Slovaks take to streets following sudden shake-up of cultural institutions

7 months ago 34

Slovaks took to the streets this week to protest against the abrupt dismissal of the management of several cultural institutions, with workers at the national broadcaster RTVS saying they were ready to strike if the government put the media under state control.

Following the announced sudden dismissals of Zuzana Liptáková, the director of Bibiana-International House of Art for Children, and Katarína Krištofová, the Slovak National Library director on Monday, Slovaks organised a protest on Thursday.

Regarding the dismissal of Liptáková, the ministry said it had “used the legal option of appeal without giving a reason”. Bibiana’s director was replaced by economist Petra Fach, who has no experience running a cultural institution but has close personal ties to Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová (for SNS).

“We strongly protest against the arbitrary dismissal of qualified actors of cultural institutions and their replacement by inexperienced people without a selection procedure. (…) Don’t take away our culture!” the protest’s organisers said.

In response to the minister’s decision, Bibiana’s employees issued an open letter of condemnation, with some quitting their jobs and others considering following their lead.

A day earlier, on Wednesday evening, two different protests were held over the ministry’s actions.

In one of the protests, people demonstrated in front of Bratislava’s Kunsthalle, a state-funded art gallery that will cease to exist as an independent organisation per Šimkovičová’s decision. Demonstrators brought a symbolic coffin to the Culture Ministry’s building close to the institution.

In the other one, protesters formed a human chain around the public broadcaster Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) building to oppose Robert Fico’s government plan to tighten the state’s control.

At the same time, RTVS employees said they were not ruling out going on strike if the government continued to threaten their independence. More than 1,200 of them have already signed a declaration against the reform.

A draft law on RTVS, proposed by the Slovak Culture Ministry, has been heavily criticised by many stakeholders, including the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).

Věra Jourová, the European Commissioner for Values and Transparency, emphasised that the Commission was also closely monitoring the situation surrounding the reform of RTVS.

Although she has been at the helm of the ministry for less than six months, Šimkovičová has already drawn criticism for her actions on several occasions.

These have included her decision to stop funding LGBTQ+ projects in Slovakia or redirect EU funds earmarked for combating disinformation to repairing the roof of the Slovak Philharmonic and supporting libraries instead.

(Natália Silenská | Euractiv.sk)