Summary
Matej Šurc, Blaž Zgaga: In the name of the state - a trilogy
With this trilogy, which is unparalleled in Slovenian investigative journalism, the writers have done an exceptional job. The arms affair, which cast a shadow on the bright and warm story of Slovenia's acquisition of independence, is now taking its final shape thanks to them. In three voluminous books, after several years of tireless searching and searching for the missing stones in the mosaic of the carefully hidden arms trade, they presented to the public a picture in which practically everything is clear. Now it is finally known who was pulling the strings in the story, which puts the idealized heroic hymn about independence in a completely different, incomparably stronger critical light. It's as if they are following in the footsteps of Bertolt Brecht, who once said: "Unfortunate is a country that needs heroes." Especially because the dirty details are never seen behind their backs. As a rule, their heroes always prefer to keep silent about them.« The In the Name of the State trilogy is a product of which there are not many in European journalistic fields. There are few countries where journalists would rearrange some of the dirtiest and most hidden chapters of their own history so thoroughly and with such an argument, as Matej Šurc and Blaž Zgaga did in Slovenia. Their research feat therefore has additional historical and moral weight. Sooner or later, politics will also have to admit that, which in the past two decades has tried to do everything to ensure that the arms scandal never becomes public. The testimonies and documents published in this trilogy will simply not be able to be ignored from now on.
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