Stories from Quick Reads and Slovakia
European Citizens Call for the Protection of Media Pluralism
“European institutions should safeguard the right to free, independent and pluralistic information”. The quote, from the Media Initiative website, summarizes the main idea behind a pan-European campaign that aims at urging the European Commission to draft a Directive to protect Media Pluralism and Press Freedom. The Media Initiative is running a European Citizens’ Initiative – a tool...
Right-Wing Extremist Enters Second Round of Elections for Governor in Slovakia
Extremist leader of the People’s Party – Our Slovakia (ĽSNS), Marian Kotleba, won enough votes on November 10, 2013, to push through to the second round of the race for governor in the Banská Bystrica region in central Slovakia. The result has come as a surprise to many in the...
One UK Suburb's Un-Neighborly Reaction to Slovakian Roma Immigrants
After a wave of discriminatory statements against Roma communities in France made by French Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls, Slovakian and Romanian Roma in England are now getting the same message from authorities and neighbors. According to an article in the Guardian, Sheffield locals in an area with a high...
Hungary Criticized for Lenient Naturalization Policy
With unemployment and economic concern growing in the European Union, Hungary is among some of the EU member states being criticized by its Union neighbors for more lenient laws passed in 2011 for attaining Hungarian citizenship. Charles Richardson explains why on Crikey's blogs: Hungary has been giving some grief to...
Slovakia's Roma Communities Significantly Bypassed by Development
Despite Slovakia's economic growth and integration into the European Union, the majority of the country's Roma population continues to live in abject poverty, receiving little to no education.
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...
The State of Torture in the World in 2013
On January 23, 2013, an excerpt from the annual report of l'ACAT-France, A World of Torture 2013, makes a fresh assessment of the state of torture in the world [fr]: “A report called A World of Torture in 2013, assesses torture practices that continue to be alarming, from Pakistan to...
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...