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
National Populism in Slovakia... spiritual integrity”.21 In 2007, Fico publicly complained that Slovak media have become a shelter for “spiritual homeless [and] media kibitzers who are unable to identify with their homeland’s fate or find their state identity”.22 Typical for this interpretation are efforts to combine ethnic, social and constitutional elements. A good example of this combination was Fico’s public scolding of Sme, a daily that takes a critical approach to his administration, as “anti-government, anti-national and anti-people”.23 Dividing the Slovaks into true, nationally-oriented ones and those who inadequately identify themselves with independent Slovakia is typical of all parties of the incumbent administration. In 2000 Fico admitted he “was not happy about splitting Czechoslovakia that had it all going [as a country]” and de facto distinguished himself from the category of active protagonists of dissolving it (i.e. the ‘true Slovaks’)24; nine years later, though, SMER-SD leaders have succumbed to so-called appropriation syndrome that previously afflicted mostly SNS and HZDS representatives; symptoms of this syndrome include glorifying all those who initiated and conducted the process of dissolving former Czechoslovakia, criticizing all those who at the time advocated the common Czechoslovak state and disparaging all the problems that accompanied the process of founding independent Slovakia, particularly those caused by authoritarian practices between 1994 and 1998. In 2002, SMER-SD Vice-Chairman Dušan Čaplovič publicly expressed regret over the fact that on the occasion of the 10"' anniversary of independent Slovakia’s emergence, the Dzurinda administration proposed to bestow high state honours also to personalities that not only did not embrace the concept of independent Slovakia but they “actively opposed it and some of them demonstratively moved abroad afterwards”.25 This view was seconded by HZDS Chairman Vladimir Mečiar who publicly complained in 2002 that “a significant proportion of constitutional posts are held by those who did not want the Slovak Republic as an independent country”.26 According to Fico, loyalty to national values is an irreplaceable factor determining a country’s survival in the modern world. “The only chance to survive in this complicated and unjust environment with dignity and sovereignty is to stick to Slovak national and state interests and pull together, whether we are on the right, on the left or in the middle,” Fico declared. “I hereby call on [embracing] such togetherness.”27 Fico also said it was “our duty [to build] Slovak pride” and encouraged the Slovaks to draw inspiration from “the Russians whose pride was restored by President Putin”. To a follow-up question reminding him that Russia suffers from a democratic deficit, Fico responded by saying that he did not know what 51
