I have lived in 10 countries, but never one as politicised as Croatia, a country where even the kids in kindergarten know which party they will vote for when they grow up. Most of the Croatian media has its own agenda, and it is pretty hard to find a source of information and opinion which does not have a hidden agenda, It is one of the reasons I think that many Croats read TCN, even though it is not in their native language.
There are of course exceptions, and one shining example exists in Hvar Town, a Facebook page called Zveljarin (which means ‘alarm clock’). For the last four years, the page has been run by two local administrators, who have provided an essential source of information, as well as a platform for intelligent debate on local issues. As a foreigner, I only understood a certain amount of what was going on, both with the language and the local issues, but I found it also to be an invaluable resource. We recently featured Zorka, one of the admins, in an interview on TCN.
Sadly, the page will cease to exist in a few days, with admin posting the following message on Saturday:
“Dear readers, this page will become inactive in a few days. After four years of volunteering, working hard and investing our time in it, the time has come for us to say goodbye. My colleague Rosso will be politically active during this election, so he will not be able to be the administrator for some time. Admin two, yours truly, will remain politically neutral, but active nonetheless. I intend to post my viewpoints and opinions on my personal profile. During these past four years we have tried to stay current, brave, objective, transparent, and rise above the Hvar apathy and opportunism. We did not succeed, so we are closing the page down and moving on. Thank you for everything! Goodbye and good luck!”
Many thanks to the team at Zveljarin for all your efforts. Much appreciated from my side.
If you would like to leave your own message of appreciation, visit the page here.
