Stuck in traffic
during a military parade rehearsal on the eve of Victory Day,Viktor
Erofeyevconfesses he feels deeply ambiguous about celebrating war
victories.
In Slovakia, journalists’ hard won freedom
after 1989 was rapidly curtailed by the authoritarian government of Vladimír Mečiar.
The media rallied again and played a key role in the victory of the opposition
in 1998, only to fall victim to legal intimidation and corruption within their
own ranks. But although the most serious challenges to press freedom have been
seen off, a media culture free of the legacies of the past has yet to develop,
writesMartin M. Šimečka.
Following the collapse of communism the new
democracies started building a free and socially oriented market economy on top
of the illegal structures of the shadow economy. As a result, unbridled
capitalism now faces a pre-modern restoration and cultural regression, writes Péter
Nádas.