An exploding Mohammad head is very likely offensive to Spain's Muslim population. No surprise, there.

But that it is a long-standing annual event is interesting.

Have local Muslims expressed offense at this practice in the past?

And if Muslims treated the Spanish so well all those years, why do the Spanish celebrate their forcible departure?

Posted by: PRCS at October 2, 2006 5:26 PM

Maybe they can continue the practice after they drive them out again. If they did it once, they can do it a second time.

Posted by: freewoman at October 2, 2006 5:41 PM

Has Antonio Valdes considered the possibility that the Reconquista is what offends Muslims in the first place? If he is so concerned by hurt feelings, he should start with the Shehada.

Spain is at the point where they need Ferdinand & Isabella as their royals, and Franco as their PM. Only then can they be saved.

Posted by: Infidel Pride at October 2, 2006 5:53 PM

Keep the traditions and tone down the importation of muslim immigrants.

Posted by: A_Plague_on_Both_Houses at October 2, 2006 6:00 PM

Hmmmm, maybe we over here at the States ought to adopt that tradition... *capitalist idea*

Posted by: atheling at October 2, 2006 6:05 PM

I hope they dont expect any reciprocity.
Mohammadians are free to offend hurt feelings and make demands without ever msking a single concession to law or tradition.
They understand in the battle between good and evil only evil benifits from concession made by good.
Though they are surley evil; they have framed the argument that we are, and we never question their assertion.

Posted by: KAOSKTRL at October 2, 2006 6:10 PM

How about a mohammed pinata? (Sorry don't have the software for the "enye".) Beating it would be so much more cathartic and you get candy at the end.

Posted by: 3812Michelle at October 2, 2006 6:16 PM

Bocairent's mayor, Antonio Valdes, said blowing up the Mohammed dummy was offensive. "It just wasn't necessary, and, as it could hurt some people's feelings, we decided not to do it," he said.

Killing people who crtitcize the so called prophet is offensive.

Spain is now once again home to a growing number of Muslims, mainly Moroccan immigrants, who villagers feel might be offended by some of their traditional celebrations.

They might be offended by celebrating Christmas, birthdays, eating during Ramadan, and Easter.

Where will it end?

Posted by: Pelayo at October 2, 2006 6:25 PM

i am not a fanatic of animals but how is that spanish don't care about killing bulls and they are afraid to burn a puppet?

Posted by: FedUp at October 2, 2006 6:37 PM

Remember lads, it's getting closer to Bonfire night.

Make sure the Guy has a bigger beard and longer shirt than usual!

Rule Britannia!

Viva Espania!

Long live freedom and sod Islam!

Posted by: IceDragon at October 2, 2006 7:16 PM

I have a terminology question.

Suppose the Muslims get Spain once again, and suppose the Spaniards start on the way of taking their country back like they did right after that, starting with Pelayo of Asturias (hi, Pelayo!). What would that movement be called? "Rereconquista" or "rerereconquista"? I think it's "rerereconquista", because "rereconquista" is the Muslims taking Spain for the second time, so the Christians taking their country back for the second time would be "rerereconquista". What do you think?

Posted by: ZionistYoungster at October 2, 2006 7:37 PM

Next, the fiestas themselves will be totally banned.

Then attending fiestas celebrating Islam's victory in Spain will become mandatory.

After that, Prime Minister Ahmed will be seated in Madrid and declare Spain to be part of the Islamic world again.

Ridiculous you say? Not if the PC crowd continues to have its way.

Posted by: ISLAMSFORLOSERS at October 2, 2006 7:50 PM

dont worry, spain will never be defeated. They have experience of these people and know how to deal with them. Don't forget that once most of spain was conquered by the muslims, untill a handful of catholic knights fought them back. These muslims are cowards. Any man who kills the way they do, a way which has no honour and prevents them from facing consequences shooudl be shot down like a dog

Posted by: Vatican_defender at October 2, 2006 7:58 PM

Any word on the additional 10,000 exchange students from Arabia? Looks like things are getting tense here, and we don't want any trouble. Having these young Wahabbi students on American soil will improve inter-cultural dialogue and help avert misunderstanding.

Bump the number up to 25,000 Wahabbi students, and there will be no misundestanding. Oprah and Tim notwithstanding, of course.

Posted by: Alarmed Pig Farmer at October 2, 2006 9:32 PM

Spain is at the point where they need .... Franco as their PM. Only then can they be saved.

Posted by: Infidel Pride

You forget that Franco was anti-Jewish and a friend of Hitler and even sent a division to fight on the side of the Axis, the Division Azul under the command of General Munoz Grandes.
And Franco took the side of the Palestinians against Israel so that while there was a Palestinian embassy in Madrid during his lifetime the state of Israel was only recognized by Spain after his death.

It disturbs me deeply to see some of you guys praising that anti-Jewish dictator.
Even Ferdinand and Isabella also engaged in fierce anti-Jewish pogroms.
These are different times which require new leaders fro Spain, leaders able to read the nature of the new threat, especially since the terrorists we are against are determined to wipe Israel off the map.

Posted by: rocky at October 2, 2006 9:41 PM

"For we want the flag of Islam to fly over those lands again, who were lucky enough, to be ruled by Islam for a time, and hear the call of the muezzin praise God. Then the light of Islam died out and they returned to disbelief. Andalusia, Sicily, the Balkans, Southern Italy and the Greek islands are all Islamic colonies which have to return to Islam's lap. The Mediterranean and the Red Sea have to become internal seas of Islam, as they used to be". Hassan Al Banna, Muslim Brotherhood

The muslim brotherhood is everywhere and is treated as a "moderate" islamic organization in most places. Its goal is to conquer the world, beginning with islam's former "colonies." Encouraging, yes?

.

Posted by: Susanp at October 2, 2006 10:04 PM

"For we want the flag of Islam to fly over those lands again, who were lucky enough, to be ruled by Islam for a time, and hear the call of the muezzin praise God. Then the light of Islam died out and they returned to disbelief.

The only disbelief here is that someone would call these ex-colonies of Islam lucky to be "lit" by them. The light probably refers to the fires from all that pillaging done by those wonderful colonists.

Posted by: ISLAMSFORLOSERS at October 2, 2006 10:23 PM

That's too bad they didn't stick to their original plan for blowing up Mo dummies. It sounds like fun. No, wouldn't want to offend anyone.

Posted by: pigtails not veils at October 2, 2006 11:51 PM

Rocky,
You are dead wrong about Franco.

Franco was of Jewish ancestry on both sides of his family and very proud of that fact. More important, Franco also provoked Hitler by his bold assistance to Jews.

His positive attitude towards Jews was manifested early as 1927 when, as a fighting Colonel commanding thousands of men in Spanish Morocco, Franco used his troops to protect the local Sephardic Jews from Muslims . The Sephardic community was grateful and in 1936 supported Franco with money at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.

In 1927 Spanish dictator Primo de Rivera had also told Franco that Sephardic Jews might return to Spain, become citizens and worship as they pleased. This invitation was deep in Franco's memory when, in 1940, French Jews began beseeching Spanish authorities in Vichy France for asylum on the basis of ancestral Spanish citizenship. Franco authorized issuing Spanish passports to Sephardim as their right under Spanish law. Asked by consular officials how to tell Sephardim from non-Sephardim, Franco ruled, "They are all Sephardim."

Hitler noticed Franco's pro-Jewish policy and in November 1940 told Serrano Suner, Franco's brother-in-law, "Spanish passports are being issued to Jews who have never seen Spain, nor have their ancestors in precisely 448 years. ... Suddenly French are Spanish. And from Poland suddenly Poles are Spaniards. And in Denmark and the Netherlands ... overnight my enemies have Spanish passports and are able to leave my jurisdiction."

In http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco
secton on WWII: it reads: "Diplomats discussed the possibility of Spain as a route to a containment camp for Jewish refugees near Casablanca, but it came to naught through lack of Free French and British support. Nonetheless, control of the Spanish border with France relaxed somewhat at this time, and thousands of Jews managed to cross into Spain (many by smugglers' routes). Almost all of these survived the war. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee operated openly in Barcelona.

Shortly afterwards, Spain began giving citizenship to Sephardic Jews in Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania; many Ashkenazic Jews also managed to be included, as did some gentiles. Ángel Sanz Briz may have saved thousands of Ashkenazim in Hungary by granting them Spanish citizenship, placing them in safe houses, and teaching them minimal Spanish so they could pretend to be Sephardim, at least to someone who did not know Spanish. The Spanish diplomatic corps was performing a balancing act: Alexy conjectures that the limit on the number of Jews they took in was limited by how much German hostility they were willing to engender.

During the war, Franco's Spain also proved to be an escape route for several thousands of, mainly Western European Jews fleeing deportation to concentration camps from occupied France. Spanish diplomats extended their protection to Sephardi Jews from Eastern Europe too, especially in Hungary. As such, Franco's Spain proved to be a safe haven for Jews and a country effectively undertaking more to help Jews escape deportation to the concentration camps than many neutral (Switzerland, Turkey) and Allied countries did."

Franco refused to allow Hitler to cross his territory and occupy British controlled Gibraltar. This prevented the Axis from sealing off the western end of the Mediterranean and made a major contribution to ultimate Allied victory.

On January 20, 1965 Generalissimo Franco mets with Jewish representatives to discuss finalizing the legitimate rights of these restored Jewish communities in Spain. In other words, it was Franco who finally revoked Ferdinand and Isabella's 1492 decree expelling the Jews from Spain.

For more information read:

Harry S. May's "Francisco Franco: The Jewish Connection"

Hedda Garza's "Francisco Franco (World Leaders Past and Present"

Raanan Rein's "In the Shadow of the Holocaust and the Inquisition: Israel's Relations with Francoist Spain"

Jane and Bert Boyars' "Hitler Stopped By Franco"

or John Toland's massive biography "Adolf Hitler" where on page 887 he writes about how Hitler despised Franco because he was "part Jewish".

Posted by: Provoslavni at October 3, 2006 1:31 AM

Provoslavni.

You are only believing Franco's eleventh-hour efforts to clear his image after the allies won WW2.

I have a book at home published by the Spanish government right after franco's victory in the Spanish civil war, in 1939, wher there is a portrait of Hitler included among "Caudillos de las Naciones Amigas" (leaders of friendly countries).

No spaniard ever heard about Franco's supposed Jewish family during his dictatorship. If that was true, he carefully kept it concealed. But fact is he was pro-Palestinian in his policies and Israel was only recognized by the Spanish state after his death.

You may try to make us swallow Franco as a good guy, but I automatically suspect anyone being anti-Israel to play in the hand of the Muslims.

What is your purpose in clearing Franco's image?

Posted by: rocky at October 3, 2006 3:14 AM

Provoslavni,
Franco's supposed Jewish ancestry proves nothing. I have even heard about top Nazi officials having it. Franco was a Gallego, from Northwest spain and he always only emphasized that to his people.
Concerning Franco's favors to Jews, he was only buying himself insurance from both sides.
His innermost wish, that every Spaniard knows about, was to build a Spiritual Reserve of the West (Reserva Espiritual de Occidente) along with Germany. Even in his very old age he lamented that Spain was alone in this and that he wished he could have allied himself with germany in building it. But Germany los and he remained alone and isolated.
Franco never showed any liking towards the Weetern powers, like France, the UK, the US, etc. which he considered decadent and effete. He despised all those countries in his heart and wished they would have lost WW2.

Posted by: rocky at October 3, 2006 3:24 AM

Provoslavni,

Besides I assume you are Slavic, and you should know that Franco's most intense hatred was reserved for the Slavic peoples. The only division he sent to fight for the Axis was the Division Azul, sent to fight against the Russians.
General Muñoz Grandes got rewarded with a special Iron Cross for helping Hitler' armies to kill Slavs.
Later on during the Cold War Muñoz Grandes would become a minister in Franco's government and would flaunt his exploits against the Russians.

Posted by: rocky at October 3, 2006 3:47 AM

rocky, again this is incorrect.

The Division Azul were all volunteers sent to fight on the Eastern Front only. There was nothing anti-Slavic here. The motivation was anti-Communist. They weren't there so much to help Hitler as to stop Stalin.

Almost all of the men who would later volunteer for Division Azul had had family members or friends murdered by the communists during the Spanish Civil War. When the opportunity came to fight the Reds, they were happy to go.

Posted by: Provoslavni at October 3, 2006 7:12 AM

I like the idea of a mohammad piñata, but instead of filling it with candy, why not fill it with chicharrones or morcillas?

Posted by: Abu Allah at October 3, 2006 2:06 PM

Provoslavni,

I can see that you bend over backwards to make fascism palatable and the actions of a fascist dictator acceptable. Your efforts are pathetic in my eyes.

Even though tyrant Franco may have done a small percentage of pro-Jewish actions, he was well over 95% fiercely anti-Jewish and he was against the state of Israel since its inception. Therefore he would not be a reliable ally in the present struggle against the worldwide Islamic aggression.

I can see that you defend Franco even though you are not Spanish (which I am) and even though you didn't ever experience his dictatorship (which I did for over two decades,) and I am puzzled about your motives.

In the fight against the Islamic threat one cannot be anti-Israel nor anti-Jewish. The problem with the Russians, even if they themselves suffer from Muslim terror, is that their direction is not clear now that the battle lines are becoming apparent.

Russians, for example, by taking the Palestinian side and by not openly siding with other forces in crucial moments, are not predictable in their fight against Islam. And this is very frustrating for those of us who would like them taking a coherent stand.

Posted by: rocky at October 4, 2006 12:34 AM

No single land occupied by Muslims deserves to belong to Dar al-Islam. People have not lost the wish to celebrate the Reconquista. It is simply we have got too the same kind of PC politicians others have, and they have decided to soften the festivals. Whether this is a first step in the wrong direction or not it´s open to question. But, for the time being, people opposing the rule of Islam in Spain and the West are still many.In Granada, which was the last bastion of Islam in the Iberian Peninsula, the celebration of its conquest by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella on 2nd January 1492 is still very much celebrated with style and big ceremonies. Attempts by Muslims and lefties to discredit and abolish the event have met, until now, with very much local resistance. Many people keep participating in the celebration. The same applies to all the celebrations in Andalusia -southern Spain. The festivals in Valencia, perhaps because of their more theatrical and explicit nature, have been felt to be more "dangerous" for the local politicians.
As for the discussion about Franco and the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand and Isabella just a few words.
Ferdinand and Isabella were not ant-Jewish from the racist point of view, but from the religious one: they did something we would never contemplate today, but which was acceptable in their time: conversion or expulsion.
Bentzion Netanyahu, Benyamin Netanyahu´s father and a distinguished historian has studied the case very much. And he has pointed out a the single most shocking thing of that fateful decision the fact that, unique in Jewish history, the majority of the Spanish Jewish population chose to convert instead of leaving the country. And they stayed here forever.
As for Franco, neither he nor his regime were ever anti-Semitic. He did have very dangerous and unacceptable friendhips (Hitler, Mussolini, Salazar), but this was for anti-Communist reasons, not out of following Hitler´s ideology.
During the 2WW Spanish Embassies did protect many, many Jews thoroughout Europe, including the Spanish Embassy in Berlin, no less.
If Franco´s Spain and Israel did not have relations was due to ideological factors at the beginning (Israel could not contemplate having links to a regime which had sided with Hitler, at least for some years). But Franco, at the beginning, was not hostile to Israel. It was only after being refused to have ties to Tel Aviv that Franco´s Spain began its Arab policy, based on the so-called "historic friendship between Spaniards and Arabs". The nature of this policy was always opportunistic and never had much depth. The friendship with Arafat and the Palestinians did came much later and, once democracy was restored in Spain, it was unfortunately kept by the new Governments.

Posted by: Spanish diplomat at October 4, 2006 5:45 PM

Rocky,
I'm not Slavic at all. I'm a mestizo with an American-Indian father and a Jewish mother. I also have many relatives in Spain and spent part of my childhood in Barcelona. When I was a small child I met the very elderly Franco with my parents, as my father was a visiting scholar in Spain. I also believe the only effective way Spain will keep from falling again to Islam is by reviving a committment to la Hispanidad, la Cristiandad encarnada en el mundo hispánico.

I am no fascist and don't claim Franco was perfect, but compared to the communist republic he overthrew, I am thankful for him. Remember, it was the Spanish reds, who in the 1930s murdered countless Catholic martyrs for their faith. For that reason alone, I will gladly sing the Cara al Sol.

Posted by: Provoslavni at October 4, 2006 11:15 PM

Provoslavni,

I am a Spanish missionary. I also have Jewish ancestors from my mother side. I lived for longer than twenty years under Franco's dictatorship. Those were eerie times, not nice as you seem to think. Censorship was heavy and there was a lot of mutual mistrust and fear. you never knew whether the next person could report on you.
Franco didn't leave any memoirs, but his thought was present and evident because it was reflected in what was allowed to pass through the censorship. That is why we all "knew" that he loathed Jews. And I had teachers at school who openly declared that the Holocaust was probably untrue or that we in Spain would have done the same if there had been as many jews and such important positions as in Germany before Hitler's time (!). In the prevailing atmosphere they could hardly have made that type of declaratuion if it was not consistent with the mainstream thought of the "Movimiento Nacional".

The Republic Franco overthrew was not communist. It was barely born and there were many social inequalities in Spain back then. The Frente Popular won the last free election, but it was by no means a serious threat. The problem was that the wealthy people, most of the clergy and some influential generals in the Army didn't help the young Spanish Republic to survive.
Franco was initially monarchist, but once he tasted power he didn't want to let it go.
His main interest all his life was to keep himself in power no matter what.
My father was in the Republican army but he was no communist, he was staunchly pro U.S.A. He loved baseball and founded a baseball club in our town.
Franco's war of attrition against his own people between 1936 and 1939 killed 5% of Spain's population, including my uncle Victoriano and other family members.
I can see that nowadays, after Franco's death there is much idealization and half-truths coming up to the surface. But I think he was merely a ruthless dictator, just like Mao, Mussolini, Hitler or Stalin, as vain and self-centered and murderous as them, regardless of the ideology that propped up their respective ego. Only Spain was smaller and thus the scale of the atrocities was reduced.
I have no admiration for such people. In the Bible it says: "unless the lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain."

Posted by: rocky at October 5, 2006 6:42 AM

Rocky,

You claim the Republic wasn't communist. It is true that the Republican side were Basque and Catalan nationalists, socialists, liberals and anarchists but it was clearly dominated by the Reds. Soviet agents such as Dimitrov, Andre Marty, Ernest Gero advised its policies while its most prominent public face was Dolores Ibarruri “La Pasionaria” a dedicated Stalinist.

Republican officers, both soldiers and volunteers, massacred Catholic clergy and burned down churches, monasteries and convents and other symbols of Catholicism, which Republican radicals viewed as an oppressive institution supportive of the old order. They also attacked nobility, former landowners, richer farmers and industrialists.

A small example among the thousands of Catholic clergy martyred for the faith are five groups of Augustinian friars totalling 98 men, gave their lives in witness to their Christian faith.

These five groups are:

Sixty-five friars from the Monastery of El Escorial, including the Augustinian Prior Provincial (regional superior) Avelino Rodríguez and the Assistant General (assistant world leader) Mariano Revilla.

Ten friars from the seminary at Udés, Cuenca.

Nine friars from the Augustinian house in Gijón, Asturias.

Four friars from the Augustinian community in Málaga.

Ten elderly or sick friars residing at the infirmary in Caudete, Albacete.

The 98 Augustinian friars were a diverse group: young and old, professors and seminarians, preachers and manual laborers. But all were united in their unwavering faith, so strong that not even the prospect of a cruel death could move them to abandon Christ.

These are just a small example and the Republic's persecution of Christianity was even more severe than that of the Muslims when they ruled Spain.

As for the Nacionales, they included not only the Falange but also Carlists and Legitimist monarchists, Spanish nationalists, Catholics, and most conservatives and monarchist liberals.

Posted by: Provoslavni at October 5, 2006 10:00 AM

Just in case you're interested, this is a quick translated news piece from today's 20 Minutos, in Spain:

"An islamic entity demands the end of the Moros y Cristianos

The holiday should be eliminated "for the sake of coexistence", says the speaker. The imam of Alicante sees this exagerated, but would change the term "moors".

Some members of the islamic community don't like the Moros y Cristianos festivals, so popular over here. The strong statement made by the president of the Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities (Feeri) and also imam of the La Unión mosque in Málaga, Félix Herrero, proves this.

Yesterday he demanded these so popular celebrations to be abolished because "they have no room in today's democratic Spain", and claimed that "for the sake of good coexistence", these festivals "dissapear".

[...] The imam of Alicante's mosque, Majed Khadem, stated yesterday that the Moros y Cristianos celebrations are an "ancient tradition" that he knows. They are a "non religious celebration, there's no need to exagerate, and many muslims think like me". About the figure known as La Mahoma, he states that "that custom has already been abandoned". And he suggests that to make the celebrations better and more civic, the denomination of morrs could be abandoned, and be no winners or losers."

Here's the link: http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/159312/0/entidad/islamica/Moros/

Posted by: Syme at October 5, 2006 2:22 PM

Provoslavni,

True, unfortunately many people reacted against the clergy for having taken the side of the rebels after Franco's coup against the Republic.
These were popular uprisings not supported by (a now powerless in face of the chaos) Republican government.
During the civil war atrocities were committed on both sides. But perhaps the most bloody were when Franco invited the German and Italian air force to bomb our cities (vengan ustedes y bombardeen). His contempt for human life was typical of all dictators.

Deprived of help and desperate, the Spanish Republican government was denied assistance by the Western democracies (France, UK, the U.S.) and thus the Soviet Union stepped in.
Franco dismissed all his opponents as 'rojos' but you forget to ommit that many Spaniards like my dad just wished to have a modern Republican government, disgusted by the decadent monarch Alfonso XIII of which they had clear memories (for it had only been toppled in 1931).

In the fight against Islam we need new emerging leaders, conscious of the future challenges and they should have a clean slate and proven integrity concerning anti-Semitism.

Posted by: rocky at October 5, 2006 10:29 PM

syme,

The Moros y Cristianos are an old Iberian tradition since the Peninsula suffered the aggressions of Islam.

In Spain there are many people with the family name 'Matamoros'. Moor killers. I wonder whether they will be also forced to change their names.

Posted by: rocky at October 5, 2006 10:44 PM

I know, I know. After all, I am living in Spain :P

It's a good question though, considering that two years ago a sculpture of Santiago Matamoros, the Moor Killer, was taken away from the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, not long after the Madrid terrorist attacks. Not only that: earlier this year, in Aragón, most political parties voted to get rid of the aragonese Coat of Arms that is in the Cortes building, because one of the quarters of the coat of arms displays four moor heads.

Posted by: Syme at October 6, 2006 6:05 AM