Reader, I shit you not. A happy end. To be honest, the entire meat of this post can be stiffed into the title. Like a skin boat going to tuna town. Still, this is supposedly a blog about Muddy Hollows politics. So, let’s pitch a tent and see just why SDS seniors got down to the parliament yesterday and engaged in some early afternoon delights.
On the face of it, Janša’s silver-haired samurais demanded a 20% raise of pensions and a slew of other bonuses. Which, yeah, good luck with that. But the real message here weren’t the demands as such. The message was that Janša can still whip up a crowd. Even though his general political fortunes are more like a brewer’s droop. The other message was that apparently his senior section really wants to come.
Come to a protests, that is. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, eh? And there, of course, is a third message, as well. After a very long time, this was the first proper anti-government protest in Muddy Hollows that wasn’t over-policed and where participants weren’t tear-gassed and issued hefty fines for exercising their constitutional right to assembly. Which, of course, was the whole fucking point of getting rid of Marshal Twito and his regime in the first place.
However, the entire premise of the protest is squarely on Robert Golob and his government. Not because the protesters would have an actual claim towards their demands. But because the Big Bird embarked on a policy of separate income raises for discreet groups of people.
Making a sloppy work of it
The one that raised the most eyebrows was a 600 EUR across-the-board raise for all judges and prosecutors. Which they probably deserve on the whole. But that just spurred other groups to start making demands of their own, hoping they would get lucky.
And while we are at it, the sloppy manner in which Golob announced the raise and the slap-dash manner in which the government submitted the legislation blew up into the coalition’s face earlier today. With so many complaints against the law and the very real possibility of a constitutional challenge to boot, the government saw that a disaster was looming and decided to pull out early.
Golob and his minister of public administration Sanja Ajanović Hovnik are rushing to revamp the entire system of public sector wages. Once completed, it will form be the basis for all other similar expenditures, including pensions. But until then, things like Wednesday’s taking grandmas to the Republic Square will probably get more and more frequent.
Looking for a handjob
So, in a way, The Party’s fossil foot-soldiers should be thankful that their Glorious Leader is no longer in power. Under their own regime, a candid protest to raise pensions would not really be possible. But until next time, someone should really explain to them what a happy end actually is.
Unless, of course a handjob was indeed all they ever wanted. In which case, more power to them!
UPDATE: it turned out that PM Golob, too, used that same phrase when he promised the salary hike to judges and prosecutors.
Sigh. People really should consult Urban Dictionary before uttering bold statements. Becase maybe telling the judiciary you plan to choke their one-eyed purple headed yogurt slinger is not the best way to go about it?
