Exhibition Catalogue

Grass-roots Activities for Slovenian IndependenceThe Slovenian Crisis Centre and the Slovenian Newsletter

Slovenians in London 1991-1994

Jana Valencic and Miha Dobrin

A PERSONAL VIEW

The political and military events leading up to Slovenia’s independence have been widely documented by the me-dia. What was less well acknowledged were the activities of Slovene citizens who were living abroad at the time.

This exhibition attempts to document the response of a small group of Slovenes living in UK in 1991. The indi-viduals concerned did not have close contact with each other until events began to take place but were galvanised into committed group action by shared concern over Slov-enia.

As an Englisman married to a Slovene, I was able to make relatively objective observations and watch this phenom-enon of a pressure group action unfold, with a growing admiration for not only the energy involved, but also of the ability to negotiate and reach decisions rapidly. In my view, this exhibition is not simply a record of events - it is a small tribute to the individuals who took the time and energy to participate and who did not merely stand back passively.

This exhibition should not be viewed simply as an archive - it points to the future, offering an example of how com-mitted individuals and groups can actively take part in society. By persistent pressure the will of people at grass roots level can infl uence the decision makers, politically, culturally and commercially.

This exhibition contains examples of grass roots action at pressure group level, throught the Slovenian Crisis Cen-tre and the Slovenian Newsletter, and at individual level, throught the promotion of Slovenian culture and commerce at Leighton House and St. John’s Smith Square (classical and folk concerts), Liberty (Slovene design and produce) and at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (kozolec).

The most effective democracies operate from grass roots level, encouraging participation from “bottom up” to bal-ance the tendency for “top down” decisions. This exhi-bition should be regarded as an example of the value of encouraging grass roots movements throughout Slovene society.

In a country the size of Slovenia everybody should be en-couraged to participate - maybe this exhibition can offer some encouragement.

Michael Betts, 1994

FRONT COVERVigil in front of the Yugoslav Embassy in London on 30 June 1991. Photo: Miha Dobrin, 1991

The authors wish to express our gratitude to the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (Slovenian National Archives) and to its Director Dr Matevz Kosir for their support throughout our work with the exhibition and accompanying documentation

TextJana Valencic, Dr. Marko Hawlina, Dr. Zvezdan Pirtosek, Michael Betts

Photography

Miha Dobrin, Vesna Azadi, Jana Valencic, Tomaz Rudolf, Janez Kovic, archive SCC/SNL

Published byThe Slovenian Newsletter London, and

Inštitut za kulturne stike / Institute for Cultural Connections, PortorozSponsor Eka Valencic

Ljubljana 2008

Exhibition Catalogue by Jana Valencic and Miha Dobrin

Grass-roots Activities for Slovenian Independence: The Slovenian Crisis Centre and the Slovenian Newsletter

Slovenians in London 1991-1994

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“Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia is be-ing bombed... Television studios are under attack... Airports bombed ... Border crossings closed... On the highway, a line of lorries with foreign drivers was machine-gunned from the airplanes. Other cities bombed... Yugoslav air force machine-gun-ning anything in sight... Dr.Marko Hawlina called for action: “High time for civil society to respond! Demonstrations in support of Slovenia will be at Trafalgar Square on Sunday 7 July”... Yugoslav soldiers are deserting from the army and giving themselves up to the Slovenian Territorial Army... Massive protests in aid of Slovenia all around the world... Niki Kortvelyessy, Green Party interna-tional coordinator will help set up the interviews... Make placards, big and with bold lettering “Yugo-slav tanks out of Slovenia”... Breakdown of peace and order in Ljubljana...”

From Slovenia, my 83 years old father phoned crying: “It is my third war, I am sitting on my suit-case prepared to fl ee before bombs, again…” In London, I could hear the wailing of sirens in the background.

On that day, architects and medical doctors, writ-ers and theatre producers, students, au-pairs, reti-rees and business people from across the Slovenian community in London, and their British spouses, turned activists. The grass-roots action in support of our homeland was born (jv1994).

28 June 1991

(eye witness’ account) In the early morning hours the Yugoslav Army attacked Slovenia. The fi rst war on European soil after the end of the WWII sent a shock wave and immediately echoed in the British media. We, Slovenian ex-pats in London, instantly heard about the ag-gression from our families, friends and contacts back home. The news travelled with the speed of light, often widely exaggerated, as we would establish later, but originating from people we cared about and who were fearful:

“Slovenia at War”, front page of the Independent on 28 June 1991

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Exhibition Catalogue by Jana Valencic and Miha Dobrin

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Catalogue design Jana Valencic (cover and texts)Miha Dobrin (images)

Photography Miha Dobrin, Vesna Azadi, Jana Valencic, Tomaz Rudolf, Janez Kovic, archive SCC/SNL

TextJana Valencic, Dr Marko Hawlina, Dr Zvezdan Pir-tosek, Michael Betts

EditingJana Valencic

ProofreadingSNL

ProductionMatej Petek, Galdesign

Published byThe Slovenian Newsletter London and Inštitut za kulturne stike/Institute for Cultural Connections, Portoroz Ljubljana 2006, revised 2008.Reissued in CD format for the mounting of the exhi-bition at the House of Commons, UK.

Sponsored by Eka Valencic

The exhibition “Slovenians in London 1991-1994, Grass-roots Activities for Slovenian Independence”, was originally mounted in 1994 from the archives of the London based Slovenian Crisis Centre action group and the Slovenian Newsletter. It was remounted to a travelling format in 2006 by the Slovenian National Ar-chives to mark the donation of the SCC/SNL archives to their collection.

Grass-roots Activities for Slovenian Independence: The Slovenian Crisis Centre and the Slovenian Newsletter

Slovenians in London 1991-1994

CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikacijiNarodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana

314.743(410.111=163.6)”1991/1994”(064)

VALENČIČ, JanaSlovenians in London 1991-1994 : grass-roots activities for Slovenian independence : The Slovenian Crisis Centre and the Slovenian Newsletter / exhibition catalogue by Jana Valencic and Miha Dobrin ; with contributions from Marko Hawlina, Zvezdan Pirtosek, Michael Betts ; photography Miha Dobrin ... [et al.]. - Portorož : Inštitut za kulturne stike = Institute for Cultural Connections ; London : The Slovenian Newsletter, 2006

ISBN-10 961-90862-1-X (Inštitut za kulturne stike)ISBN-13 978-961-90862-1-6 (Inštitut za kulturne stike)

1. Dobrin, Miha229154304

Credits of 1994 exhibition Slovenians in London 1991-1994: Grass-roots Activities for Slovenian Independence

The exhibition is based on the archive material of the London-based Slovenian Crisis Centre action group and the Slovenian Newsletter. It was fi rst shown in December 1994 at the World Slovenian Congress Hall in Ljubljana, accompanied by a catalogue.

The exhibition editorial group included Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek, Dr Marko Hawlina, Miha Dobrin, Dr Polona Truden-Dobrin, Polonca Baloh Brown, Nada Rojnik Stone, Breda Gajsek, Andrew Hartley, Tonci Cerar, Michael Bet-ts, Jana Valencic, Ifi genija Zagoricnik-Simonovic. Con-tributors to the fi rst catalogue were Polonca Baloh Brown, Michael Betts, Tonci Cerar, Frank Devlin, Miha Dobrin, Breda Gajsek, Dr Marko Hawlina, Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek, Marianne Plenicar Bailey, Dr Polona Truden, Jana Valen-cic, Anica Wilkinson. Edited by Jana Valencic.

Material was also contributed by BBC World Service Slo-venian Section, David Bieda, Monsignor Stane Cikanek, John Corsellis, Boza Devlin, Gaby and Mike Fellows, Evald Flisar, Keith and Slava Miles, Valentin Zdravko Mohar, Dusan Plenicar, Marianne Plenicar Bailey, Joe and Maria Pogatchnik, Al Stone, Veseljko Simonovic, Rajko Vatovec, Igor Vrabec, Anica Wilkinson and others.

Photographs: Miha Dobrin, Vesna Azadi, Jana Valencic, SCC/SNL archive

The fi rst mounting in Ljubljana in 1994 was realised with the support of The Slovenian Newsletter, London, World Slovenian Congress - Conference for Slovenia and Con-ference for Great Britain, Slovenian National and Univer-sity Library (NUK), Ljubljana, the Dusan Cerne Library, Trieste. It was organised by Helena Drnovsek Zorko, Dr Irene Mislej, Marko Zorko

In 2006 the exhibition was remounted and a comprehen-sive Chronicle of Activities was made possible by the Slovenian National Archives to mark the donation of the SCC/SNL archives to the Archive collection. A short exhi-bition catalogue was published by the Institute for Cultural Connections, Portoroz.

Exhibition design and A.DMiha Dobrin, u.d.i.a Mphil (AA)

Exhibition concept and realisation Jana Valencic, u.d.i.a M.Arch (Toronto)

© The Slovenian Newsletter London 1994

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(re-translation) “We worked very hard to make the name of Slovenia heard”

Anica Wilkinson

The war in Slovenia and subsequent events were of special signifi cance for the nascent Slovenian state and her people. Simultaneously, these events were signifi cant in the life of expatiate individuals, who away from motherland experienced moments of anger, worry, and fear – but also of hope and expec-tation. At key moments individuals react in surpris-ing ways. In London - frantic with aggression on Slovenia – we responded with action.

This exhibition on Slovenians in London in 1991-1994 documents the response of a group of indi-viduals to the war in Slovenia and its aftermath. It is neither a comprehensive nor defi nitive presentation of many activities which took place in London during those fateful moments as it is based solely on the material preserved in the archives of the Slovenian Crisis Centre action group and the Slovenian News-letter. Other initiatives in aid of Slovenia which took place in London during that time but were not documented in our archives include the Slovenian Information Offi ce, the World Slovene Congress – Conference for UK, Slovenian Catholic Mission, and the work of many individuals.

This is simply a testimony of a group of individu-als with different backgrounds, world views, and work methods but united in support of Slovenian independence and her recognition both offi cially and amongst the British public, initially hostile to the break-up of Yugoslavia.

A precursor to these grass-roots initiatives was the lobbying, pressure and media contact group under the name of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy in Yugoslavia. Founded in 1988 in London by a few UK based Yugoslav intellectu-als, the Committee lobbied politicians, personali-ties and organisations interested in developments in the then Yugoslavia. The Committee included two Slovenian medical doctors. Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek, a neurologist, was also connected with non-govern-mental bodies and with the media, whilst Dr Marko Hawlina, an ophthalmologist, had links with the older Slovenian political emigration to the UK. With escalating militarisation in Yugoslavia the two

Slovenians in London 1991-1994Grass-roots Activities for Slovenian Independence: The Slovenian Crisis Centre and the Slovenian Newsletter

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e2 VI “Slovenia at War”, front page of the Independent on 28 June 19914 Credits5 XXII Grass-roots response on the attack on Slovenia. 6 About the Exhibition by Jana Valencic 8 III Demonstration on 19 January in front of the Yugoslav Embassy in London10 IV Demonstration on 9 March 1991 at Trafalgar Square and a petition to the British Prime Minister 12 V “Europe of a Hundred Flags”, documents and cuttings 14 VIII Hope against War Machine: Vigil in London on 30 June 199116 VII Slovenian demonstration in front of the Yugoslav Embassy in London on 30 June 199118 XV Attack on Slovenia in British Press and in the Parliament 20 XI Founding and work of the Slovenian Crisis Centre 22 XII Key meeting of the Slovenian Crisis Centre on 4 July 199124 XVI Expressions of solidarity with Slovenian independence26 X Organisation of our demonstration28 XIII Sketch for the New Slovenian Flag A Toast, Slovenian National Anthem30 XVIII Our demonstration at Trafalgar Square on 7 July 199132 XVII In aid of Slovenia at Trafalgar Square on 7 July 199134 XIX Our printer and Slovenian patriot Dusan Plenicar36 XX Plenicar’s Print38 XXIII Placards and T-shirts in support of Slovenian independence40 XXIV Media coverage of our demonstrations42 XXV Giggly Breda Gajsek’s vigil in the Evening Standard44 XXVI “Our Breda” Gajsek’s months long vigil46 XXIX Autumn 1991: bonding of the Slovenian Community48 XXX Our cultural events in 1991 and 199250 XXVII Petitions and parliamentary lobbying52 XXVIII British recognition of Slovenian independence 54 XXXII Liberty’s “Putting Slovenia on the Map” poster56 XXXIV Slovenian design at Liberty in April and May 199358 XXXV Kozolecs in England in 1993 and 199460 XXXVI Assembly of “Liberty’s” kozolec in Pitt Rivers Museum62 XXXVII The Slovenian Newsletter 64 Chronicle of Grass-Roots Activities for Slovenian Independence

ON THE INSIDE OF THE COVER - FRONTA Personal View by Michael Betts

ON THE INSIDE OF THE COVER - BACKAuthors’ and contributors’ details

doctors initiated grass-roots activities among Slove-nians in London.

In the light of events in Yugoslavia, the Committee organised a rally in front of the Yugoslav Embassy. It took place on 30 January 1991, followed, on 9 March 1991 by a demonstration at Trafalgar Square and the delivery of a petition to 10 Downing Street, the offi cial residence of the British Prime Minister.

The Slovenian Declaration of Independence on 27 June 1991 triggered an immediate invasion of Slovenian territory by the then Yugoslav Army. Pictures of tanks united Slovenian expatriates of different persuasions and catapulted us into action. The Slovenian Crisis Centre (SCC), coordinator of media contacts was founded on 28 June. The ‘samizdat’ The Slovenian Newsletter (SNL) was founded on the following day, 29June 1991 as a personal response to British public opinion, which was generally hostile to the idea of Slovenian Indepen-dence. Everyone responded in the manner in which he or she felt would be most effi cient.

The second rally in front of the Yugoslav Embassy took place on 30 June 1991. The Crisis Centre’s activity was helped by previous contacts established by the Committee for the Defence of Democracy in Yugoslavia, and other existing networks. Group actions included contacts with the media, parliamen-tary lobbying, organisation of demonstrations and the bonding of Slovenian community in UK.

Our display of solidarity with Slovenia peaked with a 7 July demonstration at Trafalgar Square and another petition to Downing Street. Although the war in Slovenia was short-lived, we feared another Yugoslav Army intervention in Slovenia. This sense of insecu-rity was further fuelled by the Foreign Offi ce’s advice against travelling to Slovenia.

With the cessation of military activities in Slovenia in summer 1991, group impetus started to wane but some of us wanted to continue in case the situation worsened again. Another impetus was appeals from Slovenia, citing devastating damage caused by the war, economic blockade and the collapse of tourism. Over the summer of 1991, we identifi ed a programme of support for Slovenia in the fi elds of tourist promotion, business information, charity and cultural exchange.

In September 1991, regular monthly meetings were started in the upper room of the Mason’s Arms pub in Central London. They aimed to help the community preserve its sense of identity awoken by the crisis and bond the older, political emigration with the younger generation of economic migrants. These meetings were the forerunner of the British-Slovenian Society.

Part of the community turned to relief initiatives for refugees in Slovenia whilst the SCC focused on fundraising to clear its debts, petitioning and parlia-mentary lobbying for British recognition of Slovenia. The lobbying of British parliamentarians led to the formation of a group of Slovenia-friendly MPs and subsequently to the establishment of the All Party Group for Slovenia in the British Parliament, which was founded in June 1992.

With the international recognition of Slovenian in-dependence in the beginning of 1992 and the estab-lishment of the Slovenian Embassy in Great Britain, group activities waned. Political activism was super-seded by cultural and community events, and image building campaigns aimed at educating the British public about Slovenia. Others decided to help the war-affected areas of former Yugoslavia.

These activities are documented in the papers of the Slovenian Crisis Centre and material gathered by the Slovenian Newsletter as the chronicler of the events. The documents were fi rst mounted in the exhibition “Slovenians in London 1991-1994” in December 1994 at the premises of the World Slovenian Congress in Ljubljana, later shown in other venues in Slovenia and amongst the Slovenian minority in Italy. In 2006, the exhibition was remounted and a Chronicle of the Events published to mark the donation of the SCC/SNL archive to the Slovenian National Archives in Ljubljana.

The exhibition in its travelling format and this catalogue show fewer panels than the original ex-hibition and the chapter entitled ‘Exhibition of the Chronicle’. The Roman numbers, shown in this catalogue alongside the description of each panel, refer to the original display. Another departure from the original is that this edition of the catalogue is in black and white whereas in the original, images are in colour.

At this point I would like to thank everyone who selfl essly helped me with the production of this catalogue. In particular I am indebted to the architect and photographer Miha Dobrin for his photographs which convey the emotional charge of those times and for the design of this exhibition which we can all be proud of. My deepest gratitude goes to Dr Marko Hawlina, Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek and Michael Betts for their wise comments. Above all, I would like to thank the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (Slovenian National Archives) and to its director Dr Matevz Kosir for their support throughout the preparation of the Chronicle and the remounting of the exhibition. Finally I wish to record my gratitude to Eka Valencic of the Institute for Cultural Connectiones for pub-lishing this catalogue.

Jana Valencic, 2006

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819 January 1991 demonstration in front of the Yugoslav Embassy in London

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Dr Marko Hawlina recollects the atmosphere: “Times have changed in Yugoslavia after Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic turned the nations of Yugoslavia against each other. Serbs, from the larg-est nation in the Federation, dominated the Federal Army, the fourth strongest military force in Europe at that time. To Milosevic it must have seemed easy to submit all smaller nations. With the slogan »wher-ever there is a Serbian grave, there is Serbia« he brainwashed the Serbian nation with a conviction that their historical moment had arrived whilst the “memorandum” of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences drew the “Serbian historical national bor-der” that engulfed half of Bosnia and large parts of Croatia. I remember that political pressure was fi rst exert-ed through the socalled “Meetings of Truth” that boiled Serbian ethnic emotions against other na-tions. These meetings proclaimed that the Federal Constitution of Tito’s Yugoslavia was unfair and that Tito (himself of mixed Slovenian/Croat origin) had been oppressing the Serbs. Pro-Milosevic’s crowds were given bread and yoghurt after which this eerie caravan, moving from town to town was nicknamed the “yoghurt revolution”. Slovene authorities did not allow the Serbian rally to be held in Slovenia thus enraging Milosevic’s mob. After the Slovenian condemnation of Serbian apart-heid in Kosovo, the political atmosphere in Serbia turned openly violent against Slovenia. Milosevic’s rousing nationalistic speeches set the national emo-tions ablaze and Slovenians felt that it was no lon-ger an option for their republic to remain within Milosevic’s Yugoslavia. When provocations of the so-called Federal Army turned openly pro-Serbian in Kosovo and in Croatia, we in London felt the need to do something, to tell the British that the evil was on its way” (mh2006).

From the late 1980’s onward, members of the Slovenian community in London were becoming aware - some more, some less - of the deteriorat-ing situation in the then Yugoslavia, a federation of six republics (and initially, two autonomous provinces) one of which was Slovenia. No collec-tive uproar was in evidence until the morning in mid-January 1991 when someone unknown to many of us, Dr Marko Hawlina, cold-called Lon-don Slovenes and invited us to the forthcoming demonstration at the Yugoslav Embassy in West London. It took place on Saturday, 19 January 1991 at 1pm and set the foundation of future or-ganized grass-roots initiatives.

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109 March 1991 demonstration at Trafalgar Square and delivery of a petition to the British Prime Minister

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Dr Marko Hawlina was one of the founding members of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy in Yugoslavia, initially a lobbying, pressure and media contact group. It was initiated in the late 1980’s by a group of London residing intellectuals from various parts of Yugoslavia. In Dr Hawlina’s words: “As the Yugoslav Federal Army became openly pro-Serbian in Croatia and Kosovo we started to take more determined political actions. The Committee held regular meetings at dif-ferent parts of London. We spent countless evenings brainstorming with (Dr) Zvezdan Pirtosek at a Chi-nese restaurant at Charing Cross (a street in Cen-tral London) and many discussions at (Dr) Drago Stambuk’s home (Dr Stambuk subsequently became the Croatian ambassador in UK, India and Japan). Drago was an infectologist working with AIDS pa-tients in one of London’s hospitals, a poet and a sen-sitive patriot. Other members were (Dr) Ramadan Berisha, also a medical doctor representing Kosovo and Branka Magas, a refi ned and clear-minded Cro-atian lady and the only non-medical member of the core committee.We sensed then what would happen. We all had this apocalyptic vision of the future, which became real, only in much more cruel ways than any of us could have predicted. The military might of the Federal Army was waiting to be unleashed. At the Committee we felt an urge to access important people and Brit-ish political parties.We told them that what seemed to be skirmishes and nationalist provocations were just the beginnings of a catastrophe. In our view, the European Union should have been giving a clear message to Slobodan Milos-evic not to use the Federal Army against other Yugo-slav nations thus preventing the war. We wrote letters to MP’s, political parties, we informed the media and civil society, we wrote letters to the newspapers… but nobody really listened. Nobody really cared - until that June when Slovenia was attacked and the army machinery was set on its evil way” (mh2006).

As the Yugoslav Federal army, though formally impartial, started to side with Milosevic’s Serbia, the London based “Committee for the Defence of Democracy in Yugoslavia” geared up for ac-tion. Their fi rst mass manifestations were the demonstrations on 19 January 1991 in front of the Yugoslav Embassy in London and a letter to the editor in the Guardian on 6 February 1991. Their second demonstration on 9 March at Tra-falgar Square was followed by the delivery of a petition to the British Prime Minister.

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12“Europe of a Hundred Flags”: documents and cuttings related to 9 March 1991 demonstrations

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On 11 March 1991 the leading Slovenian daily pa-per Delo published the article “Europe of a Hundred Flags” reporting on the pro-democracy demonstra-tion at Trafalgar Square on 9 March 1991 which was organized by the Committee for the Defence of De-mocracy in Yugoslavia. The report by Delo’s London correspondent Alja Kosak analysed the incident in the Slovenian community over the Slovene fl ag. From this experience we all learned the value of tolerance and acceptance of our differences if Slovenia were to pull together.As Dr Marko Hawlina, one of the organizers of that rally recollects, ”Indeed, the story about these fl ags was tragic-comical. So many fl ags in Europe and no fl ag of our own (or rather, two fl ags too many)!” The fl ag of the Yugoslav republic of Slovenia had three colours, from the top white, blue and red, with a big red fi ve-pointed star in the middle. In March 1991 it still counted as the offi cial Slovenian fl ag. Understandably, our post -WWII emigrants never accepted the red-starred fl ag. Their Slovenian fl ag from before WWII had a plain tricolour design (as today’s Russian fl ag). As the Slovenian Catholic priest in London learned that there would be many red starred-fl ags at the demonstration he was reportedly so upset - under-standably from his generation’s traumatic experi-ences- that he discouraged his followers from at-tending the rally and refused to march behind the red-starred fl ag.Many Slovenes disappointedly stayed at home whilst the more open-minded came carrying the »Russian« fl ag. In a letter to the priest we tried to explain that these were new times, and as Zvezdan (Dr Pirtosek) said in his speech at the demonstration: ‘Europe should be a territory of a hundred fl ags….’ And we said to the people: please come with any fl ag you wish but do come and say that you care about the future, not the past” (mh2006).

Simultaneously with Slovenia gaining her independ-ence from the increasingly volatile Yugoslav Fed-eration, another tectonic shift was occurring, albeit within a Slovenian nation ideologically split since the Second World War. The generation that had to fl ee from the Yugoslav regime was fi ercely anti-communist, deeply Catholic and demonstratively patriotic. To the liberal generations that grew up under Tito’s dictum “Brotherhood and Unity”, with his denouncement of every manifestation of national identity as deplorable ”chauvinism”, any demon-stration of patriotic feelings was distasteful. It took the ultimate threat of the destruction of Slovenia for the two factions to fi nd common ground.

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It was not an easy time to be a Slovenian. On 3 July, The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Douglas Hurd said in Parliament: “The position in Yugo-slavia remains dangerous. This morning events in Slovenia and Croatia were escalating out of control, and the army is no longer under the effective con-trol of the political authorities. A large number of armoured vehicles left Belgrade early this morning, moving towards Croatia and Slovenia. There can be little doubt that the Yugoslav army… are intent on further military missions against Slovenia. This ac-tion disregards international opinion and overturns the ceasefi re agreement negotiated over the week-end by the two EC troika missions…”We could not passively accept the destruction of our country. The Yugoslav army attack on Slovenia be-came every London Slovenian’s personal war. They were in the wrong. We were right. “IMPORTANT MESSAGE. Our lawyers have clari-fi ed the Yugoslav Ambassador’s mis-interpretation of the Yugoslav constitution. The agreement required is not whether or not to secede but HOW to secede. Slovenians are acting lawfully. The Federal Govern-ment is acting unlawfully. The army is out of control (The Slovenian Newsletter No.2, 3 July 1991, p.3). And on the same page: We must unite to present a single strong voice for Slovenia. And also: “Vigil in front of the Yugoslav Embassy is every day from 10 am to 7 pm. For more information please contact Breda Gajsek, telephone…”Some of us wrote to the FCO (British Foreign Min-istry). The answers were polite and polished but non-committing, some blurb about the EC. Our only chance was to appeal to British public opinion.

Vigil in front of the Yugoslav Embassy in London on 30 June 1991

Overnight, Slovenia was at war. A tiny republic, in size and population akin to Wales, was at-tacked by the fourth biggest army in Europe. The international community was aghast. It was impotent. Moreover, countries like Britain resist-ed the idea of the break up of Yugoslavia. But the more pragmatic politicians offered hope: “The time has passed when you could keep a country together by shooting its citizens” (Douglas Hurd, British Foreign Secretary, interviewed on BBC 1 On the Record on 30 June 1991). I made the note of it with tears in my eyes.

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With the Yugoslav Army attack on Slovenia in the early morning on 28 June 1991, the Slovenian community in London instantly rose in support of its beleaguered homeland. On the same day, three London based Slovenes: Polonca Baloh Brown a theatre producer; the writer Evald Flisar and a medical doctor, Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek, met in the Brown’s house in North London and founded the Slovenian Crisis Centre: “… because my husband had a fax machine”, later recollected the theatre producer. The Crisis Centre set itself the mandate of informing the British media and the public on events in Slovenia, and to coordinate the informa-tion. Appeals by phone and by fax, from individu-als, organisations and institutions were pouring in, pleading: “Help us notify the world public...”The next day, after a sleepless night and unaware of the initiative in North London, Jana Valencic, an architect, founded the Slovenian Newsletter with the aim of providing organised communication for the Slovenian community. The fi rst issue was pub-lished on the following day, on 30 June 1991 and distributed to a small crowd of Slovenian protesters in front of the Yugoslav Embassy in West London (featured above). The Newsletter soon ran out and was replenished on the nearby hotel photocopier.Candles were lit on the stairs leading to the Embassy door, the media in attendance. An elderly Slovenian lady was collecting voluntary contributions. Some-one else sent around a sheet of paper to gather ad-dresses. A petition was handed to the Embassy duty offi cial, a copy sent to the then British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Douglas Hurd, and the US State Department Secretary James Baker.

Demonstration in front of the Yugoslav Embassy in London on 30 June 1991

The most amazing aspect of the Slovenian grass-roots response was its spontaneity. With hardly any coordination, people intuitively acted in sync with the rest. In the tiny Slovenian community in London, the word got round: “On 30 June in front of the Yugoslav Embassy”. People brought candles and placards but no fl ags. The old Slov-enian fl ag was discredited and in the fi rst days of the new country, no new fl ags could be found in London.

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18Attack on Slovenia in the British press: articles and letters

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Some of the key spokesmen on Slovenia in UK were Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek and Dr Marko Hawlina. Through their Committee for the Defence of De-mocracy in Yugoslavia they had established con-tacts with political and academic communities, and the media. However, as Dr Pirtosek recollects, “The British media had an appallingly bad grasp of the situation in Yugoslavia”. The impotence of the European Union however was clear. A cartoon published in the Independent on 1 July 1991 featured a cattle-truck with ‘Yugoslavia’ written on it, loaded with peasants. Two of them, identifi ed as ‘Slovenia’ and ‘Croatia’ had escaped but were caught and beaten by a giant ‘Serbia’ whilst a character in a business suit and clutching a bag embossed with EU crest was of looking at the scene with bewilderment.The battle for British public opinion was fought through the pages of Letters to the Editor. Three days into the war the Guardian published Dr Pir-tosek’s rhetorical question to the British Prime Minister: “(For Slovenia) to become independent is not a secessionist decision for politicians, it is the will of nearly 90 per cent of the people. Would you, Mr. Major, ignore such a result in your country?” Three days later Dr Marko Hawlina wrote in the Independent: “Is it possible that in 1991 in the mid-dle of Europe, people must die to prove that their nation deserves the basic right of self-determina-tion?” Dr Hawlina shared the page with letters by a Slovenian academic; a group of Slovenian writers emphasising that Slovenia was at war with the Yu-goslav Army and expressed sympathy with ordinary soldiers; a Ukrainian expat calling on EU govern-ments to re-evaluate their insistence on “territorial integrity”; and a plea from Ghana to Europe “not to allow Slovenia to be overrun by Balkan Stalinists”. But there were also letters, articles, broadcasts and debates with dramatically different views.

The British media immediately seized upon the newsworthiness of the fi rst war on European soil since WWII. Before the era of rolling news and the Internet, our sources of information were, apart from messages from Slovenia, regular radio and television broadcasts - some at very early hours - and the newspapers. Compre-hensive clipping by Dr Marko Hawlina, Anica Wilkinson, the Hartley family and others helped us to trace the shifting British view on the Yugo-slav crisis.

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20The Slovenian Crisis Centre

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As Polonca Baloh Brown, the theatre producer in whose living room in North London the Crisis Centre was founded, wrote: “…Our instinctive re-sponse was that we must do something to inform the public on the background of the situation, about which nothing was known and to which the Brit-ish government responded with view of supporting status quo… One of our major aims was to collect information from hour to hour and to disseminate it to any public individual or media organisation we could contact. The urgent need was to balance per-ceptions of recent Yugoslav history and the position of Slovenia in it, resulting in its independence”.“The response was extraordinary, with TV crews disrupting the quiet suburban area we lived in”, wrote Polonca Baloh Brown, whilst “more and more Slovenes came to the house offering help, information and ideas”. On 4 or 5 July, Polonca Truden Dobrin, a medical doctor and Miha Dobrin, an architect, found a vacant offi ce above Adria Air-ways in Central London where the Crisis Centre then resided until February 1992. As recorded in the SCC papers, members of the Slovenian community instantly turned into media fi gures. Not only Dr. Zvezdan Pirtosek, who recol-lects both himself and Evald Flisar appearing on various channels (BBC, Sky, ITN, TVam), but also a nurse, a translator and an offi ce executive were all interviewed by British media.“6 July: Boza Devlin will be today at 6 pm on ITV. Breda Wilkinson was there yesterday, where is she today? - Gaby Fellows is today on Breakfast AM, Dr Pirtosek on TVam. - Slovenian Saturday School was shown on TV. - Polona (Baloh Brown) and Jana (Valencic) are having a radio interview with Angela Rippon…” On the day of our demonstration 7 July 1991, the EU brokered moratorium pushed Slovenia off the main news. The media appetite for Slovenian ama-teur spokespersons diminished but not the need to keep Slovenia on the British agenda.

On 28 June, on the day of the Yugoslav Army at-tack on Slovenia, a group of three met in North London. A theatre producer, a writer and a med-ical doctor felt that in view of British leaders and the general public’s hostility to the idea of Slov-enian secession it was paramount to receive and forward the information about the real situation in Slovenia, leading to ”traumatic and sleepless weeks” (Polonca Baloh Brown).

Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek on British television (TVam) in the fi rst days of the war in Slovenia (Still from a video clip. Source: Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek 1991, and Archive SNL)

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22A key meeting of the Slovenian Crisis Centre on 4 July 1991

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1- Evald Flisar, 2- Nadja Rojnik Stone, 3- Polona Truden Dobrin,4-Jana Valencic, 5- dr. Zvezdan Pirtosek, 6- dr. Marko Hawlina, 7- Andrew Hartley, 8- Nataša Kormanic, 9- Christopher Long.

Photo: Miha Dobrin

Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek, one of the founders of the SCC observed late in 1991: “One of the great val-ues of such grass-roots movements (as the Crisis Centre with all its subdivisions was) is their spon-taneity and freedom, expressed through democratic and non-institutionalised structure, the gratuitous origin and unforced, logical disappearance; and above all, independent, honest and highly motivated spirit of people who are brought together by com-mon concern”,The 4 July 1991 meeting is one of the few minuted Crisis Centre gatherings, by Nadja Rojnik Stone. As not many records of Crisis Centre day-to day man-agement have been preserved this meeting can serve as an insight to its decision making processes. Opinions vary as to what the SCC was, who be-longed to it and when it was dissolved. It was not an organisation; it had no formal leaders, no membership, no long-term programme and very few scheduled meetings. The changing core group refl ected different initiatives, which attracted differ-ent participants.Initially focused on media briefi ng, it soon evolved into a fl uid concept around which ideas and people rallied. It remained as such long after the majority withdrew. The most reliable evidence of its work-ings are fi nancial records but they exclude all initia-tives which didn’t come with a bill or an invoice and of which there were many - such as “Our Breda’s” vigil documented elsewhere.The Crisis Centre had a wide orbit and some activi-ties were co-ordinated from elsewhere, from offi ces as well as living rooms. The seat of the Newsletter and of the Demonstration Organising Committee was at Jana Valencic’s Russell Court fl at, whilst for a period, much of the networking, lobbying and masterminding was done from Dr Hawlina’s and Dr Pirtosek’s hospitals.

Key operational decisions for the organisation of the demonstrations were discussed and de-cided at this meeting in a private house in West London on the evening of 4 July 1991. They in-cluded a briefi ng on press contacts, slogans to be printed on placards, security and coordination of stewards, sale of merchandise, and assistance to Slovenes stranded in London.

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24Expressions of support for Slovenia

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Regrettably few records have been saved, consider-ing the relevance of the Committee for subsequent grass-roots initiatives - “lost in the tempest of times” (Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek). We were able, however, to identify support from the Welsh National Party in the run-up to the 9 March 1991 and later from the Scottish National Party.Considerable support was offered by the British Green Party’s spokesperson on foreign affairs, both before and after secession. She co-ordinated media contacts, set up parliamentary links and organised letters of protest to the Yugoslav Ambassador. Dr Pirtošek was also involved in setting up an organi-sation of stateless nations to parallel the United Na-tions. At the 7th July Trafalgar Square demonstra-tions their representatives such as Sikhs and Kurd-ish offered support. The Offi ce of Tibet sent a letter supporting Slovenia through the Greens.The attitude of the three big parliamentary parties varied. Liberal Democrats and their Leader Paddy Ashdown were supportive. Sir Russell Johnston, Lib Dem PM and their spokesman on foreign af-fairs demonstrated a touching concern for Slovenia. The Conservative Party was cautiously sympathetic apart from the extremely friendly William Powell MP for Corby. The British Left however had most diffi culties with Slovenian secession although some MPs showed individual support.Interest in Slovenia was shown by individual digni-taries such as the retired Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Robert Runcie who had been a tank command-er during the WWII and in 1946 a member of the Italo-Yugoslav Border Commission. Another event in mid-July 1991 was Crown-Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia’s invitation to Dr Hawlina and Dr Pir-tosek to talk about the future of ‘Yugoslav nations’ and ‘democracy’.

The foundations of Crisis Centre lobbying were set previously by the Committee for the Defence of Democracy inYugoslavia which existed from the late 1980’s until the war in Slovenia. Their previous contacts, with parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties, non-governmental organisations and various interest groups, were called upon to rally support for independence for Slovenia.

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26Organisation of 7 July Trafalgar Square 1991Slovenian demonstration

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By the morning of Monday, 1 July 1991, grass-roots activities were in top gear. (Excerpts) “Took unpaid leave from work.. Every hour more notices, phone numbers, reminders, letters were pasted on the wall. In the Parliament we visited Daffydd Wigley, the Leader of the Welsh National Party and Margaret Ewing, MP for the Scottish National Party. Booked loudspeakers for the press conference. Designing posters for Plenicar to print. The Brown’s house re-porting to be inundated with messages and media requests. At the Newsletter we will print T-shirts and badges to fi nance the organisation. Calling around we feel London is with us – people are stunned by pictures of tanks. For our T-shirts we got the best deal in town. Put a paid-for ad in the papers an-nouncing our demonstration. The Guardian was already full, The Times accepted. Opened a bank account at my local Lloyds. Called representatives of the fi ve Slovenian companies for a suggested do-nation of £200 to £300. One refused whilst Mr Fux of Adria Airways offered more: “Write on the re-ceipt ‘for publicity’”. Who is dealing with the peti-tion? Polytechnic of Central London Student Union offered help with the sale of merchandise, pasting posters, stewarding the demonstration. Polona Truden Dobrin’s been organising the demonstration permit. Zvezdan’s compiling the list of speakers… Hundreds of phone calls. Andrew Hartley, married to a Slovenian wants to organise a petition. We’ll need some cellular phones (this was before mo-biles). 1000 badges, 100 T-shirts and 500 placards ordered. 1200 badges delivered, the excess 200 are their contribution to our cause. How many poles should we buy? Who is collecting the placards? The EU is divided down the middle over Slovenian inde-pendence…” (jv1991).(A full version of this recollection (in Slovenian) is found in the Chronicle, 2006, pp.86-123)

The 7 July Trafalgar Square Slovenian demon-stration was initiated immediately after the Yu-goslav Army attack on Slovenia on 28 June. The organisation, which ran in parallel with other initiatives such as media briefi ng and lobbying, was a test in endurance and lack of sleep. Apart from paperwork, lining up the speakers, and lo-gistics, it had to deal with very pragmatic issues of fi nding money to fi nance the event, a crash-course in fundraising.

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Slovenians are not a fl ag waving nation and certain-ly the younger generation of liberal intellectuals that at that time inspired the grass-roots movement in London would in normal times subscribe to “patri-otism-lite”. Slovenian ex-pats rarely seek the com-pany of compatriots, never drape themselves in the national fl ag and perform the National Anthem very sparingly – albeit the Slovenian National Anthem is one of a kind. It is a toast:

God’s blessing on all nationsWho long and work for that bright day When o’er earth’s habitationsNo war, no strife shall hold its swayWho long to seeThat all men freeNo more shall foes, but neighbours be!*

Most Slovenes of that liberal generation considered nationalism distasteful. It took a crisis of tectonic proportions to press us Slovenes into publicly dem-onstrating our sense of national identity - momen-tarily - and rally behind the fl ag. With the June 91 war, the fl ag of the Yugoslav repub-lic of Slovenia no longer represented the symbol of the nation. In the run up to the proclamation of inde-pendence, a new fl ag had been chosen. It was com-mercially produced and available at the secession in Ljubljana but not in London. For our demonstration at Trafalgar Square we had to make it.The fi rst documented hand made fl ag in London was sewn by the Hartley family, with the little stars, Mount Triglav and sea waves in the crest, cut out of gold coloured paper, and attached with glue. It has since been deposited within the Slovenian National Archive.

Sketch for the new Slovenian fl ag by Miha Dobrin

The old Slovenian fl ag became redundant with the proclamation of independence whilst none of the new design was available in London. In the very fi rst days of the crisis Miha Dobrin made this sketch for the new Slovenian fl ag based on a fax from Ljubljana. He also drafted a cut for the new fl ag, which was reprinted in the 2nd issue of the Slovenian Newsletter on 3 July 1991, to en-courage the community to make the new fl ag.

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The Slovenian National Anthem A Toast The vintage, friends, is over, And here sweet wine makes, once again, Sad eyes and hearts recover, Puts fi re into every vein. Drowns dull care Everywhere And summons hope out of despair.

To whom with acclamation And song shall we our fi rst toast give? God save our land and nation And all Slovenes where’er they live, Who own the same Blood and name, And who one glorious Mother claim.

Let thunder out of heaven Strike down and smite our wanton foe! Now, as it once had thriven, May our dear realm in freedom grow. May fall the last Chains of the past Which bind us still and hold us fast!

Let peace, glad conciliation, Come back to us throughout the land! Towards their destination Let Slavs henceforth go hand-in-hand! Thus again Will honour reign To justice pledged in our domain.

To you, our pride past measure, Our girls! Your beauty, charm and grace! There surely is no treasure To equal maidens of such race. Sons you’ll bear, Who will dare Defy our foe no matter where.

Our hope now, our to-morrow - The youths - we toast and toast with joy. No poisonous blight or sorrow Your love of homeland shall destroy. With us indeed You’re called to heed Its summons in this hour of need.

God’s blessing on all nations, Who long and work for that bright day, When o’er earth’s habitations No war, no strife shall hold its sway; Who long to see That all men free No more shall foes, but neighbours be.

At last to our reunion - To us the toast! Let it resound, Since in this gay communion By thoughts of brotherhood we’re bound May joyful cheer Ne’er disappear From all good hearts now gathered here.

*The Slovenian National Anthem, originally A Toast (1844)Lyrics by Dr France Preseren (1800-1849)Set to music by Stanko Premrl in 1905Declared the Slovenian National Anthem (Stanza 7) in Sep-tember 1989Translated by Janko Lavrin

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It was a sunny Sunday, the pinnacle of a frantic week-long effort to rally support for Slovenia and to organise this demonstration. As a white sheet with big letters written on it: “Against aggression and for self-determination” was being fi xed to the base of Nelson’s Column, a group of Croats gate-crashed our demonstration – or so we felt, having done all the preparatory work ourselves. They brought to the podium an even longer piece of fabric with bigger and bolder letters than those on our banner, and oth-ers climbed up with Croatian fl ags. Speakers included Sir Russell Johnston, Deputy Leader and Spokesman on Europe for the Liberal Democrat Party, the fi rst British politician to have backed independent Slovenia; maverick Labour MP Ken Livingstone, one of the few Left politicians at the time to support Slovenian secession; Niki Ko-rtvelyessy, the fairy godmother of Slovenian grass-roots action represented the Green Party. Then our own Dr.Marko Hawlina followed by the National Anthem plus an unscheduled but moving address by a Slovenian government minister.There were also representatives of would-be nations and some groups, unknown to most of us. Then letters of support received from the President of Lithuania; Paddy Ashdown, leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party; Vice Chairman of the Conserva-tive Party; The Scottish National Party; the Offi ce of Tibet; and Keith Miles, a “Slovenian by marriage”, the Honorary Secretary of the Slovenian Repre-sentative Offi ce, the unoffi cial Slovenian Embassy located in the offi ce of Gorenje, a Slovenian white goods maker. At the end, the petition to John Major, the Prime Minister was read and we walked to Downing Street to deliver it.

Trafalgar Square on 7 July 1991

The event is covered extensively by photographs and a list of speakers exists but not much in term of written records, just memories, vague through exhaustion. For onlookers it would look like another Trafalgar Square rally, another sequence of speakers, applauses, readings, and a National Anthem. For us it felt different. We had a new fl ag, a new National Anthem (albeit upgraded from a Toast), a new identity and a brand new state.

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“As an Englishman married to a Slovene my response to the demonstration against Slobodan Milosevic’s tactics towards minorities in Yugoslavia could be regarded as being a little more objective than most Slovenes during that emotional time. I was aware of the developments that lead up to Slovene secession and particularly aware of the motives behind Milose-vic’s nationalist politics. His aggressive behaviour in stirring up hatred against Albanians in Kosovo was repulsive to my ‘liberal’ outlook – I felt that I could understand some of the anxiety felt by Slovenes at the time and I therefore eagerly participated in the events in Trafalgar Square. The atmosphere was full of energy and camaraderie and had that sense of solidarity that must have given Slovenes terrifi c encouragement. There were banners and the new Slovene fl ag but little evidence of over-zealous nationalism – more a celebration of Slovene patriotism at another challenging time in that re-gion’s history. Trafalgar Square that afternoon was a colourful and excited place. Looking into the crowd of several hundred assembled below Nelson’s Col-umn I saw drawn together an eclectic collection – the older generation of Slovenes who had been through similar situations before; younger Slovenes for whom this was unknown territory: even a group of onlook-ers dressed as Chetniks, apparently fl own in the day before from Belgrade to heckle the speakers. Standing to one side on the podium next to those stone lions I felt admiration for those people who had channelled their strength of feeling into such a well-organised and peaceful event – visible evidence of the ability of people to get together at grassroots level and produce effective results” (mb2006).

Trafalgar Square, July 1991 – an English point of viewX

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The 7 July Trafalgar Square demonstration at-tracted an eclectic crowd of UK based Slovenians as well as those stranded in London by the closure of the Yugoslav borders. There were British family and friends of Slovenians and also people express-ing sympathy for the country at war and others in solidarity, themselves belonging to stateless na-tions. Michael Betts remembers:

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The Crisis Centre was set up by a group of young intellectuals, but immediately it became a focus for the Slovenian community at large. One of our most dedicated supporters was the printer, Slovenian pa-triot and devout Christian Dusan Plenicar, a mem-ber of the older emigration of political refugees who fl ed to the UK after the Second World War. Plenicar, a widely respected democrat and anti-communist had been politically active all of his life and to disseminate his ideas and views, made a living by running a commercial printing shop in Enfi eld, North London. Although most of the Crisis Centre group belonged to a different generation and often had a different world view from his own, Plenicar was impressed by our enthusiasm to help the homeland. He offered to print all of our promotional material including leafl ets, placards and the Newsletter for free. On the picture above he is featured during our demonstra-tion at Trafalgar Square and holding a copy of the Newsletter No.3. The blueprint for it was delivered to him the previous day (he came by bicycle to meet us at Enfi eld train station) and both he and his wife Elisabeth printed all through the night to deliver it on the morning of the demonstration. On another picture, he is seen surrounded by his placards in vivid colours.Plenicar was a candle burning at both ends for his beloved Slovenia and he died of overwork in De-cember 1992. To celebrate his memory, we donated an artwork to Westminster Cathedral and dedicated to him our exhibition on Slovenes in London, which we mounted in 1994 in Ljubljana.

The Crisis Centre benefactor, printer and Slov-enian patriot Dusan Plenicar arrived at the Slovenian demonstration at Trafalgar Square on 7 July 1991 after a sleepless night which he spent printing, with his wife Elisabeth, the two thou-sand copies of the Newsletter issue No.3, one of which he is featured holding in his hand.

Our printer Dusan Plenicar at Trafalgar Square on 7 July 1991

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One of the Crisis Centre’s most enduring visual legacies is the printed material, be it posters, plac-ards or handouts, printed in striking colours, as well as early issues of the Newsletter, all designed and produced professionally by Dusan Plenicar. As a seasoned political émigré, he was aware of the power of the written word. He immediately agreed to help the Crisis Centre by printing professionally whatever was needed, for free.The wording sent to him from the Crisis Centre originated from various sources and were sent to print without questioning their precise signifi cance. Time was a luxury. A young Cambridge based business correspondent, for example, sent to the Centre a fax with an appeal against the humiliation of Slovenia and for free enterprise. Although free enterprise was not an issue for the Crisis Centre, the text was printed at the back of one of the peti-tions and sent around the country. Similarly, a fl yer with the date and the venue of the demonstration included the committee worded demand for basic human rights, FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY. It was printed in several thousand copies, by Plenicar on paper in two shades of green, remnants from his commercial contracts. Plenicar’s most striking contribution to the Crisis Centre’s visual imagery were his placards for the Trafalgar Square demonstrations. The slogans were agreed by the core of the Crisis Centre at the 4 July meeting and included Two Million United People Cannot Be Wrong, Keep Slovenia Free, and for some reason Thank You Britain. Plenicar designed and printed them in bold black letters on Day-glo paper in yellow, red and bright green.

Although the Slovenian Crisis Centre was a tiny and penniless group it stood out with its colour-ful printed material, which - after the Crisis Centre instructions - was executed, printed and sponsored by the elderly Slovenian émigré, dis-tinguished campaigner for democracy and pro-fessional printer Dusan Plenicar.

Plenicar’s print for the Slovenian Crisis Centre

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From the improvised podium at the base of Nelson’s Column - which was in any sense a big step for sud-den would-be Slovenian “revolutionaries” - the crowd below seemed topped by a froth of red col-oured placards. There were a few yellow ones and a few green ones, the random result of Mr Plenicar’s leftover stock. Reprinted with bold black lettering were the slogans, agreed by the Crisis Centre at the 4 July meeting: “2 million united people CANNOT BE WRONG”. “FREE Slovenia NOW”. Squeezed into ‘Slovenia’ between the letters V and E was the shape of a leaf of a lime tree, a symbol of Slovenia and at the time her tourist promotion logo. From this wall of front of red-yellow-green plac-ards the handmade ones stood out. Some of them were supporting Croatia but most were in aid of Slovenia. A large one proclaimed in carefully hand-drawn letters “Slovenia’s Independence is Legal”. It was carried by a middle aged woman of sober appearance, a very unlikely demonstrator in normal circumstances. Another one announcing “Slovenia voted YES for independence” - the word ‘Slovenia’ again decorated with a lime tree leaf traced from a tourist brochure - looked worn, having survived from the 9 March demonstration, also at Trafalgar Square. The placard was held upright by another middle-aged woman, this time dressed in the full regalia of Slovenian national costume. Younger demonstrators were wearing T-shirts “FREE Slovenia NOW”, again with the lime tree leaf, and a matching badge. Both were fund-raising merchandise, produced and sold by the Crisis Cen-tre at the demonstration in anticipation of invoices to cover the cost of the organisation.

Placards and T-shirts at Trafalgar Square on 7 July 1991

More than any other grass-roots action in sup-port of Slovenian independence in London, the Trafalgar Square demonstration on 7 July 1991 was a novel experience for most of the partici-pants. Slovenians very seldom display patriotic sentiments. Or was it because – based on anecdo-tal evidence – some of the most overtly patriotic “Slovenians” were the British husbands of Slov-enian women (not an opinion shared by all).

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Unexpectedly, a bespectacled lady was led to the podium by a Times journalist and introduced as the Slovenian government Minister for Energy in Lon-don on some mission. We seized the opportunity to add some offi cial Slovenian fl avour to the list of speakers. We drafted a few lines and handed her this speech. She read it. She sobbed. We sobbed listen-ing to her. Long applause. Someone escorted her to her hotel and we went on with the demonstration. On the side of the podium, a small group waving Serbian fl ags loudly protested, distributed leafl ets and looked frightening. Later we learned that this group was sent from Belgrade the previous day.In a long fi le then we marched to Downing Street to deliver a stack of petitions tied together with a ribbon in the Slovenian white-blue-red national colours. At the end, a Scotland Yard detective ap-proached us as the organisers with tips on safety and self defence. He then came with us to inspect our premises above Adria Airways Offi ce. Exhausted, we opened a bottle of wine and ordered a pizza. The following morning Dr. Zvezdan Pirtosek was supposed to give an interview on breakfast TV. It was cancelled “but only after I had got up at 3 am”. Whilst we were demonstrating a group of Irish prisoners escaped. They made the news. The Times though published a picture of our bespectacled min-ister towering over our demonstration and the Daily Telegraph a picture of a blonde girl with a placard. Below, a cartoon on the EU-brokered cease-fi re the previous day: “We could get Peter Brooke to negoti-ate – he’s got nothing much to do, at the moment.”

The Trafalgar Square demonstration and media coverage

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The list of speakers at the Trafalgar Square Slov-enian demonstration on 7 July 1991 received an unexpected addition when a Times journalist brought to the rally a Slovenian government min-ister who was on a visit to London. An added bo-nus was the next day’s coverage of the Slovenian event in the Times with “their” speaker in the foreground.

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Breda Gajsek’s vigil in her own words: “The idea that we should keep the vigil for a week or two was Zvezdan’s (Dr.Pirtosek). He asked for volunteers, I raised my hand and I guess, being the only one, I got the “job”. We decided to keep the Vigil every day for the next couple of weeks with burning candles, fl owers, and a Slovenian fl ag….Another highlight of the Vigil was the day when Boza Devlin and her sister Zeljka Jones organised ITA and cable TV to come and fi lm the Vigil. As the cameras started to make their fi rst shots a police car with sirens switched on rushed to the scene and two police offi cers jumped out of the car.‘Who is Breda Gajsek?’ they shouted out.‘Me!’ I replied, puzzled.‘We have been informed that hundreds of people are gathering in front of the Embassy and there are fears that you are going to storm the Embassy... yet you have been granted permission for only two peo-ple to gather at this place. What is going on?’“I started to laugh - I could not help it... I explained to the police offi cers that we were only making a short fi lm for the evening news, and that was it. The police offi ce looked at each other and smiled. I was glad to see that even the police were amazed at the extent the Embassy went to in order to get me out of sight. They left and we carried our fi lming as nor-mal.There was another incident during Vigil that sent a bit of a chill down my spine... I reported this to the Kensington Police and they suggested that I should stop the vigil as things were getting too dangerous for me - after all I have made my statement and there was nothing else for me to achieve. But I was stub-born and I insisted on carrying on – if nothing else, every day few more people would learn something about my country...” (bg1991).

(from Our Breda, in Chronicle Slovenians in London 1991-1994, ARS 2006, p.199-203)

Breda Gajsek’s recollection (above) of her vigil in front of the Yugoslav Embassy from June to October 1991 documents the extent to which the Embassy staff went to discredit the protester who attracted considerable media attention including an article in the Evening Standard and television coverage.

Breda Gajsek’s recollection of her vigil in front of the Yugoslav Embassy from June to October

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A PERSONAL VIEW by Michael Betts “The political and military events leading up to Slovenia’s independence have been widely docu-mented by the media. What was less well acknowl-edged were the activities of Slovene citizens who were living abroad at the time. This exhibition attempts to document the response of a small group of Slovenes living in UK in 1991. The individuals concerned did not have close con-tact with each other until events began to take place but were galvanised into committed group action by shared concern over Slovenia. As an Englishman married to a Slovene, I was able to make relatively objective observations and watch this phenomenon of a pressure group action unfold, with a growing admiration for not only the energy in-volved, but also of the ability to negotiate and reach decisions rapidly. In my view, this exhibition is not simply a record of events - it is a small tribute to the individuals who took the time and energy to partici-pate and who did not merely stand back passively. This exhibition should not be viewed simply as an ar-chive - it points to the future, offering an example of how committed individuals and groups can actively take part in society. By persistent pressure the will of people at grass roots level can infl uence the decision makers, politically, culturally and commercially. This exhibition contains examples of grass-roots ac-tion at pressure group level, throughout the Sloveni-an Crisis Centre and the Slovenian Newsletter, and at individual level… The most effective democracies operate from grass roots level, encouraging participation from “bottom up” to balance the tendency for “top down” deci-sions. This exhibition should be regarded as an ex-ample of the value of encouraging grass-roots move-ments throughout Slovene society. In a country the size of Slovenia everybody should be encouraged to participate maybe this exhibition can offer some encouragement.” (mb1994).

“Our Breda’s” vigil in front of the Yugoslav Embassy from June to October 1991

“Our Breda” Gajsek, a nutrition expert held her vigil in front of the Yugoslav Embassy in West London from June to October 1991. She was holding a placard “Slovenian Independ-ence is Legal” to raise awareness amongst the British public on the existence of Slovenia and its right to self-determination. The placard by Frank Devlin has since been deposited with the Slovenian National Archives.

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Over the summer of 1991, with the worst of the cri-sis over, group impetus was on the wane but a few in the Crisis Centre decided to seek further challenges. Prompted by moving appeals from Slovenia citing devastating damage and a dire economic situation as the consequence of the war, economic blockade and collapse of tourism we drafted a programme of fu-ture activities to help our motherland. We proposed to aid Slovenia in the fi elds of tourist promotion, business introductions, charitable assistance and cultural exchange. The outline was discussed with the Slovenian community in London and presented to the authorities in Ljubljana. Another pressing task was the bonding of the Slovenian community, divided until the war along generational, ideological and gender lines. Of the 1500 Slovenians living in the UK, a great part were London-based and belonged to three groups with little in common. The older generation of political refugees from just after the Second World War, mostly manual workers, was focused on the Slovenian Catholic Mission. Later arrivals, young (female) economic immigrants, stayed, married and integrated. The remaining few belonged to the busi-ness community or were students.Pictures of Yugoslav Army tanks rolling over Slov-enian countryside awoke amongst Slovenes of all persuasions a sense of national identity and togeth-erness. Determined to help preserve and cultivate it, we initiated regular fi rst-Monday-of-the month meetings at the Masons’ Arms. These meetings ran for over a year and were the forerunner of the Brit-ish-Slovenian Society.

In the autumn of 1991 the Crisis Centre initi-ated regular monthly meetings for the Slovenian community. It took place at the Mason’s Arms in Maddox Street in Central London, close to its premises above Adria Airline and coincidentally run by a Slovenian born lady publican by the name of Slavica.

Slovenian community meetings at the Mason’s Arms in autumn 1991

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Initially, the idea of organising cultural events had a practical goal - the need for fundraising to cover considerable Crisis Centre expenses during those frantic times of war and demonstrations. A tel-ephone company threatened the Crisis Centre and consequently our host, Adria Airways Representa-tive Offi ce, with bailiffs. Our fi rst fundraising concert at the beautiful Leighton House in October 1991 featured two Slovenian-born musicians, sisters Tatjana and Na-tasa Lipovsek, and a poetry reading by our poetess and potter Ifi genija Zagoricnik-Simonovic. In 1992, our second concert with the Lipovsek sis-ters took place at St.John’s Smith Square, a prestig-ious musical venue in Central London. To fi nance its organisation, a syndicate of twenty was set up to provide an initial budget as a no-interest high-risk loan. The concert was recorded and professional quality cassettes were produced. With the proceed-ings we organised a beginners’ Slovenian language evening class, the only one in London. It was based at the University of London and was aimed at Brit-ish spouses of Slovenians. We also co-sponsored the visit of Slovenian poets to a festival in London and made a charitable donation to Lady Nott for her Fund for Refugees in Slovenia.For all involved, the organisation of these events was a steep learning curve in promotion, publicity, and sponsorship acquisition. We were driven by an invincible “naive enthusiasm” (Zvezdan Pirtosek) and each time rewarded with an adrenaline boost. For many of us the hardest experience was not the challenge of demanding actions but the eventual – normality restored - return to routine.

Between autumn 1991 and spring 1992, a se-quence of Slovenian cultural events livened the community calendar, including concerts, poetry readings, a commercial cassette production, the founding of a Slovenian language class, a lecture and a (briefl y fl ourishing) literary page in the Slovenian Newsletter.

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The attack on Slovenia put parliamentary lobbying high on the every British Slovene’s (and their British spouse’s) agenda. After the demonstration and a joint decision to keep up the pressure, Andrew Hartley produced a round-robin letter which was sent to all MPs. This questionnaire, with a tear away slip, asked each MP to declare whether “I do/do not support the demands of the Slovene people for self determina-tion and for Slovenia to take its place among the free nations of Europe” and “I do/do not wish my name to be used in public”. Of the 57 answers the Crisis Centre received, 19 were encouraging, 38 neutral or hostile. The British Left had most diffi culties with the changing geopolitical reality: “…The line was that nationalism, which seems to have motivated Slov-enia’s unilateral declaration of independence, is equally responsible for the bloodshed and misery which is being infl icted on the country... I don’t be-lieve there is any room at all for nations which have based themselves on racial prejudice, disharmony and selfi shness... ” A Labour M.P. (dated 17 Sep-tember 1991).On October 1991, Dr.Zvezdan Pirtošek submitted evidence to the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Com-mittee. It was published in their report Volume 2 on 6 February 1992. Dr.Pirtosek also submitted a draft for the Early Day Motion (EMD) on the recogni-tion of Slovenian independence. It was read in the House of Commons on 20 November 1991. The All Party Group for Slovenia was established in the Par-liament on 17 June 1991. Another manifestation of grass-roots initiative was fi ve rounds of petitions. Three of them were deliv-ered to John Major, the Prime Minister.

Media briefi ngs and systematic parliamentary lobbying were identifi ed as the most effective grass-roots activities to counteract the initially hostile British attitude towards Slovenian seces-sion. In the autumn of 1991, well before her rec-ognition, Crisis Centre activists identifi ed sym-pathetic MPs and extensively campaigned for Slovenia in the Parliament.

Parliamentary lobbying and petitions in the autumn 1991

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Slovenes living in Britain had been aware for a while that both the British public and the majority of opinion-makers resisted or were even opposed to the break-up of Yugoslavia. One of the reasons – perhaps Margaret Thatcher’s during her time in Downing Street – questioned: “Who would then pay back the Yugoslav foreign debt?” Also, in the eyes of many British politicians, particularly those on the left, Yugoslavia had the aura of a country that fought Hitler and resisted Stalin whilst Slovenia would be a Johnny-come-lately and possibly part of a German foreign policy plot. As Frank Devlin, an Englishman married to a Slovenian later observed: “When Slovenia was ‘in-vaded’ by the Yugoslav National Army, and under attack from the Federal government in Belgrade, I was as ignorant of the constitutional facts as anyone else in Britain – and prepared to accept at face value the media reports that the Slovenes were adopting an unconstitutional (and therefore ‘illegal’) position by pressing ahead for secession from the Yugoslav Federation…”Slovenia declared her independence but the tide was slow to turn. This fuelled us with determination to explain Slovenia’s position to Britain through media interviews and parliamentary lobbying. A decade later, in 2001 HE Hugh Mortimer, British Ambassador to Slovenia commented at the open-ing of our exhibition at the Slovenian National Archives: “Statehood does not happen by itself but it is the result of political consensus which depends in turn on sheer hard work, leadership and the com-mitment of many”.Grass - roots may have played a part too in British recognition of Slovenia.

Prime Minister John Major’s letter dated 15 January 1992 with British recognition of Slovenia

The driving force for expatriate Slovenians was absolute conviction on the legality and legitimacy of Slovenian secession. The long awaited British recognition of Slovenian sovereignty and inde-pendence came in a letter dated 15 January 1992 from the British Prime Minister John Major to the President of Slovenia Milan Kucan.

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54Poster “Putting Slovenia on the Map” on the London Underground in April and May 1993

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In summer 1991, soon after our demonstration at Trafalgar Square in support of Slovenian inde-pendence, it became obvious that the majority of the British public were ignorant of the new state in Europe and of normal living conditions within her borders. As Slovenes in Britain, we considered it our duty to inform Britain about Slovenia and to link the two countries through cultural promotion and mutual business opportunities. We felt that we could achieve this goal with a visual presentation of Slovenian design and products. It happened thanks to the visionary merchandise director of Liberty’s. In July 1992, Richard Stew-art-Liberty agreed to organise a sales exhibition of Slovenian goods for which he suggested the title “Putting Slovenia on the Map” and engaged Lib-erty’s publicity machine to promote Slovenia. This was in spring 1993 when for most of the British public, Slovenia, Slovakia and Slavonia were a war zone in the Bosnian quagmire.For a month, the Slovenian fl ag fl ew high over Liberty’s Regent Street building. All Liberty’s shop windows featured stunning displays of Slovenian goods. A penetrating advertisement about the ex-hibition fi lled the radio-waves, life-style magazines wrote about it. Below ground, Liberty-designed posters “Putting Slovenia on the Map” graced the stations and corridors of the London Underground. Later on, the then Slovenian Ambassador remarked that prior to this exhibition, all of their mail went to the Slovak Embassy. Afterwards, he noticed the reverse.

In March and April 1993, the celebrated Lon-don department store Liberty mounted a com-mercial exhibition of Slovenian design and products under the title “Putting Slovenia on the Map”. The show, advertised by a striking Liberty-designed poster on the London Un-derground, attracted extensive media coverage and echoed in Slovenia.

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As the British public in those times knew nothing – certainly nothing positive – about Slovenia, we soon decided to undertake image building cam-paigns on her behalf. As individuals with no mar-keting experience, no contacts and no money we relied on our ideas and our conviction. Intuitively we felt that for the most effective cam-paigns we should cooperate with British partners who could contribute local knowledge and clout. We focused on design for its combination of culture with industry, feeling that such promotion could boost both Slovenia’s standing and her economy.Liberty, the prestigious department store on Regent Street in the heart of London agreed on the experi-ment with Slovenia. Usually, promotional shows are government-sponsored and selected by a com-mittee. This one was idiosyncratic and different as Liberty chose the goods, purchased them outright and carried all commercial risk.Liberty’s merchandise director Richard Stewart - Liberty and a senior buyer criss-crossed Slovenia, and sourced the items both from big, then still state-run factories as well as small makers. The country had only recently emerged from a command econ-omy, a legacy of which was a multitude of small scale, indigenous production. The stock included Slovenian design, mass pro-duced goods and craft items as well as fashion, food, drinks, tourist promotion and Slovenian lit-erature in English translation. The most photogenic item however was an original, full-scale working kozolec, a symbol of Slovenia, brought over by Liberty for this show.

Slovenian products, fashion, food, drinks, cui-sine, tourism, and Slovenian literature in English translation were incorporated into the exclusive Liberty stock during the “Putting Slovenia on the Map” sales exhibition in April and May 1993.

“Putting Slovenia on the Map” at Liberty in April and May 1993

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The Kozolec, a traditional Slovenian rural structure used for drying hay is a symbol of the Slovenian landscape. Richard Stewart-Liberty, Liberty’s merchandise director therefore agreed to bring a recycled eighty year old kozolec to the UK as part of Liberty’s exhibition of Slovenian design in March and April of 1993. A test assembly, which lasted for one day, was constructed in Russell Square gardens in Central London. On the follow-ing days, the structure was reassembled in Liberty’s central atrium for the duration of the show with the consequent aim of fi nding a suitable venue for its permanent location.In 1994, the Pitt Rivers Museum, a part of Oxford University, accepted Liberty’s kozolec into its permanent collection. Simultaneously, HRH the Prince of Wales agreed to have a similar single-roof kozolec built at his Gloucester estate at Highgrove House as part of an awareness campaign for the preservation of endangered vernacular structures, and organic farming. We also felt that HRH’s inter-est for these redundant structures could slow down their demise and thus the pauperisation of the Slov-enian cultural landscape. Master carpenter Lojze Cerar from Domzale with his three assistants arrived from Slovenia for the two assemblies which took place on 23 June 1994 at Highgrove and 25 June 1994 in Oxford. The ‘Ko-zolec in England’ event was a considerable achieve-ment in logistics, sponsorship and motivation by a number of people both in UK and in Slovenia, where it sparked huge media interest.

In 1993 the fi rst kozolec, a symbol of Slovenia, was brought to England as part of Liberty’s “Putting Slovenia on the Map” exhibition. The following year it was relocated at Pitt Rivers’ museum in Oxford and a second kozolec was assembled at HRH the Prince of Wales’ estate at Highgrove House which attracted Slovenian media attention.

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The most travelled, most media-friendly and prob-ably most expensive kozolec of all times was the one brought to London by Liberty’s as part of their exhibition of Slovenian design in March and April 1993. It had been recycled by the master carpenter Lojze Cerar from leftovers of redundant com-ponents into the smallest real life working ‘two window’ kozolec, three meters high and meters in length. The kozolec was temporarily constructed with detachable foundations for the polished hardwood fl ooring of Liberty’s fashion department. In the following year, the kozolec found its perma-nent home at the Pitt Rivers ethnographic museum at Oxford University. The structure was assembled in the museum’s Music Garden - fi ttingly for a kozolec whose subsequent foundations were made from 200-year-old redundant oak bell supports from a Domzale church belltower. The photograph features Lojze Cerar on the right and Joze Medved, his assistant, on the left during the assembly at Pitt Rivers on 25 June 1994.In 2006, due to the redevelopment of the site, the kozolec was moved again, this time to the Oxford University arboretum in Nuneham Courtenay on the outskirts of Oxford. Lojze Cerar and his team came over again to reassemble it once more. After a long journey, the wandering kozolec returned to its natural habitat, a meadow, albeit in Britain.

As kozolecs are becoming increasingly redun-dant structures due to changing farming practic-es, the assembly of “Liberty’s” kozolec in Oxford in 1994 and its subsequent relocation in 2006 was a rare opportunity to document a dying skill. In the photograph are master carpenters Lojze Cerar and Joze Medved in Oxford in 1994.

The assembly of “Liberty’s” kozolec at Pitt Rivers Museum in 1994

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The Slovenian Newsletter was founded in London on 29 June 1991 as a personal response to the war in Slovenia, and to link the Slovenian community and its British supporters. It’s work was closely bonded to the Crisis Centre and later the Newsletter became the initiator of cultural and publicity events. In summer 1991, it took on the role of the chroni-cler of grass-roots support for Slovenian independ-ence. In February 1992, it incorporated into its ar-chive most of the disbanded Crisis Centre written records. The Newsletter’s archiving policy focused on the work of ordinary individuals as they regularly at-tract less attention than institutions and personalities - yet during those crucial times small stories were as impressive and worth preserving as big narratives. In summer 1993, the editors decided to organise and present our material as an incentive for other grass-roots movements. We examined the archive and drafted an outline for an exhibition and a publica-tion. In December 1994, Miha Dobrin and Jana Va-lencic mounted the exhibition “Slovenes in London 1991-1994” which was shown in several venues in-cluding the Slovenian Parliament in 1996, and the Slovenian National Archives in 2001 and 2006. In June 2008, the exhibition was mounted in the House of Commons, UK.In 2006, Jana Valencic and Miha Dobrin compiled a comprehensive catalogue subtitled ‘A Chronicle of Grass-roots Activities for Slovenian Independ-ence: the Slovenian Crisis Centre and the Slovenian Newsletter’. It was published by the Slovenian Na-tional Archives to mark the donation of our archive to their collection.

From 1991-1994 the Slovenian Newsletter ac-companied the activities of the Slovenian Crisis Centre, kept the records and later on initiated several events including the fi rst mounting of the present exhibition in 1994, an appeal to preserve a record of grass-roots activities for Slovenian independence and the publishing of a chronicle of events.

The Slovenian Newsletter, a participant in the events and their chronicler

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A PERSONAL VIEW

The political and military events leading up to the Slov-enia's independence have been widely documented by the media. What was less well acknowledged were the activi-ties of Slovene citizens who were living abroad at the time.

This exhibition attempts to document the response of a small group of Slovenes living in UK in 1991. The individuals concerned did not have close contact with each other until events began to take place but were galvanised into commit-ted group action by shared concern over Slovenia.

As an Englisman married to a Slovene, I was able to make relatively objective observations and watch this phenom-enon of a pressure group action unfold, with a growing ad-miration for not only the energy involved, but also of the ability to negotiate and reach decisions rapidly.

In my view, this exhibition is not simply a record of events – it is a small tribute to the individuals who took the time and energy to participate and who did not merely stand back passively. This exhibition should not be viewed sim-ply as an archive – it points to the future, offering an exam-ple of how committed individuals and groups can actively take part in society.

By persistent pressure the will of people at grass-roots level can influence the decision makers, politically, culturally and commercially.

This exhibition contains examples of grass-roots action at pressure group level, throught the Slovenian Crisis Cen-tre and the Slovenian Newsletter, and at individual level, throught the promotion of Slovenian culture and commerce at Leighton House and St. John's Smith Square (classical and folk concerts), Liberty (Slovene design and produce) and at the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford (kozolec).

The most effective democracies operate from grass-roots level, encouraging participation from “bottom up” to bal-ance the tendency for “top down” decisions. This exhibition should be regarded as an example of the value of encourag-ing grass-roots movements throughout Slovene society.

In a country the size of Slovenia everybody should be en-couraged to participate – maybe this exhibition can offer some encouragement.

Michael BettsDecember 1994

RAZSTAVI NA POT

(prevod) Politični in vojaški dogodki, ki so vodili k sa-mostojnosti Slovenije, so bili obširno dokumentirani v medijih. Po drugi strani pa je mnogo manj poznano delo-vanje slovenskih državljanov, ki so v tistem času živeli na tujem.

Ta razstava skuša prikazati odziv majhne skupine Slo-vencev, ki so leta 1991 živeli v Veliki Britaniji. Preden so se dogodki začeli odvijati, si ti posamezniki niso bili blizu, skupna skrb nad dogajanjem v Sloveniji pa jih je zlila v trdno akcijsko jedro.

Kot Anglež, poročen s Slovenko, sem lahko sorazmerno objektivno opazoval, kako se je razvijal fenomen skupi-ne za pritisk, in vedno bolj sem občudoval ne le odloč-nost ljudi, temveč tudi zmožnost dogovarjanja in hitrega sprejemanja odločitev.

Moje mnenje je, da ta razstava ni le zapis dogodkov – je poklon posameznikom, ki so si vzeli čas in energijo, da bi sodelovali, in se niso le držali v ozadju. Razstava ne sme biti videna samo kot zbir zgodovinskih dokumentov – kaže namreč v prihodnost in ponuja primer, kako lah-ko zavzeti posamezniki in skupine aktivno sodeljujejo v družbi.

S stalnim pritiskom lahko civilna pobuda vpliva na tiste, ki odločajo tako politično, kulturno kot poslovno.

Razstava je primer civilne pobude na ravni skupin v ob-liki Slovenskega kriznega centra in glasila The Sloveni-an Newsletter, in na individualni ravni v obliki predsta-vitve slovenske kulture in trgovine v dvoranah Leighton House in St. John's Smith Square (koncerti klasične in narodne glasbe), v trgovini Liberty (slovensko obliko-vanje in izdelki) in v muzeju Pitt Rivers v Oxfordu (ko-zolec).

Najuspešnejše demokracije delujejo z ravni civilne druž-be, spodbujajoč sodelovanje »od spodaj navzgor«, da bi uravnotežile težnjo po odločanju »od zgoraj navzdol«. Ta razstava je primer pomembnosti spodbujanja civilne pobude v slovenski družbi.

V tako majhni državi, kot je Slovenija, bi moral biti vsakdo spodbujen k sodelovanju – in morda lahko ravno ta razstava ponudi to spodbudo.

Michael Betts(prevod Dobrin / Truden)

»Na določen način je praznik vsak dan, ko v našo ustanovo pride »nov« arhivski dokument. V njej hranimo velike in manj velike zgodbe. Pričujoči katalog ni le zgodba o prizadevanjih za demokracijo, dostojanstvo in svobodo. Ta katalog je vse to in s tem še nekaj drugega. Pripoveduje nam še drugo zgodbo. Zgodbo o dokumentih. O dokumentih, ki so (postali) arhiv«.

Activities of the London based Slovenian Crisis Centre and the Slovenian NewsletterThe lobbying, pressure and media contact group, under the name of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy in Slovenia, was active from 1988 until the 1991 war in Slovenia. The Slovenian Crisis Centre was founded on 28 June 1991 and the Slovenian Newsletter the following day, as a response to British public opinion, which was generally hostile to the idea of Slovenian independence. Group actions included con-tacts with the media, parliamentary lobbying, organisation of demonstrations and the bonding of the Sovenian community in the UK. With the recognition of Slovenia's independence, political activism was superseded by cultural events, and image building campaigns aimed at educat-ing the British public about Slovenia. The exhibition and now the catalogue are records of grass-roots activities for Slovenia.

(translation) In a way, every time a “new” document comes to our institution is an occasion to celebrate. We keep momentous sto-ries but also less momentous stories. The present catalogue is more than a story of our efforts towards democracy, dignity and free-dom. It is all of the above and more. It also tells us another story, a story of the documents that are (have become) the archives.

Delovanje londonske akcijske skupine Slovenski krizni center in glasila Slovenian Newsletter Skupina za parlamentarno lobiranje in medijske stike, Odbor za obrambo demokracije v Jugoslaviji, je delovala od leta 1988 do vojne v Slove-niji. 28. junija 1991 se je ustanovil Slovenski krizni center, 29. junija pa glasilo Slovenian Newsletter, kot odgovor na britansko javno mnenje, nenaklonjeno samostojni Sloveniji. Delovanje skupine je obsegalo stik z mediji, parlamentarno lobiranje, organizacijo demonstracij in povezo-vanje slovenske skupnosti. S priznanjem Slovenije so aktivnosti na političnem področju nadomestili kulturni dogodki, in odmevne akcije, ki so britansko javnost seznanjali s Slovenijo. Razstava in zdaj katalog sta zapis delovanja skupine in posameznikov v Londonu za Slovenijo.

Founded 29 June 1991 in London

THE SLOVENIAN NEWSLETTERJune 2006 No.20

Factfile No.3 Slovenians in London 1991–1994

19. januarja in 9. marca 1991 30. junija 1991 4. julija 1991 7. julija 1991

(prevod) Kot pri vseh demokratičnih in samoiniciativnih gibanjih leži vrednost Kriznega centra in vseh njegovih spremnih akcij – kljub razdrobljenosti – v spontanosti in svobodi, izraženi skozi ne-institucionalizirano strukturo. Zanje sta značilna svojevrstno poreklo in spontana, logična usahnitev; največ pa so vredne neodvisnost, poštenost in motiviranost ljudi, združenih pri skupni stvari. Dr. Zvezdan Pirtošek, SNL No.5, september 1991, str. 6

“One of the great values of such grass-root movements (as the Crisis Centre with all its subdivisions was) is their spontaneity and freedom, expressed through democratic and non-institutionalized structure, the gratuitous origin and unforced, logical disappear-ance; and above all, independent, honest and highly motivated spirit of people who are brought together by common concern.”

Dr. Zvezdan Pirtošek, SNL No.5, September 1991, p. 6

Slovenci v Londonu 1991–1994

S prispevki / with contributions from: Vesna Azadi, Polonca Baloh Brown, Michael Betts, dr. Cathie Carmichael, Tonči Cerar, Frank Devlin, Evald Flisar, Breda Gajšek, Andrew Hartley, dr. Marko Hawlina, dr. Zvezdan Pirtošek, dr. Gorazd Planinšič, Dušan Pleničar, Marianne Pleničar Bai-ley, Yvonne Robinson, Veseljko Simonović, dr. Polona Truden Dobrin, Anica Wilkinson, Ifigenija Zagoričnik Simonović, Tadeja Zupan Arsov

For a list of English texts follow the arrow For a list of English texts please refer to the underside of the inner flap or follow the arrows

THE SLOVENIAN NEWSLETTER

Founded 29th June 1991 in London

Editors: Jana Valenčič, Dr. Zvezdan Pirtošek, Michael Betts

Literary Editor: Ifigenija Zagoričnik-Simonović

Published by BETTS * VALENCIC, London

Jana Valenčič in Miha Dobrin

Kronika delovanja civilne družbe v času osamosvajanja: Slovenski krizni center in glasilo Slovenian Newsletter

A Chronicle of Grass-Roots Activities for Slovenian Independence:The Slovenian Crisis Centre and The Slovenian Newsletter

»Celostno umetniško delo, Gesamtkunstwerk, o katerem so sanjali pred modernizmom, se vrača v postmodernizmu kot življenjska drža: aktivizem v imenu imperativa o skupnem do-brem, provokacija v imenu širitve možnega, slavitev individualnih razlik, tkanje smisel-nih vezi s kolektivom, neka potreba po izra-zu, ki hoče biti estetski le, če se mu ni treba odpovedati etiki, dokumentarni spomin in imaginativna vizija, svareče opozorilo in klic k civilni odgovornosti.«

Aleš Debeljak

(translation) The total art work, das Gesa-mtkunstwerk, of which creative minds have dreamt of since before Modernism is making a sly comeback in the Postmodernism. It re-turns as a temporary life style, as an activist attitude in the name of the pursuit of com-mon good, a provocation in the name of the expansion of the possible that is celebrating individual differences, seeking ligatures that bind an individual to a collective, a desire for the expression that wants to be aesthetical only if it doesn't have to give up the ethical, a documentary memory and imaginative vi-sion, a warning and a call for a civic respon-sibility.

Aleš Debeljak

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The exhibition and Chronicle of Activities on which it is based document the determination which we as indi-viduals and Slovenians living in London felt whilst our pocked-sized homeland of two million people was at-tacked by the Yugoslav Army, the fourth biggest army in Europe. In that time of crisis, when the existence of our country and the lives of our dearest were threatened, each of us spontaneously decided not to sit back and accept the dreadful unfolding of events but to act. The exhibition is a message about determined personal responses from ordi-nary people in support of their homeland.Some of the grass-roots response to the aggression towards Slovenia is documented in the papers of the London-based action group the Slovenian Crisis Centre and the material gathered by the Slovenian Newsletter, the chronicler of events. A selection of these documents was mounted as the exhibition “Slovenians in London 1991-1994” in Decem-ber 1994. In 2006 it was remounted in a smaller, travel-ling format and a comprehensive “Chronicle of Activities” was published by the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia (Slovenian National Archives) to mark the donation of the SCC/SNL archive to their collection. The exhibition in its current format consists of 32 fabric panels (w=800 mm, h=2000 mm) as well as objects. These include placards from various Slovenian demonstrations in London in 1991, badges and T-shirts with the slogan “Free Slovenia Now” which we designed and produced to fi nance our protests, the fi rst Slovenian fl ag in London, hand-sewn by the Hartley family after the sketch Miha Do-brin made in those fi rst days when the new fl ag of our new state was not yet available in London. It also includes two books of newspaper cuttings clipped by Anica Wilkinson, a videotape of Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek’s interview on British television in the fi rst days of the war, and an interview

with printer and Slovenian patriot Dusan Plenicar broad-cast by the BBC WS Slovenian Section in 1991.“Chronicle of Grass-roots Activities for Slovenian Inde-pendence: the Slovenian Crisis Centre and the Slovenian Newsletter” is a compilation of documents by different authors and from different periods to follow the change in intensity and focus of our memories. “Catalogue of the Exhibition” was compiled in 1994 from writings by partic-ipants of those events and is followed by the Exhibition in its original 1994 version. The next chapter, “Testimonies” is a chronicle of the events from the early 1991 to the end of 1992 in a diary form reconstructed from our archive material. The chapter “Campaigns” follows image build-ing activities aimed at educating the British public about the then unknown Slovenia and covers the Liberty exhibi-tion of Slovenian products “Putting Slovenia on the Map” in 1993 and assemblies of kozolecs in England in 1993 and 1994. The chapter “Media Coverage” is of research-only interest whilst “Then and Now” (the Opinions of Many) brings moving memories from before 1994 as well as some accounts written today by participants in those grass-roots initiatives. Although the majority of writing in the Chronicle is in Slovenian, suffi cient documents are bi-lingual or in English to make the publication accessible to an English reader. Besides, the Chronicle is amply illus-trated with documents, photographs and original cartoons by the Newsletter in-house cartoonist Michael Betts and by our friend Dr Gorazd Planinsic.

Chronicle of Activities by Jana Valencic and Miha Do-brin (224 pages, weight 850 grams) is available from its publisher the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia www.Archive.gov.si

Chronicle of Events by Jana Valencic and Miha Dobrin

Grass-roots Activities for Slovenian Independence: The Slovenian Crisis Centre and the Slovenian Newsletter

Slovenians in London 1991-1994

Catalogue Authors and Contributors

Jana Valencic, u.d.i.a.M.Arch (Toronto)Architect and writerbetts.valencic@poptel.org

Miha Dobrin, u.d.i.a MPhil (AA)Architect and photographerArhitekti Dobrin, d.o.o.miha.dobrin@guest.arnes.si

Dr Marko Hawlina, Opthalmologistmarko.hawlina@mf.uni-lj.si

Dr Zvezdan Pirtosek, Neurologistzvezdan.pirtosek@kclj.si

Michael Betts, Geography teacher and the SNL in-house cartoonistbetts.valencic@virgin.net

Vesna Azadi, Photographerveniceazadi@yahoo.co.uk

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BACK COVER Liberty-designed posters “Putting Slovenia on the Map” were displayed on the London Underground between April and May 1993 accompanying their sales exhibition of Slovenian design in there Regent Street store.

Poster design: Liberty, 1993. Published by: Liberty, Lon-don 1993. Photo of the poster: Borut Jurca - ARS, 2006. Source: Archive SNL

“The exhibition at Liberty’s completed the circle of our activities. From the 1991 Trafalgar Square demonstrations, trembling with fear for the fate of our country attacked by the Yugoslav Army, to the fi lled up champagne glasses at the opening of Liberty’s Slovenian exhibition in April 1993 in the stylish atmosphere of a refi ned English institution,”

Dr.Zvezdan Pirtosek, 1994