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2012–2013 Slovenian protests

Anti-government protests in Slovenia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2012–2013 Slovenian protests were a series of anti-establishment and anti-government protests. Protesters expressed disapproval with the country's ruling political elite, including Maribor mayor Franc Kangler, prime minister Janez Janša, and parliamentary opposition leader Zoran Janković (all of whom stood accused of corruption by Commission for the Prevention of Corruption).[3][4][5][6][32]

Date2 November 2012 (2012-11-02) [1] – 4 February 2013 (2013-02-04) [2]
Location
Slovenia
Caused by
Goals
Quick facts Date, Location ...
2012–2013 Slovenian protests
Protesters in front of Maribor's Municipal building on 3 December 2012
Date2 November 2012 (2012-11-02) [1] – 4 February 2013 (2013-02-04) [2]
Location
Slovenia
Caused by
Goals
Methods
Result
Casualties
Injuries65
Arrested150
See: casualties section below.
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Anticapitalist banners at fifth All-Slovene Uprising in April 2013

Protests began on 2 November 2012 as the 2012–2013 Maribor protests against the city's mayor Franc Kangler[1] and subsequently spread to other cities across the country, with protesters demanding resignations and prosecution of politicians and other members of the elite, accused of corruption.[8][33][34][35][36]

Background

Government under the right-wing leader Janez Janša responded to the weakening of Slovenian economy during the global economic crisis and European sovereign-debt crisis with opening up old ideological fronts against liberal media, and against public sector - especially educational and cultural sectors, accusing them of being under influence of members of old regime (called Udbomafia and "Uncles from Behind the Scenes" (In Slovene: "strici iz ozadja")[37]) and against everyone who doubted that austerity measures forced upon Slovenia are right ones.[38][39]

In relation to the allegations made by official Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, Janša's party sent letters to the right-wing European Parliament members, discrediting the Commission's report as part of "the communist campaign that begun in 1983 with the aim to remove Janša from politics".[40] Since Janša was ignoring the report and his party didn't offer any replacement for him, all three coalition parties and their leaders left the government within weeks and were subjected to ad hominem attacks by Janez Janša who accused the SLS's leader Radovan Žerjav of being "the worst (economics) minister in history of Slovenia", while the leader of the Civic List Gregor Virant has been mocked by Janša as engaging in "virantovanje" (a play on words with kurentovanje, a Slovenian carnival festival).[41][42][43]

Reception

Reception by public intellectuals

The cause for demonstrations has been attributed by some public intellectuals to misunderstanding of post-socialist political elite who rejected "collectivism as socialist pattern" while, according to notable Slovene anthropologist Vesna V. Godina it is in fact a "pre-socialist pattern", originating from the way the traditional Slovene rural community was functioning much longer than in other – mainly Protestant and to much lesser degree in the mainly Catholic – modern nations, who have replaced traditional political culture earlier in history by the modern representative democracy and individualism.[44]

Timeline

The third All-Slovene Uprising were the largest Slovenian anti-government rally until that point
More information Date, Venue ...
List of 2012 and 2013 Slovenian protests and figures from the events
Date Venue Number of demonstrators1 Arrests Protesters Police
Injured2
27 November 2012 Ljubljana 1,000[45] n/a 1[45] n/a
28 November 2012 Jesenice 60[46] n/a n/a n/a
29 November 2012 Kranj 1,000[47] 2[47] n/a n/a
30 November 2012
Ajdovščina 200[33] n/a n/a n/a
Koper 250[33] n/a n/a n/a
Ljubljana 10,000[48] 30[48] 11[48] 15[48]
Nova Gorica 400[33]–1,500[49] n/a n/a n/a
Novo mesto 300[33] n/a n/a n/a
Trbovlje 300[33] n/a n/a n/a
Velenje 350[33] n/a n/a n/a
2 December 2012 Krško 200[50] n/a n/a n/a
3 December 2012
Maribor 20,000[34] n/a n/a n/a
Celje 2,500[34] 15[35] n/a n/a
Ljubljana 4,000[34] n/a n/a n/a
Ptuj 600[34] n/a n/a n/a
Ravne na Koroškem 500[34] n/a n/a n/a
Trbovlje 400[35] n/a n/a n/a
4 December 2012 Jesenice 400[51] 11[51] n/a n/a
6 December 2012
Koper 400[52] 15 n/a n/a
Kranj 500[52] n/a n/a n/a
7 December 2012
Ajdovščina 200[53] n/a n/a n/a
Bohinjska Bistrica 30[53] n/a n/a n/a
Ljubljana 1,000–2,000[53] n/a n/a n/a
Murska Sobota 2,000–2,500[36] n/a n/a n/a
8 December 2012 Nova Gorica 300[49] n/a n/a n/a
9 December 2012 Brežice 100–200[54] n/a n/a n/a
11 January 2013 Ljubljana 8000+[55] 2[55] n/a n/a
8 February 2013 Ljubljana 20,000+[56] 5[56] n/a n/a
9 March 2013 Ljubljana 5,000+[57] 4[57] n/a n/a
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Notes
  • Note 1: The number of protesters is approximate, given by the media.
  • Note 2: The list includes only those who sought and received medical treatment.

See also

References

External links

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