[the aggression against Serbs as "unprovoked yet classic war crimes", ]
http://news.serbianunity.net/bydate/2005/December_21/23.html?w=p Serbian Unity Congress It's Dangerous to Tackle Taboos in Croatia IPS December 21, 2005 Vesna Peric Zimonjic The host of a popular talk show on state-run Croatian Television (HRT), Denis Latin, and his aides received some 200 telephone threats over the course of two days, including threats against their lives, after airing a programme dealing with the legacy of 1991-95 independence or "homeland" war. For the time being, Latin is unwilling to comment specifically on the public turbulence his show caused, but has repeatedly told his fellow journalists that "the show and the following events speak for themselves about the situation in the country." Latin is likely to move his show, "Latinica", from state TV to one of the new media outlets only recently established in Croatia. However, his programme caused outrage among a number of associations of homeland war veterans, who called for "banning such shows and ideas propagation" on state TV. Croatian Parliament held several days of fierce debates on what should be done with the HRT, "a state TV channel that allows anti-state propaganda to flourish", while the speaker of parliament Vladimir Seks dubbed the show a "blasphemous forgery of the nation's history". Particular rage was aimed at HRT editors, as the show is pre-recorded days ahead, and many lawmakers said it should not have been aired at all. The suicide of a war veteran suffering from post traumatic stress disorder was widely picked up by some local media as "evidence of what the wrongful interpretation of war can do". But for its part, the Croatian Journalists' Association condemned the threats against the "Latinica" creators as the "strongest attack against freedom of speech in this country so far." "The public has the right to its opinion or to disagree with the views of editors or journalists, but in a civilised community no one has the right to impose one's attitudes or views through violence... Even the most sensitive issues, such as the role of the first president of Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, have to be discussed in a tolerant atmosphere, free of fear," the association said in a statement. The episode of the show, titled "The Legacy of Tudjman", after former president Franjo Tudjman, was directly inspired on the Dec. 7 arrest of his fugitive general Ante Gotovina in Spain. The programme dealt with taboos such as war crimes against non-Croats, reconciliation and facing the recent past. Gotovina is generally viewed as national hero, as he led an operation that ended the war. However, he was wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes against Croatian Serbs in 1995. But apart from debate on Gotovina's arrest, the largest viewing audience in Croatia heard on state TV for the first time in 14 years that hundreds of Serbs were killed in war solely because of their ethnicity, particularly in the coastal region of Zadar and the eastern town of Osijek. The discussion went on about discrimination of Serbs in all walks of life, even today, where jobs and education are concerned. Polls showing that more than 60 percent of Croats never want their children to marry Serbs were presented, as well as hints that Serbs are changing their names into those that sound "more Croatian" to avoid intimidation. This runs directly contrary to the official propaganda, promoted since 1991, that Croatia was merely defending itself from outside aggression by a Belgrade-led army that opposed its independence, and that there was no wrongdoing involved. The propaganda also said Croation was also the victim of inner aggression, the armed rebellion by Croatian Serbs, who were backed by Belgrade. This argument meets with little question among Croats. And the fact that Gen. Gotovina's operation in 1995 led to the eviction of more than 200,000 Croatian Serbs is viewed with little criticism. However, some participants on the show described the aggression against Serbs as "unprovoked yet classic war crimes", a thing never heard over state TV. Others said that Tudjman, in order to fuel popular support, used the insignia, ideas and slogans of Nazi puppet Ustashi regime from World War II to stimulate pro-independence feelings among 4.2 million Croats in 1991 and frighten some 450,000 Serbs. He even named the currency of the newly independent nation "kuna", a clear resemblance to the fascist state that exterminated Serbs, Jews and gypsies (also known as Roma). At one time, he suggested that the remains of heroes of homeland war and Ustashi soldiers be re-buried at the memorial site of Jasenovac, where hundreds of thousands of Ustashi regime victims are buried, in the name of "national reconciliation". Bowing under pressure, as Parliament demanded his resignation, head of HRT Mirko Galic told local media that the "Latinica" show in question was "carried out unprofessionally... We have a rule within HRT that everything can be debated openly, but not in a superficial one-sided and biased way, which was the case with the show. Such non-professionalism will be punished." However, a leading human rights group, the Croatian Helsinki Committee (HHO), reacted with criticism to the lawmakers' debate and the events surrounding "Latinica". "The parliamentary debate showed the clear intention of the ruling bloc (led by Tudjman's heirs from his Croatian Democratic Union party) to finally establish control over the programmes of HRT and put a person loyal to it to run the TV station," the HHO statement said. The rights group noted that, as in the communist era preceding the homeland war, the ruling bloc obviously wants the TV station, which is still state-owned, to refrain from criticising or exerting pressure on the people in power. HRT programme director Tatjana Simic told IPS that "holding Latin responsible, and even his sacking, was demanded by the HRT Programme Council." The council is the body made up of prominent public figures in Croatia. "However, between being accused of introducing censorship and of non-professionalism, I choose the latter," she added, as she was among the persons who viewed the show in advance. Serbian News Network - SNN news@antic.org http://www.antic.org/
