A week or so ago, a Swiss court decided to ban a concert in Switzerland by a popular Croatian singer with unmistakable fascist leanings. As I write, there is a huge demonstration against this decision in front of the Swiss embassy in the center of Zagreb. I was having my coffee at the terrace of Bulldog Pub next door when the demonstration began and then gathered momentum. “Croatians are not fascist,” yelled one speaker to a thunderous applause. “Croatians have been slighted,” yelled another to a new thunderous applause and tremendous waving of flags. “Croatia, Croatia, Croatia…,” the crowd responded in unison. The flags went wild. Once the crowd started thickening a bit too quickly, I got up from my table, paid my bill, and hurried away. Now, the only problem with all of this is that many of those who have gathered for the demonstration are wearing black shirts. Perhaps they think that black has been the singer’s favorite color ever since the country’s independence for no other reason than idiosyncratic taste.

Addendum I (September 4, 2015)

Each and every time I tell this story, I add a detail that is mysteriously omitted from this account. Namely, one of the reasons why I got up and left the Bulldog Pub in a hurry while the demonstration was gathering momentum was that I happened to be wearing a black T-shirt on that particular day. Not only was I uncomfortable with the thickening crowd, but I was also afraid that I would be mistaken for one of the Croatian singer’s avid supporters dressed in black. Now, why is this detail conspicuously missing in this account? The only explanation that comes to my mind so many years after the event is that it would make the story kind of funny, if not even hilarious, whereas I wanted it to be as serious as it could possibly be. Croatian fascism is hardly a joke, to be sure. At any rate, the story is now complete. The name of the Croatian singer with unmistakable fascist leanings is not even worth mentioning at this juncture. Or ever, for that matter.

Addendum II (July 6, 2025)

Strangely enough, I am telling the same story so many years later because the singer in question is on everyone’s lips right now. His concert in Zagreb, which took place yesterday evening, attracted no less than half a million fans. And most of them wore black shirts once again. Many of them had fascist insignia, as well. The singer closed his concert with the Ustasha salute that is officially banned in Croatia. Still, it is all over the place. Most of the foreign press covered the record-breaking concert without missing the singer’s fascist and ultra-nationalist leanings, but the local press is careful about such topics. The singer is so popular at this day and age that any careless words would be economically disastrous. Which says a great deal about Croatia today. The country is leaning to the right beyond any doubt, and much of its youth is part and parcel of it. Although many older Croatians stress that the youngsters have no idea what the Ustasha regime was actually like, it is ever more likely that its ways and means would not be unappealing to them. Now that Croatia is teeming with visible foreigners, without whom nothing would work any longer, the rising nationalism will become palpable soon enough. And there will be many more humongous concerts in line.