VZCZCXRO9473
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVB #0623 1801244
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 291244Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7868
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000623 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL HR HUMAN RIGHTS
SUBJECT: FANS' BEHAVIOR AT CONCERT ANGERS CROATIA'S JEWISH 
COMMUNITY 
 
 
(U) Sensitive but unclassified; please handle accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY AND COMMENT: Nationalist domestic pop star 
Marko Perkovic (aka - Thompson) was again in the spotlight 
following a June 17th concert in Zagreb's Maksimir stadium. 
With an estimated attendance of 50,000 people, the 
controversial performer refrained from making his earlier 
pro-Ustashe references and Hitler-style salutes; however some 
of his young fans did not. Fans were seen wearing Ustashe 
apparel, chanting Ustashe songs and slogans, and displaying 
outlawed Ustashe symbols.  We agree with our interlocutors 
here that the behavior of the audience, unacceptable as it 
was, represented not a resurgence of fascism but the presence 
of a substantial cadre of disaffected youth who have little 
understanding of the Ustashe period.  END SUMMARY AND COMMENT. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The politically active Jewish Community of Zagreb 
reacted expressing their outrage over the behavior of the 
fans and criticized the limited response of Croatian 
authorities towards the display of banned symbols at the 
concert.  Criticism was also expressed by the Simon 
Wiesenthal Center and leaders of The Association of 
Anti-Fascist Fighters and Croatian Anti-Fascists.  A key 
concern was the lack of police efforts to detect and prevent 
the use of Ustashe insignia by the audience. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  On Tuesday, June 19,  the GoC issued a statement 
rejecting the display of insignia and salutes from the World 
War Two Ustashe regime: "Contemporary Croatia rests on the 
values of anti-fascism and resistance to all forms of 
totalitarianism.  The government calls on all components of 
Croatian society, notably those with influence on youth, to 
nurture and promote the values on which contemporary Europe 
rests."  President Mesic, in a separate statement, further 
added that people who use the Ustashe salute "Za Dom Spremni" 
and glorify the Independent State of Croatia are clearly 
headed in the wrong direction. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Ambassador discussed the concert with Dr. Ivo 
Goldstein, President of the Bet Israel Jewish community, 
Shmuel Meirom, the Israeli Ambassador to Croatia, and Dragan 
Primorac, the Croatian Minister of Science, Education and 
Sport.  All were concerned by any use of Ustashe symbols, but 
attributed the misbehavior to a relatively small number of 
young fans, rather than to a broader societal problem. 
Goldstein said it was important to differentiate Thompson, 
who had not used Ustashe symbols at the concert, from his 
fans.  Meirom noted that while any display of Ustashe 
paraphernalia was an issue of concern, compared with 50,000 
people in the audience the number wearing Ustashe shirts and 
other symbols was small.  Primorac, who, contrary to press 
reports did not attend the concert, said that Thompson 
himself was not the problem; there will always be some people 
who will take advantage of such fora, however, to express 
their views.  He also said that he did not believe that most 
of those wearing Ustashe paraphernalia really understood the 
history behind the symbols; in any case, the views of this 
small nationalistic group should not be considered indicative 
of the perspective of Croatian youth as a whole. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Comment:  Thompson calls himself a patriot rather 
than a nationalist.  He has certainly moved away from the 
nationalist and even semi-fascist imagery he used in the 
1990's,  just as these sentiments have become less and less 
politically and socially acceptable in post-Tudjman Croatia. 
Some of his fans, however, seem unwilling or unable to 
distinguish between Ustashe "Chic" and the historical 
realities that their style of rebellion and clothing 
represent.   The number of fans wearing T-shirts depicting 
alleged war criminal Ante Gotovina gives credence to the 
theory that fans were motivated more by a certain rebellious 
"patriotism" than fascism or anti-Semitism. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  The Thompson case became visible in public in 2003 
when two of his concerts were banned in Amsterdam at the 
insistence of the Israeli Documentation Center (CIDI). 
Existing Croatian laws ban broadcasting contents which incite 
or spread national, racial or religious hatred, anti-Semitism 
or xenophobia.  Thompson's planned concert was also banned in 
Sarajevo in May of this year. 
BRADTKE