Viktor Ivančić (born 8 October 1960) is a
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
n journalist, best known as the founding member and long-time editor-in-chief of satirical weekly ''
Feral Tribune''.
A native of
Split, Ivančić edited the student paper of the
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, at the
University of Split.
He came to public spotlight in 1980s as a member of VIVA LUDEŽ, trio of young humourists who wrote for humour sections of
Split newspapers and magazines like ''
Slobodna Dalmacija'', ''
Nedjeljna Dalmacija'' and ''
Omladinska Iskra''. Those weekly supplements, which would ultimately become ''Feral Tribune'', featured his regular column called ''Bilježnica Robija K.'' (Notebook of Robi K.), in which he gave satirical comments on important social and political events seen through the eyes of an elementary school pupil.
During the first years Croatian independence, Ivančić and ''Feral Tribune'' came into conflict with the government of
Franjo Tuđman
Franjo Tuđman (14 May 1922 – 10 December 1999) was a Croatian politician and historian who became the first president of Croatia, from 1990 until his death in 1999. He served following the Independence of Croatia, country's independe ...
and his
Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). In early 1993 ''Slobodna Dalmacija'' was taken over by
Miroslav Kutle, a businessman with close ties to Tuđman's right-hand man
Gojko Šušak. As a result, ''Feral Tribune'' was removed from the pages of Split daily.
However, few months later, ''Feral Tribune'' appeared as bi-weekly, becoming weekly newspaper in December 1993.
Viktor Ivančić became its editor-in-chief. During his tenure, the magazine was one of the first to openly criticise the government, expose war crimes committed by
Croatian Army, as well as HDZ role in the most controversial aspects of privatisation and other scandals.
Ivančić received high praise from his peers for his efforts and received many prestigious journalism awards. Tuđman's government, on the other hand, reacted with the campaign that included controversial pornography taxes, defamation of characters of suits, criminal charges against ''Feral'' staff and economic sabotage through government-friendly businesses. Some of it was directed at Ivančić himself. Soon after receiving public death threat from top HDZ officials, Ivančić was mobilised into
Croatian Army on 31 December 1993.
He was released from Army – which he served in
4th Guards Brigade – in short time, following series of international protests.
In the late 1990s, Ivančić ceased to be ''Feral''s editor-in-chief, but he continued to work in the magazine as columnist. Some of his columns were later published as books. In 2007 he received the prize "Archivio Disarmo - Golden Doves for Peace" awarded by IRIAD. After Feral Tribune ceased to exist in 2008, he join the national weekly newspaper
Novosti where he still writes regularly as a columnist.
In 2017, Ivančić has signed the
Declaration on the Common Language of the
Croats
The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...
,
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian Cultural heritage, ancestry, Culture of Serbia, culture, History of Serbia, history, and Serbian lan ...
,
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks (, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia (region), Bosnia, today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and who sha ...
and
Montenegrins
Montenegrins (, or ) are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common ancestry, culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro.
Montenegrins are mostly Orthodox Christians; however, the population also includes ...
.
Bibliography
* ''The Robi K. notebook'' (1995)
* ''Dot on the letter U'' (1998)
* ''Bonfire for the anti-Croatian adultery'' (2003)
* ''Slapping the wind'' (2003)
* ''Vita activa'' (2005)
* ''Robi K. stories'' (2006)
* ''Animal Croatica'' (2007)
* ''Mountain air'' (2009)
* ''Why I dont write and other essays'' (2010)
* ''Robi K.- The third onslaught'' (2011)
* ''Yugoslavia lives forever'' (2011)
* ''Workers and paesants'' (2015)
* ''Playing to the middle course'' (2015)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivancic, Viktor
1960 births
Croatian political journalists
Journalists from Sarajevo
Croat writers from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language
Student newspaper editors
Living people