On October 17, 2025, a public discussion on solidarity took place at the City Theater in Levoča as part of the Levoča Discussions series. The event was organized by the civic association Krásny Spiš in cooperation with the City Cultural Center of Levoča and Studio J-J. The discussion was attended by journalist and writer Soňa Gyárfášová, civic activist and essayist Miroslav Pollák, Roman Catholic priest and director of the Oáza – Hope for a New Life facility Peter Gombita, and IVO President Grigorij Mesežnikov. The event was moderated by television moderator Ľubomír Bajaník.
At the beginning of the event, a video documentary was shown about the story of the village of Oľšavica, where during World War II local residents hid and saved dozens of Jews from imminent death. It was an unprecedented case of collective civic courage and effective solidarity with persecuted fellow citizens in conditions of great danger.
The participants in the discussion subsequently answered questions about how solidarity is and can be manifested in everyday life, whether solidarity is natural or we have to learn it and form a attitude to it, how it changes in times of crisis and whether solidarity can be universal or solidarity is mainly focused on loved ones, on „our own“.
The discussion focused on such factors of solidarity as mutual trust between people, empathy, social cohesion, citizens' values and personal example. Various stories – from the Covid-19 pandemic to Russian aggression against Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees to the suffering homeless and residents of segregated settlements – provided and continue to provide examples of empathy, compassion and effective solidarity.
The participants in the discussion pointed out that the framework for solidarity is set by the state with its policies in the social area, in the area of the rule of law and human rights. The state must be active in this, it must be in solidarity with its citizens, and there where for various reasons it does not have sufficient capacities to solve the pressing social problems, it should create proper conditions for the activities of those who can transform their inner motivations to help others into concrete solidarity steps. A free society should be a society of cohesion and solidarity.
