The Pendulum Swing of Slovakia's Democracy

The Pendulum Swing of Slovakia's Democracy Zora Bútorová (bio) and Martin Bútora (bio) THE YEAR OF PROTESTS AND CONTROVERSIES The Young Generation Enters the Scene on november 16, 2018, on the eve of the twenty-ninth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, huge crowds rallied in the Slovak capital, Bratislava, and in other cities throughout Slovakia to commemorate the fall of communism and protest against recent political developments in the country. In fact, it was the tenth in a series of demonstrations in all the large cities of Slovakia—the first, in early March 2018, emerged as a reaction to the brutal murder of 27-year-old investigative reporter Ján Kuciak and his fiancée in February 2018. Before his death, Kuciak reported on Slovaks mentioned in the Panama Papers1 and looked into fraud cases involving businessmen with Slovak political ties (Mohdin and van der Zee 2018). He was also investigating corruption of regional politicians linked to the 'Ndrangheta, an Italian mafia group. In his report, published posthumously, he said one of the businessmen suspected of 'Ndrangheta connections had links with two people who later worked in Prime Minister Robert Fico's office. The killings led to the biggest protests in the country since the end of communism in 1989, as tens of thousands of people demanded a government shake-up or early elections. One month after the murder, protest rallies organized by the young civic activists from the For [End Page 83] a Decent Slovakia initiative significantly contributed to the resignation of Prime Minister Fico, who had led Slovakia for 10 of the previous 12 years and whose Smer-Social Democracy (Smer-SD) party2 had become the main engine behind the formation of a cronyist system in Slovakia. His three-party coalition was reconstructed under a new prime minister, Peter Pellegrini, a long-time senior member of Smer-SD. Several high-ranking officials were forced to leave, including the "untouchable" interior minister, Robert Kaliňák. However, Fico has remained the head of Smer-SD, the strongest party of the ruling coalition, and has publicly, somewhat threateningly, declared that "he was not going anywhere" (AP News 2018). Shortly before November 16, 2018, local elections were held in Slovakia that brought an impressive number of new candidates into municipal politics, mainly independents. "We're bearing witness to a generational changing of the guard," political scientist Darina Malová commented on the success of younger candidates (TASR 2018a). "It seems that the emergence of a new political generation is unstoppable. A period of cooperation is about to begin," said the new Bratislava mayor Matúš Vallo, who ran in the elections as an independent with the support of two new parties—social-liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS) and centrist liberal-conservative Together–Civic Democracy (Spolu–OD), as well as the support of the For a Decent Slovakia initiative (TASR 2018b). In fact, similar victories of candidates who were promoted by or belonged to the initiative were reported all over Slovakia. They manifested the willingness not only to organize civil protests but also to join local politics as mayors or members of local self-governments. Organizers of the November 16 demonstration in Bratislava invited to the stage representatives of the civic movement Public against Violence, which, together with Civic Forum in the Czech Republic, overthrew the communists in 1989. Along with artists, journalists, and NGO representatives (and, at previous rallies, teachers, nurses, scientists, and farmers) they made their case against the corruption and cynicism of the powers that be and demanded a decent and fair society. [End Page 84] This time, however, they also protested against the false accusations that the leaders of For a Decent Slovakia had attempted a coup d'état and received financing for their allegedly subversive activities from George Soros. The image of the American billionaire and philanthropist had also been invoked in Slovakia when Fico, as in a grotesque, repeatedly voiced this charge against the leaders of civic protests, labelling them "Soros's kids." He evidently believed that this conspiracy narrative—following a recipe written by the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who successfully mobilized Hungarians against this invented and demonized enemy of Hungary—would...