From the historic city of Nin near Zadar, which last week had its Festival of Salt (Festival Soli), a local Croatian-American sends his greetings to our readers on
Homeland Thanksgiving Day (Dan Domovinske Zahvalnosti), a public holiday in Croatia on August 5th, and also had some commentary on this year’s presidential election in the US and Croatia.
“It is symbolic to stand here next to the monument of Knez Branimir, who centuries ago led an early Croatian state, and wish the readers of your portal a happy Homeland Thanksgiving Day,
which celebrates a historic military event in August 1995 called Operation Storm (Vojno-Redarstvena Akcija Oluja).”
I would also take this opportunity to comment briefly on the fact that both Croatia and the US has a presidential election this year, which I think is also historic
for those of us from the diaspora since we may be voting in or participating in both elections.
Although I will not promote a specific candidate at this moment, what I would point out is that the Croatian Constitution (Hrvatski Ustav) defines the role of President.
In fact, section 94 of the Constitution specifies that the President represents Croatia at home as well as abroad.
With that said, when I pick someone for leadership roles, in my personal opinion I am looking for individuals with proven results in their career outside of politics, specific results which can be presented numerically, as well as persons who have achieved results in prior leadership roles in the public sector, and that generally have proven leadership qualities and communication talent.
Since Croatian citizens are financing the office of President through the state budget, I think they should care what kind of person takes on such a ‘leadership role’ as well as the advisors he or she appoints, and their ability to put together a productive team.
I have pledged to lobby the next President of Croatia on an issue of interest to me: that this region becomes a center of excellence for biotech and biomedical innovation, and information technology, which could mean new jobs created but also good for patients as well. This initiative would benefit from a President who has the ability to attract critical new investment to Croatia in this segment.
With that said, I wish everyone a healthy and productive rest of 2024.”
Albert Anthony is a voluntary columnist and host at media portal Online Live TV Croatia which was started by Croatians in the diaspora, where he
has recently launched a show concept called Croatian American Stories.
His activities in public life include: being a film extra in a Polish war film Red Poppies(Czerwone Maki) filmed in Croatia in 2023, serving on the ethics committee of the
City of Zadar City Council since 2023, being an independent candidate for the Croatian Parliament in April 2024, and previously serving for a while on
the executive committee of the now defunct Croatian New Yorker Club and briefly on the digital committee of the National Federation of Croatian Americans (NFCA)
nonprofit organization, helping to strategize fundraising events for the diaspora. His show on Online Live TV has already achieved an average of +10,000 monthly views.
Photo: Alberh Anthony
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