breakup of Yugoslavia – Croatia, the War, and the Future

BBC and DW – Go Jump In The Lake! Beauty Of Croatian Lands – Celebrated!

Manuel Neuer (Centre)
Photo: Screenshot

“How beautiful you are”, by Marko Perkovic Thompson, is not even the national anthem of Croatia and yet it has been molested to “Kingdom come” as nationalistic, fascist, ultra-right – God knows what not, down in the doldrums of leftist miserable existence. As one unsavourily expects The Deutsche Welle (DW) and BBC (and other such politically twisted media outlets) have during the past week got their hands on a private video showing Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer on a holiday in a Croatian coastal town, having fun with a number of people singing the popular Croatian song “How beautiful you are” (“Lijepa li si”). While the lyrics of the song celebrate the natural beaty of different parts of Croatia and parts of Herzegovina where multitudes of Croats have lived for hundreds of years (and were joined into the same Kingdom or country on and off over the centuries past) these media outlets had decided to label the song as “controversial”, dubbing it as nationalistic with fascist connotations!

BBC article says that “the lyrics refer to Herceg-Bosna, an area of neighbouring state Bosnia-Herzegovina claimed by Bosnian Croats in the 1990s, who were supported by the government in Zagreb during the Balkan wars. Croatian nationalist folk singer Marko Perkovic penned the song in 1998. His performances have been banned in several European countries. Critics have linked Mr Perkovic – known as Thompson after the type of machine gun he carried during Croatia’s independence war in the 1990s – to the nationalism of Croatia’s pro-Nazi Ustasha regime in World War Two. The Ustasha was a Nazi puppet regime which killed more than 100,000 people in concentration camps, most of them Serbs, Jews and Roma. Mr Perkovic denies sympathising with the Ustasha.”

It is quite telling of BBC’s and DW’s political unsavouriness and systematic wrongful imputations regarding Croatian patriotism to write about a song that came into being in 1998, celebrating the beauty of Croatian lands after the bloody war of aggression was won (Croatia’s Homeland War officially ended in 1998 with the reintegration of Serb-occupied and ethically cleansed territory) when they immediately jump into WWII and Croatia’s siding with Germany in the war. It is the idiotic and sinister side of leftist (communist, neo-communist) politics to keep pushing the preposterous idea that Croatians of 1990/1991 did not really want independence from communist Yugoslavia even though they voted for it at the 94% voter level!

Since in its article it mentions Herceg-Bosna, it is quite telling of BBC’s rotten politics to fail to mention in the same article British very own Lord Carrington and Lord Owen who were very forceful and downright usurpers of Croatian people’s rights to self-preservation when it comes to Croats of Herceg-Bosna. Why put all the “guilt” on Croats? Why talk only of Croat supposedly wrongful nationalism in that war where Croats had to defend their own lives from Serb and then Muslim aggression? Didn’t both Lord David Owen and Lord Peter Carrington make their mark in attempting to divide Bosnia and Herzegovina according to ethnic or nationality lines, carve the borders of future countries within former Yugoslavia, including Croatia, during the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1990’s. Of course they did! Lord Carrington attempted to pass a plan that would end the wars and result in each republic becoming an independent nation. Lord Owen continued under Lord Carrington’s pursuits to recognise the importance of ethnic (nationalistic) divides in that cruel and barbaric war of aggression in order to achieve peace and self-determination/preservation.

And when it comes to Herceg-Bosna who else but Croatians from neighbouring countries would come to the aid of Croatians in Bosnia and Herzegovina – no one! One must ask, why then is allegiance to nationality as an important factor of peace that Lord Carrington and Lord Owen not criticised by BBC or DW or anyone else of similar calibre one may come across more important and humanly proper than that of Croatians! The inevitable answer to this lies in anti-Croatian propaganda and political lynching devoid of any common sense, facts or fair-minded reason.

Marko Perkovic Thompson (third from L)
July 2018 = celebrating Croatian victories at FIFA World Cup
Photo: picture-alliance

Marko Perkovic Thompson’s 1998 song “Lijepa li si” in translation goes like this:

How Beautiful You Are

When I remember, tears well up

The scent of memories

Every step of my homeland

And folk customs

I recognise your beauty

Which awakens my love

When I’m with you my heart

Beats stronger, it is big!

Oh, Zagora, you’re so beautiful

Slavonia, you are golden

Herceg-Bosna, a proud heart

Dalmatia, my sea

One soul but two of us

Greetings Lika, pride of Velebit

How beautiful you are

When Neretva heads for the sea

Then remember me

Be the theme of my song

For all of those who are gone

Come on Istria and Zagorje

Let’s raise up all three colours

Let’s embrace in front everyone

Let them see that we are many

Oh, Zagora, you’re so beautiful

Slavonia, you are golden

Herceg Bosna, a proud heart

Dalmatia, my sea

One soul but two of us

Greetings Lika, pride of Velebit

BBC and DW in their articles regarding Neuer’s singing say that “It is not known if Neuer understood the words of the song”! My goodness! What’s there to understand apart from celebration of beauty of the land a nation of people (Croatians) have called home for centuries! Even though “How beautiful you are” is not Croatia’s national anthem for the sake of comparison of connotations a popular song brings I wonder what BBC would say had Neuer while holidaying in Croatia sung “God save the Queen” with its lyrics “O Lord, our God, arise, Scatter her enemies, And make them fall, Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks…”!? Or what DW would say had Neuer while holidaying in Croatia sung Deutschlandlied (Song of Germany) with its lyrics “Unity and justice and freedom for the German fatherland!For these let us all strive, brotherly with heart and action! Unity and justice and freedom are the pledge of fortune; flourish in this fortune’s blessing, Flourish, German fatherland”!?

What nationalistic garbage would he be accused of then? Most likely none because these twisted media outlets may give only nations of their political choice the right and privilege to celebrate patriotism and national identity using the sheer beauty of their lands but deny it to others. However, BBC, due to its own evident lack of it, would most likely steer away from hailing patriotism as a positive trait of human existence while DW would most likely silently crawl into a dark corner fearing association with “Germany above all” may wreck their chances of being taken seriously. BBC and DW, and those like them can go and jump in the lake as far as I’m concerned. Ina Vukic

British Council Hosts First Event of Welcome Croatia Festival

The House of Lords of the British Parliament ratified Croatia’s Treaty of Accession with the European Union on Monday, 21 January 2013.

“The House of Lords’ ratification of Croatia’s accession treaty is the final step in the British parliamentary procedure, but in order for the ratification process to be formally completed in Great Britain, Queen Elisabeth must sign the document.

Croatia’s accession treaty has so far been ratified by 21 EU member states, with Slovenia, Germany, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands yet to do so. All of these with the exception of Slovenia have started the process but some countries have made it clear that they will wait for the final European Commission (EC) comprehensive report scheduled for March to see if Croatia has completed the ten tasks set in the last EC report in October 2012“.

Slovenia is looking more and more as the EU member state intent on making Croatia’s final lap on the EU membership circuit a bitter and difficult one. And it’s all about money!
The dispute revolves around issues of how to settle the €172m owed to Croatian depositors by the Slovenian-based Yugoslav-era Ljubljanska Banka (Bank of Ljubljana). Bank of Ljubljana was a strong brand across Yugoslavia, but as the country unravelled in the early 1990s, Bank of Ljubljana swiftly pulled out of Croatia, and gave depositors only a brief window to claim their cash. This left more than 130,000 Croatians, as well as many Bosnians, with their savings locked in Slovenia. As a result, many launched legal proceedings against LB and its legal successor, New Bank of Ljubljana.
Since then, Slovenia has maintained that the dispute should be settled as part of the succession negotiations on the former Yugoslavia, overseen by the Bank of International Settlements, which aim to resolve a number of such disputes across the region. Croatia, meanwhile, insisted that the issue was a bilateral one, between a bank and its customers, and between Croatia and Slovenia. Croatia still holds that position and Croatian citizens who had had their savings thus looted await eagerly the return of their money.
So, while Slovenia threatens to block Croatia’s EU membership (all EU member states must ratify Croatia’s EU Accession Treaty) one wonders whether EU leadership will continue tolerating such insolent behaviour from one of it’s member states – Slovenia? All things fair, ratification of Croatia’s EU Accession Treaty does not involve disputes about money owed by a state – it involves the ratifying member state’s satisfaction with the level of changes Croatia has made in order to satisfy standards of the EU when it comes to legislation, human rights, civil rights, anti-corruption etc.
While all this uneasiness and sabre rattling with Slovenia is happening, British Council is throwing a “welcome to EU party” for Croatia; the festival to run from February to July 1st, in London.

“The British Council is proud to host The UK/Croatia Extra/ordinary Design Workshops, an exhibition in partnership with the Croatian Ministry of Culture. It marks the first event of Welcome Croatia, a festival led by the British-Croatian Society in cooperation with the Croatian Ministry of culture to mark Croatia’s accession to the EU.
The exhibition is the result of Extra/ordinary Design Workshops, a partnership developed by the British Council Croatia between the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design, Royal College of Art, the Croatian Designers Association and the School of Design, University of Zagreb. It will run from 7th – 27th January 2013 at the British Council, Spring Gardens.
The Extra/ordinary Design project has used UK expertise in design to create an inclusive process working with organisations run by, employing or educating socially marginalised groups. All of the workshops have shared the same aim: to use mainstream design and collaborative ways of working to strategically transform the situation of these organisations and to redress their creative capacity in challenging economic times.
Workshops led by Julia Cassim, senior designer from the Royal College of Art took place in Croatia in 2011 and 2012 with design teams working with local organisations such as ZVONO, a creative centre for young people with learning difficulties. The work produced went onto win the Grand Prix a D (Design) Day in May 2011; before receiving the international jury prize at the biennale Exhibition of Croatian Design in September 2012 and an award from the Network for Development and Creativity in November of that year.
The Welcome Croatia festival will celebrate the vibrant cultural life of Croatia through a series of events and exhibitions, which will run from February until 1st July, the date when Croatia officially ascends to the EU.
The UK/Croatia Extra/ordinary Design Workshops exhibition will give UK audiences the opportunity to see the UK-Croatia partnership at work: building trust between people, institutions and our two countries and helping young people develop skills in tough economic conditions“.

Check out Welcome Croatia Festival on Facebook
And the festival’s website

If you know of young or older people who are looking for a brief summary on the breakup of Yugoslavia and subsequent journeys of different states of former Yugoslavia to EU membership, check out this video: