"Idle priest baptises goats" is an ancient proverb
very popular in this part of the world. In our more secular times it could be
applied to certain group of individuals that live on taxpayers' money under the
pretext of representing taxpayers' interests in Sabor.
One of the more recent examples of the phenomenon is the
initiative of two "left wing" representatives - Šime Lučin (Sime
Lucin), former interiors minister in Ivica Račan's (Ivica Racan's) cabinet and
Ivo Banac, former head of Liberal Party. Two of them sponsored new bill that
would replace same sex unions with same sex marriages. Lučin, whose tenure of
Croatian top lawman is less remembered than his designated role of chief gay
rights lobbyist within Račan's government, stopped short of proposing gay couples
to adopt children, thus showing that the bill had the tacit blessing of his
boss, obviously interested to again reinvent SDP as some kind of
"leftist" and "progressive" alternative to HDZ.
Although SDP leadership and its section of media
establishment supports the initiative, it will amount to nothing except
providing sensationalist headlines to the likes of 24 sata or adding few
percentages of votes to HDZ and other social conservative parties at the
elections.
In the meantime, another Sabor representative decided to
play the role of idle priest. His name is Furio Radin and he represents Italian
ethnic minority in special seat. Until recently soft-spoken Radin was one of
the most respected members of Croatian political class.
That was until he declared Croatia to be under attack of
"hate speech" on the Internet and lambasted Croatian police and other
government services for allowing such attack to go unanswered. In an interview
for Večernji list he proposed creation of a "special body that would
monitor and control the Internet and prevent appearance of hate speech".
He also claimed that there was "a simple and reliable IT system" that
could achieve that aim.
To say that Radin's plan is pointless waste of taxpayers'
money is an understatement. If Radin's words are genuine, they show complete
lack of understanding of what Internet is all about and how the concepts of
free speech and censorship dramatically changed in past few decades. Radin's
mind is still entrenched in the dark days of 20th Century when the only public
expressions of opinion came through tightly controlled press and broadcast
media. I doubt that he feels nostalgic for those times and yearns for the
status Communist apparatchiks enjoyed in the likes of Pravda, but majority of
his colleagues in Sabor are going to adopt his initiative for that very reason.
However, Croatian public - at least its section that
comprehends the freedom of expression concept - shouldn't worry about Radin's
plan resulting in anything other than few headlines. Even if Sabor passes the
appropriate laws and creates new Internet bureaucracy, its ability to suppress
hate speech - and use this opportunity to suppress any thought remotely
critical of Račan/Sanader - is going to be very limited. Other, more
experienced, better funded and better equipped institution in the world failed
to tackle much more serious issues of viruses, spam and cybercrime. I doubt
that Croatian state, which is constantly failing to provide basic public
security in the very heart of Zagreb, will employ tens of thousands full-time
professionals necessary to properly monitor and block hate speech in Croatian
Usenet groups, Internet forums and blogs.
I feel very reluctant about introducing the word
"fisking" to Croatian vocabulary or Croatia-related discussion, but
this article by
index.hr deputy director Neven Barković (Neven Barkovic) about Radin would
serve as a perfect example of "fisking".
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