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I'm so sad what happened to Slovakia. With Pellegrinis win it's now oficially run 100% by state mafia :-(
As a Slovak, I am frustrated. The opposition seems unable to gain support from voters on the countryside, which is the majority of the population - they are the easiest to convince, usually by lying and fearmongering (i. e. "Korčok will send slovak men to Ukraine"), or giving promises they plan on never achieving but sound nice (reducing prices, even though they are doing the opposite).
The current government has plans to dissassemble the slovak TV and radio in favour of a state influenced alternative (essentially for propaganda purposes), is reducing punishment for criminals, rapists and thieves (as many of them are now in the government).
The country's debt is growing (now at ~7b euros), railways, healthcare and schools are falling. Things still kind of work, but they are held by duct tape.
Honestly, we have a similar problem in the US. Republicans are very good at convincing the rural and poor folk to vote against their own best interests. They scare up some bullshit, culture war, religious nonsense and blame the Democrats for making things shitty. When in reality, they just lie, and do the opposite of what they say once they are elected.
At least it looks like conservatism is no different anywhere in the world.
I know that and that's why I'm so sad about it. Some of my best friends are from Slovakia and they feel exactly like you - despair.
The article states that the Slovakian government, with this guy's support, is moving to take control of the media and the former president was being inundated with death threats. Ergo, a fascist by definition.
I don't want the US funding the Ukraine war either, but calling this guy a 'skeptic' or a 'populist' and not a fascist, as he clearly appears to be, is pretty shitty reporting, I think.
Someone who knows more please feel free to correct me if I'm misunderstanding something here.
WTF, you are 100% right
I posted the story viewing it in my mind as "the bad guy won" just as communicating the news, but looking at it now again, the whole story is full of weird propaganda framing which I didn't even notice the first time.
Ukraine-sceptic
Close ally
pro-Western opposition
ahead of liberal, pro-western opposition candidate
vowed “to ensure that Slovakia remains on the side of peace and not on the side of war”
Korčok conceded the defeat and congratulated the winner
You have to read quite a ways into the article to start to see factual elements which are totally at odds with that presentation early on.
announced she would not run for re-election last June after receiving death threats
The new government immediately halted any arms deliveries to Ukraine
plans to amend the penal code and take control of the public media
Kinda seems like that stuff should be in the lede instead of the "The close ally won against the pro-Western opposition" framing
Yep, and it's even more strange coming from the Guardian, using a whole lot of words where two seem like they'll do: fascist takeover.
The Guardian historically was absolutely great but has been running quite a few weird stories recently. I agree, it's really strange. The one that really stuck out to me was one of those "why people feel Biden is bad without let's get into any facts, just report that a lot of people feel that way and why it's a big deal that they feel that way" on par with a standard Lemmy concern-troll.
This is the G-free link without AMP: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/06/government-candidate-peter-pellegrini-wins-slovakias-presidential-race
If you could change the link it would be very appreciated.
Done