Hold My Beer, Says History
History repeating itself: fascism and anti-fascism, hatred, Russia and the war in Ukraine. 45 columns, all translated from Slovenian.
- Make Slovenia Great Again
Although on May 9, 1865, US President Andrew Johnson declared the victory of the Union forces over the Confederacy, the end of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery in the United States,…
- On Strong Personalities
On October 30, 1922, at five to eleven in the morning, a sleeper train from Milan arrived punctually at the main Roman train station, Roma Termini. From the train clambered down a stocky little man dressed in…
- And It Was Such a Beautiful Day
“These trousers are mine, from Dachau,” Jean Villeret told me as we slowly climbed the steep path of the memorial center at the Struthof-Natzwiller concentration camp. “The jacket belonged to a friend who has…
- Forward to the Past
The space-time continuum is a concept developed by Dr Albert Einstein in his special theory of relativity at Princeton University—and in its more practical applications, by Dr Emmett Brown in the film Back to…
- Kekec in the Shameful Abyss
Mrs. Müller brought little Hans to the doctor, visibly worried.
- Hatred, the Home Edition
In October 1945, 86 Jewish victims were buried at the municipal cemetery in the Robertsau district of Strasbourg. They had been discovered after the city’s liberation from German occupation in the premises of…
- The Duce in the Cupboard
For many years, a kind elderly couple of Italian descent lived in the house across from ours in Strasbourg. We weren’t particularly close, but we exchanged polite greetings and signed for each other’s…
- A Rainbow as Red as Blood
When soldiers of the Soviet Red Army’s 322nd Division liberated Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, they found around 7,000 inmates—most of them sick, emaciated, or dying. Among them was 33-year-old Karl Gorath, a…
- Never Again?
I’m writing this column on a plane en route to Kraków, where I’ve been invited by Education International, the world’s largest global organization of educators, representing more than thirty million teachers…
- Oaths
In my life, I’ve only sworn a few oaths. The first time was almost in a kindergarten in Rojan, a district of Trieste, where I was cared for by the nuns who ran the first Slovenian kindergarten in the Italian…
- Endarkment
"Dare to know. Have the courage to use your own understanding."
- Stronzi
In the early years of my childhood, we lived in the Italian city of Trieste because of my father’s job. My father, an extravagantly sociable man, found many friends in the Slovene minority community in and…
- SSatire
Not long ago, the very right wing weekly Demokracija published an article in which the author compared people of other races to vermin and weeds that need to be eradicated. If I draw a historical…
- The Raid
On the early morning of May 25, 1944, Operation Rösselsprung began—known in our parts as the raid on Drvar. Around 12,000 members of the 500th SS Parachute Battalion, wearing camouflage uniforms and Nazi…
- Who’s Afraid of Anne Frank?
In November 2018, I was invited to a panel discussion titled What Do We Need for a True Democracy?, jointly organized in Brussels by the International Bar Association and the European People’s Party group in…
- Little Booted Feet
Throwing around the label of fascism and comparing people to Hitler is a very serious matter. On one hand, we’re talking about a personality who is undoubtedly at the top of the global historical rankings of…
- White Rose
“And what is the German people doing? It sees nothing, hears nothing. Blindly follows its seducers into destruction. Victory at any cost—that's what they’ve written on their flag. I will fight to the end, says…
- Biff and the Partisans
In the second instalment of the film trilogy Back to the Future, Biff Tannen steals a time machine and travels to the past in order to create a new present.
- Two Congresses
In Slovenia, we like congress tourism. In principle, at least. This year marks two hundred years since a whole bunch of European despots, absolutists, ministers, diplomats, and their servants gathered in…
- In Cooperation with Nature
The tendency to experience every life event as unprecedented and unique may be human, but it can lead to improvisation and repetition of past mistakes—mistakes we could avoid if we were more willing to learn…
- There is no such thing as fascist-neutral
One of the most amusing comments I came across in this year's iteration of the perennial January debate about fascism and anti-fascism—ignited every year by the anniversary of the Battle of Dražgoše—was a…
- Hold My Beer, Says History
In the early days of the war for Slovenian independence, I found myself near the Lazaret border crossing, between Debeli Rtič in Slovenia and Muggia on the Italian side. The scene was surreal. On our side, a…
- Ruminants of Kremlin Propaganda
Over breakfast with my family on the morning after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I read a report by Marta Shokalo, editor of the Ukrainian service at BBC. “I dressed my ten-year-old son. We had breakfast as…
- The Morality of Immoral Stories
Lenin once said there are decades when nothing happens — and days when decades happen.
- Josif Vissarionovich and Vladimir Vladimirovich
In February 1945, the Allied leaders — Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill — gathered in the seaside resort of Yalta in Crimea, just a missile’s throw from today’s devastated and martyrized Mariupol.
- Civil Society, Foreign Agents, and Other Enemies of the State
Without civil society, there is no democracy. That is why the right to association is protected by Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This right can only be limited under very strict and…
- Feeding the Crocodile and Other Lessons from the War in Bosnia
"Between April 1992 and October 1995, a country in Europe was destroyed. Tens of thousands of its inhabitants were murdered. More than a million were expelled, deported, or forced to flee in fear for their…
- Pax Kremliana
The Russian Federation became a member of the Council of Europe on February 26, 1996. Its path to membership was paved by a letter addressed to the organization by then-Russian leaders: President Boris…
- Contributions to the Biography of Vladimir Vladimirovich
On Friday, July 8, sixty-year-old Aleksei Gorinov, a lawyer and municipal councillor from Moscow, was sentenced to seven years in prison for "spreading false information" about the Russian army. His "crime"…
- The Excited States of America
Right next to the fence on the north side of the White House in the U.S. capital lies Lafayette Park, named after the French aristocrat and hero of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette.…
- War in Ukraine and Anti-Fascism
In May 2014, directly after the Russian occupation of Ukraine's Crimea, an event called the Holy Alliance took place in the beautiful baroque Liechtenstein City Palace in Vienna. Among the attendees were…
- I'm Scared like Hell
Last Thursday, Vladimir Zelensky of course did not call on the West to launch a pre-emptive NUCLEAR strike on Russia. Regardless, his statement was a communications and political blunder. It handed Kremlin…
- Democracy as a Security Threat
One of the most common arguments among those who place the blame for the war in Ukraine on all sides is the belief that Vladimir Putin launched the attack on the neighbouring country because he felt…
- History as an Action Plan
We've reached a point where the present is beginning to resemble a Soviet-era joke:
- Peace for Our Time
Among the signatories of the recent letter "Stop the War in Ukraine" are many people I know and deeply respect. Their voices rightly carry weight and credibility in public discourse. This time, however, I…
- Pax Lucifera
One must always seek compromise, even with the devil, said Budimir Lončar, the last Yugoslav foreign minister, in a recent interview with Delo about the war in Ukraine. Always? I can almost picture a young…
- On the Right Side of Survival
A few days ago, while distractedly flipping through television channels on a Saturday morning, a WWII song cheering the partisans to fight the occupiers suddenly rang out in the house. In a small village of…
- Whose Side Are You On?
On Friday, October 13, in the northern French town of Arras, 20-year-old Mohamed M., born in the North Caucasian region of Ingushetia, stabbed and killed a 57-year-old French teacher, Dominique Bernard, in a…
- The Temptation of "Righteous" Hatred
The scenes coming from Gaza for weeks now are horrific. One of the most densely populated areas in the world is turning into an apocalyptic ruin — and a graveyard. According to available data, nearly half the…
- Unpleasant, but Smart
"\... marked the culmination of twenty years of democracy's unfulfilled promises to control unemployment, inflation, deflation, labour unrest, party egoism, and more. \... which was weary of itself and…
- Under the Skin, We Are All Africans
Wandering through the American South is something I particularly recommend to nature lovers—especially fans of alligators, barbecued ribs, and seafood fried beyond recognition. And did I mention the alligators?
- White Mark Robinson
"I am a black Nazi," declared a user named minisoldr ("little soldier") years ago on the pornographic website Naked Africa. Just days ago, CNN reported that this username belongs to none other than Mark…
- Lumpen-Capitalist
Browsing social media is like scratching at barely healed wounds. You know it's unwise and that you'll regret it, but you can't resist the temptation. This is especially true for the queen of the people’s…
- The Year Democracy Ran Out of Breath
Democracy—the liberal kind, based on the protection of individual rights and freedoms, free and fair elections, and democratic rule of law—is in pitiful shape at the end of 2024. It's running out of breath.…
- Schrödinger's Genocide
For much of the Slovenian public, including the President of the Republic, what is unfolding before our eyes in Gaza is a genocide of the Palestinian population. For others, including the former President of…