28 February 2000

The topic of 31st Journalist evening with Petar Lukovic, Predrad Lucic and Tonci Kuzmanic was hate speech. »In Serbia hate speech can be translated to common sense,« a Belgrade journalist Lukovic sarcastically commented in the beginning of the evening and read some of the rich range of Serbian propaganda machine. Hate speech in Serbia was developing for ten years and was in the beginning of the conflict in Yugoslavia focused against Slovenians and Albanians then Croatians Muslims, European Union and finally against Americans and the whole world. Croatian journalist Predrag Lucic was also ironical when he said that there is no hate speech after the election because the worst thing to say in Croatia is to say that the ex ruling party - Tudjman's Croatian democratic community is in the opposition. Tonci Kuzmanic the author of the study of the hate speech in Slovenia said that today's European fascism functions as refined cultural racism which is focused against different lifestyles. Kuzmanic thinks that we must fight against that. »Duty of all the citizens is to defend the weak no matter who is attacked. Lucic said that one can't know what will be the effect of his public engagement. But if one acts like he is deaf and blind, stupidness will become part of the reality and of the textbooks in the school. That's why he wrote »The Antology of Modern Croatian Stupidness« which come out of Feral Tribune's popular rubric »Greates Shits«. The rubric goes on, because stupidness is eternal, says Lucic. Lukovic also said that hate speech in Serbia existed before the appearance of the physical violence which is now based upon unwritten rule that that what is said can be also done. »Everything what's going on in Slovenia is just ten minutes of the happenings in Serbia. There, everything is possible, science fiction dosen't exist anymore, said Lucic and added that everybody must clean before their doors. Kuzmanic warned that hate speech in Slovenia which can be found only in »half public sphere« - the buses, pubs, etc. will become through media present in the »real public«. »Cultural racism in Slovenia will become a lot more sophisticated and civilised but in the essence it won't be much different from one existing now, said Kuzmanic.