Slovakia: wave of dismissals at cultural institutions
Martina Šimkovičová, Slovakia's culture minister and a member of the nationalist SNS party, has caused outrage with her decision to sack the directors of several important state cultural institutions. Not long ago she played a key role in the controversial reform of the country's public broadcasters. The national press strongly condemns her actions.
The winner takes it all
Pravda sees a pattern:
“Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová dismissed the director of the Slovak National Theatre, Matej Drlička. For some, the news came like a bolt from the blue, but in reality it's just a logical continuation of the minister's policy to date. ... It's not a question of whether Drlička was a good or a bad boss. In Slovakia, the winner takes it all - and in keeping with this motto the minister can do whatever she wants. And as was to be expected, right after Drlička she sacked the director of the National Gallery, Alexandra Kusej. Others will no doubt follow. Why? Because those who are now in power don't like them.”
Decades since this kind of thing happened
The minister is not interested in cultural issues, Aktuality.sk comments:
“We are witnessing purges that have no other purpose than to do harm. ... This is a battleground where senseless culture wars have nothing to do with culture - something that apparently nobody has told the minister. Almost 190,000 people signed the open call for Minister Martina Šimkovičová's resignation. One of its signatories, the artist and university professor Ilona Németh, has already been summoned by the police because of it. That hasn't happened here for decades. Politics is harming culture. But culture survives politicians. Even those scoundrels who deliberately damage it.”