Political party Human Blockade | Children Mathis Ivan Alexis | |
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Born 14 October 1985 (age 31)
Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
(now Croatia) ( 1985-10-14 ) Alma mater University of Applied Health Sciences, Zagreb Education Zdravstveno veleučilište u Zagrebu, Veleučilište Baltazar Zaprešić Parents Hrvoje Pernar, Ljiljana Pernar | ||
Ivan Pernar (born 14 October 1985) is a Croatian activist and politician. In June 2011, he founded the Alliance for Change party (later Human Shield). He is a member of Croatian Parliament since the 2016 elections, elected in the 6th electoral district on the list of Human Blockade, Let's change Croatia and Youth Action.
Contents
- Personal life
- Political activism
- Work in Croatian Parliament
- Foreign policy
- Freemasonry
- Marijuana legalization
- Criticism of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
- Vaccination
- Controversies
- Books
- References
Personal life
Pernar finished Xth Gymnasium in Zagreb and then enrolled at University of Applied Health Sciences in Zagreb, where he earned a degree of senior nurse.
His grandfather's uncle, also named Ivan Pernar, was a member of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes for the Croatian Peasant Party and was one of several people wounded by People's Radical Party MP Puniša Račić on 20 June 1928.
Pernar has a son, Mathis Ivan Alexis, with a German woman named Friederike.
In January 2017. Pernar declared that he quit being Roman Catholic and accused the Catholic Church in Croatia of being "the long arm of Croatian Democratic Union".
Political activism
During the era of Ivo Sanader, Pernar was a member of Croatian Democratic Union's branch in Trešnjevka, however he soon left the party due to the disappointment with Sanader's politics. He came to the attention of Croatian public after organizing massive "Facebook Protests" in 2011 aimed against the government. The protests started in Zagreb, and then spread to all major Croatian cities such as Pula, Split, Rijeka and Slavonski Brod. Despite initial success in mobilising and leading as many as a thousand people, he soon came to the verge of being physically attacked by some protesters for wishing to burn a Croatian flag in Osijek.
After the protests, he founded his own political party "Alliance for Changes", which soon changed its name to Human Shield. Along with other members of his party, Pernar soon engaged in passive resistance to forced evictions in Croatia, for which he was, according to his own account often arrested by the police.
Work in Croatian Parliament
On Croatian parliamentary election, in September 2016, Pernar won 15.66 percent of preferential votes of his constituency and thus entered the Croatian Parliament. After one month of work, he became credited as the most active MP in Croatian Parliament by the Croatian media. On 29 November 2016., Stjepan Vujanić, president of political party "Alphabet of Democracy", announced that Pernar would become a member of his party. Pernar later explained that he made this move as a revolt because Croatian Ministry of Public Administration refused to register his new political party "The Only Option". He is known for his provocative style of work. He invites comparison with Donald Trump for his position as a political outsider who uses social media and attention-grabbing attacks on opponents. On 11. October 2016. he was criticised by a parliament speaker Željko Reiner for eating a pizza during the session. On 20 January 2017. Pernar and his party colleague Ivan Vilibor Sinčić became the very first MPs in history of Republic of Croatia that were forcebly expelled from the parliament, by the parliament security, after Pernar refused to leave the session on order of speaker Željko Reiner and Sinčić expressed his solidarity with him.
Foreign policy
Pernar is known for his radical opposing to NATO alliance. In his interview to Russian news agency Sputnik Pernar compared NATO with Hitler's Germany. He also expressed his sympathy towards Russia by saying: "If it wasn't for Russia, no one would have stood up to this. The United States would have been able to bomb and doom to destruction any country that does not want to serve [Washington's] interests,". In one of his interviews, Pernar stated that European Union isn't a democracy, instead, it's the institution ruled by unelected bankar cartels and bureaucrats. In another interview he stated that his party will only consider coalition with other parties if they take Croatia out of the European Union. In one TV show, Pernar stated that the State of Israel was made on ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and criticis USA for not helping Palestinians.
Freemasonry
Pernar spoke critically of Freemasons, for which he claimed he had met while visiting the Czech Republic. He claimed that representative of Freemasons offered him power and said that their organization controls media outlets and gives power to people which they choose. Allegedly, this Freemason also warned him not to question the money making process and that they will "lift him up" if he chooses to go with them. He said that he rejected this offer in favour of going his own way, and recommended to all viewers to turn their hearts towards Jesus Christ. In the same interview Pernar said that some MP's in Croatian parliament aren't loyal to the state, but to the secret societies instead. He also claimed that Freemasons of 33rd level have the ability to talk to the devil.
Marijuana legalization
Pernar expressed his support for legalization of Marijuana. He claims that this process would instigate a renaissance of Croatian agriculture, tourism and people would be a lot happier.
Criticism of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
On 14 December 2016, Pernar accused Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts of being "a decorative office, cultural poseurs and quasi-intellectuals" for not dealing with issues of relevance for Croatian society.
Vaccination
On 9 January 2017, Pernar wrote a Facebook status claiming that pharmaceutical companies make poisoned vaccines which "mark people like a livestock". Furthermore, he asked his followers to think over why do such a small needles leave so big marks, and vaccined children develop autism. Such claim caused criticism in part of the Croatian media ranging from calling Pernar a conspiracy theorist, to referring to the MMR vaccine controversy case in order to dismiss his claims. Croatian Ombudsman for Children Ivana Milas-Klarić and certain pediatricians also expressed outrage for Pernar's claims. Milas-Klarić accused Pernar that by publishing such status, he violated the article 24 of UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child which guarantees children the "highest attainable standard of health" and described his actions as "sad".
Controversies
In October 2016, Pernar accused Croatian lawyer and media magnate Marijan Hanžeković of "being Freemason of 33rd level who sold his soul to the devil and attacks and insults everyone who opposes him using his disgusting media company". Hanžeković responded by raising a lawsuit for libel against Pernar and asked Croatian parliament to relieve Pernar of his parliamentary immunity. Pernar, in turn commented lawsuit by stating that "Hanžeković is Satan's delegate which insults him for last five years", and that "he was only telling the truth". He also said that he puts "his parliamentary mandate into the hands of Jesus Christ". The Credentials and Privileges Commission of Croatian Parliament concluded that Pernar should keep his immunity, but warned him not to use foul language and hard words anymore.
In November 2016, Pernar was guest in a popular Croatian talk show "Nedjeljom u 2". After only 15 minutes he demonstratively left the show and accused TV host Aleksandar Stanković of not allowing him to express "the truth" about Israeli-Palestine question. He later criticised and insulted Stanković in relation to this incident and even threatened to fire Stanković should his party come to power. Stanković also responded by raising a lawsuit against Pernar, saying that he started to receive threats due to Pernar's constant insults. Credentials and Privileges Commission allowed Pernar to keep his immunity again, however they expressed criticism towards Pernar's behaviour.
In December 2016, Credentials and Privileges Commission decided to relieve Pernar of his parliamentary immunity for spraying a graffiti in town of Sesvete. He responded to such commission's decision by stating that is a victim of a show trial for which he accused HDZ, and comparing himself with Jesus Christ.
On 26 December 2016, Pernar expressed his doubts whether the 2016 Berlin terrorist attack really did happened. He said that "one of the weirdest things in relation to the attack is that noone ever saw one injured person, or published the name of a single victim on Berlin Christmas fair". Some Croatian and regional media soon reported negatively about Pernar's claims, but then he spoke out again, claiming that he deliberately published fake news in order to warn about unjust treatment of Croatian Democratic Union's former president Tomislav Karamarko by the media, related to Croatian arbitration with Hungarian oil company MOL.
In January 2017, 3 different schools from Zagreb reported Pernar to the police due to unauthorised entry, ignoring warnings of their employees, and taking photographies with minors without permission. Croatian Ombudsman for Children also expressed her concern due to Pernar's persuading of students to leave their classes in order to take selfies with him.