Friday, February 06, 2004

Eusko Gaztedi: 100 Years

Today at Berria English:

Century-old youth organisation

400 young Basque nationalists founded the “Euzko Gaztedi” youth organisation a hundred years ago; EGI now has about 4,000 members

Aitziber Laskibar – BILBO
Euzko Gaztedi (EGI) has completed a century. January 10 was the centenary of the founding of the youth organisation of the Euzko Alderdi Jeltzalea-EAJ in Bilbo. So this will be a year of celebrations for the youth organisation with the main event taking place in Bilbo on Sunday. In addition to this, the EGI members have brought out a new logo to mark their centenary and to be used throughout the year.

The current EGI grew out of the “Juventud Vasca”, created a hundred years ago by 400 young founders led by Luis Urrengoetxea. Although it began as a Bilbo association, Basque nationalism grew in strength and gradually spread to the whole of the Basque Country after overcoming many hurdles. Today EGI has about four thousand members and one its main aims is for “the political parties to pay attention to the demands of the young people”, as the EGI members Roberto Gonzalez and Joseba Antxustegi explained yesterday. The two young people explained during the press conference to announce the celebrations that the centenary will be marked by three initiatives. The main event is scheduled for Sunday, but it is not the only one. The EGI will in fact be holding its General Assembly on November 15 and 16 in Donostia (San Sebastian) when they will be adopting the main lines of their work for the coming years. They will be discussing mainly social matters but they will also be approving a new political manifesto. The EAJ youth wants to make this year’s “EGI Eguna” (EGI Day) special. For this reason the organisation will try to hold its annual day in Trebiño. “We will try to hold it in Argantzon, but we don’t know if it will be possible,” they explained. They want to hold this year’s “EGI Eguna” there “to proclaim that Trebiño is part of the Basque Country”.


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