A Question for Grabar-Kitarović: How much fascism is enough?

(Opaska uredništva: Mnogo puta smo pitani zašto nema kolumni Drage Pilsela na engleskom i zašto Autograf ne donosi povremene analize na engleskom. Izlazimo u susret onima koji to od nas traže malim eksperimentom, da procijenimo kolika će biti čitanost, ali vrlo smo blizu realizacije ideje da se na Autografu, barem u tjednom terminu, ponude analize na engleskom. Hvala na pažnji.).

The President of the Republic of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, claims that in Croatia there ”are no Ustasha sympathisers”. She said this after members of the paramilitary formation HOS (Hrvatske obrambene snage – ”Croatian Defense Forces”) placed a plaque in Jasenovac, roughly one kilometer from where the largest concentration camp of the Croatian Nazis – the Ustasha –  had been, commemorating those who had fallen in the war against the rebel Serbs in the 1990s. On the plaque, there is the Ustasha emblem as well as the Ustasha greeting Za dom- spremni (the Croatian equivalent of the Nazi greeting Sieg Heil).

It would be good to first mention a number of similar but more recent and more obvious events. A few days ago in Zagreb there were neo-fascist demonstrations where the Ustaša slogan Za dom – spremni was heard along with calls to drive out one of the ethnic minorities (the Serbs).

About one week earlier, a group of loud/bukača named after a terrorist organisation violently interrupted a meeting/ an event organized by the same ethnic minority. (I was present at the meeting as a speaker).

The question that thus needs to be asked is, why do those in power not allow this defeated system to remain defeated today? Why are they allowing it to be resurrected and why are they falsifying what these ideas are really about?

As I have already mentioned, a plaque with the Ustasha greeting was placed in Jasenovac, not far from the concentration camp. In the Croatian media, an organized hate campaign is being carried out against the Croatian-Serbian actor, Rade Šerbedžija, because he expressed opinions about the wars in the 1990s which are not those of the majority.

One of the websites which is carrying out this hate campaign receives financial support from the Croatian Council for Electronic Media. One of the members of the committee of the Ministry of Culture which gives financial support for literary production has been identified by numerous witnesses as one of the torturers in the military camp for Serbian prisoners of war in the Lora naval base in Split in 1991.

If this is not enough, there is more. At the moment, the Croatian Catholic Church, the media, and Croatian diplomats are carrying out a serious diplomatic-media operation with the goal of achieving the canonization of Archbishop Stepinac.

During World War II, Stepinac oversaw the forced conversion of Orthodox Christians to Catholicism and wholeheartedly supported the founding of the fascist ”Independent State of Croatia” (Nezavisna država Hrvatska – NDH).

A few weeks ago a left-wing website counted 13 new religious programs in the public radio service alone. And in the Croatian public television (HTV) a geneticist and a theologian were recently invited as ”experts” to discuss the problems of assisted reproductive technology.

Children who do not participate in the religious education classes in Croatian schools have to wait outside the classroom and while their classmates have their religious education class, they wander around the school halls like outcast black sheep and face extreme discrimination.

The Catholic Church and conservative organisations successfully stopped the desperately needed modernisation of the school curriculums. And now, the battle for the status quo of the school system is being carried out by the Ministry of Education itself, where the Secretary is a man who claims that the poor results of the PISA tests in Croatia is the fault of the mentally disabled and the minorities.

This is why I ask this very simple question: Ms. President Grabar-Kitarović, how much fascism is enough? No matter what her answer would be, we are where we are. In Croatia, as well as in Poland and Hungary, are dealing with a kind of ”light” (or not so ”light”) form of fascism

I must stress that all of these examples are facts. These facts demonstrate the kind of ideological tensions we are facing in Croatia today – where, according to President Grabar-Kitarović, there ”is no Ustasha movement”.

Ah, and I almost forgot to mention how President Grabar-Kitarović on a recent trip to Canada, had her picture taken with a group of Canadian Croatians who were holding the flag of the fascist Independent Sate of Croatia (NDH).

This is why I ask this very simple question: Ms. President Grabar-Kitarović, how much fascism is enough? No matter what her answer would be, we are where we are. In Croatia, as well as in Poland and Hungary, are dealing with a kind of ”light” (or not so ”light”) form of fascism.

As the readers will know, we are very concerned by the growth of the extreme right in Europe. In Poland, for example, historians such as Jan Gross are being persecuted for expressing ideas which those in power do not approve of. This is the context of my profound consternation and concern.

In Croatia, the fascists have found their modern ”Jews” –  the Serbs. And when fascism appears, it is something that concerns everyone – whether they are leftists, liberals, left-wing or conservatives. In other words, it concerns anyone who is a true Christian democrat and not a nationalist.

When those who are weaker are attacked, it is the responsibility of both the political left and the political right to step in and protect the weaker from the mob. The fight against fascism is not about ideology. The fight against fascism is about how we are raised and educated.

In an interview with Radio Free Europe, Efraim Zuroff states that the slogan Za dom – spremni  is offensive to anyone who lost family members or relatives in Jadovno as well as in other Ustasha concentration camps in Croatia, or whose family members were sent to Auschwitz by the Ustasha. It is offensive to all who suffered under the Ustasha regime, which was one of the most sanguinary in Eastern Europe during the Second World War.

When those who are weaker are attacked, it is the responsibility of both the political left and the political right to step in and protect the weaker from the mob. The fight against fascism is not about ideology. The fight against fascism is about how we are raised and educated

Unfortunately, and contrary to the claims of the President of Croatia, in Croatia today there is still a large number of people who believe that Za dom – spremni is a wonderful thing and that the Ustasha are God’s gift to mankind. Many believe the Ustasha were heroes who fought the enemies of Croatia and therefore they would love to see them return, to rehabilitate them, to celebrate them and to build monuments in their honor.

Everything that has happened since the plaque with the Ustasha greeting was placed in Jasenovac until today is related to this topic.

There is not doubt that the resolution of this problem is exclusively a question of political will and nothing else.

And it is clear that neither the government of the centre-right Prime Minister, Andrej Plenković, nor President Grabar-Kitarović have the political will. In this context, however, when Božo Petrov, the President of the Parliament states that the plaque with the inscription Za dom – spremni  is (only) bad if the intention of the those who put it there is bad, we see the clear cynicism of the state and the fact that government institutions are not defending the basic values of society.

The only ones doing so are civil activists and a number of journalists.

It is clear that the act of placing this plaque with the Ustasha greeting and symbol is unacceptable – and all the more so in Jasenovac. Can anyone imagine such a plaque appearing with the inscription Sieg Heil near the camps of Dachau, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, or Bergen-Belsen?

Well, that is exactly what is happening right now in Croatia. Za dom – spremni has been placed on a monument in the town of Jasenovac, in the same place where the commander of the Jasenovac camp, Vjekoslav Max Luburić, had his headquarters. Jasenovac represents for the victims of the Ustasha in Croatia what Auschwitz-Birkenau represents for the Jews.

It is clear that the act of placing this plaque with the Ustasha greeting and symbol is unacceptable – and all the more so in Jasenovac. Can anyone imagine such a plaque appearing with the inscription Sieg Heil near the camps of Dachau, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, or Bergen-Belsen?

The thesis of two equal totalitarian systems, which the governing tandem Grabar-Kitarović/Plenković is trying to impose, along with the constant justification of Ustasha symbolism and the readiness with which they justify these, imply that the Ustasha ideals are, above else, a form of patriotism and thus supported by the majority of Croatians. It is a case of structural lies.

The Ustasha ideology and movement has always been and continues to be absolutely anti-patriotic, a completely evil, criminal system. A new political movement called Projekt Velebit with the same platform as the Ustasha movement has just been established with its official address in the facilities of the Archbishop of Zagreb, Cardinal Josip Bozanić.

The question that thus needs to be asked is, why do those in power not allow this defeated system to remain defeated today? Why are they allowing it to be resurrected and why are they falsifying what these ideas are really about?

I have asked a very simple question: How much fascism should and can we tolerate when even the Croatian President poses with nostalgic Ustasha supporters and the Ustasha flag?

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