Vladimir Gotovac
| Vlado Gotovac | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Member of Parliament | |
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In office 30 May 1990 – 28 November 1999 |
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| President | Franjo Tuđman (1990-1999) |
| Constituency | Zagreb-Medveščak |
| 1st Leader of the Opposition | |
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In office February 1996 – November 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Dražen Budiša |
| Succeeded by | Dražen Budiša |
| President of the Croatian Social Liberal Party |
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In office February 1996 – November 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Dražen Budiša |
| Succeeded by | Dražen Budiša |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Vladimir Gotovac 18 September 1930 Imotski, Kingdom of Yugoslavia |
| Died | 7 December 2000 (aged 70) Rome, Italy |
| Resting place | Mirogoj cemetery, Zagreb |
| Political party | Croatian Social Liberal Party (1989–1997); Liberal Party (1997–2000) |
| Alma mater | University of Zagreb |
| Occupation | Poet, politician |
Vladimir "Vlado" Gotovac (18 September 1930 – 7 December 2000) was a Croatian poet and politician.
In the late 1960s, Gotovac joined the Croatian movement demanding political and economic reform, which eventually led to the Croatian Spring in the early 1970s. Unlike the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia, the Croatian Spring wasn't violently quashed by military use, although it resulted the period known as "the silent republic", alluding to the Yugoslav government’s tremendous skill in suppressing any opposition or criticism.
Before being arrested in 1971 Gotovac became the editor-in-chief of Hrvatski Tjednik (The Croatian Weekly), which historian Marcus Tanner explains, "was a real phenomenon – a mass-circulation newspaper with an enormous audience that went way beyond the confines of the Communist Party and made a national reputation."
Growing up in Tito's Yugoslavia, Gotovac was arrested in 1971 and sentenced to four years in prison, based on charges of being a "separatist" and "nationalist". In an interview with Swedish television in 1978 he reflected rather dejectedly about his experience:
"No basis was found in my actions or in my activities, but, rather, like in all such processes, criminal actions were assumed and corroborated, not only in my case, but in the cases of a whole group of others whom I know."
Gotovac continued to write in prison, with his most famous piece being his diary, Zvjezdana Kuga ("Starry Plague"), published some twenty years after his release in 1978. And whilst he spent his pre-prison years working as a journalist and editor for TV Zagreb as well as writing literary pieces, he gradually moved into politics after being released from prison.
In an interview for a Swedish television channel in 1978 he was asked to elaborate upon his own philosophical beliefs, and he said:
His experience in Croatia, dominated by communism, did not manage to pervert or shatter his own view of socialism; rather he felt that the sort of socialism he believed in had nothing whatsoever to do with communism, an ideology that he viewed as nothing more than centralist totalitarianism, of which its followers, he said, "are incapable of thinking freely. They do not know what freedom is!" In 1989, Gotovac joined the newly formed Croatian Social Liberal Party. Due to his passionate eloquence he became one of its most prominent members. As such, he worked very hard to find proper balance between Croatian nationalism and liberalism. In 1991 in the Sabor during a protest rally held in front of Yugoslav People's Army headquarters. He made passionate and defiant speech answering the generals who at the time made all kinds of threats against Croatia.
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