Skinhead violence, particularly against members of ethnic minorities, has been a major concern in Slovakia and throughout Eastern Europe in recent years. Skinheads have also made a number of violent attacks on Anarchists – Slovakia’s other major youth-oriented extremist group. Unlike many of the Skinheads’ other victims, the Anarchists have occasionally retaliated, resulting in a volatile situation.

In an attempt to improve relations between the two groups, Partners-Slovakia spent months of preparation in delicate negotiations with representatives of each. The adversaries finally agreed to meet on neutral territory to discuss their issues and grievances.

For the Skinheads, whose activities are characterized by racist violence and vandalism, participation in a peaceful, facilitated meeting with their enemies was an unprecedented event. Likewise, persuading the Anarchists to participate in a formalized event was antithetical to their principles of individual, unorganized action. While the central motivation for the meeting was the fact that both sides felt drained by the violence committed against each other, Partners-Slovakia staff was also aware of a potential ulterior motive, namely, the opportunity for the participants to identify members of the opposing groups in order to prepare for future battle.

As the meeting was an unusual event for the participants, both sides were understandably wary. They settled on a secret, neutral location. While three selected press representatives were invited, no audio, visual or written recording of the event was permitted. Nine individuals represented the Skinhead delegation, with twelve Anarchists present. The Skinheads chose to speak “as a movement” with a unified view, while the Anarchists characteristically chose to represent themselves “as individuals,” not affiliated with any doctrine or hierarchy.

As the meeting began, both sides assumed hostile postures, hurling insults and threats at one other. Dusan Ondrusek, Partners-Slovakia’s Director and a mediator and psychologist experienced in youth and ethnic issues, and Boris Kapucjan, a trainer whose youth allowed him a certain camaraderie with the participants, were the facilitators. By establishing rules that allowed them to keep a tight rein on the direction the discussion took, they successfully managed to keep the initially hostile meeting under control.

To defuse the antagonistic atmosphere, the facilitators worked at getting the participants to perceive each other as individuals. To this end, they requested that the participants wear name tags and refer to each other by first name; this small step had an enormous impact on personalizing the atmosphere. The facilitators also asked participants to sit in a small semi-circle, rather than on opposite sides of a table.

The meeting lasted three hours, during which both sides presented their ideological views in a relatively calm manner. Not surprisingly, neither side backed down from its political stance, but both groups expressed a concern for the future of Slovakia and a lack of faith in the current political system. Most importantly, the groups ultimately agreed to cease the violence between them. To everyone’s surprise, at the conclusion of the meeting the Skinheads and Anarchists approached each other, shook hands and smiled, and agreed to meet again under the same format should further violence occur.