THE REDS

Feral Tribune, Split, Croatia, November 22 1999

"They will question religious instruction in schools, advocate atheism and gnosticism, abortion and sexual liberties, oppose expressions of national pride (...), they will advocate legalization of the sale and abuse of light drugs."

In this tragicomic homework written by the revolutionary team of HDZ (Drago Krpina, Ivan Aralica and others) with a pretentious title "The electoral lexicon of HDZ", the word THEM is the collective name for the opposition, especially the members and sympathisers of SDP [former Communists], the so called red danger.

Since "the intention to change the Constitution with a two-third majority, which some opposition parties want, should be understood as a threat to the stability of the country", the authors of the lexicon (actually the the electoral program of HDZ) as the only self-proclaimed guarantee of the survival of the Croatian state, openly call on their activists in the field to "settle accounts" with their political opponents. Krpina's and Aralica's instructions for their party executors are clear and unambiguous: "they should expose without hesitation the political past of their opponents, their attitude with respect to the important issues regarding the establishment of the state, their ideological affiliation and non-transparent, but already obvious intentions that they intend to realize if they come to power".

The horror emanating from these lines is, unfortunately, only the expected continuation of the dark rule of the party which maintained its power through permanent prolongation of the state of emergency and repulsive showdowns with their political opponents. That is why everyone who expects that dirty players won't play dirty is wrong; moreover, it seems that the fact that the dictator is physically unable to rule has only stirred additional debauchery of the last butt-ends of this regime, who are ready to preserve power even at the price of the most vulgar street violence.

That is why we should expect from the regime that has functioned for a decade only thanks to violence of all kinds (from economic to physical) to be violent and impudent even in its death throes, using lie and deception as the only means to prolong its existence. Thus, these days the state is being pulled into a fake show of sadness for the ruler, with organised excursions to churches and shrines. At the same time, two former village teachers add to their poetry and rural prose a new homework, which is the last insane attempt to induce the alleged national danger from "the reds".

But, to the great misfortune of Krpinas, Aralicas, and other watchdogs of totalitarianism, the elections are a devilish thing, and "the reds" are the exact future in which the authors of the Lexicon will finally become what they actually are - irrelevant citizens of a country. Therefore, it is only superficially paradoxical that those who spread fear with all their migh are actually those who are afraid, convinced that their methods are also the only possible methods for every future government. That's probably where the paranoid fear of "the reds" comes from. While the authors of this Bolshevik brochure unconvincingly denounce Racan's SDP, they have a very "reasonable" explanation for the conversion of all their Aralicas: "Many persecuted former members of the Communist party dissented, returing to the fold of their religion and their people"... The others, who stayed in SDP, are, according to the authors of this HDZ's homework, "extremists members of the Communist Party; they are loyal to Communist ideals; they became the advocates of democracy, and remained haters of everything Croatian or religious". For them Krpinas and Aralicas have certainly prepared something much worse than sex and light drugs. Maybe a blow in the street by some "angry" citizen, or an accidental car crash, in the same way in which they've practices street violence on "the haters of everything Croatian" so far.

That is why this book brings little new; it is actually a summary of the overall primitivism of this regime. So, a denounciation of all those, with whom our literary bard and an author of this "manual for the underworld" shared shabby Communist Party cabinets for years comes naturally: "if anyone thinks that it was better in the so called socialist Yugoslavia, he is very wrong. It was only a Great-Serbian oligarchy with a red mask (...) in which a handful of Croats in the structures tried to hide that situation, and preserve their sinecures while serving Serbian hegemonists". As a long-term member of the Communist party, Ivan Aralica certainly knows how to preserve party sinecures - in the past as well as today.

This booklet identifies the grotesque face of a dying regime: there is the chattering dentures, uncontrolled spitting and urination, and typical rage and agression of an ill man, who didn't show humanity even in the prime of his strength. Namely, we're dealing with another, probably not the last, farcical and pathetic attempt to preserve power by those who have used Croatia only as an ideological prop for scandalous plunder and violence.

The main character of the brilliant BBC comedy show 'Yes, Prime Minister', which deals with intrigues of the British parliament and Government, had a significant name- Filth- which was a synonym for the ruling system of the British conservatives. I don't know why, but somehow I can't resist thinking about this exquisite character, who ended just the way he lived - filthy.