Première of the Voice of the People documentary
You are invited to watch a documentary about the Voice of the People initiative, which I’ve been filming for the past months on Youtube now.
The documentary on the biggest civil society mobilisation in Slovenia, resulting from recent threats to democracy in the country, was produced to create a historical record of a civil society movement that significantly contributed toward the highest voter turnout in the last 20 years. In June 2021, Slovenia was placed on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist, which issues alerts on countries where there has been a recent and rapid deterioration in civic freedoms. The Slovenian government has sought to delegitimise the work of civil society actors by publicly vilifying them and cutting crucial funding resources. Therefore April 2022 Slovenian parliamentary elections were crucial in determining the future of democracy in the country.
The abovem-entioned threats forced the civil society to respond. More than 100 CSOs (civil society organisations) have backed an initiative called Glas ljudstva (Voice of the People). It designed joint action to encourage public participation in election debates, monitor the electoral process, inform citizens, and mobilise them to vote. When the documentary was filmed, the outcome of the elections was unclear. Nevertheless, it followed the strongest mobilisation of civil society in Slovenia, presented the views of some of the most visible representatives and created a historical record of the elections that had the highest turnout in the last 20 years.
The documentary was produced by APIS Institute, as part of the NEXUS project. The first screening of the Voice of the People documentary took place on Friday, May 27, 2022 at 5 p.m. in the ZRC Atrium, Novi trg 2, Ljubljana. There was a conversation with Katarina Bervar Sternad (PiC), political scientist Tjaša Pureber, Primož Bezjak (Activists and Artist) and Mojca Žerak (Voice of the People), about the initiative and how civil society can organize and move forward to continue building, strengthening and maintaining the potentials that have been formed in recent years. *The premiere event was prepared by the APIS Institute with the support of ZRC SAZU.
