TOUR AMERICANO PER LA STELLA DEL ROCK (NAZISTA)
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/02770.shtml
Croat Nazi Rocker to Tour North America
October 21, 2007
SERBIANNA
At $55 per ticket, Croatian popular rock singer Marko Perkovic, known
as Thompson, is betting that New Yorkers will flock to the Croatian
Center in Manhattan for a night of a Croatian nationalist euphoria
that includes a sword-wielding singer, ballads about extermination of
Serbs and Jews during the World War Two and massive Seig Heils by the
fans.
"My songs talk about love of one's country, God and all values of
Croatian people and if that bothers somebody and calls that fascism,
then that is another matter," Thompson told Croatian newspaper
Slobodna Dalmacija in September.
PHOTO: Thompson during a concert performance.
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/02770a.jpg
In June, Simon Wiesenthal Center urged the Croatian government to
counter veneration of Fascist Ustashe past, and "protested to the
Croatian government over the open display of WWII-era fascist
symbols, banners and uniforms by fans at a recent concert in Zagreb."
Ustashe were native Croatian WWII Nazi government whose volunteer
army engaged in one of the most brutal extermination campaigns of
Jews, Serbs and Gypsies that even seasoned German Nazi officers found
repulsive.
Thompson's popularity among Croats got another boost this summer when
the Croatian television network, Channel 2, did broadcast one of his
concerts prompting Dr. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Wiesenthal
Center in Israel, to fire off a protest statement yet again.
"By broadcasting Thompson's concert on state television in prime time
the government is in essence expressing its approval for his hateful
message," the Wiesenthal Center statement concludes.
Dr. Efraim Zuroff also notes that Thompson's display of Nazi Ustasha
symbolism is no coincidence.
"A singer who sings nostalgically about Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic
and favorably about Croatia's worst World War II concentration camps
Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska, is openly urging his fans to identify
with the genocidal Ustasha regime which sought to liquidate Croatia's
Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies as well as their Croatian political
opponents," says a statement issued by the Wiesenthal Center.
Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska is a Ustasha song whose lyrics celebrate
the World War II genocide against the Serbs committed in the
Hercegovina region. The song became popular once again when in early
2000s it was aired on a Croatian national television during a popular
talk-show Latinica.
PHOTO: Massive fan Seig Heils.
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/02770b.jpg
LYRICS
Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska
Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška
That's the house of Maks' butchers.
There was a slaughterhouse in Capljina
Neretva carried away many Serbs.
Hey, Neretva, flow downhill,
Carry Serbs into the blue Adriatic.
I am Ustasha and so was my father,
Father left craft to his son.
In 2004, Dutch authorities banned Thompson from performing in
Amsterdam citing Hitler salute at previous concerts. Thompson
organizers quickly switched the venue to Rotterdam where he was
allowed to hold a concert. After the concert, the fans started public
protests against the Dutch ban in Amsterdam defending symbols the
band uses and the Ustasha movement.
"My fans are dignified on all my concerts, after which there are no
incidents and in fact it is the media that inflames people who accuse
me and my fans for something we are not," says Thompson.
This summer, Thompson held a triumphal concert in the Croatian
capital Zagreb with over 60,000 fans engaging in a collective Seig
Heil salutes with footage abundantly available on YouTube.
Besides New York, Thompson's North American tour will include
Toronto, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Vancouver and San Francisco.
PHOTO: Croatian fan during Thompson performance.
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/02770c.jpg
"Marko Perkovic will be coming to USA and Canada, i.e. if he's
allowed entry. It certainly looks like he will be here unless there
is some protesting to authorities by Serbian and Jewish
organizations," says Liz Milanovich, an activist.
The issue of which Balkan figure is allowed entry to North America
has also been contentious and bloggers such as Svetlana Novko who
runs Byzantine Sacred Art Blog points that back in 2005, Canada
banned a tour of a Serbian folk singer Svetlana Raznjatovic Ceca who
was once married to a notorious Serbian paramilitary boss Arkan.
"The fact she is a widow of a Serbian paramilitary leader Arkan was
sufficient for Canadians to deny her the entry into the country,"
points Novko in her blog and questions why Canadians find Serbian
guilt by association appropriate while at the same time do nothing to
stop a concert tour of a Croatian Nazi bigot.
"So, feel free to celebrate the Holocaust in Canada to your heart's
content," says Novko.
A New York comedian and a columnist for Jewishworldreview.com, Julia
Gorin, takes a more sarcastic approach to this double standard. In
her "Do’s and Don’ts for Entry into North America" Mrs. Gorin
lampoons immigration authorities for allowing "Croatian Nazi rocker
and fans", "Albanian jihadists" and "Bosnian killer" to North America
but ban a skimpy-dressed Serb folk singer.
"To my Serbian readers in Canada and America, I recommend that on
[Thompson's] concert dates, you get some of those neck supports that
people wear for whiplash — so it'll be harder to saw off your head,"
writes Mrs. Gorin in her blog.
On Saturday, Serbian Unity Congress (SUC), an umbrella group of
Americans of Serb descent has condemned Thompson's plans for a
November tour and is calling "on all branches of the US government to
join human rights watchdog organizations in taking necessary action
to stop any of their public performances in the US."
"The band, led by one Marko Perkovic-Thompson, has a long an
indisputable track record of bigotry, racism and even outright
fascism," says SUC and adds that "this act is utterly incompatible
with values established in our society, and that positive action by
governmental agencies might be needed to redress the matter," writes
Serbian Unity Congress in their public statement.
WEB SITES:
http://www.thompson.hr/
http://www.byzantinesacredart.com/blog
http://www.wiesenthal.com
http://www.jewishworldreview.com
http://www.serbianunity.net/
http://www.juliagorin.com/
http://www.ceca-online.com
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/02770.shtml
Croat Nazi Rocker to Tour North America
October 21, 2007
SERBIANNA
At $55 per ticket, Croatian popular rock singer Marko Perkovic, known
as Thompson, is betting that New Yorkers will flock to the Croatian
Center in Manhattan for a night of a Croatian nationalist euphoria
that includes a sword-wielding singer, ballads about extermination of
Serbs and Jews during the World War Two and massive Seig Heils by the
fans.
"My songs talk about love of one's country, God and all values of
Croatian people and if that bothers somebody and calls that fascism,
then that is another matter," Thompson told Croatian newspaper
Slobodna Dalmacija in September.
PHOTO: Thompson during a concert performance.
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/02770a.jpg
In June, Simon Wiesenthal Center urged the Croatian government to
counter veneration of Fascist Ustashe past, and "protested to the
Croatian government over the open display of WWII-era fascist
symbols, banners and uniforms by fans at a recent concert in Zagreb."
Ustashe were native Croatian WWII Nazi government whose volunteer
army engaged in one of the most brutal extermination campaigns of
Jews, Serbs and Gypsies that even seasoned German Nazi officers found
repulsive.
Thompson's popularity among Croats got another boost this summer when
the Croatian television network, Channel 2, did broadcast one of his
concerts prompting Dr. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Wiesenthal
Center in Israel, to fire off a protest statement yet again.
"By broadcasting Thompson's concert on state television in prime time
the government is in essence expressing its approval for his hateful
message," the Wiesenthal Center statement concludes.
Dr. Efraim Zuroff also notes that Thompson's display of Nazi Ustasha
symbolism is no coincidence.
"A singer who sings nostalgically about Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic
and favorably about Croatia's worst World War II concentration camps
Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska, is openly urging his fans to identify
with the genocidal Ustasha regime which sought to liquidate Croatia's
Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies as well as their Croatian political
opponents," says a statement issued by the Wiesenthal Center.
Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska is a Ustasha song whose lyrics celebrate
the World War II genocide against the Serbs committed in the
Hercegovina region. The song became popular once again when in early
2000s it was aired on a Croatian national television during a popular
talk-show Latinica.
PHOTO: Massive fan Seig Heils.
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/02770b.jpg
LYRICS
Jasenovac and Stara Gradiska
Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška
That's the house of Maks' butchers.
There was a slaughterhouse in Capljina
Neretva carried away many Serbs.
Hey, Neretva, flow downhill,
Carry Serbs into the blue Adriatic.
I am Ustasha and so was my father,
Father left craft to his son.
In 2004, Dutch authorities banned Thompson from performing in
Amsterdam citing Hitler salute at previous concerts. Thompson
organizers quickly switched the venue to Rotterdam where he was
allowed to hold a concert. After the concert, the fans started public
protests against the Dutch ban in Amsterdam defending symbols the
band uses and the Ustasha movement.
"My fans are dignified on all my concerts, after which there are no
incidents and in fact it is the media that inflames people who accuse
me and my fans for something we are not," says Thompson.
This summer, Thompson held a triumphal concert in the Croatian
capital Zagreb with over 60,000 fans engaging in a collective Seig
Heil salutes with footage abundantly available on YouTube.
Besides New York, Thompson's North American tour will include
Toronto, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Vancouver and San Francisco.
PHOTO: Croatian fan during Thompson performance.
http://www.serbianna.com/news/2007/02770c.jpg
"Marko Perkovic will be coming to USA and Canada, i.e. if he's
allowed entry. It certainly looks like he will be here unless there
is some protesting to authorities by Serbian and Jewish
organizations," says Liz Milanovich, an activist.
The issue of which Balkan figure is allowed entry to North America
has also been contentious and bloggers such as Svetlana Novko who
runs Byzantine Sacred Art Blog points that back in 2005, Canada
banned a tour of a Serbian folk singer Svetlana Raznjatovic Ceca who
was once married to a notorious Serbian paramilitary boss Arkan.
"The fact she is a widow of a Serbian paramilitary leader Arkan was
sufficient for Canadians to deny her the entry into the country,"
points Novko in her blog and questions why Canadians find Serbian
guilt by association appropriate while at the same time do nothing to
stop a concert tour of a Croatian Nazi bigot.
"So, feel free to celebrate the Holocaust in Canada to your heart's
content," says Novko.
A New York comedian and a columnist for Jewishworldreview.com, Julia
Gorin, takes a more sarcastic approach to this double standard. In
her "Do’s and Don’ts for Entry into North America" Mrs. Gorin
lampoons immigration authorities for allowing "Croatian Nazi rocker
and fans", "Albanian jihadists" and "Bosnian killer" to North America
but ban a skimpy-dressed Serb folk singer.
"To my Serbian readers in Canada and America, I recommend that on
[Thompson's] concert dates, you get some of those neck supports that
people wear for whiplash — so it'll be harder to saw off your head,"
writes Mrs. Gorin in her blog.
On Saturday, Serbian Unity Congress (SUC), an umbrella group of
Americans of Serb descent has condemned Thompson's plans for a
November tour and is calling "on all branches of the US government to
join human rights watchdog organizations in taking necessary action
to stop any of their public performances in the US."
"The band, led by one Marko Perkovic-Thompson, has a long an
indisputable track record of bigotry, racism and even outright
fascism," says SUC and adds that "this act is utterly incompatible
with values established in our society, and that positive action by
governmental agencies might be needed to redress the matter," writes
Serbian Unity Congress in their public statement.
WEB SITES:
http://www.thompson.hr/
http://www.byzantinesacredart.com/blog
http://www.wiesenthal.com
http://www.jewishworldreview.com
http://www.serbianunity.net/
http://www.juliagorin.com/
http://www.ceca-online.com