EXORCISING CROATIA OF REMNANTS OF COMMUNISM
by inavukic
Tomislav Josic
President of
Committee for the Defence of Croatian Vukovar
President of
Committee for the Defence of Croatian Vukovar
Almost
25 years since its declaration of independence from communist
Yugoslavia, Croatia (as other states of former Yugoslavia) has not in
its entirety come to terms with the tyranny of communism and is infested
with demons of communism at all levels of the society and
state-governance. Many former communists and/or their descendants
evidently ignore the dictatorial system imposed on the country they say,
“they liberated” from WWII German occupation/its collaborators. Apart from a decisive lustration as well as political and moral
distancing from the communist past - apart from exorcising the remnants
of communism, Croatia has little chance in realizing the freedom and
democracy it fought for in 1990’s - in rivers of blood of its own
people. And so, as seemingly organised barriers are placed on the path to full
freedom and democracy, exorcism of all remnants of communism becomes a
battle that needs to be as organised as the leftist or
communist-flavoured machinery that constantly undermines progress of an
independent and democratic state, which is desirous of shedding the last
vestiges of communism. The government alone, especially not a
government that is deeply riddled with remnants of communism, cannot do
the shedding - alone. Exorcism of communism needs to find soldiers
within the natural milieu of Croatian society, and, citizens should and
must organize themselves into various action groups towards this end.
The
greater than life-size bust of Yugoslavia’s leader Josip Broz Tito in
the Office of the President of Croatia, marking the spot where misguided
fantasies about the communist totalitarian regime served as a kind of
nationwide reverence towards Tito and his communist regime was recently removed
from that office by Croatia’s president Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic. The
removal of the bust was engulfed in bitter debate over Tito’s place in
European history, demonstrating that many Croatians are far from ready
to acknowledge the fact that Tito’s dictatorial system was the force
that in many ways drove 94% of Croatian voters to seek independence in
the early 1990’s. A battle of symbols and memories continues to be waged — over statues,
street names, the Red star, the places for remembrance of communist
crimes such as Bleiburg massacres… Now entrenched in the West through
NATO and European Union membership, Croatia is showing new eagerness to
erase the more visible vestiges of communism almost every day or week. I
do fervently hope that Tito's name will soon be removed from the opera
house square in Zagreb as yet another milestone in exorcism of the
remnants of communist past that stifle progress in Croatia towards fully
achieving the goal of freedom and democracy.
The Committee For the Defence Of Croatian Vukovar has Friday 17 April 2015 stated: “ Remnants of the totalitarian regimes are attempting to crush the Croatian statehood,” said Tomislav Josic, the Committee’s president. "Croatia
must rise loudly at this time when the well organised remnants of
totalitarian structures and attempting to crush our statehood, pride,
dignity and survival. We invite all individuals, organisations and
institutions to collaborate with us if they consider that the
realisation of our stated goals will lead to a better and more just
Croatia”. The ten strategic goals the
Committee has announced include the protection of Croatian statehood,
human rights, lustration and directing Croatian foreign policy towards
the EU and NATO countries… This is a shining example of how
citizens’ organisations can positively contribute to the shedding of
communist past and to the progress Croatia needs to make as a free and
democratic state.
Another
recent example of organised citizens in the battle of shedding the
remnants of communism from Croatia is the work done by several prominent
people under the umbrella of the Croatian National Ethics Tribunal.
The Tribunal has Saturday 18 April 2015 delivered a yet another
judgment and condemnation against persons for whom the evidence they
claim shows have worked against Croatian national interests. These
persons are Vesna Pusic (current foreign minister of Croatia), Stjepan
Mesic (former president of Croatia) and Milorad Pupovac (member of
parliament representing a section of Serb minority in Croatia). ”It’s
difficult to predict the effect of this judgment, but one thing is
certain: people like these should not carry out the duties they’re
carrying out today. Even as a young person Vesna Pusic began working
against Croatian national interests, and as far as Stjepan Mesic is
concerned, he, together with Vesna Pusic, stood on the side of Serbia
and started equating the victims with the aggressors. These persons do
not behave in ethically acceptable ways, Mesic went secretly to the
Hague to give testimony against Croatia, Franjo Tudjman and, finally,
against Croatian Generals,” said dr Zvonimir Separovic,
president of the Ethics Tribunal and added that the next in line will
be Josip Broz Tito and the fact that the communist regime was a criminal
regime. One thing that seems clear is that since independence from communist
Yugoslavia, Croatia has struggled to change its identity into the one it
endured great human and material losses as the result of Serb
aggression for – into a unified Croatia of freed and democratic people
in which the past would be reconciled and a better future defined. But
the former communists and their followers continue causing new and
maintaining the old ideological tensions, refusing to acknowledge that
it was communism the Croatian people were freed from! That’s why actions
like the above-mentioned ones are crucial to the exorcism of communism
and psychological recuperation from the harsh dictatorship of
Yugoslavia. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)
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