Slovakia is in political turmoil since the conservative populist and Putin-versteher Robert Fico won the 2023 elections. Following the authoritarian playbook, the new government has targeted cultural organisations, especially those associated with LGBTQ+-communities, with a series of repressive laws and political appointments. To fight back, a group of cultural workers formed the Open Culture! platform and declared the Slovak Culture Strike on the 5th of September 2024, with three simple demands: good governance, fair payment, and an end to political censorship. They quickly garnered massive support among cultural workers throughout Slovakia, including those working in public institutions. The Culture Strike is still going strong, having developed into a serious movement. Open Culture! initiated the establishment of a new cultural workers union as well.
Can you describe the (political) process that led up to the strike?
The strike was triggered by a series of events, starting with personal attacks by the Ministry of Culture on individuals from the arts and culture sectors, and extending to major organisational changes, heavy interference in the functioning of institutions, the appointment of incompetent and inexperienced individuals to managerial positions, mass layoffs of ministry staff, and the abolition of its departments. A key event was also the politicisation of the Slovak Arts Council, the main funding source for independent culture. These actions were preceded by legislative changes pushed through the Parliament by the Slovak National Party, without broader professional discussion or the involvement of the respective experts. All these events gradually created an alarming situation, to which the appropriate response was the strike of the entire community active in culture, coordinated by the platform Open Culture! (Otvorená Kultúra!).
What does the Slovak culture strike look like in daily life? How is labor retracted collectively, and how does that create bargaining power?
On 5th September 2024, the intent to begin strike action was declared, and an interactive strike map was launched on the website kulturnystrajk.sk. By that evening, nearly 200 organisations and 2,000 people working in culture had joined the strike alert. A strike committee was formed, consisting of key figures from various cultural sectors and regions of Slovakia. Based on legal advice, strike participants discussed the possibility of workers in major cultural institutions entering into a full strike, meaning a suspension of work. However, alternative forms of collective negotiation were chosen, partly because Slovak strike legislation is based on industrial-era principles and does not take into account the specific nature of cultural work, where a high proportion of workers are freelancers. As a result, the Culture Strike movement is searching for new forms of collective resistance. In the long term, it is essential to update the legislation to reflect the realities of the 21st century.
For now, we must resort to other protest tools, such as large demonstrations, various performances, and symbolic gestures. An act that resonated with the public was the collective turning of backs on the current director of the Slovak National Gallery during his speech at a recent exhibition opening. Additionally, it has become standard for performers in theatres to read out joint statements on the Culture Strike after the last act has ended. At events held in independent cultural centres, a sound cue is played to alert visitors to the ongoing destruction of culture.
The Culture Strike movement also highlights the possibility of solidarity strikes in institutions that are not directly affected, meaning strikes that do not involve halting work but provide support through other means and acts of solidarity.
What has happened in the months since the strike has been declared? How are negotiations with the government and cultural institutions going?
The Culture Strike and the Open Culture! platform have been negotiating with MPs from both the governing coalition and the opposition for an extended period, with the raising of a strike alert being a key event in these negotiations. Coalition MP Roman Malatinec publicly criticized the amendment to the Act on the Slovak Arts Council, stating that the Ministry of Culture has no overarching strategy. He also expressed interest in returning the Act on the Arts Council to parliament to address its negative impacts.
The Culture Strike Committee compiled a comprehensive report on the failures of the Ministry of Culture since Minister Šimkovičová took office, and made it available to the public. The key points of this report were also presented to the Parliamentary Culture and Media Committee.
Although the activities of the Culture Strike have not resulted in personnel changes within the leadership of the Ministry, they continue to exert consistent pressure on political representatives and have brought cultural issues to the forefront of public discourse.
Can you share the strategic reasoning behind the combination of demands for good governance, for fair payment, and against censorship?
The breadth of successive destructive events in the cultural sector has highlighted long-standing structural issues workers in the culture sector face that need to be addressed. Representatives of the cultural community have assessed that it is no longer possible to respond to scandals, attacks, and threats to labour rights in a piecemeal manner only involving the respective fields. Instead, coordination, networking, and the unifying of the entire culture sector into a common solidarity movement are essential.
As a result of the coordination in the established movement, demands have been formulated that reflect the needs of the entire spectrum of the cultural sector. These demands are based on the principle that every worker in the culture field—from a lighting technician to the director of a major museum—must have decent working conditions and the freedom to work professionally, free from ideological pressures. The value of expertise and solidarity has become the core commitment and defining characteristic of this movement.
Your strike includes independent cultural workers, workers in (state-funded) cultural institutions, and even employees of the Slovak Ministry of Culture. How do you create and keep a sense of solidarity between these people with different positions?
To maintain cohesion and resilience among the broad membership of the Culture Strike, nationwide strategic and team-building meetings are organised. These gatherings facilitate discussions among representatives of institutions, independent culture workers, and experts in cultural policy.
Our practices of solidarity include public and, where necessary, legal support for individuals who are harassed by the Ministry of Culture or face criminal charges filed against them. A key aspect of solidarity is the collective defense against the rise of far-right political rhetoric in Central Europe and fostering international cooperation.
Our unity lies in identifying the real issues the culture sector in Slovakia faces, which are not the scapegoated LGBT+ projects, but rather the long-term lack of funding across the entire sector, precarious working conditions, and the investment deficit.
Can you tell about the union you are establishing, and how it is related to the culture strike?
The Culture Union was established on 1 May 2024 to foster intersectional alliances among workers in precarious working conditions and strive collectively to improve their position in the labour market. Their establishment highlights long-standing systemic issues within the cultural sector that stretch beyond current political debates and struggles. While the current leadership of the Ministry of Culture is not the sole cause of the unsustainable working conditions in the sector, it has significantly exacerbated job insecurity and the inability to predict personal income, which, given the very low level of social protection, is existentially devastating for a large portion of workers in the cultural field.
The practices of the Ministry of Culture’s leadership have also created an extremely toxic work environment within its affiliated institutions, exposing workers to bullying, managerial harassment, and intimidation. The goal of the Culture Union is to organise workers in various cultural roles and actively educate them about their rights.
The Cultural Union aims to develop fair remuneration systems for different sectors and areas of cultural work, combat false self-employment, and advocate for improved social protection for cultural workers. Additionally, the Culture Union is currently seeking to establish an independent trade union that would become part of the Confederation of Trade Unions. This would enable the Culture Union to connect with trade unions representing workers in healthcare, education, environmental protection, and other sectors.
Such collaboration would make it possible to address the demands of the Culture Strike as part of a broader discourse on working conditions and public interest. During the administration of a government that declares itself socially democratic, all the fundamental pillars of the public sector (education, healthcare, environmental protection, and culture) are in a profound crisis.
How can people outside of Slovakia stay up to date about the Culture Strike?
The social media channels of Open Culture! (Otvorená Kultúra!), as well as the websites platformaok.sk and kulturnystrajk.sk, always provide up-to-date information, currently only in Slovak. A translation of a comprehensive document detailing the extensive failures of the Ministry of Culture into English is currently in preparation.