Dear Michal,
Given the political situation in which your country is in, and as we have witnessed in the past few months it became more and more apparent, what would be most needed is a unifying force against the continuous corruption and arrogance of the government. Through skilled manipulation, Slovakia is in a position, where the basic legal rights of citizens is heavily undermined, which cunningly empowers the present leaders to do their foul business without any hindrance.
Last Saturday, at last, a rally has been organised in order to show discontent. To show discontent that it is more than enough, enough stealing, enough nepostism, enough undermining of the judicial system, enough cover ups. While until now, an alarming passivity has been significant to the Slovak public, at least that Saturday the first hundreds came together at the SNP-Square.
The next day, you have suddenly published a blog on your own web-site, where you - in a 'warning-fashion' - produced some 'facts' to explain, why you did not attend the earlier mentioned demonstration. Your main objectives were based on the fact that the organiser Alojz Hlina, who, according to you seems to have a somewhat dubious past. Initially, your blog surprised me a great deal and - admittedly - made me feel a bit uneasy.
When taking your background into consideration, where you portrait yourself as a Slovak writer, an intellectual, publishing even abroad, I ask myself: As you actively wrote an article regarding Iveta Radicova running for president, how come, until now you have been so quiet? Perhaps I belong to an old fashioned generation, where writers, journalists - especially the real intellectual ones - were supposed to stand up and hold a mirror to reflect the nation's true face. Remember e.g. Emile Zola's "J'accuse"?
For weeks if not months, the political events have been in great turmoil. Your intellectual contributions, at least let's say to warn your Slovak nation against extremist-trends, were zero to none. As said, the first movement of a nation started to happen, and you write the day after a critic which, from an intellectual point of view is uncalled-for. Should Slovakia - and here I follow the rationale from your blog - since you don't like Mr Hlina, therefore stay at home and meekly accept the current government? Even though, as you wrote, you also do not approve of them? Isn't that too simplistic - one calls it a "lame excuse", and it would have been least expected from an "intellectual".
In addition, it seems - as a couple of hours have passed since and meanwhile Mr Hlina has rebutted your innuendo - that you have been using some vague accusations, which were in some cases totally out of context, some purely untrue, and one perhaps partly applicable, yet explainable. This - to say the least - is definitively a
no go for a respected writer. The greatest mistake, however, was your reply to Mr Hlina's respons, for it has even more exposed the mere fact, that your argumentation is in all honesty too superficial. Especially you should have been more aware than anyone else, that for such a debate you must be better prepared and equipped. The fact that you "remember" one thing from the past, is not justifying you to depict them in a wrong way; You should have delivered hard facts - not vague and coloured reminiscence.
Let me not give you my opinion on the visible contribution of your semester in Iowa nor your activities abroad in Germany. I find it deeply saddening, that someone like you, instead of actively contributing and unifying, with others - at least with those whom you do trust - has unleashed such a murky discussion as this one, which perhaps will to an extend damage the brittle unity within the opposition. For many people seem now to be completely blinded by only vague hear-say pseudo-facts. And right now the only chance for Slovakia is to get the people finally into the streets.
I have sent you a civil message earlier, to elaborate on some details, which you have preferred to leave unanswered. That explains a lot.
yours sincerely,
Michael Srba
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