• Why Jihad Watch?
  • About Robert Spencer and Staff Writers
  • FAQ
  • Books
  • Muhammad
  • Islam 101
  • Privacy

Jihad Watch

Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Bosnia: “Nationalists with Islamist leanings” ban “Grandfather Frost” from schools

Dec 21, 2008 7:45 am By Robert Spencer

“There are increasingly tight links between the Bosniak nationalists and the Islamic community.” But no worries. The Muslims in the Balkans are secular, moderate, and Westernized, and they love America — right? Right?

(An unrelated note: there is, by the way, an oddly un-idiomatic usage of the word “infants” in this article, as if it were translated ineptly from French or some other language. Have non-native English speakers now taken over the editorial positions at the Guardian and Observer?

“Nationalists triumph as ‘Grandfather Frost’ banned in Sarajevo infant schools,” by Peter Beaumont for The Observer, December 21 (thanks to Peter):

To Bosnia’s Catholic Croats, he is known as Djed Boinjak (Father Christmas) and to Bosnian Serbs as Boic Bata, the Christmas Friend. To the Muslim Bosniak population, he is known as Deda Mraz, Grandfather Frost, the figure that for the past 50 years has been welcomed into infants’ schools to distribute gifts at Christmas and new year.

But Deda Mraz will not be appearing in the largely Muslim state-run kindergartens of Sarajevo after being banned by the director of pre-school education on the grounds that he plays no part in Bosniak tradition.

The controversial attack on the close Bosnian equivalent of Santa Claus – a figure much in evidence in Sarajevo’s shop windows and at private schools last week – is the culmination of a long history of unsuccessful efforts by nationalists with Islamist leanings to write him out of the country’s history. The struggle first emerged in the aftermath of the Bosnian war when the wartime president, Alija Izetbegovic, attempted to declare Grandfather Frost a communist-era ‘fabrication’.

While Izetbegovic’s efforts were blocked after a public outcry, the moves this time by Arzija Mahmutovic, director of the Children of Sarajevo group of public nurseries, appear to have been successful as increasing ethnic and religious polarisation in schools reflects rhetoric in the country at large.

“A visit from Grandfather Frost was a tradition in my time,” said Srecko Latal, who works with the NGO Balkan Insight. He believes the latest decree from the city’s education department illustrates the way education – even for the very young – has become increasingly politicised and sectarian in Sarajevo. “The first row was over the decision to make infants study religion. Now she has caused uproar again by saying the children won’t be having Grandfather Frost. Usually it is a play organised by the kids, or a company brought in with presents and singers and dancers. Originally it was Roman Catholic but it became part of the history of Sarajevo especially, and Bosnia more widely.”

“I think ordinary people need to be asked what they want out of their public schools,” says Valery Perry, deputy director for education with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which still has a role in monitoring the education system and has been concerned over a lack of transparency in how religious education has been introduced for infants.

Like Latal, Perry believes the battle over schools has come to reflect the deeper divisions and struggles within Bosnia’s society: “There are increasingly tight links between the Bosniak nationalists and the Islamic community. The political atmosphere is divisive.”…

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Follow me on Facebook

Filed Under: Uncategorized


Learn more about RevenueStripe...

FacebookYoutubeTwitterLog in

Subscribe to the Jihad Watch Daily Digest

You will receive a daily mailing containing links to the stories posted at Jihad Watch in the last 24 hours.
Enter your email address to subscribe.

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!
If you are forwarding to a friend, please remove the unsubscribe buttons first, as they my accidentally click it.

Subscribe to all Jihad Watch posts

You will receive immediate notification.
Enter your email address to subscribe.
Note: This may be up to 15 emails a day.

Donate to JihadWatch
FrontPage Mag

Search Site

Translate

The Team

Robert Spencer in FrontPageMag
Robert Spencer in PJ Media

Articles at Jihad Watch by
Robert Spencer
Hugh Fitzgerald
Christine Douglass-Williams
Andrew Harrod
Jamie Glazov
Daniel Greenfield

Contact Us

Terror Attacks Since 9/11

Archives

  • 2020
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2019
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2018
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2017
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2016
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2015
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2014
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2013
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2012
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2011
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2010
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2009
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2008
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2007
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2006
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2005
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2004
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • September
    • August
    • July
    • June
    • May
    • April
    • March
    • February
    • January
  • 2003
    • December
    • November
    • October
    • March

All Categories

You Might Like

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

Recent Comments

  • jacksonl03 on India: Police make first arrest for ‘love jihad’ under new law
  • Yogi on Canadian Mental Health Association studies Muslim women’s mental health due to ‘discrimination’ and ‘hate crimes’
  • Walter Sieruk on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • J. Morgan on Iranian Kurdistan: Muslim brothers behead their sister in honor killing over her romantic relationship
  • ELI on Uighur leader: ‘We’re actually quite worried’ about what Biden might let China get away with

Popular Categories

dhimmitude Sharia Jihad in the U.S ISIS / Islamic State / ISIL Iran Free Speech

Robert Spencer FaceBook Page

Robert Spencer Twitter

Robert Spencer twitter

Robert Spencer YouTube Channel

Books by Robert Spencer

Jihad Watch® is a registered trademark of Robert Spencer in the United States and/or other countries - Site Developed and Managed by Free Speech Defense

Content copyright Jihad Watch, Jihad Watch claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to their respective owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and you do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed.

Our mailing address is: David Horowitz Freedom Center, P.O. Box 55089, Sherman Oaks, CA 91499-1964

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.