Participating in the forum, in person or online, were representatives of ethnic Croatian communities from Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, North Macedonia, Slovakia, and Montenegro. Also taking part were representatives of the embassies of Serbia and Hungary, and the Austrian ambassador Josef Markus Wuketich.
The Croatian Heritage Foundation played host on 6 December to the 26th Croatian Minorities Forum. After last year’s hiatus (resulting from the now familiar epidemiological measures), this year’s event was staged as a hybrid event—with some participants taking part in person and others via the Zoom company’s Internet conference application—and focused on the topic of the “Subethnic Identities of Croatian Minority Communities: Between Tradition and the Means of Assimilation”.
Participating in the forum, in person or online, were representatives of ethnic Croatian communities from Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, North Macedonia, Slovakia, and Montenegro. Also taking part were representatives of the embassies of Serbia and Hungary, and the Austrian ambassador Josef Markus Wuketich.
The event opened with words from the director of the host organisation, the Croatian Heritage Foundation, Milan Bošnjak of the State Office for Croats Abroad, Zdravka Bušić MP, head of Parliament’s committee on Croatians abroad, foreign minister Gordan Grlić Radman on behalf of the Government, and ambassador Neven Pelicarić, advisor to the President for foreign and European policy.
Damir Josipović of the Institute for Ethnic Affairs in Ljubljana gave the opening lecture on the Croatians in neighbouring Slovenia. Mr Josipović spoke of the high level of complexity at play when addressing what defines identity and of windows of opportunity to redefine the status of the Croatian minority in his country. Renata Praća, the secretary of the Federation of Croatian Associations in Slovenia, spoke of the particular aspects of the Međimurje region Croatians in her country.
Zvonko Deković, the chair of the Croatian National Council of Montenegro, and Adrijan Vuksanović and Ilija Janović, chair and vice chair respectively of the Croatian Civic Initiative in that country, spoke of the challenges faced by the Croatians in Montenegro, the possible shortcomings associated with seeing the geographic Bokelj identifier as one of the pillars of their identity, and of Catholicism in this community.
Speaking via the online video link, Darko Baštovanović, the international secretary of the Croatian National Council in Serbia, spoke of the hazards implicit in the focus on exclusively sub-ethnic affiliations attached to ethnic Croatians in neighbouring Serbia. Also joining the event online was Radoslav Janković, the chair of the Croatian Culture Federation of Slovakia. He pointed to the important role of music heritage among the Gradišće Croatian enclaves and of the need to reassess the culture of the Croatian communities abroad in the context of the primary trends present in Croatian culture overall.
Following the plenary discussion, the forum continued its work to hammer out, in broad ranging consultations, comprehensive forum conclusions on this year’s topic.
By: Marin Knezović
Photography: Hina