Doubt

Having some experience with the revolutionary notion of 'change management', and its sheer inefficacy, I sometimes propose that all administrative civil servants be fired. After all, it's not that something overly important would come to a halt for the two weeks the novices would organise (and actually reorganise) the operation of, say, notoriously inept tax administration.
Such draconic solutions were espoused by Gore Vidal. In terms of the plague of drugs, he advocated total liberation, writing off the 5% that would not heed beneficial propaganda or aid programmes. And it is perhaps more than 5% that die as a result of the current poor system.
The force of continuation is tremendously powerful in society. People in Croatia even opted for not changing their obviously lousy government because, as this shit daily said: "In times of crises, people don't want too much change, even if things are bad". The crabwalk is then our option. Must be for the reason one of my fellow students pointed to: "Just don't talk about fresh starts - this is when the villains emerge as has been proven".
I would not go that far to equate the dangers. After all, when you get used to some change, suddenly it's no big deal to go for it once again.

The Contest

Kitschy as it can lately be, a word for the Eurovision - the good old days of full orchestra and the mocks and revivals.
I simply must share two tunes; no talk necessary, except that you imagine how great it would be to do a topical night with a list of great all time songs. Sitting down in a giant hall with a table and a bottle of wine and, yes, dancing!!

"You Don't Wanna Go There"

One of more striking endings must be drowning in alcohol in the final lines of 1984, loving the Big Brother. Yes, you can break a man down.
One of my foreign Fulbright friends talked of this profound academic analysis of 'brain drain'; I championed the more insidious idea of 'brain waste' as relevant to Croatia (or, if you will, you may fill in the blank here).
I was initially a true, if naive, humanist. The idea was stringent justice, intellectual solutions and an idea of tight community. But as I joked the other day in the bar: now, with a more thorough, and pessimistic, view of human nature, especially of how man is more likely never to acknowledge he is wrong unless confronted (and broken down in turn) - "it would be terrible indeed with me in power.. concentration camps everywhere.. the horror.."

Obsessions

Got a bit carried away last night, so morning which began round noon was not my time of day. I felt still tipsy - that is, until I ventured into nature, up the local hill.
The trek took but two hours but was truly restorative. To think that my idiots (Croats, I take it you are foreign) further cluttered downtown Zagreb instead of making it pedestrian! What a relief it is to enjoy some peace and quiet.
Then I received a call from a friend who told me he got laid off. Which brings me to the juncture point: when I found myself unemployed, one of the first cares was not to have my mobile phones disconnected.
Well, lemme tell you: can't wait. I am shedding my (and my country's) stupid obsessions with the market rat race, but I still have some material dreams: a simple dwelling place with the following sign at the intersection, a further attraction I saw along the route.

Gig

Once, in a poem about a meeting of sages that ends up in a quarrel whether to tell people they know nothing, I argued rationality had its limits. Just about the only effect you can get, eventually, is the feeling of being smart.
So today I'm offering music relief. Must be an intermezzo before I start a new bout of reading for exams.

Fallout

Now, we all know politics is fairly informal. That is, there are limits to the autonomy of officials - the power they exercise is heavily influenced by monied interest.
Now, it also seems to me Croatian trust of brains is malfunctioning. I do not care what tales they spin, as long as they enable own citizens decent living - and this is something the verdict on will be harsh.
The argument they would end up in prison themselves is faulty - this would be small price. If this is what is standing in the way, emigrate once and for all and let us wriggle.
**
Just spent a night and a day in a provincial pub in Zagreb. Talk about Freud, the discontent of the civilisation and despair. Your average Croatian needs no conversation - all there is is alcohol, drugs and the leg ticking and jerking. If one saw a cat behaving so, one would mercifully put it to sleep.

Fools

It's All Fools' Day soon, so we gotta do something topical.
The fool, combined with greed, is downright disgusting. Just think Croatia.
The Ship of Fools - a metaphor for humanity. Think UN.
I have a piece of paper taped to my exit door which says the fool is the most dangerous type of person in existence. The fool will ruin everything even not for personal gain reasons.
Erasmus, in Praise of Folly, claimed the ruler would instantly go insane if confronted with responsibility resting on him. The fool is not that profound.
The fool, the be all and end all, I celebrate you!

A Suggestion

I once wrote of just how easy it must have been to wage the war in Bosnia from the safe distance of Zagreb or Belgrade. Indeed, the same could be said for Iraq or Libya.
Intellectuals may be frowned upon for having "bookish" knowledge and there's a line in Good Will Hunting to the effect Will is a genius but does not know how "it feels to spend thirty years with a woman who then dies of cancer".
The pathetic trips to the field, by say Hillary, are but another joke. Her I would advise to reform Connecticut or wherever she might be based. This is the only thing she does know, and judging from a year of personal experience, it truly merits some reform.
Man has one life only and he should use it well. Even introspection, limited as it is, is better than lunging stupidly into action. Even futile writing or simply joking with friends is better. Or as Emily Dickinson wrote - don't be a frog that cries all day to the bog: "Look at me."

Each Traveller's Fav

Dobriša Cesarić [1902-1980]

BY TRAIN

translated by Davor Juričić in 2005

Telegraph post, telegraph post,

And a frozen field

And a gaze blasé and lost

And a life not willed.

Scenery and cities change,

But sorrow,

Sorrow remains.

I carry it from border to border,

I carry it from station to station.

I feel like a carriage wheel,

That is always pushed forward,

And forward moves,

But always round its axis –

Turns and turns…

Poetry Day

Antun Branko Šimić [1898-1925]

THE BODY AND US

/translated by Davor Juričić in 2005/

Through my veins runs the poison I drank
in pleasures, inebriated nights.
And the poison harms. The body rots. I live in a corpse.
And I am disgusted by the body. Can one somehow
get rid of the body, be clean of it?
The body is ballast, a stranger, the rot.
I'd rather leave it somewhere
And escape from it, and fly forever away to freedom.
As it is, I live with it, in it. Inseparable.
Who put me into one with this stranger?
The body: the weight holds me to earth
As will drag me into it whole, with no exemption.
By my bed a young woman is laughing.
How would I reach her alone, without body?
I cannot leave. And I can't touch her.
My touch, as the touch of death, scatters mayhem everywhere.
In my dreams we part. I managed to get away, I float
And I want to fly, to flutter -
And I wake up: I'm lying in my corpse.

Sappho, the Midwife of Poetry

He is a god in my eyes -

the man who is allowed

to sit beside you - he

who listens intimately

to the sweet murmur of

your voice, the enticing

laughter that makes my own

heart beat fast. If I meet

you suddenly, I can't

speak - my tongue is broken;

a thin flame runs under

my skin; seeing nothing,

hearing only my own ears

drumming, I drip with sweat;

trembling shakes my body

and I turn paler than

dry grass. At such times

death isn't far from me

Hitlerjugend

The PM graciously organised 10-odd vehicles and bussed some 1,000 youngsters to Zagreb - to issue them with membership cards to HDZ, the ruling party. There should be a law against this, don't you think?
Youngsters simply crave discipline and are easily steered away. As Hitler himself said: "I like young girls. They are like wax." To think I would one day rightly be on the side against corrupting the youth! As Tito's pioneers we at least promised to be good friends and work diligently.
As I said the other day: to support this government seems to me equal as being against parliamentary democracy in '89. The rank wound stinks to heaven.

"Surrendering Croatia to Fate"

a performance by Enio Mestrovic, an artist from Zadar: 

Insomnia

Well, got myself the net connexion in Zagreb finally and earned some insomnia bouts as well. Must be the revenge of the universe for last night retirement at 9pm after a full day at the across the border spa.
I thought to entitle the jot Insomnia: Musings on Fate, as I promised my first commentator I'd mention the Japanese. But frankly, I think I said all there is to say about the perfect understanding that condones murder on one side and perfect action that fails to register on the other. Why these things happen at all is beyond anyone. They should be helped, they must be helped and if they help themselves - all the better.
But, as for help, I always envisioned it somewhat in the gangsta street code. Nobody knows why a mobster is a criminal but he himself knows he was thrust in the position. If you don't believe me, ask. He is, no more or less than somebody plain or elevated, likely to help you if you ask and merit.
On the other hand, I once wrote to the US President. He was too busy.

Simply Tourism

 This brief text is based on readings for the course “Cultures of Travelling” within a graduate programme at the Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy and some thirty years of living in Dubrovnik, one of the most throbbing tourist centres in the Adriatic. It could also be said to be based on the inundation of regular reports on success of the Croatian tourist industry in national media.

Jumping to a certain conclusion, one could paraphrase the familiar motto of “the worst thing that can possibly befall a nation is that others write its history” into a saying that is is equally unfavourable that others write your theory.

Cultures of Travelling in a Local Context

“The anthropology of the familiar” of Marc Auge represents certain difficulties in our context as well. If your average citizen is somewhat acquainted with a serious study of tourism theory and of the way of living in Croatia, the fact is that the most valuable lesson of humanities, the one of the transparency of today and its customs, will very soon be confirmed to be accessible but with a lot of student's effort. Probable answers would point to the number of stays, the national sale of course, or institutions such as the Croatian Tourist Board. Seen through this prism, it seems the sole “legitimate” academic subject is history, other and different and far away – not what we are living or experiencing. “Are the facts, institutions, manners of gathering (work, leisure and living) and forms of traffic, typical for the temporal world, a valid subject of anthropological observation?”

The academic community undoubtedly shares its part of guilt. It could be claimed in the case that the mountain shall not come to Mohammed and that a step forward from theory into practice is required. However, it is also true humanities in all fields, by nature of things, lag behind the state of things: they describe what they find, post festum, while they are rarely current. “Anthropology has not surfeited on the exotic... but the very contemporary world attracts the anthropological gaze with its fast metamorphoses, i.e. a new methodical analysis of the category of the other.”

So, having established that our life, of today, contemporary, is worth thinking about, it is with sadness I must further suggest it is, seen as such, insufficiently given thought in Croatian circumstances. Our problem, a problem of our life in postmodernism, partly hinges on abundance, but this abundance is modelled by already tried (and unsuccessful) methods. How can one otherwise explain that The Tourist Gaze, some ten, or already twenty years ago, claimed Dubrovnik had physical limits to the extension of the “collective” gaze, while national TV reports on jams and regulation of pedestrian traffic at Pile with exultation? The same paradox is equally visible in the latest fad present in Croatia: this must be rural tourism.

The Sale of the Coast: Non-Places

Non-places are created as neuralgic points of “super-modernity”; locations such as intersections and highways or airports need not create a sense of alienation or speed: fascination with them is visible too, so the airport also became a scene for a recent theatre show in Zagreb.

Be that as it is, one of characteristics of non-places is that people do not dwell in them, not in the meaning of permanent residence. In the context of tourism, apart from the customary scale of traveller-tourist-excursionist (and post-tourist), the category of settler is visible as well (for example, the English in France or Spain, where they were all but granted the status of minority), or – in Croatian circumstances – owners of holiday homes. It is undoubtedly the chaotic social context that is the cause behind lesser numbers of permanent “guests”.

The point where non-places and tourism join are numerous Istrian and Dalmatian towns and villages where many of real estate are sold out, while the clamour of the street is replaced by eerie quiet, especially during winter. Examples include Vrsar or Dubrovnik. Not even casual strollers by have many reasons to be in coastal non-places – if they are not actively discouraged too (e.g. beaches). Dubrovnik, on the other hand, is a place of a certain paradox of intensive gaze during July and August, or during the visits of cruisers, only to fall back to the emptiness full of supply because of which locals now have no reason to go to Old Town, only worsened by the fact that the administrative hub migrated to the intersection of Lapad and Gruž.

World architecture trends feature a noticeable movement against postmodern architecture, spearheaded by Prince Charles in the UK. I would like to avoid discussion of style here, and focus on one of the principles of the “New Urbansim” - a move away from/against zoning. And it is zoning that is exactly achieved by exclusive tourist purpose of constructions. The “Sunny Gardens” of Dubrovnik are far from locals (and too expensive for them). This is exactly why the advice of those architects that champion the community should be heeded, i.e. mixing of zones. One should also bear in mind the end of the investment cycle (cf. below), i.e. possible end of the tourist facilities and likewise their reconstruction into town blocks.

Changes in the Structure of Work and Living

Workforce is nowadays “managed”. The keyword is flexibility, while T. Atkinson has determined four types of flexibility of labour: numerical, functional, distancing (in the sense of outsourcing) and pay flexibility. It was also established such flexibility entails gender structuring. Moreover, service delivery belongs to the non-measurable area, the product being but a fraction of what is purchased, while the larger share is worker's personality. “The consequence of this is that, in certain circumstances, employee's speech, appearance and personality may be regarded as rightful areas of intervention and control by the management.”

Translated into the everyday, this would mean locals along the coast work, say, in two shifts during summer, while they are unemployed in winter, and yet they have to stage a performative satisfaction and happiness, even though “it is often as little as 20-60 per cent of the price that stays in the host country... One should also ask the following: development for whom? Many objects that are the result of tourism (airports, golf courses, luxury hotels etc.) will be of little benefit to the locals... Finally, many workplaces connected to tourism-related services create low-qualified jobs and can reproduce the servile character...”

In this context, and the context of non-existent public debates, we should also view, e.g., the proposed development of Dubrovnik and Croatia. The data from the Croatian Labour Institute point to the seasonal character of the larger share of employment already being a structural part of our economy.

One must also emphasize the issue of the methodology for measuring tourist consumption. The state-run news regularly feature exact numerical information on guests' consumption, while theory teaches the methodology to be questionable (it is unclear how the funds are further channelled), as well as that most studies point out about half the money stays in the community. Of course, it is not equally distributed – one of the factors that exacerbate the situation.

The Clash of Cultures

"Many features of postmodernism are largely visible in present tourist practices.” According to this explanation, tourism, and everybody is a tourist today, like it or not, represents our fast age well. This is the times of de-differentiation, in which both horizontal and vertical differentiation collapse. In other words, structure of the work sphere established by modernism (differentiation), its separation from the leisure sphere, collapsed. As I already described in the chapter dealing with labour, the employees of today “must have fun at work too.”

One of key spheres where differences collapsed (de-differentiation) is mixing between cultures. We have always been exposed to this in the Adriatic, but especially after mass tourism developed. “But, as all tourist know, the inescapable fact of tourism is that you always bring yourself along... Few of us opt for local characteristics and exchange the attributes of own culture and domain for the native. Instead, we retreat into own routines and habitual laws of life.”

(Maria Todorova in "Imagining the Balkans" convincingly exposes the Orient, and equally the Balkans, to be the Other for the West, its alter ego. The West have also stubbornly, historically, interpreted the Other pursuant to own categories, the Irish in case of Macedonia or the poor classes for example, speaking thus equally of itself as well as of others. This is one of rare books that features a “defence” of the Balkans: “But your brigands have often been to university and rob in order to obtain luxuries, using lies and false promises. You had all the advantages of education and civilisation for a number of years, and you do this. But you call us savages for shooting people.”

Croatians have the West as their Utopia, and the East as its inversion. However, I am more interested here in seeing one's own country as the Other. During the 20^th century, Croatians have, on several occasions, repudiated own history. This happened as recently as the 90s war, by obliterating all, even positive, aspects of socialism. Indeed, Todorova aptly uses the English word "graft" when describing the layers present in the Balkans, which is almost reserved for plant saplings. )

But, let's analyse a more concrete example – the contact between Swedish settlers and locals at Tenerife: "Locals were impressed by Swedish technology and education but thought the visitors morally depraved; Swedes talked of generosity and openness of locals but considered them backward and superstitious... Neither old nor new tourism do not increase contacts between locals and visitors.”

I would like to propose the above, especially when seen in light of tourism as a paradigm of wider reality, as one of laws of life. Croatia daily experiences the clash between different cultures and it is highly probable we are trying to copy the habits of dominant cultures in the political sphere. “Cultures travel” - right, while speaking as a translator, I may add we no longer try to interpret.

One can also add the comment as to the very shores: “In the Caribbean... and most of world tourist regions, beaches are public, but in reality local access is limited.” If so, and if the fact is in the books, going back to the introductory chapter, why are the locals in Dubrovnik surprised?

Possible Worst Case Development Scenario

Many places in the Mediterranean have already gone full investment cycle: following saturation, ecological pollution or simply opening of new “destinations” (not even mentioning that the political climate must be favourable), tourists, but investors as well, retreat. There are many examples for this throughout the Mediterranean.

"The whole industry is based on the permanent requirement of discovery... what is termed “reaching the maturity phase of product life cycle” in trade terminology... Along many Mediterranean costs we find a similar pattern of coastal exploitation. First, there is the beach, perhaps a small village, and a winding coastal road. The initial hotels, restaurants and stores spring up along the road with beach view. Step by step, the settlement becomes denser and the picturesque road turns into a traffic inferno; the old hotels may have sea view, but the perfect view to endless traffic and much noise as well. New hotels must go elsewhere.”

The consequence in many cases is pollution as well. It has been suggested that underdeveloped countries have little choice for an economic cycle but consenting to tourism investments. What we should differentiate by all means is lunging forward into investments that offer short-term economic development (Icelandic scenario) from wise weighing of advantages and drawbacks.

Despite the mantra that Croatia is rich in water, on account of poor infrastructure Dubrovnik regularly has the issue of fresh water supply, while we have recently almost seen the act on the privatisation of forests and water pass. The island of Mljet features a well-known graffiti saying “Goodbye, agriculture”. One of the preconditions to wise policy, in any sphere, is playing several cards. Again, in case of Dubrovnik, neither the past nor this state managed to escape uniformity, whether in terms of industry or traffic.

Perhaps we should heed the words of Professor MacCannell: "I am therefore suggesting industrial or plantation version of tourism is short-sighted. Sooner or later, capital created by natural growth tourism shall exceed the capital of promoted, plantation tourism... Full integration of tourism into the local community occurs when the locals discover the advantages and desirability of using the infrastructure first designed for tourists.”

The Tourist Product and the Contemporary

Nostalgia has a special place in tourism, and likewise in consumer society. A large part of the “product” refers to daydreaming, so it is sold using nostalgia as well. The Adriatic still contains Robinsonian venues, but it seems they are increasingly supported by the sphere of tourism so they belong the the “fake back area” as per Goffman. Equally valid are Benjamin's comments on the decrease of the aura of locations. Many tourists nowadays first see Dubrovnik before they arrive, while the quality of supply and the crowds further contribute to the anti-climactic experience.

The European Grand Tour switched from education purposes (with the emphasis on discourse) to the sphere of the visual. The discovery of photography and reproduction only cemented this emphasis. Today, most historical contents, which are exceptionally vigorous in Dubrovnik, are more and more offered through the visual. The Museums of Dubrovnik slowly but surely follow the numbers and the de-differentiation of world museums, while a 3D museum has recently opened. However, I should stress the visual offers a certain shallowness, i.e. “artefactual” history, devoid of the horror and relations that true history exposes.

Dubrovnik has still not become part of the “society of spectacle”. Naturally, the interaction with the world is unavoidable, so town walls are today guarded by costumed students. Occasionally, a Renaissance-Baroque couple stroll down Stradun or guards accompanied by drums. But the characteristics are still a far cry from England, where costumes are worn by everybody, throughout the year. This even caused caustic comments that the whole of England should be preserved, while this park would be accessed directly from Heathrow. However, as time goes by, we must ask ourselves how to avoid or how to compete with the “real fakes” of theme parks in the West.

In terms of the cultural, to be equally applied to the fate of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, there are no simple solutions. That is, true cultural consumption equals about 5% of the market. The most frequent consumers are young, educated women. Most people will never travel for culture alone. It has even been established adverse weather will boost cultural spending. On the other hand, the need to develop new tourist products is increasingly being felt. Mental tear and wear, according to Löfgren, is also one of exceptionally important factors in tourism.

It is questionable whether this is possible, outside the so-called marketing niches. Large international companies have overtaken our tourism too, and one of salient features of Mediterranean tourism is its high standardization. Ranging from the village “fiesta” to the standard bar stool, the Mediterranean uses the same, identical elements.

It could also be said both the locals and the tourists are equally superficial – one of intellectuals' historical complaints: “A week in the Mediterranean should primarily be available at reasonable prices, which presupposes mass travel. Secondly, it must deliver certain basic elements: sun, sea, sand and possibly some local colour... When some tourists accuse other tourists of not being good enough tourists, of not being open enough, not interested in adventure and new challenges, they actually go back to the normative ideal developed during the Grand Tour and later.” The complaint of locals, that they would “rather the tourist mail the money and not show up,” is known. “The structure of the weekly invasion and exodus also produces bad service and indifference to visitors.”

Conclusion

One could argue this brief text opens more issues than answers them at all. This is precisely the task of thinking: the rest is policy planning.

But, there is a practical precondition. In the film “Sicko” by Michael Moore, there is the following utterance: “The true revolution is not socialism but democracy. The idea one should serve the community. If the poor ever get truly represented, this will be revolution.” For the time being, the awareness of collective interest is non-existent in Croatia. Among all the issues piled up, it is almost certain the destiny of tourism is uncertain.

But one thing is sure. Knowledge of theory is the unquestionable condition for reaching policy. Theory is equally valuable as the skill of bridge building. Of course, if we do not want it see go down one day. 

Savage Country

The other day, for sure, the PM once again lectured on patriotism. After all, you can't teach a dog new tricks. It reminded me of a study on despotism I read. This African dictator sent a few bright kids to Oxford. Upon return they started clamouring for reforms - they were shortly executed.
Her idea of patriotism is taking her sports interpreter son with her during a visit to the Pope - even though he does not work for the government. Small world, small country, small minds - what else is new?

Common Fallacies

A friend just asked what sublime was, so, as illustration, I chose to entitle the post thus, instead of the vulgar 'Usual Errors'.
I have begun the 14 versions of my first draft idea for the MA synopsis always with the same assertion: that the notion of how something is unnatural is the most exploited ruse in human history. Homosexuality is accordingly unnatural, and so was the position of ancient Greek women natural. Ditto for everything else. For fuck's sake.
The second most abused idea belongs to the field of metaphysical speculation. The world is swamped in unresolved philosophical problems, the most urgent one probably being the extent of free will if such a thing exists at all in the conventional sense, and those that interpret the quake in Japan as Doomsday (at least that's the headline in the most prominent Croatian daily, the word prominent being highly ironic, please do note) - are treading the path of insanity.
I have just seen an interview on Croatian national TV, and this preacher all but claims he is in direct contact with God himself. For me, when you start speaking of what God is saying to you - this is as good a definition of lunacy as any.
We should instead stick to what can be cupped from the sea, to use the Biblical quotation once again, and build a better society that nourishes a sense of unknown.
Further info on my stance to be found at ikonoklast.minijaturist.net

Slave Mentality

South Slav Mentality: A Translation Prism

It is often argued Croatians require a leader, or a shepherd dog. They tread the party line and do not believe in electing the best for a post, but - appoint. Under this view, centuries of foreign dominations over "wild animals" did their thing, and now that they have awakened to independence, they are profligates.
Our current prime minister does not speak English. She does somewhat, enough to disgrace herself on TV by saying she "was in Hungary the day after yesterday". Franjo Tudjman, one of Balkan dismantlers, engendered the practice: not pursuant to his ideology of fierce independence, he did not speak Croatian before the General Assembly of the UN, a building rife with translators, but opted for a pidgin version of English instead. I, with my relative superior skill, would never go for that. What for on Earth?
It is not just the French that lament the intrusion of English: we simply do not have the cultural voice to utter it loud enough. Croatian bankers e.g., imagine, do not translate "the back office". Even the field I'm currently studying, the Cultural Studies, is translated within academia as Kulturalni studiji, ergo after the English adjective form, and the plural of the word study, instead of Studij kulture.
I usually joke about us trying to gain independence from Hungarians in 1850s. "With those peasants?"
And, oh, for the sake of in-country commentators: I love Croatia. This is why.

The Biblical Salt

This new documentary film only theatre opened in Zagreb last year. Or was it two years ago? But, anyway, this movie on neurosurgery I saw has one of the best beginnings ever. The topic gruesome, on lack of care in Ukraine, which results in diseases practically unknown of in the West these days - the opening lines are spoken by a British doctor who all but steals second-hand equipment to bring it over:
- It is hard to know when to go ahead, when to proceed, and when to do nothing..

He was, of course, talking about the need for operations but the same could be successfully applied literally everywhere. I would even say this is the mental skill most deficient in common humanity.

And there you have it. Today's Washington newspaper predicts violence in Croatia. The ruling party, in a completely autistic and imbecile fashion, declares the writer a hater of Croatia.

But it is completely evident now: they won't budge. Perhaps they will be budged off.

Pelješac Daytrip

Taking a Break

I'll be without proper net access for 20 or so days, which is a good time as well to take a break from the damn thing. I have tried it and I actually find I'm more focused without the grid.
I'll also be in the capital and probably join one of the walk ons, unless they turn violent, which would not be a surprising thing for somebody who's been half-paranoid ever since the war.
You can regurgitate meanwhile and possibly offer a comment or two. Indeed, it would be a completely different thing to write as if or if somebody were reading.
I also have to pass my exam, and write an essay that I entitled Non-places: Coast Sale. The gist is that the sale is turning once bustling towns and villages into empty spots. It is usually airports or highways that are termed as non-places but the emptiness makes these tourist places completely without any reason for anybody to loiter there.
I'll check up now and then. Be good.

Ruling on the Ruling

The old Chinese saying I'm inventing says the worst you can probably cause to happen is to create yourself an enemy.
If you decide to steal from your own people, then you're into homeland switching - you simply cannot be at peace and loaded among total misery. What were they thinking?
There's this, now freshly ex, finance minister in Croatia who supposedly took a loan, among all those loans, the latest but to service incrued interest, under such conditions that there had never ever been a country that stooped to this. Yesterday, in Parliament, he received a reply: "I'll talk to you when you have served your sentence".
The parliament vice-president, a remnant of the most ancient of HDZ power, stemming back to the very 1990, and pulling hidden levers all the while, was visited by the "mob" last night in front of his very flat in Zagreb.
But the worst defeat of all is that their official ideology has been dismantled and shown for what it is - their children will deny them. Once, but for all time.

Sham

I'm not happy with the existing Croatian translation of the Catcher in the Rye. That is, I find the key word of the whole text to be "phony". In Croatian, this has been translated at liberty as "crazy" (If I can recall the nuance; both books were left in Zagreb), while the emphasis is strikingly on the "false". This would be "lažan".
I have lately also read Salinger's biography, i.e. one of them, written by an Alexander. It seems "Junior Delinquent" never truly grew up - but - should he have?
We can discuss tactics of adaptation and social change, but to be "a serious adult"? Most I know, or know of, are phony indeed. Hilarious laughter fading into the Friday Night Fever.......................................

A Cruel Nation

Just saw Sicko last night, with a few years' delay. "A Sick Nation" would have been a cute title for this, but it, alas, carries some rather unpleasant overtones.
But, thank God for Brits and Frenchies. Their systems prove you can have "socialised" health. And that it works. Apparently, those well off in the US forgot all about solidarity and their hospitals even dump off those completely in need on the sidewalk. Almost beyond belief.
We had a good system going. Now those in the rat race are being presented the "benefits" of private insurance, which, as Sicko shows, will make an extra effort to turn you down in case you are ill. Hey, if you have diabetes or some other chronic condition you are a liability.
The other day I had a toothache, only to discover Dubrovnik these days does not have emergency dental care. I know people who have spent their entire lifetimes in the medical profession and, to them, this seems as if somebody pissed all over their professional life history.
There's this Brit in the movie who claims democracy is the most revolutionary idea of all: you have to serve the community, not your interests. "If the poor get themselves represented it will be a true revolution come true".

The Empire is Stricken Back

Gawd, it feels good to be right!
Commenting on last year's student protests for free schooling, I said: "But isn't it great? You're young, you fuck around with the police a little, you fuck, you have a sense of purpose.. Beautiful"!
Have you forgotten? They got you by the balls so hard?

Yesterday, the protesters in Zagreb burned down the flags of HDZ (the ruling party for over 20 years), SDP (ex-communists, opposition, probably in deal with the ruling party), AND - the EU flag. One of them was carrying a placard that said "We want freedom (sloboda), not Swobodian travesty (swoboda)"! Another read "300,000 unemployed, 70,000 working but not getting paid; Capitalism - NO; THANKS".

Yes, I'm proud. And you can keep the rationalisations of utopias and Balkanites to yourself. "Up yours".

Foreign Elements

True, Croatian politics, and non-existent policies likewise, have taken sadly nationalistic overtones, especially in 1990s, even short-sighted chauvinist ones. But the foreigner is advised to view this in light of all those foreigners ruling and conquering my nation during the centuries.

The former resulted in vital elements of power, those economic levers, to be sold to foreigners, be these all the banks or telecommunications or the hotel industry. This is what we refer to as "selling the silverware".

But, watching current news, the sadest plight by far is that we, once again and openly, have the rule not of the people. These wretched oligarchs - are the foreign element.

Space Talk

Saw the first episode of the cultish Blake's 7 last night. It is a good illustration of how we would seem to aliens, or to ourselves, if we look from distance.
Technology was not so advanced, that's obvious, but the cultural stuff: the costumes, the mores, the talk, the script! Brits in space indeed. Brought a smile to my ageing-middle-age face.

I also once read this title called the History of the Future. The writer recounts the last 5 centuries that spread onwards from the age of spiralling global capitalism. Not to spoil the surprise (it can easily be found on Amazon, though not in Kindle format), suffice it to say the claim is posterity will condemn us.

When I still thought I can write poetry in English, this is what I came up with (Don't laugh, I was 21.):

what goes on - what takes place
be condensed - be say cleansed
might as well say a grace


lucky - so coeval
who else could stand our share
of the void - the dismal

EU: Empire Looming

Yesterday, a certain Swoboda (a nobody, I met a lot of European nobodies as an interpreter) gave a statement to the effect Croatia must first conclude negotiations to "join" EU before having new elections. On FB I was mild indeed: I called him a European cunt. But let's review this issue in more civil terms.

Putting aside the question of why on Earth Croatia, after finally having won its independence, precarious as it is, would rush to join another empire, Swoboda the bureaucrat presumes the following:
- that he is expected to counsel the Croatian Government on what to do in vital internal affairs,
- that he is aware of the outcome of the future referendum,
- that Croatians like being lectured by somebody like him through mass media.

Latest polls indicate Croatians are less than willing to "join". Just the about the sole argument for it would be foreign help for restructuring our feeble institutions and servicing our loans. However, I see no advantage, really, to replace one foul situation with one that smells even ranker.

The situation reminds me of a great documentary on Iceland I saw this summer; I think it's called the Dreamland. World tradesmen and organisation officials come to the country, only to plunder and devastate its resources and - mindfuck people in the process, rewarding corrupt officials that later become "consultants". Gross.

However, we are left with some dignity. It is expressed in the so-called drunken cafe talk, where, if you get closer to locals, you can hear: "And I'll tell you something. When we have finally joined, they'll fall apart".

Logic of Futility

A Note on Translation Practices 

The visitor will soon notice Croatia, and Europe, are buzzing markets for translation. We dub or subtitle movies and we have endless interpreting on meetings and in European institutions.
They now have a term for it: it's called localisation. I contrast it with a thinking process called "translation" - because localisation always invokes mechanisation and economists running dubious agencies with translators who drudge away and complicate.
I was actually once turned down by an agency that had such simplistic view of language, barring the use of the "more eastern" version of the word 'Evropa' for the "real and actual Croatian" 'Europa'. How does one argue with a person who thinks in these terms? Unfortunately, even though the previous line sounds like a joke, it is not. You actually don't - you are rejected and you move away. (Croatians or Europeans aparently also never mastered the 1984 in sufficient masses, with its insistance on newspeak.)

Anyways, the problem I want to mention is quickly explained by the fact that movies are translated several times in e.g. Croatian. First, to start with, for cinema. Next for DVD and cable. Finally for national television. And each company produces own translation!
Now, I have this crazy idea society should be intelligent, organised and fair. Nothing contrasts more with this notion than this attempt of stupid (limited, and producing mostly second-rate translations) localising. It does have a logic however - it's economic. Check an etymological dictionary, dear.

Fluke

I'm not that smart, y'know, at least not in the down-to-Earth sense: it seems I chose my profession poorly.
One cannot get rich translating, simply cannot. You may have a comfortable life, yes, you might travel, but in the final run it boils down to servant role and you cannot earn vast sums at a stroke. As for example lawyers do.
This is further exacerbated by the contemporary neglect of language: it is amazing how little profession is admired and sought opinions from.
True, you might end up a writer but I have a theory anything except for the first novel is drudgery, comparatively speaking. This is NOT a vocation and is not to be pushed. (We have had these ridiculous one hundred thousand local currency awards for the best novel during the past five years or so.)
After all, it would look the best principle would be the ancient one of mecenas, or patrons. It is the appaling order of today's nouveau riche not to have a philosopher or artist on your estate.
And it is probably in such constellations that best cooperations are realised: just think of the Pope and Michelangelo or the proverbial clash between the investor and the architect. Reigns are good; sometimes spurring you on. To evade the constraints of the assignment or reality itself has always been one of favourite techniques of art. Why? Constant flux requires a tireless arranger. And that's as clear as I can be.

Wrongs To Right

Once more back to war memories. I was but eighteen, an unsuspecting baby, and this 30-year-old said: "Well the last one took five years. This one ain't gonna be shorter". I said: "No way".

Hope I'm wrong again. This summer it was me who said: "I'm afraid that we don't engage in a civil one". My right-wing friend said: "Don't be crazy".

Some Eastern Europeans had the process of lustration after communism. Individuals who participated in most heinous communist machinations were stripped of their active political rights to participate in the structures of power (not of political representation). 
If it does not turn into a witch hunt, something humans very aptly indulge in, I say: go for it! The only way to learn from your mistakes is if you are confronted with them.


As an aside, further on the witch hunt issue, last night I saw the Fair Game. My favourite scene is when Sean Penn is cornered by an American bigot for being "a leftist piece of crap", followed by his conversation in a taxicab with an African driver who insists the US is the land of the free, and brave.
Penn: "Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that".


However, lustration-wise, history teaches the first objective of new powerhouses is to further establish power. Croatians flocked from the Communist Party to HDZ in droves, while Americans did not prosecute Nazi scientists or, indeed, anyone of "use".


I once wrote of the unimaginable path the despots travel. After years in office they are full of stories, explanations and paranoia - while the glaring truth of basic incompetency is visible for anyone to see. Indeed, the definition of intelligence should be stretched to read: "capability to find mutually acceptable, feasible solutions".