Huffington Post has 27 March conspicuously decided to publish on its website John Feffer’s, a George Soros “Open Society Fellow”, interview with Danijel Srb, president of Croatian Party of Rights, which Feffer equally conspicuously published only 21 March even though the interview was held mid-October 2012!
While in principle the practice of journalists holding onto their material until the “right” time comes for publishing it, the fact that EU Parliament representatives’ election campaign is currently at full swing renders it most conspicuous that Feffer (and Huffington Post) decided to publish an interview which talks about Croatian World War II Ustashe movement (Nazi collaborators) and fails abysmally at noting that there were potent and equally widespread anti- Fascist/anti-Nazi movements in World War II Croatia as well. Furthermore, it surely could not be by accident that John Feffer (and Huffington Post) decided to publish a lengthy interview with the president of a minor Croatian political party (Party of Rights) who has been huffing and puffing about what things are “wrong” in Croatia (and European Union for that matter) and yet has done little, if anything (apart from complaining), to actually solve them. It has failed monumentally in gathering any significant following among the people and that, in itself, could well confirm a wide discord between the Party’s values and program and the nation.
Whether this interview is designed to portray an image of Croatia as a country that does not trust the European Union, or to portray the European Union as a destructive conglomerate, which sucks into oblivion the sovereignty and identity of individual nations that make it up, is a matter for individual preferences, but both impressions are possible.
It is of note that Huffington Post omitted to let its readers know that Danijel Srb – president of the anti-EU Croatian political party – had the day before they published Fiffer’s interview presented himself and his Party’s colleagues as candidates for EU Parliament in the coming elections.
When he presented his Party’s candidates for the EU Parliament Srb said “although they are Eurosceptic, they have put themselves forward as candidates because without them the identity and the sovereignty of Croatia within Europe will be endangered.” He claimed that the candidates of the two largest parties in Croatia will in EU Parliament be raising their hands to directives and that these will have an advantage over the interests of Croatia.
One cannot avoid the feeling that Danijel Srb and his Croatian Party of Rights know little about the “job descriptions” of EU Parliament representatives, while at the same time shrugging off as unimportant the fact that not a single country member of the EU has lost its identity or its sovereignty throughout the decades of the Union’s existence.
It is of course, a matter of skill to be able to represent and fight for the interests of ones own country in such a wide Union of countries, and Srb’s party do not seem to possess such a skill.
Does Danijel Srb truly believe that “thieves of sovereignty and national identity” fill the EU Parliament and he will come among them to stop them from thieving the Croatian ones!? That is surely the wrong attitude to harbour and certainly the one that brings the least of wanted results. The right attitude to have would, to my view, be: here we are in the EU, let’s all join forces and make this world better for all the people in it.
Given that we are here on the subject of Croatian parties of Rights, the conservative lean of political orientation linked to right wing ideology, we need to know that there are more than one: Croatian Party of Rights, Croatian Pure Party of Rights, Croatian Autochthon Party of Rights, Croatian Party of Rights Dr. Ante Starcevic, and Croatian Party of Rights 1861.
Among them all, the EU Parliament candidate from the Croatian Pure Party of Rights, dr. Tomislav Sunic (non-party candidate) stand out far above the rest. Sunic, an academic, world acclaimed author of several books, a former diplomat, part of the European New Right movement, is in no way superficial or irrational (as Srb seems to be) when it comes to national identity and the facets of its sustenance within the intricate political and economic weave of the modern world.
Being a EU Parliament candidate myself, I’d rub shoulders with Sunic in EU Parliament much rather than with Danijel Srb. Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)
RSS - Posts
As long as there exist Croatian Party of Rights, Croatian Pure Party of Rights, Croatian Autochthon Party of Rights, Croatian Party of Rights Dr. Ante Starcevic, and Croatian Party of Rights 1861 – THEY WILL ALL BE IRRELEVANT politically.
While the content of the interview with Danijel Srb is not bad, apart from some odd statements he makes that suggest nothing has been dome in Croatia to further democracy, law changes and economic reform, it has come to light that he has invited the ultra right Jean-Marie Le Pen from France to come to Croatia and help him in his EU Parliament election campaign and the other Croatian Party of Rights “dr. Ante Starcevic” are huffing and puffing against it because Le Pen was a frequent friend to Serb leaders Vojislav Seselj, Biljana Plavsic and Ratko Mladic while they waged the war of mass murder, rape, destruction and ethnic cleansing against Croats and Bosniaks in early 1990’s. Perhaps both Feffer and Huffington Post knew this and we are about to see a new chapter issued by them on Croatian “nationalism”. Just disgusting.