Shit is brewing this side of the Alps. Weeks ago pengovsky wrote about a group of neo-Nazi wannabes who wanted to call a referendum on Croatian NATO entry, citing Croatian occupation of sacred Slovene soil. The bid failed spectacularely, but during a particularly daft exchange with Blaž Babič, one of the proponents of the referendum, it emerged that hooded and skin-headed youth were members of Hervardi, a supposedly patriotic organisation with a clear superiority agenda.
Skinhead kids attacking a cameraman at the Faculty of Philosophy. (Source: 24ur.com)
Days ago, however, students of Faculty of Philosophy held a round table discussion on rise of hate-speech, nationalism and neo-fascism in Slovenia. Present among the public was also a group of skin-headed kids whose aim obviously was to stir up shit. They claimed that they’re not neo-Nazis but rather a group of patriotic national socialists (imagine!). However, they got really nervous when cameras were turned on and swiftly vacated the premises, but not before attacking the cameraman.
This, however, appears only to have been a prelude to a real outburst of nationalistic, religious and racial hatred which is scheduled for 27 April. Exactly two weeks from now a rally against building a mosque in Ljubljana will apparently be held in downtown Ljubljana. Choice of date is not coincidental. 27 April marks the start of uprising against Nazi occupation of Slovenia during World War II. Hervardi group, whose president is doing time for attempted murder, called the rally on that particular date to point out the “true occupators” and to revive the “true meaning of 27 April”.
Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth. 27 April tells a story about how a group of few good men knew what is right and what is wrong and fought for their ideals of a free nation with a better future against all odds. What Hervardi want to say today is that people of Islamic faith should not be allowed to worship their god, because they are occupators of Slovenia and are somehow inferior. Which basically constitutes a neo-Nazi agenda.
Personally, I expect the protest to fizzle out into a show of impotent rage, making the protesters an object of mockery. After all, as you can see from the linked video above, Slovenian neo-Nazis are a bunch of pussies, worried that their mothers will find out what they’re up to. They are also cowards for trying to hide their dirty deeds under a cloak of a well respected anniversary and even falsely claiming that The President supports them. And while their cowardice will expose them for spineless twats that they are, they will also have to worry about criminal charges which were filed by Ljubljana mayor Zoran Janković for inflammatory speech used on the leaflets announcing the rally. Oh, an there is a counter-rally organised as well, aimed at preventing abuse of the anniversary and (by extention) in support of the mosque.
Pengovsky will always remember the story about how Slovenian Blood&Honour organisation applied for membership in Neo-Nazi International but got turned down on the grounds that Slavs are a lower race. But the real problem is not that Slovenian “patriotic” groups are a bunch of stupid pansies who mistook politics for a psychoanalyst’s couch. The problem is that they are slowly but surely becoming more and more visible with their rhetoric steadily becoming an integral part of mainstream politics.
One must never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.