european islamophobia european …...b y gathering 35 local scholars, experts, and civil society...

B y gathering 35 local scholars, experts, and civil society activists specialized in racism and human rights, the fifth edition of the European Islamophobia Report addresses a still timely and politically important issue. All 32 country reports

included in this book follow a unique structure that is convenient, first, for comparing countries and, second, for selected readings on a particular topic such as politics, em-ployment, or education with regard to Islamophobia across Europe.

The present report investigates in detail the underlying dynamics that directly or indirectly support the rise of anti-Muslim racism in Europe. This extends from Islamophobic state-ments spread in national media to laws and policies that restrain the fundamental rights of European Muslim citizens and threaten the whole of society. As a result, the European Islamophobia Report 2019 discusses the impact of anti-Muslim racism on human rights, multiculturalism, and the state of law in Europe.

This fifth edition of our report highlights how European societies are progressively over-whelmed by the Islamophobic discourse of the “Great Replacement” and other far-right conspiracy theories. The 32 country reports demonstrate how governments and main-stream media participate in reproducing such discourses that put the fundamental rights of millions of European citizens in jeopardy and how one can counteract these developments.

This compendium of useful insights and data aims to provide European policy-makers, institutions, and NGOs with recommendations on how to tackle anti-Muslim racism in Europe seriously.

About SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA) is a non-profit research institute based in Turkey dedicated to innovative studies on national, regional and in-ternational issues. SETA is the leading think tank in Turkey and has offices in Ankara, Istanbul, Washington D.C., Berlin and Brussels. The objective of SETA is to produce up-to-date and accurate knowledge and analyses in the fields of politics, economy, and society, and inform policy makers and the public on changing political, economic, social, and cultural conditions. Through research reports, publications, brain storming sessions, conferences and policy recommendations, SETA seeks to guide leaders in government, civil society, and business, and contributes to informed decision making mechanisms.

ANKARA • ISTANBUL • WASHINGTON D.C. • BERLIN • BRUSSELS

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EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA

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ENES BAYRAKLI • FARID HAFEZ (Eds)

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EUROPEAN ISLAMOPHOBIA

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COPYRIGHT © 2020 by SETA

All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, without permission in writing from the publishers.

ISBN: 978-625-7040-52-5

First Published in 2020

Cover and Layout: Erkan SöğütProofreading: Dr. Eva Stamoulou OralPrinted in Turkey, İstanbul by Turkuvaz Haberleşme ve Yayıncılık A.Ş.,

SETA | FOUNDATION FOR POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCHNenehatun Caddesi No: 66 GOP Çankaya 06700 Ankara TÜRKİYEPhone:+90 312.551 21 00 | Fax :+90 312.551 21 90www.setav.org | [email protected] | @setavakfi

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ABOUT EDITORS

Enes Bayraklı Mr. Bayraklı earned his BA, MA and PhD from the Department of Political Sci-ence at the University of Vienna, and conducted research for his PhD thesis at the University of Nottingham in Britain between 2009 and 2010. He took office as a deputy director at Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Center in London in 2011-2013. Mr. Bayraklı also served as the founding director of Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centers in Constanta and Bucharest during the period of August-December 2012. Mr. Bayraklı has been a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at the Turkish-German University since 2013. His fields of research include the Trans-formation of Turkish Foreign Policy, Cultural Diplomacy, Foreign Policy Analysis, German Politics and Foreign Policy. [email protected]

Farid HafezFarid Hafez, PhD (Political Science, University of Vienna), is a political scientist and non-resident senior researcher at Georgetown University’s “The Bridge Initiative” at the School of Foreign Service. He defended his habilitation thesis on “Islam Politics in the Second Republic of Austria” at the University of Salzburg in 2019. In 2017, he was a Fulbright visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley and in 2014, he was a visiting scholar at Columbia University, New York. Since 2010, he has been the editor of the Islamophobia Studies Yearbook, and since 2015 the co-editor of the European Islamophobia Report. Hafez has received the Bruno Kreisky Award for the “Political Book of the Year” for his anthology Islamophobia in Austria (co-edited with John Bunzl). He has more than 100 publications in leading journals such as Politics and Religion, Patterns of Prejudice, and German Politics and Society. His latest publications are Islamophobia in Muslim Majority Societies (Routledge, co-edited with Enes Bayrakli, 2019) and Feindbild Islam. Über die Salonfähigkeit von Rassismus (Islam-ophobia. On the Acceptance of Racism. Bohlau, 2019). Email: [email protected]

For more information about the EIR:[email protected]

721islamophobiaeurope.com • @islamophobiaEIR

ISLAMOPHOBIA IN SLOVENIA

ANA FRANK

ISLAMOPHOBIA IN

SLOVENIANATIONAL REPORT 2019

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The AuthorAna Frank received her PhD from the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana in 2013. From 2007 to 2014, she worked as a researcher on several Eu-ropean projects at the Peace Institute, a renowned NGO in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Between 2005 and 2007, she was a visiting student in Turkey at the University of Istanbul and at Ankara University. She complemented her studies at the University of Lodz, Poland, and Florida International University, USA. In 2012-2013, she con-ducted a research at Sabancı University in Istanbul for her PhD thesis entitled “The Influence of the Europeanisation Context on Religious Discourses in Gender Equal-ity and Intimate Citizenship Policies in Turkey”. Her fields of research and academic interest are international relations, policy analysis, political studies, gender studies, religious studies, cultural studies, Orientalism and postcolonial studies, discourse analysis, nationalism, discrimination, Europeanisation, Turkey, and Islam. Her book Feminism and Islam: Turkish Women between the Orient and the West (Slovenian and English language editions) was published by the Peace Institute in 2014. She works as a freelance researcher. Email: [email protected]

Disclaimer: Statements of fact and opinion in the national reports of the European Islamophobia Report are those of the respective authors. They are not the expression of the editors or the funding institutions. No representation, either expressed or im-plied, is made of the accuracy of the material in the national reports. The editors of the European Islamophobia Report cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The reader must make his or her own evaluation of the accuracy and appropriateness of the material.

To cite this report: Ana Frank: Islamophobia in Slovenia: National Report 2019, in: Enes Bayraklı & Farid Hafez, European Islamophobia Report 2019, Istanbul, SETA, 2020.

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Executive Summary In April 2019, Bernard Brščič, who has written extensively in various right-wing me-dia about the incompatibility of Islam and Europe, formed a new right-wing party called Domovinska liga or DOM (Homeland league or HOME) and was elected as its president. In May 2019, four migrants hijacked a car together with its Slovene driver at the Slovenian-Croatian border to take advantage of his car. They eventual-ly released the hostage and attempted to flee to Italy by foot. Claiming protection from such events caused by migrants entering via Slovenian borders, the paramili-tary groups of Štajerska varda (Styrian Guards) performed vigilante activities on the borders of Slovenia. Their leader Andrej Šiško was found guilty of “Incitement to Violent Change of the Constitutional Order” and sentenced to prison for 8 months. In October, the government took action for banning and limiting these groups and their activities, and proposed bills for an amendment of the relevant laws to the parliament. In August 2019, the president of the Slovenian Nationalist Party Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti posted on Twitter a photo of a woman in a burkini at a bathing area in Slovenia. In September, Nova 24TV published an article condemning the option of halal food in a public elementary school, claiming that children are treated unequally because a pork-free diet option for Muslim children is offered without pre-conditionin any medical report as is required for the dietary needs of other children.



PovzetekAprila 2019 je Bernard Brščič, ki je v različnih desnih medijih obširno pisal o nezdru-žljivosti islama in Evrope, ustanovil novo desničarsko stranko z imenom Domovinska liga ali DOM in bil izvoljen za njenega predsednika. Maja 2019 so štirje migranti ug-rabili slovenskega državljana na slovensko-hrvaški meji, da bi izkoristili njegov avto-mobil. Na poti so izpustili talca in skušali peš pobegniti v Italijo. Paravojaške skupine Štajerske varde in vaške straže so z izgovorm o obranitvi Slovenije in slovenskih meja pred vstopom migrantov, samoiniciativno pričele s stražo ob slovenskih mejah. Mar-ca je bil vodja Štajerske varde Andrej Šiško spoznan za krivega napeljevanja k nasilni spremembi ustave in obsojen na 8 mesecev zapora. Vlada je oktobra sprejela ukrepe za prepoved in omejitev paravojaških skupin in njihovih dejavnosti ter državnemu zboru predlagala spremembo ustreznih zakonov. Predsednik Slovenske nacionalne stranke Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti je avgusta 2019 na twitterju objavil fotografijo o pojavu žensk v burkiniju na slovenskih kopališčih. Nova 24TV je septembra objavila članek, v katerem obsoja možnost brezpogojne ponudbe halal hrane (brez svinjine) v eni od javnih osnovnih šol in trdi, da so zaradi tega otroci obravnavani neenako, saj morajo starši za druge dietne zahteve priložiti zdravniška potrdila, isti pogoj pa ni zahtevan za hrano brez svinjine.

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Country ProfileEIR 2019

Country: SloveniaType of Regime: Democratic systemForm of Government: Parliamentary RepublicRuling Parties: Coalition of List of Marjan Šarec (LMŠ); Social Democrats

(SD); Party of Modern Center (SMC); Party of Alenka Bratušek (SAB); Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS), with formal support of the Left (Levica). Main ideology: Central-Left, Liberal, Social-Democrat.

Opposition Parties: Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), New Slovenia (NSi), Slovenian National Party (SNS). Main ideology: Right-wing, Christian Democrat, Conservative, Nationalist.

Last Elections: Presidential election in 2017 (President Borut Pahor won 53.09% of the vote against 46.91% for Marjan Šarec). Parliamentary and local elec-tions in 2018: right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) of Janez Janša won the election with 24.92% of votes with 25 seats; List of Marjan Šarec (LMŠ) won 13 seats; Social Democrats (SD), 10 seats; Party of Modern Center (SMC) of Miro Cerar, 10 seats; The Left (Levica), 9 seats; New Slovenia (NSi), 7 seats; Party of Alen-ka Bratušek (SAB), 5 seats; Democratic Party of Pensioners of Slovenia (DeSUS), 5 seats; Slovenian National Party (SNS), 4 seats; Italian and Hungarian national com-munities each were given 1 seat automatically. The government was formed by the coalition of LMŠ-SD-SMC-SAB-DeSUS with the support of the Left.

Total Population: 2,089,310 (1 July 2019)Major Languages: The official and majority language is Slovenian; official mi-

nority languages are Italian and Hungarian. Serbo-Croatian is also spoken by ex-Yu-goslav immigrants although it is not an official language.

Official Religion: No official religion (secularism), but the majority is Christian Catholic.

Statistics on Islamophobia: N/AStatistics on Racism and Discrimination: According to the last available An-

nual Report of the Advocate of the Principle of Equality for 2018, discrimination on the basis of disability was reported in 15 cases (9.62%), followed by cases involv-ing ethnicity, race, and ethnic background (14 cases or 8.24% of which 8 cases are race-related and 4 cases are related to race or ethnic background). Gender-based dis-crimination occurred in 8 cases (4.71%), followed by discrimination based on reli-gion or belief (7 cases or 4.12%); age and sexual orientation (5 cases, or 2.94% each); social status, financial situation, and place of residence (2 cases or 1.18% each).

Major Religions (% of Population): According to the 2002 census: Christian Catholic 57.8%, Christian Protestant 0.8%, Christian Orthodox 2.3%, Muslim 2.4%, Other 0.2%, No religion 3.5%, Atheist 10.2%, No answer 15.7%, Unknown 7.1%.



Muslim Population (% of Population): Around 47,000 people (2.4%) ac-cording to the 2002 census (Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia).

Main Muslim Community Organizations: The Islamic Community in Slo-venia (Islamska skupnost v Sloveniji), The Slovenian Muslim Community (Slovenska muslimanska skupnost)

Main NGOs Combating Islamophobia: Peace Institute (Mirovni inštitut), Slovene Philanthropy (Slovenska filantropija), Amnesty International, Society UP Jesenice (Društvo UP Jesenice), ROG Factory (Tovarna ROG), SLOGA - Slovenian Global Action, PIC - Legal Informational Center

Far-Right Parties: Slovenian National Party (Slovenska nacionalna stranka), Homeland League (Domovinska liga)

Far-Right Movements: Movement United Slovenia (Gibanje Zedinjena Sloveni-ja), Uprising of Slovenians (Upor Slovencev), Generation Identity Slovenia (Generaci-ja Identitete Slovenija)

Far-Right Terrorist Organizations: N/ALimitations to Islamic Practices: ű Hijab Ban: None ű Halal Slaughter Ban: None. Limited to mandatory stunning of animals be-

fore slaughter. ű Minaret Ban: None. The minaret should not be taller than 40 m. ű Circumcision Ban: None ű Burka Ban: None ű Prayer Ban: None

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IntroductionIn April 2019, a new party was formed in Slovenia. Bernard Brščič, who has written extensively in various right-wing media about the incompatibility of Islam and Europe, formed a new right-wing party called Domovinska liga or DOM (Homeland league or HOME) and was elected as its president. Slovenian parties prepared themselves for the European parliamentary elections of 26 May, where a coalition of the Slovenian Dem-ocratic Party (SDS) and Slovenian’s People’s Party (SLS) gained 3 representatives in the European People’s Party (EPP); Social Democrats (SD) 2 representatives in Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D); the List of Marjan Šarec (LMŠ) entered with 2 representatives in Renew Europe; and New Slovenia (NSi) with 1 representative in the EPP.1 In the pre-election period parties mostly focused on topics like security, migration, development, and the future of Slovenia in EU. In September 2019, Slove-nia’s national carrier Adria Airways filed for bankruptcy proceedings due to insolvency. Besides these major events, Slovenia was busy with corruption affairs and internal dis-putes among political parties, political members, and state organs.

Discussion of Islamophobic Incidents and Discursive EventsPhysical and Verbal Attacks No explicit attack on Muslims or Muslim premises has been recorded. However, the paramilitary groups’ activities at the borders are a specific phenomenon. Because of migrants entering Slovenia by crossing the border with Croatia, paramilitary groups called Štajerska varda committed themselves to “defend” the borders from illegal immigrants. Especially the event of 9 May 2019, when four migrants from Moroc-co and Alger hijacked a car with its Slovene driver in it on the Slovenian-Croatian border, Bela Krajina region, stirred up the claims that the Slovenian territory and citizens are unsafe, and, therefore, that there is a need for protecting the borders. The group of four migrants eventually released the hostage and attempted to flee to Italy by foot. The Italian police later captured three of the four migrants and returned them to Slovenia.2 The actions of the paramilitary groups are regarded as a threat to the Slovenian institutional order.

EmploymentFrom last year there has been no crucial change in the employment field. Muslims still face problems since there is no legal framework (except for the religious rights

1. “Rezultati po nacionalnih strankah: 2019–2024”, Rezultati evropskih volitev 2019, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/election-results-2019/sl/nacionalni-rezultati/slovenija/2019-2024/, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

2. “Policija: Trije ugrabitelji so iz Maroka in Alžirije, četrtega iščejo”, Delo, 9 May 2019, https://www.delo.si/novice/crna-kronika/migranti-naj-bi-v-beli-krajini-ugrabili-domacina-179068.html, (Access date: 23 January 2020).



as protected nominally by the constitution) guaranteeing the actual performance of their religious rights in the workplace (time and place for worship, possibilities of consuming halal food, celebration of Islamic holidays, and religious clothing such as headscarves). According to the last available Annual Report of the Advocate of the Principle of Equality for 2018,3 15 cases of discrimination based on disability were reported (9.62%), followed by cases involving ethnicity, race, and ethnic background (14 cases or 8.24% of which eight cases are race-related and four cases are related to race or ethnic background). Gender-based discrimination occurred in eight cases (4.71%), followed by religion or belief (seven cases or 4.12%); age and sexual ori-entation (five cases or 2.94% each); social status, financial situation, and place of residence (two cases or 1.18% each). The majority of cases were related to employ-ment and work; 29 cases (26.61%) involved employment and working conditions, termination of employment contract, and wages; and 27 cases (24.77%) involved conditions for access to employment, self-employment and occupation, selection criteria, and employment conditions on all levels of the professional hierarchy.

Education In the educational area, Muslims still face similar problems as in previous years.4 However, because of the integration of migrant children, schools have started to adopt multicultural curricula, to take action for the inclusion of different cultural habits and needs, and for the education of staff.5 For example, schools and kinder-gartens offer more possibilities for halal food. In a public school in Ljubljana it is officially possible to fill out a form with the preferred type of food, where a choice for “food without pork” is possible. In this manner, the school administration takes into account the parents’ choice for their child’s nutrition.6

PoliticsOn 6 April 2019, Bernard Brščič, who has written extensively in various right-wing media about the incompatibility of Islam and Europe, formed a new party called Domovinska liga or DOM (Homeland League or HOME) and was elected as its president. Lawyer Lucija Šikovec Ušaj was elected as its vice-president. According to some commentators in the media, the party sees itself in the Matteo Salvini group or alliance among the extreme right-wing parties in Europe, and even more strongly

3. “Annual Report 2018”, Republic of Slovenia Advocate of the Principle of Equality, April 2019, p. 55-56, http://www.zagovornik.si/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/letno-poro%C4%8Dilo-2018-ANG-WEB.pdf, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

4. Ana Frank, “Islamophobia in Slovenia: National Report 2018”, European Islamophobia Report 2018, ed. Enes Bayraklı and Farid Hafez, (SETA, Istanbul: 2019).

5. “Integration of Immigrants in the Education System”, Republica Slovenija, http://www.mizs.gov.si/si/varno_in_spodbudno_ucno_okolje/spodbudno_ucno_okolje/vkljucevanje_priseljencev_v_sistem_vzgoje_in_izobrazevanja/, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

6. “Annual Report 2018”, Republic of Slovenia Advocate of the Principle of Equality.

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than some other parties in Slovenia advocates anti-immigrant views.7 Politically, Brščič stems from his links with the SDS and SDS President Janez Janša, and has appeared in the media over the years with explicit hate speech and intolerant, hateful statements against homosexuals, refugees, Muslims, and other population groups, even denying the Holocaust. Because of his offensive statements, he has had to de-fend himself against his employer. In previous EIR reports we have recorded many of his extreme statements. Lucija Šikovec Ušaj has also released statements on Twit-ter with offensive content related to migrants, which sparked a wave of outrage in public. In doing so, she also violated the Code of Professional Conduct of the Bar Association of Slovenia. She was a member of the SDS but left the party. The reason she explained was the “too weak attitude of the SDS towards the Marrakech agree-ment”. She and Janša also supposedly disagree on their attitude towards migration, since Ušaj has more radical views.8 The party’s first political test was to participate at the European elections in May, where the party experienced a failure. In October, Šikovec Ušaj left the party on the grounds that it is only a satellite of the SDS and claimed that it was a very bad experience for her.9

MediaIn September 2019, the newspaper Nova24TV published an article condemning the possibility of halal food in a public school in Ljubljana.10 The author stated that in “public elementary schools, they are starting to adapt to the Muslim way of life.” According to the author, special dietary requirements could be required only upon medical evidence and a medical report, while in this case this is not required from Muslim children’s parents, and therefore other (Slovenian) children are treated un-equally. The author states that “given that all religions are supposed to be equal, one wonders how it is possible for children to be treated in such an unequal way in practice. Namely, Muslim children have a special diet at their disposal, and in the face of such changes, it is expected that members of other faiths will start to demand special nutrition too.” The author continues with spreading fear that this form of adaptation to the Muslim way of life will eventually lead to pork-free food as taken for granted elsewhere, both in services and in restaurants, and further warns that in

7. Luka Jakše, “Lahko Salvini pomaga SDS?”, Delo, 8 April 2019, https://www.delo.si/mnenja/komentarji/lah-ko-salvini-pomaga-sds-169076.html, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

8. Beti Burger, “Vodilna obraza Domovinske lige druži nekdanja povezava z Janšo”, Delo, 7 April 2019, https://www.delo.si/novice/slovenija/kdo-sta-vodilna-obraza-domovinske-lige-168809.html, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

9. Barbara Eržen, “Bernard Bršičič edini kandidat, Lucija Šikovec Ušaj izstopila iz stranke”, Delo, 12 October 2019, https://www.delo.si/novice/slovenija/bernard-brsicic-edini-kandidat-lucija-sikovec-usaj-izstopila-iz-stranke-237719. html, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

10. Hana Murn, “Islamizacija v ljubljanski javni osnovni šoli! Muslimanski starši lahko za otroka izberejo prehrano brez svinjine, medtem ko mora otrok z dieto prinesti vsa možna zdravniška dokazila!”, Nova24TV, 13 September 2019, https://nova24tv.si/slovenija/politika/islamizacija-v-ljubljanski-javni-osnovni-soli-muslimanski-starsi-lahko-za- otroka-izberejo-prehrano-brez-svinjine-medtem-ko-mora-otrok-z-dieto-prinesti-vsa-mozna-zdravniska-dokazila/, (Access date: 23 January 2020).



the case these specific requirements should not be met, accusations of discrimination against the Muslim population would immediately emerge. The right-wing newspa-per Demokracija and Nova24TV published the same article on a group of Muslims active on the Internet, Resnica – Haq (Truth – Haq), about the ways sharia law could be established in Slovenia. In the article11 they warn that the answer on the Resnica – Haq webpage “suggests that Islam is anything but a ‘religion of peace’. Because the suggested ways are namely through jihad, holy war or the invasion of Slovenia. They stress that parliamentary democracy is ‘not halal’”.12

Justice SystemIn October 2019, the president of the Government Council for Religious Freedom Dialogue (Svet vlade Republike Slovenije za dialog o verski svobodi) Zoran Poznić can-celled the forthcoming regular meeting of the Council, because – according to his statement – the representative of the Islamic Community in the council rejected fur-ther dialogue within the council. The president of the council expressed his concern about this decision.13 The Islamic Community published a public statement on their webpage14 as a reply to this statement and sent a letter15 to the council denouncing the claim that they rejected dialogue. In the letter, the Slovenian mufti expressed his disappointment about the issued statement and the claim that the Islamic Commu-nity rejects dialogue. He emphasized that they strongly believe in dialogue; however, the problem being that the needs of the Islamic community were never addressed by the state in a formal manner. The demands of religious spiritual care of Muslims in the army and police forces, in hospitals and prisons, the circumcision of boys, and the ritual slaughter of animals were never addressed and regulated properly by the

11. Ivan Šokić, “Kako prosim?! - Jeseniški islamski klerik pojasnjuje, ‘kako vzpostaviti Šeriat v Sloveniji’ – nobena od metod ni miroljubna!”, Demokracija, 10 December 2019, http://www.demokracija.si/slovenija/kao-prosim-jeseni-ski-islamski-klerik-pojasnjuje-kako-vzpostaviti-seriat-v-sloveniji-nobena-od-metod-ni-miroljubna.html, (Access date: 23 January 2020); Nova 24TV, 10 December 2019, https://nova24tv.si/slovenija/bo-znova-tekla-kri-jeseni-ski-islamski-klerik-pojasnjuje-kako-vzpostaviti-seriat-v-sloveniji-nobena-od-metod-ni-miroljubna/, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

12. For more information, see: Resnica-Haq, https://resnica-haq.com/vprasanja-in-odgovori/115-kako-vzpostavi-ti-sarijo-seriat-v-sloveniji.html, (Access date: 23 January 2020). Regarding the way to establish sharia in Slovenia they state “basically it must be halal - allowed - so no one comes to me with a suggestion that we can do it ‘diplo-matically’ by participating in parliament, because such a way is basically forbidden and is a work that leads a person out of Islam.”

13. Zoran Poznić, “Odpoved sklicane 4. seje Sveta Vlade RS za dialog o verski svobodi”, Republica Slovenija Min-istristvo za Kulturo, 8 October 2019, https://www.gov.si/assets/ministrstva/MK/Verska-svoboda/Svet-Vlade-RS-za-dialog/Odpoved_4.-seje-Sveta-za-dialog-o-verski-svobodi.pdf, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

14. “Obvestilo za javnost Islamske skupnost v zvezi z odpovedjo 4. seje Sveta Vlade RS za dialog o verski svobodi”, Islamsko Skupnost, 23 October 2019, https://www.islamska-skupnost.si/novice/2019/10/obvestilo-za-javnost-islamske-skupnost-v-zvezi-z-odpovedjo-4-seje-sveta-vlade-rs-za-dialog-o-verski-svobodi/, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

15. Letter to Zoran Poznić, MA by the president of the Islamic Community in the Republic of Slovenia Nedžad Grabus, 23 October 2019, https://www.islamska-skupnost.si/wp-content/uploads/Dopis_Ministrstvo-za-kulturo.pdf, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

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state and these issues still remain unsolved to date. Regarding slaughter and circum-cision, the Jewish community is affected in the same way - in Slovenia, it is difficult to practice Orthodox Judaism.

Due to the rising strength of the paramilitary groups which formed in 2018 and due to their vigilante activities on the borders of Slovenia, where they claim to offer security and protection from illegal immigrants, the Slovenian government imposed bans on organizing groups such as the Štajerska varda (Styrian Guards). In November, the government proposed to the National Assembly a bill amending the Law on the Protection of Public Order and Peace, and a bill amending the State Border Control Act. The amendments foresee a limited use of weapons (also fake items resembling and imitating real weapon) and military-like uniforms for pur-poses other than ones that are regulated by the state. The government states that the protection of the state border is the sole responsibility of the police. The so-called Štajerska varda and village guards announce or attempt to interfere with the powers and tasks of the police, and therefore hinder its work and cause excitement and fear in the public.16 Andrej Šiško, the leader of the Movement United Slovenia (Gibanje Zedinjena Slovenia) and the organizer of the paramilitary groups, was found guilty of “Incitement to Violent Change of the Constitutional Order” according to Article 359 of the Slovenian Criminal Code in front of the Maribor District Court on 29 March 2019.17 He was sentenced to an 8-month imprisonment which he didn’t fulfil and a warrant for his arrest was issued on 19 December 2019.18

InternetTwo groups, namely Upor Slovencev (Uprising of Slovenians) and Generation Iden-tity Slovenia (Generacija identitete Slovenija) have a very strong conservative, tradi-tionalist, anti-immigration, and anti-Islamic stance. Both these groups have their own webpages and are not only active on social media, but regularly update their webpages where they call for activism on the web and on the streets. They seem to have become more organised and better articulated in their discourse on defending “authentic” tradition, history, the homeland, the nation, the family, and conserva-tive values against the intrusion of foreigners, migrants, Islam, and multiculturalism. Generation Identity calls people to the streets to form a phalanx for a new European Reconquista (reminiscent of the historical Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula from

16. “Spremembe zakonov zaradi Štajerske varde in vaških straž”, Delo, 26 November 2019, https://www.delo.si/novice/slovenija/spremembe-zakonov-zaradi-stajerske-varde-in-vaskih-straz-253909.html, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

17. “Sodišče Andreja Šiška spoznalo za krivega”, Delo, 29 March 2019, https://www.delo.si/novice/slovenija/so-disce-andreja-siska-spoznalo-za-krivega-166102.html, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

18. “Andrej Šiško ne želi v zapor, policija za njim razpisala tiralico”, Večer, 21 December 2019, https://www.vecer.com/andrej-sisko-ne-zeli-v-zapor-policija-za-njim-razpisala-tiralico-10106610, (Access date: 23 January 2020).



Arab/Muslim conquerors) against the multicultural agenda.19 While previously there was a lot of explicit visual material with xenophobic messages20 now their xenopho-bic discourse is much better disguised and implicit in the form of “defence” of “our” values vs. the Other. However, they still use open articulation of Islam as a threat.

The Uprising of Slovenians, for example, state the following on their webpage:

“Islam or death is the motto of all Islam, since “jihad” (holy war) is written in the DNA of this religion. Only the manner and time of realisation of jihad differ from group to group. The end result is the same Islam or death.// It is only a matter of time before the Islamic extremists start appearing on our soil and commit to the violence that is being taught to everyone in the Arab world. According to the Islamic scarves on heads of women in the middle of Ljubljana, we can conclude that the radicalisation of the Muslim population is taking place in Slovenia as well, which always runs out to attempt to promote Islam throughout society and, consequently, to suppress Christians. Europe is weak in our time in front of Islam. Because she has denied her own identity and wants to create a world without God, because of her suppression of everything that is Christian and Catholic, we must reject Islamisation as death, because Islamisation is the death of our world.”21

Figure 1: Photo posted on Twitter by politician Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti.23

A Facebook group called “Boycott of Products with Halal Certificate” posts cases of companies

who have acquired halal certification in order to support their boycott (Figure 2).

Figure 2: The logo of the Facebook group “Boycott of Products with Halal Certificate”.24

Central Figures in the Islamophobia Network On the political level, parties that openly express Islamophobic ideas belong to the right-wing

conservative political spectre. These are the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska

demokratska stranka), New Slovenia (Nova Slovenija), Slovenian National Party (Slovenska

nacionalna stranka), and the new Homeland League (Domovinska liga). These parties are also

connected to right-wing media that spread the same ideological messages: Demokracija,

Nova24TV, Reporter, and the conservative Christian newspaper Domovina.

Many of the groups that spread Islamophobic/xenophobic discourse were established on the

Internet during the mass transition of refugees across Slovenia in 2015. Some of these pages

are still active, such as Uprising of Slovenians (Upor Slovencev), Generation Identity Slovenia

(Generacija identitete Slovenija), Radical Ljubljana (Radikalna Ljubljana), Stop the

Islamization of Slovenia (Stop islamizaciji Slovenije), and Boycott of Products with Halal

Certificate (Bojkot izdelkov s Halal oznako).

23 Zmago J. Plemeniti, Twitter, 16 August 2019, https://twitter.com/ZmagoPlemeniti/status/1162254038341021697, (Access date: 23 January 2020). 24 Bojkot izdelkov s Halal oznako, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/BojkotHalal/, (Access date: 23 January 2020).


Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti, a right-wing politician and president of the Slovenian National Party, publishes on his Twitter account many anti-immigrant and anti-Is-lamic posts. One of them is a repost on 16 August 2019 of a photo of a woman in a burkini (Figure 1). He only mentions the place and date of the case, but his implicit

19. “Kaj za vas predstavlja izraz ‘rekonkvista?”, Generacija Identitete, https://generacija-identitete.si/faq/#tog-gle-id-8, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

20. For more information, see: Ana Frank, “Islamophobia in Slovenia: National Report 2018”, European Islamopho-bia Report 2018, ed. Enes Bayraklı and Farid Hafez, (SETA, Istanbul: 2019), p. 755-774; Ana Frank, “Islamophobia in Slovenia: National Report 2017”, European Islamophobia Report 2017, ed. Enes Bayraklı and Farid Hafez, (SETA, Istanbul: 2018), p. 577-595; Anja Zalta, “Islamophobia in Slovenia: National Report 2016”, European Islamopho-bia Report 2016, ed. Enes Bayraklı and Farid Hafez, (SETA, Istanbul: 2017), p. 531-543.

21. “Islam ali smrt”, Slovenski Upor, 5 June 2019, https://uporslovencev.wordpress.com/2019/06/05/islam-ali-sm-rt/, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

22. Zmago J. Plemeniti, Twitter, 16 August 2019, https://twitter.com/zmagoplemeniti?lang=en, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

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message is a warning about actions undertaken by migrants and Muslims in accor-dance with his discourse on his Twitter account.23 He often sarcastically comments that migrants and Muslims are allowed to commit illegal acts without appropriate sanctions, while Slovenians are severely punished for similar deeds (like physical at-tacks, robbery, etc.).

A Facebook group called “Boycott of Products with Halal Certificate” posts cases of companies who have acquired halal certification in order to support their boycott (Figure 2).


A Facebook group called “Boycott of Products with Halal Certificate” posts cases of companies

who have acquired halal certification in order to support their boycott (Figure 2).


Central Figures in the Islamophobia Network On the political level, parties that openly express Islamophobic ideas belong to the right-wing

conservative political spectre. These are the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska

demokratska stranka), New Slovenia (Nova Slovenija), Slovenian National Party (Slovenska

nacionalna stranka), and the new Homeland League (Domovinska liga). These parties are also

connected to right-wing media that spread the same ideological messages: Demokracija,

Nova24TV, Reporter, and the conservative Christian newspaper Domovina.

Many of the groups that spread Islamophobic/xenophobic discourse were established on the

Internet during the mass transition of refugees across Slovenia in 2015. Some of these pages

are still active, such as Uprising of Slovenians (Upor Slovencev), Generation Identity Slovenia

(Generacija identitete Slovenija), Radical Ljubljana (Radikalna Ljubljana), Stop the

Islamization of Slovenia (Stop islamizaciji Slovenije), and Boycott of Products with Halal

Certificate (Bojkot izdelkov s Halal oznako).

23 Zmago J. Plemeniti, Twitter, 16 August 2019, https://twitter.com/ZmagoPlemeniti/status/1162254038341021697, (Access date: 23 January 2020). 24 Bojkot izdelkov s Halal oznako, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/BojkotHalal/, (Access date: 23 January 2020).


Central Figures in the Islamophobia NetworkOn the political level, parties that openly express Islamophobic ideas belong to the right-wing conservative political spectre. These are the Slovenian Democratic Party (Slovenska demokratska stranka), New Slovenia (Nova Slovenija), Slovenian National Party (Slovenska nacionalna stranka), and the new Homeland League (Domovinska liga). These parties are also connected to right-wing media that spread the same ideo-logical messages: Demokracija, Nova24TV, Reporter, and the conservative Christian newspaper Domovina.

Many of the groups that spread Islamophobic/xenophobic discourse were estab-lished on the Internet during the mass transition of refugees across Slovenia in 2015. Some of these pages are still active, such as Uprising of Slovenians (Upor Slovencev), Generation Identity Slovenia (Generacija identitete Slovenija), Radical Ljubljana (Ra-dikalna Ljubljana), Stop the Islamization of Slovenia (Stop islamizaciji Slovenije), and Boycott of Products with Halal Certificate (Bojkot izdelkov s Halal oznako).

23. Zmago Plemeniti Jelinčič, Twitter, https://twitter.com/zmagoplemeniti?lang=en, (Access date: 23 January 2020).

24. Bojkot izdelkov s Halal oznako, Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/BojkotHalal/, (Access date: 23 Jan-uary 2020).



Observed Civil Society and Political Initiatives to Counter IslamophobiaThe NGOs that are active in initiatives to counter Islamophobia in Slovenia are the Peace Institute (Mirovni inštitut), Slovene Philanthropy (Slovenska filantropija), Amnesty International, Society UP Jesenice (Društvo UP Jesenice), ROG Factory (Tovarna ROG), SLOGA - Slovenian Global Action, and PIC - Legal Informational Center. Humanitarian organisations and research institutes are also part of this net-work: Humanitas, Caritas, and the Slovenian Migration Institute (SMI). Muslims themselves also try to counter Islamophobia with their activities. There are two main Islamic communities in Slovenia: the Islamic Community in Slovenia, and the Slo-venian Muslim Community.

Conclusion and Policy Recommendations Taking into account the events and the status quo of Islamophobia, the following policy recommendations are offered:

• Raising awareness of the dangers of hate speech, various forms of xenopho-bia and (neo) racism especially in the media and on the Internet, as well as in politics with a special focus on the implicit and disguised Islamophobic discourse.

• Improving the monitoring and collection of information about discrimi-nation based on religious grounds in the employment area, education area, and social area.

• Implementing an official, state-driven legal change for Islamic practices such as praying hours and designated spaces at the workplace; halal dietary regimes; spiritual care for Muslims in the armed forces; and possibilities for safe circumcision of boys in hospitals.

• Facilitating the visibility and participation of Muslims in political, econom-ic, social, and cultural life; taking active and formal (state) action to fulfil Muslims’ basic rights and needs; and supporting mutual dialogue not only at a declarative level but also by taking appropriate formal action.

Chronology • 29.03.2019: Andrej Šiško, the leader of Štajerska varda, was found guilty of

“Incitement to Violent Change of the Constitutional Order” and sentenced to eight months of prison.

• 06.04.2019: A new party Homeland League (HOME) was established and Bernard Brščič, who has an open anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic stance, was elected as its president.

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• 05.06.2019: The group The Uprising of Slovenians published an article entitled “Islam or death”.

• 16.08.2019: President of Slovenian Nationalist Party Zmago Jelinčič Ple-meniti tweets about a woman wearing a burkini in a pool in Slovenia.

• 13.09.2019: Nova 24TV publishes an article condemning the possibility of halal food in a public elementary school claiming that children are treated unequally because the school has offered pork-free meal options for Muslim children.

• October 2019: The regular session of the Government Council for Reli-gious Freedom Dialogue is dismissed upon the claim that the representative of the Islamic Community did not want to cooperate anymore. A public statement and answer from the Islamic Community rejected such claims and explained the reason for not participating is the lack of solutions for the Islamic Community’s requests.

• November 2019: The government proposed a bill to the National Assembly amending the Law on the Protection of Public Order and Peace, and a bill amending the State Border Control Act to limit the paramilitary groups’ vigilante activities against migrant on the borders of Slovenia.

• 10.12.2019: Demokracija and Nova24TV publish the same article about an Islamic group in Jesenice that explains how to establish sharia in Slovenia.

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