The article analyzes nationalistically motivated online hate speech on selected right-wing public Facebook pages in Croatia. The rise of historical revisionism and populism paved the way for the growing presence of hate speech, with the most salient example being the resurfacing of the World War II fascist salute Za dom spremni (“Ready for the Homeland”) across different communicative situations. We account for the online dynamic of Za dom spremni as well as for the most frequent expressions of xenophobia that accompany the salute by presenting data gathered between 2012 – 2017 using Facebook Graph API. From the total of 4.5 million postings published by readers, those containing Za dom spremni and its variations were filtered and followed by the frequency and prevalence of the accompanying notions. By relying on cultural semiotics, we highlight the socio-communicative functions of hate speech on two levels. Firstly, the notion of the semiosphere helps us illustrate how hate speech is used to reproduce the idea of Croatianness as the dominant self-description. Secondly, we examine how the dominant self-description maintains the boundary between us and the other by merging diverse textual fragments and how their perseverance depends on the communicative situations they enter online.

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UVODNašu epohu, tijekom posljednjih stotinjak godina, moguće je, između ostalog, tretirati i kao povijesno razdoblje koje je od presudne važnosti po pitanju pojačanih transformativnih procesa u institucijama bračne zajednice i obitelji. Te je promjene potrebno sagledavati u kontekstu dinamičnog razvoja potrošačkog društva pod okriljem kapitalističkog sustava. Naime, upravo su konzumeristički kapitalizam i potrošačka kultura, pokušat ćemo to pokazati kroz tekst, korisne uporabne platforme za stjecanje uvidâ u paletu karakteristika suvremene bračne zajednice i obitelji kreirajući pritom, između ostalog, i ideju o braku kao fi nalnom dokazu ljubavi. Pored okvira ideologije konzumerizma, potrošačke kulture i društva, ljubav, bračnu zajednicu i obitelj analitički je potrebno tretirati u kontekstu društveno-ekonomskih procesa komodifi kacije, 1 reapro-1 Fenomen komodifi kacije može biti polazišna točka prilikom interpretacije bračne zajednice kao proizvoda. Riječ je, naime, o procesu prema kojem se neki materijalan predmet ili osobno umijeće pretvaraju u robu na tržištu (Peračković, 2008). Važno je istaknuti da, prema suvremenoj ekonomskoj teoriji, pojmovi roba i proizvod nisu istoznačni. Pojam robe, osim fi zičkih proizvoda uključuje i usluge, dok je proizvod opredmećeni rezultat ljudskog rada ostvaren radi izravnog ili neizravnog podmirenja neke potrebe (Rocco,

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This article analyses the media discourse surrounding the WWII fascist salute Za dom spremni (ZDS) in the aftermath of two national commemorations that took place in Croatia in spring 2020: Jasenovac and Operation Flash (Bljesak). In spring 2020 Zoran Milanović, the newly elected President of Croatia, adamantly criticized the presence of the salute, associated with the collaborationist Ustaša regime, at the two commemorations, calling for its removal and ban. This led to heated reactions from war veterans and politicians who considered Milanović’s actions unacceptable and offensive towards the memory and legacy of the 1990s war, which triggered a wider debate regarding Croatia’s post-war national identity. The object of the analysis is the discourse surrounding the salute as it emerges in opinion pieces published in weekly and daily newspapers in April, May, and June 2020. With the salute becoming an increasingly prominent part of negotiating national identity and tailoring political agendas, investigating how it is justified, disapproved or otherwise challenged in the media is an aspect that deserves more attention. Relying on insights from discourse studies, the article sheds light on various statements that (de)legitimize the salute and consequently particular actors and actions associated with it. With the help of semiotics of culture wider signification tendencies and dominant discourse(s) upon which the national selfdescription has been built are identified. The article contributes to scholarship on hate speech and contested symbols in the post-Yugoslav space and their (mis)uses in societies struggling with traumatic legacies.