VZCZCXRO9760
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVB #0409 1551107
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 031107Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8353
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000409 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE AND EUR/PPD 
DEPT FOR INR/MORIN 
NSC FOR BRAUN 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV HR
SUBJECT:  CONCERT BY NATIONALIST POP SINGER PASSES WITHOUT INCIDENT 
 
REF: ZAGREB 404 
 
¶1. (U) The controversial Croatian pop singer Marko Perkovic 
Thompson's concert on Zagreb's central square on May 30 passed 
without serious incident or any significant presence of the Ustasha 
(neo-Nazi) insignia that had appeared among his audiences in earlier 
performances.  The concert, organized by the War Veteran's 
Association of Zagreb and partially financed by the City of Zagreb 
(REFTEL), was held to mark War Veterans' Day.  Teenagers wearing 
black and parents with young children wearing the uniform of 
Croatia's national soccer team dominated the audience of some 60,000 
persons packed into Jelacic square.  A few small groups chanted 
abusive slogans against Serbs while waiting for the beginning of the 
rain-delayed concert, and several teenagers were photographed giving 
Nazi salutes.  But most media and an observer from the Embassy's 
Political Section present at the square saw no Ustasha insignia or 
slogans in the audience, a finding confirmed by the police. 
 
¶2. (U) After an hour's rain delay, Thompson set the tone by 
beginning the concert with a more moderate number, "Friends," rather 
than his usual opening number, "Cavoglave," whose introduction has 
an Ustasha greeting ("za dom spremni" or "prepared for the 
homeland") and a chorus including machine gun fire.  Thompson 
continued by saluting war veterans, particularly former general 
Mirko Norac, who was convicted earlier that day by a Zagreb court 
for crimes against ethnic Serbs (septel).  During the concert 
Thompson also thanked Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic for refusing to 
succumb to pressure not to allow the concert to take place and later 
hailed the ICTY's indicted general Gotovina. The audience, including 
thousands of teenagers too young to have any direct memories of the 
1990's Homeland War, seemed to know every word of his lyrics. 
 
¶3. (U) Both before and after the concert, many local human rights 
activists condemned the event and criticized Mayor Bandic for 
supporting it.  Criticism focused not just on the anti-Semitism 
implicit in any use of neo-Nazi symbolism, but even more so on the 
nationalist tenor of Thompson's music and lyrics that some view as 
inciting intolerance toward Serbs.  Local media noted the particular 
paradox that Mayor Bandic is a leading politician for the opposition 
Social Democratic Party, whose political appeal is based to some 
degree on being less nationalistic than the ruling HDZ.  SDP 
leaders, however, have been careful not to publicly criticize 
Bandic's decision to sponsor the concert.  SDP's President Zoran 
Milanovic was quoted as saying only that Croatian "society is 
unfortunately still very divided, although some persistently deny 
that" and "it will take a lot of patience and good will to overcome 
that."  PM Sanader, in a comment on June 2, urged Thompson to do 
more to personally discourage his fans from using Ustasha symbols, 
noting that any nostalgia for that era was misguided. 
 
¶4. (SBU) COMMENT:  Supporting Croatia's veterans and "preserving the 
dignity of the Homeland War" remain sensitive political issues in 
this country.  Friday's unintentionally twinned events of the 
Ademi-Norac verdict and the Thompson trial provided an interesting 
display of how Croatia has both made progress in coming to terms 
with the history of the war, but still struggles with expressing 
national pride in an inclusive fashion.  The fact that Thompson's 
audience showed little interest in responding to the Norac 
conviction shows that, even among some of Croatia's most alienated 
groups, the emotions of the war may be beginning to fade.  END 
COMMENT.