NOT TO REMAIN SILENT OVER GLORIFICATION OF EVIL

BANJA LUKA, FEBRUARY 16 /SRNA/ – Socialist Party /SP/ Leader Petar Đokić said that Ustasha chants heard in Široki Brijeg at a recent concert by the controversial Croatian singer Marko Perković Thompson openly glorify Ustasha and Nazi ideology, which is responsible for the most monstrous crimes against Serbs, and warned that one must not remain silent in the face of the glorification of evil.

"We have been recently witnessing increasingly aggressive promotion of Ustasha ideology, which is being presented as part of culture and tradition. That is a dangerous deception. Unfortunately, the world remains silent in the face of this glorification of evil, which is just as alarming as the chants themselves," Đokić warned. Đokić pointed out that no society that wishes to call itself civilized can tolerate the promotion of an ideology of genocide, reads the SP's statement. "Any justification or ignoring of such phenomena means complicity in attempts to rewrite history and relativize crimes. Therefore, I call on local and international institutions to finally show responsibility and clearly state that the glorification of Ustashism has no place in the modern world," Đokić stated. He stressed that the organisers of such concerts should be sanctioned. "Because if we remain silent today, we allow this evil to speak again tomorrow," Đokić said. At the concert on Friday, February 13, in Široki Brijeg, Thompson performed the song "Bojna Čavoglave", accompanied by the Ustasha salute "For Homeland-Ready!/Za dom spremni!", which the audience shouted together with him. The performance at the Pecara sports hall featured iconography and symbols of the infamous Independent State of Croatia, as well as references to the wars of the 1990s of the last century.