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 national pride had to do with democracy.28 The formulation indicates that in the process of building the state, the incumbent prime minister views the national (or ethnic) element to be much more important than the quality (or democratic substance) of the regime. In November 2007, SMER-SD issued an official statement that placed the Velvet Revolution of 1989 in the context with the Slovaks’ yearning for state independence,29 this despite the fact that social turmoil in November 1989 was completely free of such undertones; in fact, apart from general opposition to the totalitarian regime, citizens showed mostly support for the common Czechoslovak state and ‘return to Europe’. For the SNS, the use of ‘patriotic’ motives forms an integral part of its confrontational desire to distinguish the Slovaks particularly from the Hungarians. This may be illustrated by the ongoing process of installing typical Slovak double crosses in various regions of Slovakia, including localities inhabited by mixed Slovak-Hungarian population. According to party leaders, the goal of the entire campaign is to show “the whole world that the Slovak nation is autochthonous on this territory, so that it is clear to everybody where Slovakia is and who is at home here.”“ The element of confrontation is also obvious in party leaders’ references to the Constantine-Methodist tradition as the foundation of the Slovaks’ statehood and identity. The SNS emphasizes the Slovaks’ exclusive ‘patent’ to this tradition and juxtaposes it to other cultural traditions, including those that form the foundation of integration groupings Slovakia is part of. According to SNS leaders, “the Constantine-Methodist tradition is the oldest and the most solid part of the Slovaks’ identity. The Slovaks are ahead of other nations because the Constantine-Methodist legacy amalgamated in them both eastern and western values of European thinking. The existence of the Slovak Republic shows that the Constantine-Methodist tradition is stronger than Hungarian chauvinism, Prague-invented Czechoslovakism or communist dictatorship.”31 In 2005, SNS Chairman Ján Slota declared that had the Constantine- Methodist tradition been upheld in Slovakia, its national economy would not have been massively sold out “to foreign hands”. Slota called Slovak politicians “vassals who pledge their allegiance to further unspecified Euro- Atlantic values”, adding it was necessary to apply on an everyday basis the message of the mission of St. Constantine and Methodius, which is to “defend the Slovak land permanently”.32 The SNS is the most active of all Slovak parties in fuelling the sense of danger to Slovak statehood and proposing such measures to defend it whose repressive nature contradicts basic principles of liberal democracy. 52
