"I am a peaceful man, and already rather old, but I tell you gentlemen,
you'll pay for Vukovar
You've destroyed the whole town, made a big mess, and I tell you gentlemen,
you'll pay for Vukovar.
A guest cannot be a master in my home, you'll pay for Vukovar.
Your intentions were evil and you'll never achieve your goals, remember
gentlemen, you'll pay for Vukovar.
The Danube will flow for many years, you'll pay for everything, I guarantee
you gentlemen, you'll pay for Vukovar."
It is obvious that the mentioned police woman (and the police woman of the noble sort known as the thought police, which, just like the unfortunate suicidal poet, we very naively thought had disappeared with the alleged disappearance of totalitarianism), is bothered the most by "you'll pay for Vukovar", since she emphasizes (a quote from Vjesnik, April 10, page 3, byline Alen Galovic): "The coming generations should be educated in the atmosphere of trust, the truth. The threatening verses... ", etc. In other words, they now not only demand the forgiveness of horrendous crimes, but also arrogantly and brazenly already demand - forgetting. Mostly Serb, and then Croat children should in the name of trust and (lo and behold!) the truth, grow up in the belief that crimes, rebellion, aggression, looting and destruction are something that is not discussed in civilized company as, God knows if that really happened and how it happened, so that the best solution is that our history and school programs, since we are fascistoid and primitive Croats, be written by insolent individuals like the mentioned creature. After a rude awakening from the dream about the just West, we've been very clearly told that all that concern about the human rights of the criminals and those who caused the tragedy, persistent insistence on the forgiveness to all and everyone, is only the attempt to keep as many Croatian Serbs and constantly keep Croatia "on fire" (one Croat Serb, Veselin Pejnovic was courageous enough to state that much). The mentioned creature, therefore, is only trying hard to do its dirty and well paid work. But, a question poses itself: do we have the right to expect that a response to such and similar humiliation come strictly from the state institutions and, therefore, keep quiet? The creature insulted the memory of one of our best poets and insolently assaulted one of the greatest national sacred sites - Vukovar. Can silence, both of Soljan's friends and admirers, as well as those who see Vukovar as the crucial spot of our history, be acceptable? However, on this occasion as well all of them are keeping quiet, except for Slavko Mihalic, who was asked for comment in the mentioned Vjesnik's article. The Association of Croat Writers and the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts are also quiet. The writers, both those sympathizing the authorities and the opposition are also keeping quiet. No one takes it for his or hers duty to at least protect a colleague (and friend), who cannot defend himself any more. Therefore, all of them have more important business to attend to or do not believe to be called upon to intervene and in all that, of course, stick to their old over-inflated self-image. They accept a scandalous insult of their own people and state as something on which they should not waste their precious time. And that is as ignominious as is shocking, even from the point of view devoid of all the important values (such as national pride). Therefore, even if we consider the incident from the practical point of view, from the point of view of the personal profit for the silent ones. Namely, the claim that the Croatian writer Soljan is intolerant and hateful, is only an introduction to inclusion of his books on some European (and most likely Social-Democratic) Index librorum prohibitorum. However, that would not significantly increase the likelihood that the books and literary works of the silent ones would be published outside Croatia. Really, until every citizen of this state, as well as everyone who holds Croatia dear, even if he or she does not live in it, does not understand (and start to act accordingly) the simple fact that only with a strong and admired Croatia, that cannot be insulted and humiliated without any consequences by every primitive, illiterate and (or) ill-intentioned, both foreign of domestic, fool, our future will be bleak. Naturally, problems and disagreements are related to the question of how to achieve the "strength and respect", and even regarding the definition of these terms (for Cicak and Co. for example that would mean to capture all the Croat knights and send them to the Hague), but since we live in a talkative world of the spokespersons like the mentioned Kirsten Haupt, and loud babbling of the "independent" media, silence becomes nothing more or less than a mode of treason; furthermore, silence perhaps becomes a very tragic evidence that the suicidal poet is lucky that he hasn't lived to experience it. Silence is an expression of the (repeated) withdrawal in the glorious "internal exile"; silence is a defeat and, moreover, an admission of defeat. Silence is dishonorable, silence helps those to whom this and any independent Croatia is unacceptable. With silence we destroy everything we swear to. As creatures such as Kristen Haupt and their domestic babbling outposts are very loud, we reach a strange paradox: in this media din, the ruling party is the quietest of all! Instead of achieving through its representatives in the Croatian TV (HRT) Council that this supposedly strongest media company (I say "supposedly" because the overall influence of all other newspapers, magazines and radio stations is far stronger (and keeps growing) than is usually thought) successfully confront all the cataclysmic prognoses and predictions of the "independent" (and much more), it actually supports silence about totally unacceptable behavior such as that of Kristen Haupt. Isn't is a paradox that I, as an employee of the HRT, can write about the insolence of the mentioned creature in Hrvatsko Slovo, but in the present organization of the HRT do not have even theoretical chances to make a show about this incident (and many others)? Filming once in Pozega, I heard an enchanting story from a good (and significantly younger) friend of Dubravko Jelicic about how during the leaden times [Communist rule] he quietly instilled in her and her circle hope and self-confidence by pointing out Croatian values, not only of the literary kind, that had been pushed aside and neglected. This "activity" was almost illegal and not absolutely safe. Today Mr. Jelcic is an academician, a respectable member of the ruling party, a member of the Croatian State Parliament, and the president of the HRT Council (which, in addition to the story of his friend, is the main reason for my "criticism"). Therefore, respected Mr. Jelcic, do you agree with that, that we are to be blamed for a lot? Do you agree that silence is not acceptable? In hope that you do, do you believe that the HTV program is the best that Croatia can give at this moment in that field? Or, do your activities boil down to the formal conclusion that the program follows the Mission Statement? A poet took his life, and I am not sure that we paid him back appropriately. Another poet died [Soljan] and now they are soiling his name, and even though it is obvious that "...in my home a guest wants to be a master..." (true a different guest, but no less repulsive), no one is defending the poet, nor the right to verse. If journalists were the target, perhaps Forum 21 would speak up. True, but honestly, to what extent are we to blame for our own problems?