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Description
From October 2019 to February 2020, Slovakia is experiencing the most intense political campaign in its democratic history. The author combines two sets of experiences - 25 years of media experience in combination with the experience of a political campaign as its active participant in 2014-2016. A large part of civil society has no idea what is happening in the regions of Slovakia, how are voters influenced in the field, and, most seriously, how intense and effective since the summer extremists have been campaigning in corners of Slovakia, which remain largely unnoticed by most political parties. At the same time, the project promoters feel a certain deficit in the coverage of these topics by opinion-forming media.
The project is the author project of Eva Babitzová and it is a series of video reports from all over Slovakia describing the state of the country. It will bring mini-profiles of citizens, map out ongoing campaigns of political parties in the run-up to the election of 2020. It aims to bring information to citizens and the media from the regions of Slovakia, highlighting what is happening outside the radar of the capital city.
The aim is to bring a picture of the country, to warn against the concentrated and focused camps of extremists, to show the picture of Slovak voters - a high level of frustration, indifference, or ignorance of the seriousness of the situation. At the same time, several videos also want to focus on a positive message - reports with extraordinary people.
The primary target group are democratically-minded voters, who have reports to convey up-to-date information on what is happening in the regions, to increase their involvement. The secondary target group are social networking influencers who will help spread the news. The tertiary target group is the media that should arouse these videos so much that they turn their attention to what is happening in the regions of Slovakia.
Summary of project results
The aim of the project was to present a picture of the country, to warn against concentrated campaigns of extremists and spreading racism. The mainstream media and other political parties have not paid attention to this campaign for a long time. The whole half of 2019 took place almost unnoticed, although very intensively - in the period from September to December, extremists organized 4-5 meetings a week. The project focused on documenting lies and attacks on Roma and homosexuals. The videos were intended to stir up citizens, the media and politicians. The goal was achieved - in January 2020, the mainstream media and political parties began to address the topic. The video Flats in Giraltovce refuted the claims of the extremist party that the Roma received flats for free, did not pay rent or energy, and that they destroyed and inhabited the flats. Another video was recorded on a meeting of Slovenskí branci (self-proclaimed Slovak recruits), personal support of two controversial person in the Slovac political life. The lies and attacks were recorded and published in another 6 videos from four extremist meetings (Kysucké Nové mesto, Trnava, Cinobaňa, Rimavská Sobota). One of them, which shows how the leader of the extremist party swears at opponents, has become viral - it had 149,000 views, 794 people shared it and 1,200 commented.
The project aimed to alert civil society to the dangers of extremism. Another video, entitled Disaster in Figures, highlighted the humanitarian catastrophe in Roma settlements. This turned out to be a huge problem of the epidemic a few weeks later. Before the end of the project, the situation in the country changed sharply and the only relevant topic was the epidemic. The last set of videos therefore addressed the situation and was a series of interviews with Slovaks abroad. It served to warn, strengthen the sense of belonging and at the same time encourage Slovak society to cope with the crisis and quarantine extremely well compared to other countries. The video with Antónia Liška from Rome, which had a strong message about the catastrophic situation in Italy - was seen by more than 300 people.