It has already become boring, but it is still worth repeating. Orwell's famous sentence says that he who controls the past controls the present and the future. Since the end of the 1980s, a merciless battle for the past has been waged in the Balkans for these very reasons, in which right-wing and ultra-right wingers won a decisive victory, partly because they were on the field, partly due to the fact that the left failed. Nationalist populists took over its working class, making it the so-called the lumpenproletariat, the social strata that have no class consciousness (as the "infamous" Marx used to say) and who have resigned themselves to the role of someone who can be made a fool or cannon fodder whenever someone from above needs it. In return, they receive crumbs for the table of a great feast.
When it conquers the past, even the most extreme right turns out to be viable, even very lucrative. There are examples in history with gruesome consequences: often elites, owners of capital and multinational companies made deals, even openly supported right-wing extremists because it was profitable. And when, thanks to this, it becomes mainstream, hard nationalism is internalized, it becomes taken for granted by the broadest masses. A historical twist is taking place: whoever, for example, recalls the imposing crimes committed under ultra-nationalism is declared a fanatic and socially marginalized.
Extreme nationalism is looking for cultural clothing, and it is always kitsch, ethnic or ordinary - the so-called jigera. And that jigger brings money: we should not forget that the very important goal of Thompson's concert in Zagreb is to make money. There was money and money, and every extremism eventually ended up being converted into material gain hidden in private safes.
Croatian journalist Ladislav Tomičić tells "Vreme" that Saturday's concert by Marko Perković Thompson in Zagreb - which was attended by around five hundred thousand people and which was wholeheartedly supported by the state leadership and most of the media - "finally rounded off the revision of the past that has been carried out in Croatia since the end of the eighties".
The revision marks a victory for the right. It reads: the biggest crimes during World War II were actually committed by partisans, and the communist boot trampled Croatia for decades. Well, it is not that NDH crimes are completely overlooked, nor is it possible considering their scope, but it is claimed that they are "fiercely overblown" by communist propaganda. The revisionist message - although not quite perfect - is that the NDH is not a Queen's-criminal creation, but above all an expression of the aspirations of the Croatian people for their own state, as claimed by the first president of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman.
photo: apULTRA-RIGHT SPECTACLE: Thompson's concert in Zagreb
THOMPSON'S ROAD
And indeed, the path of historical revisionism in Croatia coincides with the path of Marko Perković Thompson. This former Croatian Guardsman got his nickname from the American automatic that he used in the nineties. He began his musical career by singing "patriotic" but also pro-Ustasha songs, hugging photos of state leaders created during the crime of Ante Pavelić, the "famous" mass murderer Vjekoslav Maks Luburić... His concerts are dominated by Ustasha symbols, Nazi salutes are shouted (Ustasha "Za dom spremni!", but not only that). He is popular among extreme right-wingers, war veterans, the Ustasha diaspora and among the Catholic Church. His songs are quite reduced, as if they were written and composed by some untalented child, primitively clerical and "patriotic". In short, an imposing shunt. But it was never about songs and music here.
It is recorded that Thompson also performed the gruesome chauvinistic song "Jasenovac i Gradiška Stara", which glorifies Ustasha crimes against Serbs, Jews and Roma during the NDH. Some even claimed that he was its author, which Perkovic strongly disputed. However, as popular as he was in certain circles and making good money, he was far from the so-called for a long time. mainstream. The media and public figures criticized his performances, the relevant politicians fenced themselves off - he lived in the cultural and musical channels of Rat, where he really belongs. He used this to present himself as a kind of "forbidden fruit", which gained him a great wave of popularity, thanks primarily to social networks. This is a trick that extreme nationalists ("they speak the truth that no one else must speak") often use.
In the meantime, Thompson put on a little make-up, revised his views, dissociated himself from the Ustasha, relativized his earlier performances by claiming that they took place at a specific historical moment when Croatia was threatened, and therefore patriotism had to be pumped up. At his concerts in recent decades, there was less Ustasha iconography, and the lyrics of the songs themselves - apart from being, as we said, primitive patriotic-clero-nationalist dramolets - could not be called pro-Ustasha.
However, Thompson has not changed as much as Croatian society has changed, as hard nationalism has been normalized, as - as our interlocutor says - the revision of the past has gone too far. At his concert in Zagreb, he again shouted the Ustasha slogan "Za dom spremni!" (the beginning of the song "Bojna Čavoglava"), and there were a lot of other creepy shouts and symbols among the audience, from which he didn't even try to distance himself. Thus, from the underground channels, Thompson triumphantly emerged onto the lights of the biggest stage of the Croatian capital, organizing a state-building concert, so to speak, all with the support of the authorities and the majority of the media.
Now, why Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, who has been building the image of a moderate European conservative for years, needed this concert (he was not at the concert, but he shook hands with Thompson at the sound rehearsal in front of the media spotlight), is a separate question. The permission for the concert was given by the left-green government in Zagreb, and participated in infrastructure support. They said that they stand for freedom of expression, and they know the pain - Thompson and his company would make good use of any ban, as we have already said.
Tomičić says: if this concert brought something good, it is the fact that no one can say that Thompson and hard nationalism are forbidden anymore. According to Tomičić, anti-fascists in Croatia are much more despised and marginalized than extreme nationalists. And one of the main generators of that contempt is the Catholic Church "in the Croats", which - according to some analysts - was also the main organizer of the "spectacle".
VIOLENT REACTIONS
Even though it was state-building, even though it was "hyped" from almost all sides, even though it was proclaimed as a pledge of Croatian unity, after the concert ended, it caused fierce reactions from a good part of the public. Expected and deserved considering the iconography, and the joyfully welcomed Ustasha greeting sent from the stage, and the songs that part of the audience sang at the concert itself and on the streets of Zagreb (for example, the monstrous "Evo zora, evo dana") before and after it. The opposition Social Democratic Party called the event a "world shame": instead of a clear condemnation of revisionist and extreme messages, there was state logistical and symbolic support for this event, according to this party.
A particularly strong reaction came from the Zagreb Youth Initiative for Human and Minority Rights. This organization declared the concert "the most massive attack on the constitutional values of Croatia since the end of the nineties" and "the most massive pro-fascist gathering held in Europe after the Second World War." The president of the Independent Democratic Serbian Party, Milorad Pupovac, said that shouting the Ustasha salute "Za dom spremni" is "a glorification of the Ustasha, an act of renewing the Ustasha spirit." And so on. It is interesting how Plenković responds to these criticisms: he roughly said that it is significant that they coincide with the criticisms that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić made about the concert.
The writer Ivica Đikić tells us that it is Andrej Plenković who is most deserving of the so-called the double connotation of the greeting "Za dom spremni", which is formally banned in Croatia. This greeting, which Thompson gave at the concert at the beginning of "Čavoglava", caused the most negative reactions. Namely, Plenković once said that this greeting can be used if it refers to the year 1991 and the defense of Croatia in the Homeland War, and that it is prohibited and punishable if it is used in the context of the Ustasha movement and the NDH. So, total confusion.
"This created a space where you can play with laws, common sense and history. Plenković thus opened the space for this kind of manifestation. The fact that the government supported this concert is the most important, socially relevant and most malignant aspect of it for me. She did not organize the concert, but she put herself completely at his service," says Đikić.
photo: lana slivar dominic / hinaASTONISHMENT AND CONCERN: A large number of young people
NATIONALIST LEGITIMITY
Tomičić believes that Andrej Plenković used the concert to gain nationalist legitimacy. The problem for Plenković is not left and green voters, he knows he can never win them over. He fights for those on the right and the hard right, which - as a moderate pro-European conservative, as he presents himself - really can't stand him.
"By bowing to Thompson and coming to his sound rehearsal, he wanted to show that he is an integral part of the story of the so-called Croatian unity. Thompson practically sealed it: Plenković is becoming more acceptable to hard nationalists with this act. It shows that there is no need to vote for the ultra-right, such as the Homeland Movement and others, that HDZ covers the entire right-wing spectrum. He also used the concert to silence the right-wing currents within his party," says Tomičić.
And Đikić believes that by appearing at the tone rehearsal, Plenković wanted to provide himself with a right-wing image, so that he could compete with more right-wing parties, as well as party opponents, who are "quietly or less quietly to the right than him".
"As with the interpretation of the Ustasha salute, he applies a double connotation here. He did not appear at the concert, but he did at the sound rehearsal. He always plays a double game. For years he has been harassing us with the story of Europeanism, and then he appears as a political sponsor of a concert at which the shouts of 'Za dom spremni!'" of the right," says Đikić.
REACTIONS FROM EUROPE
At least until the creation of this text, there have been no official reactions from European institutions to this event. However, some major Western media reacted, severely criticizing the concert and its messages. "Almost half a million people, i.e. approximately as many as came to Thompson's concert, fell as victims of the five-year Ustasha terror", Michael Martens wrote in his review of this event in the "Frankfurter Algemaine Zeitung", recalling that Perković "uses his reputation as a patriotic patriot, apart from making money, to rehabilitate the Croatian Ustasha regime".
The fact that there is no reaction from official Europe does not surprise our interlocutors. They remind that the EU has no mechanisms to punish Croatia in any way, unlike the period when it was in the process of joining, but they also point out that Plenković is actually catching European trends with this concert.
"He saw that even in Europe it is no longer a shame to be a radical right-winger, even to flirt with Nazism and fascism, from Italy to Germany, so he decided to play that card as well," claims Đikić. Both of our interlocutors believe that this event was not made for external use, but exclusively for internal use.
ROLE OF THE MEDIA
Honorable to the exceptions, but most of the Croatian media participated in the creation of almost unprecedented hype, the concert was announced as the greatest cultural spectacle in history after which nothing will be the same, the controversies that it brings with it were ignored. Thanks to such media coverage, it was extremely well attended. All media weapons were fired. Such an atmosphere was created that every "real Croat" must shoot in Zagreb.
"The concert completely dominated the media for days and even weeks. I think the matter is simple. Just as the sellers of t-shirts, souvenirs, and drinks smelled profit, the media also wanted to make a profit from this event. It's all miserable and wretched, it's a betrayal of journalism, but the media has long succumbed to clickability and profit. It's nothing new, neither in Croatia nor elsewhere," says Đikić.
Tomičić says that the role of the media in creating events is "catastrophic". Even those who previously criticized Thompson most harshly, writing that he was the author of the song "Jasenovac and Gradiška Stara" - now benevolently reported on the preparation of the "greatest concert in the world", leaving out its other dimensions.
"There was no Ustasha sentiment, it was a business decision. The media are mostly from Pizdun. Why would they write critically about us and have problems. Instead, let's play the same flute and make some money," says Tomičić.
WHO WAS AT THE CONCERT?
It would be wrong to say that everyone who was at the concert was a follower or admirer of the Ustasha ideology. There were, of course, quite a few of those, but mostly the audience consisted of those whose brains were turned to mush by long-term nationalist propaganda. It is certainly not only a Croatian specialty. Among them are those who enthusiastically, shaking their asses, listen to "Serbian songs" at home and in obscure clubs. There are not a few of them either. There is not much logic there, and there is no need to look for it.
"It is difficult to judge which omer is in question, but there were people there who have deep and serious Ustasha or pro-Ustasha beliefs. There were also those who are sentimental towards the Ustasha for one reason or another, often for family reasons, and who show it when social circumstances are created in which it is acceptable, in which it is not a shame. But there were also those who have an indifferent attitude towards the Ustasha, which does not mean much to them in this story. I think that the latter were the most, that is, a relatively small percentage audience, Ustasha-oriented, with a serious awareness of what Ustasha actually means", says Đikić.
"In my opinion, it would be most accurate to say that this concert was an expression of clero-nationalism, and that the Catholic Church played a major role in it. In the last resort, clero-nationalism turns into fascism, but it is crazy to say that all the people at the concert are Ustasha or sympathizers of the Ustasha movement. It is worrying, however, that those who openly glorify the Ustasha are mostly young people. And this is the result of a long-term, thorough revision of the past. Those who have no idea about history, and there are a colossal number of such people number, I can only conclude that the partisans committed the greatest percentage of crimes in the Second World War. It is even claimed that there are more Croatian soldiers than there are usually no victims of the NDH. The danger lies in the fact that the masses who came to the concert are easily formed. With that, Tomičić could do a miracle.
