Today is a special day for “Croatia, the War, and the Future” blog- it turns two and celebrates another year of life. Exactly two years ago today, I started this blog with a post “Lest We Forget” on Vukovar, Croatia. Today, two years later, I am still delivering posts on Vukovar from time to time. You may well ask: why? Because Vukovar is the symbol of Croatia’s most recent profound suffering and a place that simply must remain a special place of piety that allows us to remember and heal.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think that an independent blog could reach and touch so many people around the world – hundreds of thousands of visits from around the world tell me that while the mainstream media may reap the greatest of numbers, bloggers are catching up very fast.
And I thank each and every visitor for taking the time and pinning at least a little bit of his or her interest on this wonderful country that is Croatia.
Blogs, one might say, was not the most popular of words, but these days it is a word we find unavoidable because it was born with the Internet. As soon as people started to use the technology that would link computers, they started leaving messages. In the 1980s, these were “pinned” on virtual “bulletin boards”. Then, in the early 1990s, online diaries appeared, personal journals to be seen by the entire online world. As Internet use spread, people were dazzled by their power to connect and communicate. But they didn’t just want to stare at pages. They wanted, above all, to make their mark on the explosively expanding world of cyberspace. So, in the mid-1990s, the online diary became the web log, or blog.
And, oh, came the social media and Facebook caught on like a house on fire. I thank so very deeply all my blog’s followers.
Through the web, through channels of social media “Croatia, the War, and the Future” reaches between 230 – 270,000 people every week.
I am humbled by the large interest and support this blog has received.
Perhaps, seeking and spreading the truth is the reason for that? Whatever the reason I stand grateful and look forward to furthering the Croatian truth. Thank you! Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)
P.S. Yesterday, Norman Geras, political theorist and Professor Emeritus of Politics at the University of Manchester – died. Geras was a pioneering blogger. May he rest in peace.