Zvonko Bušić nadao se da će doći do buđenja. Do samoga kraja: Dosadan je i tužan život u narodu u kojem nema heroja

Zvonko Bušić vjerovao je kako dobre stvari trebaju biti dostupne svima. Ono za što je živio, radio i vjerovao, za što je podnio žrtvu, objavljeno je u knjizi “Zdravo oko”, koja je dostupna na Amazonu. pod nazivom “All Visible Things”. Poglavlje po poglavlje, kap krvi po kap krvi i život dan po dan objavljujemo svaka dva tjedna u 33 dijela – samo s jednim ciljem! Trajat će!

BRANITELJI

“I kako može čovjek bolje mrijeti
Nego se strašnoj nadmoći oprijeti,
Za pepeo i kosti pradjedova,
I posvećene hramove bogova.“

Horatius, Thomas Macaulay

Borba, i smrt u obrani domovine – ima li od toga veće časti? Po Zvonkovu mišljenju, nema! Među onime zbog čega je najviše žalio bila je i činjenica da nije mogao sudjelovati u Domovinskom ratu. Ironično, budući da je dotad već 25 godina branio Hrvatsku, iza zatvorskih zidova.

„Nije to isto”, rekao bi mi. „Sjedenje u zatvorskoj ćeliji iz godine u godinu ne može se usporediti sa sudjelovanjem u bitci kako bih zaštitio svoju obitelj, dom i domovinu, spreman u svakome trenutku žrtvovati svoj život, zajedno s ratnim drugovima.”

Usprkos užasima rata, smatrao je da u podizanju oružja protiv okrutnih i nepravednih napadača postoji nešto sveto. Zato nije bilo nimalo čudno što su njegove prve riječi upućene mnoštvu koje ga je dočekalo u zračnoj luci kad se najzad vratio kući bile riječi o braniteljima, o njegovoj ljubavi i poštovanju prema njima, i o njegovu divljenju njihovim nevjerojatnim žrtvama usprkos svim preprekama na koje su naišli, manjku potpore međunarodne zajednice i pokušajima da se hrvatska borba za neovisnost prikaže nečim zlim.

Bilo je zapanjujuće vidjeti ga kako uopće govori suvislo, a kamoli drži poticajan govor, s obzirom na to da danima prije toga nije spavao, da je bio psihički zlostavljan, da mu nije bilo dopušteno oprati se ili otuširati, i da je bio u stanju gotovo nepodnošljivog uzbuđenja i stresa. Ali za njega je, bez obzira u kakvome se stanju sâm nalazi, krajnje važno bilo govoriti o braniteljima. Branitelji su bili njegovi junaci i želio je da njegove prve riječi na „slobodi” budu priznanje njima.

Godine 1976., one iste godine kad smo otišli u zatvor, objavljeno je Trojstvo, knjiga Leona Urisa o borbi Iraca protiv britanskih osvajača. Zvonko i ja pročitali smo tu knjigu i silno nas se dojmila zbog brojnih sličnosti između borbe Iraca i borbe Hrvata, a posebno zbog toga što su i Irci bili doživljeni kao negativci.

Među Zvonkovim ranim zatvorskim zabilješkama, mnogo je navoda iz Trojstva: „Ako sve ostalo zaboraviš, ovo zapamti: nijedan zločin koji čovjek počini za svoju slobodu ne može biti tako velik kao zločini koje počine oni koji mu tu slobodu uskraćuju.“ Ta ga je spoznaja na određeni način tješila kada su nas kasnije kroz medije napadali oni koji su činili sve da Hrvatskoj uskrate tu slobodu.

Uris je pisao i o tome da je ljubav prema domovini u podlozi čovjekove spremnosti da ode u rat: „Postoji misterij koji prkosi svim pokušajima da bude razjašnjen. Nema veće tajne no što je čovjekova ljubav prema domovini. Ona je najstrašnija ljepota. Naš narod nije mogla zadesiti veća tragedija no što je izgubiti strastvenu ljubav prema domovini kroz naraštaje patnje od tuđe ruke. Iznova ćemo raspiriti taj malaksali duh.“

Prirodni nagon da voliš i braniš ono što je tvoje bio je, naravno, nešto o čemu je Zvonko stalno razmišljao. U svojim je zatvorskim bilješkama napisao: „Ljudsko biće jedino kroz svoju obitelj, kroz svoj narod i vjeru može postati kompletan čovjek i živjeti punim i sretnim životom. Lažu, ili same sebe grdno zavaravaju svi moderni sofisti i cinici, svi današnji narcisisti i oportunisti koji paradiraju kao građani svijeta i propagiraju ljubav prema cijelom čovječanstvu, dok ljubav prema vlastitom narodu i domovini proglašavaju anakronizmom i izvrgavaju ruglu. Jer onaj tko sve voli ništa ne voli, tko svakoga voli zapravo nikoga ne voli. Zamislite čovjeka koji na Dan mrtvih ode na bilo koje groblje, cvijećem okiti i pomoli se na bilo kojem grobu, a ne traži grobove svoje rodbine i prijatelja. Preduvjet svake prave ljubavi prema čovječanstvu i brige za budućnost svijeta ljubav je prema svome bližnjemu i svome narodu i briga za budućnost vlastite domovine. Možda se intelektualne prostitutke nadaju da će na globalnoj životinjskoj farmi oni i njihovi potomci biti privilegirane životinje. Na njihovu veliku žalost, oni se u tome grdno varaju jer svi su ti položaji već davno rezervirani.“

Moralno, etičko i prirodno pravo na borbu za slobodu u ime onoga što je tvoje! Nikakvo čudo da je, kada je počeo Domovinski rat, u zatvoru pohlepno pratio sve vijesti koje je mogao i zamišljao se na bojištu s braniteljima. Nekako je uspio i domoći se kratkovalnog radio prijamnika u ćeliji tako da iz minute u minutu može primati reportaže iz cijeloga svijeta. Ponekad bih se zapanjila kako o događajima u Hrvatskoj zna naizgled više od mene! Svi su se tad osjećali tako živima, tako oživljenima a naročito branitelji. Zašto se ljudi u ratu tako osjećaju? Čovjek se osjeća najživljim kad mu prijeti smrt, rekao bi Zvonko.

Kad si u situaciji na život ili smrt, um se zaustavlja i posve si u trenutku, posve živ, sva su tvoja osjetila izoštrena. Nema problema, jer problemi nastaju iz razmišljanja o prošlosti i budućnosti. Kad si u trenutku, nema prošlosti, nema budućnosti. Kad god se sjetimo trenutka u životu kad smo se osjećali najživljima, uvijek je riječ o trenutku najveće opasnosti, rizika ili izazova, kad nema razmišljanja i analiziranja, ništa osim snažnih osjećaja, svijesti da si živ, uistinu živ, u trenutku, Sada!

Nije čudno, rekao bi mi, što kad se vrate u „običan“ život, ili kad najzad postanu „slobodni“, vojnike i dugogodišnje zatvorenike najednom spopadnu problemi iz prošlosti ili brige za budućnost – razmišljanja, razmišljanja, razmišljanja – i izgube vezu sa Životom. Osjećaju se drveno i mrtvo, i počinju se pitati zašto je tako. Žude za povratkom u onaj intenzitet postojanja, u zatvoru ili na bojištu, ili bilo gdje drugdje gdje su iskusili Život. Zvonko i ja često smo se vraćali na ovu temu, naročito kada bismo pročitali ili čuli za još nekog branitelja koji je počinio samoubojstvo. Tada bi mi on naglasio da se i obični ljudi stalno trude osjećati življima.

Budući da se malo nas nađe u situacijama na život ili smrt, kroz razne drame, sukobe i napetosti koje sami stvaramo pokušavamo izazvati druge vrste intenzivnih osjećaja, vjerujući da ćemo se tako na određeni način osjećati življima. Davao mi je primjere prijatelja i rođaka koji su bili u dugogodišnjoj zavadi, pa čak i sudskim sporovima, s drugim prijateljima ili rođacima. Ljudi stalno uvode nove elemente kako bi emocionalni intenzitet, osjećaj uzbuđenja, napetosti, iščekivanja i straha ostao visok.

Zamisli, rekao je za jednog znanca, on godinama ne razgovara s vlastitom sestrom! No bez te napetosti, osjećali bi se mrtvima, ne bi imali ništa! Zar ne razumiju da se život sastoji u tome da imaš nešto za što živiš? Ako nemaš nešto za što živiš, ništa nemaš! U svoje je bilješke prepisao ovaj odlomak iz jednog nenaslovljenog eseja koji je pročitao u zatvoru, jer je na njega ostavio dubok dojam: „Smisao života, ukratko, dolazi od ljubavi prema borbi: čovjekove spremnosti da čuva, bori se i, ako je potrebno, umre za više ciljeve – za ciljeve više od njega samoga. To što je grčki bog Narcis propao u svojoj ljubavi prema samome sebi samo je simbol traćenja mnogih života koje u današnje doba gledamo svuda oko sebe. To su prazni životi u potrazi za vlastitim užicima, jednako kao što su prazni i izrazi njihovih lica. Lišeni zanimanja, svrhe, iskustva i, što je najvažnije, predanosti.“

S braniteljima je, naravno, bilo zamršenije jer su oni imali nešto za što će živjeti, nešto veličanstveno i plemenito, ali nakon intenziteta bojišta, mnogi od njih izgubili su smisao života. Kao da su se stalno pitali: Što ćemo sad kad smo postigli svoj cilj? Kakvu svrhu sad imamo? Zvonku je to bilo jasno. Nije bilo dovoljno samo „životariti”. Željeli su da im se vrati Život! Još je nekoliko, konkretnijih problema vezanih uz branitelje mučilo i rastuživalo Zvonka nakon njegova povratka.

Kao prvo, smatrao je posebnom tragedijom što je toliko mnogo branitelja u naponu snage umirovljeno uz izdašne mirovine. Lakše je no što bi trebalo biti naviknuti se na „lagodan život”, odnosno na plaću bez rada, stan, život besposličarenja nakon godina žrtvi i borbe u ime ideala. Ne govorim da ti branitelji nisu zaslužili mirovinu, rekao je Zvonko. Govorim o tome da najednom ne moraju raditi pa mnogi izgube inicijativu i počnu provoditi sve svoje vrijeme po kafićima, piju, puše i žale se na stanje stvari. Mladi muškarci u naponu snage, snažni, hrabri i predani tijekom rata, najednom se u miru zatječu „nevažni” i beskorisni, kao balast. Nikakvo čudo da su izgubili osjećaj ponosa i svrhe, rekao bi Zvonko.

Ljudi se moraju osjećati korisnima, osjećati da su važni, vraćati društvu, a ne samo uzimati od njega, ne odabirati lakši put. Lakši put nikad nije put do spoznaje i prosvjetljenja, vjerovao je Zvonko. O toj je temi u posljednje dvije godine robije u svom zatvorskom bloku često raspravljao s islamskim fundamentalistima, koji su vjerovali u lak odlazak u raj samo jednim činom. O nekima od tih razgovora zapisao je sljedeće: „S dvojicom muslimana vodio sam dijalog o dužnosti čovjeka da se u ovom životu penje prema intelektualnim i duhovnim vrhuncima. Njihovo putovanje opisao sam kao putovanje autobusom prema vrhu, nasuprot putovanju samca kroz bespuća, na kojima tek tu i tamo naiđe na neki putokaz koji su ostavili antički filozofi i teolozi, a obnavljali poneki usamljeni duhovni planinari novijih vremena. Bijaše im obojici vrlo neugodno kad sam im postavio izravno pitanje: Kada bi se, na vrhuncu te intelektualno duhovne Himalaje sastala dvojica prijatelja iz djetinjstva, od kojih je jedan doputovao njihovim muslimanskim autobusom, a drugi se, unatoč mnogim Scilama i Haribdama, uspio sam popeti, za kojeg bi se od njih dvojice moglo reći da je imao zanimljiviji, značajniji i puniji život? Koji bi bolje poznavao svoju bit, intelektualno i duhovno bio bliži Bogu. Nisu mi htjeli ili nisu mogli odgovoriti.”

Zvonko je čak sumnjao da bi rano umirovljenje naših branitelja moglo biti smišljena politika, način da se umiri taj najmoćniji dio društva i onemogući ga da se ikada ujedini. Ujedinjeni branitelji odredili bi smjer kojim će država krenuti, baš kao što je učinio AVNOJ. To se pod svaku cijenu moralo izbjeći. Sve je to dovelo i do problema pretvaranja branitelja, pripadnika nacionalnih manjina, dakle hrvatske Srbe, Rusine, Muslimane, Mađare i druge, u pasivne promatrače. Oni su hrabro branili svoju domovinu, Hrvatsku. Da, Hrvatsku! I umirali jednako kao i drugi, za iste ideale. Ljudi su bili skloni to zaboraviti, ignorirati ili poricati. I to je namjerna politika, vjerovao je Zvonko.

Služi interesima onih koji žele stvoriti podjele među raznim etničkim skupinama, promaknuti jednu inačicu povijesnih događaja i stvoriti dojam da u Hrvatskoj nije bilo mjesta za manjine, ili da manjine ne vole svoju domovinu. Ponovno, podijeli pa vladaj.

Zvonko je naročito podupirao književni projekt koji je pokrenuo jedan naš prijatelj sa željom da ispravi pogrešno mišljenje. Knjiga, Branili smo domovinu, najzad je objavljena, ali Zvonka tada više nije bilo da ode na promociju. Uzrujalo ga je i postojanje stotina braniteljskih udruga koje financira vlada. Kao i sa strankama-strančicama, previše poglavica, a premalo Indijanaca. Kako je svako odstupanje od „stranačke linije” stranke na vlasti značilo gubitak financijske potpore, većina tih udruga odlučila je ne odstupati!

„Kad se to dogodi u drugim sferama života, zar to ne nazivamo uzimanjem mita, odustajanjem od vlastitih uvjerenja, prostituiranjem?” – s gađenjem bi upitao Zvonko. Čuli smo toliko prozirnih objašnjenja pasivnosti određenih braniteljskih skupina – „Za to treba vremena, na pravome smo putu”, „Bolje je raditi s njima, iznutra”, „Oh, ministar je u redu, ali ostali mu onemogućavaju da išta promijeni.” U međuvremenu, kako je situacija postajala sve gora, tako je broj braniteljskih udruga rastao. Tko je ovdje lud? Zvonko je stalno govorio i o tome koliko je tragično da Hrvatskoj „nije dopušteno” imati svoje junake.

Njegovo mišljenje o potrebi za junacima davno je nastalo, ponovio ga je prije mnogo godina, u zatvorskim bilješkama nakon ubojstva Brune Bušića: „Imenovanjem ulice i podizanjem spomenika našem mučeniku domovinska je udruga napravila dobru i plemenitu stvar. Jer da bi imao budućnost, narod ne smije zaboraviti prošlost i treba odati počast svojim najboljim sinovima i kćerima koji su posvetili i žrtvovali svoje živote za slobodu i sreću svoga naroda. Kao što pjesnici, pjevajući o zvijezdama i zalascima sunca, o cvijeću i leptirima, šarenim i romantičnim ljubavima, pomažu ljudima vidjeti prirodu i spoznati život, tako će i spomenik prolaznike podsjetiti na tragičnoga heroja koji je ubijen jer je domovinu ljubio iznad svega.”

Mitovi i legende jednoga naroda održavaju duh, kulturu, povijest i vrijednosti tog naroda. Uništi ih, i država i narod nestat će zajedno s njima. To omalovažavanje hrvatskih junaka u svim mogućim sferama, od vlade do medija, bilo je po Zvonkovu mišljenju još jedan potreban element za uspješnu globalizaciju. Stvori situacije i događaje u kojima čovjek počne osjećati gađenje, pa čak i mržnju prema svojim junacima, a time indirektno i prema vlastitoj domovini, i izrabljivačima će biti lakše uništiti i opljačkati sve što je čovjeku drago. Na kraju krajeva, koga je briga?

Protivno svakoj logici i protivno svim zapovijedima srca, čovjek je primoran osjećati se „nazadno”, „naivno” ili „primitivno” zbog stalne paljbe propagande koja tvrdi da je domoljublje, ponos samim sobom, svojim junacima, svojom domovinom nekako sramotno.

„Dosadan je i tužan život u narodu u kojem nema heroja. Država koja nema heroja nesretna je i nema ni budućnosti. U materijaliziranome svijetu ne rastu heroji”, zaključio je Zvonko. Ali uvijek se nadao da će doći do buđenja. Do samoga kraja.

Julienne Bušić

EN

Zvonko believed that good things should be shared with everyone. What he lived, worked for and believed in, what he sacrificed for, is presented in his book “All Visible Things”, which is available on Amazon. Chapter by chapter, drop of blood by drop of blood, and life day by day in 33 parts – with only one goal! He will live on…

Defenders

Fighting, even dying in defense of the homeland – is there any greater honor? Zvonko did not think so. One of his greatest regrets was that he was not able to participate in the Croatian War of Independence (known as the “Domovinski rat”, or Homeland War). Ironic, since he had already served 25 years for his defense of Croatia at the time the war began, albeit from behind prison walls. “That’s different,” he would tell me. “Sitting in my cell year after year can’t be compared with actually being in battle to protect your family, home, and country, ready to sacrifice your life at any moment, together with your comrades in arms.” In spite of the horrors of war, he felt there was something sacred, even life-affirming, about taking up arms against cruel and unjust aggressors.

It was no surprise that when he finally returned home, his first words to the large crowds welcoming him at the airport were about the defenders. His love and respect for them, and his admiration for the incredible sacrifices they had made in defense of their country, in spite of the obstacles they had faced, the lack of support from the international community, and the attempts to demonize them and the Croatian struggle for independence. It was amazing to see him talk coherently at all, let alone give a rousing speech, considering he had been without sleep for days, had not been allowed to shower or wash, and was in a state of almost unendurable excitement and stress. But it was of utmost importance to him to talk about the defenders, no matter what state he was in. They were his heroes, and he wanted them and everybody else to hear it. His thoughts in general about sacrificing oneself for a noble cause can be summarized in a poem he liked by Thomas Macaulay, “Horatius at the Bridge”:

“To every man upon this earth.
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods.”

The same year we had gone to prison, in 1976, a book about the Irish struggles against British occupiers was published, Leon Uris’ Trinity. Zvonko and I both read the book and were greatly impressed by it because of the many similarities between the Irish and Croatian struggles, and especially with the way they, too, had endured negative characterizations.

Among Zvonko’s early notes, many were taken from Trinity. “If you remember nothing else, remember this: no crime a man commits on behalf of his freedom can be as great as the crimes committed by those who deny his freedom.” It was somehow comforting to keep that in mind, give the later attacks against us as well, in the media and from reactionary forces who were working to deny that freedom to Croatians. And of course, Uris wrote about the love of country underlying man’s willingness to go to war. “There is a mystery that defies all attempts to explain it. There is no mystery more intense than man’s love for his country. It is the most terrible beauty of all. No greater tragedy has befallen our people, who, through generations of suffering at others’ hands, have lost their furious love of country.

…We will rekindle that flagging spirit.” This subject, of course was one that was constantly on Zvonko’s mind. As he wrote in his prison notes. “The human being can only become complete and live a full and happy life through his family, nation, and faith. All the modern sophists and cynics, all today’s narcissists and opportunists parading as citizens of the world, promoting love for all of mankind while at the same time proclaiming the love for one’s own people and homeland an anachronism, are either lying to or deluding themselves. Because if you love everything, you love nothing, he who loves everyone really loves noone. Imagine a person who goes to any old grave on Memorial Day, lays flowers, says a prayer, and does not visit the graves of his relatives and friends… The pre-condition for every love for mankind and concern for the future of the world is the love toward those closest to you, your own people, concern for the future of your own homeland. The intellectual prostitutes perhaps hope that they and their descendants will be privileged on the global animal farm. Unfortunately for them, they are cruelly deceived, as those positions have been long ago reserved.

He believed in the moral, ethical, and natural right to the struggle for freedom in the name of that which is yours! So it is no surprise that when the Croatian War of Independence began, he avidly followed every news report he could in prison, imagining himself there on the terrain with the defenders. He even managed somehow to hook up a short-wave radio in his cell so that he could receive minute-by-minute coverage from all around the world. Sometimes I would be amazed that he seemed to know more about what was happening in Croatia than I did!

Everyone felt so alive back then, so enthusiastic–especially the defenders. Why did war make people feel that way? There is no greater feeling of being alive than being close to death, Zvonko would say, when you are living in the moment, and thoughts about the past or present cannot plague you or draw you away from real life, from intense and profound emotion. Who thinks about everyday problems when death could be imminent, who obsesses about what happened last year or what might happen five years from now? How true that was! Whenever we think about a time we have felt most alive, it is always in the moment of greatest danger, or at least extreme risk and challenge, when thought and analysis are impossible, only the intensity of emotion, the awareness of being alive, really alive, in the moment, now!

It is not surprising to find that when soldiers return to “ordinary” life, he would say, or when prisoners are finally “free”, they find themselves no longer living in the moment, but are suddenly consumed with problems from the past or worries about the future – thoughts, thoughts, thoughts – and have lost that connection to Life. They feel wooden and dead, and begin to ask why. They crave a return to that intensity, whether in prison or on the battlefield, or wherever it was that provided them with Life. Zvonko and I would return to this subject often, especially when we would hear or read of another defender taking his own life. And he would point out to me that it’s not just defenders who feel a loss of real life, it is also ordinary people.

Few ever find themselves in life or death situations, so they try to create other kinds of intensity for themselves through various dramas, conflicts, and tensions, believing that in that way they will somehow give themselves more life. He gave examples of friends and relatives who have been involved in long, involved arguments and even lawsuits with other friends or relatives lasting year after year. New elements are constantly introduced so that the emotional intensity would remain high, the sense of excitement, tension, anticipation. Without it, they would feel dead, they would have nothing. Do they not realize that if we do not have something to live for, we have nothing?

He copied into his notes this excerpt from an untitled essay he had read in prison, as it had left a deep impression on him:“The meaning of life, in short, comes from love of the struggle; man’s preparedness to preserve, fight, and if necessary, die for higher goals – for goals greater than himself. The Greek God Narcissus was destroyed by his love for himself, and this is a symbol of the waste of many lives we see around us today. These are empty lives, in search of personal enjoyment, as empty as the expressions on their faces, stripped of goals, occupation, experience, and most important, dedication.”

Of course with the defenders, it was more complicated, since they had had something to live for, something noble and magnificent, but after the intensity of the battlefield many of them had lost this purpose in life. As though they were constantly asking themselves: what can we do now, after having reached our goal? What meaning do we have now? This was clear to Zvonko. It was not enough just to “exist”. They wanted Life returned to them!

There were a few other concrete problems connected to the defenders that also saddened Zvonko after his return. First, he considered it a tragedy that so many defenders in the prime of life had been retired with generous pensions. It is easier than it seems to become accustomed to the “easy life”; that is, pay without work, an apartment, the life of the unemployed after years of sacrifice and struggle in the name of idealism. Not that the defenders did not deserve the pension, Zvonko emphasized. It is just that all of a sudden they don’t have to work and many of them lose initiative and begin to spend their time in cafés, drinking, smoking, complaining about the state of things. Young, strong, brave, committed men during the war, all at once find themselves “insignificant” and “useless” in peacetime, like dead weights. No wonder they lost their feeling of pride and purpose, he said.

People must feel useful, significant, must be able to contribute to society and not just take from it and walk the easy path. He talked about this subject during the last two years of imprisonment with some of the Islamic fundamentalists, who believed that they could go to heaven with the commission of a single act. He wrote the following about just one of those conversations: “I had a dialogue with two of the Islamists over the duty of the individual to strive toward intellectual and spiritual peaks. The voyage I described as a bus trip toward the peak, as opposed to a trip by a solitary man through the wilderness, during which he finds signs left behind by the ancient philosophers and theologians, which have been renewed by spiritual hikers of more contemporary times.

Both the prisoners were uncomfortable when I asked them adirect question. If two childhood friends were to find themselves at the intellectual and spiritual peak of the Himalayas, and one had traveled on his Muslim bus and the other, in spite of all the obstacles, succeeded in climbing up alone, which of the two would be able to say he had had a more interesting, significant, and fuller life? Which of them would better know his own essence? Who would be intellectually and spiritually closer to God? They were not able or did not want to answer.”

Zvonko even suspected that the early retirement of defenders could be a conscious political scheme to disempower and pacify the most powerful part of the population and prevent them from uniting. United defenders would define the course of the country, just as the former Yugoslav army had done, which had to be avoided at all costs. This all led up to the transformation of the defenders from the various minorities – Croatian, Serbs, Rusinians, Hungarians, Muslims and others – into passive observers. They had bravely defended their homeland, Croatia. Yes, Croatia! And died as others had, for the same ideals. People tended to forget, ignore, or deny this. Zvonko believed this was an intentional policy that served to promote divisions between ethnic groups and emphasize one part of history at the expense of another; to promote the idea that minorities were unwelcome in Croatia and that minorities do not love their Croatian homeland. Again, divide and conquer. Zvonko supported a literary project by a friend to correct this false impression. When the book, Defenders of the Homeland, came out, Zvonko was no longer here to attend the promotion.

He was also upset by the existence of hundreds, even thousands, of defender societies that were financed by the government. Just as with the “little parties”, here were also too many chiefs and too few Indians. Since every divergence from the “party line” of the party in power meant loss of financial support, most of these societies decided not to “diverge”. When this happens in other spheres of life, do we not call it taking a bribe, betraying one’s beliefs, prostitution, he would ask in frustration. We heard many transparent excuses for the passivity of certain defender groups:“it takes time, we’re going in the right direction, better to change things from the inside, oh, the minister is OK, but his boss won’t let him change anything,” etc. Meanwhile, as the situation worsened, the number of defender societies grew. What was going on?

Zvonko always talked as well about how tragic it was that Croatia was “not allowed” to have its heroes. His belief in the necessity for heroes came into being long ago, and he repeated it many years ago in prison notes after the murder of Bruno Busic: “Naming streets and raising statues to our national heroes is a good and noble act. Because in order to have a future, our people must not forget the past and must give tribute to its best sons and daughters who have dedicated and sacrificed their lives for freedom and the happiness of their nation. Just as poets, singing of the stars and setting of the sun, of flowers and butterflies, colorful and romantic loves, help people to see nature and grasp life, so do these memorials remind the passersby of the tragic hero who was killed for loving his country above all else.” Myths and legends of a people maintain its spirit, culture, history, and values. Destroy them, and the country and people will disappear along with them as well.

This disparagement of Croatian heroes in all possible spheres, from the government to the media, was according to Zvonko one of the necessary elements for the triumph of globalization. Create a situation and events in which one begins to feel disgust and even hatred toward his heroes and thereby toward his own homeland, and the exploiters will have an easier time destroying and plundering everything of value. After all, who cares?

Contrary to all logic and all dictates of the heart, one is manipulated into feeling “backwards”, “naïve”, and “primitive” under the continuous barrage of propaganda telling him that patriotism, pride in oneself and one’s heroes, one’s homeland, is somehow shameful. Dull and sad is a life in which there are no heroes. A country without heroes is unhappy and has no future. In the materialistic world, heroes cannot grow, Zvonko concluded. But he always hoped people would wake up. To the very end.

Julienne Bušić

Ključne riječi #Julienne Bušić #Zdravo oko #Zvonko Bušić