In Slovakia, children of the Velvet Revolution lead fight to be 'normal'
| Bratislava, Slovakia
Marian Kulich is one of tens of thousands of protesters on the streets of Slovakia in the biggest show of people power since the Velvet Revolution. What began as an outcry over a young journalist鈥檚 murder has in the past month morphed into a mass general movement to end cronyism in this post-communist state.
The call 鈥淔or A Decent Slovakia,鈥� as the protests have been dubbed, has already taken down three-term Prime Minister Robert Fico and his administration.聽But Mr. Kulich is determined not to stop there.聽A change at the top of government is not the time for people to let down their guards, he says.聽
On Friday afternoon he joined 25,000 protesters in a candlelight vigil in downtown Bratislava, the fourth mass gathering in a row, in a display of discontent that could be a turning point for the region.
鈥淚 have to be here, I can鈥檛 stop,鈥� he says, as he passes around a petition for the president to hold a referendum on fresh elections. 鈥淲hen I look at what is happening in this region, I feel very worried about the future.鈥�
As Russia exerts its power and influence over the West, and the European Union struggles to overcome populism and anger at the political establishment, it鈥檚 the newest, post-Soviet members that have posed some of the most complex challenges to Brussels in recent years.
Some nations have rolled back democratic checks or allowed unchecked corruption; others have cozied up to Russia鈥檚 Vladimir Putin. The allegations of state capture in Slovakia by the Smer party seemed the lesser challenge 鈥� until the February murder of investigative reporter J谩n Kuciak, who had been digging into state corruption and mafia ties, and his fianc茅e Martina Kusnirova. For many here the murder, still unsolved, proves how 鈥減athological鈥� corruption has become, says Jozef B谩tora, a political science professor at Comenius University in Bratislava, and the reaction to it shows an overwhelming desire for normalcy.
鈥淲e have been part of the EU for more than ten years now, it has been almost 30 years since the Velvet Revolution,鈥� Mr. B谩tora says. 鈥淚t is time to be a normal society.鈥�
A new generation of revolutionaries
Young people have taken a leading role in the movement, in large part because they can identify with the victims. Buttons worn on lapels in Bratislava feature a snapshot of the couple. Mr. Kuciak is in a tie, but his baby face reveals his age: he was just 27.
On Friday night students called for an impromptu vigil, in a sign of resistance that they refuse to stand down after a larger nationwide protest was canceled.
鈥淲e want a transparent government that we can trust,鈥� says 19-year-old high schooler Bronislava Gar膷谩rov谩. She says she sees her role as a continuation of her parents鈥� fight against communism and says she is restless for a higher quality of life.
鈥淲e young people want to stay in Slovakia but we can鈥檛, we have to go abroad to have a better life,鈥� says Ms. Garcarova. She is planning on studying theater and language at a university in the Czech Republic.
The disillusionment among young people has boosted the far right in Slovakia as EU enthusiasm has waned. Analysts have worried that the generation, far removed from the struggles against communism and fascism, has failed to聽learn from the past.
But the protests seem to have underlined how and what youth stand to lose by veering too far from EU norms and standards, says Tom谩拧 Val谩拧ek, the Slovak director of Carnegie Europe in Brussels. 鈥淭hey are 18, or 19, and are saying, 鈥業 live in an open, borderless Europe, and I can see societies much better managed than ours,鈥� 鈥� he says. 鈥淵et people are no less hardworking than anyone else out there. They are asking, 鈥榃hy should I not see the benefits of my tax money?鈥� 鈥�
'Strange things are happening'
In spirit and ethos, the movement 鈥淔or a Decent Slovakia鈥� has drawn some comparisons to the pro-EU protests in Kiev鈥檚 Maidan, except that Slovaks are fighting for accountability inside the bloc, while Ukrainians were fighting to move closer to it.
Still, belonging to the EU, to the dismay of many in the region, has not guaranteed accountability of the democratic process, says Kulich. He hasn鈥檛 taken his pin of Kuciak and Ms. Kusnirova off since they were manufactured, days after the couple鈥檚 bodies were found in their house Feb. 25.
Kulich was a teenager during the Velvet Revolution. In the 1990s he protested with the nation against authoritative Prime Minister Vladim铆r Me膷iar, whose rule prompted then-US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to call Slovakia a 鈥渂lack hole in the heart of Europe.鈥� He says the fight for democracy is not yet won.
He travels around Eastern Europe for his job in IT, and worries about Mr. Putin鈥檚 reach in the post-Soviet sphere, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb谩n鈥檚 concentration of power, the illiberal turn in Poland, and society鈥檚 resignation about corruption.
Mr. Fico, who had refused at first to step down, at one point alleged that Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros may have been involved in fueling the protests. Mr. Soros has been the target of populist leaders across Europe.
鈥淪trange things are happening in this region,鈥澛燢ulich聽says. 鈥淚n the Velvet Revolution we thought we were fighting for the end of communism, but we can see how all of the problems today are still rooted in that era.鈥�
There is some concern that Slovakia鈥檚 protests could amount to nothing more than a wintry month of discontent that brought down the prime minister but not the system, like in Romania,聽and that there are few political alternatives.
The canceled march Friday, after peak momentum the week before, divided protesters. 鈥淔or a Decent Slovakia鈥� organizers say they wanted to stand behind the 鈥渘ormal鈥� constitutional process triggered by Fico鈥檚 resignation, and not turn into a generalized voice of anti-establishment sentiment. Instead they want to give the new government under Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini the space to meet expectations.
The newly sworn cabinet won a vote of confidence from Parliament on Monday, but many fear Fico still wields the power, and that the new government is not equipped to lead a fair and competent investigation into Kuciak鈥檚 murder. They continue their demand for fresh elections. 鈥淩ight now the government is winning,鈥� worries Peter Majer膷谩k, a medical school student and Uber driver in Bratislava. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a cosmetic change but not a change in mentality.鈥�
On Friday evening, candles flickered in an icy wind as the silent vigil ended with the singing of the Slovak national anthem. But then protesters spontaneously marched to the doors of parliament, where the mood turned rowdier. 鈥淢afia,鈥� they yelled. 鈥淭o jail!鈥�
This shows, to many, that this movement won鈥檛 be ending soon. Grigorij Mese啪nikov, the head of the Bratislava-based Institute for Public Affairs, says the mood has changed. 鈥淲e are following you,鈥� he says the protesters are saying. 鈥淚t is not like it was before. This seems, at this point in time, as a tipping point in the sense that people are no longer accepting the systematic nature of the corrupt regime.鈥�
Hints of that sentiment are everywhere. At the protest, one sign read, 鈥淚 am still angry.鈥� Perhaps best capturing the mood is a sign taped up outside a storefront. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 not care.鈥� Or as Kulich puts it: 鈥淲e just want to be normal people, with normal troubles.鈥�
