But all Bolkovic's effort was in vain. The only thing that remained clear is his opinion that tough guys with pro-Ustasha attitudes created this country. And the guests continued to mumble that the leading coalition had had Milan Levar killed and the monument [to anti-fascist fighters from WWII] in Mirogoj blown up in order to gain an alibi for further persecution of the volunteers. This destroyed Romano's attempt to present the right-wing "revolution" in ideological light, because he knows that without the ideology one cannot rise to power. But the attempt failed already in Split.
In Split, the whole emptiness of the gathered mob shouting worst possible obscenities and curses, but unable to state any definite aim, became obvious. But that silence is actually not at all strange. Everything that the Croatian nationalism had to do it has already done (ethnic "airing" of the country on the de facto broadened state territory) and now it can march only backwards. And really, the rally of foaming "patriots" in Split will be remembered only for their demand to abolish regular legal procedure for a chosen category of the citizens. And that demand is the least patriotic demand ever made in Croatia. If these "revolutionaries" were not surrounded by the unpleasant smell of new execution sites, one would really be tempted to give them power for several months. They would undoubtedly use it to destroy the mythology of the Croatian nationalism. Because, we are obviously dealing with a mushy, shapeless mass, which would eventually destroy its own objects of adoration. This mass has achieved in the last few days what neither the "Serb aggressor" nor any other foreign enemy of Croatia managed to do, and that is to divide Croatia into the "revolutionary" south and the "counterrevolutionary" north. Still, this headless crowd has immediately found its zealous supporters in the complete Croatian right wing, the Church, the police, sports clubs, students...
All of them are lost, and as such a headless mass they are rolling from the south of the country, because they have lost the leader who has left them without an heir. Now they try to create that heir from the mud of the people, or better the part of the people that has allegedly been chosen to enlighten and lead the national flock. Zivko Kustic, for example, wrote in his "morning sermon" that in the demographic map of Croatia the part "from Slunj to Prevlaka" has clearly separated from the rest of the country. This part, Kustic said, has always been known for its "warrior and Catholic pride", and precisely in this area is the part of the Church that has never been "foreign" (what a nice occasion to finally get rid off Strossmayer! [Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815-1905), Catholic bishop of Djakovo in Croatia; worked on the cultural, political and religious union of South Slavs; founder of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts - now the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts]).
To tell the truth, Kustic did not explain the possible role of that hardline, highlander, but nobler part of the Croat nation. But even without it, it is clear that a myth of a vulgar mob, similar to the one created among the Croatian Serbs between the two wars, has begun to rise among the Croats. At that time the group that named themselves after the Zenit magazine practically carved the cult of the superior Dinaric race in stone. That race is a race of illiterate, but dedicated highlanders, whose mission allegedly surpasses this area, so that those noble barbarians have been chosen to "Balkanize Europe", to much greater extent than is necessary to "Europeanize the Balkans".
This Serb "race" has obviously gotten its Croatian twin, and Zivko Kustic as the chief midwife will find a way to deal with that merit with more calm than Vladimir Seks. Seks was agitated by the comparison made by Mesic between the Serb logs in 1991 and the Croat barricades in 2001, angrily claiming that Stjepan was actually Stevan [a Serb]. But with this he only showed the misery of the Serbophobic Croat nationalists, who already miss the Serbs so much that they cannot hide how sorry they are for not having that "disturbing factor" somewhere near. The ruling coalition reacted with more self-control, but their reaction was harsher ("coup d'etat") when they heard that the "patriots" and the HDZ demanded early general elections.
But, [Drazen] Budisa [head of the Croatian Social Liberal Party] continued to deny claims about a fascist "revolution", which has opened an important debate about political nature of this "revolution". Only Nenad Miscevic, a columnist in Novi list, has joined this debate so far. He logically concluded that "a crowd singing Ustashe songs is clearly pro-Ustashe", and although those people are uneducated, miserable and frustrated, it still doesn't bring into question the elementary Croatian equation - "Ustashe are fascists". The question "How much fascism?", which is also the title of a recently published book, remains to be answered. How much of what has been going on in Split and other towns is indisputably fascist?
Perhaps the best answer would be - a lot, but not enough to make fascism a general characteristic of those rallies. Their iconography is indisputably fascist, and so are their insults on the ethnic basis and the division of the Croatian citizens into those subject to court procedure, and those absolved from that (presumably the latter will be prosecuting everyone else). All this, together with the dark mold from the past and the depressing social situation, creates an explosive mixture, which is ideal for creation of fascism. But there are some important things missing.
First of all, the completely changed international environment, the lack of strong leadership and clear aims of that fascist revival (large numbers of Croatian Serbs have given up their homes, and even greater numbers of communists have given up their pasts). It can be said that the Croatian fascism still seeks an egg from which it would be born, and although this government has done nothing to prevent it, it has done well when it chose the tactics of soft prevention (waiting for the "revolutionary" balloon to deflate by itself). If they had done it differently, the balloon would have only gotten wind to fly even higher.
But, it is far less clear why they allowed the governmental institutions to be mocked (Norac's escape, his appearance in the Eko quiz show on the Croatian TV, allegedly even at the rally in Split). Because those were the typical examples of the fascist ridicule and deception of the democratic state, with which all Nazi-fascist revolutions began and ended. This has trodden a few starting steps for some future "revolutionary" line ups, and when that happens the Croatian fascism maybe won't stutter any more, but as Bolkovic said - clearly "articulate" its goals.