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Belousovova: How Do You Know That Man on SNS Billboards Is Roma?
Thursday 06 May 2010 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, May 6 (TASR) - The man featured on the Slovak National Party's (SNS) controversial billboards doesn't have Roma but Slovak nationality, said SNS vice-chair Anna Belousovova at a press conference on Thursday, asking how SNS's critics know that he is Roma.
SNS's billboards displayed a photograph of a dark-skinned bare-chested and heavily tattooed man with a gold chain round his neck. Underneath was the slogan: 'So that we don't feed those who don't want to work'.
One of the companies that hired space for SNS's controversial campaign has already pasted over all the 29 billboards it provided. SNS views this step as hypocritical and wants to cover the spaces with a notice marked 'censored', said Belousovova. "The Slovak National Party is being censored by a German company," she stressed, adding that SNS is considering filing a criminal complaint.
"We're just calling a spade a spade," argued Belousovova, claiming that the only racists are those who automatically see a Roma man on the billboard.
According to Belousovova, the Prosecutor-General should take action against the ethnic-Hungarian party SMK instead of SNS. SMK has launched its billboard campaign in the Hungarian language only, which is at the odds with the recently-approved State Language Act.
When it comes to the issue of Greece, Belousovova repeated that SNS is against lending any money to the indebted eurozone member. "Worn-out Slovaks are expected not only to work for Gypsies at home, but also for the Greeks," she complained, adding that this isn't fair.
Asked by journalists why SNS hasn't resolved the Roma issue while in Government for four years, Belousovova argued that it didn't have any ministry crucial for resolving the Roma issue. [SNS currently has two ministries under its remit - the Education Ministry and Construction and Regional Development Ministry - ed. note].
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