Little known author, end of 20th century
If it didn't happen in Zagreb, but in some picturesque village of Zagorje, and if it were presented by a less explicit medium, we would now definitely have many lucky seers and their thrilled listeners, who would then rush to tell their local tabloids about their revelations: He has shown himself to us! Can you recognize that silhouette on the dirty window glass? Do you see the contours on the oak log? Have you noticed this long blemish on the baby's bum? Can you see the strange shape in the toilet bowl? Mother of God, it's the Greatest Son!
I must admit that the coming of the ghost wasn't as rustic as that, but in any other sense it was indisputable. He has really shown himself to us. For the first time since his tragic departure, for the first time since he left the grieving nation, He spoke to us in a language and tone which we almost forgot: resolutely, ceremoniously, unquestioningly, like a savior, a prophet, a visionary - in short - in the way that only He knows.
If the traditionally fertile Croatian soil weren't so thorough in absorbing organic remains, maybe he would have risen from the dead, and appeared before us in some physical form. But in this case, in a somewhat eccentric reincarnation, he caught us unprepared. But what can we do, miracles are miracles because they are unexpected. On Monday, May 28, the Supreme Leader Franjo Tudman spoke from the frail body of Prime Minister Ivica Racan!
This discrepancy between the form and the content, between the spirit and his temporary form, was pointed to us by pro-government satirical media, such as Novi list, which published a screaming title "Racan rose against the split and called for unity!" The shocked nation was left to shiver in excitement and visualize this gigantic message from the title, those 160 centimeters [5' 4''] "rising"!
At the special session on the occasion of the Statehood day, Racan's government announced their decision to build a huge monument to the Homeland. Where, when, how and for how much money - these questions were left for some other time. But why do something like that in a country with 400,000 unemployed, facing a complete economic breakdown, with overflowing social and political tensions? The Prime Minister explained this in his first completely ideological speech since he became the Prime Minister: because of the lost "unity".
This glorious aim is the reason he decided to rent his body and voice to the ghost of the deceased Leader from Pantovcak [site of the presidential residence in Zagreb], which has resulted in an interesting symbiosis of a penitent and a deceased, because every single word that Racan used in his dramatic speech was taken from the rhetorical arsenal of Franjo Tudjman.
"At this time of difficult decisions and self-sacrifice, in order to make the historical chance come true... and so on and so forth... we should remember and be inspired by the strong unity of the Homeland War", spoke the Prime Minister, pleading for the "need to stop the divisions in the national being". Because, "the Homeland War had united Croatia as never before in her long history", because at that time "there was no left, nor right, there were no political, social, cultural or any other differences", because the "awareness of the importance of unity prevailed as the only way to resist the enemy", because during "those glorious and inspirational days of our time" the overall "unity of the people" was at work, which proved "the spiritual strength and power" of the people.
In the name of that, the monument to the Homeland will be erected. The Croatian citizens have been offered the power of myth as a replacement for reality following the best tradition of the decade old nationalist rule. The image of the "Homeland" - that will be dedicated an altar as a warning for 4 million potential ritual victims - is supposed to be a salvation, offering compensation for the everyday miserable life. The fact that the government has once again reached for the old formula of justifying the "earthly" misery with a higher purpose proves that the national frustration is still being counted on as a serious political resource.
However, we are not interested here in this cheap ideological merchandize. We are interested in the reasons that made Ivica Racan - in the voice and tone of Franjo Tudjman - practically declare war, invoking as a common ideal the time when "there was no left or right", when "there were no political, social, cultural or any other differences", in short, the time when there were only Croats, and precisely that marching Croatianism formed the fatal line of identity, which destroyed all others.
Racan's attempt to call for help the uniformed national being, united around a worn out delusion, which would forget about all its differences for the sake of a Higher Cause - and that Cause is recognized precisely in the psychology of war - represents his worst political degradation so far. To play the card of national homogenization, after this country was literally devastated with the help of the same ideological pattern, appears as an insult to common sense. Still, behind this chancellor's complex hides another lie, which is supported even by his critics.
Why is "unity" considered the true legacy of the "Homeland War"? Or, if this is true, what is the true character of that "unity"? We are dealing here with a forgery of grandiose proportions.
The conglomerate of the "Homeland War" is even in today's Croatia the most precious taboo, and its "glorious legacy" - especially "unity" - is nothing but imagined set of values which should be cherished under the threat of force. Those who dare obstruct the prescribed peace and the tribal idyll fabricated around that peace, will be cursed in the worst possible way - with the curse of treason. The recent public lynch of Vesna Pusic, who dared to say "officially" that Croatia had also committed aggression against Bosnia, is the hardest evidence for that, and it would be useful to remember that the lynch wasn't started by the fascist right wingers, but by the polished patriots "of the center", by the members of the ruling coalition, which "cautioned" the insolent leader of the HNS publicly.
As the little known author from the end of the century noticed, during the past decade - due to technical inability to establish the complete information blackout - a considerable amount of disgusting details was published about the different aspects of the "Homeland War". The faith in the shining cleanliness of the "Homeland War", however, hasn't been shaken. There is only one reason for this: this faith is utterly dishonest.
Deprived of the true spiritual participation, all the consumers of the idealized vision of war and unity appear in this story as forced consumers of the myth. Declaring "unity", in the situation where war rules are in action, has been motivated by the fear from the worst curse of all, a constant threat of banishment and being classified as enemy. The production of "the fifth column", which developed during Tudjman, was the logistic of the "national unity".
How should we understand Racan's invocation of "unity" as the basic value of the "Homeland War", in the light of the fact that precisely the mentioned "values" are today the main generator of the deep political divisions? Moreover, the "values of the Homeland War", which are being "protected" during the last several months with ever more forceful means, appear to be a possible plot for a possible civil war, waiting for the frustrated nationalists to recognize the "favorable social circumstances" for concrete actions.
The fact that with the help of those same "values" someone wants to create the illusion of idyllic "unity" seems at least a tragic misunderstanding. Instead of pointing out and dethroning such a lie, instead of dismantling it and putting it into history books, it is being used for someone's personal ideological purposes, accompanied with an attempt to hide the truth - "unity" created during the "Homeland War", and especially in its latter reproduction, was first of all a result of direct confrontation with violence, both the one coming from the aggression, and the one coming from the "savior".
There was a high degree of unanimity and willingness for solidarity among the citizens of Croatia when it came to the defense from the aggression. But precisely this solidarity, was recognized as a latent danger by the people who had established patronage over the "Homeland War", from the moment when the war of liberation was transformed into a "holy war", into a war for the "idea" of "Croatianism, which is going to expand into a wide range of perverse distortions", because "when the crimes and Ustasha worldview were proclaimed for patriotic legacy, there was no more voluntary return to consensus". The time of moral compulsion began.
Again, the little known author, from the end of the 20th century:
"Here we claim that the banishment of the principle of solidarity was one of the key strategic aims of the 'Homeland War' and the subsequent nourishment of its myth. It was a war against the very citizens of that country, which was fought behind the front lines, with hidden means and with long-term consequences. Because this solidarity, due to the voluntarily nature of consensus, would also bring the broadness in which ideological narrow-mindedness would drown in the multitude of other human characteristics. It would bring openness, as a total opposite of the 'new national spirit'. (...)
"What is being presented as unity is actually a forgery of solidarity, as it is established and maintained by the permanent possibility of terror against state's own citizens, which is the open lack of solidarity with those who solidarize. The broadness of solidarity is opposed by the exclusive nature of unity. The difference between these forms of unity is that the first is of voluntarily, while the latter is of forced nature. The irony is that the latter is still controlled by the 'volunteers'."
So, what kind of "unity" does Ivica Racan speak about using the vocabulary of Franjo Tudjman? Is he interested in the real content of that "unity" or only its outer form? After all, the outer form of that "unity" can be seen in the villas owned by the military and political elite, who profited from the "Homeland War", while thousands of those who were disposable human material during the war now barely survive. In whose honor is the monument to the Homeland being built? In honor of their "unity"?
But the only thing they have in common is that they are Croats, something we believed would never again be essentially important. Precisely the forced merging of those two groups creates the worst form of the "division of the national being".
But, in this part of the world, we have thoroughly studied the ways to use the "national being" for the daily political purposes. The ultimatum-like appeals for "unity" always imply the sweet charm of mentioning the "enemy", who disturbs the peace in the happy community, and guarantees the Messianic prophecies of the political leaders. It makes no difference which ideological formula is being used to incite passions.
After all, in the case of Ivica Racan, the issue might be nothing but nostalgia. Because, when he mentions the time when "there was no left, and no right", when there were no "political, social, cultural or any other differences" with such zest and hope, maybe he mentions the "Homeland War" only figuratively, while actually thinking about the time of his [Communist] youth.