Dispatch from the Eurabian Front: Spain, France, Netherlands, Flanders

Nonsense first, as usual.

Fiestas_Alcoi_Alicante.jpg

Spain will no longer burn effigies of the Prophet Muhammad. Muslim armies occupied Spain from 711 to 1492. For the past five centuries the Spanish have traditionally celebrated the 1492 liberation from the Moors (as the Muslims were locally called) with local village festivals during which the battles against the Moors were reenacted and effigies of the Muslim prophet – the so-called “la Mahoma” – were mocked, thrown from the windows, and burned.
 
Last year the town of Bocairent near Valencia decided to discontinue the tradition of centuries. The town did not want to risk becoming the target of Islamic suicide bombers. On Monday the Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that this year the other Valencian towns are also abolishing ancient traditions which are perceived to be offensive to Muslims. The people of Beneixama used to stuff the head of the Mahoma with firecrackers which went off as the onlookers applauded. This year Beneixama decided to abolish this part of the celebration. Antonio Valdés, the local mayor, told El Pais: “This was not an essential part of the festivities. It could hurt the sensitivities of some. We decided to avoid that.” The reconquista will still be commemmorated, but without “aggression” towards Muhammad.
 
The former Moorish provinces of Spain, or “Al-Andalus” as Islamists call it, are the only part of the world besides the Balkans and Israel which was once Muslim territory but was lost to Islam. Osama bin Laden dreams of recapturing it. By renouncing their ancient traditions the Spanish seem to indicate that they deserve the return of the Moors.
 
Rioting next.
 
Seven French police officers were hurt late last Sunday during clashes with scores of Muslim youths. The fighting broke out after a car chase in Les Mureaux, in the western outskirts of Paris. Les Mureaux gained notoriety last year when it became the first municipality in France to offer benefits for second wives in polygamous immigrant families. The incident followed the arrest of a man who drove his car into a police vehicle after being chased for a traffic offense. As the man was being taken to the police station in another vehicle, the latter was set upon by a crowd. “There were around 250 people – very angry and very hostile,” police officials said. One of the police cars was gutted by fire. There were no arrests.
 
A similar story from the Netherlands. Two police officers were wounded last Saturday night in Vlaardingen near Rotterdam when they came to the rescue of an ambulance which was attacked by a group of some 250 youths. One of the officers was hit by glass, the other was hit in the face. The ambulance was attacked when paramedics tried to take a man to hospital.
 
Lastly, the commoner’s point of view.
 
Recently almost 10,000 youngsters of 16 and 17 years in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern half of Belgium, were polled by a joint research team from Leuven University and the Canadian McGill University, led by Prof Mark Hooghe. Last Friday the latter presented the results of his research. Over half the Flemish youngsters are convinced that their way of life and prosperity are being threatened by immigrants. Prof Hooghe described the scepticism of his young compatriots towards (Islamic) immigrants as “intolerance.” Kathleen Van Brempt, the Flemish minister for Equal Opportunities, is also shocked. The Socialist politician opined that the “intolerance is caused by ignorance about other religions and cultures.”

Spain is doing the world a

Spain is doing the world a good deed by banning this tradition. Although it is only a celebration of victory, Spain showed a lot of respect to the muslims of the world. The riots in France still continue? LEt them have their autonomy. Wait and see who'll come groveling back to the state.

Reconquista festivals

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.

Spanish Diplomat

Muslims attack an old tree (sic)...

Muslims seem to have completely lost their minds these days. When they don't blow up planes or trains or buses or disco or popes or sunni mosques or shia shrines or...(i'm getting tired), they attack and try to destroy an old banyan tree (sic) in Indonesia to prove it has no mystical powers...
See this hilarious article on the Scotsman (link):
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1465802006

Toleration?

Hi Paul

It is a shame that they produce these studies based on prescriptive-leftist perspectives, only to conclude that the “indigenous” youth of Flanders have a negative experience of society because such youth have inherently flawed values and an ignorant approach towards their multicultural society. Could it not be explained by the overwhelming immigration problem they are faced with on an everyday level? I do not respect this head-in-the-sand approach, especially from political scientists. (Let us label the reaction of youth in Flanders as “intolerance”). It is like reading Benedict Anderson all over again.

The least likely conclusion that these Leuven-McGill researchers are going to draw is that the Flanders’ youth actually feel torn from their own communities, where the notion of community implicitly relies on their own common social mores (not alien conventions) and are therefore likely to remain anxious towards the destruction of their land, values and communities.

The researchers have obviously tried very hard. 10,000 Belgian participants is certainly an impressive figure but the methodology and conclusions appear to have fallen straight out of Marx’s 1848 Communist Manifesto. Are the conclusions truly respected in Belgium?

All the best,

Jim