Slovakia is experiencing a chalk revolution. People write messages to Robert Fico on the sidewalks and meet in the squares.
On the anniversary of the fall of the communist regime in the former Czechoslovakia, and also against the government of Prime Minister Robert Fico, tens of thousands of Slovaks demonstrated. The reason was not only the fact that the current cabinet had already indicated in advance that it does not care so much about commemorating the legacy of November 17, but also events in Poprad, where one of the students of the local high school was interrogated for chalk inscriptions on the sidewalk. This awakened the public, which is leaving further messages for the prime minister on the sidewalks.
The current Slovak government coalition, as part of the latest consolidation package for the recovery of public finances, has decided that November 17 will be a regular working day, unlike in the Czech Republic. Nevertheless, almost 900 employers, schools and other institutions gave their employees paid leave. These included, for example, Slovenská sporiteľna, Generali, Hewlett-Packard, city offices in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica and other places. The fact that the government's move has met with considerable resistance is also evidenced by the results of a survey by NMS Slovakia agency, which showed that 61 percent of Slovaks disagree with it.
"Friends, I want to thank Robert Fico. I do not remember a year when someone made such an intensive effort to ensure that we all remembered such a significant day as November 17th,"
the sarcastic comment addressed to the Prime Minister was written by the deputy of Ružomberok, Ján Kuráň, on social networks.
Everything was started by students again
Primarily Fico himself became the center of Slovaks' anger in recent days when he decided to agitate at a grammar school in Poprad about his view on Slovak foreign policy. This policy is being criticized in the long term, primarily because of how it openly defends Russian aggression in Ukraine, devalues the right of the attacked country to defend itself and the anchoring of its own country in the structures of the European Union and NATO.
Therefore, high school students decided to express their opinion publicly. One of them was also a 19-year-old student with the nickname Muro, who wrote slogans against Fico with chalk at school, including a derogatory message. The police then took him for questioning, after which he was released.
The public's reaction was unprecedented. A landslide of supporting posts started on social networks in support of the student. Similar slogans began to be written by people with chalk on sidewalks and in other places throughout the country. Among them were the following messages:
"Slovakia is going in the wrong direction."
"Enough of Fico."
"Fico is afraid of chalk."
"Chalks are not just for children."
"Truth and love will triumph over lies and hatred."
"The gentle chalk revolution."
The Prime Minister tried to save the situation when he returned to Poprad after a week. After he began to threaten some of the 14-year-old students present, who came to the event in black, that if they disagree with him, they should go to fight in Ukraine, the young people got up and left the room jingling their keys. In an instant, more people replaced them at the event. But as it was later confirmed, these were the extras of the Směr party - assistants of its MPs or politicians who had already run for it before.
Fico's grotesque behavior culminated when he arranged a speech to the nation in Slovak television, which, however, he canceled only a few hours later due to a alleged virus.
The Prime Minister strengthens autocratic tendencies, the President and the public are rebelling
But the next day he was fit again. At a meeting with his supporters in Nitra, he repeated that he is striving for a change of the political system in the country so as to limit the number of parties and movements that could run in the next elections. Even before that, he stated that November 17, according to him, was just a communist coup. All of this only confirmed the objections of his opponents, that he wants to move Slovakia towards a more authoritarian regime.
President Peter Pellegrini reacted to the Prime Minister's behavior, saying that he does not think that this harsh style of politics, which Fico has been demonstrating in recent months, is the right policy that Slovakia needs.
The fact that the Slovak Prime Minister might be detached from reality was also mentioned at a meeting in Bratislava, where up to 50,000 people arrived in heavy rain on Monday evening, by the chairman of the strongest opposition group Progressive Slovakia Michal Šimečka. According to local press agency TASR, he highlighted the courage and desire of all those who returned the country to freedom in November 1989.
"These are precisely the two values that the communists did not understand. Just like Robert Fico does not understand them today. That is why he will lose exactly as the communists lost."
Similar gatherings took place, for example, in Košice, Banská Bystrica, Prešov, Poprad or Trnava, reported ČTK.
Sources: author's article, ČTK, Pravda.sk, TASR
