Democracy in Croatia--Tudjman Style

Croatian President Franjo Tudjman’s government sought to name a street in Zagreb, the capital, after a Croatian who collaborated with the Nazi puppet regime there during World War II. Politics aside, officials said, the man should be rewarded for his work as an author.

The independent daily Slobodna Dalmacija, in Dalmatia, a Croatian province along the Adriatic coast, dared to challenge this outrage. In a weekly satirical section, the 100,000-circulation newspaper ran a full-page photo of Adolf Hitler, urging that a street be named for him to honor his accomplishments as a painter.

In retaliation for this and other barbs, government forces are moving to put Slobodna Dalmacija (the name means Free Dalmatia), the nation’s second-largest daily, under more stringent control, silencing one of the last vestiges of a free press that remain in the former Yugoslav republic. And, sadly, this effort to quash dissent coincides with other efforts to silence critics of an increasingly right-wing government.

A recent story in the once proudly independent weekly Globus singled out five “feminist” writers, charging that they were “raping” Croatia with their writings and their comments abroad. One of the sinful statements came from Slavenka Drakulic, who wrote, “In the new state of Croatia, it is forbidden not to be Croatian.” Dubravka Ugresic was sanctioned for noting that “dynamiters are blowing up Serbian houses.”

And just in case a Globus reader might want to take direct action against the critics, the newspaper provided a convenient chart indicating the towns where the five writers lived, their marital status and family background.

Like other economic concerns, Slobodna Dalmacija was under state control when the republic split from communist Yugoslavia. Journalists at the daily later tried to buy it, but their efforts were rejected. Instead, staffers charge, a management team headed by two aspiring politicians in Tudjman’s party is trying to hamstring objective reporting. And the government agency overseeing privatization is moving to give a controlling stake to three state-influenced banks. Slobodna Dalmacija staffers fought this last week, as hundreds of reporters, drivers, salespeople and printers went on strike.

True, Croatia is on a war footing, making news coverage sensitive to demands for secrecy to protect troop movements and the like. But satirizing a repugnant policy like renaming streets for unrepentant Nazi collaborators strengthens Croatian democracy without compromising Croatian military security.

If Tudjman, a former communist general, wants the international community to count Croatia among the world’s democracies, if he wants the benefits that this status implies, then he must allow the free exchange of ideas that democracy requires--even when it makes him look foolish. And that means, to begin with, taking his official hands off Slobodna Dalmacija.