Vaclav Havel becomes a Bratislava citizen

Václav Havel, the former president of Czechoslovakia, dissident and one of the key figures of the Velvet Revolution that toppled Communism in the former federation has become an honorary citizen of Bratislava. The Slovak capital granted him honorary citizenship on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the totalitarian regime for his fight for freedom, democracy and assisting in the process of Slovakia's integration into Europe.

The great statesman and philosopher/king Václav Havel said that he respects the award all the more after discovering the personalities who have received it. He has had a long and and enduring relationship with Bratislava, whose people he said he considers very amiable both while he was in office and after his retirement from active politics.

He characterised personality as uniqueness of the human soul and deeds, and as what differentiates one human being from his fellows. Another awardee was the first Austrian Ambassador to Slovakia, Maximilian Pammer. Havel and Pammer received their awards in person.

Havel will receive it on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, which Slovaks and Czechs mark on November 17.

The resistance to the communist regime's excesses were very much felt in Bratislava as well as Prague. A mass demonstration took place on Hviezdoslav Square in downtown Bratislava and then moved to the Square of the Slovak National Uprising) SNP. Students presented various demands and asked the people to participate in the planned general strike for Monday, November 27. A separate demonstration demanding the release of the political prisoner and christian activist Ján Čarnogurský (the later Prime Minister of Slovakia) took place in front of the Palace of Justice. Alexander Dubček delivered an address at this demonstration – his first appearance during the Velvet Revolution. As a result, Čarnogurský was released on November 23.

"The diplomas will be handed at a ceremonial meeting of the Bratislava City Hall on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the totalitarian regime. Its preliminary date is November 18, 2009," the City Hall said in a statement.

Havel, a playwright and a leading dissident under the former communist regime, was the last Czechoslovak president (1989-92) and the first Czech president (1993-2003).

Even under the communist regime he was known as one of the most promitent thinkers and human rights fighters. Havel contributed to the fall of communism in 1989 to a great extent.

In the past, Havel was repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Three years ago, Havel was presented with an honorary doctor's degree in Bratislava on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

Last year, the Slovak premiere of Havel's latest play Leaving was staged in the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava.

Alojz Hlina, Slota and Robert Fico

Now that the economic situation is more stable and the future looks more like a typical bad spell followed about 3.4% GDP growth next year for Slovakia (OECD forecast), we can turn our attention to improving the quality of the democratic discourse in Slovakia.


We really are starting to admire Alojz Hlina, a slovak citizen and businessman (owns the Slovak pub in obchodna) who is becoming the only serious critic of Jan Slota the leader of the nationalistic pondlife known as the Slovak Nationalist Party (SNS).

In most countries the politics of SNS would fit within the conservative fold of the political spectrum not the far right despite the occasional windbag-like comments about Hungarians etc. SNS and Slota are really just a bunch thieves disguised as a political party, they don't seem to have much in the way of a political philosophy and are just Jan Slota and his acolytes trying to prise open the public purse.

Clearly SNS is being used by Robert Fico the prime minister to stay in power long enough to form a credible centre-left political formation in Slovak politics (SMER is still a very young party). I believe that Fico miscalculated how much the SNS would cost him, but the surprising fact is that the centre-left party of slovakia SMER is itself quite clean corruption-wise which is a hopeful sign for the future of Slovak politics.

However there are limits for how long voters such as myself are prepared to tolerate Meciar and Slota milking the state with constant scandals. Dzurinda was not a bad prime minister and both Dzurinda and Fico should form the core of the new slovak politics. Fico needs to cut the crap about SDKU being evil etc. The real evil is SNS and Meciar. He needs to get rid of them as allies as now his popularity is at stake. Mr. Fico himself must be appreciating how difficult it is to keep coalition partners off the trough and how mr. Dzurinda must have felt when he was trying to keep his fractious coalition together.

Thankfully Fico may be about to start acting about Slota and Meciar. The smell of elections is in the air and mr. Fico should arrange some serious discussions with the more commendable elements of the centre right and the hungarians to form a much less kleptocratic and nationalistic coalition. He can be a better prime minister in a second term but he needs to find a way to dump his current partners.

Fico claims that it is willing to sacrifice the government coalition, which would leave the SNS collapsed as a political force. "Smer is ready for this."

How Slota will respond to this "blow" from the Prime Minister, remains open.

Fico's party yesterday was refusing to respond. "Jan Slota will say more in the coming days," said press secretary of SNS Jana Benková.

Alojz Hlina and people against primitivism in politics
Alojz Hlina has serious misgivings about SNS staying in power even under Fico's control and so do I, it is starting to affect the country's character and politics. Fico needs to follow the austrian example with Haider about 10 years ago and get rid of the far right from government.

Alojz Hlina owns a couple of bars in central Bratislava which i will start going to simply for solidarity (I don't like the taste of alcohol so i ll order a tea i think)
Hlina should be the model for Fico's rheteric about his ally Jan Slota.

Activist posts banner against SNS’s Slota on Bratislava Castle
14 Aug 2009 Flash News

Activist and businessman Alojz Hlina was detained on August 13 when construction workers repairing the Bratislava Castle called police that Hlina had crept up the castle scaffolding where he and another activist fastened a banner several metres tall criticising the head of the Slovak National Party, the Sme website reported.

“We believe that after the repair and cleaning, there will be no more Slota and his likes,” the banner read. Workers noticed the unusual bustle only after about 15 minutes and two of them went to negotiate. After several minutes, the banner was peacefully taken down.

This protest is the most recent in a continuing a series of public actions Hlina has staged against what he calls “primitivism in politics”. He asked for a meeting with a representative of the Slovak parliament to whom he intended to hand over a letter with three questions.

The letter asked whether Slovak laws were valid for all, including for Ján Slota, and whether the parliament had a sociological study that would prove that if someone broke the law without consequences, some groups start to take justice in their own hands. However, Hlina failed to hand over the letter because the Slovak parliament’s representative did not show up. Both activists were detained and interrogated.

SME newspaper