Matej Drlička, who was dismissed as the head of the Slovak National Theater by the far-right government of Robert Fico, spoke with passion about what was happening in his country at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, and called on the film industry to pressurize the European Union to protect cultural and artistic freedom from autocrats.
He said that since 2023, when Fico returned to power for the fourth time, the story of his country’s history had become “slightly frightening.”
He added: “We start to speak about democratic backsliding in our country. I don’t want to be too political, but we are living in an era when it is important to be political. It is important to speak out, because I think that the liberty and the freedom of arts is endangered, not only in our country.
He added: “Every democracy has its ups and downs, and unfortunately, Slovakia is going steeply down.”
He referred to the situation in Hungary, where Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister, has “put culture and the arts under total political control.” He added: “We were not brave enough to speak about it, and now we have it in Slovakia. Robert Fico, through his [culture minister Martina Šimkovičová], is putting an immense pressure on Slovak culture, on Slovak arts, and we can speak clearly about ‘Normalization’ processes,” he said, referring to the period of Soviet repression in Czechoslovakia, following the Warsaw Pact invasion of the country in August 1968.
He then focused on the activities of Šimkovičová, a former TV presenter. Last year, she abolished the public broadcaster, Radio and Television of Slovakia, and replaced it with a new body, Slovak Television and Radio, under the control of someone appointed by the government.
He spoke about how the Slovak National Theater had always been “a fortress of freedom of expression in Slovakia” but faced with a rising tide of homophobia and xenophobia from the far-right he found himself “in a very difficult position.” Then last August he was dismissed “without any official reason” being given. When Alexandra Kusa, the director of the country’s National Gallery, spoke in public against the sacking, she was fired too. These sackings provoked protests outside the National Theater of around 9,000 people.
“This is not just a local fire. This will continue, and it will continue in other countries,” he said. “And we have to stand up, and we have to speak very freely, and we have to prevent this fire from spreading to your countries.”
He said that in response to the suppression of freedom of expression in Slovakia, a civic body had been formed called Open Culture, of which he is a part. This organizes protests about and informs the public of the activities of the culture ministry. In May, it organized a conference in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, of European cultural leaders to look at what is happening in the country.
“We are a very fragile and young democracy. We don’t have strong institutions. We don’t have strong media. And being fragile, it is very easy for autocrats to erode it and to start deconstructing the freedom of the country. And this is exactly what is happening,” he said. “Every autocrat when they come to power starts by getting under control the media, the third sector, and culture and arts. And this is what we are living right now in Slovakia.”
He said that during the conference, they spoke “with international partners about not only what is happening in Slovakia and Hungary, but what is starting to happen in other European countries, and also how we can prevent it. Because thinking positively is not enough. We have to take action.”
He read from a document that was agreed at the end of the conference that was called the “Bratislava Declaration.”
“This declaration arises from a shared and urgent need to resist the threats to artistic freedom across the member states of the European Union. We call for a robust legal response to the growing influences of governments that seek to control and interfere with the culture and creative sectors and undermine internationally agreed human rights standards.
“This declaration is issued during the international conference Open Culture, organized by Open Culture platform in May in Bratislava. It reflects the lived experience of cultural workers, artists, institutional leaders and grassroots organizations across E.U. who face on a daily basis the consequences of rising authoritarianism, censorship, the erosion of cultural freedoms. The deconstruction of the culture and creative sectors leads to the deconstruction of the societies.”
In a message addressed to the European Union, the document stated: “Number one, we recognize the presence of an acute crisis that threatens artistic freedom and the independence of cultural institutions within a growing number of E.U. member states. The ongoing erosion of cultural infrastructure is profoundly destructive, not only to the cultural life in Europe, but to the whole European project.
“We call on the European institutions to urgently acknowledge and address this emergency. Now it is a time to act to prevent irreversible damage to Europe’s democratic cultural structures.
“Number two, we advocate the right to artistic freedom, where everyone has the right to freely create, interpret, express and share artistic work. It must be upheld without censorship, self-censorship and free from discrimination.
“Number three, we demand arm’s length, independent evaluation processes in the allocation of public funding where appropriate rules and measures must be implemented to ensure that such allocation of public funding is clearly and transparently decoupled from the expectations of politically compliant behavior.
“Number four, we express unconditional solidarity with everyone targeted by the state censorship, intimidation and bullying through political attacks on artistic expression. Artists who build their practice on vulnerability, marginalized experience are particularly at risk. We demand a safe, reliable and predictable working environment in all areas of the culture and creative sectors. This means addressing precarious work in the culture and creative sectors, emphasizing equal pay for women, persons with disabilities and minority groups.
“And now the most important, number six, what we are asking for is European institutions must start to discuss a legislation framework. We are inspired by a set of laws, an act that you might be familiar with, the European Media Freedom Act.”
He explained that the European Media Freedom Act was enacted to combat Russian propaganda in Europe. “Now we are asking the European Parliament and European Commission to do the same in the field of art. We urge the development of a specific E.U. instrument with a structured approach to addressing artistic freedom with the rule of law entitled ‘The European Artistic Freedom Act,’ enforcing the protection of human rights in a consistent protection of artistic freedom across all member states. This must not be understood as a symbolic gesture, but as an essential instrument to safeguard artistic freedom and the rule of law across all member states.”
He urged members of the film community to sign the declaration.
He concluded, “This is a call to action. My visit here is a call to action. I ask you, if you want the business to go on as usual, if you want to produce movies, books, festivals, we need to prepare for the worst, and it is very important for all of you and your colleagues to step up and join.”
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