Possibly not seen or heard of since the days of Milosevic's Belgrade-sponsored anti-Catholic and anti-Croat hysteria, an ugly campaign of defamation has commenced in modern Croatia. This isn't 1946 and Cardinal Stepinac isn't on the stand at a communist show-trial, but it might as well be, as the neo-communist, Yugoslav media behave like Tito's Agitprop. It's not just the media, spear-headed by the EuropaPaperPress (Jutarnji List, Globus, Feral Tribune) monopoly attempting to destroy the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia, it's the many groups of so-called "anti-fascists" that have a beef with the Church.
The political and media elites have all but destroyed the memory of the Homeland war, and they are now targeting the remaining vestiges of Croatian pride left in the small country. They are taking their propaganda war directly to the Church, where their one and true enemy exists. The reason? Like many times in the past, it is only from the altar that any iota of truth can be heard in the nation crippled by crime, economic shambles and virtual media "reality" tearing at the very fabric of Croatian society. The Church is the only institution that resists the overt revision of recent Croatian history, and it is one of the few institutions that promotes patriotism and pride in the nation's identity.
During his homily last year at the fields of Bleiburg, Zagreb's Archbishop Cardinal Josip Bozanic pleaded with the Croatian government to investigate and prosecute the surviving members of Tito's partisans that committed some of the most heinous post-WWII massacres anywhere in the world. Well aware of Croatian society's susceptibility to manipulation of its enemies, he pleaded for the healing of old wounds and for justice, so that the small Croatian nation could, on an honest foundation, look to the future.
On that same day, the Cardinal staunchly condemned the crimes committed at the war-time Jasenovac camp by Croatian ustashe. The ustashe, as we know, were, without trial, punished by death for crimes they committed-- and did not commit. Lest we forget, the ustashe and Croatia's regular WWII army (Domobrani) that had surrendered to the British in 1945 were "repatriated" to the hands of Yugoslav butchers that exterminated an entire generation of Croatian men, women and children. He reminded the nation and the world, that the people, first and foremost, fought for the survival of independent Croatia. They knew little or nothing about the many "isms" the world has been riddled with in the past few centuries. They cared not for ideology, but only for their biological survival during evil times. Their innocence meant nothing to communist murderers that took their lives in the name of "progress, humanity, and revolution." Despite sufficient evidence, none of the perpetrators have ever been prosecuted.
THE FIGHT FOR AN INDEPENDENT CROATIA WAS THEIR REAL "CRIME"
To the extent of forty-five long years, the Serbian-dominated communist government of Yugoslavia (with help from Mesic's present clique) perpetuated the myth of a Croatian "genocidal" nature. They inflated the crimes of Jasenovac with one purpose and intent-- to forever neutralize the rights of Croats and their idea of an independent Croatia. Any attempt to challenge Tito's dictatorship was met with the accusation (and indictment) of Croatian "fascist separatism." Charged with this "crime," many a Croat met his/her doom at one of Tito's concentration camps or prisons. Whether it be Goli otok, Gradiska and, yes, Jasenovac (there is sufficient evidence that proves Tito ran the Jasenovac camp after the fall of NDH). Many a Croat, to the number of 72, was murdered by Yugoslav Secret Police agents across the world! The most prominent being Ante Bruno Busic, Croatian intellectual and visionary, murdered for the "crime" of challenging Yugoslav tyranny! His murderers have yet to be brought to justice!
The Belgrade-dominated government purposely inflated the crimes of Jasenovac, not just for post-war reparations paid by Germany, but to tighten its grip on it's most formidable enemy-- the Croat people. In fact, it was on the myth of Jasenovac, or on the "fear" of a mythical Croatian "genocidal" separatism that Tito's Serbian-dominated regime controlled Yugoslav society. The entire Croat nation, with its aspirations for sovereignty, was Tito's internal enemy! The Croatian diaspora, with all its pro-Croatia activity, was its external enemy! It was Tito's Montenegrin right-hand man, Milovan Djilas, who proclaimed to the world that "in order for Yugoslavia to exist, the Croats had to perish!" And perish they did in the fields of Bleiburg, Austria and in the many trenches and ravines (murder grounds) that span the length and width of ex-Yugoslavia.
DESTRUCTION OF CROATIAN UNITY
When the first, and last, president of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, set the course for Croatian independence, he knew all too well that the only chance of success lay in the reconciliation between Croats. For a very short period of time, staring into Yugoslav (Serbian) barrels and cannons, Croats buried their WWII "axes" and concentrated on the enemy intent on their destruction. Belgrade. But time would have its way with Tudjman and his company, and Croatia, left without a respectful leader, would once again be led astray. For it was Tudjman that expressed an authority that today's Croatia sorely misses. And it was Tudjman that kept the domicile Croato-phobes in check. It was he who constantly reminded Croats that they need not dwell on the division of the past. But they should look to the future built on the success of Croatian soldiers who fought a righteous war against Serbian terrorism and aggression, and won.
The call to battle was answered by many sons and daughters of ustashe, partisans and homeguard. While the fates of their ancestors might have been decided by external factors, their fates were decided by themselves alone. They valiantly fought for and established a sovereign and free independent Republic of Croatia. I wish their stories had a happier epilogue, but it is simply not the case. Their legacy has been all but destroyed; removed from "official" Croatian society, it dwells only in the hearts and minds of ordinary Croat folk. Both in the homeland and diaspora. Many of them have taken their own lives, never to enjoy the fruits of freedom that they themselves made possible. Their superiors, their generals, have been brought to trial. They have been caught and extradited to international courts. Many of them have been convicted by treasonous Croatian courts. The image and meaning of Ante Gotovina dwells only in the souls of ordinary Croats who will never forget the sacrifice he made for his country, long forgotten by Croatia's present rulers.
MESIC'S CLIQUE DEFAMES CROATIA'S REAL LIBERATORS
As the legacy of Croatian success has been, step-by-step, demolished in contemporary Croatia, the political and media elites have done their absolute best to rehabilitate or, more appropriately, re-establish a partisan/communist foundation for the Republic of Croatia.
Interestingly enough, these same proponents of neo-Yugoslavism lay claim to Croatia's foundation, while they either ignore or dishonor the true founders of independent Croatia. They reserve the very same spite, hatred and ignorance, for example, General Janko Bobetko (a true Croat partisan) and Gojko Susak (emigre). They absurdly lay claim to the foundation of Croatia, while in reality they were/are hard-core Yugo-Serbian pawns and agents, that always opposed an independent Croatia (Mesic, Manolic, J.Perkovic, Loncar, Jakic).
They speak of "anti-fascist" victory and glory and its foundation of Croatia, while they commit treason against Tudjman, Susak, Bobetko and Gotovina. Just which Croatia are they loyal to? It should be obvious to all that the Croatia they are loyal to is not the independent Republic of Croatia established by Tudjman and Co., but to a Croatia they are, once again, transforming into the Socialist Republic of Croatia, that murdered Croats for Serbian gain, in the name of "Brotherhood & Unity."
HATRED OF THE CHURCH - "THE BASTION OF USTASHISM"
At a recent book review in Zagreb, so-called "anti-fascists" under the patronage of Croatia's president Stjepan Mesic, re-released a book filled with documents and "evidence" compiled by the post-war Yugoslav Secret Police (OZNA) that was published during the very sensitive year of 1946; with the sole purpose of creating the "proper" climate needed to convict Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac at a Yugoslav show-trial. The book is comprised of forged documents and doctored accounts that "incriminate" the war-time Roman Catholic Clergy of Croatia, "guilty" of collaborating with the ustashe and the Nazi occupiers. The book and the "evidence" have long been debunked, but this hateful Yugoslav revival is indicative of the current state of politics in present-day Croatia.
A speaker at the book-review, Filip Erceg, straight from the era of Aleksandar Rankovic & Marsal Tito, went as far to say that the Roman Catholic Church created the ustashe!
As Ivan Miklenic of Glas Koncila wrote in response to the renewed accusations, Croatians should never forget that it was this type of Yugo-communist propaganda, absurdly masquerading as the "people's interest," that generated Serbia's aggression on Croatia.
Yes, the Yugoslav Communists that, sadly, rule Croatia till this very day, invented and perpetuated the myth of Jasenovac which Slobodan Milosevic used to brainwash his people and caused them to murder Croats and commit aggresion against Croatia in the 1990s. Look no further, Croats. The enemy lives in your bosom.