Legal Protection Of State, National And Community Symbols In Croatia Presented by: Prof. Dr. Čepulo Date: 27 December 2022 Historical Framework - From Autonomy To The State: Croatian Nation-Building, Symbols Of Power And National Symbols - Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia - autonomy - Hungary/Habsburg Monarchy - nation-building Dalmatia! - historical right (medieval Croatian Kingdom) & ethnic ground - → Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia ('Triune Kingdom') - → „triune" coat of arms and tricolor flag, 1848 - official - → in popular use - single 'chessboard' Croatian coat of arms - national symbol Concepts Of State Symbols, National Symbols And Symbols Of Nat. Minorities And Religious Communities - State symbols: defined as state symbols by law or enjoying respective special protection by law - National symbols - nation-state (W. Europe)→ nation: community of citizens → national symbols: symbols of 'the land' # Central Europe: nation-building ≠ statebuilding - nations before the nation-state (part of the empires) → 'ethnic path' of statebuilding (A. Smith): ethnia + nationalism → national state: constituent nation + national minorities - → Preamble of the Croatian Constitution, 1990 (← Constitution, 1974): 'Croatia is the national state of the Croatian people, the state of members of the autochthonous national minorities (...), and its other citizens who are granted equality with citizens of the Croatian nationality...' ≠ Art. 1: '...power belongs to the people as the community of free and equal citizens...'; = Art. 10: '...care and protection of parts of the Croatian people in other states...' • = preamble of the Constitution of Northern Macedonia: ...national state of the Macedonian people...civic equality and co-existence with Albanians (etc.)....'; Constitution of Serbia, preamble: '...state tradition of the Serbian people..., Art 1: '...state of Serbian people and citizens living in it...'; Constitution of Slovenia, Art 1: '...state of all its citizens, based upon permanent and inalienable right of Slovenian people to self-determination..'; - Bosnia and Herzegovina ('constituent peoples': B, C, S); civic: Kosovo (...), Montenegro - → 'nation' = Croatian nation → 'national symbols': Croatian national symbols • NB. Croatian legislation: 'national' - civic meaning: National Agency for Education, national pension, national subsidize for elder people, national classification of professions, national theatres... NB. Law on the Croatian Citizenship member of the Croatian people abroad (≠ 'nation') - symbols of national minorities - defined by the autonomous bodies of national minorities according to legally regulated procedures + de facto national symbols per analogism with (Croatian) 'nation' - symbols of religious communities - tradition, religious autonomy State Symbols, Republic Of Croatia - Constitution 1990: coat of arms, flag, anthem - Law on the Coat of Arms, Flag and Anthem of the Republic of Croatia and on the Flag and Sash of the President of the Republic of Croatia detailed description of the images + principal regulation of the usage -seals and stamps, official inscriptions, official acts, occasions and ways of display - sanctions: fines) - other laws: official usage, seal and stamp, intellectual property, penal law - ≠ state symbols: presidential flag: 'sign of the presidential honor'; sash - silence + desuetude? + low degree of protection - name of the state: wording (Law on Institutions): '...name of the state and other state symbols...' • Criminal Code + legal protection comparable to protection of the coat of arms, flag, anthem - regulation - sufficiently developed, diminished ponder of protection? • CC 2011: offense of the reputation of the Republic of Croatia: '...mockery, contempt or rude belittling of the Republic of Croatia, its flag, coat of arms or anthem...', 1 year ≠ CC 1997: 3 yrs. Croatian National Symbols - Taxonomy And Features - Elements of the Croatian national identity (N. Budak)→ symbols: • Croatian language (name and the features) ≠ single (Serbian) language speakers: Serbs → Croatian identity/Croatian nation → Serbisation of the Croatian culture' • Latin script • Christian faith/Catholicism • religious symbols in the context (delimitation? context!) • 'millennial culture' tradition of the statehood/autonomy - Croatian Diet, Croatian ban (till 1921) → buildings? • wickerwork pattern • name of the state • unofficial versions of coat of arms, flag, anthem • cultural artifacts - essential embodiment of the tradition • ≠ natural beauties, animals, flowers, - yes, but no ≠ tradition! (e. g. ≠ Thingvellir, Iceland, rock & first parliament) Croatian National Symbols - Legal Regulation/Protection: - language - early 1990s 'common practice' - language: 're-Croatisation', archaisms, neologisms, chaotic - proposal for radical language reform (specificities & distinctiveness!) not accepted: no radical reforms - language - part of philologists: codification!: chaotic practice + contamination (analyzation) vs. non-codification: government & part of philologists: spontaneous development of language + compulsory norms and sanctions?! - Constitution: Croatian language and Latin script in official use law - official use: conventional • codification of language (substantial rules and compulsory rules of use in public): no  optional standards - public decreased interest - Informal 'national' coat of arms, flag etc. controversy: white initial field - ISC?, 1º misdemeanor courts + High Misdemeanor Court 2021: red and white initial fields - legitimate versions of the Croatian coat of arms - not specific emblem of ISC legitimate! - Other elements/symbols no particular regulation De-Ponderation Of The 'Croatian Nation...' (?): - CC 1997: offense of reputation of the Republic of Croatia: '...mockery, contempt or rude belittling of the Republic of Croatia, its flag, coat of arms or anthem' + 'offense of the reputation of the Croatian people or ethnic and national communities or minorities living in the Republic of Croatia' - - CC 2011: erased: 'offense of the reputation of the Croatian people or ethnic and national communities or minorities living in the Republic of Croatia' - explanation: → hate speech: '...racial, religious, national or ethnic affiliation' - 3 yrs - Civil law - no, no comparable cases on other civil law ground ≠ Hungarian Civil Code 2.54 - Σ - 'regulation related to national symbols: conventional' + sustained! ← accepted by the public? • why? ← tensions, historical experience, desire for regulation and protection? • ← own national state: state as the general protector, feeling of security of the majority - lowered sensitivity of society to challenges → conformity of (coalition) governments: vs. risks of disturbances National Minorities And Religious Communities - National minorities (22 - 7,67%) • Highly developed, extensive regulation on the rights of members of the national minorities incl. Symbols, • Particularly language and script • Origins: pressure of international community: recognition of RC + accession process to EU (Serbian minority!) ← legitimized - accepted - practice: good (objections - Serbian minority) - Religious communities (symbols) • Sub-regulated/un-regulated yet, very few complaints and problems in practice: offensive anti-Catholic theater performances + vs. atheist groups: Catholic symbols in public spaces: hospitals, prisons, courts - both criticism grounded: unregulated! • ← 'legitimated' - without strong reactions in public Comparison: Extensive National Minority Regulation ≠ Unregulated Religious Sphere (Majority) - National minorities: heteronomy - Religious symbols: autonomy - passivity of governments/political system AND society - Why? National state: state as general protector, social and political peace, risk of social & political disturbances → semi-passivity of the society passivity of (coalition) governments: risk of changes - → outcome: absence of rules on certain fundamental values in society - short-terms vs long-term benefits? - Primary responsibility of government and political elites - yet, complex causality: society (86% Catholics - 3,81% atheists)!? Conclusive remarks: hypothesis and search for answers - State, national, national minority symbols (= ≠ religious symbols) in Croatia/former Yugoslavia = story of state-&nation-building and state and national self-perception - Nation-state: conflict-resolution, principal guarantee of the rights of majority + grants for nat. Minorities 'sedation' - unresolved regulatory resolution of certain fundamental issues in society - (religious and national symbols) - rational? - Answers: → understanding action: government + society - Complex questions and unpredictable answers