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Anti-NATO in Ljubljana
by anonymous
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The Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana has always been a popular target for the Slovenian government to propagate its pro-EU and pro-NATO political propaganda. Which does not come as such a surprise if we bear in mind that the faculty’s dean, Igor Luksic, is an ideologist with the second largest governmental party - United List of Social Democrats, while three of the biggest Slovenian "NATOmaniacs", Dimitrij Rupel (Minister of foreign affairs), Anton Grizold (Minister of defence) and Anton Bebler (President of the Northatlantic Council, sponsored by the government) are all professors at the faculty.
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STILL,
some "opposing voices" can be heard on the faculty. Vlado Miheljak and Andrej Kurnik are well known critics of NATO’s politics and of eventual Slovenian membership in this organization. Miheljak was once arrested for walking too close to the American Embassy (he was 200 meters away), while Kurnik was once interrogated by the police as a "potential terrorist".
While some get arrested for all these ridiculous "reasons", other professors are free to organize special lectures for students, even bringing in high level guests, such as NATO’s number one advertiser, Jamie Shea.
When we heard, that another such an event was about to happen with Cristopher Bennett, editor of NATO Review, coming to the Faculty of Social Sciences on March 14, we knew something had to be done about it. This faculty will not become a temple of pro-NATO Jehovah’s witnesses! Enough is enough.
March 11:
We've talked about it for a while, now the time has come to put our words into a direct action. The general idea is to "decorate" the faculty the night before Bennett’s visit. We’re meeting in a secret, safe place, about ten of us. As we gathered in a loose circle in that old "Hey, what’s up?" manner, it was clear, we’ll have some "ice breaking" to do. We’ve never worked together on such a direct action before. Some people have never been on the faculty and therefore don’t know what it looks like. But none of this presents a real problem to us. We started by assuring that everyone knows why we are doing this and how will the action look like, plus what are the possibilities of getting caught. We had with us three great sheets and some colourful sprays. Some put their heads together to think of various anti-NATO slogans for the sheets and graffiti for the faculty’s walls, while others carefully discussed the strategy of the action. We know that the only way for us to succeed lies in great amount of discipline.
March 12:
Four of us closely examine the faculty. We check each and every wall, where we could spray graffiti and we also decide we shall not spray on faculty’s new facade in order we don’t stand out as vandals. We draw a map of the faculty carefully, marking places for graffiti and the three sheets, which will be hung high on the new side of the faculty.
A few more people join us later. I didn’t know them personally, but they were friends of friends and what’s more important they were activists and had experience. We went over the plan once again and divided duties amongst each other. We needed to determine two pairs of guards, that would be located by the road in both directions from the faculty, so that they could distract the eventual police patrol, which would then give us enough time to withdraw safely away from the faculty. We needed two more people that would watch our back on the old side of the faculty, because the faculty has its own security guy as well. Others would do graffiti (about 20 selected anti-NATO slogans), while six people would also climb on the faculty and hang three sheets with messages of the same content. Time to do it? Less than 30 minutes.
March 14:
We gather at 1am at a friend’s place. All sixteen people show up with sixteen smiles and sixteen determined hearts to carry out the task. Those that were to do grafitti were given cans of spray and anti-NATO paroles, which they wrote on small pieces of paper just in case they forgot them. Guards were once again reminded why their job is the most important one. Those that were to do the climbing were given sheets. After checking if everything is in order, we organize ourselves into three casual groups and headed for the faculty.
At about 2.30am we met at the old part of the faculty. Some slight confusion was overcomed at the very beggining. We put masks on our faces and then started working. Ten pieces of graffiti immediately found their places on the walls we chose would be the best to greet Cristopher Bennett. As we headed on the other side of the faculty, things got a lot more tense. Here we were much more exposed to the street and students' homes nearby. But everyone knew what he or she should be doing and no special instructions were necessary. All that could be heard, was the sound of spraying in the half darkness, which calmly surrounded us. Six of us quickly divided into three pairs. Each pair had its own sheet. We climbed about 10-15 meters high and there we strongly tied up the sheets on the exterior framework of the buliding. As we were slowly backing down, we oiled the framework with slippering motor oil, which should prevent any "braveheart" from taking down our sheets. The oil was dripping on our shoes and when I almost fell down from the building, I was actually happy to see, that shit is working. In about 30 minutes we were long gone.
When Cristopher Bennett and his trusted host Anton Bebler came to the faculty on a beautiful Thursday morning, the faculty saluted them with huge and angry anti-NATO paroles, such as:
- Everyone for NATO, bombs for all!
NATO macht frei!
NATO base or new pediatric clinic?
Say no to NATO!
We have money for NATO, but not for school books?!
To NATO or not to NATO? Fuck NATO!
Who will be the new servant in NATO’s farm?
NATO - worldwide club of elite murderers
Long live all the nations, say no to NATO!
Freedom in front, NATO in garbage!
Club NATO, membership fee: DEATH
(‘Long live all the nations’ is the beginning of the Slovenian anthem)
And if Bennett and Bebler ignored the graffiti, they couldn’t have missed three giant sheets above their heads, that firmly reminded both of them, we shall not turn over the faculty without a fight. A fight for the right of freedom of speech.
- "It has to start somewhere,
it has to start sometime,
what better place than here,
what better time than now?"
(Rage Against the Machine)
Post scriptum:
I managed to get up at about nine in the morning. I was exhausted but at the same time I could still feel the adrenaline rushing down my veins. When hastening to the faculty I was wondering if the sheets were still up there. They were. And it was a beautiful sight. The television crew filmed the event. People were staring right and left and talked about who did it. I acted surprised as well. Then I went to see Bennett talk. His words sounded a bit bashful, a bit awkward, unconvincing. Like I was listening to a sheep behind the wolf's line. I left the classroom after ten minutes or so. I saw an interesting pamphlet that day, that really caught my eye. It said: "If you don’t want a revolution to surprise you, organize your own!"
- anonymous
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Anonymous:
In addition to the night action, "Say NO NATO" activists sent an email to the editor of NATO Review, Cristopher Bennett, stating why they graffitied the Faculty of Social Sciences with anti-NATO grafiti:
Dear - relatively speaking - Cristopher Bennett,
We are sending you this message in hope you’ll find space in Nato Review to publish it:
Faculty of Social Sciences (from now on FSS) has always been a popular target of our government’s intentions to propagate its proEU and specialy proNATO political propaganda. This does not come as a surprise, if we bear in mind, that the faculty’s dean, dr. Igor Luksic, is an ideologyst of a second largest govermental party, United List of Social Democrats, while three biggest Slovenian "Natomaniacs", dr. Dimitrij Rupel (Minister of foreign affairs), dr. Anton Grizold (Minister of defence) and dr. Anton Bebler (President of association Northatlantic Council, which is being sponsored by the government) are professors on the FSS.
Still some opposing voices can be heard on the FSS. Dr. Vlado Miheljak and mag. Andrej Kurnik are both well known critics of Nato’s politics and potential Slovenian membership in this organization. The first one was not long ago arrested for walking to close to American Embassy (he was 200 meters away and was on his way home), while the latter was last summer interogated by the police for supposed "act of terrorism" on Italian Embassy. (Police officer investigating this was fired recently, while Italian Embassy still doesn’t have any knowledge of a terrorist act being commited against them at all.)
While some professors get arrested and troubled for all the ridiculous reasons you can think of, others are freehanded to organize special pro-NATO lectures for students bringing in international guests, such as Nato’s number one speaker, Jamie Shea, etc. When we heard, that another such event is about to happen, with the editor of Nato review coming to our faculty, we said: "Enough is enough!"
On the night before your arrival we graffitied walls around the FSS and hang out three big transparents on the faculty itself stating our disagreement with Nato’s politics and our government’s official intentions to join this organization. Although it might seem to you, we assure you, that the action was not carried out against you personaly, its purpose was to send a clear message to the administration of the faculty and to the general public, that there are opposing voices on the FSS (and elsewhere), voices, that will not be silenced anymore.
As you have stated yourself in your lecture, there are many "NATO sceptics" in Slovenia. By the lastest public opinion poll regarding the eventual referendum on Slovenia’s joining NATO, 41.3 percent of people would oppose joining, while 38.8 percent would agree with it (representative sample N = 941, deducted by Public Opinion and Mass Communication Research Centre (CPOMC), Faculty of Social Sciences).
Our government is well aware of public’s opinion, but doesn’t really know how to respond to that without using already heard and washed out political stereotypes. That’s why they are calling upon foreign politicians and Nato’s representatives, which then appear in our medias, parliament, FSS, etc. and interpose to slovenian public their (your) view on why Slovenia should join Nato alliance. You are just a pawn in a chess game, that our government is playing against its own people. Our direct action was therefore carried out against the chess board.
You are (we are guessing) probably wondering, who are we. It might seem cowardly to you, but nevertheless we insist, that our names and faces are not important. All you need to know about us is, that we are a part of that growing population, that will get Slovenia away from NATO - one way or the other. The inevitable future will prove us right. And as far as you are concerned, consider yourself no longer welcome on our faculty.
With no special regards,
Say NO NATO
RecineNATO
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