In Slovakia, a frenzy of cultural repression is underway, as we turn back to Soviet times | Monika Kompaníková

IN his novel Noiseand “A man stands next to the elevator, at his feet a small box containing cigarettes, underwear and dental powder; standing there and is expected to be taken away.” He knows that his role will be soon to be arrested by the secret Stalin police and a number of it.

Power in the Soviet Union was seized by many who were uneducated and rough, driven by the revenge that exaggerated the feeling that they were taking what was right. Shostakovic, along with a book such as Leonid André, Ivan Bonin, Aja Rashmanua and others who left remarkably similar images of revenge resulting from Stalinist cleansing: society was divided from fear, anxiety, actions of revenge, and the lists of non -millions. The brute force prevailed on talents, experience and education. The winner took everything.

Slovakia is (currently) a member of the European Union, and it is (currently) a democratic country and has not yet endured a bloody or violent coup. But the weather today feels for me in some respects, which is similar to that prescribed in Russia 100 years ago.

Since populism Robert Fico returned to a fourth term as Prime Minister in October 2023, Slovakia has reached from the west to east and away from liberal democracy to something like tyranny. A long -term critic of the European Union and NATO, Fico Predict the role of Russia As the aggressor in the war in Ukraine, he threatens to stop electricity supplies to Kiev.

In December, Fico traveled to Moscow to attend a special meeting with Vladimir Putin, Only the third Western leader To do this since the full invasion of Ukraine. In response, the Slovac moved to the streets to express their anger at the country’s future, and their support for Ukraine and the ongoing Slovak membership in the European Union and NATO. The latest protest, attracted more than 100,000 the peopleMany claim fico to resign.

But how can one defend democracy if the state representatives participate in a systematic dismantling? How can the achievements of 35 years ago? Velvet revolution Is it raised so quickly?

The artistic and cultural community in Slovakia has always been at the forefront of the pro -democracy issue. This was the case during the velvet revolution and in the 1990s protests against the government of Prime Minister Vladimir Mayar. Thirty years later, in the block The gatherings that followed the killing Among the investigation journalist Jean Kochik, the voices of the Slovak artists and cultural workers who appeared loudly about the threat of freedom and democratic values. This uprising led to the collapse of the third Fico government.

No wonder, then, that attempts to silence government critics are now targeting the arts, culture and NGOs. Under the budget budget, Fico brought comprehensive institutional changes and took a sickle to the sources of financing for culture. Those who cannot be excluded or silenced by starvation and exhaustion.

While the media, the judiciary, the police, prosecution, and security-the main areas where democracy stands or its fall-has been exposed to similar extremist disposal, a view of the attack on the arts during the past year tells a worrying story.

It was one of the first and most controversial dates Martina šimkovičová. The former TV presenter, who lost her job at a private television station in 2015 Anti -comfortable publications on social mediaThe Minister of Culture was appointed.

Šimkovičová, a member of the Slovak National Party, has identified the tone of its new role by saying that “the culture of the Slovak people You must be Slovak and there is no otherHer office head, Lukáš Machala, is a man who asks Whether the Earth is really round (This is not a joke).

Šimkovičová quickly began to the sentence Purification through the arts. It started to dismiss a A large number of employees of the Ministry of CultureFollowed by the weekly chapter of the main employees in every cultural institution run by the state, including the National Library. A week has passed without a pioneering figure in a museum, theater, exhibition, or a respected conservation agency. Those who have not been removed or reduced their ranks of their role, and who know it is just a time issue.

One of the most terrible examples of disinfection is what happened in the Slovak National Show (SNG). I was unusually normal, and under the Slovak Standards, the successful reconstruction during the reign of its director, Alexandra Kousa, which turned it into a modern, famous and popular institution. But in August last year, shortly after the large opening of the exhibitions that were renewed, Kusá was rejected.

This led to a Public protest and The resignation of a number of major SNG employeesNot only in solidarity with a zucchini, but indicates an irreplaceable working conditions. Disturbed by the situation, a partner museum, in Austria and Germany, took the unprecedented step Withdrawal from the exhibition They have long planned to participate with SNG, because as they noticed their message, “the current situation is a potential danger to the elements that you must approach, to protect the institutions themselves responsible for them.” Kousa accused the Ministry of Culture of launching the “era of bullying and intimidation”.

One hundred National Exhibition employees to resign She stopped Em mask this week and the largest sponsor for her financial support.

The strikes continue to come. The performance of the Slovak Arts Fund (similar to the Arts Council in England) was fully shown and made unable to customize and spend grants. Through other funding plans, thousands of artists, professionals and amateurs alike faces folklore to literature, theater, and visual arts, if they will be able to stay financially. Even working to restore the dilapidated historical buildings have stopped after the cancellation of A. The scope of the sections of the Ministry of CultureIncluding a person in charge of preserving antiquities.

The director of the Sloofaki Literary Center, the agency responsible for promoting the Slovak literature at home and abroad, has been replaced by an accused personality Relations with Conspiracy platforms. The head of the National Heritage Office was rejected in December. As if this was not sufficient, the writer Michel Hvorecký and the visual artist Ilona Nimith In said the Minister of Culture presented Criminal complaints Against them.

For a year now, the art society appealed to the government to listen to the feeling, but to no avail. Two pets Because of the refusal of šimkovičová within six months, he got a number of standard signatures.

Castles and historical monuments to it Black flags raised In protest. At the Slovak National Theater, another institution whose manager was rejected without notice, actors took the reading of data before or after the shows.

The President of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini, ignored the artists’ appeals to attend a meeting. His constant silence pushed Zdeena Studenková, a famous Slovaki actor, to to reject The honor of a new year.

More than 700 psychiatrists and psychologists have signed an open message to the Prime Minister, as well as more than 2000 academics And about 6000 Workers in education. But since Fico Moscow’s visit, these small protests have widened on the mass demonstrations that we see.

Fico says he has no intention to step down. In the context of other crises that suffer from Europe, the dismantling of the Slovenian culture may seem minimal. But a vast machine now appears aimed at uncovering our democracy. Every closure of a museum or a regional museum is another step in this process. Fico follows the footsteps of Putin, Victor Urban and Alexander Lukashenko.