Far-right politics in Slovenia
[citation needed] While far-right actors have been responsible for multiple acts of violent extremism in Slovenia[2][3][5] it is a relatively minor issue in the country.
[6][failed verification] The far-right groups and subcultures in Slovenia have traditionally been largely impenetrable to uninitiated observers, existing in closed communities into which new members would need to be initiated, or "grandfathered", into.
[2][9] Though neo-Nazi groups are not on the whole more common than in other countries and represent a relatively low security risk, the tolerant attitude of the authorities towards neo-Nazi-organised events has led to a boom in private neo-Nazi social gatherings such as parties and concerts; because such activities are not prohibited by law per se, Slovenia has become "a veritable Mecca for international activity and cooperation of extremists", according to a parliamentary investigative committee looking into the matter.
[3] After the international B & H computer network was infiltrated by hackers and the data made available to the public, it was revealed that the Slovenian B & H faction was one of the most numerous and active, with membership comparable to that of Spain (which has a population 20 times that of Slovenia).
[7] B & H members allegedly received training by members of the Slovene armed forces (including by ranking members) on an army training area and with advanced weaponry, borrowed army weaponry (a rocket launcher), attempted to purchase handguns, pressured detectives and individual politicians, were involved in direct correspondence with Norwegian terrorist and mass murderer Anders Breivik by both mail and e-mail, with multiple B & H members receiving his manifesto before Breivik's killing spree,[17][18] and were allegedly intimately implicated in orchestrating the violent riots which took place amid the 2012–13 Slovenian protests[17][18] (the organised group of violent agitators that disrupted a major protest in Ljubljana was also suspected of having been trained, hired, and compensated, possibly by a political party, according to police sources).
[26][27] Slovene skinheads were initially (at the close of the 1980s) – as was the case in other countries – mostly "beer drinkers, party-goers, fighters, sports fans, patriots, and anti-communists", before becoming an almost exclusively "Nazi and racist" subculture during the 90s.
[41][1] The group also opposes "immigration, islamisation of Europe, homosexual families, alcohol and drug abuse, violence against animals [...] capitalism, liberalism, democracy, communism, and anarchy", abortion,[42] and environmentalism.
The posters variously included a picture of two male exhibitionists engaging in a sex act with the underlying message reading "UNACEPTABLE Would you leave your children's upbringing up to people like this?
[...]", or a Nazi propaganda image portraying an "ideal" Aryan family while blaming "abortions and same-sex partnerships" for a low birth rate and alleged poor health of the nation.
The group's Facebook site has rallied against "western liberals and Marxists" that finance "various degenerate movements and phenomena in Eastern Europe", and also contains instances of homophobia and anti-Semitism.
[49][48][45] Activity of the Slovene branch of the far-right[29] and alt-right[39] Identitarian movement began to mount months prior to the 2018 Slovenian parliamentary election.
The organisation also maintains close relations with counterparts in other countries, in particular, Austria (with Slovene members partaking in events of Austrian Identitarians).
[62] The institute organises social activities such as Krav Maga personal defense courses, and ceremonial wreath-laying on the grave of Rudolf Maister (a Slovene general and national hero).
According to Racist Extremism in Central & Eastern Europe, the Rudolph Maister Division was founded at the start of the 21. century by the neo-Nazi group Blood & Honour.
[62] In early September 2018, photographs and videos of masked men - some armed with various weapons, and standing in military formation - surfaced on social media.
[63][64][65][66] Claims by the user who published the imagery that the armed group was Slovene were initially met with incredulity and scepticism, and led to speculation that the photos were of Russian or other foreign paramilitaries.
[65][67] The images and videos portray some 70 masked individuals[64] who could be seen wearing black balaclavas and drab army green T-shirts embroidered with emblems.
"[73] Šiško, a former leader of the Maribor sports supporters group Viole, has also headed the ultrapatriotic Hervardi society for over a decade and a half.
Hervardi had in the past also organised periodic get-togethers where members, clad semi-matching clothing (matching shirts and baseball caps embroidered with emblems, with participants many also wearing fatigue bottoms), engaged in group activities that included flag raising, and paintball tournaments.
[76] He also declared his intention to form similar paramilitaries in other regions of the country,[68] and that their members may soon number several thousand, at which point the situation may aggravate if he is not heeded.
[76] Šiško said the guard was intended to "maintain order and peace, and control the borders", and would respond to "direct threats to our region, our homeland, our nation".
The suspects were facing charges of inciting violent change of the constitutional order, and illicit arms, and drug trafficking (the searches also yielded about a pound of cannabis).
[81][82] Šiško also published a satirical video showed an outdoor gathering of several individuals alongside Šiško – all dressed in matching black uniforms and masked with balaclavas – handling various weapons (including multiple apparent firearms (ostensibly replicas), and several cold weapons, including a knife with a serrated back edge, axes, chainsaws, a pickaxe, a hoe, and a scythe) and enacting a mock-arrest of violent immigrants (while their remake of volksmusik tracks with vocals mimicking machine gun-sounds plays in the background (the video also features cut scenes of participants recording the music in a studio)).
In November 2019, police, patrolling the border for migrant crossings, came across a group of 41 apparently armed guardists and seized 7 pieces of suspected firearms.
[84][85] Due to the incidents, the government proposed legal changes in late November that would enable police to more easily curtail the activities of the guardists.
[86] In December 2019, while patrolling the border, police again encountered 23 guardists and seized two handguns, an expandable baton, an electroshock weapon, and a pair of nunchuks.
The group entered into a confrontation with riot police, pelting them with powerful firecrackers, bottles, cobblestones, Molotov cocktails, and homemade explosive devices.
[7] The incident prompted the establishment of a parliamentary investigative committee to look into the operation of extremist groups in Slovenia and their possible political ties, and adapt laws so as to be better able to address and combat extremism.
