ONWARD TO THE PAST!

by Heni Erceg

Feral Tribune, Split, Croatia, December 6 1999

The presidents of SDP and HSLS have been refusing to give interviews to Feral Tribune for months. When we finally convinced them to give their reasons for such a decision, their explanation caused nausea: the gentlemen are dissatisfied with the critical articles about them and their parties, in the satirical, as well as in the serious part of the newspaper! Haven't the future state bosses thereby already established the model of behaviour towards the critics of the rulers, that Tudjman's regime has so vulgarly used during the last ten years, and which is one of the reasons why Croatia is still at the tail of Europe?

Ivica Racan and Drazen Budisa, the presidents of SDP and HSLS have been refusing to give interviews for Feral Tribune for months. When we finally convinved them to give reasons for such a decision, their explanation caused nausea: the gentlemen are dissatisfied with the critical articles about them and their parties, in the satirical, as well as in the serious part of the newspaper!

Some HDZ high officials used to tell me frankly that they don't give interviews to Feral because otherwise they would immediately be expeled from the Party. That rule (allegedly introduced by Antun Vrdoljak) meant for Feral the complete, but not tragic exclusion from the "information network" of "high HDZ officials". We have been spared banal interviews with Tudjman's people, but also denied information by even minor regime clerks, despite their legal obligation to share information with all journalists, including those they proclaimed "enemies of the state". This certainly contributed to our personal hygiene, and procured for them immeasurable "psychological suffering".

For and Against

It has been like this since 1993. HDZ was in possession of an almost complete media infrastructure, unlike, in those times, weak, and today so powerful parties, SDP and HSLS, who could hardly or not at all get some space in the pro-regime media, so that their every appearance on Feral's pages meant a success equal to appearing on HTV [state-controlled Croatian TV] today. It was the time when Ivica Racan sent sad messages inquiring when his turn to give an interview to Feral would finally come, and he didn't mind giving it over the mobile phone, not even on the eve of some of many parliamentary elections.

Drazen Budisa was also a frequent guest on the pages of this "subversive" newspaper, and he didn't hesitate to say in public that he had been reading, even collecting Feral since the first issue. Neither of them minded Feral's "radicalism"; moreover, they were well aware of the fact that precisely journalists did the part of their job that they didn't want to do: speak out about the crimes committed after the operation Storm, oppose the language of hatred that has overwhelmed the Croatian political and media space, point out violations of civil and human rights, be shocked by the concentration camps in Bosnia, advocate the return of Serbs...

But, it was very difficult in those times to get a decisive reaction from them to a whole series of fascist moves of the Tudjman's regime, as their pragmatism extended only to the need to preserve "national unity" and democracy was certainly not going to run away. So, this duo considered all the questions regarding the freedom of the media, violations of human rights, war crimes against Serb civilians... to be secondary issues, for which the independent media were supposed to fight, and get deserved portions of threats, persecution and harassment of all kinds.

It was the time when Drazen Budisa was still a pronounced anticommunist, and every connection with reformed communists was an incomprehensible, almost an obscene act for him, and to Ivica Racan everything about HSLS smelled like "rotten liberalism". But then, these two men recognised in each other a winning combination, and cunningly realised that no one in this country even expected programs or plans, as the whole political life was nothing more but a primitive fan game based on only one rule: for and against!

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

That's why our pair used the moment of final disgust of Croats with Tudjman's politics, and, on their way towards power, immediately proclaimed every criticism an act of the enemy. Hasn't Tudjman's HDZ done the same? Inflated vanity and pre-political state of mind in which they were brought up, soon caused that these two "leaders" adopted the old communist-HDZ thesis: whoever is not with us is against us.

And while so many HDZ defectors and new democrats pour through the wide open doors of SDP and HSLS (based on the principle "together we are stronger") at the same time, even a mild disagreement with doubtful political moves of Budisa and Racan in Feral is proclaimed "radical", or moreover, "extremist left-wing", almost a terrorist activity. The editors of Feral are said to be those who "don't understand the important of timing in politics" and even superficial unmasking of the dirty laundry of these two parties is condemned as "working in the interest of HDZ". Do we need to remind how the same serious qualifications were used all these years by various Krpinas, Sekses, Pasalics...[HDZ officials]

But, with them, we at least knew where we were; from the new claimants to power we expected at least the democratic minimum: the awareness of the different points of view among those who want to deal with politics, compromises, even vulgarities it includes, and of those whose profession is to be a corrective of every, and therefore even their politics. Unfortunately, it turned out that their narrow-mindedness and bad demagogy, instead of tolerance and political education, made them equal in many ways to HDZ officials, even before their take-over of power. The lessons given today by Drazen Budisa to Feral's politial commentators smell like the most rigid curriculum from the Kumrovec party ideology school of the Communist League, which was headed by Ivica Racan in those sad times when Budisa set in prison.

But, it seems that revisionism is a necessity and a relic of Tudjman's rule, just like the absence of morality in Croatian politics. This is probably why Racan and Budisa, like two offended prima donnas, think that it is completely normal to label Feral as a "radical" publication, implying that it is harmful for "the common cause". It seems that they made a joint, "pragmatic" decision that to speak for Feral whose prominent critics dare to criticise their flirting with HDZ, including their participation in the manipulation of the Constitution and pathetic squealing over the President's health, would be counterproductive. Haven't they already established the model of behaviour towards the critics of the rulers, the same that Tudjman's regime has so vulgarly used during all these years, and which is one of the reasons why Croatia is still at the tail of Europe?

"Waiting List"

One of them, true to his character, politely informed me that he "had the right to decide with which newspapers [he] would co-operate", and after that gave an interview to the "independent newspaper" Vjesnik (Budisa). The other one, with arrogance of an eternal party clerk, put Feral's reporters on a "waiting list" put together in his office (Racan). After this he happily hurried to the TV show hosted by Hloverka Novak-Srzic, an "independent" journalist and a member of the HDZ Chief Council, to be eaten like small fry by Vladimir Seks. But, the fact that Racan played small fry chewed by two HDZ sharks in front of the TV audience is of little importance to the man who believes that a mere appearance on the TV screen, even with the devil himself, is politically profitable. For whom? For SDP members? For Croatian voters? Or only for Ivica Racan who is horrified by the radicalism of Ivo Banac or Vladimir Primorac, but willingly consents to be a TV mannequin exposed to mischievous spouting by Vladimir Seks.

It is very interesting that Ivica Racan and Drazen Budisa strictly stick to their "principles" when they're dealing with Feral Tribune, and consistently "refuse to co-operate with the enemy". On the other hand they are very flexible and pragmatic when dealing with the Croatian Television, Vjesnik or Vecernji List, whose journalists certainly weren't slavishly sticking to the facts when they were ordered to denounce them as "yugo-communists" and "foreign mercenaries". That is because there aren't any principles, but only an intention to co-opt, a logic according to which everything must belong to a "party", in direct service of HDZ or SDP-HSLS coalition, and everything that doesn't fit in this division becomes illegitimate. After all, the future media space is already being created. Why wouldn't Racan and Budisa, in violation of their "principles", co-operate with HTV when they are deeply convinced that tomorrow it won't be truly open and free, but instead "theirs"? Already the custom to denounce any criticism of SDP or HSLS as "help for HDZ", which is the favourite stylistic figure of the two opposition leaders, testifies to the dangerous promotion of the authoritarian state of mind as a dominant form of political culture. In such a state of mind, there are only "party interests", and no other interests matter; the whole political and public life is subject to various forms of party dictatorship, just like today, when all of Croatia is "organised" like a provincial party branch. if something belongs to a "party", in must be undemocratic.

Spinning a "Web"

We're not dealing here only with a fatal model of behaviour of those who will tomorrow rule Croatia, filled with narrow-mindedness, petty vanities, and political calculations. We are dealing with a certain form of post-Tudman paranoia, because of which the independent journalists have been harassed and endangered in all possible ways during the past years. Because, when someone says to Feral's editors that "their favourites are in the government net!" (referring to the distinguished colleagues from other opposition parties), then such words, uttered by on of the most powerful opposition leaders, sadly remind of statements by notorious Markica Rebic or Ivic Pasalic [HDZ politicians]. After all, immediately after this statement, the state-controlled newspaper Vjesnik (with which the "co-operation" hasn't been terminated) literally published a diagram of "the net of foreign agents", in which the mentioned opposition leader takes an important place! Does this mean that tomorrow, in this same Vjesnik, we will look at similar "nets" with some other main characters?

Unfortunately, the country in which the brotherhood of the two new old ideologies is considered a winning political combination will live, at least its close future, in the vulgar pre-political state, as these ideologies are burdened with the national conservatism and quasi-social democracy, and exist as the only counter-balance to a cynical absolutism. If those who will tomorrow lead Croatia, already today conceitedly sulk at every critical analysis of their "highnesses", tomorrow, when they feel the strength of power, they will hardly learn to be tolerant, let alone become the real leaders of the country that wants to be democratic, moreover, European.

Translated by Feral Tribune in December 1999