There Is No Hate in Patriotism

Steve Ravić responds to a story published on June 11, 2023 by The Age entitled ‘Symbols of hate’ by Ben Schneiders and Simone Fox Koob.

Steve RAVIĆ

It has been a splendid week for Croatians that have gathered from the diaspora in Dubrovnik to promote Croatian culture through the ‘Cravat’ project (Tie). A project uniting Croatians from all over the world under the banner of the globally famous ‘Tie’ with cultural exhibitions including �ilm, poetry, song, the launch of a book titled ‘Croatians United by The Cravat’ and a painting called ‘The Tie’ by Charles Billich all being exhibited inside of the famous ancient walls of Dubrovnik.

Among the festivities was the Croatian premiere of my documentary �ilm ‘Billich: Beyond the Canvas’ featuring Australia’s most renowned living international artist Charles Billich, who was born in Croatia. As a child he witnessed atrocities committed by the Yugoslav communists including the murder of members of his own family and was imprisoned for speaking out against the Yugoslav regime when he was a teenager. After serving time as a political prisoner, he escaped over the border to �ind the freedom he so desired, in Australia in 1956.

Like Charles Billich, my Croatian parents Katica and Radoslav escaped the same Yugoslav regime that murdered our people to �ind refuge and freedom in Australia affording me the luxury of being born and raised in Australia. We are all very grateful for the recognition, respect and welcoming we received as a people thanks to great nation of Australia and the likes of Prime Ministers such as Sir Robert Menzies who understood our tragedy and struggle for freedom.

In the 90’s we Croatians �inally realised our dream of an independent Croatia after the collapse of communism in Europe. I myself volunteered my services in defending Croatian independence in various forms and providing support for victims of war atrocities after the Yugoslav Army and terrorist Chetnik aggressors initiated a bloody war against Croatia in objection to Croatian independence. Last week I returned to Croatia for this monumental Cravat event and on Friday the 9th of June, I was honoured to have received a ‘Certi�icate of Recognition’ that ho- noured me for “constant pursuit of truth, justice and the promotion of human rights” which was awarded to me by the head organisers of the exhibition opening and festivities in Dubrovnik, the American Croatian Congress and their President Nada Pritisanac Matulich who is also the Croatian community representative to the United Nations. Declaring the event open was the Mayor of Dubrovnik, Mato Franković who referenced my documentary work in his speech in relation to communist crimes and the suffering that we had endured as a people and the freedom we now enjoy and share with all good people of the world. However, this week’s beautiful festivities were marred by events back at home in Australia with a hurtful and discriminatory report that was published by The Age and written by my fellow Australians Ben Schneiders and Simone Fox Koob who regurgitated old communist propaganda and falsities about Croatians. The Age published defamatory information and even shamefully alluded to speculation to present their case against Croatians that were accused of crimes by a communist regime but never convicted of anything by anyone, anywhere.

The authors, Schneiders and Koob recited �ictional material originally written by a genocidal dictator (Josip Broz Tito) and his regime that was since adopted and accepted without scrutiny or factual evidence. That is not intelligent reporting, but a blatant targeted attack on the Croatian community in Australia.

Schneiders and Koob, I would like to say that when you choose to persecute a community that suffered under a regime whose false narrative you are choosing to propagate and glorify, you deserve nothing less than to be called out for your blatantly discriminatory article.

There are no independent sources that verify most of the material you published apart from the �iction written by a communist dictatorship whose sole aim was to wipe Croatia and the Croatian people from history like we never existed. You published the lies of a Yugoslav regime that dispatched the likes of now convicted and imprisoned Yugoslav secret agents into the world like Josip Perković to assassinate Croatian freedom lobbyists in the diaspora during the era of Yugoslav tyranny. These agents now rot in prison after being convicted by the European courts.

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Steve RAVIĆ

According to information provided to ‘Novi List’ from the Municipality of Lovran, there was an arrangement made for �ive artworks to be donated over �ive years to settle the alleged debt. After the artworks were handed over to Lovran, the Municipality decided that the appraisal by Billich was not valid based on the appraisal they acquired stating the artwork was not worth what Billich had stipulated it to be worth and therefore terminating the agreement after the fact. This alone clearly demonstrates the absurdity in their actions.

The courts also accepted outrageously low and overly suspicious valuations. Further to accepting the grossly undervalued prices for the artwork, they permitted for the art to be exchanged for two-thirds (2/3rd) of the already grossly undervalued price, despite objections. It is astonishing how the Municipality of Lovran was awarded �ifty-one (51) pieces of Billich art owned by the Billich Gallery and thirty-eighth (38) model ships that were taken from Charles Billich’s own collection in exchange for only one-third (1/3rd) of the under-valuated price.

What makes all this even more incomprehensible is the fact that the actual owner of the Billich artwork that was loaned to the museum, Christa Billich and the Billich Gallery were never even consulted about the proceedings by anyone at the Municipality or by the courts and were not even represented in court or afforded the right to claim back the Billich Gallery’s property.

It was in 2018 that I (Steve Ravić) initiated an investigation into the matter because I strongly believed there were irregularities in the proceedings and discovered what I strongly believed to be organized, calculated and corrupt acts being committed against Billich.

In 2021, the current Mayor Bojan Simonič made claims that he had tried to communicate with Billich in relation to the matter. According to the Mayors media appearances, there were no serious offers (by Billich) to claim back the paintings, which is absolutely false and absurd because I attempted to negotiate the return of the paintings on multiple occasions and this fact is now well documented by my multiple trips to Lovran and all of the correspondence I exchanged with them.

In 2019, as Charles Billich’s only appointed representative for Croatia, I escorted Billich to Lovran together with Vesna Trokter and renow- ned Los Angeles �ilmmaker

Neil Johnson who were part of our entourage. Charles Billich was denied entry to the Municipality of�ices even after I asked for him to be granted permission to enter so as to view his own paintings hanging on the municipality corridor walls. The Municipality staffer declined permission for Billich to enter the public of�ice space on that day but promised me that I would be contacted the following week by telephone to arrange a formal meeting with the mayor. Not surprisingly, they never called me.

In January of 2020, I �lew back to Croatia from Australia on a mission to make another attempt to help the Billich Gallery retain their paintings which they were even prepared to buy back. On this occasion, with lawyer Don Markušić. This trip was signi�icant because some of the paintings in question were precious to the artist himself and the Billich Gallery because of the historic and meaningful value of the ‘Croatian Inventors’ series for which the intention had always been to have them be a part of a future Billich foundation to be preserved for future generations to enjoy and appreciate.

The Mayor Bojan Simonič who was actually present at the Municipality of�ice during the visit, was again unavailable to meet with me. The fact that the mayor did not even follow up on my visit with a call or in writing, clearly indicates that Mayor Simonič, for whatever reason was not willing to make himself available to discuss the matter, contrary to the claims he made publicly.

It was in February of 2021 when Mayor Simonič went public on national television stating that he had hoped Billich himself would have made contact to buy back the paintings, to which the Mayor was called out by myself in a press release to media, stating how it was clearly untrue based on the fact that myself with team Billich did make attempts to discuss the buyback and it was actually Mayor Simonič that had evaded communication with us.

Following the defamatory and misleading claims made publicly by Mayor Simonič, as a gesture of good will, we proceeded to negotiate the buy-back of the original paintings that the Municipality intended to put on auction. The mayor �inally responded to me for the �irst time, suggesting that team Billich submit bids for the auction. However, we did not want to participate in something we deemed inappropriate, so we sent a formal offer to buy the art back based on the Municipalities own of�icial valuations that they had been using,