“It’s time to raise your voice,” echoed through the streets of the capital during Tuesday’s cultural march. Screams, whistles, drums, musical groups were heard, artists on stilts performed, and dancing took place. And above all – it marched.
Approximately 14,000 people came to Bratislava for the Great Cultural Mobilization with the subtitle They’ve Never Played That Before. It was the biggest protest of the cultural community. The protest blocked traffic in the city center.
They gradually moved from Námestie Slobody in front of the Ministry of Culture, then in front of the headquarters of the Fund for the Support of Art and around the Slovak Radio building back to Námestie Slobody. At the head of the march they carried the banner “Start the eviction!” also actresses Táňa Pauhofová and Jana Kovalčíková. When the crowd found themselves in front of one of the aforementioned institutions, the shouts, music and screeching became even louder.
Despite the wind and temperatures around seven degrees, they marched through the city for almost three hours. Slogans such as “Martina is unlucky, we stick together”, “the culture remembers how ugly you are” or “even the culture pays taxes to Fico on golden tubs” echoed through the streets.
The musical conclusion was provided by folklorists from the band Muzička, who also played the Horehron song Pojme ze cen pojme, in which they inserted the words: “Good people, good people, let’s say what we sow, let’s reap tomorrow.”
There was also a “protest song” on the musical basis of the song I’m not afraid of the man with the folkloristic text of Lucie Nogova Listen to dear Martina performed by Mária Brdárská, the folklorists from Kežmark again sang a style about the return of the bust. And new styles of I’m not afraid of the Lord were also heard:
Listen, dear Martina,
It’s not just your country.
Diverse, variegated like this has always been here,
Malice won’t change that.
Listen, dear Martina,
It’s not just your country.
We all live here, we are equal at heart.
Your ill will won’t change it.
Listen, dear Martina,
It’s not just your country.
Round, not flat, it’s always been like that.
Your ill will won’t change it.
Listen, dear Martina!
It’s not just your country.
You take a lot, works of art!
Give us back our Donatello!
Respect dear Martina,
This is how censorship begins,
Even if you try, you won’t break people,
You are only embarrassing yourself.
Listen, dear Machala,
This is how it is written:
Balls, blackberries, dumplings, casseroles,
After you, only empty textbooks.
The crowd also chanted “enough with Machala” or “Ministry of Censorship“. The main demand of the protest was the dismissal of the Minister of Culture Martina Šimkovičová, as well as the management of the Art Support Fund (FPU) and Slovak Television and Radio (STVR).
They brought a gold tub with a prism from Banská Štiavnica
Under the flag of the popular “institution”, the team of the cultural and tourist center Hájovňa from Banská Štiavnica gathered at the protest. And they brought others.
“We said to ourselves, we will go in groups by car, let’s join forces, so we ordered a bus straight away. We also normally go on trips together, so why not to a protest,” says Matej Lukáč from the civic association Nad tem, which operates Hájovňa.
The less than fifty seats on the bus were quickly snapped up among the residents of Štiavni. Approximately 600 euros must be paid for transportation, i.e. approximately 12 euros per passenger.
The bus suited them not only because they could come together. They brought a special protest artifact to Bratislava: a golden tub with a red prism.
“There is a golden bath
