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C R O A T I A . O R G

                                                                                   
CROWN Croatian World Network

                                                                                                                                                                              photo by Risha

Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead

Dear All,           A lot of good news and not enough time to tell you. We are short of Croatian Cultural Invasion in the USA. All good but random and not planed in advance to coordinate all the great talents that we have. Starting from the top Ivan Paric will be on Vh1 this Sunday. Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra American Tour 2007 started. Be there. Miro Gavran has a premier of his play Dr. Freud's Patient in Prague on Nov 6th. On Nov. 15 Gavran's novel - book Judith will be launched in at the Retezova Literary Café, also in Prague. Wow. A big Gala in Zagreb for Padova's Croatian House propelled by Dr. Nela Sršen. Croatia would be able to supply raw organic products to the EU. Would be is a future tense. We already have very good food. Let's not spoil it. We have to develop and acknowledge our artisanship. In every field.           Croatian singer Marko Perkovic Thompson and his band will be performing a series of concerts in the United States and Canada starting today. More about this below. "Croatia is my journey, my state of mind, and I encourage others to make their own journey" Support Mario Novak and his book CROATIA. Soccer team Toronto Croatia won the national soccer championship in Canada. In Rugby, we are progressing. A known Argentinean writer Carmen Verlichak launches a new book about Croatians in Argentinean history. Maria Josefa Ezcurra, El amor prohibide de Belgrano  and it is the 4th edition. The 3rd Festival of Croatian Music is in Vienna, Austria, Oct 21 - Nov 27, 2007 organized by Davor Markes and Croatian Music Information Center. Check among others Klapa Sinj on Nov 15th. See the poster. You will love it.           Read about Prof. Dave Ceasar and a Catholic Confraternity in Philippines promoting Blessed Ivan Merz. Croatia is on the new season of The Amazing Race, which premiers Nov 4th 2007. Vukovar, Croatian Baroque city on the Danube river. One of the great symbols of the city is Siniša Glavašević 1960-1991. Our Tennis Guys are doing very well. We have 4 players in top 100 in the world. Miro Gavran's plays have recently been performed in Russia, Austria and Poland with great success. His play "My Wife's Husband", performed under the direction of outstanding Russian artist Alexander Ogarjev, obtained three important prizes, among others the Grand-Prix for the best overall performance. A benefit for the 67-year-old bluesman, "Philadelphia" Jerry Ricks was held at the Commodore Barry Club in Philadelphia. Read about Prof.Dr. Daniel D. Gajski, a hero of Computer Science. Vukovar deserves our attention. Jaz Spelic Actor Producer based in Sydney is developing 'The Trinity of Vukovar'. More to come. Another Croatian American filmmaker star on the horizon. "Wristcutters: A Love Story" won the Acura Grand Jury Award at the 2006 Gen Art Film Festival and is currently playing in New York. Pay attention to Nick Bicanic and his film Shadow Company as well as Branko Ištvančić's film Ghost in the Swamp, a new film for children.           President Mesić decorated the U.S. Admiral Lunney with the Order of Trefoil. Well deserved. Croatia Wins Vote for U.N. Security Council Seat. Political and diplomatic influence on a horizon. Croatian diplomatic tradition is coming back with full force. Croatian Franciscans wrote a letter to ICTY, Den Haag. What a farce. When will the prosecution be responsible for their missed justice? When? Who will pull that question and stick with it till we get some results? Vukovar suffered enough. We do not need international clowns of justice to stay unpunished. And...             Toše Proeski 1981 - 2007 In Memoriam Too good, too young, too soon, too sad. Our Macedonian and my personal friend will be remembered. If you missed Croatian American Dennis Kucinich on Colbert Report, see it here on CROWN. Dennis Kucinich is running to become a U.S. President in 2008. Pay attention. We have a Croatian American run for the office. Ace-king Karlovic pounds out third title of season in Stockholm. Dr. Ivo is having the best season ever. Talking about doctors. Watch ER and Goran Visnjic every Thursday on NBC. 66 Lipizzan horses stolen from the Lipik Stud during the Serbian aggression on Croatia in 1991 has been returned. It is a good news, but we expect the rest of the horses and WAR REPARATION to start coming soon. Croatia stays on the top and beats Israel 1-0 in Euro 2008 qualifying. One more win and we are in. Closer Croatia 2007 - Croatian Film Festival in London UK, Oct 11-14, 2007.            The Croatian film production, although small in size, is vital and very versatile in the terms of genre, themes and style, which has been recognized at numerous international film festivals at which, for the last couple of years, they have won important awards at Lincoln Center, New York Oct 26 - Nov 14, 2007. Film Society of Lincoln Center presents BEYOND BOUNDARIES: The Emergence of Croatian Cinema. The organizer of the series: Richard Peńa, Program Director, Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia New York, Croatian State Archives Croatian Cinematheque.          See the rest of the articles below, from passing of my dear friend Luciano Pavarotti to a Diplomatic "Hunting Party" as well as many other articles written by Mo Sacirbey... and Ivana Kunc's new CD to Horses in Croatian Art and a great international success of Croatian Pyramid and our new international star Blanka Vlasic, Katarina Tepesh's new book, Croatia is a standout - by Jon Durbin ...and many more... be sure to see Prof.dr. Vlatko Čerić's  algorithmic art in New York from October 26 till November 15. I will take few minutes to write about a topic that is important to us.           At his point in time Croatia is emerging as a player on the world stage. We are short of calling this a Croatian Cultural Invasion. Besides U.N. success, we are present on every continent with a prominent talent in sports, artisanship, science, tourism, art and culture All of these activities are not being even followed by the government. It is getting better but most of it is random with a lot of effort on the shoulders of a few individuals. Cultural programs by Ministry of Culture should be designed to follow already established leads and have politics of culture established for 5-10 years in advance. Each new administration brings new amateurs in the game and it takes too long for them to learn the basics, and then the new group arrives. Top positions I do not mind to change but the structure, the constellation of what the actual State is should be running smoothly by now.                   The reason why am I saying this, is the concert of Marko Perkovic Thompson. Regardless what is your taste in music, man has a following and significant response, that some of us who are artists could only wish for at least in the Croatian community. There have been many accusation and mud thrown towards him. He is accused of being racist. Fear and ignorance feed racism. These misinformed views are unwillingly still promoting the Milosevic ideology. Marko Perkovic Thompson is a loving and peaceful rock singer. His songs appeal to young. He is also a former soldier in the Croatian Armed forces that fought Serbian aggression on Croatia's territory. When I spoke to some American Jewish activists they agreed with the problem of "those with fear and ignorance." I had a long conversation today with a prominent group and all of this could be avoided with the better informed presentation. They are on the same page with Croatian Americans as law abiding, freedom loving Americans. For a traumatized soul it is easy to jump on a key words. And the same goes for all sides. The reason for these attacks is the final aim: While we discus the lyrics of a Croatian Rocker, Karadzic and Mladic are walking free. Nobody is even discussing it on a serious level. WAR REPARATIONS of $300 billion that needs to be paid to Croatia is almost forgotten. I say, not a chance.  War Reparations must start coming soon. And that is the reason why all these distractions are happening, to obstruct the justice. Not the law. Justice.           Despite, war devastation, and after war economical devastation, by number of immoral people who sold their own country for their own profit, Croatia emerged as a winner for the whole territory of South East Europe. In the last seven years we moved from our eastern neighbors 35 years ahead. And this didn't happen just by chance. It happened because we as people are hyper active all over the world. Croatian Diaspora is vibrant and creative as well as Croatians in Croatia. We just didn't have any freedom before, or our credit was given to all other occupiers. The list is too long, I'll spare you.          So, now is the time when an artist is being falsely accused, for diplomacy to step in and protect their own citizens.  Even more, advise on strategy before the shit happens. We can not hope that people will be fair. Hope is not a strategy. We who live here in the USA, we know how, but we can not volunteer on every crises again and again. It's time to put some ideas into action, so that we are not surprised and devastated, but ready to deal with it with grace. For example, go with different route and turn the notch up and bring our talent to Madison Square Garden with our American and Canadian friends and artists.           My advise to our eastern neighbors: Work on yourself, rather then spending so much money (hiring marketing agency to hurt Croatia's image), effort and emotions to subdue Croatia. If you continue the same way, in 10 years you will be 100 years behind us. We took the punch and roll with it and developed ourselves in every field. And the best is yet to come.... Svako dobro, Mabuhay. Nenad p.s. For those who are waiting to be posted on CROWN, I am sorry. This is the best we could do. Marko Puljic, Darko Zubrinic and myself are not enough. We need help in people and finance to continue as planned. Soon read about Sidro's new CD, Udri Pismu, Digni Casu www.sidromusic.com and Josip Novakovich's tour of Spain. Thank you Marko Puljic and Darko Zubrinic for your devoted and quality work on CROWN. Thank you Emil Jakovcevic for a constant help with the design, and thank all of you who send information and read our magazine. Pay attention to www.croatianworldcalendar.com Letters@Croatia.org   www.croatianhistory.net www.studiacroatica.org www.croatia.org www.croatianworldcalendar.com www.nenadbach.com www.klapasinj.com www.phonecroatia.com www.croatianworld.net www.hercegbosna.org