Nationalistic Editing on Wikipedia

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Nationalistic Editing on Wikipedia is very much part of Wikipedia.

Wikipedia itself has over the years become a gathering place for individuals with extreme views when it comes to topics dealing with Nationalism. There is no other place this is more visible than in the Croatian articles on Wikipedia.

For many, Wikipedia has become the first port of call for information about anything and everything. With this in mind a crafty group of clever individuals can very easily manipulate historic information for their own Nationalistic agendas! Judging by the last year of edits on the articles about Croatia, they are pretty much written from a dated point of view of the former Communist Yugoslavia. Other Nationalistic conflicts within Wikipedia that are related to the Croatian region are based on ethnicity (ie. Croatian, Serbian and Italian).

Note: Historian Kerubin Segvic was executed for proposing a different historic model than that of Communist Yugoslav state policies of Croatians arriving in the Western Balkans.[1]

Concerns over Dalmatian Articles (other Croatian articles too) and Wikipedia

It appears that Wikipedia has problems interpreting the multicultural and multiethnic history of the Dalmatian region. There is a strong culture of editing bias that seems to prevail. This results in articles that reflect points of view rather being encyclopaedic. As events are unfolding, the bias tips mainly towards the propaganda of the former Communist Yugoslavia. The articles reflect Nationalistic views of a totalitarian Communist system.

Post Berlin Wall and the collapse of Yugoslavia

After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Yugoslavia, factual evidence has emerged that Dictator Josip Broz Tito and his regime (former Yugoslavia) were responsible for executing mass murders, arrests and torture.[2] The worst of these events are the Way of the Cross,[3] Bleiburg [4][5][6] and Foibe massacres.[7]

Encyclopaedia Britannica on events post World War Two in Yugoslavia:

“ British commanders refused to accept their surrender and handed them over to the Partisans, who took a merciless revenge. Tens of thousands, including many civilians, were subsequently slaughtered on forced marches and in death camps. [8] ”
“ After the armistice the British repatriated more than 10,000 Slovene collaborators who had attempted to retreat with the Germans, and Tito had most of them massacred at the infamous Pits of Kocevje. [9] ”

Additionally there is the ethnic cleansing of Italians, Germans and Hungarians of the former Yugoslavia.[10][11] One only has to mention Goli Otok, a notorious prison on the Croatian coast (former Yugoslavia’s Evil Island-Gulag). The terror campaign lasted for about twenty years until the regime introduced reforms in the 1960's.

According to the recent European Public Hearing on “Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes"[12] the former Communist Yugoslavia after World War Two was a Stalinist State (in its first 20 years of rule). It has a history of executing a rule of terror and political repression on a grand scale.[13][14] The former Yugoslavia was a Totalitarian state.

Now thanks to the Internet, this pseudo historical perspective that once was known only to Tito's Yugoslavia, has gone World Wide. This is truly disturbing because the former communist Yugoslavia encompassed peoples descendant of the Roman Empire, Republic of Venice, Republic of Ragusa, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and others.

Additionally, one could say what would you expect from a Totalitarian political system? It needs to undertake historical re-writes. Part of its existence is based on falsehoods. It's the nature of the beast. Now I'm not saying it's all pseudo historical but sections of it would have to be. It is based on the Great Union of Southern Slavs combined with Communism's grand plan for its people to evolve into a superior society (and a superior man) as a whole. The regime had to justify its existence. It's all derived from 19-century thinking, i.e., Marxism combined with extreme Nationalism (combined with Darwinism).

It is based on a philosophy that an individual human life is without value and the culture of a society is expendable.

  • For more information please read Titoism and Totalitarianism - Link here.

House of Bona

The best example of this is the article House of Bona.[15][16] The House of Bona was a noble family from the former state of the Republic of Ragusa (with its famous city called Dubrovnik), which was part of the historic region of Dalmatia. [17]

According to some Wikipedia Editors, it was the House of Bunić. The Bunic name is a Slavic translation and is hardly used even in today’s Croatia. There was an edited war over the whole matter and eventually with the strength of references it was changed.

After World War Two the Slavicisation of the of Dalmatia (today part of Croatia) was continued as government policy under the Communist Party of Yugoslavia. All cities, towns, villages, family and peoples surnames that are not of Slavic origin were being translated.[18] The policy was firstly implemented on a large scale with the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918.

Dalmatia is a region of Europe with a very multicultural and multiethnic history. The population of that region is predominately Croatian but there is a strong Latin historic tradition dating back to Roman times. The forceful translation of their cultural and even at times rewriting of history is what could be termed cultural genocide. Wikipedia with its current group of editors is participating in that process.

Family Member Statement on Wikipedia

“ As a Croatian member of the de Bona family, I would like to remind everybody of the following:

The Bona name already appears in a document dated from the 10th century - this document can be seen in Dubrovnik. All Croatian identity documents show de BONA (even during Yugoslavia) All family records show the name BONA, never Bunic Tombstones show Bona, never Bunic. Bunic predominantly appears in books written by Yugoslav authors or those using "Yugoslav" sources. Paintings in the Dubrovnik Museum show the name "de Bona" on all the paintings - description tags usually say Bunic and now also Bona in most cases (since Croatia's independence -- under Yugoslavia, nearly exclusively Bunic). In Dubrovnik the family is known as Bona, not Bunic. The aristocracy wanted to distinguish themselves from the rest of the population and did not Slavicize their names (except two families of Slavic origin)...in some cases some people who wrote in Croatian or a form of it also used a Slavic version of the name...Additional proof needed for the Bona name. So far none seen. In MHO, this page should be known as House of Bona (aka Bunic) and all the names in the Slavic version should appear in parentheses next to the Bona name. As far as I know, there are no historical records with these Slavic names. All family records, always show the name Bona even when the rest of the text is written in Croatian. A small clique is controlling all the info that goes into the Croatian pages. This is a fact. They are very determined that only info they accept can enter in Wikipedia. Otherwise, they do everything to make sure it's deleted -- often with no explanation --. If they don't like a user they will do everything to ban him.

In MHO, Bunic is only used to say it's "Croatian" versus "Italian"... I don't recognise myself in the Bunic name. It doesn't mean anything to me...but Croatian people, who don't know anything about the family, are telling everybody it's the name...with no proof to back it up. You make up your mind what the name of the House is..."

by Debona.michel (talk) 10:46, 28 January 2010

”

Fausto Veranzio

Fausto Veranzio (or Faust Vrancic) is another article on Wikipedia that exhibits Nationalistic editing. Fausto Veranzio was a citizen of the Republic of Venice in the 16th and 17th century. He does have a Croatian background through family lineage. He was a brilliant scientist in his day and is noted for his invention of the parachute. It seems to be so painful for the editors to acknowledge that he actually is from the Republic of Venice.

Wikipedia states:

“ ... was a polymath and bishop from Croatia [19] (3rd of October 2010) ”

This editor (who is proud of his Croatian heritage), will have to state that this man was from the Republic of Venice not from Croatia, because Croatia as a sovereign state did not exist for at least three hundred years after his time.

This is using Wikipedia for blatant Nationalistic propaganda and is not based on fact.

Francesco Patrizi

The case of Francesco Patrizi, the Venetian philosopher, is a fine illustration of the nationalistic warfare that infests Wikipedia, and the inaccuracy and distortion and bias that follows as a result.

“ Quote by Ocham-London, United Kingdom:The problem becomes particularly acute in a place like Wikipedia, where the only intellectual interest - that is to say, no intellectual interest at all - lies simply in a nationalistic dispute, in this case between Italians and Croatians. ”

The Dalmatian Italians Article

He is other example of cultural genocide on Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia. The historic information below was deleted because it did not reflect the dated point of view of the former Communist Yugoslavia. According to Wikipedia in the Dalmatian Italians article (21/11/2010), history of the region started in 997 A.D. We somehow lost the history of the Roman Empire and the early Byzantine Empire.


“

Characteristics

After the 1840s the ethnic group suffered from an apparently constant trend of decreasing presence and now numbers only around 1,000 people. Throughout history, however, this group (though small in numbers in the last centuries) exerted a disproportionally significant influence on the region.

They are currently represented in Croatia and Montenegro by the Italian National Community (Italian: Comunita Nazionale Italiana) (CNI). The Italo-Croatian minorities treaty recognizes the Italian Union (Unione Italiana) as the political party officially representing the CNI in Croatia.[20] The number of Dalmatian Italians in Croatia has fallen to 300, and the Italian Union concentrates on the Istrian region and the city of Rijeka (Fiume), which are home to the vast majority of the Italian minority in Croatia (numbering around 30,000 citizens).

In Dalmatia the most important centers of the CNI are in Split (Spalato), Zadar (Zara), and Kotor (Cattaro). [21] They have their own newspapers[22].

History

Roman Dalmatia and the Middle ages

Roman Dalmatia was fully latinized by 476 AD when the Western Roman Empire disappeared, according to scholar Theodor Mommsen in his book "The Provinces of the Roman Empire".

During the Barbarian Invasions Avars allied with certain Slavic tribes, invaded and plundered Byzantine Illyria. This eventually led to the settlement of different Slavic tribes in the Balkans. The original Roman population endured within the coastal cities and in the inhospitable Dinaric Alps (the latter were later known as "Morlachs" or Vlachs).

The Dalmatian cities retained their Romanic culture and language in cities such as Jadera (Zadar, Zara), Spalatum (Split, Spalato) and Ragusa (Dubrovnik). Their own vulgar Latin, developed in the Dalmatian language, a now extinct Romance language.
These coastal cities (politically part of the Byzantine Empire) maintained political, cultural and economic links with Italy, through the Adriatic sea. On the other side communications with the mainland were difficult because of the Dinaric Alps. Due to the sharp orography of Dalmatia, even communications between the different Dalmatian cities, occurred mainly trough the sea. This helped Dalmatian cities to develop a unique Romance culture, despite the mostly Slavicized mainland. [23]

”

Update: The article's Roman Dalmatia section link has been returned (26/12/2010) by editor 65.9.76.25.

See also

External links

“ Quote: Wikipedia has become the new battleground for Israel's PR image. The Yisrael Sheli (My Israel) movement and the Yesha Council, which represents Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, have joined together for a new public relations initiative. Together they will soon offer a special course for volunteers who wish to write and edit English entries on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. (Israel National News) ”

References

  1. ^ Becoming Slav, Becoming Croat: Identity Transformations in Post-Roman and Early Medieval Dalmatia by Danijel Dzino (p20)
  2. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica - Slovenia (a former republic of Yugoslavia):
    • "After the armistice the British repatriated more than 10,000 Slovene collaborators who had attempted to retreat with the Germans, and Tito had most of them massacred at the infamous Pits of Kocevje.
  3. ^ Hrcak Portal of Scientific Journals of Croatia by Zdravko Dizdar. Scientific Journal:
    • An Addition to the Research of the Problem of Bleiburg & Way of the Cross. This paper dedicated to the 60th anniversary of these tragic events represents a small step towards the elaboration of known data and brings a list of yet unknown and unpublished original documents, mostly belonging to the Yugoslavian Military and Political Government 1945-1947. Amongst those documents are those mostly relating to Croatian territory although a majority of concentration camps and execution sites were outside of Croatia, in other parts of Yugoslavia. The author hopes that the readers will receive a complete picture about events related to Bleiburg and the Way of The Cross and the suffering of numerous Croats, which is confirmed directly in many documents and is related to the execution of a person or a whole group of people and sometimes non-stop for days.
  4. ^ Webster's Quotations, Facts and Phrases by Inc Icon Group International
  5. ^ Identity Politics in the Age of Genocide: The Holocaust and Historical by David B. MacDonald. Page 168.
    • The Partisans also carried out massacres, best known being at Bleiburg (Austria), where retreating Croatian and Slovenian forces and their families were massacred.
  6. ^ Bleiburg Massacre:
    • "Among the Croats were real or alleged members or collaborators of the fascist regime. Killings were done presumably with the full knowledge of their supreme commander Josip Broz Tito" to "The majority of the Croats were members or collaborators of the fascist regime, although there were many frightened innocent people, however, these two were inextricably mixed and the pursuing Partisans appear to have unfortunately labelled them all as traitors since they were fleeing with the fascist units that were attempting to surrender to British forces in Austria. Apart from Croats, present in the fleeing military columns were remaining units of the Serbian Chetniks and the Slovenian Bela Garda, the vast majority of both were killed as well. The British forces refused to accept the Ustasa's surrender as per the Allied agreement and they were prevented from entering the British occupied areas."
  7. ^ Where the Balkans Begin (The Slovenes in Triest-The Foiba Story) by Bernard Meares:
    • During the early Communist occupation in Trieste, Gorizia and the Littoral, and the 40 days of Communist rule in Trieste city, some 6000 arrests were made and the prisoners carried off to Communist-controlled areas. When the Allies finally imposed their rule they found out about the Yugoslav execution squads. The more objective Italian historians and statisticians such as Galliano Fogar and Raoul Pupo point to between 1000 and 1800 Italians and Slovene victims. The Red Cross estimates that 2,250 failed to return , in rough agreement with Bogdan Novak who said in 1971 that 4200 Italians returned out of 6000 arrested.
  8. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica: Croatia (a former republic of Yugoslavia)
  9. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica: Slovenia
  10. ^ Communist Retaliation and Persecution on Yugoslav Territory During and After WWII by Dr. Ph. Michael Portmann:
    • The following article deals with repressive measures undertaken by communist-dominated Partisan forces during and especially after World War Two in order to take revenge on former enemies, to punish collaborators, and “people’s enemies“ and to decimate and eliminate the potential of opponents to a new, socialist Yugoslavia. The text represents a summary of a master thesis referring to the above-mentioned topic written and accepted at Vienna University in 2002
  11. ^ www.enotes.com "Yugoslavia." Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Ed. Dinah L. Shelton. Gale Cengage, 2005. eNotes.com. 2006. 26 Jun, 2010 Yugoslavia: Genocide & Crimes Against Humanity-Mark Thompson.
    • The killing continued after the war, as Tito's victorious forces took revenge on their real and perceived enemies. British forces in Austria turned back tens of thousands of fleeing Yugoslavs. Estimates range from 30,000 to 55,000 killed between spring and autumn 1945.
    • Native German and Hungarian communities, seen as complicit with wartime occupation, were brutally treated; tantamount in some cases to ethnic cleansing. The Volksdeutsch settlements of Vojvodina and Slavonia largely disappeared. Perhaps 100,000 people—half the ethnic German population in Yugoslavia—fled in 1945, and many who remained were compelled to do forced Labour, murdered, or later ransomed by West Germany. Some 20,000 Hungarians of Vojvodina were killed in reprisals. Albanian rebellions in Kosovo were suppressed, with prisoners sent on death marches towards the coast. An estimated 170,000 ethnic Italians fled to Italy in the late 1940s and 1950s. (All of these figures are highly approximate.)
  12. ^ European Public Hearing on "Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes” Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (January–June 2008) and the European Commission
  13. ^ Crimes Committed by Totalitarian Regimes- Reports and proceedings of the 8 April European public hearing on “Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes”, organised by the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (January–June 2008) and the European Commission. Page 197. Joze Dezman: COMMUNIST REPRESSION AND TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN SLOVENIA Chapter: COMMUNIST REPRESSION Of “INTERIOR ENEMIES” IN SLOVENIA
    • In the greater part of this paper, the author deals with individual repressive measures that Communist rule imposed in Slovenia in the period from the end of the war in 1945 until the beginning of the 1950s. In this period, the Communist authorities in Slovenia implemented all the forms of repression that were typical of states with Stalinist regimes. In Slovenia, it was a time of mass killings without court trials, and of concentration and labour camps.
    • Property was confiscated, inhabitants were expelled from Slovenia/Yugoslavia and their residences, political and show trials were carried out, religion was repressed and the Catholic Church and its clergy were persecuted. At the beginning of the 1950s, Communist rule in Slovenia abandoned these forms of repression but was ready to reapply them if it felt threatened.
    • Thus the regime set up political and show trials against certain more visible opponents later. In the case of an “emergency situation”, even the establishment of concentration camps was planned in Slovenia in 1968, where around 1,000 persons, of whom 10 % were women, would be interned for political reasons. Page 161
  14. ^ www.jutarnji.hr U 581 Grobnici je 100.000 žrtava. English version-The Jutarnji newspaper reported on the 01/10/2009 commissions find, in all it is estimated that there are 100 000 victims in 581 mass graves
  15. ^ Age, Marriage, and Politics in Fifteenth Century Ragusa by David Rheubottom. Book overview: This book combines the insights of history and anthropology with innovative techniques such as computer simulation to investigate the relationships between politics, kinship, and marriage in the late-medieval city-state of Ragusa (present-day Dubrovnik). At its heart is a reconsideration of `office' and the ways in which ties of kinship and marriage were mobilised to build electoral success.
  16. ^ Our Kingdom Come The Counter-Reformation, the Republic of Dubrovnik by Zdenko Zlatar
  17. ^ John Everett-Healu.Dalmatia Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. Oxford University Press. 2005. Encyclopedia.com
  18. ^ Balkan Babel: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito to the Fall of Milosevic by Sabrina P. Ramet. Note: Croatisation is a form of Slavicisation.
  19. ^ Wikipedia:Fausto Veranzio
  20. ^ Unione Italiana - Talijanska unija - Italijanska Unija
  21. ^ Main CNI centers
  22. ^ Dalmatian Italian Media
  23. ^ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>"Dalmatian Italians" Check |url= value (help). 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-21. Check date values in: |date= (help)


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