, like Dimitrij Rupel, Niko Grafenauer, Svetlana Makarovic, Spomenka Diklic - Hribar... made their career through this »new« magazine.

A further obligatory issue was to portray Nova revija in a so-called laic and liberal character, in order to betray the western world. In the then Yugoslavia it was the writer's duty to demonstrate the »democratic« development of Yugoslavia to western liberal circles. However, behind the masque Belgrade's great-Serbian centralism and hegemonism continued. The words laic and liberal were misused as anti-Catholic and anti-religious ideology, which lead the Slovenian people to accept atheism.

In order to destroy Slovenia
In this way, the above-described ideological course of the new magazine was latent anti-Slovenian. The topics covered »human rights« issues, whereas the Slovenian cultural tradition and national identity was ignored. »Modern« and future ways of doing things were on the daily agenda, which should replace ancient traditions... It was stressed that the Communist ideology lost its zeal and that the openness of the democratic society had been reinstalled... It was a very »democratic« viewpoint, which also sparked the interest abroad, especially in western circles. But this viewpoint was not a true democracy.

Bitmap Image
Toward the end of the 80s, Spomenka Diklic - Hribar, (LDS) appeared as peacemaker and brought the message of an ideological conciliation to the Slovenian anti-Communist emigrants. Anyway, in Argentina Slovenian women unmasked her true face... Some time later, Spomenka Diklic - Hribar manifested her purposes in an article entitled »Stop the right!« (Ustavite desnico!), meaning the democratic forces in Slovenia.

In fact, the bearers of the »new« thinking reflected the interests of Belgrade. From there they received directives to ignore the Slovenian national ideology and to substitute it with an »international« one. In Slovenia, where in the meantime the Belgrade secret service took control over public life, the adherents of the »new« movement were placed in key positions on the political, economical, social and academic international scene, as well as in the news media. An anti-Slovenian apparatus came into life, which controlled the Slovenian national idea and sentiments.

And that did not happen only in Slovenia, but also abroad. So, in the sense of the Belgrade directives, its apparatus established secret connections with anti-Slovenian circles in Carinthia and in Trieste, where a minority of Slovenians is living. This apparatus is still functioning after so many years in independent Slovenia. In this connection we already called attention to Jörg Haider's outburst concerning the Prince's Stone (Carinthia, 2005) and the consequent reactions, which were judged in his favour by Lublana. There, historians agreed with Haider, that the Prince's Stone should have been exclusively a »Carinthian« (German) and not a Slovenian historical monument. Furthermore, we have also sent a warning signal to Riccardo Illy, the ex-mayor of Trieste, on his plans to divide up Slovenia into »euro-regions«....

Dimitrij Rupel
(* 1946) was the Foreign Minister during the LDS administration. Just shortly before 2004, he crossed the floor to the right-wing SDS (Slovenian Social Democrats) under the leadership of Janez Janša. After Janša won the elections, Rupel was re-appointed as Foreign Minister under the new regime. It is hard to believe that he freed himself from Belgrade's control.
As already mentioned, the function ascribed to the bearers of the »democratic« young Slovenian communists was to introduce atheism into the mind of Slovenian people, who were Catholic by tradition. The Serbian oligarchy of Belgrade always had been particularly hostile toward the Catholic Church, especially toward the Catholic Church of Slovenia. They knew that the Slovenian national identity is based in a great part on Catholic Faith and tradition. Therefore, the more or less latent atheistic propaganda was one of the first attempts, which the bearers of the »new« (laic) Slovenian ideology presented to the public.

The founding and aim of the Liberal Academy
In independent Slovenia, in 1992, the above-presented apparatus of intellectuals and quasi-intellectuals, who were still under Belgrade's control, founded an association for »study of political democracy and liberalism«. In 1994, with the formation of the new party of Liberal Democrats of Slovenia (LDS), the above mentioned association called itself Liberal Academy, »in coexistence with the LDS«. The »academy« organized adherents, who otherwise were not engaged in politics, but who followed the LDS ideological course. This was always a latent anti-Slovenian course which through the introduction of Nova revija over more than a decade ago has preserved itself until this very day.

With the support of the entire mass media (press and TV) and a net service of numerous confidants, who promoted its propaganda, the LDS party held on to power in Slovenia until 2004. During this period, catastrophic events occurred. In particular, shares of state enterprises in the economy were sold and the proceeds were deposited to the credit of the Serbian underground, which gradually took over key positions throughout Slovenia.

Zoran Jankovic
(* 1953, Smederevo, Serbia). With the support of LDS, he made his career as director of Mercator, which monopolized the Slovenian retail trade. At the last municipal elections, a team of agitators, who received enormous funding from Jankovic and his circle, helped him to become Lublana's first mayor of Serbian origin.
At the last municipal elections, with help of a team of agitators, who were provided with enormous funding, a Serbian man by the name of Zoran Jankovic was elected mayor of Lublana. Another Serbian is Boris Popovic, who was elected earlier as mayor of Koper. This was no accident. It was a sign, that the Serbian underground in Slovenia had actually taken the state power into its hands.

It is true that the »new« ideology, which was spread by its bearers at the beginning of the 80s, survived Yugoslavia. Several years after Slovenia's independence, the apparatus and its ideology is standing before its final aim: to transform Slovenia into a Serbian march (krajina). This could happen already in the next couple of years.

The rise and fall of the »Liberal Democrats«
As already mentioned, under the Liberal masque, the »new« apparatus, respectively lobby, its academy and LDS party made contacts with liberal circles all over the world. These circles were, of course, interested in the diffusion of their liberal ideology and movements. However, they neglected to examine the moral values and tolerance of their »liberal« adherents in Slovenia. Or, they were not interested in the real facts behind the scene. We think, this also happened to Ljubo Sirc (London), an internationally known liberal oriented professor of Slovenian origin, who, at the beginning of the 90s, tried to collaborate with the LDS.

Another tactic of the lobby's international strategy was to introduce its confidants to the academic world. The most visible example was the introduction of Slavoj Žižek, a philosopher from the University of Lublana. All over the world, liberal adherents from several universities invited him to conferences. It was not important what he lectured. Thus, philosophy is a science of »free« thinking. The »new« lobby, as to humiliate Slovenians once again, spread rumours like this: the world hardly knows Slovenia, but it knows Slavoj Žižek! Anyway, several years later, Slavoj Žižek's »star« is in decline. Slowly the world became intolerable to his nonsensical talks.



Slavoj Žižek
(* 1949), University of Lublana, was used as a parade philosopher of the »new« intellectuals of Yugoslavia - Slovenia. He was invited to hold conferences at academic institutes all over the world. It was about a humanistic scientific bluff, which blindfolded the world until now.
In Slovenia, for 12 years the Liberal Democrats received the majority of votes. Because of information blockade under the aforesaid apparatus (academy), people could not imagine that their votes would have far reaching consequences. The every-day man has no idea, that the plundering and selling of state capital to foreign ownership (called "privatization") would bring a depressed economy and low job market, because, due to the lack of proper capital, investments were reduced. After decades of complete monopoly over mass media and educational structure, which continuously diffused the image of the Liberal Democrats (a Slovenian version of New Age), the public finally refused to support the party's nominee.

Such were the circumstances in Slovenia under the LDS government. Criminal offences carried out by the Balkan underground were out of control and increased in an unimaginable way. The spiritual and moral values, which have been a historical legacy of Slovenians, were disdained. The one, who believed in values, was considered naïve and stupid.

After a decade and more, the Slovenian public realized that »liberalism«, which has been propagated as an openness towards the world instead of the »closed« Slovenian national and cultural tradition based on values, has not been a salvation. In the contrary, it was a deception, which was leading Slovenia towards a very damnation. In 2004, as a consequence of this, the LDS party lost the elections. In the following period the polls showed, that the public support for the party has sharply declined.

Bitmap Image  LDS identity in crisis

The lost elections were a signal for the LDS party, that the broader Slovenian public finally recognized its Yugoslav (Serbian) background. Under the title Liberal Democrats of Slovenia (LDS) a very anti-Slovenian connotation was hidden. In fact, this party had nothing to do with the prominent sounding title »liberalism« and democracy. Both words served as camouflage to an interest group, which plundered the state's property through »privatizing«, and made themselves rich in the process.

Besides, the very contents of the LDS party always remained a latent anti-Slovenian ideology and activity. Evidently, it acted on order of its Serbian master. The master offered a career only to those LDS leaders, who had accepted the Yugoslav (great-Serbian) ideology and betrayed the needs of Slovenia. Slovenia should be crushed on the economical and social level, and the traditional Slovenian family should be destroyed.

Majda Širca (* 1953) and Aleš Gulic (* 1954), two very active LDS deputies, whose appearance was promoted by TV Lublana many times. Their intervention in parliament, with a strong anti-Slovenian and anti-Catholic connotation, have always made a negative impression on the Slovenian public.   

Not only did they lose the election, but they also were lacking moral, spiritual and cultural values and finally, their anti-Slovenian activities brought a crisis of existence into the structure of the LDS party. The one-time leading party of Slovenia is now before its upcoming congress at the end of January 2007. It probably will split into two parties. As such, its return to Slovenian identity and values is not possible. Not only because of its Serbian master in the background, but also for the simple reason, that its members have not been educated in a civilised way, like for example in Slovenian traditional values. Indeed, the LDS structures, with their Yugoslav traditions, are associated with corruption, political and professional careerism (without proper educational background) and besides that, the ancient Yugoslav (Serbian) and Communist totalitarism will always remain foreign to the Slovenian national and cultural tradition.

In order to save the LDS party from inner disintegration, many suggestions have been launched. The present-day chairman Jelko Kacin has been used as a scapegoat. Kacin's opponent is his main adversary Slavko Gaber, who threatens to split the party, if Kacin would be re-elected as chairman. Among those, who voiced their opinion on the future unity of LDS was ex-president Milan Kucan. He is the non-formal leader of Forum 21, the members of which include directors of Slovenian enterprises and certain other influential people.

Any new LDS leadership that will be elected in the upcoming congress, certainly will be a prisoner of the Serbian master as well. Under these conditions they cannot be saved from the snare that holds them captive. The decay of the LDS party, as one cam imagine, means also the gradual fall of the pressure group, called Liberal Academy. Only then Slovenia will be saved from the embrace of the Balkans. It seems, that Slovenians already took the first step to break with many years of public intimidation, which is characteristic for a totalitarian regime, even though it appears under a democratic masque.
  


We show our solidarity with Minister Janez Drobnic
Carantha Editorial Staff

Social Affairs Minister Janez Drobnic (N.Si), a member of the Janša government, was continuously criticized and provoked by the post-Communist and post-Yugoslav forces, which remained preserved in Slovenia. This evidently occurred because of his Catholic belief, which the above mentioned forces did not express openly. In the last time he proposed several laws on fertility treatment in Slovenia. This provoked a humiliating campaign against him on the part of the aforesaid forces. They obviously were spurred by the Serbian secret service in their endeavour to ruin Slovenia.

But this is not all! PM Janez Janša, surprisingly, asked the Minister to retire from office, even though he pertains to the Nova Slovenia (N.Si) party, which is in the coalition government. After Drobnic refused to accept, PM Janša proposed to Parliament to relieve the Minister of his duties. The Janša' provision was carried out in a brutal way without consulting the Nova Slovenia party, which speaks very highly of Minister Drobnic' work.

In this case, one is forced to think that PM Janša was conditioned to act on orders of the Serbian secret service, which already for several decades are trying to demolish Slovenia as a nation. Therefore, we are very disappointed about the Janez Janša provision. It is the opposite of what we would have expected of him, this is, full support to promote the rise of fertility rates in Slovenia!

The breaking news, that PM Janša already in February of 2006 warned Dr. Bajuk, the chairman of Nova Slovenija, about the Minister's unsatisfactory performance, is evidently an easily demonstrable lie. It makes the headlines around the clock in the news media and Rtv Slovenia, which are completely under Serbian control. The truth is that several ministers in the present-day government are spending milliards of public money on ineffective projects, of which many organised lobbies profit. However, until now they never were warned by PM Janez Janša! Thus, his brutal action against Minister Drobnic is a very contradiction. It is even more vital, because it is a question of existence and survival of the Slovenian nation. Or was that the purpose of Janša's surprising provision. Therefore, the question, who really is Janez Janša, is not without signification!
  
SOVA (abbrev. Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency)
Otherwise, the word "sova" means "owl"

Correction

•   The Slovenian government conducted an inspection of the secret service agency SOVA
•   It is in the hands of the Serbian secret service - KOS
•   Its black fund was financed by the CIA and Intelligence service in order to catch war criminal Ratko Mladic

May 31, 2007

Some days ago, it is true, we already questioned the behaviour of SOVA, as the Slovenian secret service is called now. The on-site government inspection discovered tremendous illegalities, among other things a black fund, enterprise Webs, installation for secret listening devices, ca 60 illegal Serbian employees… It was the legacy of Iztok Podbregar, the ex-director of SOVA, who is now consulting the Slovenian President Janez Drnovšek.

The reaction of the groups, (under control of KOS, the ex-Yugoslav and now Serbian secret service), which stand in opposition to the present-day Janša government, has been furious. The deputies of parliamentary commission: Dušan Kumer, Davorin Tercon and Rudolf Moge (all members of the opposition party) wasted no time to alarm the Slovenian public of "illegal" inspection, and a possible revealing of State secrets. Drnovšek was pushed to attack premier Janez Janša. When other illegalities came to day light, the former President Milan Kucan was also urged to prepare an attack on Janša…

Thus, all political structures under the control of the Serbian secret service were kept on stand-by for attack.    

Anyway, the ongoing illegality of SOVA, which the opposition tried to justify, could not be denied. As to give the Slovenian public the feeling that the inspection turned into an "international affair", they prepared the following inaccurate and false explanation:

With the revealing of the SOVA black fund the Slovenian government incurred the anger of the foreign intelligence services. According to Rudolf Moge, they received warnings from at least two intelligence agencies, which are very important on the world scene. He alluded, in our opinion we became a high risk in the eyes of the CIA and other Intelligence Services. It is evidently about a diabolic attempt in order to frighten the Slovenian public.

The news was released in the public trough on Pop TV web-site at 24-hour. It is wholly composed in Serbian Balkan style and says as follows: the black fund was financed by the foreign secret services. One of them has its seat in Ljubljana, on Slovenska Street, near the Telecom building. It is about the Bundesnachrichtendienst, the  German secret service. Slovenia was chosen for the seat, because there the international telephone services are interwoven.

There is still more to it than this: The project was engaged in a bilateral way, so that the foreign agency in co-operation with SOVA operated in the Balkans as a safety net for the entire European Union. The secret listening devices were also directed from Slovenia to other destinations abroad. The operations were financed from the so-called black fund, that now the Slovenian government discovered and abolished.

But that is not the end. The constructions continue in this way: the premiers signed the secret collaboration agreement between the intelligence services. Its is not known, who the premiers were and which government they represented, but probably not that of Janez Janša. It came also to our knowledge, that in the past SOVA collaborated in an intensive way with the English intelligence service called M15, when they pursued the war criminal Ratko Mladic.

It makes laugh, how the Serbian KOS launched such informal constructions in the Slovenian public. One cannot help it but to smile about this type of public misinformation, which is tolerated by the federation of Slovenian journalists, which at the same time continuously informs the world public of oppression of press and freedom of speech under the Janša government. The above constructions were false and were set up in such a puerile way, that TVLublana, even though under Serbian control, did not dare to transmit them.
  
June 1, 2007
Correction: In the May 31st article we quoted that SOVA collaborated with foreign secret services, as it was reported by Slovenian "POP TV", but not by "TV Lublana". Consequently, we concluded that this was another sensational story of the media fabricated by KOS, the Serbian secret service, which still today has control over all media outlets in Slovenia. Anyway, the next day, on June 1st, TV Lublana transmitted the same news about accusation of treason and disclosure of state secrets. The guilty person or persons will be brought to justice, said Premier Janez Janša. - In our opinion, they will not be caught, because in Slovenia the KOS apparatus and its control is too strong. Besides, we still consider the story only partially true. The coverage of news of »the capture of Ratko Mladic«, the Serbian war criminal, has the characteristics of a sensation in Serbian style and clearly shows the involvement of KOS.
  

Country profile: Slovenia
(Carantha protests against antagonistic attitude of the BBC towards Slovenia)

Our observation:
London, 10 August 2005

A country with spectacular mountains, thick forests and a short Adriatic coastline, Slovenia also enjoys substantial economic and political stability.

It was the only one of the former Yugoslav republics to be in the first wave of candidates for membership of the European Union. It joined the union in May 2004. Just a couple of months before EU entry, Slovenia became a member of Nato.

Unlike Croatia or Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia's independence from Yugoslavia was relatively bloodless. The move was undoubtedly aided by Western European recognition of the Slovenes' aspirations and the low proportion of other ethnic groups in the country.

Slovenia has always been the most prosperous region of the former Yugoslavia and has found the transition from a socialist economy to the capitalist free market easier than most. Politically, Slovenia was the most liberal republic within the Yugoslav federation. Throughout the 1980s there was pressure from Slovenia for greater political freedom and pluralism.
This reputation was tarnished after independence when thousands of nationals of other former Yugoslav republics were removed from population records and lost residency rights. Parliament later passed a bill restoring their citizenship but a referendum held shortly before EU entry in 2004 overturned it by an overwhelming margin. Human rights groups have expressed dismay at the move, which embarrassed the leadership as it prepared to celebrate EU membership.
Since independence, Slovenia has enjoyed stable, if somewhat weak coalition government. The country's long-serving Prime Minister, Janez Drnovsek, won presidential elections in late 2002, succeeding Milan Kucan.
  
Our observation:
It is certainly a very poor and non-correct image of Slovenia, which the BBC illustrates to the public. Among other things, it adduces the cause of the Slovenian problem regarding "thousands of nationals of other former Yugoslav republics". - During the period of Yugoslavia, it is true, great numbers of foreigners were imported to Slovenia by the Belgrade regime with a precise task: to force the spreading of Serbo-Croatian language upon native Slovenians, this is, to denationalise Slovenia. This task was carried out by the Belgrade secret service.  After the declaration of independence, Slovenia offered citizenship to all these "thousands" who lived on Slovenian territory. But they failed to accept, because they believed that Yugoslavia, which favoured them, will regain power. The BBC is aware of these facts, therefore the story about "thousands" (discriminated) is an easily demonstrable misinformation!

Regarding Slovenia, as it seems, the BBC follows only the course of the British government. Accordingly, when in 1991 Slovenia declared its independence, the British government was the only one among the European states, which strongly opposed the recognition of the new State. The Yugoslav (Serbian) army as we know, seriously menaced Slovenia at that time, and a massacre like that in the Balkan could have taken place. It was only thanks to the persistence of Germany, that Slovenia finally was recognized by the European states. In this way, the massacre was avoided. But for BBC such an outcome was apparently not fair. Soon after, it prepared a broadcast and transmitted it throughout the ancient Commonwealth. In this broadcast, Slovenia, because of its separation from Yugoslavia, more or less was directly accused of having been the cause of wars in the Balkans. Slovenians in Australia were particularly affected and protested. - We are sorry that the BBC has misjudged the situation in Slovenia after its independence. Such doing is far from the endeavour for coexistence among the European nations, which should be maintained through mutual collaboration, on the base of equal rights. Certainly, it is not a contribution to peace and stability in Europe and in the world.
    
  
Microsoft Photo Editor 3.0 Photo

Slovenian PM Janez Janša
in the White House

Microsoft Photo Editor 3.0 Photo

It is not about »large« and »small« nations but about political realism
Will the USA be able to grasp more quickly the very role of Slovenia?


July 10, 2006, PM Janez Janša and US President George Busch

It was a historical day not only for American - Slovenian relations but also for relations between East and West, in which Slovenia plays a particular role.

Carantha Editorial point of view
The George Bush - Janez Janša meeting was introduced with some courteous phrases previously communicated by a high representative of the White House, like: »Under Janša the profile of Slovenia, as a factor on the international scene, increased considerably»...«The American Administration appreciates PM Janez Janša», and President Bush »likes to meet leaders, who accept difficult and right decisions in their State... » Slovenia collaborates with the USA on many international affairs, and so on.

The political weight of the meeting was the American interest in Slovenian - Russian relations. »Americans followed with interest Janša's visit to Moscow, where the core issue of the talks was energy, and President Bush wanted a more detailed briefing directly from PM Janez Janša... «It should be about a diversification of the provisions and sources, by which energy security would be assured... Slovenia has nuclear energy and hydroelectric works and at the same time, also a reliable supply of Russian natural gas... It is about the question of energy safety... Indeed, the insertion of Slovenia in the relations between two world powers, USA and Russia, must be considered a true success of Slovenian diplomacy on the international field.

Actually, the topics of the talks between President Bush and PM Janša, besides energy issues, were already prepared a month ago. When Janša's visit was announced, the Press Office of the White House issued a communication, in which was said among other things: … Slovenia, in the framework of NATO and EU, under Janez Janša's leadership essentially increased its endeavours in support of democracy and its insurance of freedom in southern and middle Europe, Afghanistan and Iraq. " Slovenia is a key advocate of the integration of Western Balkan countries into the Euro-Atlantic community, and in 2008 will be the first of the new European Union member states to assume the EU Presidency. President Bush looks forward to discussing these and other issues on the transatlantic agenda. Such a standpoint is encouraging, and shows a certain progress in the views of the White House towards Slovenia's strategic position and political role in international affairs. Anyway, this is still far from realty, which the White House apparatus was not able to perceive. Let us see the advancements of the American - Slovenian relations!

A retrospective

It is true, Slovenians still remember when US President George Bush Sr. (1989 - 1993), at the time of Slovenia's declaration of independence in 1991, gave Belgrade a carte blanche to crush the Slovenian resistance with military actions. This was due to complete ignorance of the White House apparatus regarding Slovenia. A very serious mistake, which President Bill Clinton repaired in 1999 with his brilliant debut during his stay in Slovenia. President Bill Clinton took the Slovenian public by surprise, when he publicly mentioned the installation of the Carantanian dukes, which served as an example to Thomas Jefferson in his draft of the American Declaration of Independence.
Microsoft Photo Editor 3.0 Photo

Microsoft Photo Editor 3.0 Photo
The democracy of ancient Carantania (Slovenia) was taken as example, on base of which Thomas Jefferson drafted the famous American Declaration of Independence (1776).
Above: the arms of the USA and Carantania.

Under the presidency of George Busch Jr (since 2001), however, this friendly and benevolent US attitude toward Slovenia went into oblivion and brought no fruits. The American - Slovenian relations were based on bare formality only. It is evident, that the White House apparatus was not able to get a deeper insight into the Slovenian question. The routine mentioning »West Balkans« proves, that neither today nor in the past did the apparatus comprehend the culture, history and strategic position of Slovenia.

Consequently, they have no idea of the activities of the ex-Yugoslav structure in Slovenia, in particular the Serbian secret service, which controls the politics, economy, news media and through them the public mind of Slovenians, so that one gets the impression that present-day Slovenia is like a province of Belgrade.

A vision becomes reality


In spite of this, we think, the vision of an independent Slovenia is becoming realty. This vision appeared after the WW1, and was promoted by Dr. Lambert Ehrlich, a Catholic Priest and Professor at the Lublana University. He originated from Carinthia and was an excellent philosopher and educator of Slovenian students. He especially enjoyed talking to them about his views on Sv. Višarje, a Mary's pilgrimage amidst the Slovenian (Slav), German and Italian (Romanic) speaking world. In his vision, he imagined this pilgrimage as a friendly meeting place of nations living in Middle Europe.

In this union Prof. Ehrlich envisioned the idea of an independent Slovenian State. But he also expected Slovenia to play a role in Europe, which would be of great importance. He said among other things: … Slovenia must be a turning-point, which associates and connects the South with the North and the East with the West... Alone, it shall be neither the one nor the other, nor the third. It must remain a milestone like the pilgrimage of Sv.Višarje, which unites people across the boarders. This is God's will! This task Slovenia can fulfil only in freedom, not under a master, who will sit either in South or in North or East or West. God's will is, that we all are working for this freedom, and no one shall shun God's will... (from his speech of 1933). Because of his idea of an independent Slovenia and his determined anti-Communist position, Dr. Ehrlich was killed by the bullet of a Communist assailant († 1942).
Our impression is, that the recent visits of the Slovenian PM Janez Janša to Moscow and thereafter to Washington confirm that the vision of Prof. Lambert Ehrlich, who was the advocate and fighter for an independent Slovenia, was correct. We pay homage to his memory! Anyway, today's Slovenia is independent but not free yet. Its democracy and freedom are still hindered by the activity of the secret service, in particular by the Serbian one. In this connection, we already called attention to the intimidation of the Slovenian youth, which is interested in Carantanian history and the symbol of the Carantanian Panther, which they patriotically display on their T-shirts...

Anyway, Slovenia is playing its important role in European affairs as well as in international relations between East and West. On its way to perform its role, it is true, Slovenia is still hindered by several underground forces all around. But they will not succeed to block Slovenia's advancement!
  
PM Janez Janša and the Slovenian delegation in Cleveland, Ohio

PM Janez Janša in Cleveland, Ohio. In the background the church of St. Vitus
On July 8, PM Janez Janša and Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel began their visit in Cleveland, Ohio. This is the delegation's first official visit to the USA. PM Janez Janša met with Frank Jackson, the mayor of Cleveland. At a press conference in the town hall he stressed the importance of Cleveland's and Ohio's American recognition of Slovenia in 1991.
PM Janez Janša also met with George Voinovich, a US Senator of Slovenian origin, who said among other things, that it was a great day, when Slovenia became a member of NATO. Considering the fact that Slovenia, being the first of the new EU member states, will be presiding over the European Union in 2008, is also of great importance.
In Cleveland, PM Janez Janša visited the Slovenian parish of St. Mary's Assumption, where he was received with  great enthusiasm by parish priest John Kumshe. Thereafter, parish priest Jože Božnar welcomed him in St. Vitus, the largest Slovenian parish in USA. There, PM Janez Janša conferred official Slovenian recognition to Prof. Dr. Edi Gobec, who for many decades has worked on scientific researches concerning the Slovenian national and cultural community in USA, and for his contribution to the independence and recognition of Slovenia. The Carantha editorial staff is congratulating him!
PM Janez Janša delivers a speech at Narodni dom (Slovenian National House) on St. Clair Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.
Already before Janša's arrival, the Slovenian ambassador to the USA, Samuel Žbogar, inaugurated a memorial plate in the city park of Cleveland in remembrance of Slovenians, President Jefferson and the American Declaration of Independence. The original plate was installed in 1976, but later destroyed by vandals (i.e., Yugoslav secret service).
The Slovenian delegation also visited Slovenska pristava near Cleveland. From there they continued to Pennsylvania, where PM Janez Janša and his delegation were honoured guests of the traditional Slovenefest held at the SNPJ Recreation Center in Ennon Valley. There, he was welcomed by the representatives of the Slovenian American association and conferred recognition to the museum of Slovenian cultural heritage.
  
Carantha's clarification on recognition for Prof. Edi Gobec:
The award of recognition bestowed on Prof. Gobec by PM Janaz Janša in Cleveland, Ohio, was mentioned only superficially by the central daily Delo (Lublana) in an article on "Slovenian Days 2006". We don't know of any other Slovenian papers that commented on the award-ceremony. Anyway, the news media in Slovenia, still under control of the Serbian lobby and secret service, did not stress the importance of the work on Slovenian cultural heritage in the world, which has been carried out by Prof. Gobec for several decades. His work strengthened the Slovenian national consciousness, which the apparatus of the Yugoslav regime consistently attempted to destroy. In particular, the regime's tactics created inferiority complexes in the mind of Slovenians, because »we always were only serfs under foreign masters«. In direct confrontation to this, the discoveries of Prof. Gobec showed a completely different and astonishing picture: Slovenians are very honest, laborious and creative people with a wonderful history and culture. Every Slovenian should be proud of his Slovenian identity and heritage!

On our Carantha webpage we would have liked to report more about the performances in Cleveland on the occasion of Slovenia's 15th anniversary of independence. Regretfully, we did not have the necessary material and pictures at our disposal, and also no other information on the award ceremony of Prof. Gobec by the Slovenian PM Janez Janša. We are very pleased that his achievements were finally recognized, because he was hindered in his generous work presenting the very image of Slovenian culture and history. This image is especially reflected in his precious book Slovenian Heritage I (1980). It is not about the image of an »unhappy« Slovenian but rather the contrary. Consequently, inhabitants of Slovenian descent and the corresponding Slovenian consciousness began to take a positive point of view. Of course, such an advent did not fit well in the foreseen integration of Slovenians in the »Yugoslav« (great-Serbian) nation. Its advocates, it is true, planned the success of their endeavours by creating inferiority complexes in the mind of Slovenians. Because of heir frailty, Slovenians should have been protected by their Yugoslav (Serbian) »brethren« before their permanent enemies, the Germans and Italians. Or, at their best, they should have been integrated into a strong »Yugoslav« nation.

Regarded from the Yugoslav point of view, it was a matter of suffocating the positive image of the Slovenian identity. In the 80s, if we remember correctly, a member of the Society for Slovene Studies and a lecturer at the University of Maribor were engaged to fulfil this purpose. They proclaimed from the »scientific« point of view, that the work of Prof. Gobec was incorrect. In addition, the network of Belgrade's confidants in Slovenia and abroad received directives to spread corresponding gossips. In spite of this, the new Slovenian consciousness gradually grew and led to the independence of Slovenia.
  
Success or bluff?
Janez Janša and his coalition
Only deeds are decisive!
Carantha's standpoint

Janez Janša, Prime Minister of Slovenia
Will he fulfil the expectations of Slovenians?

Not long ago, the 17th anniversary of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) was commemorated in solemn convention, at which its Chairman and Slovenian Premier, Janez Janša, was the main guest speaker. He stressed that the SDS, which won the 2004 elections, succeeded to present qualifications, which unite Slovenians, and he endorsed proposals on forthcoming social and economic reforms, which are of prime importance for the revival of economic development and growth in Slovenia. But is Janez Janša worth to gain the confidence of the Slovenian people?

In December 2005, the Slovenian mass media, still controlled by post-Communist forces, published with great pomp the results of a public polling, which showed that 39 % supported the Janša government, this is 9 % lower than in November. The inquiry was carried out by the Politbarometer services. Anyway, at first sight the results were not quite credible. Thus, because the same Politbarometer released similar polling results before the 2004 elections, which predicted strong support and victory for the Liberals and Social Democrats (descendants of the one-time Liga of Yugoslav Youth and Liga of Yugoslav Communists). Evidently, it was a suggestion to the public with expection, that the majority will vote the selected winner. Anyway, the then elections were won by the Slovenian Social Democratic Party (SDS) under the leadership of Janez Janša.

Who is Janez Janša (* 1958)? On the website of the Slovenian government we read a panegyric about him, evidently written and paid for by the customary opinion makers. Of course, this curriculum does not reflect anything negative about Janša, which might be disturbing to the Slovenian public. This means first and foremost the fact, that he was the N.C.O. of the Yugoslav army during the Yugoslavia period. It is well known that in the Armed Forces it was obligatory to be a member of the Communist Party. In several cases, one also had to be a confidant of Kos, the then secret service of the Yugoslav Army (now a Serbian service network).

Such was the very situation in the one-time Yugoslavia. It was a totalitarian Communist country. People were subjected to the terror from the underground, carried out by Belgrade's secret service, even though it presented itself to the world as a »very liberal« country. In such a situation everybody, including Janez Janša, had to survive. The Belgrade regime, however, in several cases could have bent a man, but it could not take possession of his mind and soul. Could this have been the case with Janez Janša?

The events bear witness

In 1991, when fights broke out for the independence of Slovenia, Janez Janša and his comrades were first in line. From a certain point of view, Janša's military experience was decisive in the battle with the Yugoslav army. Indeed, the separation of Slovenia from Yugoslavia was successful. In the first half of 1992, international recognition was also given to Slovenia. In the first government of independent Slovenia, Janez Janša became Minister of Defense. At that time, Slovenian leaders gave the impression that they unanimously approved of a free and independent Slovenia. Soon after, facts showed the very contrary, which, at first sight, appeared quite incomprehensible  So, in March 1994, because of a staged event in the proximity of the village Depalja vas near Lublana, the Minister of Defense, Janez Janša, was accused of »army interference in civil affairs«. In the same month, on request of the then premier Janez Drnovšek, the Slovenian parliament removed Janez Janša from his post.

The Slovenian public was confused and unable to judge the real situation. This was the consequent result of the fact that the mass media was totally in the hands of ex-Yugoslav forces. These forces, which have already infiltrated the movement of independent Slovenia, celebrated in triumph. In the following years, in collaboration with the ex-Yugoslav (Serbian) secret service, these forces, under the image of a formal declared democracy, practically established a dictatorship in Slovenia. It was the period of the Liberal Democratic and the Social Democratic government They, in a more or less hidden way, endeavoured to re-impose the Tito cult upon Slovenians. In the following period, in connection with foreign lobbies, many political and financial scandals are going on in Slovenia, like selling state shares of banks and other state patrimony. Slovenia was plundered of its capitals.

Upheaval in 2004?

The staff of Janez Janša's team. It is a coalition of parties with somewhat different interests. Consequently, its decisions are based on compromises. So, the question is, if this government will succeed to save Slovenia from the embrace of the post-Communist Yugoslav forces?

It was not until much later, that the Slovenian public became fully aware of what had happened. So, not earlier than in 2004 the majority voted for Janez Janša and his Slovenian Democratic Party. Janez Janša formed a new government in coalition with the Christian Democrats, the Popular Democrats and the Pensioners' Party. The appointed ministers of the new government soon showed themselves in full capacity, for example, people like Lovro Šturm (Minster of Justice), Janez Drobnic (Minister of Labour, Family and Social Affairs), Andrej Brucan (Minister of Health), or Gregor Virant (Minister of Public Administration), Milan Zver (Minister for Education and Sport), or Marija Lukacic (Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Food), and others. Anyway, within the administrative apparatus, in mega enterprises and elsewhere, there were still many confidants of the previous regime, who were Yugoslav oriented, and this fact should not be underestimated.
Frankly speaking and looking back, we ask ourselves, if Janez Janša deserves the confidence of the Slovenian people? In the Yugoslav army, it is true that he was a member of the Communist Party. Anyway, he had no other possibility at that time. In those days this was necessary for the survival of many Slovenians. As already mentioned above, the only question is, if the Yugoslav (Serbian) army and its secret service Kos also conquered their heart and mind? We repeat, when Janez Janša and his comrades fought for an independent Slovenia in 1991, he answered this question himself. Regretfully, only a few years later, the Yugoslav apparatus usurped again the leadership in Slovenia. The declaration of Slovenia's independence was only a formal one; the ancient Yugoslav apparatus made from Slovenia practically a Serbian march.


The commemoration of the fallen Tigr-fighters on Mala gora near Ribnica (south of Lublana). There, at the end of April 2004, Premier Janez Janša made a decisive intervention in the hitherto Communist presentation of the Slovenian resistance against the occupators at the beginning of the WW2.

After several years, when Janez Janša became premier, he undertook several actions in order to repair the damage, which the former Yugoslav oriented government left behind. It was not only the material damage, but also an ideological one. So, in his address to the public, Janez Janša began to demolish a lot of the ideological myths maintained by the ancient Yugoslav Communist apparatus for a half century. In this regard, we want to call attention to his speech on April 27, 2005, carried out on Mala gora near Ribnica (south of Lublana). At this occasion, he publicly unmasked for the first time the official lie, that the communists were the first, who liberated Slovenia at the beginning of the WW2 from Italian and German occupators. No, said Janša, the first to rebel against the occupators were the members of Tigr (the liberation movement during the Italian occupation of Littoral), the founders of Ribniška ceta (Ribnica company).

The neo-Yugoslav lobby was shocked. Central papers like Delo (Lublana) and others did not publish the entire Janša speech on Mala gora, but only fragments. Two days later, Janez Stanovnik, the chairman of Zveza borcev (League of Warriors, under communist control) denoted the Tigr-fighters as »terrorists«, and so did Igor Lukšic, the vice-chairman of the Social Democratic (ex Communist) Party. The public of Littoral protested unanimously. It was obvious, that the demontage of the yearlong system of the Communist and Yugoslav ideology constructed on half-truths and lies began to be demolished.

The deeds bear witness

There are a lot of social, economical, cultural and other questions the Janša government has to resolve. It is not an easy task, because Janša must make compromises with other partners of the governable coalition. The question of the ideological conflict among Slovenians is not to be overlooked. It was continuously present in the period of the one-time Yugoslavia, and is still today disturbing Slovenia. What's the matter?

During the occupation of Slovenia in the WW2, the movement of the Liberation Front (partisans) against the occupator was led by the Communist Party, which at the same time also carried out a Communist revolution. Against the Communist terror another front of anti-Communist fighters (domobranci) was organized, who found shelter with the occupying forces (first Italians and then Germans). The Communist party, which collaborated with Stalin, declared them »traitors«. After the WW2 the Communist apparatus in Yugoslavia and thereafter until this very day, has continued to attack the »traitors« (anti-Communist formations). Of course, it is a directive of Belgrade, as to hold Slovenia a disunited nation in order to control it better.

In independent Slovenia, relentless attacks on the »traitors«, made in speeches of politicians and in the media, were the order of the day, until the Liberals and Social Democrats came into power. When the Janša government was formed in 2004, the attacks almost ceased. The post-Communist lobby was shamed. The public atmosphere began to be more tolerable.

A further ideological question concerns the historical tradition of Slovenians. In the period of the first and the second Yugoslavia, always in the sense of Belgrade's directives, Slovenians continued to be presented as a people without a proper state tradition, subjected to foreign masters, in first line to the German one. More or less indirectly, the Slovenian language was humiliated. In the 80s, the Belgrade regime tried to create a »Yugoslav« literature, and so on. The corresponding directives were carried out by the academic circles. They were forced to do this; in return they were well paid for their services. With regards to Slovenian history, culture and linguistic tradition, this academic apparatus maintained upright anti-Slovenian explanations in independent Slovenia. They simply cannot revoke what they preached in the name of »science« (in fact of the Yugoslav ideology) during the Yugoslav period.

Regarding the formation of the consciousness and the sane character of the young Slovenian generation, the historical truth is indispensable. But it is not only about history. Right now, the ex-Yugoslav apparatus and the Serbian lobby became very active again by spreading the obsolete Yugoslav ideology throughout Slovenia. Its  »symbol« represents Tito's picture. It is no longer a negligible affair. It is about the question, if Slovenia, in spite of its independence and of its name, will really become a Serbian march. Will the Janša government succeed to carry out this task, too? Besides, there are more tasks that have to be completed by the Janša team.

We do not blindly expect that Janez Janša and his government will resolve all of them. The deeds bear witness that they treat their objectives as sincere, because they show a genuine interest in the problems. Until now, we consider the Janša government very positive. We appreciate, what Janez Janša and his staff so far did for Slovenia. We firmly hope, that they will not disillusion us in future. Only deeds are decisive!
  
National Police Day in Slovenia - June 27th

Border crossing at Holmec:
Celebrations marking the anniversary of Slovenia's National Police Day - June 27, 2006

On June 27, major celebrations of this year's National Police Day were hosted in Holmec, the border crossing between Slovenia and Austria. Among the participants was PM Janez Janša, who in his solemn speech gave full credit to the Slovenian police force for their achievement during the War for Slovenian Independence. Janez Janša decidedly rejected several news media attacks on Slovenian policemen, who risked their life for a free Slovenia. It is about attacks coming from pro-Yugoslav circles inside and outside of Slovenia.
Janez Janša said among other things: The Slovenian Police, which is part of the Territorial Defence, succeeded to defend the homeland. This is an outstanding achievement for all Slovenian police officers of which they can be legitimately proud. In particular, because, at the same time, they performed daily police duties to ensure national security and public safety during the war .
The Slovenian police force, it is true, played a very important role in the events following Slovenia's declaration of independence on June 25, 1991. The police, as members of the Slovenian Territorial Defence (army), courageously put up resistance against the Yugoslav Army.  They, in particular, defended the borders between Slovenia and the western States. One of them was Holmec, where two police officers lost their life and many others were injured. But they succeeded to secure the border crossings against Yugoslav invaders.

Evidently, this heroic defence affected deeply the dignity of the Yugoslav (Serbian) army. Thus, some years later, during the reign of the Liberal Democrats (a Yugoslav oriented party), the secret service of the ex-Yugoslav Army, called Kos, re-established itself in independent Slovenia, and unleashed a torrent of media attacks on the Slovenian police force. According to Kos, three Yugoslav National Army soldiers were shot and killed by the Slovenian police while holding their hands in the air. Anyway, no real evidence was presented to support this claim. Around the time of Slovenia's 15th anniversary of Independence, Kos, with Serbia in the background, started new attacks against the Slovenian police, accusing them of committing the »first war crime« in the Balkans wars.
Attempting a Plot against Slovenia

They were plotting to bring false accusation against Slovenia before the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, which was timed to coincide with the 15th anniversary celebrations of Slovenia's Independence. The Yugoslav circles prepared the trap in the following way.  

Object Image, replacement for Object that Trellix was unable to create from RTF.


A scene at the border crossing Holmec between Slovenia and Austria at the end of June 1991. It is a snapshot of TV Austria (made by cameraman Ivan Klaric). After 15 years, Serbia presented it as proof of the "first" war crime committed by Slovenians on the one-time Yugoslav territory.
Ivan Klaric, a cameraman of ORF (Austrian television), explained to the Serbian daily newspaper Blic (Belgrade): »I was standing on the Austrian side of the Holmec frontier crossing, when I noticed something. I turned on the TV camera and recorded the event. All I saw were five Yugoslav soldiers holding up a white cloth, who apparently wanted to surrender. Then gunfire erupted and the soldiers were falling down. Then, there was silence and I saw nothing else.« This should have happened on June 28, 1991. His statement was received in April 2004 after locating him in Brazil with great difficulties (according to www.vjesti.net April 24, 2006).

In Slovenia, the president of the Helsiniki Monitor, Mme Neva Miklavcic Predan, declared in a press conference »that at Holmec in 1991, the first war crime of the wars in former Yugoslavia occured«. Therefore, the Serbian Public Prosecutor Office for War Crimes started a proceeding and adduced names of the alleged dead soldiers: Goran Maletic of Novi Sad (Serbia), Zoran Ješic from Sakule close to Opovo (Serbia) and Antonijo Šimunovic from Jablanica (Bosnia). - In fact, these names were falsifications.

Indeed, on April 25, 2006, Zoran Stankovic, the Serbian Defence Minister, announced that »all three soldiers in the ORF snapshot are alive.« He confirmed, that one of the three soldiers was a Slovenian and not injured at the time of shooting, while the other two were wounded. According to Stankovic, this should be enough reason to directly impose criminal responsibility, because the police, as shown on ORF TV, were shooting at three Yugoslav soldiers who surrendered, wounding two of them. (www. 24ur.com)

Anyway, who are the three soldiers in the picture? Minister Zoran Stankovic confirmed that they are still alive, but he did not release the names of the wounded soldiers. Why? Evidently, because the journalists would have searched for the soldiers and would have found out the details! These accusations, including that of the Minister could be unmasked as common lie!?

TV Lublana (Slovenia), completely under Serbian control, reported with great pomp everything about the »ORF snapshot«, but never mentioned Ivan Klaric, the cameraman. Even though he is working for ORF Austria, his name reveals Serbian or Croatian roots. Therefore, by broadcasting his name, Lublana TV »news« would have lost its credibility in the eyes of the Slovenian public.

Since the beginning, the purpose of  falsifying the Holmec affair was to bring Slovenia before the International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Anyway, the case was dismissed. In this regard said Anton Nikoforov, advisor to the chief procurator Carla del Ponte: The International War Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague will not deal with the Holmec case, this should be dealt with in the state court. According to him, The Hague prosecution sees priority in cases of mass violations of international human rights laws, while other cases should be handed over to state courts. And further on: "The Hague tribunal has been authorized by the United Nations to investigate and rule only in cases of mass and systematic crimes and violations of international human rights laws and regulations of war. This must all be done in the context of a proven long-term armed conflict, Nikiforov said, and added that "it is questionable whether nine or ten days of tension can reach the level of an armed conflict" (cf. The Hague Not to Deal With Slovenia's Holmec Case - Official, in BBC Monitoring European, April 13, 2006).

It is evident, that the set up of the Holmec affair in the spring of 2006 has not been incidental. Thus, at the event of Slovenia's 15th anniversary of Independence, the Serbian secret service Kos and its confidants would have taken this opportunity to discredit Slovenia on the international level. Slovenia should have been brought to justice before the International Tribunal for War Crimes in ex-Yugoslavia with seat in The Hague. Anyway, the conspiracy against Slovenia did not succeed.
  
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
An incorrect assessment of the true situation in Slovenia. Washington, in its good intentions, is several times already unable to individuate the very situation in some countries. Is it only about the proverbial American ingenuousness? (Carantha's Comment).

Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour
U.S. Department of State

Recently, the US State Department issued its reports on human rights conditions in 196 countries all over the world. Among them is also Slovenia, which was found guilty of several trespassing cases...Yet, concerning this country, the US Department of State once again missed the target.
According to the report from the State Department, it is true, that Slovenia is far from other notorious States with violent regimes like North Korea, Burma, Iran, Belorussia, several African countries and so on. Anyway, it is still considered »guilty« of the following trespassing cases: use of police violence towards prisoners, too long legal proceedings, government influence on the mass media, insufficient examination of demands for asylum, violence towards women, smuggling rings of women and girls, discrimination against gypsies, homosexuals and people of ex-Yugoslavia without legal status.

It is well known that in distinction to other great powers, the USA has good intentions towards the world countries, both, large and small ones. But they are not always able to realize them, because the Department of State is lacking of correct information. Once before already, we tried to draw peoples attention to the fact, that the American secret services, first and foremost the CIA (cf. The aftermath of war in Slovenia, article The CIA misjudged the situation), does not have the proper staff to assess the situation in other countries, including Slovenia.

Seen from the geographical strategic point of view, Slovenia has probably the most important position in Europe. Consequently, it is overflowed by confidants of several secret services: Austrians, Italians, Serbians, British, ... and also the CIA. Evidently, the latter is the most disreputable. Thus, recently a member of the Council for legal affairs and human rights at the European Parliament, a certain Dick Mary, came to Slovenia (these people have to find somewhat an excuse for their well paid jobs). His only interest pointed to a possible activity of the CIA in the country. On his question, the Slovenian government declared that since 2001 there was no sign of any CIA activity in Slovenia. A very touching declaration!

But in part, if we consider the report released by the US Department of State, this declaration could also be true. The US informants were not able to understand the very situation in Slovenia. In particular, they did not espy the counter-Slovenian activity of the ex-Yugoslav (Serbian) secret service there, which, as to discredit Slovenia before the world public, are playing up several questions of »discrimination« like those of the gypsies, homosexuals and, of course, people from ex-Yugoslavia.

In the latter case, it is about people, who, at the time of Slovenia's declaration of independence, left Slovenia for Serbia. After many years they came back and demanded the same »rights« as Slovenian citizens had. This happened, when for a decade, the government in Slovenia was in the hands of the ex-Yugoslav parties, the Liberal and the Social Democrats.  Under this government, the ex-Yugoslav (Serbian) secret service took over the key positions in Slovenia anew. This is evident not only on the economical, financial and social field, but also in every day life. As we were told, in Slovenia the Slovenian youth, especially those who are wearing the vest with the Black Panther sign, were several times attacked by Serbian youth groups. But the police, because under Serbian control, does not intervene. As to quote only one case of »discrimination« of ex-Yugoslav people!

It is evident, that the informants of the US Department of State did not speak Slovenian, as to get personally acquainted with the real situation in Slovenia. Furthermore, one can see that they only knew Serbian, because they doubtless copied the data from the anti-Slovenian oriented Serbian press. It is precisely the data quoted by  the Liberal and Social Democrats, the ex-Yugoslav parties, which form the opposition to the present-day Janša government. We came across such a case in connection with the government of the Netherlands concerning Srebrenica!  This is simply charlatanism, isn't it? In the same America, there are many people with good Slovenian knowledge, but the Department of State made no efforts to seek out those, who could provide a correct report about the situation in Slovenia. There is much more to the story than the question of human rights!
(cf: Letter to Condalezza Rice on Violation of Human Rights in Slovenia)
  
The problem with Slovenian and other citizenships
A doubtful petition of a Slovenian deputy in the European Parliament
Hall of the EU Parliament
Will Mme. Mojca Drcar - Murko, the Slovenian deputy on the LDS list, persuade her European colleagues, that the gesture of the Italian Parliament is »non correct«? The question of citizenship concerns also thousands of Slovenians around the world.

(Carantha editorial)

The Italian Parliament has recently passed a new law that will permit people of Slovenian and Croatian descendants with ancestral ties to former Italian citizens, to apply for Italian citizenship. This concerns, first of all, the inhabitants living in the Provinces of Istria and Littoral, which belonged to Italy between WW1 and WW2. The concept of dual citizenship means, that they will be citizens of either Slovenia or Croatia and of Italy at the same time.

But at the Slovenian political summit, the new Italian law was received with great disapproval. It supposedly should mean interference in sovereign Slovenia. Among the visible political elite opposing the Italian law, Mme. Mojca Drcar - Murko's statement was stressed in particular by the Slovenian mass media. She is a deputy in the European Parliament, elected on the list of the Liberal Democrats of Slovenia (LDS). She said that she would bring this subject up for discussion at the next European Parliament session.

At first sight, one could agree with Mme. Drcar - Murko and the standpoint of the LDS, which she represents. But there is also another side to the question. After Slovenia declared independence, the LDS governed Slovenia for twelve more years, i.e., until 2004. In these years, thousands of Slovenians from various parts of the world applied for Slovenian citizenship. But the vast majority of the applications were rejected. On the other hand, Slovenian citizenship was granted to thousands of foreigners from ex-Yugoslavia. The greater part of them are not very exemplary Slovenian citizens, but just the contrary. However, Mme. Mojca Drcar - Murko never protested the discrimination against the Slovenian compatriots in this matter, carried out by her proper LDS party.

Therefore, her disapproval of the recently enacted Italian law can only be seen as hypocrisy. Anyway, we are sure, that Mme. Drcar - Murko does not act independently but in the sense of the directives of her party and the Yugoslav (Serbian) lobby. Indeed, her curriculum, which is also published by Wikipedia, indicates that she had attained already a high position in ex-Yugoslavia. In a totalitarian regime, like that of Communist Yugoslavia, one could not occupy an important position without being a member of the Communist party. In order to hold a high post in government, one had to be a confidant of the Yugoslav secret service, which was firmly in Serbian hands.

As it seems, the ancient Yugoslav apparatus and the political situation it created, has been preserved in independent Slovenia, too. The infiltration and demolition of the Slovenian State structure as well as the discrimination of Slovenians continues. This was carried out under the directives of the one-time Yugoslav secret service, more exactly said, by the governing LDS party. Consequences have been tremendous. Therefore, Mme. Mojca Drcar - Murko's viewpoint can only be an adventure of many contradictions, shaped by the long years of political power of the former LDS government. In such a situation, her emphasis on the Italian »interference in the sovereignty« of Slovenia turns out to be somewhat ridiculous.
  
Remarks concerning a Declaration
Recently, the Slovenian press (cf. Daily Delo of April 19, or magazine Mag of April 20, 2005) published a Declaration signed by 16 Slovenian historians. It bears the title »Historians facing new challenges and choices«. The undersigned historians raise their concern over the problems that the Slovenian historical science is facing lately. They are obviously disappointed with results of the last election, which shows the real proportion of political forces in Slovenia.

The text of the Declaration is rather long and, we believe, not very interesting to the readers of Carantha. However, we have to quote some of the clauses of the second paragraph, which more or less concern the publication of our materials. It is spelled out as follows:

.... Such a pondering of Slovenia's past is also shedding light on the ancient period. There is a perceivable tendency in changing the scientific recognition of historiography (involving direct intervention in the education system) with a mythological display of the history. So, as for example, the cult of Carantania is strengthening anew. The way from here to the approval of the Venetic theory is not so distant. In particular, when we consider, that the partisans of (Slovenian) autochthonism found shelter under the patronage of the strongest ruling parties. The aforesaid non-scientific confrontation with the past is removing us from the modern mode of thinking in Europe and in the world....

Of course, we cannot share the contents of such declaration. Thus, it is not true, that the historiography in Slovenia, as it is said at another passage of the declaration, obtained autonomy in the 80s by fighting, which now should be at risk. One has to wonder, when one reads, that the Slovenian historiography still represents the standpoint, that the ancient homeland of the Slavs should have been behind the Carpathian Mountains (this was never proven). From there, a part of the Slavs migrated to the Balkans (no records to verify this), and again, a wave of Slavs from the Balkans reached the Eastern Alps (invented). From this last migration the Slovenians should have developed.

But there is more to come! When the last wave of Slavs, who reached the Eastern Alps, founded their proper State of Carantania (mentioned for the 1st time in 595 AD), they still were not Slovenians, but »Slavs« in general. They became Slovenians not before the 16th century. An easily demonstrable lie.

Today, such an explanation of Slovenian history is officially recognized by the University of Lublana. It has its origin in ex-Yugoslavia, under whose regime Slovenians were subordinated to the unitarism of Belgrade. The Slovenian history should not have surpassed that of the Serbs, who were the greatest people in Yugoslavia and were considered its founders and bearers. The SANU (Serbian Academy) carefully kept watch that such an image was created in the public mind, and this of course with the »scientific« support of historiography. The Slovenian historians have been subordinated to the Yugoslav ideology, watched by Belgrade and its secret service net.

It is true, that Slovenian historians had no autonomy and no freedom in such a climate, only an open ideological terror, which was prolonged into independent Slovenia. Regretfully, it is still carried out in academic institutions and in schools. As pretext they are using the »scientific« standpoint, but in fact it is an ideological one. More and more Slovenians are aware of the situation and expect to be saved of this ideological yoke, which was put upon them with help of unfree historiography.
B. Ježovnik, editor

(cf: Echo, letters from our readers (dated April 25 and 26/05) re Declaration on history of Slovenia)
  
The South Slav Journal
Volume 24 No. 1 - 2 (91 - 92) Spring - Summer 2003
ABUSE OF LEGALITY AND DEMOCRATIC VALUES IN SLOVENIA
By Marjan Vidmar
Reorganization of Communist Regimes
Toward the end of the eighties of the former century it appeared that the symbolic removal of the Berlin Wall was the harbinger of the end of communist regimes in the East and South Europe. One-party systems in East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Rumania were falling one after another. There also was turmoil in the communist Yugoslavia: all the nations united in that federal republic began to assert their desire for national independence. Slovenian communist party bosses, headed by Milan Kucan, president of the Republic of Slovenia, walked out of the federal communist party congress in Belgrade and proposed that Yugoslavia become an "asymmetric federation." The proposal was to transfer the power then held by the federal communist party to the parties of the individual constituent republics. The motivation was the impending replacement of the local communist leaders of the individual republics by persons completely controlled by the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. However, things turned out otherwise. In the election year of 1990, the communists realized that they could no longer overtly continue to hold the power in a one-party system. There was unrest in the republics. The Albanians demanded an independent state of their own and the Serbian Communist Party acceded to certain changes along the lines of an asymmetrical federation in which individual constituent republics would be allowed to amend their constitutions to provide for a multi party-political system.
First Democratic Elections and the Disintegration of Yugoslavia
In April 1990, the first multi-party elections for the Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia were held. Those were the first democratic elections in the country after the end of World War II. The winner at the elections was the democratic opposition Demos and the League of Communists of Slovenia was, at least for the time being, voted out of the office. The newly elected coalition Demos began to implement the programme it promised. A referendum on whether Slovenia should be an independent state was held in December 1990. The author vividly recalls that Sunday in December of 1990 when he and other representatives of the Demos government had the honour of announcing from the balcony of the City Hall the outcome of the referendum -- an overwhelming victory for an independent Slovenian state. That was the time of euphoria and almost complete national unity as well as the time when those of us who championed the new government were confronted by an enormous responsibility. We were asking ourselves how should we start implementing the people's will throughout Slovenia. Slovenia was still part of the socialist Yugoslavia and Slovenian representatives in the Federal Assembly and politicians from the ranks of the communist continuity, headed by Milan Kucan, president of the collective presidency of Slovenia, were all the time talking about an asymmetric federation and about Slovenia as a constituent unit of such a Yugoslav state. At that time the Demos government in Slovenia was still fairly intact and able to insist on a policy demanding a separate and independent Slovenia. On June 25, 1991, Parliament adopted the Declaration of Independence of Slovenia and the Constitutional Law on Secession and Independence. This was followed by a military attack on Slovenia by the Yugoslav army, which was resisted by the police, Slovenian soldiers in reserve and the entire Slovenian population. Peace negotiations at Brioni followed at which the Slovenians, upon insistence of international mediators, agreed to defer the effective date of the declared independence. Slovenia eventually achieved its independence on October 8, 1991 and international recognition gradually followed.
Slovenian Independence and the Onset of the Communist Party Restoration
In the year of its independence Slovenia received its first Constitution which declared Slovenia to be a democratic state based on the rule of law, that would be a state of all its citizens, and that the government belonged to the people governing by democratically conducted elections. A promising beginning, one could say but, unfortunately, by the end of 1991 the Demos coalition fell apart and in the Spring of 1992 the government that was elected in 1990 collapsed. A new government was formed constituting of members of the restored communist party and its adherents. No other alternative was possible because the defunct Demos coalition no longer had a majority in Parliament. The executive branch was taken over by reorganized communists and members of the former Socialist Youth of Slovenia, predecessor of the present Liberal Democracy of Slovenia. The power was thus assumed by the heirs of former communist party bosses many of whom had studied in Western Europe and the United States. They knew how the Western democracies function and were aware that power is derived from the control of the capital. That is why they did not allow implementation of the Law on Denationalization3 and blocked adoption of legislation that would justly and fairly effect the privatization of government owned property and enterprises. The reorganized communists knew that the existence of several political parties is a necessity for creating a semblance of democracy, but they were determined to discredit their opposition, the former members of Demos, by resorting to political subterfuge. To Christian Democrats they imputed revanchism and portrayed them as supporters of the Home Guards4 during World War II. Parties that sought to correct the wrongs of the communist regime were represented as seeking to abridge the civil rights of citizens. In accordance with time tested communist practice used during World War II, these tactics again successfully divided the nation so that the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, headed by Janez Drnovšek, received a majority of votes at the parliamentary elections in 1992. The Liberal Democracy of Slovenia, through its leverage in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches, has been in absolute control of the entire political, economic and social life in Slovenia for the last ten years.
Today, in looking back at the years gone by, we wonder how it is possible that instead of a democratic state and the rule of law we got a lawless conglomerate where abuses of legality reign supreme. I am getting ever more firmly convinced that a mere change of a one-party system to a multi-party system can bring neither a democratic society nor a government based on separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. Notwithstanding the changes in the political arena, the Slovenian republic could not even begin to evolve in the direction of the separation of powers because, ever since 1992, the reorganized communist party nomenclatura and its adherents have held all legislative and executive power while the feeble parliamentary opposition cannot effect any change whatsoever. The governing structures of the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia allow no substantive changes in the judicial branch. Lifetime tenure has been conferred upon all judges who were appointed during the time of the one-party communist system. Slovenia has indeed received a formal democracy and formal legal values but these are merely a front hiding the abuses of legality in the name of government.
In the following it is proposed to demonstrate the existence of abuses of law in the name of government, and legalized repression perpetrated by the judiciary, with examples of systematic disregard and contempt for basic human rights in the area of property and personal rights.
Disregard of Right to Restitution of Confiscated Property
In 1991 the Slovenian Parliament adopted the Law on Denationalization (restitution of property). The purpose of that law was to correct the wrongs done to all those citizens whose property was confiscated by the communist regime at the end of World War II. Claims for restitution of property had to be filed with the appropriate authorities within eighteen months following the promulgation of the law. In 1993, however, when the deadline for filing the claims had already expired, the reorganized communists and their adherents already had a majority in Parliament. By subterfuge and tricks of parliamentary procedure attempts were made to eviscerate and annul the Denationalization Law. These attempts could well have succeeded if the Association of Former Owners of Expropriated Property had not gained support abroad, particularly among Slovenians living in the United States of America. When the attempted legislative devices failed, the government stepped in and issued instructions to the restitution claim processing units directing them to reduce to the greatest extent possible the extent of restitution5. Accordingly, the administrative authorities began to hold that persons who acquired property during World War II, persons whose property was not physically taken from them on the date of confiscation, persons who demanded restitution in the form of equivalent property, and persons who did not reduce their claims as demanded by the administrative authorities, were not entitled to restitution. In cases where restitution was to be in the form of indemnity bonds, the bonds were simply not issued. It was only in 1977 that Parliament enacted a law creating the Slovenian Indemnity Fund which issues the bonds. Accordingly, hardly any request for restitution had been at least partly resolved prior to 1997. Even in cases where the confiscated property was returned to the original owner by decree of the administrative authority, the recording of the ownership in the book of records proved virtually impossible. All confiscated property was recorded on the books as government property and the records are controlled by the regional courts. Thousands of parcels are still recorded as government property. If litigation concerning a piece of property subject to a restitution decree is pending, none of the persons whose property has been returned to them by a final decree can record their title. In other words, a decree of restitution cannot be executed so long as there is litigation pending concerning the property in question. There are numerous cases in which a final decree was issued in 1997 but the recording of the change of title still has not been accomplished five years later. Statistically, however, such cases are reported as "resolved."
The monetary compensation for confiscated property awarded by the administrative authority represents another abuse of claimants' rights. A government regulation issued in 1992 specifies that compensation for a square metre of farmland shall be 3.94 Deutchmark, (2.02 Euros), that for a square metre of a building lot 26.3 Deutchmark (13.4 Euros). For purposes of compensation all farmland on which buildings have been constructed is considered farmland at 2.02 Euros per square meter although the market value of such land in Ljubljana amounts to approximately 400 Euros per square metre. Rents for property subject to restitution belong to the government and are collected by those who have the right to use the land in cities and towns, that is, the local and central government.
Abuse of Right to Ownership with Respect to Former Government Property
Illegal acquisition of government property together with total lawlessness in the monetary market and acquisition of capital represent an even greater abuse of law than the denationalization. The Constitutional Law on Independence provides that regulations of the former Yugoslavia may be used until Parliament shall have enacted its own laws. In SFR Yugoslavia there was hardly any private property as all property belonged to society and no individual could own means of production. The young Slovenian Liberal Democrats, offspring of the communist potentates, educated at the best foreign universities, knew well what is capital and a capital market, therefore they would not allow enactment of legislation which could, immediately after the declaration of independence, preclude unlawful acquisition of social capital. Dissembling, they maintained that acquisition should wait until the experts determined which scenario would be best suited for the Slovenian privatization process. By the end of 1993, Parliament enacted legislation on restructuring the ownership of government enterprises which gave the green light to unsavoury games with certificates of ownership. Every citizen was entitled to a certificate the value of which ranged, depending on the age of the recipient, from a minimum of 100,000 Slovenian tolars (440 Euros) to 400,000 Slovenian tolars (1,760 Euros). At the time when investment certificates were being issued, no financial legislation regulating money and capital markets existed even though the Constitutional Law required that appropriate regulations were to be adopted by the end of 1993. When the deadline for the enactment of these regulations expired, the president of the
Constitutional Court declared that nothing dramatic would happen if the required regulations should not be enacted as required by the Constitution. The legislative and executive branches were thus released from their obligation to establish a government based on the rule of law. The constitutional oath of commitment for the well-being of Slovenia became a dead letter on a scrap of paper. Traders with currency and capital merrily plied their trade and here and there even an ordinary citizen was thrown a sop from the transactions. An appearance of prosperity was conjured up. In view of this it is no wonder that in the 1996 elections the party of Liberal Democracy received a majority at the polls. It was quite an irony to see the members of this very party which evolved from the former Federation of Socialist Youth becoming owners and promoters of capital. At that time there were no legal restraints to financial malfeasance and rogue privatization. The officialdom maintained that everything not expressly prohibited was permitted.
The author recalls an incident when in connection with one such malfeasance he wrote a letter to the governor of the Central Bank of Slovenia citing the ways and means by which public property was being unlawfully transferred to private ownership and recommending that the governor, in his capacity of the sponsor of applicable legislation, immediately take appropriate steps for the protection of public property. The letter, containing comprehensive documentation, received a curt and perfunctory response from the governor's legal service to the effect that any alleged malfeasance would be dealt with by the appropriate courts. At that time we were naive enough to think that a new financial legislation might prevent unlawful acquisition of society's capital. Today, however, it is clear that, notwithstanding the financial legislation enacted in 1998 and 1999, financial activity on the black market did not diminish in the slightest. The law on the capital market does set forth the conditions for the public issue of capital (stock) and regulates its further accumulation but those legal requirements do not apply for the privatization of social capital. Government owned enterprises were not privatized by a process in which all citizens had an equal opportunity to participate.
Financial oligarchs and other financial operators from the ranks of the nomenclature appropriated for themselves the social capital, estimated initially at several ten billion Euros. Thus, in the years from 1994 through 1998 those persons acquired a great deal of power and through their well placed connections achieved control of the entire domestic market. The money and capital markets in Slovenia are now entirely under the control of a small group of powerful financial operators while independent small enterprises are inexorably pushed out of business. In Slovenia it is virtually impossible to survive solely by economic activities. Only the newly created enterprises dealing in financial transactions and those who deal in arms trade, drugs, and other illicit activities are thriving.
In Slovenia there is no true separation between the money market and capital market.
Cash settlements in the capital market have the legal status of cash flow from current transactions. Cash settlements are not based on legal financial instruments, a situation that facilitates money laundering. Although Slovenia does have a law on prevention of money laundering requiring reporting of all financial transactions exceeding a prescribed amount to the Office for Prevention of Money Laundering, that office has not, during the time it has been in existence, made a single report of suspected criminal money laundering that resulted in a successful prosecution. In the few cases where action was initiated, the process was halted either because of insufficient evidence or because the suspects committed no overtly illegal acts. Such a situation made the financial system a system of financial contraband. Considerable statistical information on the thriving and encouraging economic growth is available about the country's financial system but, unfortunately, the published information is not realistic because it is based on falsified records.
Other problems surface in the privatization process. More than half of the citizens could not exchange their ownership certificates for the stock of former government enterprises. Instead, they could only deposit them with authorized investment companies whose stock has dwindled to only five percent of the original value of the certificate on average. The trust of citizenry in the legality of financial dealings is shaken considerably.
Since the declaration of independence there was not a single public offering for accumulation of capital -- everyone was concentrating on rogue privatization. In today's Slovenia only those who hold the financial capital of former government enterprises are rich, all other economic activities are regressing. The government policy did not create conditions that would foster the development of Slovenia's economy. Under the existing financial system capable individuals have neither legal security nor the opportunity to realize their economic initiative.
Abuse of Basic Human Rights
A government whose legal system does not provide economic freedom to its citizens cannot ensure the achievement of fundamental freedoms and personal liberty. It is, accordingly, appropriate to address the violations of human rights in the post-communist Slovenia.
It is a serious abuse of law when the legislator incorporates all the generally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms in a Constitution and then, using the government's apparat, thwarts the realization of these rights and freedoms or allows them to be abused by the judiciary. Abuses of this kind are possible because the people of Eastern and Southern Europe did not know democracy for fifty years and to this day think that democracy is a prerogative of those who hold power. In Slovenia the citizens adopted, by referendum, the law on a majority electoral system. The ruling coalition attempted to prevent through procedural manipulations consideration of the proposed legislation by the Parliament. When, in June 2000, the government of Janez Drnovšek was voted out of office, the interim government tried to make the electoral problem an international issue by seeking an advisory opinion from the recognized legal experts of the Venetian Commission. The Commission responded with an opinion worthy of the Delphic oracle. It said: "Slovenia is a democratic country and the people will choose their true representatives at the forthcoming elections". The elections were won by the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia which formed a government with members of kindred political parties. In fact, no other possibilities could be expected because the Liberal Democracy party controls the entire financial capital and all forms of capital of the various enterprises while the parties of the opposition have no financial resources. Disappointed and mortified, most citizens no longer take part in the elections which is a cause of concern in view of the abuses of the general legal norms carried on in the name of democracy.
In Slovenia the right to equal protection of the laws is abused because the judiciary is subservient to the policies of the ruling party. Nor is there any equality before the law as the author's personal experience corroborates. In the years between 1990 and 1994, as president of the Executive Council of Ljubljana and member of Demos, he tried to protect public property. At one of the press conferences he publicly criticized the rogue privatization of the city's property. A reporter wrote that he characterized actions of a director in a city owned enterprise as "criminal." On the basis of this unfounded allegation he was fined in a criminal court with no opportunity to appeal. In addition, he was ordered to pay damages in the amount of 20,000 Euros in a civil suit. The protestations in the appellate court and pointing to the violation of the European Convention on Human Rights which the Slovenian Constitution states is the basis of the Slovenian law were of no avail.
Another case involving the president of the supervisory committee of the office administering municipal property and investments of Ljubljana (Municipal holding of Ljubljana) was even more intimidating. When, in 1998, the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia won at the local elections in Ljubljana, its representatives began to carry out illicit privatization of the city's investments. As they were unsuccessful in their attempt to transform by statute the municipal property and investments organization into a capital company the city authority filed in the District Court in Ljubljana a suit claiming damages in the amount of 28 million Euros. The suit was filed against all the members of the supervisory committee and councilmen of the municipal property and investments administration. The case was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg but that court, supposedly because of the numerous complaints pending before it, has not even begun considering the case6. A realization is dawning that the international protection of human rights is just one more deception of the globalization of Europe. Who in the global Europe can possibly be concerned about a political dissident in the Balkans?
The conduct of politicized judiciary described above shows how important it is that the United States resists the demands that some international court with a political agenda exercise jurisdiction over American citizens carrying out their official duties in peacekeeping operations. Such submission would allow singling out the United States because of its position in the world community and the role it plays in defending the security of free nations throughout the world and present it in a light that would tend to thwart the objectives of its mission. Should this happen, there would be no hope left for us who must endure the vicissitudes of restructured communism.
Notes:
1. Marjan Vidmar is former President of the Executive Council of Lublana.
2.  Milan Kucan's term as President of the Republic ended in December 2002.
3.  Restitution of property confiscated by the communists.
4.  Armed formations organized to combat communists during World War II.
5.  Instructions for Implementing Measures for Accelerating Denationalization, Republic of Slovenia Ministry for Environment and Space, May 8, 2001.
6.  Mayor of Ljubljana Vika Potocnik has since the filing of that suit been voted out of office and accused of several large scale improprieties involving municipally owned enterprises. The new mayor withdrew the suit against the author and his colleagues. Author's appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is still pending because the withdrawal of the suit was a tacit admission that it represented a politically motivated abuse of the judicial process.