Smer politicians during their International Women's Day tour on February 28, 2024 in Prešov, eastern Slovakia. (source: Korzár)
The Smer political party started its traditional nationwide tour ahead of International Women’s Day (MDŽ) on Wednesday evening, and the Jonáš Záborský Theatre in Prešov, eastern Slovakia, was completely packed.
But a crowd of protesters was also waiting for the party members in front of the theatre.
“We do care about what happens next with Slovakia. Heading east is very dangerous,” one of them, Stanislav Félix, told the Korzár, The Slovak Spectator’s sister publication.
“Our country has lost its political compass,” Richard Jánoš continued.
However, female visitors to the event were clearly in the majority. And they left it satisfied.
“A very nice, good program. We come here regularly,” said the pensioner Mária from Prešov after the event.
She did not take it as a political event.
A professionally arranged program awaited those present, which started with an emotional video containing sequences of women from various film classics. Slovak musician Peter Bažík, who also took on the role of presenter, recited from the well-known poem “Marína” by Slovak poet Andrej Sládkovič, the world’s longest love poem, and quoted Russian novelist Maxim Gorky, who wrote “The Mother” in 1906. The program included folk music performed by the professional ensemble PUĽS, founded by the Prešov Region, and Čarovné Ostrohy, an artistic dance group that presents folklore in a modern way. World-famous pop songs by Michael Jackson and Ruslana, a Eurovision winner from Ukraine, were mixed with Slovak folklore at the event. People seemed to love it. Bažík performed with violin and guitar, and the legendary Slovak group Modus also came on stage. This band had also played in Smer’s pre-election campaign.
(source: Korzár)
Thanking Fico for his existence
The program continued with its political part. Speaker of Parliament and former Smer member Peter Pellegrini was not missing at the event. He addressed the women present from the video.
