A Croatian artist launched a controversial petition – and proved people will sign anything

A post shared by Hajdi Begovic (@hajdicradic) on May 18, 2018 at 12:05pm PDT

One of Croatia’s most prolific artists launched a petition protecting abusive priests from prosecution as part of a damning performance criticising the country’s “para-fascist” nationalist groups.

Siniša Labrović took to the streets of Zagreb in a small stall decked with Croatian flags and banners urging passers-by to “protect the Catholic Church”.

The campaign wasn’t real — but 60 people gave their details, often without asking what the petition was actually about. Some were anti-abortion protesters taking part in the capital’s “Walk for Life,” which was taking place in the city at the same time.

The petition posed a referendum question: “Should the Croatian constitution forbid the prosecution of Catholic priests, bishops and archbishops for the offense of sexual abuse or child exploitation?”

Labrović, who launched the performance as part of Queer Zagreb 2018 program, said that while many believers refused to sign, others simply trusted the booth’s “patriotic set-up.”

“It’s about para-fascist movements”, he told the Index.Hr news site. “The reduction of a whole palette of complex modern issues of modernity to a couple of slogans and fear mongering potentially produces very bad results.”

Source: News Mavens