Protests in Support of the General in Flight

AIM Zagreb, February 17, 2001

"We are all Mirko Norac" - this is the motto of big protest gatherings held all over Croatia for the benefit of the young general who disappeared from the face of the world some days ago, just when he was about to be taken into custody under suspicion that he had committed a war crime against civilian population. Where he is at the moment - nobody knows. All things considered, friars in Herzegovina are hiding him.

Mirko Norac, for some a wartime icon, for the others - a war criminal. So far the general was considered a hero of the Homeland War, his status, not only in the army, but in the society as well, corresponded to that notion. At the same time, his name is in public linked to the crimes committed against civilians. How can these two facts be reconciled? There is no doubt that Norac deserves the merit for having defended Gospic, the town which was severely attacked by the Serb party. But during the investigation on the Gospic case a few witnesses accused him of having personally participated in executions of the Serbs, and even that he tested "Croat patriotism" of his associates by their readiness to shoot at civilians. What is the truth and what is the ratio between the merits and the guilt - should be determined by the court. If permitted to do so. And a big part of Croatia is investing a big effort in the attempt to prevent it. Veterans' unions have immediately organised mass gatherings, marches and blockades of roads.

For a few days Croatia was divided in two, just as it was at the time of Serb (1991 road blockades with) logs. At a big rally in Split, more than 100 thousand people gathered who had come from all parts of Croatia and the neighbouring B&H. However, the gathering in Zagreb which was expected, according to announcements, to gather double that number of participants, proved to be a failure. There were about 10 thousand people, mostly those who have come from elsewhere. The citizens of Zagreb expressedly ignored this event, at the approach to the square a humorous graffito appeared as a response to the "We are all Mirko Norac". "We are all Carla del Ponte", the other Croatia wrote its reply, the one that did not holler at rallies, and that according to investigations, is a silent majority.

On the occasion of the Norac case, the question that arises in Croatia in general is: is it permitted in the name of what is believed to be a sacred cause - defence of homeland, according to Tudjman's conviction, and creation of the state - to commit a crime? Or do the crimes reveal the true nature of the alleged sanctities they refer to?

The former regime had a very clear answer to this question: creation of the state is above all, and for that goal all those who were believed by the leadership of the then ruling Croat Democratic Community (HDZ) to hinder "progress" were to be silently removed. Therefrom, Tudjman's clique treated persons who it knew had committed crimes with special care: it bestowed them with promotions and privileges, offered them all kinds of protection. Successors of Tudjman's policy nowadays demand amnesty for all Croat defenders. They demand that a legal regulation be passed which would prevent their punitive persecution in general, that they be made inaccessible to justice regardless of what they have done, even if there are indications that they were implicated in crime. Such demands for practical exemption of the defenders de facto deny the constitutional provision according to which all the citizens are equal in the face of the law. In the same manner in which they oppose The Hague Tribunal, advocates of Norac are rejecting the possibility of action of Croatian judiciary as well. They demand the status of the untouchables.

The current authorities claim that every crime must be brought to justice, but only after the announcement of Norac's arrest they began showing that they really mean it. Partly probably pursuant the logic: better Croatia than The Hague. It manifested great clumsily in the arrest of Norac. The minister admitted that that it was agreed with the general that he would "voluntarily face the court" and he sees nothing questionable about it. President of the Republic Stipe Mesic declared in a television interview to the nation that he would receive Norac for "filing a complaint" whatever that might mean, although he is a man wanted by the police. Mesic was ready to get involved in meeting conditions under which the runaway general was allegedly ready to turn himself in: trial in a Croatian court, that he would not be detained pending trial, but he of course could not ensure guarantees that The Hague Tribunal would not demand that he be extradited.

Although the photos of Norac in the hands of the protesters flooded Croatia, the general's destiny is but the immediate cause and not the main interest of massive turmoil. The announced arrest of the first Croatian general indicted for a war crime committed against civilians was used by the Rightists for a new charge against the current authorities. The forces defeated in last-year's elections, primarily HDZ with its cronies, know only too well that in a democratic way, in elections, they cannot regain power. That is why they organise protests of the people. This time HDZ openly backed the Rightists' protests, and all things considered the developments are arranged according to the scenario conceived through his intelligence underground by the son of late president Tudjman, Miroslav, who was during his daddy's rule the head of secret services, and who is nowadays manifesting a growing ambition to replace his father on the political scene.

Foreign diplomats have in the past few days been making enquiries whether the authorities can endure the outburst of the sound and the fury of the Rightists that spread around Croatia on the occasion of the Norac case. Are the democratic forces strong enough not to succumb, not to be washed away by the extremist tide?

The force manifested at rallies should certainly be respected. These were so far the biggest and the severest demonstrations against the current authorities. The Rightist option has always been strong in Croatia. Investigations show that a significant part of the population supports nationalistic and counter-democratic demands expressed at the rallies. Activities such as road blockades are approved of one third of the citizens. It is true that the majority, 56 per cent, rejects them, but the force of those who are in favour certainly is not negligible. Politicologists warn that even a smaller number of extremists can cause great commotion in a society. A special problem is that in Croatia there is no such thing as a normal conservative party like in stable democracies. Over here, the Right is primitive, undemocratic, violent, linked to the Ustashe movement.

For the time being the current authorities, president of the state Mesic and Racan's government, do not seem to be eroded by insults and accusations. Perhaps the destructive campaign that is rolling around Croatia against them, is uniting their voters, too. But the question is whether they will endure if the current tensions persist. Should the protests of the Right go on in Croatia, every outcome seems possible. Vladimir Gligorov, connoisseur of transition processes, says: "What is now happening in Croatia is one of the typical ways in which the newly born democracies are ruined". The still fragile institutions cannot endure the pressure of populism. Besides, it was observed that this time the protests of the Right are joined by socially desperate people. And persons without means for living, history teaches, easily become the main force of fascism. It appears that Croatian democracy is unstable - not so much because of the strength of the Right or its protests as because neither the state nor the society, systematically eroded during Tudjman's era, still have not managed to considerably consolidate.

Jelena Lovric

(AIM)