Currently we can simultaneously witness two most bizarre attempts to define a national identity. On the one hand - while I zap through my French channels - the "broad national debate" in France, while on the other hand on this very day, Mr Vollebaek of the OSCE is visiting Slovakia to have another closer look at Slovakia's attempt to safeguard its national language by a questionable Language Act. The identity-gods are playing an ironic game with us.
What both news-items have in common, is the fact, that both assumed objectives, as initiated by either governments, have been overtaken by less noble forces. Sarkozy's France, though a country which has relatively speaking been open to other cultural influences, having absorbed large numbers of immigrants from its former colonies, has had some turbulent events, where social unrest in the French banlieus have become a somewhat bad PR for the country. A sore open wound. The initial thought, to philosophically reflect on what makes a person having a certain 'nationality', is from an academic point of view interesting. The debate has suddenly moved into very dirty and polarised "we-against-the-immigrants" discussion. So badly, that monsieur le président has withdrawn his hands from the debate and passed the hot potato to his prime minister.
Slovakia's Language Act might seem a fairly innocent measure, to identify and determine when and where Slovak (read Slovak speaking citizens) have the right to communicate in their own language. Basically, it would be an open door, and one would ask, whether such a specific legislation is indeed necessary. In all frankness, I could imagine a few exceptional cases, which - in my humble view - would have been more easily solved in a different manner. The main problem is twofold; the implementation of this law has been forced down the throat without any open consultation of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia (a fact, which has quite cynically been confirmed by the president himself). Secondly, the interpretation of the law, has even caused within the responsible Ministry questionable discrepancies. As an objective onlooker, one gets rather the idea, that this law has become rather a tool to purposely provoke Hungarian-speakers, which understandably has thrown oil on the fire of the already tense Hungarian-Slovak relationship. In connection, with a coalition party that has initiated somewhat crypto-fascist laws, it can hardly be a surprise which direction this discussion goes.
Slovakia has still to learn a lot about civic society. But the aforementioned examples only show, that balancing on such dubious themes is rather damaging than contributing. Polarising their own society is the worst a government can do. Not only on a national scale.
MS
I can't wait to read your blog on the great Patriotic Act, if that isn't a cynical attempt to throw petrol on the fires of Slovak/Hungarian relations to provoke a reaction, I don't know what else it could be! This will all end in tears I think.
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