Radio Študent's future still under threat

On its third regular session the Student Assembly of the Student organisation of Ljubljana (ŠOU) rejected the 2021 draft budget in which 0 EUR were earmarked for Radio Študent (RŠ). All the amendments to the budget which were unacceptable for Radio Študent since they provided for only 50 000 EUR funding were rejected as well. The session was open to the public and was continuously followed by more than 1 500 people on Facebook which made it the most public session in the history of ŠOU. This session brought into focus the poor and misleading communication between the leadership and the student deputies, the lack of knowledge of important issues and a general absence of thoughtful consideration as regards the consequences of managing a budget of student public money worth several millions.

The situation of Radio Študent thus remains the same. Both the draft amendment of the leader of the student group Povezani Aleksander Milićević and the address of ŠOU's director Andrej Klasinc to the participants reflected the idea of a „peaceful transfer of the founder's share“ which is not acceptable for Radio Študent. Once again it became clear that the lowering of the funding for the activity of Radio Študent had something to do with the Radio's reporting. Or, in Milićević's words: „We should admit to ourselves that Radio Študent is also indirectly responsible for the reduction in funding since it has been gradually destroying the reputation of the Student Organisation and the student organising in general by its reporting that often does not rely of supported facts“. Klasinc, under whose leadership the ŠOU funding for Radio Študent diminished by half in the last seven years once again misled the student assembly and the general public with false claims about consensual negotiations regarding the renouncing of the status of founder of the Radio. Not even ŠOLT, the most ancient institute of the ŠOU family managed to escape the arbitrary decision-making of ŠOU's leadership: its director was not allowed to participate in the session. By doing this Klasinc also discredited the huge national and foreign support received by RŠ, which confirms that Radio Študent's activity is in the students' and public interest and that it should continue. We are certain that the draft budget would not have been rejected without the support and the pressure of the public. We also ask ourselves on the basis of which powers the director of ŠOU is urging the deputies of the Student Assembly to agree to the transfer of the founder's status.

A vast media campaign with signatures of more than 400 institutions and more than 13 000 individuals, half of them students, the support of numerous national faculties and other academic, educational and student institutions, the cultural sector, civil society, the majority of Slovene members of European parliament and international support from the independent and the non-profit media sector have had positive effect and have prevented the hastened exclusion of Radio Študent from the public funding managed by ŠOU that has been clearly planned in the long term. The discussion in the student assembly encompassed both pathetically prepared and launched attacks against the activity and legitimacy of Radio Študent from the part of the student deputy group Povezani as well as some much needed careful consideration and meaningful questioning from a sufficiently large part of the student deputies that resulted in the rejection of this unacceptable and disastrous budget. It so happened that many of the deputies discovered – probably for the first time in their young political careers - that at the end they'll have to vote according to their conscience.

During the session many deputies mentioned the unacceptability of a ŠOU's budget without the budget line for Radio Študent. While it is true that the proposed amendments were unacceptable to us, they did nevertheless confirm what we were shouting for the last two weeks: Radio Študent – the oldest independent student radio station in Europe is an indispensable part of student organising and the media environment and as such it is undoubtedly entitled to the public funding managed by ŠOU. As usually happens with Radio Študent present, the debate transcended the problematic horse-trading and the ignoring of Radio Študent financing needs as well as the idea of the selling-off of the founder status of Radio Študent - which was still persistent in spite of the the vast public support – and finally began to tackle questions about the wider purpose of student organising in the current form. Some deputies expressed doubts regarding the legitimacy of the continuation of ŠOU's activities which until yesterday's session had been completely devoid of transparency and control and undemocratic. These are the first steps in the right direction which are only to be welcomed.

Here it's worth reminding that we are still on thin ice, that the problems are just postponed, not solved; the situation can change as soon as the next session is convened. At Radio Študent we demand that all sessions be public in the future and that the public is able to monitor the decision-making that determins the fate of our institute and the use of public money. At the same time we reiterate our unchanged demands contained in the petition and call on ŠOU presidency and deputies to take them fully into account when planning the new budget which should enable the continuous and stable development of this uniqe non-profit media, educational institution and civil society organisation, which works in the student and public interest. We repeat: we demand from ŠOU the provision of at least 120 000 EUR yearly at least until the end of 2022; an immediate stop to all the attempts of transferring the founder's share; the maintenance of minimal shares of financing for the ŠOU family institutes and the inclusion of Radio Študent in all the discussions about its future. We also call on the deputies and the general public to fight along Radio Študent to ensure its long-term stability.