Great post! "Colonial Maverick" is a very solid concept, but as a Croat I need to say that you're misguidedly applying it to 2022 Croatia. Croatia *has* seen its share of Colonial Mavericks for sure, but the "big dick lion" PM is not a case of that. He's a case of something even more depressing.
(...)
OK so at this point I had started expounding the details, got to ~2000 words without being finished, and then for everyone's sake I cut it all. Your post is about "Colonial Maverick", and HDZ's PM Plenkovic isn't *that particular thing* (however much he otherwise does subjugate the needs of the Croatian people to the wants of the Globalist Empire). Let's just leave it at that for now. To stay on the topic of your article, of COURSE that we have a proper Colonial Maverick; what kind of Slavistan would we be otherwise?
In their present incarnation, they are called "Mozemo!" ("We Can!", the exclamation mark is an integral part of the name, no I am not kidding), and they rule Zagreb since 2021. Having debuted some two years prior, that is no small feat.
Their pitch had been roughly in line with what you wrote. Tired of the smelly HDZ/SDP duopoly? Want some Fresh New Faces who promise to break the cycle of misfortune? Vote for us! We love western values and we will wave a wand to make all this to be like the West! We're the Mavericks who know how! Don't focus on our CVs being razor thin outside of liberal-arts-n-humanities studies -- that is our advantage, actually! Didn't we already mention that we are Mavericks?
The Mozemo! is a notable update from the previous incarnations of Colonial Mavericks, in two respects.
First, previous Colonial Mavericks tended to appear as "star politicians" who joined one of the two duopoly parties, with all the "Croat who was very successful in the west" / "new face!" / "will turn things around" / etc. kind of woo. Ultimately they'd end up doing a few things in the interest of western capital, not doing anything much in the interest of Croats, and peter out after getting bogged into whichever usual disputes or affairs in the political swamp.
Second, the MO had been for them to appeal to the widest possible electorate, boosting nationwide vote for the particular duopoly party which they'd joined, effectively tailoring their promotional messages as a certain nudge in the "desired direction".
Mozemo! has done away with all that. The "wide-electorate-appeal / nudge-of-position" is so passé. They went straight for the urbanites, for the "Londoners" instead of the "Little Englanders" if you will, sliding in about as much of the woke/progressive agendas that the urbanites could digest at this moment. They handsomely won Zagreb's mayoral elections, even though they didn't make much of a dent in the parliament (yet). They were thwarted by a gerrymandering of Zagreb from the 90s, while being not even slightly popular outside of the urbanites. So as much as they may lack MPs, they are just getting started, and controlling Zagreb counts for a lot in this place.
You wouldn't guess in a billion years which particular billionaire is supporting them.
There are currently some heated facebook faceoffs about contested governance decisions of Mozemo!. (Urg. I'm still unused to putting a dot after an exclamation mark.) Following down the rabbit hole of participants, I was... surprised and not surprised to find participants with the Mozemo! insignia on their profile who are not merely trans, but trans *activist*. Not the "inward" ones, who are content to live out their self-mutilated lives. No. The "outward" ones, those with an itch - a yearning - to mutilate the fabric of society. Or whatever still remains of it. I'm sure you know the type.
I was surprised because the public visibility of this at the moment is next to none, and not surprised because it figures. Yes, they are in tow, and from what I saw, they are ready. The Croatian normies wouldn't even understand what I'm talking about, since the lid is pretty much still on, and the local Théâtre de Guignol between HDZ and SDP is blocking their view of the West. Give it a few years, and *boy* are they going to find out. (and then grumble some, and then yield. I'm not a man of many illusions)
Thanks for the insight! Despite being neighbors, there's a lot of ignorance in Hungary about Croatia, count me as guilty. You post however is somewhat tragically redundant, in a very reassuring way, as it seems these upstarts are astroturfed to the same mold everywhere.
"Mozemo!" should be the "baizuo" of contemporary, "soft color revolution / twitterati" Colonial Mavericks in our end of the Empire.
I'd like to feature some of your effort comment in a followup post. It's too valuable to be burried here.
Agreed. I was trying to point to a "change of tone" in Colonial Mavericks which came about with Mozemo!, some three years ago. Mozemo! are the forebringers of woke/progressive brainwash to the region, with roughly a decade of delay from the Anglosphere. The previous Colonial Mavericks had not been /that/, they were merely happy to parade western woo while giving over stuff to western capital. With Mozemo!, the Global Empire is taking the next major step.
Mozemo! are your "reassuringly typical" catalyst of color revolution, indeed. Made from the same cloth as they were made in those other countries. Except that I don't think things here are gearing up for a color revolution. The color revolution presupposes that there is some palpable *resistance* acting out against them. Not even the "nationalist" HDZ will resist when things really get going, let alone the socialdemocrat SDP. It will be more of a color stroll than color revolution; perhaps this is what you meant by "soft color revolution"?
HDZ in its first two decades had been nationalist without the quotes. And I mean that in a positive light: the party of the "somewheres", not of the "anywheres". Unfortunately, it had also been corrupt AF: the privatization robbery was arguably worse in Croatia than in Hungary. This was due to the mafiosi types naturally and logically clamping onto HDZ. (what, where were they supposed to clamp onto, the Greens? give us a break, we are not as advanced as the West). Them aside, HDZ did generally act in the interest of Croats.
Loong story short, this is no longer the case. Now they are as much acting in the interests of the Global Empire as SDP is, while retaining a fig leaf of traditionalism to retain most of their old constituency. In the last 3 years Croatia has become outright flooded with third-world immigrants. Legally so. Was it SDP whodunnit? Nope. It was the "nationalists".
They are both obediently implementing the Global Empire's agenda, they just aren't busy spreading the Empire's official religion of woke. But that is a gap that We Can! fill for sure. The spread just has to follow the path that it has always followed: starting from the urbanites and then clubbed into the heads of the provincials.
I'm fully aware of how "tragically redundant in a very reassuring way" all of this is; and if you *still* wish to re-quote it, well, sure...
Absolutely. I might do it during the weekend, but the weather is too nice to spend it in front of a screen. Taking those last vitamin Ds before "soft Stalingrad".
"the privatization robbery was arguably worse in Croatia than in Hungary"
Great post! "Colonial Maverick" is a very solid concept, but as a Croat I need to say that you're misguidedly applying it to 2022 Croatia. Croatia *has* seen its share of Colonial Mavericks for sure, but the "big dick lion" PM is not a case of that. He's a case of something even more depressing.
(...)
OK so at this point I had started expounding the details, got to ~2000 words without being finished, and then for everyone's sake I cut it all. Your post is about "Colonial Maverick", and HDZ's PM Plenkovic isn't *that particular thing* (however much he otherwise does subjugate the needs of the Croatian people to the wants of the Globalist Empire). Let's just leave it at that for now. To stay on the topic of your article, of COURSE that we have a proper Colonial Maverick; what kind of Slavistan would we be otherwise?
In their present incarnation, they are called "Mozemo!" ("We Can!", the exclamation mark is an integral part of the name, no I am not kidding), and they rule Zagreb since 2021. Having debuted some two years prior, that is no small feat.
Their pitch had been roughly in line with what you wrote. Tired of the smelly HDZ/SDP duopoly? Want some Fresh New Faces who promise to break the cycle of misfortune? Vote for us! We love western values and we will wave a wand to make all this to be like the West! We're the Mavericks who know how! Don't focus on our CVs being razor thin outside of liberal-arts-n-humanities studies -- that is our advantage, actually! Didn't we already mention that we are Mavericks?
The Mozemo! is a notable update from the previous incarnations of Colonial Mavericks, in two respects.
First, previous Colonial Mavericks tended to appear as "star politicians" who joined one of the two duopoly parties, with all the "Croat who was very successful in the west" / "new face!" / "will turn things around" / etc. kind of woo. Ultimately they'd end up doing a few things in the interest of western capital, not doing anything much in the interest of Croats, and peter out after getting bogged into whichever usual disputes or affairs in the political swamp.
Second, the MO had been for them to appeal to the widest possible electorate, boosting nationwide vote for the particular duopoly party which they'd joined, effectively tailoring their promotional messages as a certain nudge in the "desired direction".
Mozemo! has done away with all that. The "wide-electorate-appeal / nudge-of-position" is so passé. They went straight for the urbanites, for the "Londoners" instead of the "Little Englanders" if you will, sliding in about as much of the woke/progressive agendas that the urbanites could digest at this moment. They handsomely won Zagreb's mayoral elections, even though they didn't make much of a dent in the parliament (yet). They were thwarted by a gerrymandering of Zagreb from the 90s, while being not even slightly popular outside of the urbanites. So as much as they may lack MPs, they are just getting started, and controlling Zagreb counts for a lot in this place.
You wouldn't guess in a billion years which particular billionaire is supporting them.
There are currently some heated facebook faceoffs about contested governance decisions of Mozemo!. (Urg. I'm still unused to putting a dot after an exclamation mark.) Following down the rabbit hole of participants, I was... surprised and not surprised to find participants with the Mozemo! insignia on their profile who are not merely trans, but trans *activist*. Not the "inward" ones, who are content to live out their self-mutilated lives. No. The "outward" ones, those with an itch - a yearning - to mutilate the fabric of society. Or whatever still remains of it. I'm sure you know the type.
I was surprised because the public visibility of this at the moment is next to none, and not surprised because it figures. Yes, they are in tow, and from what I saw, they are ready. The Croatian normies wouldn't even understand what I'm talking about, since the lid is pretty much still on, and the local Théâtre de Guignol between HDZ and SDP is blocking their view of the West. Give it a few years, and *boy* are they going to find out. (and then grumble some, and then yield. I'm not a man of many illusions)
Thanks for the insight! Despite being neighbors, there's a lot of ignorance in Hungary about Croatia, count me as guilty. You post however is somewhat tragically redundant, in a very reassuring way, as it seems these upstarts are astroturfed to the same mold everywhere.
"Mozemo!" should be the "baizuo" of contemporary, "soft color revolution / twitterati" Colonial Mavericks in our end of the Empire.
I'd like to feature some of your effort comment in a followup post. It's too valuable to be burried here.
Agreed. I was trying to point to a "change of tone" in Colonial Mavericks which came about with Mozemo!, some three years ago. Mozemo! are the forebringers of woke/progressive brainwash to the region, with roughly a decade of delay from the Anglosphere. The previous Colonial Mavericks had not been /that/, they were merely happy to parade western woo while giving over stuff to western capital. With Mozemo!, the Global Empire is taking the next major step.
Mozemo! are your "reassuringly typical" catalyst of color revolution, indeed. Made from the same cloth as they were made in those other countries. Except that I don't think things here are gearing up for a color revolution. The color revolution presupposes that there is some palpable *resistance* acting out against them. Not even the "nationalist" HDZ will resist when things really get going, let alone the socialdemocrat SDP. It will be more of a color stroll than color revolution; perhaps this is what you meant by "soft color revolution"?
HDZ in its first two decades had been nationalist without the quotes. And I mean that in a positive light: the party of the "somewheres", not of the "anywheres". Unfortunately, it had also been corrupt AF: the privatization robbery was arguably worse in Croatia than in Hungary. This was due to the mafiosi types naturally and logically clamping onto HDZ. (what, where were they supposed to clamp onto, the Greens? give us a break, we are not as advanced as the West). Them aside, HDZ did generally act in the interest of Croats.
Loong story short, this is no longer the case. Now they are as much acting in the interests of the Global Empire as SDP is, while retaining a fig leaf of traditionalism to retain most of their old constituency. In the last 3 years Croatia has become outright flooded with third-world immigrants. Legally so. Was it SDP whodunnit? Nope. It was the "nationalists".
They are both obediently implementing the Global Empire's agenda, they just aren't busy spreading the Empire's official religion of woke. But that is a gap that We Can! fill for sure. The spread just has to follow the path that it has always followed: starting from the urbanites and then clubbed into the heads of the provincials.
I'm fully aware of how "tragically redundant in a very reassuring way" all of this is; and if you *still* wish to re-quote it, well, sure...
Absolutely. I might do it during the weekend, but the weather is too nice to spend it in front of a screen. Taking those last vitamin Ds before "soft Stalingrad".
"the privatization robbery was arguably worse in Croatia than in Hungary"
Is it a race? Well then:
https://menyhei.substack.com/p/all-this-destruction-and-we-wasnt
Finally done:
https://menyhei.substack.com/p/colonial-mavericks-croatian-edition