What the way we commemorated August 1968 says about the state of our politics.
The author is a former ambassador and former chairman of the Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ).
At Šafárik Square in Bratislava, by the memorial to the victims of the occupation [the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968], a scene unfolded that had something of a Slovak political parable about it.
Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár (Smer) laid a wreath and said that August 1968 [when Soviet-led Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia] had not been an act of assistance, but the occupation of a sovereign country, and that no foreign power should determine the fate of states through military force. Those were the right words.
But two men began reproaching him for co-operating with Russia, and the police intervened. The minister then pointed out that freedom of expression is part of the legacy of August, but that it should be exercised in a civilised manner.
