Slovenia

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<small>BTW, any person who mixes up Slovenia and Slovakia on RationalWiki will be banned, beaten, castrated with a rusty razor dipped in frog saliva, forced to bathe in the sweat of fat redneck truck drivers, exiled to China, and finally assassinated by the <s>Slovakian</s> Slovenian ultranationalist intelligence agency and the <s>Slovenian</s> Slovakian ultranationalist intelligence agency alliance. Don't believe us? Well, why do you think you never see [[Bush]]y around anymore? Exactly.</small>
 
<small>BTW, any person who mixes up Slovenia and Slovakia on RationalWiki will be banned, beaten, castrated with a rusty razor dipped in frog saliva, forced to bathe in the sweat of fat redneck truck drivers, exiled to China, and finally assassinated by the <s>Slovakian</s> Slovenian ultranationalist intelligence agency and the <s>Slovenian</s> Slovakian ultranationalist intelligence agency alliance. Don't believe us? Well, why do you think you never see [[Bush]]y around anymore? Exactly.</small>
  
== Fun facts ==
+
== Trivia ==
 
* Slovenia has 14 ex-islands and 13 actual islands, of which one is in an underground cave, one has no name, two were artificially connected with mainland, four are impermanent and four are river islands. In other words, Slovenia has only one island.<ref>[http://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seznam_otokov_v_Sloveniji Slovene Wikipedia - List of Slovenian islands]</ref>
 
* Slovenia has 14 ex-islands and 13 actual islands, of which one is in an underground cave, one has no name, two were artificially connected with mainland, four are impermanent and four are river islands. In other words, Slovenia has only one island.<ref>[http://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seznam_otokov_v_Sloveniji Slovene Wikipedia - List of Slovenian islands]</ref>
 
* Slovenia is the 31st most forested country by percentage in the world, and 3rd most forested in Europe.<ref>[http://www.mongabay.com/deforestation_pcover.htm Mongabay.com - Countries by forested areas]</ref>
 
* Slovenia is the 31st most forested country by percentage in the world, and 3rd most forested in Europe.<ref>[http://www.mongabay.com/deforestation_pcover.htm Mongabay.com - Countries by forested areas]</ref>

Revision as of 09:02, 23 February 2012

Looking for Slovakia? Well, you are rewarded for your stupidity with having to type "slovakia" in the searchbox yourself!
Le, vkup, le vkup, uboga gmajna!
(Flock up, flock up, poor common!)
—the first words written in Slovenian, recounting a peasant revolt

Slovenia (Slovenian: Slovenija) is a small Central European country and a member of the European Union. It used to be a part of Yugoslavia before gaining independence in 1991.

Contents

National mysticism crankery

File:Origins 500A.png
Obviously a complete lie, Slovenians were here first!
See the main article on this topic: Venetic theory

Currently the most commonly held belief about the ethnogenesis of the Slovenes is that they are descendants of Slavs, who came to Middle Europe in the 6th century AD. Some nationalists, however, are trying to prove that the Slovenes are a master race by spreading the idea that their ancestors settled in the lands of modern Slovenia since forever prehistory. That, in a nutshell, is the "Venetic theory",[2] and that's exactly where it belongs.

Besides the Venetic theory, the Slovenes are the subject of many fringe nationalist theories. One argued that the Slovenes were so closely related to other Southern Slavs that they need to be assimilated into one Yugoslavian nation (ilirism). The "Windischar theory" argued that the Slovenes were actually Windischars (Slavicized Germans); Nazi Germany used this idea to justify the assimilation of Carinthians and Styrians into the German nation. A similar Hungarian theory said that Slovenes are actually "Wends". The Slovenes are one big crank magnet.

History

Modern Era

France Prešeren - he may be considered the William Shakespeare of the Slovenes, although he only wrote poems. He is the author of the Slovenian anthem.

After the last Holy Roman Emperor chickened out before the might of Napoleon, Slovenians ended up under the Habsburg Monarchy after a transitional period too complicated and boring to explain in which the last remnants of medieval society disappeared. The Germanic influence continued until the Slovenes said they would rather be under the Southern Slavic influence.

In the modern era, culture and science bloomed in Slovenia, thanks to Protestantism and the Enlightenment which fostered many of the best Slovenian scientists and cultural workers. The Slovenes also developed a sense of national consciousness for the first time in this era.

World War I

Slovenia fought on the Soča front during World War I, on Austria-Hungary's side, against Italy. They fared pretty well, until the monarchy dissolved in 1918 and the soldiers returned home, having no reason to continue with the fighting. Simon Gregorčič, a Slovenian poet, predicted that a large conflict would take place near Soča in his poem Soči (To Soča) in 1879.

Slovenes divided

The period between the world wars was marked by a spectacular splitting and assimilation of the Slovenes.

General Rudolf Maister in his awesome uniform and with his even awesomer mustache.

Ambitious Austrians wanted to keep the southern Styria under their control after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary. Thanks to a fellow by the name of general Rudolf Maister, who mobilised the Slovenes into the first Slovenian army and disarmed Austrian paramilitary groups, a better part of Slovenian Styria with the city Maribor remained under Slovenian control.

Mom, don't vote for Yugoslavia, because I have to go to army for king Peter!
The irony is that today, Austria has conscription while Slovenia doesn't. Also note how the poster is trying to emphasize Christianity.
In Yugoslavia, the farmer is the prince, in German Austria, it's the Jews and the barons!
The plebiscite propaganda from both sides was retarded.

Slovenian Carinthia ended up in Austria after the Carinthian plebiscite in 1920. Slovenian inhabitants of the now-Austrian Carinthia were assured that their minority rights would be guaranteed, but that's not how things turned out; the Slovenian population was largely Germanized. At the time of the plebiscite, 80% of Carinthians were Slovenes. In 1980s, only 33% of inhabitants spoke Slovenian. Today, the percentage is 2%.[3] After Hitler annexed Austria, Slovenians lost the small amount of rights they had. To this day, issues concerning the Slovenian minority aren't settled in Austria. Slovenians finally got a Slovene high school in Klagenfurt (Celovec) in 1957, even though there were protesters saying that a "Slovenian high school in Klagenfurt is the great poison." It would be very interesting to find out how many of them were of Slovene ancestry.
Anyhow, Carinthia remains a monument to how difficult it is to sustain a multi-national state - it seems assimilation or dissolution are only options, as shown in case of all three Yugoslavias, Austria-Hungary, Russia etc. Fact remains that all problems in Carinthia would be resolved in matter of generations if an obligatory bilingual education would be employed.

In 1918, the entire Slovenian Littoral (along with one third of the Slovenian population) were handed over to Italy to satisfy their nationalist frustrations after the World War I. That was just plain wrong. The Slovenians were treated even worse than in Austria, and the use of their language was forbidden. And that was before Benito Mussolini rose to power. The repression ultimately backfired with quite strong armed and peaceful resistance emerging. After the Second World War, the Littoral was returned to Slovenian control.

Early Yugoslavia

See also: Yugoslavia.

The Country of Slovenians, Croatians and Serbians (Slovenian: Država Slovencev, Hrvatov in Srbov, abbreviated SHS) lasted three months until the king took over. SHS was merged with Serbia and "The Country of Serbians, Croatians and Slovenes" (known almost exclusively as "Yugoslavia'," note they put Serbians instead of Slovenians at the beginning of the name) emerged. Yugoslavia was ruled by the Karađorđević lineage.

The Slovenes again were about to be assimilated into Yugoslavia. For instance, regions of the kingdom were named after rivers instead of national regions. The academy in Ljubljana was called "Ljubljana Academy" instead of "Slovene Academy". Yugoslavia was heavily centralized, Serbia (just by chance) being the centre. The rise of nazism in Croatia gave birth to the ustaše nationalist movement that finally got a national region in the kingdom. Ustaše country collaborated with nazis and even had a horrible concentration camp.

The Second World War

See also: Partisan.

National hero Franc Rozman - Stane, he died while testing new mortars. Some cranks persist in their belief that he was murdered.

World War II is a clusterfuck of misinformation from both sides the most disputed part of Slovenian history. Nazi occupation and resistance to it was complex and one cannot simply categorize Nazis and collaborators as evil and the resistance as heroes with no innocent blood on their hands. Well, actually, some people do that.

First, a list of all of the participants in Yugoslav front of World War II:

  • Germans.
  • Italians.
  • Hungarians.
  • Partisans. Anti-fascist, Communist-led and strongest resistance movement in Yugoslavia.
  • The White Guard, aka. Voluntary Anti-communist Militia or the Rural Guards. Established in 1942 by the Italians and destroyed the following year. Operated near Ljubljana.
  • The Home Guards, aka. Domobranci. Established in 1944 by the Germans with support of the Ljubljana Catholic Church (the Styrian Catholic Church didn't collaborate and was repressed because of that). The Home Guard was a collaboration militia, doing the pretty much same crimes as the occupiers. After the war, most of the domobranci were shot and thrown to caves. One of them escaped the execution and fathered one of the greatest humanitarians on the world.

Germany, Italy and Hungary invaded the Slovenian lands in 1941 and met practically zero resistance. Hungary occupied the Prekmurje territory, Germany occupied Styria, Upper Carniola and Carinthia, and Italy got everything else. Soon after the beginning of the occupation, the Anti-Imperialist Front (later renamed to the Liberation Front) was established. The Liberation Front grew strong, and throughout World War II, there were patches of liberated territory in Slovenia.

After Italy capitulated in 1943, the partisans disarmed the Italian army in Slovenia and defeated the White Guard using the newly-acquired weaponry. The Germans took over what Italy left behind and established the Home Guards out of the remnants of the White Guard.

Thanks to the Western allies, no fascists were tried for crimes committed between the wars or during the occupation of Slovenia.[4] In Italy, there are still fascist veterans' organizations who blame the Yugoslavian government for various (sometimes made up) crimes. Interestingly, the Littoral Slovenes hold no agenda that strong, although they went through much more shit under Italy than the Italians under Yugoslavia.

We can learn 4 things from Slovenia in the Second World War:

  • Communism doesn't work. Don't trust people who say it does.
  • If you want to fight against the occupiers, do it.
  • If you don't want to fight against the occupiers, at least don't help them more than is absolutely necessary.
  • Stop bickering so much about an event that took place 70 years ago.

The Third Yugoslavia

The leader of the National Liberation Front of Yugoslavia, Marshall Josip Broz Tito, became the leader of Yugoslavia in 1945. Sure, at the start of his rule, some guys were shot and dumped into caves, and human rights were violated on the daily basis but whatever, what's important is that Tito was a great leader. Really.

Independence

After Tito died in 1980, the Slovenes were once again targeted for assimilation by the Yugoslavian nations, so they packed their bags and left the state in 1991, after 10 bloody days of combat claiming 18 Slovenian victims. And so, the Slovenes finally got t5heir independence after 1500 years of struggle.

The 1992 murder of Ivan Kramberger is an interesting study of Slovenian politics. Kramberger was a humanitarian who donated dialysis machines to hospitals and shared his money with the poor. He won 20% of the vote in the first Slovenian presidential elections.[5] He was killed by a drunk who shot him from 63 meters away with a hunting rifle, hitting Kramberger directly in the heart during one of his pre-election rallies. The murderer was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but was released in 2001. The assassin's motivation remains unknown, but most Slovenians blame former Yugoslav communist elites for the assassination.[6][7][8] Ever since him, there were 0 politicians actually giving a fuck for the people.

Slovenia has so much potential and yet uses it poorly. Things could be worse, though. Nations can also learn one important lesson from Slovenians: settle concentrated goddamnit!

Politics

Categories

the Left (aka "Socialists") - corresponding word for English "liberal" (a term used very rarely in Slovenia)
Primarily defined as the ones without Christian values. They have have a soft spot for communist resistance and for post-war communist governments and a hate-on for Nazi collaborators. They like to whine about the atrocities of the Church. The left like progress.

the Right (aka "Democrats") - corresponding word for English "conservative" (a term not used at all in Slovenia)
Primarily defined as the ones with Christian values. They have a soft spot for Nazi collaborators and a hate-on for communist resistance and post-war communist governments. They like to whine about a communist bias in recent mainstream historiography. The right like tradition.

Those are definitions most average Slovenians will be able to give you. Remember political spectrum? Yeah, forget about that, it's all Jesus and Tito.

Important Slovenian politicians

  • Zoran "Zoki" Janković, who is of mixed Slovenian and Serbian ancestry is the leader of the party that won the elections, Positive Slovenia, and mayor of Slovenia's capital, Ljubljana.
  • Janez Janša is an insanely awesome Slovene politician, mainly because he owns an iPad. He carries it with him to parliament and tweets directly from meetings. He tweeted while the former prime minister, Borut Pahor, was giving a speech in which he unsuccessfully tried to prevent being deposed.[9] A judge once took away Janša's iPad while he was in court .[10] Oh, he is also the leader of SDS (Slovenian Democratic Party, Slovenian: Slovenska demokratska stranka), perhaps one of the most important Slovenian political parties. He was the prime minister of Slovenia from 2004-2008 and will probably be again in 2012.[11] He played a significant role in Slovenian independence, but his contributions were shadowed by multiple affairs in recent years. He is worshipped by right-wingers.
  • Kahel Ehjavec is the leadeh of DeSUS, Demochatic Pahty of Slovene Pensionehs. He is fohmeh Ministeh of Defence. Ehjavec was involved in a scandal afteh some suspicious deals with Finland wehe made concerning ahmohed vehicles.
  • Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti (Zmago Jelinčič the Noble, "the Noble" supposedly being an honorific) is a nationalist politician and leader of the SNS (Slovene Nationalist Party, Slovene: Slovenska nacionalna stranka), known for being extremely sharp-tongued and allegedly offensive. He supports the Venetic theory.[12] He lost his seat in the 2011 general elections.
  • Borut "So what?" Pahor was the prime minister of Slovenia from 2008-2012. He was known for acting very eccentric in public, often using English phrases such as "So what?," "What a difficult job," "Off the record," as well as soft swears such as "Crucifix."

Immigration

Slovenia's relatively strong economy has attracted immigrants from across the Balkans seeking economic opportunity; like many immigrants around the world, they tend to work long hours for low pay and live in less-than-ideal conditions. Some Slovenian ethnic nationalists fear that immigrants may eventually change the face of the Slovene nation.

This kind of ethnic nationalism also manifests in language - for instance, to call someone "Bosnian" or "Šiptar" (Albanian) can be an insult, while the word "čefur" (which comes from Turkish for "Jew") is a word for all people of southern descent.

Religions

History

The Slavic predecessors of the Slovenes were Pagans. They were converted to Catholicism partially as the result of successful military actions by the Christian Bavarians and partially through the influence of missionaries.

Up until the Yugoslavian period, the Church continued to have a strong say in Slovenian society and politics. There were traces of secularism and anti-clericalism(both the result of growing leftist presence), though.

In communist Yugoslavia many people described themselves as atheists, as it was very convenient not to be religious.

Since independence, Catholics are in the majority again. The theocracy is disappearing, mostly.

Atheism

The major religion of Slovenia is Roman Catholicism, although the number of Catholics is persistently falling. Since Slovenia has heavy communist roots, there are many so-called atheists that don't actually disbelieve in God, but just hate the Church. Sexual abuse by priests and the Church's history of collaboration with the Nazis are hot-button issues.[13]

LGBT in Slovenia

See also: Civil Initiative for Family and Children's Rights.

The Family Code, a set of laws that gives homosexual partnerships the same legal standing as heterosexual partnerships and makes gay adoption easier, was passed by Slovenia's parliament. Slovenian opponents of the Family Code mask their anti-gay activism as "supporting family values" or as "protecting children's rights". Some conservative politicians (*cough*Jelinčič*cough*) go so far as to equate gay adoption to pedophilia.[14]

The principle "family values" organization in Slovenia is the Civil Initiative for Family and Children's Rights,[15] which enjoys broad Catholic support. Another one is the Family Initiative, an older organization of right-wing politicians, which is less insane than the Civil Initiative, as they only oppose gay adoption, but is still trying to enforce a compromised law which would only even out gay and hetero partnerships, but ban adoption.[16]

The Civil Initiative succeeded to put the law on referendum by filing in 42,000+ signatures. They celebrated by releasing pigeons and pissing on recitating a song from Tone Pavček, a lately died poet, that was supporting the Family Code.[17][18]

Other religions

Slovenia is also home to 50 000 Muslims, some of whom are fundamentalists. They enjoy leftist support.

Media

News

The most-watched TV-news in Slovenia is the fairly-balanced 24ur (24hours).

The second-most-watched is Svet (World), which is not objective at all, but is at least balanced, as it openly attacks anything the journalists perceive as wrong, whether it's left-wing, right-wing or centre. A frequent newscaster is Nuša Lesar, a model. Sounds familiar?

Christian media

Christianity enjoys a strong presence in Slovenian media.

The most popular serial religious publications are the Christian journals Družina ("Family") and Ognjišče ("Fireplace").Tretji dan ("Third Day") is also quite popular, but is an academic publication. Družina and Ognjišče are strong supporters of Civil Initiative, and they often publish interviews with party members.

There is also a Christian radio station called Ognjišče where leftists are constantly attacked.[19]

Magazines

In Slovenia, there's a magazine for any activity more than four persons are involved with. One of the more popular magazines is 7 days, somewhat left-leaning entertainment magazine that also likes to spread woo, lots and lots of woo. Mladina (which is leaning to the left more than a motocross driver on a left turn) has been around since '43 and is pretty much the chief leftist wingnut magazine.

The difference between Slovenia and Slovakia

BTW, any person who mixes up Slovenia and Slovakia on RationalWiki will be banned, beaten, castrated with a rusty razor dipped in frog saliva, forced to bathe in the sweat of fat redneck truck drivers, exiled to China, and finally assassinated by the Slovakian Slovenian ultranationalist intelligence agency and the Slovenian Slovakian ultranationalist intelligence agency alliance. Don't believe us? Well, why do you think you never see Bushy around anymore? Exactly.

Trivia

  • Slovenia has 14 ex-islands and 13 actual islands, of which one is in an underground cave, one has no name, two were artificially connected with mainland, four are impermanent and four are river islands. In other words, Slovenia has only one island.[20]
  • Slovenia is the 31st most forested country by percentage in the world, and 3rd most forested in Europe.[21]
  • Slovenian has 2.5 million speakers and 34 dialects.[22]
  • The title of the Slovenian national anthem is Toast.[23] Captures the Slovenian zeitgeist very well.
  • In Slovenian, the noun masculinity is feminine.[24]
  • Germany is called Nemčija in Slovenia. The term comes from the lexical root nem, which means mute.
  • Slovene word for "jealousy," ljubosumje, can be literally translated as love-suspecting. Cute.

Glej tudi

Opombe

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