Petőcz Kálmán (szerk.): National Populism and Slovak - Hungarian Relations in Slovakia 2006-2009 (Somorja, 2009)
Grigorij Mesežnikov: National Populism in Slovakia - Defining the Character of the State and Interpreting Select Historic Events
Grigorij Mesežnikov presented by some SNS leaders; for instance, head of the SNS parliamentary caucus Rafael Rafaj said that the consumerist Euro-Atlantic (i.e. Western) culture should be reminded that it has already fulfilled its role in the spiral of history and that it should now make room for Slavic culture to carry on the torch of collective consciousness. According to Rafaj, the chosen nation today is the Slovak nation that is the most moral and politically sinless.18 Ever since the 2006 parliamentary elections, two ruling parties (SMERSD and SNS) have striven to strengthen national (or ethnic) elements of the Slovak statehood on the symbolic level. They do so under the pretext of inevitability to promote patriotism, Slovak identity, national solidarity, etc. Already the prime minister, Robert Fico declared in July 2007 that “the Slovaks lack a national outburst” and that schools neglect education to patriotism. According to him, Slovakia is being engulfed by “the cancer of indifference, which is only one step away from national unconsciousness”.19 A display of such indifference was inadequate attention most Slovak media paid to “patriotic celebrations” of the Day of St. Constantine and Methodius. At the end of 2007, Fico announced that the cabinet and all ruling parties would in the coming year focus on “awakening people’s national consciousness, encouraging their respect for state symbols and deepening general public’s patriotism and awareness of Slovak history and historical figures”. “[People’s] relation to the country is unsatisfactory,” Fico said. “Patriotism does not reach the quality one would expect in a developed country in the heart of Europe.”20 In the past, Fico demonstrated his patriotic orientation through proposals to launch a public debate over possible ways to strengthen people’s patriotism and improve their relation to the Slovak state, Slovak statehood and its symbols, for instance listening to the national anthem or raising the national flag at the beginning of each school week. In 2004 he proposed an amendment to the law on state symbols that sought to install a national flag in front of every school in Slovakia. According to SMER-SD and the SNS, encouraging the Slovaks’ patriotism should take place as the process of distinguishing themselves from the Hungarians (this aspect is emphasized by the SNS) as well as from nonnationally oriented and cosmopolitan members of the majority with lukewarm attitudes to patriotism (this aspect has recently become a favourite issue of SMER-SD). This philosophy may be illustrated by Fico’s statement from July 2008 in which he emphasized the need to strengthen togetherness (“solidarity”) of the Slovaks that must be built as a “sturdy barrier against activities of the peculiar sort of adventurers who undermine Slovakia’s 50
