Mace in Right Hand

by Heni Erceg

Feral Tribune, Split, Croatia, August 30, 1999

During the summer of 1990 in Knin and Krajina everyone who considered himself significant and especially those who considered Slobodan Milosevic significant, wore black. Of course, with respect to 250,000 Serbs, such individuals were in minority, but they successfully made up for their low numbers, as well as a lack of intellect, by aggressive behavior and rallies full of shouting and messages of fear and hatred.

During year 1999 black is again in in the former Krajina and other most sensitive parts of Croatia. The only difference is in the nationalist insignia. Everything else, above all the amount of hatred towards the members of the opposite (Serb) nation, is the same.

During the summer of 1990 when the nationalist Serb rallies lacked in numbers, dark types (mostly from Stara Pazova [in Serbia]) were bussed in to assist their "knife brothers". Those were the last breaths of a dying regime, which tried to prolong its life with terror. Today, when another authoritarian regime is counting its last days, rightist terrorists whose ideology is based on Tudman's ideals of Greater and naturally clean Croatia are again set loose.

Politics in Mourning

Of course Dapic's black shirts are few in number but they, exactly as the former Knin Chetniks [Serb nationalists], are successfully simulating mass support with their howling full of hatred. The goal of their agitation is to expel the few returnee Serbs and discourage those who would like to return [to their homes] and thereby verify successfully implemented ethnic cleansing of Franjo Tudman. Since as a rule the attendance at their rallies is unimpressive, HDZ members from nearby villages and towns are bussed in to produce a better impression. These rallies are like some sort of a traveling monster show and are frequently held in villages and towns of the former Krajina during pre-electoral panic. The Croatian TV also offers its wholehearted support and cannot fail to inform the public that "Rightists" are protecting endangered Croats in east Slavonija and Knin. The iconography, songs and incidents which are a part of the program of Dapic's neo-Ustashe could be used by Franjo Tudman as an excuse for the introduction of the state of emergency or at least for the obstruction of the forthcoming elections. In 1990 Knin Chetniks were similarly used by Slobodan Milosevic to start his deadly campaign against Croatia.

And while the U.N. Security Council sanctions are knocking on the door because of crimes committed "on behalf of Croatia", the state whose president has all the references needed for at least a short visit to the Tribunal in the Hague, the rightist terror, as a warning to the small number of Serb returnees, but also disobedient Croats, is spreading through Croatia according to somebody's plans.

In the meantime, however, the so-called Croatian opposition at this, for Croatia crucial, time again has much more important business to attend to. Somewhere high in the clouds without a true contact with the Croatian reality, it mostly deals with trade and simple mathematical operations: addition and subtraction. Six against two, four minus two, three plus three...

These measly calculations of the new historical duo definitely include the exchange of goods, in which a former Communist official will earn a bit of necessary Croatian nationalist credibility from a proven nationalist in exchange for a bit of necessary socialdemocratic internationalism. And while the divisions, both between Serbs and Croats and among the Croats, have become a reality, nevertheless the duo Racan-Budsa [Ivica Racan is the leader of the Socialdemocratic Party and a former Communist, while Drazen Budisa is the leader of the Croatian Social Liberal Party and a former Croat nationalist and a dissident] has presented itself to the nation as an embodiment of the long term obsession of the Father of the Nation: the reconciliation of opposites that cannot be reconciled. The only thing that matters is that everything is Croatian.

Because of that, they do not want to deal with Dapic's terrorists and their effect on the already miserable image of Croatia abroad. They will rather only deal with their profession - political demagoguery - with wholehearted assistance from the former advisors of Franjo Tudman, former chiefs of staff of Franjo Tudman, former chiefs of secret services in the service of Tudman's political party, and former, as well as present, ministers in HDZ's [Croatian Democratic Union, ruling party in Croatia since the early nineties] government. A construction known in Racan's times as "unprincipled coalition" has today become "political pragmatism" and those who do not understand that or disagree with this socialdemocratic-liberal hybrid "are working for HDZ".

The situation is, however, completely different. Racan and Budisa are helping Tudman in crucial moments to exactly the same extent as the extreme right. In front of their eyes the last chances to transform this country into a decent European civic state are collapsing. While the two of them, as formal opponents of HDZ, bloodlessly but "pragmatically" worry about relations within the opposition six, a future government or the Croatian TV with noses stuck into their pre-electoral crossword puzzles, all along sending hissing messages of the type "who is not with us is against us" (sounds familiar, does not it?), the remaining free space has been aggressively occupied by Dapic's black shirts on the account of HDZ and Franjo Tudman. Tudman's political party, in the guise of its minister Ivan Herak, is already adding the votes likely to be won by Dapic to its total.

Walnut-like Willow Tree

For example, it would be great if Zdravko Tomac, instead of a silly attack on Feral Tribune, which he labeled as a pro-HDZ newspaper, used his column in Nacional for an analysis of the dark and dangerous events that are spreading along the most sensitive border regions of Croatia. However, social-democrat Tomac is not intrigued by the howling of Dapic's Ustashe in the eastern Slavonian village of Jagodnjak, which can be interpreted as a warning to the local Serbs and disobedient Croats, as he wasn't at the time intrigued by the murderers from Pakracka Poljana, who after a quick run through the "independent" Croatian courts are likely to be dealt by the Hague Tribunal.

One wonders how much patriotic and nationalist Croat credibility would have been lost by the gentlemen from SDP had they for a moment, instead of dealing with "those who are against [them] and therefore for HDZ" (Feral, Ivo Banac...), dealt with rightist terrorists, whose sinister fascist rallies have so far resulted in a brutal murder of a Serb in the village of Berak. However, the "pragmatic" leaders of SDP know that there is no political profit to be found in statements about a certain lynching of a certain Serb and they probably find it beyond their stature to comment on, for example, the statement by the leader of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) Anto Dapic made in the already mentioned village of Berak: "Why didn't you hang her on that walnut tree?" (referring to one of the Serb women from the village).

While European politician Ivica Racan is flirting with until yesterday main pillar of Franjo Tudman's regime, "European" Hrvoje Sarinic. According to his statements, Sarinic agrees with everything done by Franjo Tudman's regime until 1995, including, therefore, crimes in Bosnia and after the operation "Storm", the European organizations are recording Croatian reality in which lynch is becoming the framework for coexistence with Croatian Serbs. Only God knows whether Drazen Budisa, a Croat with unquestionable patriotic and nationalist credentials, is bothered by the words of "sufferer for the Croatian cause" Dura Perica. According to Jutarnji List, naturally in Berak and again in front of the representatives of the International Community (they are the ones who hate us and can't wait to introduce sanctions against Croatia) Perica blabbered that "God created Croatia for Croats only. Now we have Croatia and Croats will run thing here. Those who dislike that are free to leave Croatia" (Jutarnji List, August 25 1999). A Serb from Berak, Duro Mutic, who was beaten to death by those for whom God created Croatia, did not figure out in time the messages sent by Duro Perica and Dapic's cleansers.

Patriotic Picnic

If they are smart, those Serbs who have been recently returning to Knin and the former Krajina should take these messages seriously. Recently Dapic stated in Knin surrounded by his black shirts that he "[would] prevent every eviction of Croats" living in Serb houses and apartments in Knin and the former Krajina "with our bodies". If that proves not to be sufficient "we shall call on mass demonstrations and a blockade of the whole Croatia".

How else but as a threat should the Serbs in Gracac and observers of the International Community interpret the disgusting, and for Croatia dangerous, message written on one of the placards displayed during one of HSP's [the Croatian Party of Rights, led by Anto Dapic] rallies: "A dog is a friend to everyone, a Serb to no one!" However, no one from the opposition has deigned to even mention these excesses, let alone dare demand that such rallies be banned because of spreading of racial and ethnic hatred.

In those places where Dapic's radicals because of their numerous obligations do not find time to show up, members of the Catholic Church in Croatia take care of organized and well directed hatred. One such patriotic picnic took place at a border crossing in Brgat, under Ivanica, in protest against the opening of the border towards Trebinje [in the Rpublic of Srpska and Bosnia-Hercegovina].

The loudest leader and organizer of the "patriotic" choir singing was a certain Fr. Miljenko Babaic. The repertoire was wide ranging, from usual "Jure and Boban" [an Ustashe song] to gentle verses: "Pavelic's [Ustashe leader in WWII] guard is marching", "From Karlovac to Pakrac there are no Serb Orthodox left", "Fucking Serbs are leaving over the Drina"...

God's shepherd Miljenko Babaic in his Christian-patriotic zeal went a step further and stated: "Damned be each one who greets the arrival of the enemy! Damned be the ones who trade, eat, drink and without punishment receive the enemy into their homes!" Parish priest Babaic, who defends the borders of his homeland with howling full of hatred and curses (what a surprise!) was not castigated by anyone of his superiors from the Catholic Church. On behalf of the whole opposition, as many times in the past, the condemnation came only from Vlado Gotovac.

The fatal duo of opposition leaders probably spent that time by somewhere "pragmatically" going over the candidates for the new opposition led government which should include, besides other "good" members of the current party in power, also HDZ's "liberal" Mate Granic. Granic, like a wimp as usual, a day after the rally under Ivanica, stuttering and stammering stated that "some behavior displayed at the protest rally at the border crossing is not in the interest of the Republic of Croatia". That same creature, who has dedicated its life to the interests of Croatia, only a few days later, after yet another manifestation of Ustashe ideology in Dubrovnik, not as the Minister of Foreign Affairs but as a poorer part of the HDZ delegation led by Ivic Pasalic blessed the appointment of Zvonimir Franic to the post of the president of the local HDZ organization, in spite of strong evidence about the involvement of the said gentleman in various criminal affairs.

Quarantine for Croatia

And, lo and behold, on the crest of yet another success in the field of economy and politics the very same Franic on August 24 overruled Granic in a strongly worded statement with which, on behalf of HDZ of Dubrovnik and Neretva-Dubrovnik county, he gave full support to parish priest Miljenko Babaic. According to Franic, Fr. Babaic stood on the front line facing the Serb aggressor (perhaps the island of Mljet, where Babaic spent the war, was really a front line, but only in the mind of this Pasalic's clone) and is today attacked by those journalists who served Communism and have no respect for priestly robes, while everyone knows that the Catholic Church in Croatia should be credited with the preservation of the Croatian national essence.

And really, again another member of the Catholic Church in Croatia took it upon himself to in the best possible way explain how "the Croatian national essence" should be and remain exactly the way it has been shaped for almost ten years by the old man from Pantovcak [the site of Tudman's villa in Zagreb] with wholehearted support of a part of Roman Catholic clergy: xenophobic, vulgar and racist. And since the terror is unstoppable and is rolling down the streets with the blessing of state institutions, most likely incited by the state leadership, and followed with silence of the opposition leaders and indifference of Catholic clergy, while the evil world who hates us is prepared to place us in a quarantine with sanctions, it is easily possible that "the Croatian national essence" will find its only counterpart in that other, to it so hateful and so similar "the Serb national essence".

Translated on October 22 1999