In Slovakia, our grassroots movement helped oust a neo-Nazi. We can do it again | Alexandra Bitušíková

Professor Alexandra Bitušíková explains how face-to-face local activism was crucial in bringing down Marian Kotleba, leader of the People’s Party Our Slovakia

Having grown up in Banská Bystrica in totalitarian Czechoslovakia, I vividly remember standing in the city’s historic square a few days after 17 November 1989, the start of the Velvet Revolution, holding candles in solidarity with the students protesting in Prague. Never would I have imagined that 35 years later, I would be speaking at a rally in the same square, this time urging the preservation of democracy.

Back then, when I was a young social anthropology academic at our local university, activism was far from my mind. But everything changed for me in 2013 when Marian Kotleba, leader of the neo-Nazi People’s Party Our Slovakia, was elected as regional governor. The shock was enormous. No one I knew had believed that such an outcome was possible, yet it happened. Realising the dangers this posed, many like-minded individuals knew we couldn’t stand by idly.