{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Central Europe Matters","title":"E8: Swimming against the tide","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3567,"description":"In this episode, we shine a light on people across Slovakia who are doing things differently. They are confident in their values, but they are working nonetheless to speak to people who think differently than them and understand the way they think. In a country where polarization seeps into almost everything, they are swimming against the tide.\nIf you're enjoying this episode, please do me a huge favor and share it with someone you know. Word-of-mouth is how independent podcasts like Central Europe Matters reach new listeners.\n\nWe begin in Banská Bystrica in Central Slovakia where we meet two university students who lead an award-winning NGO, Edumacy. We then move to Trenčín in Western Slovakia to meet a political scientist who has conducted hundreds of workshops with young people with the aim of strengthening democracy and fighting extremism. We also make a brief trip to Košice to meet two women working at an NGO that advocates for Roma people living in Eastern Slovakia.\nWhile all of my guests today work in different parts of the country and on different topics, they are united by one thing: all of them are engaged in the hard work of breaking down barriers, shaking us out of our comfortable bubbles, and challenging our complacency.\nEpisode breakdown:\nIntro: The danger of complacency and the importance of breaking out of neat binaries\nSegment 1: Beyond empty talking points: Bringing the EU closer to young Slovaks, with Martin Demčák and Kristína Piknová of the student NGO Edumacy in Banská Bystrica\nSegment 2: Confronting extremism through open dialogue, with political scientist Pavol Struhár in Trenčín\nInterlude: Advocating for Roma rights and centering Roma stories, with Agáta Duchoňová and Vanda Durbáková from the NGO Poradňa in Košice\nSegment 3: The dangers of mainstreaming far-right extremism, with Pavol in Trenčín\nOutro: Starting with ourselves, painful truths leaking through the cracks, and reflecting on the episode soundtrack, \"Fúga\"\nEpisode soundtrack:\n...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/1wT1KDI0_HEdpVeYhqaQlyESRg1HeZe5pVUYeqi1hEI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mYWVm/NmJhOTExMzczNzA5/MjgyNGI1ODliMjdm/NmY5YS5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}