Podmanický also invited the well-known band SĽUK to the celebrations in Stara Bystrica: They canceled their participation! Harsh criticism, THIS is the reason – Topky.sk

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 will also be supported by the Žilina self-governing region headed by Erika Jurinová. And the organizers invited 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 event. They explained the reasons on the social network. “Dear friends, on July 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 decided to cancel our participation, of course! We play with love for our fans, not for politicians, and it will stay that way. Therefore, the band Peter Bič Project 16.7. will NOT perform at the event 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 performances, 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 during the implementation of the subject of the contract, the name SĽUK or its logo should not be associated with any company, political party or organization. Such association of our organization with a political party is a gross violation of the mentioned article of the contract, while we had no knowledge of this action of the municipality and we only found out about it on 10.07.2022. For this reason, SĽUK will not participate in the event in question,” the group informed. On July 16, 2022, the Slovak Folk Art Collective was scheduled to perform at the celebrations of sovereignty in the village of Stará Bystrica. Z… Posted by SĽUK on Sunday, July 10, 2022 According to the municipality’s website, a new feature of the celebrations is supposed to be a “Discussion club to celebrate the sovereignty of the Slovak Republic”. In the morning, a discussion between Ľuboš Blah and György Gyimesi on the topic “What unites 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 got into the parliamentary benches, distanced itself from the event over the weekend. “The OĽANO movement clearly distances itself from the event “Celebration of the Sovereignty of Slovakia” in Stara Bystrica, which is disgustingly abused by the SMER-SD party as a political rally. Based on our information, several entities that planned to support this event financially or with their participation did not have prior information that it was co-organized by a political party and were deliberately introduced by the organizers of this event that it was a cultural apolitical event. We do not support the event in any way and no one from the movement or from the OĽANO parliamentary club will participate in it,” pointed out the movement’s spokesperson Matúš Bystriansky. Photo gallery (3) of György Gyimesi
Source: Topky/Vlado Anjel Finally, Gyimesi himself canceled his participation in the event. “I want to thank the organizer of the event, Ján Podmanické, for inviting me to the discussion on the topic “What connects 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 deputies to the event, so I will not participate in the discussion,” he wrote on the social network. Photo gallery (3) Source: FB / Gyimesi György 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 appearance of SĽUK-U at the so-called celebrations of sovereignty, which was appropriated by the Smer-SD party, I consider it necessary to put things in perspective. I believe that the position of SĽUK-U will dispel any doubts about where and what is the truth in reality,” she wrote, while also publishing the problematic contract on artistic performance between the municipality of Stará Bystrica and the artistic collective. On July 16, 2022, the Slovak Folk Art Collective was scheduled to perform at the celebrations of sovereignty in the village of Stará Bystrica. Z… Posted by SĽUK on Sunday, July 10, 2022 This is how Milanová reacted to the status of Zora Jaurová, a member of the Progressive Slovakia movement, who widely criticized SĽUK’s participation in the event. She thought about the purpose of the event, but she was surprised that SĽUK, which is a subsidized organization of the Ministry of Culture, agreed to perform at the event. “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 obviously partisan event of the SMER-SD party can be in direct contradiction to its charter and definitely raises questions about the common sense or sound judgment of the statutory officers of this state institution,” wrote Jaurová on the social network, adding that Culture Minister Natália Milanová should follow in more detail what its institutions are doing. She 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 an OĽaNO candidate. Jaurová also responded to the fact that, after a lot of criticism, SĽUK decided to cancel participation in the event. “I consider the fact that SĽUK canceled its participation even after this warning as a correct decision, worthy of the 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 democracies, 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,” she stated. After a wave of criticism and the decisions of the speakers, the municipality of Stará Bystrica wrote an opinion on the whole matter. 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 they are trying to invite guests from the entire political spectrum. “Representatives from various political parties were also invited this year, we also invited Mrs. President and Mrs. Župana, while they would also have a place to speak. We always appeal to the audience to put aside our political preferences on such occasions and to be able to listen to each other,” Podmanický wrote. 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 the fact that someone goes to discuss is a problem, then we can seriously think about whether Slovakia is moving towards opinion totality again,” he concluded.