Marína Gálisová on Communism, Freedom, and Nationalism in Central Europe

A translator, civic activist, and the managing editor of .týždeň magazine (“The Week”) in Bratislava, Slovakia, Marína and I met at the magazine’s office in Bratislava to talk about listening as a child to “Voice of America” on the radio with her father, the impact of Ronald Reagan calling Soviet-bloc communism an “evil empire,” the role of anti-communist dissidents, Czechoslovakia’s “Velvet Revolution,” translating important books, the meaning and ending of the Viktor Orbán era in Hungary (Slovakia borders Hungary), the rise of nationalism, the future of liberalism, keeping a weekly magazine going -- and why she loves hard rock music. We began our friendship several years ago when she interviewed me for .týždeň, and what a joy now, for both of us, to continue and deepen the conversation.