The new book, co-published by the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences in Zagreb and the Institute for Culture of Croats of Vojvodina in Subotica, was presented virtually at Kliofest by Željko Holjevac, PhD, Mario Bara, PhD, Sandra Cvikić, PhD, and live by professor Tomislav Žigmanov.
On May 19, the National and University Library in Zagreb hosted a presentation of the book “Demographic and Social Sustainability of Croats in Vojvodina: Current Trends, Challenges and Perspectives” co-published by the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences – Vukovar branch and the Institute for Culture of Croats of Vojvodina in Subotica by three authors — Dražen Živić, PhD, Sandra Cvikić, PhD, and professor Tomislav Žigmanov. It was presented at Kliofest on behalf of the publisher Željko Holjevac, PhD, reviewer Mario Bara, PhD, and authors Sandra Cvikić, PhD, virtually, and live by professor Tomislav Žigmanov.
At the invitation of the Festival and the Croatian Heritage Foundation, the presentation was attended by the interested audience and Zdravka Bušić, the President of the Parliamentary Committee for Croats Abroad; Zvonko Milas, PhD, envoy of the Prime Minister and State Secretary of the Central State Office for Croats Abroad; Milan Bošnjak, PhD, Special Adviser on Croatian National Minority Issues Abroad from the Central State Office for Croats Abroad; Željka Josić, State Secretary of the Central State Office for Demography and Youth; Mirjana Ana Maria Piskulić, Head of the Sector for International Cultural Cooperation and European Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and Mijo Marić, Director of the Croatian Heritage Foundation.
A new book co-published by the Ivo Pilar Institute of Social Sciences in Zagreb and the Institute for Culture of Croats of Vojvodina in Subotica, reviewed by assoc. prof. Mario Bara, PhD, and Ivo Turk, PhD, and edited by Ivana Bendra, PhD, is the fruit of labor of the project of the same name, which was carried out in 2021 by the Pilar Institute in cooperation with the Institute for Culture of Croats of Vojvodina. In her introductory speech, the editor Ivana Bendra notes that through three extensive chapters on two hundred pages, a number of difficulties faced by the Croatian national minority in Vojvodina and the Republic of Serbia are revealed.
In words, in the first chapter Dražen Živić gives an insight into demographic trends and processes within the Croatian community in Vojvodina through eight subchapters, based on the analysis of data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia. In the context of pointing out half a century of continuous depopulation of Croats, it gives a detailed overview of the spatial distribution of the Croatian population in Vojvodina according to the administrative-territorial structure of Vojvodina and additionally according to the type of settlement (urban/other).
In the second chapter — Serbian process of transitional justice and the position of the Croatian national minority in Serbia and Vojvodina — Sandra Cvikić tries to thematize the position and status of the Croatian national minority in Serbia in relation to the legislative framework of Serbian society in the in the context of the impact of scientific knowledge of transitional justice on the exercise of the rights and freedoms of its members. She also writes about activities that point to the position of the Croatian national minority in Serbia through the analysis of the Council of Europe report from 2018 on the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages; reports of the Advisory Council of Europe on the implementation of the 2019 Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities; Reports on ensuring human rights in Serbia in 2020, etc.
In the third and last chapter — Croats in Serbia and Vojvodina: basic historical and sociographic facts —Tomislav Zigmanov gives an overview of information on the context of establishing, building and developing minority infrastructure of the Croatian minority community in the Republic of Serbia which has the function of preserving and developing national identity through the exercise of minority rights of Croats in the Republic of Serbia in the period after the year 2000. Through nine subchapters, Žigmanov provides an insight into the centuries-old presence of Croats in Serbia, emphasizing the negative historical factors for their integration in Serbia into the modern Croatian nation, but also social life in modern democratic Serbian society. Serbia’s democratic transition has shown sensitivity to the rights of Croats as a national minority only since 2000, especially with the adoption of the 2002 Law on the Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of National Minorities in the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with which, for the first time, Croats in Serbia get the opportunity for institutional realization of minority rights supported financially by the state. He also provides detailed insight into the shortcomings, but also the achievements of the guaranteed rights of Croats in Vojvodina in terms of cultural activities to promote, nurture, develop and preserve the cultural heritage of Vojvodina Croats, exercise the right to information in the mother tongue and the right to education in the mother tongue, as well as the official use of the Croatian language and script in Vojvodina.
The reviewer Mario Bara wrote the following about the importance of this book, which was financially supported for publication by the Central State Office for Croats Outside the Republic of Croatia and the Institute for Culture of Croats of Vojvodina:
“The current social and political position of Croats in the Republic of Serbia makes this work extremely important for publication. In addition to inherited negative demographic trends, Croats in Vojvodina and the Republic of Serbia are exposed to numerous unfavorable factors in recent history. In certain political and even scientific circles in Serbia, the affiliation of Bunjevci and Šokci to the Croatian people is denied, which has direct reflections on the realization of minority rights of Croats in the Republic of Serbia, use of language, but also expression of national identity in public space and censuses. Exposed to various forms of pressure, this part of the Croatian people needs every form of help from the institutions of their homeland, which also includes scientific ones. It is also the constitutional obligation of the Republic of Croatia to provide care and protection to the Croatian people in other countries. ”
Our honest recommendation is for you to pick the book up as soon as possible, regardless if it is out of personal or professional curiosity.
Text: Diana Šimurina -Šoufek
Photo; Snježana Radoš