Stripburger, våra vänner i Slovenien har problem! För den som inte vet så ger de ut serietidningen Stripburger och det var genom dem vi först kom i kontakt med seriescenen på Balkan. De har också flera gånger deltagit på vår festival AltCom. Nu är de under attack och riskerar att vräkas tillsammans med ett stort antal andra kulturföreningar som delar hus på Metelkova i Ljubljana.
Du kan läsa mer och skriva under deras upprop här.
Non-governmental organizations in Slovenia are increasingly targeted by the government’s restrictive measures and hostile rhetoric. Leading the government, the radical right Slovenian Democratic Party and PM Janez Janša direct their hostility especially towards NGOs engaged in independent cultural production and defending human rights, media freedom and the environment. Legal and financial restrictions have been applied to them and the epidemic is used to justify such measures. The media, the judiciary and independent state bodies are also under attack.
The government has, for example, been blocking payments to film producers for a whole year, while the Ministry of Culture started changing the rules for the composition of commissions that decide on co-financing projects of non-governmental cultural organizations so that the Minister will have full control over the allocation of funds. Amid such developments, and in the circumstances of a dramatic second wave of the epidemic in the country, 18 non-government organizations were recently requested by the government (Ministry of Culture) to vacate their premises in the building at No. 6 Metelkova Street in Ljubljana, in which they have been operating since the mid-1990s.