Openly – about freedom of speech in Slovakia

 – Slovakia

Openly – about freedom of speech in Slovakia. Is civic engagement unpunished? Is courage still cheap. Can the erosion of democracy be effectively prevented? What will we do when we wake up and find that freedom (of speech) has evaporated?

Debating: Juraj Buzalka and Verona Šikulová

Moderator Silvester: Lavrík

Musical guest: Skyva

Verona Šikulová – a Slovakian prose writer, author of books for children and young people. She graduated from high school in Modra and studied journalism at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University. She worked as an editor in the periodicals Literárny týždenník, Nový Čas and Meridián. She works at the Ľudovít Štúr Museum in Modra and at the Malokarpatská library in Pezinok. In addition to journalism, she is also involved in literary work, she is an author of more than a dozen prose books.

Juraj Buzalka – a Slovakian social anthropologist and university teacher. He works at the Institute of Social Anthropology of the Faculty of Social and Economic Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava and is dedicated to the anthropology of political movements and the topics of nationalism, populism, politics, religion and social transformation in eastern parts of Central Europe. He is the author of the bestseller Postsedliaci – slovenský ľudový protest (Postfarmers – Slovakian People’s Protest).

Skyva – real name Zuzana Eperjéšiová, composer, pianist, singer. It is not the first time that gospel has given Slovakian pop-music a prominent performer. Skyva’s poetic images are coloured by melancholic keyboard beats with an atmospheric effect, passing into gentle solos. That is why it was so unusual to hear something magical and even ritualistic in Slovakian gospel music, close to the ethereal sound of ethno-singers. Skyva walks her own path, with her own songs and images close to the religious and spiritual language.