By Andrej Nikolaidis, CdM columnist
A group of fascists has announced a protest in Split today. Why Split? Because that’s where the parents of Boris Dezulovic live, and the blackshirts intend to demonstrate beneath their windows. And why are they protesting? Because they don’t like the way Boris Dezulovic thinks and writes. And why in front of his parents’ apartment, rather than his own, or the café where he drinks his coffee, the bakery where he buys his bread, the gas station where he fills his tank? Because fascists love terror, and above all terror against the defenceless. Fascism always invokes heroism, while in fact it’s an ideology of cowards. Fascism always invokes tradition, though its only true tradition is dishonor. Fascism always invokes family values, which, in their interpretation, means slaughter; and when that’s not possible, then at least the harassment of entire families.
Whether it’s Pavelic’s and Artukovic’s, Draza’s or Djurisic’s, Mussolini’s or Trump’s, fascism is the very opposite of both honour and heroism.
To put it plainly: you must really be a piece of shit to organize protests in an attempt to intimidate the elderly and the defenceless. As Toma Markovic once quipped, in a brilliant twist on the title of the famous song ‘Sve je lako kad si mlad’ by Prljavo Kazaliste (eng. Nothing’s a big deal when you’re a bastard)
Fascists, on top of everything else, are perpetually anxious about national identity and “authentic” culture. The paradox is this: Boris Dezulovic has done more for Croatian identity than all Croatian fascists combined – precisely because, as a first-rate journalist and prose writer, Dezulovic stands at the very summit of Croatian culture.
Just like Viktor Ivancic stands. And like Predrag Lucic stood and still stands despite his death. Each of them individually, and together as Feral Tribune, belongs to the pantheon of Croatian culture and of all the cultures of our many-named language.
Likewise, all our fascists, individually and together, form the bottom of the common septic tank into which they have turned everything they have touched.
The announced protest has nothing to do with freedom of expression: it’s about intimidation and a demonstration of force.
Dezulovic himself has asked the Croatian state to prevent the harassment of his parents. If the state fails to do so, as he said, he’ll do it himself. In doing so, he added, he would merely be fulfilling his constitutional duty – because under the Croatian Constitution, children are obliged to care for their parents.
In my opinion, it’s the most horrifying detail of this story: those who intend to descend upon his parents know they can count on the state, just as Boris Dezulovic is aware he cannot. The truth of the story lies in that detail. Considering the current state of play, the authorities have ordered that the protest be moved to another location. The organizers, even after that decision, haven’t changed the venue. Now it’s up to the state to stop them.
(The opinions and views of our columnists aren’t necessarily those the CdM news team)
