Podmanický also invited the well-known band SĽUK to the celebrations in Stara Bystrica: They canceled their participation! Harsh criticism, THIS is the reason
Celebrations of the sovereignty of Slovakia are to be held on Friday and Saturday in Stara Bystrica in the Čadca district. It is a municipality managed by Ján Podmanický, a member of the Smer-SD party. He is also a member of the party’s club in the parliament. It is supposed to be the 18th edition, and it is organized by the municipal office of Stará Bystrica, co-organizers are the Smer party and the Kysucké cultural center in Čadec. The event is also supported by the Žilina self-governing region headed by Erika Jurinová. And the organizer attracted people to a very interesting program – the group Peter Bič Project, which has been extremely popular in recent years, was to perform. The folklore ensemble SĽUK was also supposed to be an attraction. However, neither will participate in the events. They explained the reasons on the social network.
“Dear friends, on 7/16, our band Peter Bič Project was supposed to perform in Stara Bystrica. Since the organizer did not inform us about the nature of the event for unknown reasons and we learned about it only from your messages and after seeing the poster, we of course decided to participate! We play with love for our fans, not for politicians, and it will stay that way. Therefore, the band Peter Bič Project 16.7. He will NOT perform at the events in Stara Bystrica,” the band wrote.
The folklore ensemble also proceeded in the same way. The latter refers to the breach of the contract on artistic performance. The group did not want their name to be associated with a company or political party or organization.
“On July 16, 2022, the Slovak Folk Art Collective was supposed to perform at the celebrations of sovereignty in the village of Stará Bystrica. From publicized appearances, as well as from the website of the municipality of Stará Bystrica, we learned today that the municipality violated Art. 3 point 6 of the Contract on artistic performance, in which there is a requirement that the name SĽUK or its logo should not be associated with any company, political party or organization during the subject of the contract. Such association of our organization with a political party is a gross violation of the mentioned contract, while we had no knowledge of this action of the municipality and only learned about it on 10.07.2022. For this reason, SĽUK will not participate in the event in question,” informed the file.
According to the website of the municipality, a new feature of the celebrations is to be a “Discussion club to celebrate the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic”. In the forenoon, a discussion between Ľuboš Blah and György Gyimesi on the topic “What connects Slovak and Hungarian politics today?” is to take place, in the afternoon, on the other hand, a discussion between political scientists Eduard Chmelár and Roman Michelka on the topic “Where has Slovakia moved since its sovereignty”, and shortly afterwards he should discuss on the topic “State sovereignty in times of EU crisis” by former Czech President Václav Klaus.
The OĽaNO movement, for which one of the debaters, Gyimesi, ran in the elections and reached the parliamentary benches, distanced itself from the events over the weekend. “The OĽANO movement clearly distances itself from the “Celebration of the Sovereignty of Slovakia” event in Stara Bystrica, which disgustingly abuses the SMER-SD party as a political rally. Based on our information, several entities that planned this event or their participation did not have financial information in advance that it was co-organized by a political party and the organizers of this event had intentions of establishing that it is a cultural and non-political event. We do not support the event in any way and no one from the movement or the OĽANO parliamentary club will participate in it,” pointed out the spokesperson of the movement, Matúš Bystrianske.
Finally, Gyimesi himself canceled his participation in the event. I thank the event organizer Ján Podmanické for the invitation to the discussion on the topic What unites Slovak and Hungarian politics today? I am convinced that it should be discussed. I value the plurality of opinions and I also consider it correct if representatives from opposite political camps discuss the given topic, which is also not a matter of course nowadays. However, I also respect the decision of the OĽaNO movement not to send any of its members or MPs to the given event, that is why I am not participating in the discussion.” he wrote on the social network.
The Ministry of Culture also commented on the whole matter. According to the Minister of Culture Natália Milanová (OĽaNO), the spread of false news must be prevented. “Since today I caught the targeted spread of misinformation regarding the performance of SĽUK-U at the so-called celebrations of sovereignty, which have been appropriated by the Smer-SD party, I consider it necessary to put things in perspective. I believe that the opinion of SĽUK-U will dispel doubts about where and what the truth actually is,” she wrote, while also publishing a problematic one the contract about an artistic performance between the municipality of Stará Bystrica and an artistic collective.
Milanová thus found the city on the status of a member of the Progressive Slovakia movement Zora Jaurová, who participated in SĽUK’s events and criticized it. She thought about the goals of the events, but she was not surprised that SĽUK, which is a contribution of the organization of the Ministry of Culture, agreed to perform at the events. “However, what really strikes within the framework of the sovereign dramaturgy is the performance of the SĽUK ensemble. It is a state contribution organization of the Ministry of Culture, financed from the state budget with approx. 3 million euros per year. Acting as a headliner at an obvious party event of the SMER-SD party can be in direct contradiction to its founding document and definitely raises questions about the common sense or sound judgment of the charterers of this state institution.” wrote Jaurová on the social network, saying that the Minister of Culture Natália Milanová should monitor what her institutions are doing.
He also criticized the Žilina self-governing region, which, according to the poster of the village of Stará Bystrica, supported the event. His boss, Erika Jurinová, is present as an OĽaNO candidate. Jaurová also responded to the fact that SĽUK decided to participate in the event after criticism. “The fact that, even after this warning, SĽUK considers its participation to be the right decision, the appropriate quality and importance of this institution. Perhaps the next time the management of this institution decides whether they will perform at an event called the Celebration of Slovak Sovereignty, which is organized by a mayor known for his sympathies with the populist regime and illiberal democrats, for whom even Smer was too “liberal”, they will consider and find out information . a bit longer. Because credit and reputation are hard to build and easy to lose,” recorded.
After a wave of criticism and the decisions of the performers, she wrote about the whole thing municipality Stará Bystrica. She assured people that the event will take place on the agreed date, despite the refusal of participation of some of the performers, but they are currently solving the situation. The head of the municipality Podmanický claims that the event cannot be apolitical by its very nature and try to invite guests from the entire political spectrum. “Also this year, representatives from various political parties were invited, we also invited Mrs. President and Mrs. Župana, while they also had a space to speak. We always appeal to put aside our political goals on such occasions, and we could also prefer one other viewer,” wrote Podmanický.
However, the event is being organized at a time when the political campaign is at its peak. Podmanický added that the criticized discussion club was not supposed to be the main event, but a side event, and political opponents were supposed to participate in every discussion. “If in Slovakia in the 21st century it is also the case that someone goes to discuss, then we can seriously suspect whether Slovakia is moving towards totalitarianism of opinion again,” closed.