Maja Smerkar - In Defense of Artistic Freedom: Support Legal Action Against Political Abuse

Since 2018, Janez Janša — the leader of the SDS for 32 years — has publicly attacked modern art using language that chillingly echoes Nazi-era propaganda, repeatedly referring to it as “degenerate.” This rhetoric reached a disturbing climax between 20 February and 15 March 2025, when SDS flooded towns across Slovenia with inflammatory billboards. These featured a decontextualized image of Smrekar breastfeeding a dog—taken without her consent—and the slogan: “Change for the people, prestige for the elite.”

The campaign triggered a wave of harassment against Smrekar: over three months of coordinated social media abuse, attacks by right-wing media, constant coverage on national and private broadcasters, threatening phone calls, hostile graffiti in public spaces, and condemnatory statements from the Roman Catholic Church.

Smrekar’s legal battle is a courageous stand by one individual against the machinery of Slovenia’s largest and most financially powerful political party of the past 30 years. It is a fight for artistic freedom and a direct response to the unlawful political exploitation of her work. Her case underscores a broader global trend: the weaponization of culture by authoritarian populists to silence dissent, distort public narratives, and dominate the cultural imagination.

This campaign is raising funds to support Maja Smrekar’s legal effort to defend her rights and challenge political abuse. Your support will help affirm freedom of expression, uphold artistic integrity, and stand in solidarity with cultural workers around the world.

Stand for the freedom to create without fear.

Source:
https://artkinship.org