Naturally, we did not talk with Ivancic only about his journalistic and literary endeavors, but also about the difficult and uncertain situation in the Croatian media. Ivancic claims that Racan's government has occupied the Croatian media space through state and political control of the most important media outlets and that the authorities openly favor and promote some media, Ivancic finds the argument between Racan and Budisa about the control over certain media ridiculous. Ivancic comments on the current roles of some persons currently in the media spotlight, such as Miroslav Kutle, Denis Kuljis and Slaven Letica. For the former journalist of Iskra and Slobodna Dalmacija, electrical engineering graduate and laureate of numerous international journalism awards, there is no doubt that the ruling coalition of five and many of those who are trying to woo the ruling politicians through the media, is kept together "only by the idea of staying in power at all costs".
IVANCIC: The idea for the play came from Radovan Marcic. The play was written by Tena Stivcic, and the only role taken by Predrag Vusovic. I gave them the "green light" to start the project and after that I provided very little assistance. I do not care enough about that material to have an urge to "protect" it from "evil" actors and directors. Robi K. was written for the newspapers and there he functions pretty well. If someone manages to adapt that to the stage, they deserve the credit for that. Of course, if everything works out, I will be very pleased, as the author. I am a little vain, after all.
Under what circumstances were Robi K. and other characters from the column created?
In the mid-80's I came upon the idea to start a satirical "letter written by a child". At the time this seemed like a little empire of freedom, at the same time both provocative and very naïve. Besides, I had fun playing with the jargon and local dialect, so that the jargon used by Robi K., at least in Split, soon attained cult-like status. However, the characters, situation, and atmosphere were created without any master-plan. I only knew that I wanted to write "in pictures", to drop the rhetoric, and I did that week after week. After a while a small funny universe was created, which could be used to address many diverse topics. The relatively complex structure of Robi K. is the result of the weekly production of the column, because the column has now been published for more than 17 years.
What was the time when Robi K. was born like? What sorts of messages will Vusovic and Marcic send us today through him?
I think that the authors of the play will have to be satisfied if they manage to entertain their audience and make them laugh, nothing more. That is the fate of "Robi K.'s notebook" published in the form of a book, where the satirical blade is blunted on the account of "ordinary" laughter. The logic of a newspaper column, and Robi K. is primarily a newspaper column, is totally different. It was very frequently radical, sometimes even vulgar criticism of very current events. Today I frequently see young kids laughing while reading some stories from the book, and they not only have no idea what I was actually writing about, but were also not born at the time when those events took place. If we were to explain to them that because of some of these stories I actually ended up in court or in holding cells, that would totally spoil their fun.
Have you considered acting?
Oh, no, never, I hate all modes of public appearances apart from writing newspaper articles. On the other hand, in this region there is the need to transform everything into some sort of a stage performance, with some sort of shady public personalities who mope around and babble anything that comes to their mind. Once the criteria are lost, a play is always more important than its content, because content does not guarantee that the play will be a hit with the audience. People love being popular and love working on that in teams, because that gives them a better starting position. Most of our social and cultural institutions function based on that quasi-entertainment principle, but I prefer not to be a part of that. I am not a member of the Association of Journalists, Association of Writers, nor PEN, I don't read my stories in FAK.
Why aren't you participating in FAK?
I politely declined their invitation, although I respect most of individuals who organize FAK and I even like what they are doing. However, as far as I understood, all of that is based on the need of some people to read their creations and the need of others to listen to that. I do not feel any need to be a part of that.
Nevertheless, the role of FAK in the popularization of the contemporary Croatian literature is undeniable?
Definitely, and that is very useful. However, it is useful above all to the authors who thereby, with frequently uncritical support of the media, promote their books. On the other hand it would be bad if any form of cultural or humanistic missionary work were to be recognized in that, and there are individuals who have come forward with such assertions. I do not believe in any educational endeavors in the so-called culture and the so-called literature, especially if the group does not share identical poetic and ethical standards. On the other hand, I do not think that the literature is in itself some sort of "a socially useful phenomenon", so that it should be "beaten into" the masses, because those masses would supposedly then be better. Certain FAK participants suffer from that complex. Jurica Pavicic claims that the people who write are by definition better than anyone else, which is somewhat disgusting, as some of the writers are also bastards, and their writing can be characterized as shitty literature. If that sort of "enlightenment spirit" won over, and I hope it will not, FAK would become a new establishment, based on pose and bluff.
Do you see yourself primarily as a writer or journalist?
I am a journalist, of course. Although journalists mostly are not the sort of people that I appreciate a lot. Journalism is the profession that has lost all the criteria. It has been literally devastated during the last decade and that devastation was implemented by journalists themselves. On average that was pitiful human material and I will never buy the explanation that they were forced to wholeheartedly accept servility. The current excuse is that they did that "for their children". Those who did not do that, one guesses, have at home only cats and parrots. Today, it seems to me, journalists are intensively working on exaggerating the significance of their profession, so that half-literate "writers" become stars of the literate world, assuming along the way the stance of fake moral and freedom-loving sages. It is enough to consider the behavior of the Association of Journalists, which for years supported open political violence against the media and in the best case simply shrugged its shoulders in lieu of reaction, and today so forcefully fights for the work and trade union rights of journalists. This is the triumph of the Domobran mentality. Let us be subjugated, but have working rights! The Croat Journalists' Association never addressed a single of one the key problems of the Croatian journalism, nor is it capable of doing that in the future.
Racan's government is well advanced on the road of committing a crime against the media, or at least something that could conditionally be described as the free media space. It is true that they are working on occupying that space. Until recently, I was even convinced that that is the result of their ignorance and inability, but now I am convinced that this is a part of a deliberate plan. If the government takes control of two daily newspapers, if it distributes jobs in the editorial boards of these newspapers based on political affiliation, and then sends its "projects" to the market by pumping into them taxpayers money, what is that but the conscious usurpation of the free market principles that the ministers supposedly swear by? In such a "market", where state-controlled media by definition cannot fail - there is increasingly less space for the independent media, which will gradually be squeezed out, until they are completely suffocated. Already today the media infrastructure in Croatia resembles a sad nodding clown. The state TV is under political control of the ruling party, nation-wide radio networks as well, and all daily newspapers, with small differences, clearly support the government. That is a dead sea, a sad landscape for a sad state. True, we don't have anymore that rigid HDZ rhetoric, there is no more open violence against the freedom of expression, but the occupation is implemented more thoroughly and more efficiently than before. Exactly the way a friend of mine described Racan's political profile: death by drowning.
Because Feral Tribune spoils the impression of a national idyll, which is what the authorities are currently trying to achieve with all the available means. The ambition of this government is to establish the media image of all-encompassing bliss. Feral is an irritating alternative, something like a necessary evil, it is tolerated like an ulcer and has semi-illegal status. I imagined that in this country after January 3 2000 the authorities would foster tens of diverse projects and debates, regardless of their content, and that that type of "market" would become truly happy. Instead we got the promotion of monopolies and giant media corporations under Government's direct control or indirect influence. The story about "institutions of national significance" is a pathetic lie. Because, if Vjesnik or Slobodna Dalmacija are "institutions of national significance", that immediately explains what was of "national significance" during the last ten years. That was hate speech, witch trials, production of lies, the worst kind of propaganda and persecution through the media. The current authorities are not interested in making sure that that can never be repeated, because that would require their deliberate distancing from the media. They want just the opposite - to use the very same servile resources for their own political goals.
Exactly what I was talking about, that the market is shaped by political forces, because the daily Republika, which recently ceased with publication, had larger circulation than Vjesnik - in which the state invested $10 million - but did not have elements of "national significance" that would stem from many years of service to the communist and nationalist dictatorship. Vjesnik, with contemptible circulation, or Slobodna Dalmacija with debts reaching up to $75 million, are today capable of offering to every journalist working for Feral Tribune much larger salaries and better working conditions than we are, if they believe that these journalists would be useful for their "national" mission, and the money for that, based on "free market" principles, comes from taxpayers. The strike on Feral has already taken place, almost all the employees have received job offers. And now the brothers probably wait for our death. I am afraid they've made a mistake. Usually when they expect us to give out our last breath, we instead fart.
What is the symbolism of the release of Miroslav Kutle from custody?
I am not sure whether that is related to the local elections, but it definitely has symbolism regarding the media. Because, Miroslav Kutle, who destroyed Slobodna Dalmacija for the HDZ, is in a way the embodiment of the secret and hidden dreams of the current media usurpers. It is not nice to see such Kutle in jail, that is too much like breaking a mirror. The way the ruling partycrats recently "liberated" Slobodna Dalmacija is literally ignominious, regardless of the fact that its editorial policy before the government takeover was fascistoid. All that needed to be done was, for the sake of hygiene, to prevent political control of that publishing house, because Slobodna has already been devastated by a similar action. In this case the leaders of political parties negotiated about the editorial policy of the newspaper. That clearly shows that their pre-election messages about freedom were simply lies. And now Miroslav Kutle appears as the symbolic burden of bad conscience. He is a character deserving careful handling. His conviction would be a symbolic suicide of his more sophisticated followers.
Could it be true that independent political journalism in the current situation in Croatia cannot survive without "siding" with someone?
That is definitely something that the powers to be are very actively working on, with the tendency of providing only one "side" to side with. Just consider this ridiculous argument between Budisa and Racan about "the control over the media". Does that not remind you of the disgusting clash between Sarinic nad Pasalic, where the latter was accused of organizing attacks on the allegedly liberal faction of the HDZ in the media he controlled? The question of alleged media freedom is raised only when the order in the ruling den is disturbed. Principles do not play a role in that. I really to not care whether the media will be controlled by Budisa or Racan, or whether they will do that together, just as I did not care whether they were controlled by Sarinic or Pasalic. I find it sad that almost all distinctions between all those characters have been removed and that in practice we have one and the same continuous policy in that sphere. The only difference is that the former communists, who are now in power, do not have the revolutionary aggression that characterized the HDZ, but they are much more skillful when it comes to shaping media infrastructure and placing suitable editors according to their needs. The way they envisage the public and political life in this country reminds me of the former canard about "pluralism of self-management interests within the league of Communists".
Would you care to comment on the statement made by lawyer Anto Nobilo who compared the trial of Kutle with the trial against you and Marinko Culic, under Tudman?
Nobilo may think that that is a cute comparison, but these trials are completely different. First of all, because of money. Nobilo defended Feral for free.
Racan does not attack, he eliminates. Because, there can be no discussion with "extremists" of any sort. The "extremists" are supposed to be killed off and removed from something portrayed as "the democratic public life". The label in this case has the function of removal, rejection of any sort of criticism. It is especially funny when Racan talks about "a lot of publicity in the media" and then refuses to give an interview for the newspapers he views as unsuitable, such as Feral. Another bizarre thing is his positioning of the so-called "left", probably to create a counterpart to the still massive movement of Ustashe supporters. Namely, besides Stipe Suvar and partly Ivan Supek [both former Communists] I am not aware of anyone in this country who advocates leftist ideas. This faking of the "left", however, especially the "extreme left", is needed to hide the rotten core of the so called political center, where all the political parties are trying to squeeze themselves, so that by now we already have the danger of implosion. But the real truth is that precisely these purported "centrists" are pushing the country in the mud at the bottom of the septic tank. Precisely "centrists" acquitted creators of concentration camps in Hercegovina, recently by an official proclamation adopted by the Parliament. Racan's recent speech about the direly needed "national unity", which appears to have verbatim been copied from the late Leader, invited even Tudman to the current "political center", where he liked to see himself even when he was alive. However, in that whole story, there are no ideas, neither left nor right, the only important idea is survival in power at all costs. Besides, that political program of hardline pragmatics - in the role of a sort of vanguard - has been outlined for months now in Globus by Slaven Letica, who sings new eulogies to "patriotism" and "unity of all Croats".
Because Letica was one of the more important creators of the total moral degradation of the Croat public life, especially in the media sphere. As an intellectual guru of the average Croat petit bourgeois, he completed several sacred tasks. He demonstrated how it is possible to efficiently eliminate political opponents, by going through their medical records and publicizing their family relations, he explained why it was necessary to hate Serbs and other non-Croats... In general he attempted to "scientifically" shape the whole range of released base instincts so that it gets certain "weight" with a typical primitive Croat. He added "civilized" embellishments to the ordinary violence, so that Letica, if he had political power, would be something like Vladimir Bakaric of Croat primitivism. Therefore, a "practical theoretician". The whole empire of Croat petit bourgeois journalism has been built on that wooing of primitivism and titillating of base instincts, and it has been the prevailing trend for more than a decade. Letica was one of the leaders of that obscure species, together with those who today publish quasi-journalistic dissertations about "heroes, gangsters and monkeys" with author's emphasis on the latter.
Are you referring to Denis Kuljis?
Yes, he has these days been organizing a traveling circus, which is being serviced by a whole stable of journalistic small beasts, and currently it seems that Denis Kuljis [owner of Europa Press Holding and Globus] will even jump out of every opened can and deliver for the nation a sermon about Croat journalism. In that I find especially interesting his ethical view, because he repentantly admits every lousy thing he did in his career as an editor, and these include some of the worst things done in this region, such as the public lynching of Mira Furlan, then "witches from Rio" and so forth, and furthermore claims that that gives him an "advantage" in comparison with other journalists with more integrity. His ethical position is roughly the following: yes I am a piece of shit, and as such I am best qualified to spot another piece of shit! Therefore, stench is omnipresent. Stench is necessary. If there was no atmosphere of omnipresent stench, moral discourse according to which "we are all rotten to the core", Kuljis would be a lost cause, because no one would care about his "analysis" of certain sorts of smell in a garbage container. Consequently that atmosphere needs to be created and attempts to do so are greeted with joy by petit bourgeois consumers.
Just like Letica camouflages propaganda in favor of violence with "civilized" embellishments, thus Kuljis "enriches" ordinary gossip by alleged "style". Because all of it boils down to gossip or lies, which are then blown up ad nauseam, the technique perfected for years on very concrete human fates, and then "style" itself is given overblown significance, which becomes the distorted caricature of itself, stylization of style, and the petit bourgeois audience is floored by so many adjectives and foreign words, namely, by so much "erudition". But that is the erudition of the perfumed demimonde. The overall impression given by that journalistic endeavor is a bloated balloon that could be destroyed by a small pin prick in the way that would cause a medium-size catastrophe. However, this society does not gladly expose itself to such inclement weather.
What is the current situation with Feral Tribune?
We are doing great!