Perhaps it is not in the best manner to abuse the attention of readers and the space of this column to draw attention to personal legal suits, but since the case of the private suit by don Anto Bakovic against, as Igor Mandic would say, your truly has already become a public matter (with, for example, a prominent display in the Black Chronicle pages of Vecernji List) I believe that the public has the right to hear the other side of the story. Furthermore, since the object of the dispute or the suit is the newspaper article (published in the then column in Vjesnik on November 18 1994) "Living Croats are Also People" and covers a topic about which I also wrote several times in these pages, it may be suitable to return the child to its mother. And move the topic of Bakovic's suitability for a head of a campaign for raising of the birth rate in Croatia from a courtroom to the pages of a newspaper.
Don Anto Bakovic, who several years ago filed an identical suit against Vjesnik, demanding, but failing in court, to obtain damages for suffered spiritual suffering, was offended by the remark about breeding primitivism. Bakovic was also bothered by the following remark: "...The activities of Bakovic's breeding organization are more akin to the theoretical foundation and intentions of a breeder of pitt-bull terriers than to moral outrage over executions of unborn children...". An offense? God forbid! That is the truth.
Bakovic is a priest and breeding/population activist. However, judging by some of his statements Bakovic is strikingly different from a typical media fighter for the right to life. He is above all concerned about the birth rate, rather than a moral condemnation. Consequently, in interviews (such as the one given in September 24 1994) he always brings abortion in connection with the number of killed Croats. Finally, explaining why Croatia should vote against abortion he says the following: "...if any European state has a justification for a ban on abortion, that is definitely Croatia, since we have the lowest birth rate in Europe".
A theoretical foundation and intent of a breeder of dogs, including pitt-bull terriers which were for a while fashionable around here is simple: race must be preserved and that requires incessant work in order to increase the size of pure stock, unpolluted by lower species.
In numerous interviews, and even the program, statute and documents of the Croatian Population Movement, established and led by don Anto Bakovic, he persistently tries to prove that his only concern in the thinking about the population policy and phenomenon of confrontation with pro life/pro choice dichotomy is numbers and purity. Besides, the program of the Croatian Population Movement says that it wants to urge public opinion to "stop the slow march to extinction of the Croatian people, downfall of the Croatian family and negative consequences of the emigration of the Croatian population". True, Bekovic says in the Principles that his Movement "shall respect everyone's religious, ethnic and political orientation". However, a few pages later in the same booklet, he contradicts that statement.
Besides, in another interview (Globus, January 14 1994) he clearly demonstrated his tolerance of other religious communities with the statement that he is "a huge opponent of religious sects" since "they destroy the unity of the Croatian people". To the question whether his advocacy of the dominant role of Catholicism in daily life in Croatia would place other religious denominations in an unequal position Bakovic is adamant: "...Let their priests take care of them"(...). Expressing support for mandatory religious education in schools, Bakovic has an elegant solution for minorities: "Common, it is not like we, the majority, should ask them, minorities, for an opinion", and adds: "...Other religious denominations, if they can, should introduce their religious education. And if they can't, well God is one!" Really, an impressive example of proclaimed "respect for everyone's religious orientation".
His proposals for the measures for the increase of the birth rate (that some cynics or ill-intentioned individuals could call population pimping) include actions to keep Croatian women in the homeland, and especially in rural communities ("because many young Croat men in rural communities are left without suitable women and a possibility of starting a family") and action for bringing Croat men and women together (with the goal of "one more Croat family"). The emphasis is, of course, on ethnically pure families, on search for "suitable women" (obviously Croats and Catholics) who will, of course, give birth to as many little Croats as possible. And in no time, demographics, as a serious sociological phenomenon, is holding hands with breeding primitivism and flirting with racism. Since Bakovic would not be himself if, in spite of proclaimed respect for other people's "religious, ethnic, and political" orientation, in the pages of his Principles he does not spill xenophobic gall. Advocating, for example, limits on immigration to Croatia (which clearly mimics the practice of preserving the purity of a litter) Bakovic makes the xenophobic statement that "uncontrolled immigration of young men (non-Croats) from Kosovo, Macedonia, Sandzak, Montenegro, and Bosnia and their permanent settlement in Croatia threatens to change the ethnic composition of Croatia at the expense of Croats". The theory that is so insolently similar to all sorts of racist and xenophobic doctrines (since in mixed marriages young non-Croats dilute purity of the Croat race) gets a concrete development as well. An open outburst of hatred followed with base offenses (unfortunately, so far legally without sanction) of a nation. Namely, Bakovic claims that his Movement "does not recognize the Muslim nation, because it was founded by Communists". It also does not recognize "the newly composed Bosniak nation, since it is also a product of an anti-Croatian policy".
Similarity with extreme rightist or fascist attitudes does not end there. Bakovic's struggle against the West and unpleasant democratic practice has also been for years a general part of his program. Not only because, as he says in Globus "I sent a Christmas message of damnation to the West" but also because he is deeply convinced that "the Western civilization and democracy are poisoning the Croatian people". Consequently, is it strange that in the interview to Globus (July 14 1994) Bakovic makes statements which remind one of the practice of the Nazi and many other totalitarian regimes?
For Bakovic, as well as all supporters of extreme rightist hate groups there is no dilemma: "...AIDS is the product of moral degeneration and sin, sexual freedoms (...) Homosexuals should suffer the consequences of their sins. That is an unnatural sin. (...) They should be rehabilitated and given the right direction in life". If one recalls rehabilitation of homosexuals from the recent past, it is not difficult to guess which methods Bakovic would choose for this purpose.
Of course, the same breeding package includes the offensive reduction of a woman to a reproductive machine. After all "God gave sex for an exalted purpose of birth", and those families who do not reach the norm and produce three new Croats deserve every sort of condemnation. Because, says Bakovic "Croatia is dying out because of two children families". The Church also shares blame for that "because it didn't say that a good Catholic in Croatia should have many children" (Globus, September 23 1994). Besides stick, Bakovic would also use a carrot and decorate those women who accept the sacrifice for the homeland and produce a sufficient number of Croat offspring as "Croat knights". Special privileges would be reserved for "Croat families with many children". According to Bakovic, these are the families with five or more children. Cheers!
Since, unlike Bakovic, I believe that democracy, besides respect for human rights, is the key human achievement, I believe that the right to stupidity is an unalienable right of every individual. Of course, until he begins to menace others.
Bakovic has insulted many individuals. Not only with his advocacy of primitive breeding practices but also with his racist and xenophobic statements and hate speech unsuitable for priestly habit he wears. Of course, the problem is not (only) in him, but also in the environment that has produced and embraced him. He is another typical Croat wonder!