To Woodrow Wilson Institute
Mr. Mieczyslaw Boduszynski
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA 92110-2492 May 6, 2004
Dear Mr. Boduszynski,
We are reading with great dismay the title of your upcoming lecture at
the Woodrow Wilson Institute: “The Return of Power of Nationalist Parties
in Croatia and Serbia – What Does It Mean?”.
The title seems to suggest that the Governments of Croatia and Serbia are
both nationalistic, implying that the new government of Croatia, led by
the HDZ party, is the same as the so-called nationalistic government of
the late president Tudjman. If this is indeed your impression you are
quite mistaken.
The new government of Croatia is internationally recognized as a
democratic government with no unhealthy nationalistic overtones. The very
fact that the EU gave it the Avis for future membership and that the
Prime Minister Dr. Sanader and Croatia’s Foreign Minister were invited to
the White House to the recent NATO admission ceremony for several new
NATO members from former communist countries should be adequate proof
that Croatia is considered a worthy, democratic country.
Serbia, of course, is an entirely different matter. Their newly elected
Government espouses leaders who are ultra-nationalist and who still
believe that they have the right to annex to Serbia any part of a
sovereign country if there happens to live a larger ethnic Serb
population, even though it was never part of Serbia. In addition, some of
these Serb leaders in Parliament are indicted war criminals, such as
Milosevic and Seselj. Comparing such a country to Croatia is simply
absurd.
Sincerely,
Hilda Maria Foley
National Federation of Croatian Americans
13272 Orange Knoll
Santa Ana, Ca 92705