{"id":54201,"date":"2024-05-19T18:31:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T18:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/19\/toxic-political-culture-has-even-some-slovaks-calling-country-a-black-hole\/"},"modified":"2024-05-19T18:31:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T18:31:07","slug":"toxic-political-culture-has-even-some-slovaks-calling-country-a-black-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/19\/toxic-political-culture-has-even-some-slovaks-calling-country-a-black-hole\/","title":{"rendered":"Toxic Political Culture Has Even Some Slovaks Calling Country \u2018a Black Hole.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/19\/multimedia\/19slovakia-fzlb\/19slovakia-fzlb-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Toxic Political Culture Has Even Some Slovaks Calling Country \u2018a Black Hole.\u2019\" title=\"Toxic Political Culture Has Even Some Slovaks Calling Country \u2018a Black Hole.\u2019\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More than a quarter century has passed since the United States called Slovakia a \u201cblack hole in the center of Europe\u201d \u2014 an island of autocratic malaise surrounded by spry new democracies. The insult, leveled in 1997 by Secretary of State Madeline Albright against a country that has since joined NATO and the European Union, still stings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But some in the Central European nation, appalled by an attempt last week to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/15\/world\/europe\/slovakia-prime-minister-robert-fico-assassination-attempt.html\" title=\"\">assassinate their prime minister<\/a>, Robert Fico, and the frenzy of political finger-pointing that ensued, i<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/16\/world\/europe\/slovakia-fico-toxic-politics.html\" title=\"\">ncluding warnings of civil war<\/a>, are wondering whether Ms. Albright was on to something.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe are back in a black hole; I\u2019m not sure we ever got out of it,\u201d said Roman Kvasnica, a prominent Slovak lawyer who denounces a political culture in which threats and personal insults are routine. In his own legal work he has faced numerous threats, including a warning that he would get a \u201cbullet in the head\u201d from a tycoon charged with ordering the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/02\/26\/world\/europe\/jan-kuciak-slovakia-journalist-killed.html\" title=\"\">2018 murder of an investigative journalist digging into government corruption.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Exasperated by his country\u2019s divisive struggles to establish the rule of law and resist the temptations of strongman leadership, the lawyer displays a portrait of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/12\/19\/world\/europe\/vaclav-havel-dissident-playwright-who-led-czechoslovakia-dead-at-75.html\" title=\"\">Vaclav Havel, an icon of democratic idealism<\/a>, on the wall of his country house in western Slovakia. Mr. Havel served as the first president of post-communist Czechoslovakia, the state that in 1993 split amicably into the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovakia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Havel, a former playwright whose writing helped bring down the Berlin Wall and who later was president of the Czech Republic, is a reminder, Mr. Kvasnica said, of the road not taken by Slovakia, which spent much of the same period under the rule of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2000\/05\/03\/world\/arrest-may-end-slovakia-ex-premier-s-influence.html\" title=\"\">Vladimir Meciar,<\/a> an early pioneer of nationalist-tinged populism and a master of stoking polarization.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hopes that Slovak politicians might overcome their venomous feuds faded on Sunday when President-elect Peter Pellegrini announced that efforts to get opposing parties to sit down together and agree on \u201cbasic rules for decent political battles\u201d had collapsed. Recent days, he said, showed that \u201csome politicians simply are not able to display a basic self-reflection, even in the aftermath of such an immense tragedy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Peter Kalinak, the deputy prime minister, who is running the government in the absence of the critically wounded Mr. Fico, added to the unease by backing away from officials\u2019 previous insistence that the gunman was a \u201clone wolf.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe situation seems even worse,\u201d Mr. Kalinak said Sunday at a news conference in Bratislava, the capital. New evidence, he said, indicates \u201cthere was some form of assistance in terms of concealing the clues and that a third person acted in favor of the perpetrator.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cAll of this is shocking, and for many of us it would be much easier if we could speak about only one person,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The only person so far charged in the case is a 71-year-old amateur poet, former coal mine worker, stone mason and supermarket security guard. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/18\/world\/europe\/slovakia-shooter-suspect.html\" title=\"\">People who knew him in his hometown<\/a>, Levice, in central Slovakia, say the man, named only as Juraj C. by officials, jumped between often contradictory causes and had no strong affiliation with either of the two main political camps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But he nursed intense grievances toward the whole system, according to people who knew him, which is not rare in Slovakia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Of all the countries in Central and Eastern Europe that shook off communist rule in 1989, Slovakia has the highest proportion of citizens who view liberal democracy as a threat to their identity and values \u2014 43 percent compared with 15 percent in the neighboring Czech Republic \u2014 according to a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globsec.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2024-05\/Globsec%20TRENDS%202024.pdf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">regional opinion survey released this month by Globsec,<\/a> a research group based in Bratislava. Support for Russia has declined sharply since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but 27 percent of Slovaks see it as key strategic partner, the highest level in the region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Grigorij Meseznikov, president of the Institute for Public Affairs in Bratislava, said such views highlighted a deep paradox for Slovakia, which is by many criteria a successful model of transition from communism. It has become a manufacturing hub for German carmakers, developed a vibrant and diverse media landscape and become so well integrated in the European Union that it is the only country in the region to use its common currency, the euro.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But many of its people \u2014 particularly those living outside big cities \u2014 feel left behind and resentful, Mr. Meseznikov said, and are \u201cmore vulnerable than elsewhere to conspiracy theories and narratives that liberal democracy is a menace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The picture is much the same in many other formerly communist countries and has allowed Prime Minister Viktor Orban in neighboring Hungary to establish an increasingly authoritarian system. But Slovakia\u2019s politics are particularly poisonous, swamped by wild conspiracy theories and bile.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The foundations of this were laid in the 1990s when Mr. Meciar formed what is still one of the country\u2019s two main political blocs: an alliance of right-wing nationalists, business cronies and anti-establishment leftists. All thrived on denouncing their centrist and liberal opponents as enemies willing to sell out the country\u2019s interests to the West, Mr. Meseznikov said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMeciar was a pioneer,\u201d he said. \u201cHe was a typical representative of national populism with an authoritarian approach, and so is Fico.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On the day Mr. Fico was shot, Parliament was meeting to endorse an overhaul of public television to purge what his governing party views as unfair bias in favor of political opponents, a reprise of efforts in the 1990s by Mr. Meciar to mute media critics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The legislation was part of a raft of measures that the European Commission in February said risked doing \u201cirreparable damage\u201d to the rule of law. These include measures to limit corruption investigations and impose what critics denounced as Russian-style restrictions on nongovernmental organizations. The government opposes military aid to Ukraine and L.G.B.T.Q. rights, is often at odds with the European Union and, like Mr. Orban, favors friendly relations with Vladimir V. Putin\u2019s Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In the run-up to the election last September that returned Mr. Fico, a fixture of Slovak politics for more than two decades, to power, he and his allies took an increasingly hostile stance toward the United States and Ukraine, combined with sympathetic words for Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Their statements often recalled a remark by Mr. Meciar, who, resisting demands in the 1990s that he must change his ways if Slovakia wanted to join the European Union, held up Russia as an alternative haven: \u201cif they don\u2019t want us in the West, we\u2019ll go East.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dominik Zelinsky, a researcher at the Slovak Academy of Science\u2019s Institute for Sociology, said that, despite the intensity of the current political conflict, there was no risk today of Slovakia again \u201cbecoming a complete outsider\u201d adrift from the European Union and NATO.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But, he added, \u201cthe frames that the society and its elites use to interpret the conflict remain the same: a choice between a Western path and being something of a bridge between the East and the West, as well as a choice between liberal democracy and illiberal, authoritarian government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Mr. Fico first became prime minister in 2006, he stood on the left but, needing help to form a stable government, turned to the Slovak National Party, a nationalist grouping that had earlier been allied with Mr. Meciar.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Andrej Danko, the leader of the party, which is now part of the new coalition government formed by Mr. Fico after the September election, said that the attempt to assassinate Mr. Fico represented the \u201cstart of a political war\u201d between the country\u2019s two opposing camps.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Accused by its critics of stoking dangerous tensions and animosity toward the media, the government has responded by asserting that the other side started the fight by blaming Mr. Fico and his allies for the 2018 murder of the investigative journalist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNot only Robert Fico, but all of us were labeled murderers,\u201d the deputy prime minister, Mr. Kalinak, told a Czech newspaper on Saturday, referring to the case. \u201cIf I used the same yardstick now as they did then, I would say that they are murderers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Iveta Radicova, a sociologist opposed to Mr. Fico who is a former prime minister, said Slovakia\u2019s woes were part of a wider crisis with roots that extend far beyond its early stumbles under Mr. Meciar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cMany democracies are headed toward the black hole,\u201d as countries from Hungary in the East to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/15\/world\/europe\/netherlands-government-geert-wilders.html\" title=\"\">the Netherlands<\/a> in the West succumb to the appeal of national populism, she said. \u201cThis shift is happening everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Sara Cincurova and Marek Janiga contributed reporting from Bratislava, Slovakia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/19\/world\/europe\/slovakia-politics-black-hole.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More than a quarter century has passed since the United States called Slovakia a \u201cblack hole in the center of Europe\u201d \u2014 an island of autocratic malaise surrounded by spry new democracies. The insult, leveled in 1997 by Secretary of State Madeline Albright against a country that has since joined NATO and the European Union, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/19\/multimedia\/19slovakia-fzlb\/19slovakia-fzlb-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5831,8205,643,2617,8303,234,53709,129],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54203,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54201\/revisions\/54203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}