Alas, at their World Cup celebration in Zagreb, the players of Croatia invited a far-right singer onto the stage, Marko Perkovic, who is nicknamed after the machine gun (Thompson) he used in the Balkan wars. ft.com/content/73b55b…
Perkovic is regarded as a supporter of Croatia's fascist World War II regime, the Ustase. At his concerts, Ustase slogans are shouted out. A few years ago, he sang at a concert to support Croat generals convicted of war crimes in Bosnia. balkaninsight.com/en/article/fas…
During the World Cup, I tweeted that while Croatia itself should not be portrayed as a plucky fairy tale, its players, most of whom weren't alive during the Balkan wars, should not be held responsible for what happened back then. I spoke too soon.
Luka Modric, the captain of the Croatian team, was a refugee during the war between Croatia and Serbia; his grandfather was killed, his father was in the Croatian Army. Modric invited Thompson onto the team bus. Here they are on the stage together. muzika.hr/luka-modric-th…
Sons are not guilty for the sins of their fathers. But when Modric celebrates arm-in-arm with a singer who glorifies war crimes of the past, he steps over a line. Modric is a reminder of how much Croatia has to acknowledge. He should read up on Jasenovac. ushmm.org/wlc/en/article…
Modric might also read up on the war crimes convictions of Croat generals who were found guilty of "orchestrating a campaign of terror and atrocities to drive Bosnian Muslims away and to seize their territory." theguardian.com/law/2013/may/2…
