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Culture Without Context? Thompson, “Neutrality,” and Cultural Policy in Rijeka

by Katarina Damčević

Following several politically charged concerts elsewhere in Croatia, Rijeka officials have confirmed that the ultra‑nationalist singer Thompson will soon take the stage at a city‑owned venue. This comment argues that the mayor’s claim of cultural “neutrality” actually masks a political decision legitimizing nationalist symbolism in public spaces.

After Marko Perković, known as Thompson, held a concert in Zagreb’s Arena on 27 December 2025 – where he not only performed songs such as Bojna Čavoglave but also delivered explicit political messages, including calls to remove Zagreb’s mayor Tomislav Tomašević and his party, whom he labelled an “extreme left-wing sect” – it became impossible to treat the event as purely musical1. Regardless of its form, the concert functioned as a political rally. Messages articulated from the stage cannot be separated from their political context and recast as harmless entertainment devoid of social consequences.

In Rijeka, it has meanwhile been confirmed that Thompson will perform at Dvorana mladosti, a venue owned by the City of Rijeka and managed by the municipal company Rijeka sport d.o.o.2 That announcement has triggered sharp reactions from local political actors and parts of the public.3 Rijeka’s Mayor, Iva Rinčić, responded by arguing that “the times when politics dictated the music program in Rijeka are over,” that the City treats all performers equally, and that she personally does not listen to Thompson nor plans to attend the concert.4

Unsubstantiated Claims?

If such remarks imply that politics once determined or even banned cultural content in Rijeka, it begs the question: when exactly did that happen, by what official decisions, and which performers were prohibited? Without an answer, such claims remain unsubstantiated and serve more to construct a political stance toward predecessors than to offer a serious analysis of cultural policy. This pattern is consistent with Rinčić’s earlier handling of the recent antifascist protests in the city, where the avoidance of explicit value-based positioning left the protests without institutional interpretation or political acknowledgement, while simultaneously downplaying their historical and political significance.5

Although her official biography primarily emphasizes her academic and professional career, Rijeka’s mayor Iva Rinčić also has a defined political background. With a background in sociology and political science, and a PhD in bioethics, she worked at the University of Rijeka from 2001 before entering local politics as an independent candidate. She served as a member of the Rijeka City Council and the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Assembly and was elected mayor in May 2025 with the support of a coalition of political parties.6

The claim that culture can – or should – be “neutral” overlooks the social and historical context in which cultural events unfold. In the case of Thompson, his repertoire and the rhetoric that accompany his performances do not amount to “just” a musical act. They articulate and reproduce clear value positions that are widely recognized as nationalist and politically charged.7 Thompson gained fame in the 1990s with the wartime anthem Bojna Čavoglave, which evokes Croatian nationalist sentiment and opens with the salute Za dom spremni, the official salute of the World War II Ustaša regime – a regime responsible for genocide against Serbs, Jews, Roma, and antifascist Croats. Moreover, Thompson’s concerts have long attracted audiences that openly chant controversial slogans and display Ustaša symbolism.8

Institutional “neutrality” reduced to personal distance or declarative disapproval of symbols, without public framing or critical contextualization, leaves space for these symbols and messages to be interpreted as legitimate. Concerts and performers do not circulate in a vacuum; they are embedded in a symbolic order. Thompson’s public image and repertoire are inseparable from nationalist iconography associated with exclusionary narratives, historical revisionism, and the celebration of war. Decisions about public programs therefore cannot be separated from their social and political dimensions. This is not “politicizing culture”; it is about responsible management of shared space.

Similar tensions can be observed in other areas of Rijeka’s cultural policy, particularly in decisions that shape the city’s public cultural infrastructure. Recently, Mayor Iva Rinčić announced the removal of a long-standing policy that provided a 50% reduction in rent for bookstores in municipal spaces, a measure designed to support independent bookstores since 2012. Critics, including councillors from the center left Možemo! (We can!) platform, argue that this decision could seriously threaten the viability of local bookstores and even lead to closures, potentially diminishing a vital part of Rijeka’s cultural infrastructure.9 They point out that the City withdrew this subsidy on 30 December 2025, even as the municipal budget reportedly enjoys surpluses, prompting concern that the policy shift prioritizes fiscal metrics over cultural sustainability. According to these critics, bookstores – which function as sites of readings, discussions, and community engagement – cannot absorb the increased rents without jeopardizing both their economic survival and their contribution to the city’s cultural life. In their view, this move reflects a broader ideological stance about culture’s role in the city rather than a neutral administrative adjustment.

A Partisan Signal

Taken together, these cases point to a broader issue: decisions presented as administratively neutral in fact shape the normative boundaries of public space and signal which forms of culture, memory, and expression are institutionally supported. Cities are carriers of memory cultures and values – through symbols, decisions, and the criteria that shape what is deemed acceptable in the public sphere. Freedom of expression remains a core democratic value, but it cannot mean an absence of context, critique, clear criteria, or clearly articulated value-based positions. If organizers and authorities want public spaces to be places of encounter and understanding, they cannot ignore the symbolic meanings of what occurs there, nor can they ignore whose voices and messages are being legitimized in the process.

Permitting Thompson to perform is not a neutral act. It is a political decision that communicates something specific about what is considered acceptable in Rijeka’s public sphere while simultaneously sidelining the dynamics of power, memory, and identity in a post-conflict society. To deny this is to deny social reality.

No one is asking the mayor to select performers according to her personal musical taste. Rather, the public is asking her to clearly articulate the values the city claims to uphold. Because when institutions retreat behind the guise of neutrality, public space is quickly occupied by those who are loudest.


  1. Thompson na koncertu u Areni pozvao na rušenje Tomaševića []
  2. Thompson stiže u Rijeku, otkriven je datum velikog koncerta u Dvorani mladosti []
  3. Riječki SDP o Thompsonu []
  4. Rinčić o Thompsonu: Prošla su vremena kad je politika određivala glazbeni program u Rijeci []
  5. Rijeka’s Antifascist Protest and the Mayor Who Saw Nothing []
  6. Grad Rijeka_Iva Rinčić []
  7. Half a Million Voices: Mainstreaming the Ustaša Legacy at Thompson’s Zagreb Concert []
  8. See recent research on the topic: Tvorba nacionalnih heroja u suvremenim kulturama sjećanja u Hrvatskoj []
  9. Možemo: Odluka Ive Rinčić mogla bi uzrokovati zatvaranje knjižara u Rijeci []

OpenEdition schlägt Ihnen vor, diesen Beitrag wie folgt zu zitieren:
Katarina Damčević (9. Januar 2026). Culture Without Context? Thompson, “Neutrality,” and Cultural Policy in Rijeka. ostBLOG. Abgerufen am 21. Januar 2026 von https://doi.org/10.58079/15h2m


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