Nazis Rock on in Croatia

Republican Riot ^ | June 19, 2006 | Julia Gorin

[Bokababe]

Received this morning from Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel Director Efraim Zuroff (bold emphasis added): “Wiesenthal Center Expresses Outrage At Massive Outburst of Nostalgia for Croatian Fascism at Zagreb Rock Concert”:

Jerusalem – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today expressed its sense of outrage and disgust in the wake of a massive show of fascist salutes, symbols and uniforms at a rock concert by popular ultra-nationalist Croatian singer “Thompson” attended by 60,000 people in Zagreb last night. In a letter sent today to Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff noted the presence of Croatian dignities, including the Minister of Science, Education and Sports, at the event and called for the banning of concerts by singers like Thompson who glorify fascism and racism. According to Zuroff:

“According to the Croatian media, the concert turned into a massive fascist demonstration with tens of thousands of people shouting the infamous Ustasha salute of “Za dom spremni.” In addition,… numerous participants came wearing Ustasha uniforms and symbols. To make matters worse, in attendance last night were officials and members of Parliament, as well as the Minister of Science, Education [!!] and Sports.

“Under the current circumstances, I believe that the time has come to prohibit public concerts by those who write songs of nostalgia for Jasenovac and inspire the show of Ustasha symbols, which constitute open and blatant incitement against all the minorities in Croatia.”

[Bokababe]

"I cannot stand to watch any more. Using the Lord’s symbols like Hitler’s masses did"

Reminds me of the Theological definition of "evil":

"Evil is the corruption of that which was originally good".

[canuck_conservative]

Another Julia Gorin column...

... that means half of it is wrong, and the other half is filled with hysterical exaggerations. Some writers just get too emotionally involved.

She hasn’t manged to write one objective column yet, why start now.

[Bokababe]

"... that means half of it is wrong, and the other half is filled with hysterical exaggerations. Some writers just get too emotionally involved."

Another canuck post ... blanket denials without proof, jingoisitic Serbophobia and hysterical emotionalism that is supposed to be accepted as "fact".

Want to challenge a real fact in her article? Get off your lazy butt and do it. Otherwise, can it!

Yes, amazingly, Jews are a little sensitive about seeing a revival of Nazi symbols. Wonder why? Duh!

[eleni121]

...half of it is wrong....hysterical exaggerations

---

What is “wrong” and which is “hysterical”?

[vladimir998]

Racism is a problem across Europe.

If you want to see racist displays in the former Yugoslavia, you can always go to a Serbian soccer game:

Here is a video with Serb fans dressed up like Ku Klux Klansman and waving the Stars and Bars:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_MS6LNimDU

Here are articles about very recent racist acts at soccer games by Serbs:

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/FinalKross/2006/10/18/Racism_in_Serbia_and_Kezman

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6753585.stm

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/football/06/18/uefa.probe/index.html?eref=rss_latest

So, apparently the Croats aren’t the only ones with a problem.

[durasell]

Can I get the Cliff Notes version of all this?

[Banat]

90% of Serbs have never seen a non-white person in their lives, first of all. Ergo, their "racism" isn't really racism. They think it's cool to torment an African guy who has traveled 1000s of miles to play soccer in Serbia. Those guys are what we in Serbia referred to as "paori." (think of the worst rednecks you can imagine = paori)

Secondly, 20 FK Borats fans is a far cry from the mob of 50,000 at Thompson's concert engaging in a mass orgy of fascism, anti-Semitism and Serbophobia. Whole families went to the concert. That's what's scary, not the primitive dumb ass singer.

Thirdly, whereas 20 Serbs are seen waving Dixie flags and shouting racist slurs at a black soccer player from Zimbabwe, Nazism is a part of Croatian nation's (very recent) past. The past that Croatia must deal with and fast because there are 300,000 Serbs who would like to go back to their ancestral homes.

Lastly, the Croatian state participated in THE HOLOCAUST and had murdered 750,000 Serbs, Jews and other Untermenschen.

Get lost and don't come back with your asinine apologist crap.

[Bokababe]

"If you want to see racist displays in the former Yugoslavia, you can always go to a Serbian soccer game:"

It is true that many Serb soccer fans are out of hand and should be stopped. Fine them, send them home, get them the hell out of the stadium -- they are a**holes.

And it also true that they aren't alone -- we have seen similar problems with soccer fans across Europe.

The only difference as far as I am concerned is that the Serb racist stuff is complete gobbledygook. Except in Belgrade or one of the big cities, most Serbs have never seen Blacks let alone known many. And as for the KKK stuff, it's ridiculous because most Serbs who came here when my family came to the US, were actually the target and victims of the KKK, not perpetrators. These Serb soccer fans just found some stupid-ass way to try and mentally get at the Black players who were beating them, by mimicking US bigots like the KKK. It's unacceptable behavior and should be stopped, but it isn't part of some "political movement or ideology".

On the other hand, this "Thompson event" was a rock concert and not a soccer game -- this was "for fascism" and not just "something to get a Serb's goat on an opposing sports team". Serbs have never mass murdered Blacks like Croats mass-murdered Serbs, Jews & Gypsies. This Thompson concert is the promotion of a political ideology, not just "bad behavior at a soccer game". There is a qualitative difference.

And if some Serb political figure were caught at a goose-stepping fascist event like this one, it would have been all over the cover of Newsweek.

[Bokababe]

Can I get the Cliff Notes version of all this?

The Nazis are back in Croatia.

[The KG9 Kid]

Good grief.

Look, the Euros can do whatever they want to, but it's apparent to me that the political direction of just about every European country is borderline nuthead.

We can continue to peacefully live with whatever they decide to do, but I just hope that we still have the original Cold War plans to blow them flying through the air like rag dolls on fire if it ever becomes necessary.

[eleni121]

You need a reality check.

Stuff happens more often than not at most stupid soccer matches...nothing like the hooliganism at German Turkish and British games!

A totally different situation at this concert.

A few clowns at a soccer match versus thousands including a Croat political leader doing the goose-step...sanctioned by the Croat government...

WOW!!!

Big difference.

[durasell]

The Nazis are back in Croatia.

---

And they hate:

A) Jews
B) Muslims
C) Gypsies
D All of the above

[Windcatcher]

Nazis, Communists, their tactics are the same as every other tyrannical movement in history...prey on the young, ignorant, uneducated, etc. to gain followers. Very sad to see so many young people fall into the trap.

[Bokababe]

"And they hate:"

Serbs, Jews & Roma (Gypsies). Muslims were their traditional ally, although they privately hate them too.

As long as the world is watching and likes Jews, they make a big display of loving Jews and Israel. But here were the words of one of this movement's "heroes":

In 1941,Mile Budak, Minister of Education and Religion of Nazi puppet state of Croatia proclaimed: "For minority Serbs, Jews and Gypsies we have 3 million bullets. Of the Serbs, we shall kill one third, we shall deport another third, and the rest of them will embrace the Roman Catholic religion... Our new Croatia will become Catholic within ten years."

[RGPII]

See, hard core elements in Croatia still go back to the days of World War II; I found this story of not that long ago, where there fans made a “human swastika.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2006470092,00.html

[Bokababe]

"Nazis, Communists, their tactics are the same as every other tyrannical movement in history...prey on the young, ignorant, uneducated, etc. to gain followers."

That is generally true, but unfortunately in Croatia, they have managed to garner some well-educated leaders, too.

Here's the wiki bio on the father of that "nice white family" in the photo above:

Miomir Žužul (born 1955) is a Croatian diplomat and politician.

Žužul obtained a doctorate in psychology at the University of Zagreb as well as a doctorate in conflict management at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at the Harvard University.

Žužul was previously the foreign minister of Croatia (2003-2005), ambassador to the United States (1996-2000), deputy foreign minister (1992-1993), ambassador to the United Nations (1993-1996).

During his early diplomatic career, Žužul has befriended many important people in American political and business circles. As such, he was often perceived as one of the more pro-American politicians in Croatia. In early 2000s, he was one of the most trusted allies of Ivo Sanader in his struggle for the leadership of HDZ, because his support was often interpreted as the support of USA and other Western countries for future Croatian prime minister.

He was named the new foreign minister in the Ivo Sanader government in December 2003. Due to his public pro-American and pro-Israeli statements, he quickly became one of the least popular of all Sanader's ministers among increasingly anti-American Croatian public. Many didn't like his previous lobbying for Bechtel Corporation at the expense of Croatian construction companies.

In 2004 various Croatian media began to publish details of alleged corruption scandals involving Žužul. Although Žužul denied those charges, even some of Sanader's allies in Sabor expressed desire to have him removed. Sanader resisted this pressure and had Žužul keep his post. The Croatian Parliament cleared Žužul of the charges brought against him, and the majority of the media outlets that initially reported corruption allegations against Žužul have retracted their stories. Court cases against the rest are pending.

However, in January 2005, Žužul announced his resignation because he did not want to pose a burden for the Government, and formally left his post in February. Sanader's candidate Jadranka Kosor during presidential elections commented that she expected the resignation to come.

[Cacique]

Nothing that a heavy dose of lead and explosives can’t cure.

[Clemenza]

There is a good reason why the Serbs I met in Chicago had ZERO goodwill towards the Catholic Church.

[vladimir998]

The Serbs have racists too. Deal with it. Telling me that there are Serb rednecks is not a way to prove they are not racist. And, of course, Serbia has a Nazi past too. It's Nazi past was even so bold as to compare Hitler to St. Sava: Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović Bishop wrote that, "One must commend the current German Leader, who, as a simple craftsman and a common man, has realised that nationalism without faith is an anomaly, a cold and insecure mechanism. In the 20th century he has arrived at the idea first introduced by St. Sava, and, although a lay person, he has taken upon himself that most important of all missions, one that is only worthy of a Saint, a genius, a hero." (Velimirović 1935/2001, 36)

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“And if some Serb political figure were caught at a goose-stepping fascist event like this one, it would have been all over the cover of Newsweek.”

I seriously doubt it. You make some excellent points in your post. Still, there are Serb racists too. The fact that there racism is of a kind that has little to do with people they actually know doesn’t quite work since that can now also be said of the YOUNG PEOPLE at the Croat concert. They have grown up in an era with few Serb neighbors. If the two girls in those photos are 16 or 17 (at most I would think) then they have probably never known Serbs in any great number.