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... One of its favourite legislative measures is so-called ‘bill on the protection of the republic’. The SNS comes up with some form of the bill in every opportune moment, citing the need to neutralize consequences of Hungarian politicians’ activities in Slovakia; the last time the SNS proposed such a bill was in 2008. In the same year, Slota emphasized the principle of ethnic solidarity as the foundation to build mutual relations between citizens and government by stating that Slovak media were obliged to speak of Slovakia being threatened by Hungarians: “Is this democracy to give a bad name to one’s compatriots and one’s nation and give a good name to those strangers who clearly wish to harm the interests of this nation and this country?”33 Interpretation of SeIect Hístoríc Events In their interpretation of national history, national populists tend to mythologize and ethnicize history, present the titular nation as older than it is, place its ethnogenesis as far back in history as possible, show clear inclination to positive evaluation of authoritarian historic figures and a tendency to favourable evaluation of historic periods in which the nation was ruled by authoritarian regimes. National populists reproach critics of the said mythologizing approach, including representatives of established academic circles, for insufficient national orientation and attempt to question their professional credibility. Premier Fico described his administration’s attitude to the issue of Slovakia’s history as cultivating “sound historicism as part of government policy” with respect to those who underrate the “national” element in history. “Unfortunately, we live in a reality where so-called spin doctors consider everything Slovak good enough to disparage it,” he said.34 In 2008, SMER-SD chairman attempted to introduce the term of “ancient Slovaks” to the public and professional historical discourse. According to him, “ancient Slovaks” led by King Svätopluk ruled over the Great Moravian Empire while “other states had nothing - maybe some animals wandering around but certainly no state entities”.33 Many academic historians view the theory of “ancient Slovaks” who inhabited the Great Moravian Empire as a mythological construct that does not correspond to findings of historical science. Fico openly demonstrated his inclination to mythologizing Slovakia’s history early in 2008 when he defended the historical figure of highwayman Juraj Jánošík and called him the first socialist: “I want to ask the media not to belittle Slovak legends,” Fico said. “It’s been enough. We 53
