“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past,” George Orwell said in his book “1984”.

George Orwell’s sharp scrutiny of the power of the past and its proneness to multiple ideological interpretations, often masking the facts, are possibly best captured in his novel 1984. In this frightening account of totalitarianism gone mad Orwell examines the consequences of fabricating or obliterating facts of history in order to ensure conformity to the system and shape and control images of self, identity and place. The prolonged struggle to gain dominance over a society’s cultural narratives, values, and norms entailed in what is called cultural hegemony refers to the dominance of one cultural group over others within a society. This dominance is not merely enforced through political or economic means; rather, it is established and maintained through cultural institutions such as media, education, and religion. Cultural hegemony shapes perceptions, norms, and values, often leading to the marginalisation of alternative perspectives and lifestyles.

From today’s footing the notion of ownership or control of historical images and messages, and the ultimate form by which the past comes to be portrayed, internalised, and experienced has defined Croatia over the past century, a country that has experienced enormous political and social change. Despite the fact that Croatia achieved independence from communist Yugoslavia during 1990’s the cultural war waged against Croatian independence by the Yugoslav communists in the wake of World War Two continues. Its end was pulpable, though, during 1990’s when Croatian patriotism succeeded in defeating the brutal communist aggressor, Yugoslav and Serb combined.

The death of Franjo Tudjman in December 1999 and the election of leftist, former communist opposition parties, led by Prime Minister Ivica Racan of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and Stjepan Mesic (the last president of communist Yugoslavia) as president in early 2000 represented a shocking sea change in Croatia regarding the upholding the Croatian War of Independence values as the most desirable ones for the nation. The communist cultural war and pursuit of power over Croatian independence values was reignited with perhaps greater force than in 1945, after the disintegration of Yugoslav Kingdom led by Serbian Monarchy. On 14 April 2000, the new government issued a declaration reaffirming Croatia’s commitment to fulfill its obligations to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, with one notable change from all previous declarations; Operations Flash and Storm (which liberated most of the Croatian territory occupied by Serb forces) were no longer declared to be under the exclusive jurisdiction of Croatia. Racan’s government recognised the right of the Tribunal to ‘begin proceedings determining the responsibility of war crimes allegedly committed during and immediately after the end of the Homeland War. The willingness of the left-centre government and president to fully prosecute those on the Croatian side suspected of war crimes and other abuses soon sparked a backlash by veterans’ organisations that would hang over the administration during its entire mandate. False accusations and false testimonies from these Croatian political camps presented to the Tribunal ran aplenty. All with the intent of criminalising Croatia’s Homeland War of independence and discredit the Croatian pursuit for independence throughout history.  The organisations formed under the new former communist leadership whose task was to ignore the massive communist crimes against patriotic Croats and uplift nostalgia for communist Yugoslavia, and the right-wing political parties that supported them, resisted efforts to impose the rule of law over the foundational legitimacy that had dominated until the acquittal of Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac of war crimes in 2013. The fact the almost 94% of Croatian voters voted in 1991 for Croatia to secede from communist Yugoslavia was pushed deep into oblivion and obsoleteness.

No other nation in history has paid such a heavy price for its freedom as the Croatian people. Today Croatia is a free, independent, and democratic country, but it has not yet achieved its goals, which are enveloped in its Homeland War of 1990’s. The Homeland War, in which the Croatian people battled for their freedom, was a three-part war for Croatia – a war with the Serbian aggressor aided by the Yugoslav People’s Army, a war with the international deniers of Croatian independence, and a war with domestic revisionists and falsifiers of Croatia’s path to statehood, independence, and victory in the imposed, justified, defensive, and liberating Homeland War. The first war was waged with weapons, the second with diplomacy, and the third with a promotional campaign. The Croatian people won the first two wars, but the third is still being fought.

Ever since the 1945 when communist Yugoslavia set its sails the importance of creating a national heritage has been seen by patriotic Croats as a necessity. One of the ways Marshal Tito attempted, unsuccessfully, to merge the heritage and culture of the member nations of the Yugoslav Republic was to increase the number of museums and heritage sites dedicated to a common history. Yugoslavia though from its very inception was never a commonly desired entity. Since the 1961 census, the status of Yugoslav as a category has been defined as one option among other possible national identities (i.e. Croat, Serb, Slovenian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Montenegrin). However, in June 1991 the Croatian and Slovenian governments declared independence from the Yugoslav Federation. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia soon followed.  What ensued was a brutal war of aggression which lasted until 1995 on Crotian and Bosnia and Herzegovina territories. Following the end of the war, the Croatian communist die-hard operatives committed the utmost treason by continued attempts to criminalise Croatia’s war of independence and its values, maintaining the notion and culture that communist Yugoslavia was the ideal state Croats have ever lived in. This included a stronger push for the World War Two Independent State of Croatia to be branded as genocidal while ignoring the enormous communist crimes perpetrated by communist Yugoslavia regime against patriotic Croats who rejected Yugoslavia as their homeland.  They continued rewriting the World War Two history of Croatia that was falsely written by Tito’s communist regime. Hence the gradually sought legislative and cultural outlawing of Croatian insignia and historical salutes, such as “For Home Ready” while keeping the communist Yugoslavia ones even though crimes against humanity were far greater and truly genocidal. The discovery of almost two thousand mass graves of victims of communist crimes after 1990, in particular, after Croatian independence, remain to this day an issue swept under the carpet.  Furthermore, government funding and subsidies during the past two decades at least have seen an alarming trend of cultural events that question the righteousness of the Homeland War, increase the aggressor, rebel Serb minority funding of religious and cultural events as well as pursuits that directly or indirectly ignore or degrade the national value of Croatia’s war veterans.  

The left-wing post-Yugoslav cultural (and) scientific hegemony is more strongly present in Croatia today than any other political or economic one. This can be seen in the recent actions, August/September 2025, by Croatian Homeland War veterans organisations when they said “enough is enough” and stopped and banned the cultural festivals, funded by the Croatian government,  in the towns of Benkovac and Sibenik, where the announced theatre plays and other performances clearly intended to question the validity and values of the Homeland War that was a war of defence.  This demonstrates the heart of Croatian patriotism has had enough of the cultural hegemony imposed on the nation by the left political wing that is especially loyal to the defunct communist regime.

It is alarmingly clear that the political left in Croatia, populated mostly by former Communist Party of Yugoslavia operatives or their children and grandchildren, has taken control of almost all public institutions, most importantly the large media and cultural institutions, from those of a lower, local level all the way up to the Ministry of Culture.

It is overwhelmingly promising that in the past month or so Croatian war veterans have started organising publicly their experiences and knowledge in order to ban cultural events that degrade or plan to degrade Croatian independence forged in war, in order to shape and influence cultural narratives in Croatia,  or engaging in political activism related to war and peace, and advocating for specific cultural or political stances. The Marko Perkovic Thompson July 2025 concert, attended by more than 500,000 people, could be seen as the start of battles against post Yugoslavia cultural hegemony in Croatia. These battles against former communists and the leftist occupation of the cultural terrain in Croatia since year 2000 are armed with the greatest of needed capital – people. Including the war veterans.  It would seem that Croatia’s political left and Yugoslav nostalgics are caught in a restless panic since early July. Although many of them have increased the frequency and intensity of regurgitating Tito’s lies against patriotic Croats and struggles for independence during World War Two, calling all patriots fascists and Ustashi, it will be difficult to stop the trend that is showing them up as anti-Croatia. The winds of cultural hegemony in Croatia may yet turn in favour of those who sacrificed a great deal for an independent Croatia. Sooner than later. Ina Vukic