MARTIN SIMECKA
347
have been defeated by democratic means is over, and Meciar himself
stopped believing
in
democracy.
During the last four years this former Communist has managed to give
away almost all the factories originally belonging to the state to his faith–
ful followers. In other countries this was termed "privatization." In
Slovakia, however, it amounted to robbery. Most of the businesses were
sold for a symbolic sum that the new owners could easily pay from the
profits they generated. The circle surrounding Meciar thus acquired the
kind of wealth that remains unimaginable for the majority of ordinary
Slovak citizens. The number of these new owners and their families runs
only to a few dozen, perhaps, but they control the majority of the coun–
try's economy.
At the same time, Meciar built a solid governmental administrative
structure, staffed exclusively by his own people. He cleansed the police of
all those whose loyalty he doubted and rebuilt the secret police, rehiring
former Communist state security officers. He managed to do all this
because he enjoys a majority in the parliament and the political opposition
was stripped of all controlling functions. His big rival until March 1998
was the president, Michal Kovac, originally his partner, who gradually
turned into a rival. As president, Kovac did not enjoy as much power, but
he made an attempt to defend the democratic institutions against Meciar's
onslaught. Kovac's term expired this year and Slovakia is now without a
president; those functions and powers have passed on to Meciar.
The only rival Meciar could not defeat was the media. Despite the fact
that the state television and radio are under his total control, and the polit–
ical reporting there does not look any different than under the
Communists, there exists a network of private radio stations, several big
dailies, and one commercial television station, all independent of Meciar
and very critical of him. This distinguishes Slovakia from the classical
authoritarian regimes that rule in Croatia, Serbia, and Belarus.
The story of Slovak journalists is instructive. At the beginning of the
nineties, it was the journalists who made Meciar into the hero and the
national savior. That was when they discovered free speech and their
power. They persuaded the Slovak population that the intellectual revolu–
tionaries of November 1989 did not understand their nation or its desires.
When Meciar reclaimed his power with their help and started to limit
freedom of speech, the same journalists turned against him. Since then a
dramatic contest has been going on between the media and the govern–
ment, so far without a winner.
The society developed in line with the journalists and today is deeply
divided. Meciar still boasts fanatical supporters, but most of the population
hates himjust as fanatically. Elections are to be held this September. All the
