Marko Perkovic Thompson – Croatia, the War, and the Future

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

July 19, 2020 by inavukic 21 Comments

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

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: BBC, breakup of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Croatian Patriotism, Deutsche Welle, DW, Herceg-Bosna, holidaying in Croatia, How Beautiful You Are (Croatia), Lijepa li si, Lord Carrington. Lord Owen, Manuel Neuer, Marko Perkovic Thompson, patriotism

Give It Up Efraim Zuroff!

July 21, 2018 by inavukic 27 Comments

Marko Perkovic Thompson
at welcoming home Croatia’s national football team
Zagreb, 16 July 2018

When Holocaust deniers hunter himself falls into the category of genocide deniers then you really get a problem of pervasive moral decay being forced onto the world. After the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia ruled that Srebrenica massacres (1995) was genocide, Efraim Zuroff, of Simon Wiesenthal Center, had said repeatedly that Srebrenica was not genocide but politically inspired mass murder of men and boys! That this genocide was not history but politics! It took two days for Efraim Zuroff, relentlessly pro-Serbia Nazi hunter, who shuts a blind eye to Serbia’s WWII Judenfrei (Jew-free) status through extermination of Jews by May 1942, to falsely accuse – once again – Croatia of fascism because of massive expression of love for Croatia that filled the streets of Zagreb on Monday 16 July 2018 when the national football team returned triumphant from Russia, FIFA World Cup 2018.

On Wednesday 18 July 2018, the Jerusalem Office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a press statement condemning the participation of Croatia’s most popular singer Marko Perkovic ‘Thompson’ at the Croatian celebrations in Zagreb’s main square, Ban Jelacic Square,which gathered over 200,000 citizens, welcoming Croatia’s national football team back from FIFA World Cup competition.

According to Zuroff: “Marko Perkovic has never missed an opportunity to transmit his hateful messages. It is no accident that numerous people show up at his concerts wearing Ustasha uniforms and/or symbols and give Ustasha salutes. He should not be an honoured guest anywhere, let alone at one of the biggest gatherings in democratic Croatian history to celebrate a magnificent sporting achievement. Luka Modric might indeed have deserved to be World Cup Most Valuable Player, but for inviting Thompson to sing he deserves a red card.”

(Zuroff full statement link here)

Zuroff is the one who spreads messages of hate, not Thompson. It is by no mistake or accidental omission that Zuroff gave no evidence to support his claims regarding Thompson’s messages or people wearing Ustasha uniforms at his concerts. Zuroff in his long-standing and baseless accusations of fascism on the rise in Croatia stands out as a professional bully when it comes to Croatia. Had Zuroff cared to examine the lyrics of Thompson’s songs then his claims would indeed be different. They would actually confirm self-preservation, love of freedom and independence, defence against aggression, love for Croatia, patriotism…the stuff most national musical hits throughout the world are made of. I am not even going into details here that there are no people wearing Ustasha uniforms at Thompson’s concerts. So it truly saddens the mind that some of the world’s mainstream media outlets simply published Zuroff’s statement without bothering to check the facts! There is no doubt in my mind that Zuroff simply cannot tolerate well the love and unity for Croatia expressed so freely and openly by its people.

At the end of the day, looking at the truth – who cares about Zuroff’s deceitful and bullying statements. As long as there is widespread heartfelt, pure, love for Croatia and its freedom the bottom line stands: all is fine with love for Croatia and what its people stand for! Ina Vukic

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Croatia, Efraim Zuroff, FIFA World Cup 2018, Marko Perkovic Thompson

Croatian Veterans Demanding Due Dignity Condemn Governance

May 18, 2014 by inavukic 19 Comments

Croatian Veterans Convention 2014
Photo: FaH (Click on image to enlarge)

On Saturday 17 May the USA marked its Armed Forces Day with pride, respect and celebrations, parades, across the country to pay tribute to the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces in times of war and peace. The UK will do the same on 28 June. In Croatia, the veterans of the 1990’s Homeland War still find themselves fighting for their rights, for recognition – for the dignity that should be felt across the nation. This is a tragedy that can only be removed through strong retaliation against this injustice.

On Friday 16 May the first convention of Croatian Homeland War veterans and members of their families was held in Zagreb – several thousands of veterans and victims of the 1991-95 war and their guests attended the Lisinski concert hall where the convention was held.

It turned loud and tumultuous as the mere mention of the minister in charge Predrag Matic sparked the gathered participants to loudly boo and whistle in disapproval and rejection.

“We have been witnessing the long-lasting poor governance of the Croatian state, the sale of national resources, the pauperisation of the Croatian people, the stigmatisation of Homeland War veterans and the abolishment of their acquired rights, and now we say that’s enough,” reads one of the conclusions of the convention.

“We say to those to whom the dignity of Croatian Homeland War veterans and the Homeland War means nothing, we will no longer tolerate such an attitude. We demand the prosecution of war crimes against the Croatian people and the revision of cases covered by the General Amnesty Act. We demand the collection of war reparations from the aggressor and that all rights of the veterans and their families be regulated under the Croatian War Veterans Act,” said in his speech Ante Deur, the president of the Guard Brigades Corps, adding that “the veterans will no longer permit that those who had not defended Croatia decide upon their fate”.

The convention voiced demands for the Homeland War to be portrayed in schools in a truthful and dignified way, and directions seeking that Vukovar be proclaimed a place of Special Piety and announcements that the veterans will not allow the arrest of Vukovar heroes.

In his very emotional speech, Djuro Goloski, a 100% war invalid, emphasised that the Homeland War was not a civil war and that the veterans who defended Croatia are not criminals. “We were heroes,” he said. “and today we are treated as a mob.” Goloski accused the current and the previous government of systematically disparaging veterans and restricting their rights.

“We insist that our children have the right to education and work in line with traditional values and the world view of the Croatian people.”

Croatian Homeland War veterans will defend the values of the family as the pillar of every society, say the conclusions that were read out by the president of the Guard Brigades Corps, Ante Deur, whose words were met with standing ovations.

Even though Parliament Speaker Josip Leko was expected to address the convention, it did not happen. Veterans’ Affairs Minister Predrag Matic’s presence was met with loud disapproval, apparently scaring away his communist pro-Yugoslavia parliamentary comrade.

Standing ovations rose to the national football team player Joe Simunic (who is currently a victim of FIFA’s political persecution, banning him to play at the coming World Cup in Brazil, based on his “For Home” chant at a relatively recent soccer match in Croatia) , singer Marko Perkovic Thompson, members of the Initiative for the Defence of a Croatian Vukovar and General Mladen Markac.

Among the guests were Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic and the president of the opposition HDZ party, Tomislav Karamarko.

Nineteen years have passed since the last armed operation in August of 1995 for the defense and liberation of Croatia from Serb aggression. It is a tragic reality that the veterans still find themselves struggling for their rights, for their recognition as a national symbol of freedom and door to democracy. This awful reality has a great deal to do with the politics of equating the aggressor with the victim and the fact that many still call the shots in Croatian government who were against Croatian independence and democracy and who still do not accept it, nor cherish it. Out with them, I say.

Ron Kovic, an American veteran – a son of a Croatian father and Irish mother – whose battles are so well portrayed in his autobiography “Born On Fourth Of July” (and movie of same title) said, quite a few years ago:
“We who have witnessed the obscenity of war and experienced its horror and terrible consequences have an obligation to rise above our pain and suffering and turn the tragedy of our lives into a triumph.
I have come to believe there is nothing in the lives of human beings more terrifying than war and nothing more important than for those of us who have experienced it to share its awful truth.”
And in light of these words and the demands and conclusions from the Croatian Veterans Convention, I conclude this post and say: Blessings to you Croatian Veterans from the Homeland War. Keep fighting for the democracy and the rights under it – for which you lost lives, limbs and homes! Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)