Word: slovaks
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...nationalistic laws go, the one just passed in Slovakia seems rather tame on the surface. Earlier this month, the Slovak parliament approved a "patriotic act" mandating that every school play the Slovak national anthem on Mondays and that each classroom display a set of state symbols: the flag, the coat of arms, the lyrics to the anthem and the constitution's preamble. However innocuous this all may appear to be, though, Slovaks are outraged that the government is forcing them, by law, to be more patriotic...
...legislation was sponsored by the Slovak National Party, an ultra-nationalist outfit whose controversial leader, Jan Slota, is known for his xenophobic slurs, which are often aimed at the country's ethnic Hungarians. But Slota maintains that he doesn't just want to instill more patriotism among the Hungarian minority -he wants Slovaks to have more pride in their country, too. (Never mind the fact that his own knowledge of the anthem proved spotty in an interview last week when he confused some of the words and got the author wrong.) "The children's relationship to their nation, to their...
...Despite the country's recent economic gains, Slovaks do tend to have an astonishingly poor view of their nation. In a 2006 study based on polling by the International Social Survey Program, for example, Slovakia ranked as the fourth least patriotic nation out of 33 countries surveyed -the U.S., not surprisingly, was number one. Slovakia's angst began when Czechoslovakia split up in 1993 and Vladimir Meciar became Prime Minister of the new Slovak nation, ushering in four years of autocratic and isolationist rule. The country was considered such a backwater during those days that then-Secretary of State Madeleine...
...classmate, Samuel Ninchuck, whose father is American, found the law equally repellent. "I sing the anthem when we play ice hockey, but that is not mandatory," the 12-year-old student says. He confessed that he is more proud of being American than Slovak. "The politicians here take all the money for themselves and as a result we are a boring country no one knows about," he says...
...Meciar-era nationalist rhetoric during his four years in office. He recently called for a fundraising drive to erect a statue to Prince Svatopluk, a leader of the 9th century Great Moravian Empire in central Europe who has become a central figure in the government's push toward establishing Slovak heroes. Fico also triggered a heated debate when he described the nation's ancestors as "old Slovaks" -an attempt to demonstrate that the country has a deep and respectable history. And last year, parliament passed a language act that, among other things, instituted a fine of $6,800 for failing...