Croatia’s Fascist-Saluting Summer
Fans of Croatian folk-rock star Marko Perković, nicknamed Thompson, have long greeted his concerts with nationalist chanting and fascist salutes. The problem is, now there are hundreds of thousands of them — including ministers in the current government.
For over two decades, Marko Perković Thompson’s concerts have served as massive political rallies, marked by provocative messages, sloganeering, and banners. (Damir Sencar / AFP via Getty Images)
We used to have a slaughterhouse in the town of Čapljina /
Many Serb bodies were washed away by the river Neretva.
This summer, an unexpected series of events ignited a nationwide debate in Croatia about the country’s history, its political culture, and, most crucially, its future. Two massive far-right concerts (the first reportedly drawing half a million people), a military parade, and several traditional celebrations — together with strikingly inflammatory statements from government officials — left many questioning whether Croatia had lurched to the right virtually overnight.
This is not merely an exaggerated interpretation coming from a few left-wing “snowflakes.” Even one of Croatia’s major TV stations aired a special program about the events, which opened with the statement: “Half of Croatia views July 5 as the start of something beautiful, while the other half sees it as the beginning of something troubling.”
That date had seen a massive concert by far-right folk-rock star Marko Perković, nicknamed Thompson (after the submachine gun), held at the Zagreb Hippodrome. Initially scheduled for May, just before local elections, the concert was widely perceived as a right-wing challenge to the Croatian capital city’s administration, which is led by the Greens with Social Democratic support. Citing scheduling conflicts, authorities postponed the event to a date after the elections, in which they retained control.
How could a concert threaten city hall? Thompson’s concerts are never merely cultural events. For over two decades, they have served as massive political rallies, marked by provocative messages, sloganeering, and banners. His songs portray ethnic Croats as “blue-blooded” and “white-faced” chosen people, often evoking romanticized medieval Crusader imagery. He even urges fans to wield a cross or sword (Thompson frequently brandishes toy swords onstage) to defend their nation against devil-inspired enemies — a thinly veiled allusion to left-wingers and Serbs.
Beyond referencing the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, many of Thompson’s songs subtly convey nostalgia for the World War II–era fascist puppet state, the Independent State of Croatia, and its leading movement, the Ustaše. His connections to groups celebrating this movement are well documented. In earlier years, he openly expressed admiration for Ustaše leaders, though he has occasionally sought to distance himself from the most overt endorsements.
Many of Thompson’s fans, however, are far less subtle, often wearing T-shirts bearing Ustaše insignia or chanting 1940s songs. Zagreb’s liberal public was shocked by images of Thompson supporters singing a Ustaše military march in the city center before the concert. Such displays are not unusual for these events, though they typically occur in rural areas and are often overlooked by the media. This time, however, was different. For weeks leading up to the Zagreb concert, most national media outlets provided detailed coverage of the preparations for what they called “the great event,” claiming it was the largest paid-entry concert in world history, though the number of attendees was never verified, and many had not actually paid for tickets.
Both supporters and detractors saw the attempt to organize the biggest Thompson concert ever in Zagreb — the capital but also a center-left stronghold — as a provocative attempt by the Right to take over the city. The broad support received by both politicians and media close to the ruling party seemed to confirm their point.
Government Endorsement
That this was more than just another rural far-right rally was confirmed when Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, leader of the center-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), brought his children to meet the singer in an obvious photo-op just before the concert. The HDZ has been Croatia’s dominant political force for twenty-seven of the past thirty-five years. Even during brief periods out of government, it has typically retained control over key state institutions, including the judiciary, state-owned enterprises, and national sporting and cultural organizations. Though always a right-wing and nationalist formation, it has usually attempted to have a catch-all element, attracting “nonideological” technocrats to its ranks.
Plenković is serving his third term as prime minister. Over the past nine years, he has generally been regarded as a successful pragmatist and a moderating force, significantly curbing the influence of the HDZ’s right wing and, for a time, including representatives of Croatia’s Serbian community in his government. Two party heavyweights attended the concert. Defense Minister Ivan Anušić openly boasted of using the salute “For Homeland — Ready” at the event. This slogan — originally coined by Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić in the 1930s and later used by a Croatian paramilitary group during the Yugoslav Wars upon the breakup of that plurinational state — remains legally contentious.
Gordan Jandroković, Speaker of the Croatian Parliament and often ridiculed as an arch-opportunist in Croatian politics, thus rarely viewed as an extremist, repeatedly praised the concert as an expression of “patriotism and unity.” Media speculation suggests that Anušić and Jandroković may be vying to succeed Plenković, who is rumored to be seeking a more prominent role in an EU or NATO institution after his third term. If so, their competition for leadership could also reflect a shift toward the right. At the concert, Thompson called on Croats to help “restore Europe to its traditional Christian roots to make it strong again.”
Less than a month later, another concert took place in the small southern town of Sinj. There Thompson intensified his rhetoric, explicitly denouncing the Left as “Yugopoliticians” (though no one in Croatian politics dares to speak positively of the old Yugoslav federation) and demanding that those who “don’t respect the veterans” leave the country. Many from the ruling HDZ, along with public figures close to the party, such as the national soccer team coach, echoed similar sentiments. A priest from Sinj, the site of the second concert, used the pulpit during the major Catholic holiday, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, to wish that critics of the concert “suffer and die in torture.”
A Muted Left-Wing Response
As expected, the fans in Sinj went further than those in Zagreb, occupying the town center to sing in unison a song celebrating WWII-era Ustaše death camps. Titled “Jasenovac i Gradiška Stara,” in reference to the camps’ locations, the song, once performed by Thompson at concerts but no longer in his repertoire, remains the unofficial anthem of his most ardent fans. It glorifies Ustaše “butchers” and “blackshirts” and celebrates the “slaughter” of Serbs in a profoundly dehumanizing manner.
Despite the many attacks on the Left, it has remained surprisingly restrained in its response to the events. The Greens, who govern Zagreb, could have canceled the concert, as it was held at a city-owned venue. This would not have been unprecedented — Thompson’s concerts have previously been canceled in Croatia and other countries due to his far-right positions. This time, however, the Greens chose not to, in a futile attempt to avoid provoking the Right. On the other hand, left-wing former MP Katarina Peović, one of the most vocal critics, faced hundreds of death threats in a coordinated far-right campaign.
Both concerts took place near the major national holiday of “Victory Day,” which commemorates the 1995 Operation Storm that restored Croatian control over most of its territory and triggered the exodus of several hundred thousand Serbs from Croatia. Left-wing politicians, invited as guests of honor to the military parade, stood by passively as police brutalized several antiwar protesters, who narrowly escaped being lynched by the crowd. Later they attended other Victory Day celebrations where right-wing politicians delivered inflammatory speeches while former paramilitaries and football hooligans marched with far-right slogans and banners. The Greens and Social Democrats responded only with tepid statements after the fact.
A Shifted Political Landscape
As expected, these public displays of acceptance of such slogans at state-sponsored events fueled a surge in far-right symbols, with viral videos showing children chanting “For Homeland — Ready” in the streets and entire soccer stadiums shouting “Let’s go, Ustaše!” during matches.
But why this escalation now? Despite all the anti-Serb rhetoric, Serbs in Croatia are today a small community, barely a shadow of their former selves. Serbia and Croatia, while never on good terms, seem quite geopolitically aligned, with Serbia providing large quantities of ammunition to both Ukraine and Israel and Croatia attempting to use its EU membership to offer diplomatic support to the same countries.
It is not impossible, however, that this rightward shift is linked to the same broader geopolitical dynamics, including mounting pressure to militarize the European Union — an agenda that, as is increasingly discussed across member states, could also usher in a new wave of austerity. Croatia, being a small country, is unlikely to play a major role in the West’s future military strategies. Still, as we are periodically reminded, it is expected to contribute — at least according to currently available public plans — perhaps through the production of small arms and drones.
In any case, whatever national or European authorities have planned, the path is now much clearer for driving through regressive change than it was only a few months ago. With the population mobilized and brought into line and the opposition effectively neutralized, meaningful resistance appears increasingly unlikely.