USTASHISM REHABILITATION PROCESS ENTERS NEW PHASE, SERBIA MUST REACT

BELGRADE, NOVEMBER 8 /SRNA/ – A series of incidents in recent days and open acts of violence against Serbs in Croatia indicate that the process of rehabilitating Ustashism has entered a new phase, therefore Serbia must react and draw attention to the violation of modern civilization’s basic values in Croatia, the head of the Association of Serbs from the Region, Miodrag Linta, told SRNA.

Linta saiys this new phase of rehabilitating Ustashism in Croatia represents the final confrontation with the legacy of anti-fascism in that country and sends a message to Serbs that they must urgently either emigrate or become Orthodox Croats. “Concealed Ustashas tolerated the small number of Serbs that remained in Croatia, that there was no violence against them, that they could hold their cultural events, but these radical, open Ustashas are against that. Now, the law of the street dominates. Human rights are being violated, above all the right to assembly, and anti-fascism itself is being violated,” Linta stated. He believes that Serbia must react and to point out through the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the UN Security Council, and other international bodies that today’s Croatia is becoming a factor of instability in the Balkans. He emphasized that by violating anti-fascism, Croatia is also violating its own Constitution, and that it is necessary to insist that Croatia amend its Criminal Code to ban the Ustasha salute “For the Homeland – Ready”, the use of the Ustasha letter “U”, and, following the example of Germany and Austria, define monetary and prison penalties for such offenses. Linta said that Croatia is becoming a negative example, and that the international public must be constantly reminded of this. “Just imagine that the largest Nazi gathering was held on July 5in a EU member state,” Linta pointed out. He recalled that half a million Croats responded in unison with “Ready” to the salute “For the Homeland – Ready” at a concert of the controversial singer Marko Perković Thompson. “Anyone who openly uses Ustasha symbols is an Ustasha — whether openly or covertly, still an Ustasha. Such Croats make up the majority in Croatia, which is why we have the situation we do,” Linta noted. A group of about a hundred masked men gathered last night outside the Serb Cultural Centre in Zagreb, where an exhibition was being opened as part of the “Days of Serb Culture,” chanting Ustasha slogans, prompting police intervention. The holding of the “Days of Serb Culture” was prevented with the same iconography on November 3 in Split, where yesterday graffiti also appeared glorifying the criminal Nazi creation, the Independent State of Croatia, and its leader Ante Pavelić, as well as in Zadar and many other places across Croatia.