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Nationality Question

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magic_johnson!

magic_johnson!

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I have a friend who was born in australia, but has parents who were both born in croatia, so his whole family is croatian. Despite this, he has only been to croatia for 2 weeks of his 16 year life. He has duel citizenship and speaks croatian at home, but yet claims himself to be 100% croatian and 0% australian. He refuses to say he is Australian in anyway. He claims that his blood is 100% croatian therfor he is 100% croatian.

Is this person Australian, Croatian or both?

I know this question will have an obvious answer so i will throw to you another question:

In 80 years time if he continues living in Australia, will he be Australian, Croation or both?
 
perhaps you'll see how croatian your friend is when the next conflict in the balkans arises (and it will) and i bet you wont be seeing him volunteer to fight for good old mother croatia.

that mentality sh8ts me. i knew guys like that in the 90's - claiming to be proud croats when the serbs were pounding croatia they were suddenly aussie. its these kind of ********s that start brawls at tennis games ...
 
Born in Australia, parents born in Greece who moved here. Im 19 but I lived in Greece for 4 years (96-2000) and I consider myself to be Greek-Australian. I've picked up customs and traditions from both sides and have integrated the ones I feel make sense into my life. Therefore my blood might be greek, but I feel that there is some australian in me as well from spending most of my life here.

That being said, it all comes down to how someone views themselves and how they view others. In my opinion, I would say that he is croat-australian now and that he will be in 80 years without even knowing him. But that's coming from a person who's done a detailed study on foreigners living in australia. This is only one person's view however as you might view him as 100% australian for example.
 

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IMO technically he is an Australian (of Croatian ancestry.) One is automatically given the nationality of their birthplace, regardless of their parents nationality.

This bloke could choose to apply for (and he probably would be easily granted) Croatian Citizenship. In which case, his nationality would now be Croatian.

The bloke calls himself Croatian because he feels this way being surrounded by his family and their culture. It's his choice as to whether he decides to renounce his Australian Citizenship or not, but by default he is an Australian.
 
Both my parents are Poms but I was born here and consider myself 100% Australian. I do have a UK passport though (as well as an Aussie one) just for the ease of moving through the EU countries when I go over later this year.

I think most people of British heritage think like me - it only seems to be people from more 'ethnic' countries that like to hold on to their old heritage.
 
estibador said:
Both my parents are Poms but I was born here and consider myself 100% Australian. I do have a UK passport though (as well as an Aussie one) just for the ease of moving through the EU countries when I go over later this year.

I think most people of British heritage think like me - it only seems to be people from more 'ethnic' countries that like to hold on to their old heritage.
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my grandparents moved from england and consider themselves australian, but i mean who wouldn't. it's england!
 
couchgrinder said:
perhaps you'll see how croatian your friend is when the next conflict in the balkans arises (and it will) and i bet you wont be seeing him volunteer to fight for good old mother croatia.

that mentality sh8ts me. i knew guys like that in the 90's - claiming to be proud croats when the serbs were pounding croatia they were suddenly aussie. its these kind of ********s that start brawls at tennis games ...
Click to expand...

There were plenty from both sides from Geelong that went over to fight and there was millions of dollars raised and sent.
 
Yer, but it's cooler to be something else, when everybody else is one thing.
 
Fender said:
Yer, but it's cooler to be something else, when everybody else is one thing.
Click to expand...
This is the mentality of so many and really it's just about attention seeking and being proud of "heritage" when most of the time they've never been there, couldn't name the capital city and talk in the accent rather then the actual language.

Shits me to tears especially being in high school at the moment.
 
magic_johnson! said:
I have a friend who was born in australia, but has parents who were both born in croatia, so his whole family is croatian. Despite this, he has only been to croatia for 2 weeks of his 16 year life. He has duel citizenship and speaks croatian at home, but yet claims himself to be 100% croatian and 0% australian. He refuses to say he is Australian in anyway. He claims that his blood is 100% croatian therfor he is 100% croatian.

Is this person Australian, Croatian or both?

I know this question will have an obvious answer so i will throw to you another question:

In 80 years time if he continues living in Australia, will he be Australian, Croation or both?
Click to expand...

Tell this idiot that with that attitude, the only "Australians" would be the Aboriginees!
 

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estibador said:
Both my parents are Poms but I was born here and consider myself 100% Australian. I do have a UK passport though (as well as an Aussie one) just for the ease of moving through the EU countries when I go over later this year.

I think most people of British heritage think like me - it only seems to be people from more 'ethnic' countries that like to hold on to their old heritage.
Click to expand...

This pretty much applies to me too, Austrian parents, born here, have an EU passport for travel but consider myself Australian.
 
most 2nd generations tend to see themselves as half-each

but a lot will depend on mentality (so maybe croatian)

however saying that, 16 is still young, i'm 20 but over the last few years in particular i've been starting to affiliate myself with australia more... so may be same in his case
 
My wife was born in Australia. Her parents were born in Croatia. They moved over as children and met and married over here. They have a very strong connection with the homeland and visit every couple of years. The language is spoken at times in the home, especially when the older relatives are over. ( There is a large extended family here).

They all consider themselves Australian of Croatian descent. All of them hate the overt displays of nationalism that happens at the tennis and other places. They belong to a bowls club that they had a large part in forming and has a very Croatian slant, but I am a member and I am English and there are Italian, Scottish, New Zealand and Australian members.

I was born in England but moved here when I was a kid. I still consider myself English but I embrace Australia as my home and my 3 children are all Australian born and consider themselves Australian.

It is very diificult to tell somebody how they should feel about their sense of identity, but if you are born here, I reckon that you are an Aussie.
 
Divado said:
He is Australian of Croatian heritage. Born here and grew up here.
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Agreed.

My wife’s family is from a Yugoslavian background (Pre 1992 were she was from is now Bosnia) & both her parents were born there but she claims she is Australian as she was born here & has never even visited the country.

But on the other hand her brother will only accept that he is a Yugoslav, he is in no way Australian & that his country is much better then Australia.

When I ask him where he is from I will ask; where were you born? Answer: Australia. What language do you speak? Answer: English. Can you speak "your countries" language? Answer: No. Have you ever visited or lived in "your country"? Answer? No.

Then you are Australian an who has descended Yugoslav background!

This mentality has come from his father & grandfather talking about their country as if it is the best place on earth so I ask why they moved to Australia. They hold on to the idea that if their not Australian then somehow they are better then us or that it gives them free reign to criticize us.

I have no issues with people wanting to hold on to their heritage but for those trying to hold on to every last vestige of their parent’s background as their own maybe its time to let go.

As for the point raised that most second generation consider themselves as half each, I find that many in this category are the ones who are the most nationalistic towards a country they have never lived in. they even hold on to hatreds that have ceased to exist or dramatically decreased in their parents country.

I am going to continue my rant for just a little longer. At the end of the day who cares where you are from or what your background is, it comes down to the person you are not the race, colour or creed.
 
Hate this type of thing. A mate of mine back at school had an Italian father (who moved to Australian when he was two years old) and an Australian mother. He had never been to Italy in his life, didn't know a word of Italian, and at best had only one Italian parent.

Yet if I asked him what nationality he was, he would say Italian. Annoyed the hell out of me.
 

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Team Mo' said:
This is the mentality of so many and really it's just about attention seeking and being proud of "heritage" when most of the time they've never been there, couldn't name the capital city and talk in the accent rather then the actual language.

Shits me to tears especially being in high school at the moment.
Click to expand...
he speaks croatian at home (lives with grandparents and they don't speak any english)

Munga said:
Tell this idiot that with that attitude, the only "Australians" would be the Aboriginees!
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that's what he claims.
 
Herne Hill Hammer said:
There were plenty from both sides from Geelong that went over to fight and there was millions of dollars raised and sent.
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Same up the highway here in Melbourne. Many a protest in the 70's and 80's also for aus to recognise croatia.
Anyway,
In the end you are what you feel in your own heart and mind. Its a personal decision and the bloke in question has every right to his opinion whether its right or wrong
 

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