IF YOU you are a fan of political correctness, stop reading right here. And leave Slovakia right now. Few other languages have such a rich repertoire of swear-words as Slovak, and the fruity-sounding “peach-ah”, describing the feminine genitalia, is as vulgar as they get.
It must then have come as something of a surprise to a police officer at parliament, Ľudmila Nováková, when the head of the Slovak National Party, Ján Slota, called her just that. And repeatedly.
Slota is not known for being a gentleman. In the past, he has called his party deputy Anna Belousovová a “cow”, the boss of the Hungarian Coalition Party, Pál Csáky, a “rotten shit” and even suggested that he will get on a tank, flatten Budapest and show those “Hungarian bastards”.
However, attacking a female police officer on duty just for refusing to let his driver into the parliament's garage without proper papers, is in some ways new – Slota’s insults are usually directed either at entire groups, such as Hungarians, homosexuals, or Roma, or at specific political opponents, such as party critics, members of the opposition, or the media.
An aggressive attack on a law-enforcement official while on duty is a novelty.
Prime Minister Fico has repeatedly said that what goes on in Slovakia is his responsibility, because his Smer party is the strongest coalition party and he is in charge of the government.
Moreover, there just must be some decent people among Smer’s supporters, given its over 40-percent popularity.
When the “p…” story broke, all eyes were therefore on Fico. What would he do? What would he say?
“Slota failed as a man,” was the reaction. Failed as a man? Is this phrase, borrowed from a sexology textbook, really the best the prime minister can come up with when his coalition partner crudely attacks a woman?
President Gašparovič, whom Slota helped elect, is as quiet as always. After all, it was he who infamously referred to then-president Michal Kováč as the “old dick”, so he has little right to moralise now.
Slota is not the type to withdraw from public life, or even apologize. In fact, he denied swearing, claiming he had been “determined, not vulgar” when dealing with a woman he claims to have known for years.
Seeing what Slota, Fico, and Gašparovič are doing to the country one has to wonder – just when will their “f…ing” with Slovakia end?
