On November 17, 2018, journalist and essayist Tomáš Gális (daily Denník N) and IVO president Grigorij Mesežnikov took part in the Central European Forum 2018 in Banská Bystrica in discussion about the most important events of the year 2018 and their wider social contexts. 

The discussion, which took place in the Puppet Theater “At the Crossroad”, was chaired by Slavo Sochor. An event, organized in cooperation with the bookstore Artfórum Banská Bystrica, included the presentation of the book 2018. Rok protestov. Rozhovory Tomáša Galisa s Grigorijom Mesežnikovom. [2018. The year of protests. Talks of Tomáš Gális with Grigorij Mesežnikov]. 

The discussants looked back to the largest civic manifestations in Slovakia since 1989, their causes, course and consequences. They assessed developments in 2018 through the optic of legacy and ethos of November’ 89 – efforts for freedom, fairness and solidarity. They pointed out the political background of reactions of individual Slovak politicians to turbulent events, to probable motives of their personal decisions which ultimately can influence the movement of the country towards the changes or, on the contrary, to maintain the stagnation. They also touched on the most recent internal political developments (the results of municipal elections, the police investigation of organizers of spring protests on anonymous denunciation, the former prime-minister Robert Fico’ spreading the conspiracy narratives about background of civic manifestations, etc.). 

Before noon at the same day, Tomáš Gális and Grigorij Mesežnikov, co-authors of the publication 2018. The year of protests, debated with readers in the bookstore Artfórum in Žilina.