Friday, August 8, 2008

Respect and memory

Today, first memorial was set to the Janez Drnovšek, one of Slovenian most prominent politicians who passed away few months ago. And here is the story - family wants that he has no memorial privileges (they say he was not one who lived for getting streets named by or statutes) on the other hand there is bunch of (mostly local) politicians who want to praise his memory and role in Slovenian development.

In fact his last act was when he gave presidential title to current president of the republic. Than he completely disappeared and peacefully passed away. Sad event in fact showed how great man he was and that he was loved by people much more than they showed when he was still alive (despite he had constantly high support at election). Today some people disagree (mostly because they stand behind the idea of his relatives that it is not appropriate) on built statute while other think that it is right to do it.

He won every election since 1992 (3 times) and was president of the government for about 10 years. When he decided to resign form that position and enroll for presidential election he won again. Before that time he was youngest president of former Yugoslavia, at the beginning he was one of rare Slovenian politicians who was cosmopolitan enough to gain also respect in the world political and economic stage.
And for the man who did all this in democratic manner I believe he can be named leader. And leader deserves also memory not only in textbooks and our heads but also in nature. I am sorry for hurting his relatives' feelings but he was trying to be and he was leader of the nation. Even in the last period, when he turned from the statesman to philosopher he was still addressing Slovenians whit his ideas.

I was forced to bow to the symbols that I do not internalize as mine and if so. I will be more than glad to go to his statute at least once and think about some great ideas he had and are worthy of remembering them.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I should've known that you were preparing sth for here. :)
Yes, "...he was one of Slovenian most prominent politicians..." - no doubt about it, but! I still think this matter should be sorted out in a national level - not regional...

Anonymous said...

It won't happen, at least as long as Jansa is in charge and as long as Turk won't be prepared to accept that Drnovsek was still attached not only to part of political space but to great majority of Slovenes.

Anonymous said...

ok, so let us just hope sth will change after September... not just for the sake of Drnovsek's memories, but also for the sake of other things.