Today, on this very day 21 years ago, a smooth democratisation process started to turn around a country, which gently shook off the yoke of totalitarian communism. The then enthusiastic atmosphere that could be sensed has over the years faded. Czechoslovakia, after briefly becoming a Czech and Slovak federal state split up and the differences between the two brother-nations became apparent.
Last week, another slap in the face of democracy occurred, when a prominent lawyer was assassinated. The motive is still unclear, yet a few facts and the timing appear unpleasantly coincidental. It shows in a brutal way, how frail democracy is and that advocating a more open and just society is not fully without risk.
What lingers in the back of one's mind is the fact, that the highly criticised General Prosecutor Trnka, who has more than visibly hindered several cases that could be harmful to the previous Fico government, suddenly seems no objection to Mr Dzurinda - now being the foreign minister, yet the political head of the christian-democratic SDKU coalition leader.One may believe or not in so called conspiracy theories, the signals after deducing all facts are more than obvious, and perhaps too obvious, so that they become almost absurdistically improbable; realising that even the new politics (after the Fico years) have perhaps from within no intent to change for the better.
The only clear message, one can learn from this, is that after the so gentle Velvet Revolution, Slovak society is still caught in a Balkan-type power-play. The velvet wears out over time. But the question is, whether it wasn't too gentle to befit the society. Shrugging shoulders, assuming it has always been that way, is not a way to deal with this cancerous evil. The only way is to have it removed - even if painful - to avoid further long term damage. The problem is the lack of proper tools.
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