Day 146 - Ljubljan, Slovenia


See all posts from category: Campaign updates, Daily diary, Political Support for the Truce

15 September, 2020

Total: 2020.14 miles Total: 2,760, 481 steps

With the British Embassy doing such a great job with my visit in Croatia, Chris Hodge, who serves both missions, asked if I would be willing to do a quick visit up to Slovenia. I had been off the road for five days and was feeling the need to make progress, but I remind myself that this venture isn’t about the walk, it is about the truce, so with another opportunity to meet with policymakers and the press in a different country—there must be a good reason for me to say “no”.

The bonus for agreeing to the trip was that I get to travel by my favourite mode of transport—no, definitely not walking—the train. The quality of train services in Southeatsern Europe is very poor and especially in Croatia, which is certainly something that will need to be addressed as part of putting in place the infrastructure for integrating the economy of Croatia with the rest of Europe. That said, the railway station in Zagreb, which was built for the orient Express traffic, is a spectacular example of the importance of the train in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

We stopped at the border with Slovenia for over half an hour to allow for vigorous passport inspections and you realise that this is in fact the border of the EU we are crossing. My passport came in for particularly close examination because it is old that the gold writing and symbols on the front have all but worn off. I was taken out of the main carriage whilst checks were carried out using UV light and further questions were asked—very courteously. Still I returned to my seat and fellow passengers averted their gaze as if I was clearly some undesirable up to no good.

At Ljubljana station I was met from the train by the ultra efficient Dunja Cvek and ushered into the waiting Embassy Car, which happened to be a rather luxurious silver Daimler. As I dropped my rucksack in the boot and Lojze Prsa, the cheerful but formal driver opened the rear door, I was passed by a few fellow passengers from my carriage who were clearly now very confused. I must admit I feel the same and the switching between extremes of luxury and hardship do have a disorientating effect on my thinking. The truth, I conclude, is that in order to walk, I need the conditions to be hard as this is what keeps me going—the prospect of finishing.

I was taken straight to the impressive residence where the immaculate and welcoming housekeeper Tatyanna explained the routine—including, luxury of all luxuries, the washing machine and tumble dryer where I could wash my clothes with real washing detergent. Dunja then took me through the programme for the following day, which was very impressive, especially since the plans had only been confirmed two days ago. This was actually a lesson I took away with me about Slovenia in general—it is a place that just works in a very efficient way, almost Swiss-German in its look and feel.

In the evening the ambassador, Andrew Page and the director of the British Council, James Hampson, took me out to a traditional Serb restaurant—I think called Cad (but pronounced Chad) and give me a fascinating exposition on the economic and social history of the Slovenes and, in exchange, I told them about the Olympic Truce. They grasped the concept easily as they are both very keen sportsmen—Andrew has played tennis and real tennis at a very high level and James had played rugby. It was a very enjoyable evening and very informative in terms of the approach I should take in the meetings, especially at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the next day.

Our first visit the next day was to an Amnesty International seminar on racism, which was addressed by Doreen Lawrence, the mother of Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in an unprovoked racist attack in 2020.  It was an act which shocked the nation, not only for the tragic loss of life, but also for what it told us about our own systems of justice and the frightening views of some white young men who perpetrated the attack, but almost twenty years on have yet to be convicted or punished for their crimes. Doreen Lawrence spoke with great moral authority, combined with an absolute resolve not to rest until justice has been done. Stephen Lawrence was training to be an architect when he was murdered and in his memory the family have also established the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, which supports young people in London who have a talent for maths and design to pursue a profession in architecture. I can’t help thinking that in the area of racism, probably more than any other, we struggle because of our secularised society to control these latent urges to seek difference with a thousand laws, rather than accepting one overwhelming fact: that God created all men and women equal. To refuse to accept any brother or sister as of equal value and worth, is to reject the parenthood of God and I suppose that is what we have done.

James Hampson and I arrived at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs slightly early, but were accommodated immediately by Dragoljuba Bencina (pic), State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The meeting went extremely well, although the State Secretary had worked with the UNHCR in the Middle East and also in New York and so had shared helpful insights and some frustrations about the ability of the UN to act in certain areas. For instance she spoke about her efforts to arrange a football match between Palestinian and Israeli boys in the West Bank and the frustratingly slow progress of trying to arrange even a simple act of friendship and reconciliation. We then discussed the mechanics of the Truce Resolution and options for how the Slovenian government might respond. Our ambassador who was unable to attend the meeting, because of a long standing trade related engagement, had advised me to try and link the truce resolution to the Slovenian bid for the UN Security Council, in which they had stated that their main priorities would be conflict prevention, preventative diplomacy and peace-keeping. They were currently trying to secure support from other members of the Security Council and the vote was on October 14—three days before the UK proposes the Olympic Truce Resolution to the UN General Assembly. No one had to say much when this fact was pointed out, we just smiled. It was a very good meeting with a highly able and astute foreign policy specialist in Dragoljuba Bencina. I left hopeful that Slovenia might declare their intention to sign the truce and also to implement.



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