After the Rain - How the West Lost the East -
http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/after.html
Courtesy Bill
Late Yugoslav Ruler Tito Enjoys Comeback
ZAGREB, May 7, 2000 -- (Reuters) Twenty years after his death,
Yugoslavia's communist ruler Marshal Josip Broz Tito is enjoying a
public
comeback.
Tito, a flamboyant and often controversial figure, who ruled the
multi-ethnic federation from the end of World War Two until 1980, is the
subject of a new film by young director Vinko Bresan called "The
Marshal".
Bresan's surreal film poses the question: what would happen if Tito came
back from the dead to his native Croatia, where a few of his die-hard
followers, aging communists and anti-fascists, now live?
The film is making many in Croatia, now an independent state, look again
at the historic role of the wartime partisan leader turned world
statesman.
This year Croatia marked the death of Tito for the first time since
gaining independence in 1991.
Several thousand people gathered on May 4 in Kumrovec, his birthplace in
northern Croatia, where sirens wailed at 3:05 p.m., the exact time of
his
death.
The mourners, mostly elderly, laid flowers and sang patriotic songs.
Many
filed through the wooden cottage where Tito was born.
A pub called "The Old Man" recently opened in Kumrovec and local leaders
have restored the entire village in the hope of reviving once-thriving
tourism.
Tito's Yugoslav federation outlived him by 10 years before it crumbled
amid rising nationalism in its six constituent republics and the end of
communism.
TITO MOVIES CROSS HOSTILE BORDERS On April 15, "The Marshal" had its
opening night in Belgrade, capital of the rump Yugoslavia, and Bresan
received a long ovation from the audience. The movie is now being shown
throughout Yugoslavia and is being promoted with the slogan: "The movie
we
have waited for 20 years."
"One cannot avoid Tito. He is the only common ground we (the people of
former Yugoslavia) have left now," Bresan told Reuters, explaining why
the
film was being received with enthusiasm in Serbia.
Earlier this year, a Serbian film called "Tito and I", a parody of the
Tito years as seen through the eyes of a young boy, showed in Zagreb and
for days drew roars of laughter from the packed house of a small art
house
cinema.
"This is a natural reaction of people who have realized after 10 years
that they lived better before,"
said sociologist Slaven Letica, commenting on the blooming "Tito trade".
"There is also a kind of nostalgia as people come to terms with their
history," he said.
This cultural exchange would not have taken place when Croatia was ruled
by the nationalist Franjo Tudjman, who held power from independence to
his
death last December.
Tudjman's HDZ party lost a general election in January to a reformist
coalition, led by former communists.
TITO'S MIXED LEGACY Tito remains a controversial figure in the successor
states to the former Yugoslav federation. For some he was a great
statesman, for others a tyrant who tried to eradicate Croatian national
sentiment. Some Serbs feel the same.
Many still blame him for allowing the slaughter of thousands of Croatian
troops who had collaborated with the Nazis after they surrendered to the
allies in
1945.
According to one recent survey, some 45.8 percent of those interviewed
said they considered Tito a dictator while 55.6 percent said the same of
Tudjman.
In another poll, 60 percent of those questioned said Tito's remains
should
be returned home from his stately tomb in Belgrade.
The son of peasants, Tito led the Yugoslav Communist party in the 1930s
and organized resistance against Nazi Germany, Italian fascists and
their
local collaborators in World War Two.
He ruled post-war Yugoslavia with an iron fist but maneuvered Yugoslavia
away from eastern European Stalinism and preserved the country's
multi-ethnic society.
Although ruthless with political opponents, Tito was enormously popular
with his people, projecting an image of a bon viveur who enjoyed smoking
king-size cigars, malt whisky and the company of Hollywood celebrities.
During Tito's lifetime, mass rallies were held each year to celebrate
his
birthday. Thousands of Yugoslav children, dressed in white and blue
with
red scarves, would be bussed into Kumrovec to be sworn in as "Tito's
Pioneers"
each May.
Mile-long cordons of "workers and peasants" would throw flowers at his
Mercedes wherever he passed.
The republic that rose from the ashes of the old Yugoslavia quickly
dismantled the symbols of communism and undertook to privatize state
assets - a process which some say produced some dubious results in
Croatia.
"The Marshal" alludes to this when the main character, a policeman sent
to
investigate reports on the appearance of Tito's ghost on a remote
Adriatic
island, talks to a local tycoon in front of a decrepit Museum of the
Anti-Fascist Struggle and the Socialist Revolution.
"We had no funds to maintain the museum so we had to privatize it," the
tycoon says.
"And who bought it?"
"Ah, well, I did, for two kuna (30 U.S. cents)," the tycoon replies.
(C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters
Limited.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.geocities.com/vaksam/after.html
Courtesy Bill
Late Yugoslav Ruler Tito Enjoys Comeback
ZAGREB, May 7, 2000 -- (Reuters) Twenty years after his death,
Yugoslavia's communist ruler Marshal Josip Broz Tito is enjoying a
public
comeback.
Tito, a flamboyant and often controversial figure, who ruled the
multi-ethnic federation from the end of World War Two until 1980, is the
subject of a new film by young director Vinko Bresan called "The
Marshal".
Bresan's surreal film poses the question: what would happen if Tito came
back from the dead to his native Croatia, where a few of his die-hard
followers, aging communists and anti-fascists, now live?
The film is making many in Croatia, now an independent state, look again
at the historic role of the wartime partisan leader turned world
statesman.
This year Croatia marked the death of Tito for the first time since
gaining independence in 1991.
Several thousand people gathered on May 4 in Kumrovec, his birthplace in
northern Croatia, where sirens wailed at 3:05 p.m., the exact time of
his
death.
The mourners, mostly elderly, laid flowers and sang patriotic songs.
Many
filed through the wooden cottage where Tito was born.
A pub called "The Old Man" recently opened in Kumrovec and local leaders
have restored the entire village in the hope of reviving once-thriving
tourism.
Tito's Yugoslav federation outlived him by 10 years before it crumbled
amid rising nationalism in its six constituent republics and the end of
communism.
TITO MOVIES CROSS HOSTILE BORDERS On April 15, "The Marshal" had its
opening night in Belgrade, capital of the rump Yugoslavia, and Bresan
received a long ovation from the audience. The movie is now being shown
throughout Yugoslavia and is being promoted with the slogan: "The movie
we
have waited for 20 years."
"One cannot avoid Tito. He is the only common ground we (the people of
former Yugoslavia) have left now," Bresan told Reuters, explaining why
the
film was being received with enthusiasm in Serbia.
Earlier this year, a Serbian film called "Tito and I", a parody of the
Tito years as seen through the eyes of a young boy, showed in Zagreb and
for days drew roars of laughter from the packed house of a small art
house
cinema.
"This is a natural reaction of people who have realized after 10 years
that they lived better before,"
said sociologist Slaven Letica, commenting on the blooming "Tito trade".
"There is also a kind of nostalgia as people come to terms with their
history," he said.
This cultural exchange would not have taken place when Croatia was ruled
by the nationalist Franjo Tudjman, who held power from independence to
his
death last December.
Tudjman's HDZ party lost a general election in January to a reformist
coalition, led by former communists.
TITO'S MIXED LEGACY Tito remains a controversial figure in the successor
states to the former Yugoslav federation. For some he was a great
statesman, for others a tyrant who tried to eradicate Croatian national
sentiment. Some Serbs feel the same.
Many still blame him for allowing the slaughter of thousands of Croatian
troops who had collaborated with the Nazis after they surrendered to the
allies in
1945.
According to one recent survey, some 45.8 percent of those interviewed
said they considered Tito a dictator while 55.6 percent said the same of
Tudjman.
In another poll, 60 percent of those questioned said Tito's remains
should
be returned home from his stately tomb in Belgrade.
The son of peasants, Tito led the Yugoslav Communist party in the 1930s
and organized resistance against Nazi Germany, Italian fascists and
their
local collaborators in World War Two.
He ruled post-war Yugoslavia with an iron fist but maneuvered Yugoslavia
away from eastern European Stalinism and preserved the country's
multi-ethnic society.
Although ruthless with political opponents, Tito was enormously popular
with his people, projecting an image of a bon viveur who enjoyed smoking
king-size cigars, malt whisky and the company of Hollywood celebrities.
During Tito's lifetime, mass rallies were held each year to celebrate
his
birthday. Thousands of Yugoslav children, dressed in white and blue
with
red scarves, would be bussed into Kumrovec to be sworn in as "Tito's
Pioneers"
each May.
Mile-long cordons of "workers and peasants" would throw flowers at his
Mercedes wherever he passed.
The republic that rose from the ashes of the old Yugoslavia quickly
dismantled the symbols of communism and undertook to privatize state
assets - a process which some say produced some dubious results in
Croatia.
"The Marshal" alludes to this when the main character, a policeman sent
to
investigate reports on the appearance of Tito's ghost on a remote
Adriatic
island, talks to a local tycoon in front of a decrepit Museum of the
Anti-Fascist Struggle and the Socialist Revolution.
"We had no funds to maintain the museum so we had to privatize it," the
tycoon says.
"And who bought it?"
"Ah, well, I did, for two kuna (30 U.S. cents)," the tycoon replies.
(C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters
Limited.
--------- COORDINAMENTO ROMANO PER LA JUGOSLAVIA -----------
RIMSKI SAVEZ ZA JUGOSLAVIJU
e-mail: crj@... - URL: http://marx2001.org/crj
http://www.egroups.com/group/crj-mailinglist/
------------------------------------------------------------