Martin Šimečka — on Fico’s evolution, Slovaks’ misunderstanding of Ukraine, and Václav Havel

Slovak writer and journalist Martin Šimečkawas born into a family of dissidents who were persecuted by the communist regime. In the early 1980s, the family was given an opportunity to emigrate to the United States. However, at a family council, all members unanimouslydecided that despite repression and the lack of any future in then-communist Czechoslovakia, they would stay at home.Until the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Šimečka’s works were published and circulated as samizdat. After the democratictransformations and the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia into two separate countries — the Czech Republic and Slovakia — Šimečka founded an independent publishing house. He later headed several well-known weeklymagazines and newspapers and worked as an editor.To this day, Šimečka consciously chooses to live in Bratislava. Although he is now ashamed of the actions of the current government led by Robert Fico, particularly with regard to Ukraine, he estimates that about one third of Slovak society holds pro-Russian, fascist views. “A Slovak fascist is still closer to me than some Portuguese liberal intellectual. At least I understand this fascist. I know where he comes from,his roots,” Šimečka says.Journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk speaks with Martin Šimečka about how Robert Fico became a hostage to his electorate, indifference as the greatest threat to societies, the necessity of the experience of resistance, the bond between Czechs and Slovaks, shame before Ukrainians, and his spiritual father, Václav Havel.Do you like our podcast? Support the Public Interest Journalism Lab with a Donationhttps://www.journlab.online/donations