Mourning Franco

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by BBC
Spanish Mass marks Franco death

Thousands of people have attended a Mass at the burial site of Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco to mark the 30th anniversary of his death.

They packed the basilica of Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caidos, in mountains 50km (30 miles) north of Madrid.

His daughter Carmen Franco Polo was among the mourners, many of whom stayed on after the Roman Catholic service to chant fascist songs, one witness said.

The national heritage agency responsible for the basilica said some 6,000 people attended the service.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/europe/4453650.stm

A minor news item, to be sure. But I think it's always useful to be reminded of how reactionary religion really is...and where their hearts really lie.

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/223.gif

[JKP]

"Practically every building
of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with
the red and black flag of the Anarchists; every wall was scrawled with the
hammer and sickle and with the initials of the revolutionary parties; almost
every church had been gutted and its images burnt. Churches here and there were
being systematically demolished by gangs of workmen."


"Some of the foreign anti-Fascist papers even descended to the pitiful lie of pretending
that churches were only attacked when they were used as Fascist fortresses.
Actually churches were pillaged everywhere and as a matter of course, because it
was perfectly well understood that the Spanish Church was part of the capitalist
racket. In six months in Spain I only saw two undamaged churches, and until
about July 1937 no churches were allowed to reopen and hold services, except for
one or two Protestant churches in Madrid. "


"For the first time since I had been in Barcelona I went to have a
look at the cathedral--a modern cathedral, and one of the most hideous
buildings in the world. It has four crenellated spires exactly the shape of hock
bottles. Unlike most of the churches in Barcelona it was not damaged during the
revolution--it was spared because of its 'artistic value', people said. I think
the Anarchists showed bad taste in not blowing it up when they had the chance...

Some select excerpts from Homage to Catalonia:
http://www.george-orwell.org/Homage_to_Catalonia/0.html