Domovina Urednistvo
The month of January is a highly celebrated month for Croatian patriots whether they live in Croatia or abroad. It was 15th of January 1992 that became the Day of the International Recognition of Croatia’s independence and sovereignty. By 15 January 1992 all member states of the then European Community (EC) other countries followed with speed so that in May 1992 Croatia became a member state of the United Nations Organisation. It is, hence, most fitting that I publish on this my blog an article written by Tomas Sablic on some of the historical and current political issues still affecting Croatia 34 years after the international recognition of Croatia’s independence from the oppressive totalitarian regime of communist Yugoslavia. Here is what Sablic wrote:
By Tomas Sablić
Introduction: A Politically Colonized Nation
For centuries the Croatian nation fought for its survival and emancipation in face of colonizing powers, be it the Ottomans, Austro-Hungarians and neighbouring Serbs. A small, but honourable nation, on the border of East and West. The ethnic and historical territory of the Croatian nation extends over the space of Central and South-Eastern Europe, between the rivers Drava, Dunabe and Drina and the Adriatic sea. Despite the natural wealth of the Croatian homeland, throughout the centuries Croat’s have immigrated from their homelands, forming one of the largest diasporas in the world.
There are old Croatian colonies (communities) in Austria and Slovakia referred to as Burgenland Croats, in Italy there is an old community of Croats in Italy called the Molise Croats, in Romania the old Krašovani community and in Kosovo the Janjevci. These first Croatian diasporas were formed by the Turkish invasion from the East into Croatian territory. The Croatian past gives a picture of the glorious endeavours of a small nation. Despite being conquered, colonized and displaced around the world, the self-sacrificing Croatian nation remains. Because of the Croatian nation’s loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church, the Croatian nation served as the border guards of Catholic Europe. In 1519, Pope Leo X called the Croatian people “Forewall of Christendom”. The Croatian leaders received from the same place the honourable titles as “Shield of Christendom,” and “Defenders of Christendom”. As Stjepan Hefer writes in his book CROATIAN STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AND INDEPENDENCE:
“Through hundreds of years of wars against the Ottomans, the fateful role of the Croats as frontier guards of a world and a civilization came to full light. In that time the Croatian peasant ploughed his land with the rifle on his shoulder. During these centuries the Croats first and foremost defended their homeland, their freedom and independence. Those difficult centuries-old tests moulded the specific characteristics of the soul of the Croatian man, especially: deep faith in God, resistance against violence and injustice, and love of freedom. The great Italian poet DANTE (1265-1321) in his “Divine Comedy” dedicates a thought to the devout faithfulness of the Croat towards his Creator.”
Yugoslavism and its crimes against the Croatian nation
“Yugoslavism and Yugoslavia has always only been the destruction of Croathood. The struggle against Yugoslavism and Yugoslavia is the struggle against one of the worst criminal complexes in history. The Croat will destroy every state which isn’t his.” -prof. Ivan Oršanić
The ideology of Yugoslavism is that of cultural genocide. It requires the complete destruction of historic national identities for a colonial Yugoslav identity. In 1918 the Croatian nation was absorbed against its will into the Serb-dominated Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Four days after the establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 13 Croats were murdered. They were soldiers of the 23. and 53. Domobran regiments who protested in Zagreb against the entry of Croatia into the Yugoslavian state against the will of the Croatian nation. That event, just four days after the establishment of the criminal Yugoslav state, would be the first of many massacres of Croats. The only political representative of the colonized Croatian nation in the
Serb-dominated Yugoslav state was Stjepan Radić. Radić and his party, the Croatian Peasant Party, sought to better the conditions of the Croatian nation through the Yugoslav political system. How did that end? Stjepan Radić was shot to death in the Yugoslav parliament by Serb nationalist Puniša Račić. It was after this that the Croatian began to realize that the only path to Croatian emancipation and freedom would be through armed struggle.
“In the struggle of a people for their freedom, there cannot be any forbidden means. We will respect what is others’ but defend what is ours. But we will no longer be slaves! We are not revolutionaries by vocation or trade; we are revolutionaries by the cruel necessity of our enslaved people. Chains of slavery are not broken with carnations but with harsh means, and for this, we owe no one any apology…”Ante Pavelić, member of the Croatian Party of Rights in the Yugoslav parliament.
Croatian Revolutionary Organization
“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”
The Ustaše was formed by Ante Pavelić and his associates. Throughout the last years of the Yugoslav monarchy, the Ustaše conducted actions targeting the Yugoslav state. The Ustaše trained and sent a Bulgarian nationalist to assassinate the Yugoslav king in France, making it the first televised assassination in history. Then after 800 years of enslavement, the Croatian state was resurrected on the 10th of April, 1941. The establishment of the Independent State of Croatia is and its necessary alliance with the Axis is morally justified. Why does the world think that Croats should’ve defended their own slavery? Why wouldn’t Croats ally with a power that invaded a state they were held hostage and murdered by? This is a personal lesson for me, it is very clear that the world, that is the international community, doesn’t care about the rights and freedoms of the Croatian nation. I don’t think that Croats owe anyone anything. Ante Pavelić and the Ustaše understood this very well.
“Chains of slavery are not broken with carnations but with harsh means, and for this, we owe no one any apology…”
Bleiburg and the Second Yugoslavia
After the fall of the Independent State of Croatia, hundreds of thousands of Croats were exiled from the Croatian homeland and led to slaughter. These were Croatian soldiers, their families, women, children, priests, nuns, writers and intellectuals. Over 100,000 Croats were murdered, and the international community ignored it. If the Geneva Convention was legitimate, then the murderers of Croats would have been held responsible for their actions – they weren’t. The new Yugoslav state would partition Croatia into two different Republics, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. In this new communist Yugoslavia, the Yugoslavist program of cultural genocide was continued.
Any form of Croatian national identity was banned, including the Croatian language, Croatian symbols and songs. For example, just singing “Vila Velebita” could get you arrested.
The Croatian Stronghold – The Croatian Diaspora
During the days of Yugoslavia, the Croatian diaspora, which I mentioned in the beginning of this paper, was the vanguard of Croatian nationalist politics and Croatian political identity in general. So much so that the Croatian diaspora earned the title “Neprijateljska emigracija” or “Enemy emigration” by Yugoslav officials. The diaspora was the centre of Croatian dissident activity. In those lands, Croatian political parties and liberation groups were formed, publishing thousands of Croatian nationalistic books, newspapers and pamphlets.
“…in Croatia, the Yugoslav idea is only a thin shell, under which the Croatian national volcano boils. It only takes a little nudge for it to erupt.” -Milan Šufflay
Soon the Yugoslav state collapsed…
The Establishment of the Republic of Croatia
In the constitution of the Republic of Croatia, it is stated that the Republic of Croatia is the legal successor state of Yugoslavia, thus maintaining the Yugoslav colonial borders forced on Croats, splitting the Croatian homeland in two artificial states, separating millions of Croats from each other.
Yugoslavism, the idea behind the Yugoslav kingdom and communist state, requires the destruction of Croathood. Both Yugoslav states implemented a program of cultural genocide on Croats, banning the Croatian language, songs and symbols. The Yugoslav state was also behind the mass expulsion of Croats and the mass killings of Croatian soldiers, civilians, priests, nuns, writers and intellectuals. The political elite of the Republic are successors of the Yugoslav criminal project. Yugoslavism – that is the destruction of everything that is Croatian, continues to this day.
The Yugoslav Political Elite of Croatia
Those who rule Croatia today are the ideological and biological sons of the previous Yugoslav regime. They control most if not all Croatian institutions with an iron fist. Their politics is against true Croatian freedom for which they have made laws against. They attempted to criminalize that historical flag of the Croatian nation and the nationalist greeting “Za Dom Spremni”, “For the Homeland – Ready”. Their Yugoslav social code is enforced by the media of Croatian, for which they also have a strong control of. When the political elite isn’t stealing from Croatians, they fund anti-Croatian institutions like the Serbian National Council with millions of euros so they can publish their anti-Croatian publication Novosti.
The Yugo-media elite of Croatia which constantly shows enmity towards the Croatian nation, operates under the European Union’s standards of journalistic freedom. Under their version of journalistic freedom, Boris Dežulović can write an article titled, “Fuck Your Vukovar” and Milorad Pupovac’s Serbian newspaper (funded by 600.000 euros from the Croatian govt.) can write something like what they wrote in 2017: “Scientists brag that they found the reason for the appendix, while for Croatian sovereignty, up to this day, no one knows what it serves for”.
While the parasitic journalist elite has the freedom to trample on Croatian dignity and statehood, the Croat is unable to honour his own ancestors and their struggle and suffering at the behest of the feelings of the enemies of the Croatian nation.
It is not fair that Croatians have to constantly worry about optics (that is going along with the Yugo-social code) while declared enemies of the Croatian nation get the freedom to say and write whatever they want! It is not fair, it’s sick.
A Guide to Croatian Politics
The Glavaš-Hasanbegović Tactic
There is a conception that conceived support of the Ustaše in Croatia is political death/suicide. There are two politicians that come to mind that disprove this, that’s Branimir Glavaš and Zlatko Hasanbegović. They have refused to play the Yugo-optics game and dance the Yugoslav political kolo (reel dance), in the greatest ways possible. Not only have they disagreed with the (incorrect) Yugoslav view of history, they have defended the legacy of the Ustaše and other related topics of Croatian nationalism from Yugoslav defamation. On an intellectual level it is Zlatko Hasanbegović, who has since his youth published Croatian nationalist articles and historical articles in defence of the Croatian nation. On a more provocative level, it has been Branimir Glavaš who never feared to pose and take a picture of himself in front of Ante Pavelić. They didn’t lose any political support, on the contrary, they gained it. There will always be a nationalistic voter base in Croatia, always has and always will. It is for this reason that I think politicians and other figures should stop worrying about Yugo-optics.
About the author Tomas Sablić: Tomas is a Croatian diaspora activist and publicist from Vancouver, Canada, who focuses on the historical struggle of the Croatian nation for independence. He is the President and Founder of the Hrvatsko Bratstvo (Croatian Brotherhood) organization, which fights for the preservation of Croatian history and propagating Croatian identity amongst diaspora youth.
