Alojz Hlina is characterized by both the restlessness of modern capitalist businessmen and a lyrical patriotism. Before the interview, he showed us round his restaurant, the Slovakian Pub, situated in one of Bratislava's pedestrian streets. Each room is different, depicting the style of a certain period of the nation's history. We felt that the room which was furnished as a shepherd's hut in the mountains was authentic, but in the section honouring the 19^th century "Slovakian prince", Pribina, we could not hide our smile, thus confirming the recurring motif of "arrogant Hungarians". However, there is nothing to laugh at in the life of Hlina, born in 1970: he is probably the only shepherd in Slovakia who writes and speaks Chinese fluently. His love for the cultures of the East started in the early 1990's, when he exported used cars to the Far East. He makes his living from catering, but he loves shepherding most of all: Alojz Hlina has an organic farm near Bratislava where he keeps goats, sheep and horses. The horse on which he rode into the main square of Révkomárom (Komárno) in order to apologise to the Hungarians for Ján Slota's outbursts is also from there. Earlier, he removed the Slovakian flag from the Slovakian National Party's (SNS) headquarters.

"Wasn't your horse frightened in Komárno?"

"The urban environment was a bit unusual for him, it's true. He was a bit frightened."

"And are you frightened when they accuse you of being a hireling of the Hungarians?"

"It's possible that some people are offended by my behaviour, but if someone starts thinking about what was said in Komárno, they'll realize that any action against Ján Slota's politics actually serves Slovakian interests."

"Should we consider your actions as civic protests, or are you seeking publicity for your political ambitions?"

"It's just for my peace of mind. I'm simply sick and tired of a vulgar, anti-Hungarian public figure who discredits my country: I want my children to be proud of being Slovakian. The Chinese strategist, Sun Tzu, once wrote: don't fight when you can't win. I'm a rational man, I know that Slota can be defeated, but I can't do it alone."

"You've been a candidate for mayor. Earlier, you were the leader of a small party. Do you plan to return to politics?"

"I had no choice but to take part in the local government elections. Before the elections of 1998, I lived in a multi-household building in the center of town. The then leadership of Bratislava sold the whole property to an entrepreneur, who then resorted to all kinds of measures in order to make us tenants leave the building. He had the electricity and the gas turned off. My family and I were able to move, but an 87-year-old lady - who happened to be Hungarian - wasn't. She had to live the last six months of her life without a toilet.  She was forced to relieve herself into a plastic bag. The authorities paid no attention to the petitions I wrote regarding this injustice. That was why I became a candidate for mayor, so that these problems would get publicity. I knew very well that I wouldn't become mayor of the capital."

"In 2000, your party organised a demonstration against the center right government, together with Vladimír Meciar's People's Party - Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), which is usually on the same side as Slota."

"In the late 1990's, and around 2000, the party that I founded at the time, the Party of Young Democrats, was ranked along with Meciar's HZDS simply because I criticized the Christian-Democratic leadership of Bratislava because of the above-mentioned property scandal and other abuses of power."

"What do you think is the reason for so many people voting for Slota's Slovakian National Party?"

"There aren't so many of them, actually. On the last occasion, they got 11 percent of the votes. Let's hope that next time they will only get half as many. Perhaps the people are finally starting to see through Slota's politics, which is only about fear of the unknown, fear of strangers, foreigners - for example Hungarians."

"You always mention the leader of the national party, but the others are quite chauvinist, too. There are 150 representatives in parliament, and only 30 of them voted against the language law - the ethnic Hungarian representatives are included in this number."

"I think we have to pull out three bricks from Slota's "structure" in order to defeat him. First, we have to convince his voters. Second, we need a little time. Third, all the parties must be a little patriotic, for at the moment, patriotism seems to be Slota's prerogative. If all the different parties talked about patriotism, we could succeed in ousting him."

"To us, it doesn't seem as if the other Slovakian parties suffered from a lack of "patriotism". So we'll ask you again: what was the reason for the Slovakian parliament supporting the language law - which punishes Hungarians - so strongly?"

"I don't exactly know what the legislation is about. If it's about writing the name of a shop in not only English but also in Slovakian, then that's fine."

"We'll help you with that one: in future, someone who belongs to the Hungarian minority in Slovakia can be fined if they use their mother tongue in an office of a settlement where the proportion of Hungarians is below 20 percent. A public programme has to be bilingual even if there are no Slovakian participants. Even in the Hungarian language press, the names of settlements must be written in Slovakian."

"Obviously, it is impossible to observe all this in everyday life."

"If that is the case, why did the Slovakian elite adopt the law? Could it be that all the parties are competing to win the votes of the chauvinist, anti-Hungarian voters?"

"I agree with you that this is not the way to win back the supporters of the national party. From a common sense approach: I do not think that illogical things work, and this law seems very illogical. If a law cannot be observed, then it must be amended."

"So you're saying that if a Slovakian citizen of Hungarian ethnic origin is fined several thousand Euros in autumn because of his mother tongue, he should not pay the fine, for the law will be revoked anyway?"

"I simply cannot imagine that if a nurse and a patient speak Hungarian, and the Slovakian doctor does not understand them, they will have to pay a fine. That's impossible."

"The history of these two people is closely connected, more than that of other nations in the region. You come from Námestovo in Orava (Árva) county, where Martin Hamulják - the linguist who died in 1859, and played an important role in the awakening of Slovakian nationalism - is buried. He spent the greater part of his life in Buda, as an official of the Vice-regency Council, and was quite familiar with Hungarian culture."

"That's right. As a child, on my way to school, I always walked past the house of our great poet, Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav. The title of one of his famous poems is Little Village. As he also wrote for a while in Hungarian, and completed his schools in that language, he lived in duality. In this poem, he raises the question of where he actually belongs. For us Slovakians, it is a great dilemma how we should consider Hungarian history: should we accept that it is also our past, or not. Three years ago, in the Slovakian pub, we had some T-shirts made with the following script: "1100 years without a monarch, and yet we're still here". This piece of clothing, which proclaimed our unusual past in a humourous manner, sold really well. In the marathon of the stateless, we come second after the Jews: we didn't have a country of our own either, not for a thousand years."

"If we have so many things in common, why are the Slovakians afraid of the Hungarians? It's quite usual to say that the politicians are to blame for everything, but if the national card didn't bring in votes, they wouldn't be playing it, would they?"

"From a historical point of view, Slota doesn't count. It's about something much deeper. We haven't yet been able to digest the period of Greater Hungary. There used to be a saying in Orava (Árva) county: "if you send a Slovak child to school, he'll come back as a Hungarian". This is still a general belief. And although it's Slota we have to settle the score with, I have to admit that the intentions of Hungarian politics are unclear for most Slovakians."

"What do you mean?"

"Our aim is to protect Slovakia, for it has only recently won its independence. That is why we value it so much."

"Do you think we're planning territorial revision?"

"Many people are afraid of this. And a lot of political consequences result from this fear. For example, a movement called Sixty-Four Counties Youth Movement (Hatvannégy Vármegye Ifjúsági Mozgalom) exists in Hungary, and we're quite sensitive about that. Imagine how you would feel if there were a movement in Slovakia called the movement for "the Balaton Principality", which demanded part of Hungary because Pribina - a prince who lived in the ninth century - had lands in Transdanubia. You wouldn't be too happy about that, would you?"