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Internet platform for studying Xenophobia, Radicalism and Problems of Intercultural communication.

Anti-Xenophobic Rhetoric

Anti-Xenophobic Rhetoric Ivan Gasparovich, President of the Slovak Republic (2004 - 2014)

President Ivan Gasparovic said on June 15, 2014, that head of Presidential office D. Rusnak, who attacked Hungarian-speaking people in Serbia, should resign.

On the Holocaust Remembrance Day, September 9th, 2014, commemorative ceremonies were held in Bratislava. Prime Minister Robert Fico apologised for the persecution of Jews during the Second World War. “I cannot say anything more profound and more personal than just simply apologising for those who committed so many ills. Only the descendants of those who suffered and died can give them forgiveness. Crimes of the Holocaust, during the delusional ideals of fascism, is an eternal shame for those who participated in them. This is a serious reminder that this should not happen today or in the future.

On August 2, Commissioner for Roma Communities P. Pollack said that the Gypsy Holocaust, called by a Romany term “Poraimos”, must not be forgotten. He pointed to lack of information about this event of the Second World War.

In May 2014, Christian Democratic Movement criticised the Commissioner for Roma Affairs, Petr Pollak, for failing to effectively promote Rome integration” Slovakia has two political parties that promote minority rights – the Hungarian Coalition Party and it’s breakaway “Most-Hid” (Bridge) party. Hungarian Coalition Party advocates for the Hungarian language in regions where Hungarians constitute for a significant part of the population” It argues that ethnic diversity only enriches the society and the elite must actively implement integration programmes. HCP promotes for Roma integration, infrastructural improvements in their settlements and education.

Most-Hid has a similar focus, advocating for a new minority law that would regulate their status. The party also demands cultural autonomy for Hungarians, including the ability to create their own schools and officially use Hungarian in certain regions of south Slovakia” Most-Hid also developed a Roma integration programme”.

Mayor of Bratislava Milan Ftacnik took part in the anti-fascist demonstration on March 14, 2014.

Slovak President Andrej Kiska, in his New Year's address on January 1, said that 2017 should be the year of truth, the struggle against manifestations of any form of hatred in Slovak society.

In April 2017, the head of the Slovak state initiated a hackathon aimed at overcoming xenophobia. Creating functional tools such as apps, websites, games or videos to help quell people's prejudice against others is the goal of the president's tournament of ideas. Andrei Kiska invites people to think about how to creatively and positively deal with the problem of growing extremism in society. 139 projects were submitted for the competition. On June 12, 2017, we learned the names of the winners. Five made it to the final. The group, which included eight young people, presented a project called "Somtu". It was he who was recognized as the best. The final group also included four more projects called Patroll, Konšpirátori.sk, argumentuj.sk and Skutočnápravda (i.e. Real Truth). Their authors want not only to fight extremism, but also to acquaint all those interested with specific facts, as well as provide financial assistance to the target group.

On the Day of the 72nd anniversary of the Victory over fascism, May 8, 2017, A. Kiska, pouring out in Kalinov (the first settlement in Slovakia liberated by the Red Army in 1944), stressed that the ideology of hatred was defeated militarily, but did not completely destroy it. “Unfortunately, this evil has remained in the minds of those for whom contempt for human dignity and encouragement of hatred towards people of a different skin color or a different religion is once again a political program,” he said. “As before, even today's fascists, although they themselves reject this name, present themselves as the only true defenders of our culture, our nation and our faith. As in the past, today they use fear and prejudice as a way of power and want to use a democratic society to destroy it.”

At the October (2017) summit of the Visegrad Group in the Hungarian Szekszárd, President Kiska spoke about the growth of manifestations of extremism: “We see the growth of extremism throughout Europe, we in Slovakia feel it very strongly. Extremism spreads very successfully, very aggressively, through social networks. In Slovakia, up to 30 percent of young people, due to various kinds of chaos of half-truths, due to various hoaxes that are spread through social networks, begin to consider it possible for them to opt for extremism. This state of our society is disturbing.”

In his New Year's address in 2018, the President called the victory over extremists won during the regional elections one of the main successes of the Slovak society. On November 4, 2017, the regional elections were held under the slogan: "Fight against fascism!". In the regional elections in Slovakia, a coalition of centre-right opposition parties was successful. Its candidates won direct voting for the position of heads of regions - zhupans in five of the eight regions.

In August 2021, Andrea Bučková, Slovak Government Plenipotentiary for Roma Communities, expressed regret and great disappointment at statements from both politicians and ordinary citizens about the planned visit of Pope Francis to the Lunik IX residential complex in Kosice, according to press release issued by Michal Schlechta of the Government Commissioner's Office for Roma Communities, 5 August. The Plenipotentiary has responded to a wave of hateful or racist comments on social media about the Roma communities in the residential complex.

“Only those who know nothing about the life and work of Pope Francis could react this way. The Holy Father has always been close to people living on the periphery, and Lunik IX is just such a periphery of Kosice,” the plenipotentiary said in her address. press release.

Buckova also expressed appreciation for the decision of the Slovak-Vatican Bishops' Conference to have the Pope visit people living in difficult conditions, and said she was convinced that the Pope's visit would move the community forward. “This visit of the pope will have a positive impact on the spiritual life of the people, and I believe that the Roma in Slovakia will not allow these hateful and racist comments to humiliate him,” added the plenipotentiary.

During the International Forum for Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Anti-Semitism on 13 October 2021 in Malmö, Sweden, Prime Minister Heger instructed the government to include Roma history in educational and teaching materials and to actively use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's recommendations for Roma Holocaust teaching .

In August 2021, Prime Minister Heger, Minister of the Interior Roman Mikulets, Public Defender of Human Rights Maria Patakeva and other government representatives attended the Holocaust memorial ceremony in Banska Bystrica. Other leaders, including President Kaputova, Justice Minister Maria Kolikova and Foreign Minister Ivan Kortsok, also specifically commemorated the Gypsy Holocaust, with President Kaputova urging "every citizen to reduce the space for hatred so that ethnic humiliation, physical and verbal attacks do not repeated." In April, on International Roma Day, President Chaputova hosted a group of Roma medical and social workers, volunteers, educators and activists in recognition of their work on the front lines of the fight against COVID-19.

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