Stories from Quick Reads and Slovak
Mercedes for President of Dilapidated Slovak University
Blogger Tomáš Homola blogs [sk] about a new Mercedes Benz E car recently acquired for 63,096 Euros for Professor Karol Mičieta [sk], the Rector/President of Comenius University in Bratislava. Homola describes Mičieta's connection to politics, and also recalls that the Ministry of Education just a short time ago was forced...
Green Patrol Cleans Up Slovakia
The area near the main train station in Bratislava doesn't look too neat [sk]. Nor do other neighborhoods. Some people refuse to accept it passively, however. Next month, the Green Patrol (Zelená hliadka; sk) initiative, led by Matúš Čupka, will celebrate its second anniversary. Through targeted cleaning actions, Green Patrol...
European Regional Differences
Slovak NGO/think-tank Conservative Institute [en] blogged [sk] about the results of a study of 270 second-level EU regions (NUTS 2). Comparing changes in unemployment, they found that during 1990-2011, despite the growing amount of Euro-funds, the differences between the regions grew by about 4 percentage points. In more than 50...
Slovakia: Social Benefits for Roma
Lucia Kureková, in her blog analysis [sk], shows that in Slovakia the majority of those who receive the Benefit in Material Need (BMN) are not the “typical” Roma families with many children, but are single, of any ethnicity, and childless (62%), often young and unemployed. About two-thirds of the Slovak...
Slovak Antimonopoly Office Defends Obligatory Microsoft Use
European Information Society Institute, a Slovak NGO, reports [sk] that the Slovak Antimonopoly Office (AMO) does not see it as a problem that the country's Financial Directorate is forcing taxpayers to use Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer, arguing that there is just about 10 percent of 44,000 subjects who have...
Slovak Netizen Initiative to Redesign State Institutions’ Sites
Inspired by sf.citi (San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology & Innovation), Jakub Ptačin [sk] and Peter Fabor [sk] have launched It's Not Possible (“To Sa Nedá”; sk; on Facebook – here), an initiative whose goal is to redesign websites of selected state institutions – for free and without political ambitions....
Slovak Blogger Promotes Fairness in State Support for Businesses
Blogger Robert Huran reports [sk] on the initial success of his online form [sk] for entrepreneurs, which was created two months ago in response to the news [sk] of the €200 million governmental support for ten selected companies. The reasons these companies were chosen included promises of investment and creation...
Slovak Government Keeps Paying Millions for Microsoft Products
Every year, the Slovak state pays about 200 Euros per computer for a license allowing the use of the newest Microsoft products and services. Activist Štefan Szilva has collected information [pdf, sk] about 30 percent of the 82,000 ‘state-owned computers’. From it, the IT website dsl.sk has computed this statistics...
Slovak “Decent Life” Protesters Burn EU Flag
About 100 people took part in a follow-up “Together for a Decent and Safe Life” protest [sk, images, videos], co-organized by Oskar Dobrovodský, in Bratislava on Nov. 10 (more about Dobrovodský's case and the previous, Oct. 13, rally is here). After the protesters burned the EU flag, police detained two...
Slovakia: Rally for Rights of “Decent People”
Last month, in response to “the worsening situation in coexistence of citizens of towns and villages with the undisciplined and antisocial fellow citizens,” residents of the town of Partizanske came up with a “Petition for increased protection of the rights of decent people” [sk]. This past weekend, over 3,000 mostly...
Slovakia: Catholics Protest the Sacking of Popular Archbishop
A concert in support of Róbert Bezák, the popular archbishop of Trnava who was sacked for unknown reasons, took place on Tuesday and was the next step in various protests, including this online petition [sk] as well as worshipping in front of the church [sk] instead of inside it. Three...
Slovakia: SOZA Strikes Again
One year after having been defeated by public opinion, the Slovak Performing and Mechanical Rights Society (SOZA), which was asking fees for embedded videos on web pages, strikes again. Now SOZA wants fees for St. Nicholaus and Mother's Day performances, during which children recite nursery rhymes and sing folk songs...
Slovakia: “God Can Cure You”
On May 26, approximately 50-60 opponents of the upcoming Gay Pride gathered [sk] in Bratislava for a rally organized by the Association for Protection of Family, together with the Citizens’ Association for Christian Values and Traditions. The main organizer, Jozef Dupkala, offering a helping hand to homosexuals, said: “Your current...
Slovakia: Protest Against Construction Near Bratislava Castle
On April 18, 200-250 [sk] people attended a protest against illegal construction near Bratislava Castle, organized by Bratislava Openly [sk]. The west side of a new white house (a continuation of a historical building, photo here) had to consist of just the ground floor and a minimal attic, but the...
Slovakia: “Slavery in the Streets of Bratislava, 21st Century”
Radovan Bránik highlights an instance of child abuse in his photo report, Slavery in the streets of Bratislava, 21st century [sk]. His pictures show a girl from Romania who, instead of being at school, is playing accordion for money in Bratislava's Old Town. A few older kids stand nearby, permanently...
Slovakia: Chuck Norris Bridge
In the situation when the U.S. action film star Chuck Norris leads in the public vote for the name of the bridge across the Morava River into Austria [en], blogger Ondrej Horváth recommends [sk] asking Mr. Norris before making the final decision, because otherwise it is possible that the bridge...
Slovakia, Hungary: Shrouded in Smog
Blogger Ulrika Lejnarová, highlighting air pollution data from the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute [sk], wonders [sk] why Slovakia, while often paying attention to the critical conditions in Hungary [en], is doing little to inform its own citizens of the domestic situation adequately, in order to avoid health complications.
Slovakia: Stop ACTA Protest
An anti-ACTA rally took place in Bratislava on Feb. 4. On the protest's Facebook page [sk], nearly 7,500 people wrote they would attend, and over 3,800 wrote they'd “maybe” attend. The weather was cold and windy; the recent news from Poland, which has postponed the ratification of ACTA, was good;...
Slovakia: Protesting Corruption, Protesting “Gorilla”
The Economist's Eastern Approaches blog writes about Slovakia's corruption scandal caused by the leaked info from the 2005-06 wiretapping operation codenamed “Gorilla” (more – here). On Friday, Jan. 27, an anti-corruption rally – “Protest Gorila” [sk; Facebook page]- took place in the capital Bratislava (photos are here, videos – here)....
Slovakia: More News on Overly Expensive Website Design
Aktualne.sk reports [sk] that, following the initial financial inspection by the Ministry of Culture, the Slovak National Gallery is now required to pay 140 euro back, from the 25,000 euro that it reportedly spent on its new website (more on this here and here). Meanwhile, according to the World Association...
Slovakia: Competition to Re-Design the National Gallery's Site
In response to the 25,000-euro “minimalist” website design of the Slovak National Gallery, zajtra.sk started its own competition [sk] for the website's re-design, offering 100 euro to the winner. Authors are mostly students, and they often declare how many hours – and, sometimes, minutes – they spent on their re-design.
