Beyond Intractability: Anti-democratic Resistance

Protests 2018 in Slovakia

Laura Palenčíková / May 1, 2018

(2 min read)

Two months ago, I was diagnosed with a case of chronic mistrust. Today, I am struggling with the disease, trying to defeat it. The disease started out inconspicuously. I received dose after dose of bold faced lies but did not realize that it what was happening. I believed them although they sought to kill me. Yet, the abnormal, unnecessary and irresponsible consumption of lies and deceptions aroused resistance in me. Just as antibiotic resistant bacteria are no longer affected by treatment, I too became unaffected by the lies I continually heard. I stood up to them.  I am now resistant to the lies of those trying to infect my consciousness and conscience with the intent to blind me. And I am ready to stand up against that which seeks to devour the basic pillars and principles of liberal democracy in the 21st century.

The emergence of this generation resistant to falsehoods, fraud, corruption, and organized crime is found in a phenomenon I have dubbed an “anti-democratic resistance”.  Just as the concept of antibiotic resistance is embedded in the laws of nature, anti-democratic resistance is naturally anchored in the unwritten laws of our society. It was only a matter of time before it would arise. Why I stood by it and its awakening is difficult, and perhaps impossible, to answer. Someone had to stand there. It is, however, much more important to ask and see who has taken my hands (and those of other young organizers), and where are we going.  There are hundreds of thousands of hands belonging to hundreds of thousands of people calling for justice and decency in our nation. The murder of two young people has mobilized them and has made them strong, a strength we have not seen since 1989.

People have stopped being blind. They no longer tolerate injustice. They have found their voices. We all have realized that Slovakia is OUR country and it is our responsibility to define and fight for a better future.

We resist and will continue to resist anti-democratic trends. The murders of two young people are a sad milestone in our history, by which we will judge future situations. We all might have different political affiliations, different views on the course of our future steps, and even different values. But there is only one goal for which we all fight: a better and decent Slovakia.