The phenomenon of Thompson and its connection to fears about Serbia’s EU membership reveals just how exaggerated expectations and unfounded fears are. Just as the Pope can give a cardinal a hat but not a smart head, the EU can grant membership and funds but not a wise mind. The late Veselin Đuretić saw through the game 15 years ago: enter the EU, plunder the funds, then stab the EU in the back and return under Russia’s wing. Croatian nationalism and Thompsonism actually surged only after Croatia joined the EU, showing that fears of losing identity are baseless; the real fear is losing the fear itself. Nationalism is essentially pure fear that breeds aggression, not the other way around. Concerts like Thompson’s and poetic evenings of Radovan Karadžić don’t spark another war, but they profane and ruin art, creating passive-aggressive political manifestations. The next war won’t start on football stadiums but in hippodromes and literary evenings. Svetislav Basara reminds us it’s time to overcome fear and live freely, not cling to the illusion that the EU can solve our identity problems.
