Metakoncept.hr

The protest was started with the nation's anthem, followed by verses of the popular hip-hop artist Edin Osmić (aka Edo Maajka): "Fuck the government, fuck politics, fuck the lot of them in congress." Those were the words with witch Josip Dell'olio started his speech on Jelačić square making it clear that the protest is entirely apolitical and defined only by citizens and not by some political party. Media coverage of this "event" was very good and only minor police intervention was needed. With much criticism aimed at the political elite, including the opposition, NGOs, the media and unions, the protestors shouted slogans such as "Stealing scum" and "Ivo, go away" (aimed at Ivo Sanader, the prime minister). Two persons were arrested - a woman for being drunk and disorderly and a young man who lit a torch at the main square. No other incidents were reported.

OThis protest had a big echo outside of Croatia and was much talked about even before it took place because of the way it was organized and advertised. This is a clear example of the importance, or perhaps power of social networking. Facebook and other social networks reveal themselves as a powerful tool for unification. Some say it's a powerful weapon of democracy. But in the end, what it failed to achieve is the presence of 60 000 members of the popular Facebook group... The media coverage of the arrest of one of the activists, Dalibor Markušić, for advertising the protest by hanging posters, helped making it well known to the public. There was even an activist group who, as if they feared it, put "canceled" signs on the posters. But the protest still took place and it turned out the fear was uncalled for since not that many people came. Even though Croatian media buried this protest afterwards, calling it i fiasco since only 6 000 people came out of 60 000 that were expected, the protest itself didn't fail. The worst that can mark a mandate of a government are constant protests - workers', high school students', college students' and even ones against the government itself.

Slogans such as: "You tighten your belts, you thieving scum", are just some of the informal messages that the protestors wanted the government to hear. On Facebook a lot of different groups are created every day including ones such as "Let's see if I can get together 20 000 people who hate Ivo Sanader!"; "Fuck Ivo Sanader!" or "How Ivo stole Christmas" with more then 70 000 members. What's fascinating is the fact is that Croats would rather express their dissatisfaction with their full name and surname in places such as Facebook then come to a massive protest where they remain completely anonymous. We will never know if it's laziness or fear but it was very interesting to watch random passers-by who listened to the speaker with a curious smile on their faces. But that's all. Most of them just carried about their own buisness...