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ARTISAN REVIEW
in their dreams there was no poverty, no war, no enemies, and, most
im–
portant, no fear. Three years after 1989 and "the death of Communism,"
the citizens of the post-Communist countries are slowly realizing that
the
dream has turned into a nightmarish reality of economic crisis, xenopho–
bia, war, nationalisms, new personality cults, and religious revivals. They
see that
all
this is changing the face of the entire European continent. For
that reason, not only Croatia but
all
of Europe, East and West, represents
a kind of twilight zone. People have also learned that Communism is
&r
from dead. In fact, the problem is that it continues to live in people's
minds.
It
is built into the new democratic states, and it revives the old fear
of a state that controls its citizens. The future is uncertain for
all
of us,
but
for some it seems to be postponed until "better times." Yet perhaps we
should not forget one enormous difference between the past and the pre–
sent: it is now legitimate to hope and work for a better future. It is legiti–
mate to dream.
