Politicians celebrating Freedom and Democracy

Politicians celebrating Freedom and Democracy

On the occasion of the Day of the Fight for Freedom and Democracy, President Andrej Kiska met with dozens of students who had participated in the educational project, Everyday Heroes of the Fight against Communism. The president described Thursday's holiday as the most important day in Slovakia's modern history. "As long as we have freedom and democracy, we can express our discontent, we can criticise it; but what's more important is that we can transform our discontent into ideas of how to change things," he said. November 17 is an opportunity to make the rules of democracy equal for all people, irrespective of their possessions, status or political affiliation, he argued, saying this would enable the state to "provide a more effective guarantee of security when we need to call for justice."

Prime Minister Robert Fico, along with Deputy Prime Minister for Investments and Informatisation Peter Pellegrini and Finance Minister Peter Kazimir also met with students on Thursday. They invited 17 students from universities around Slovakia to have lunch with them in a restaurant car at the Main Station in Bratislava. The prime minister claimed "the decision to give students and pupils the opportunity to travel by train for free is one of the most beneficial social programmes that has been offered to this social group since 1989." He expressed his warm wishes for all Slovaks on the Day of the Fight for Freedom and Democracy and all students on International Students' Day, which are both celebrated on November 17. "The combination of these two holidays has prompted us to invite 17 students from various schools for lunch, during which we've tried to create scope for a discussion," said the Prime Minister, adding that this is the best possible way to commemorate the two events. He also had a discussion with students from the University of Economics in Bratislava. "They're people who are linking their future to Slovakia; they want to stay here, to do jobs that make them happy and for which they are in training," noted Fico.


Around 500 people celebrated November 17, 1989 at an event organised by the Opposition Freedom and Solidarity and OLaNO-NOVA parties, along with the extraparliamentary Christian Democratic Movement and Independent MPs Miroslav Beblavy and Zsolt Simon. The slogans that reverberated at this gathering were: enough of Prime Minister Robert Fico; we didn't ask for this; it's time for a new November. "I accuse you, who didn't stop the corruption, although you could have. ... I accuse you, politicians, who are defending thieves," said OLaNO-NOVA MP Jan Budaj. He again called for the scrapping of "the bloody Meciar amnesties" and declared that Slovakia is threatened by politicians that don't know how to achieve justice. SaS leader Richard Sulik said that many of the 27 years since the Velvet Revolution have been wasted. "The values of November aren't compatible with a government of corruption and clientelism," independent MP Zsolt Simon added. Another independent MP, Miroslav Beblavy, added that it is our duty to call for change so that our children won't have to call for it themselves another 27 years from now.

Activists Alena Krempaska and Peter Weisenbacher, who have a long-standing dispute with OLaNO-NOVA leader Igor Matovic, also came to the event bearing banners stating that they didn't want "islamophobic liberals against freedom and solidarity" or "homophobic ordinary people and hateful personalities", referring to the names of the organisers' parties. They claimed to oppose the privatisation of November 17 by particular groups.

At the beginning of November 1989, members of the Public Security - the name of the police under the socialist regime - beat students who were marching in support of basic human rights in Prague. This caused public outrage, and more and more people joined the students in demonstrating against the socialist regime, eventually resulting in its fall. The people of Czechoslovakia, as well as of other central and eastern European nations, demanded democracy, freedom and the protection of human rights and freedom of religion in 1989.


Around the world, November 17 is known as International Students' Day, but Slovakia turned the day into a public holiday in 2001. It's now celebrated in Slovakia as the Day of the Fight for Freedom and Democracy.


Martina Šimkovičová, Photo: TASR

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