Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Farmers Protest in Abadiano



A farmer blocks the traffic with his tractor in the Spanish Basque town of Abadiano, northern Spain, November 30, 2005. Farmers striking over fuel subsidies held several demonstrations around the country as part of their protest for the government to help offset record high fuel costs. The sign on the tractor reads 'Professional price for diesel-now!'. REUTERS/Vincent West
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Saturday, November 26, 2005

Snow in Mungia


A machine removes snow from the streets of the northern Spanish Basque village of Mungia, during a heavy snow storm. Snowstorms lashed western Europe causing severe disruption to air, rail and road traffic in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands and cutting off power to thousands of households.(AFP/Rafa Rivas)
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Monday, November 21, 2005

Holly Inquisition in Action

And so it happened that today the trial began.

A total of 56 Basques stand accused of being the external network that provides ETA with funds, safe houses and legal presence within the Basque community.

To be honest, Madrid seems to think that any Basque that stands for the self-determination of Euskal Herria is an apologist of terrorism. In doing so, Madrid attacks every single individual or group with the same exact blanket accusation, being members of the entorno.

It was weird to see so many news outlets reporting this trial, then again, since it is up to lazy editors, the only time when the Basques exist is when you can link them to violence.

Here you have what EITb publised today:

Fifty nine people went on trial Monday on charges of directing the logistical side of the armed Basque group ETA's, raising funds, forging passports and helping commandos communicate with one another.

The trial began with a court clerk reading out the indictment. Defence lawyers then asked for the case to be suspended on the grounds that the documentation was not complete. The defendants have not yet entered a plea.

The trial is the largest ever in terms of the number of defendants to go before the National Court, the Spanish tribunal that deals with affairs of state and terrorism cases.

The case stems from an eight-year probe by Baltasar Garzon, Spain's leading anti-terror investigator.

Some of the defendants showed an unofficial Basque identity card instead of the official Spanish one as they entered the court. Most wore grey T-Shirts that read in Basque "For civil and political rights" and the number of the case file, 18/98, crossed out.

The trial, which is to hear testimony from more than 300 people, is being held under tight security at a trade fair pavilion. The normal venue for such proceedings would be the National Court, but it is too small for a trial with so many defendants, lawyers and reporters. The site was used earlier this year for Europe's first major trial of suspected al-Qaida members.

Five months

Those on trial include alleged members of Basque youth groups and other organizations and businesses that portrayed themselves as coordinators of pro-independence activities but were banned by Garzon on grounds they were a front for fund-raising and other support for ETA. The trial is to last up to five months.

These groups were the "stomach, heart and head" of ETA, prosecutor Jesus Santos said last week. The accused are charged with crimes ranging from membership in or collaboration with a terrorist organization to tax violations, and each is facing a sentence varying from 10 to 51 years in jail.

Basque nationalists say the trial can only hinder prospects for peace, and consider it a byproduct of the previous conservative government which was in power when the probe began.
And Gara:

MADRID
Askasibar refused to answer the questions of both the public prosecutor and the private accusations from a right-wing pressure group called AVT (the Association of Victims of Terrorism), saying he would only respond to the defence attorneys' questions.

The public prosecutor, who is asking the court to sentence this defendant to 15 years in prison for what Spanish law calls 'membership of an armed organisation', nevertheless proceeded to read out his list of 94 questions for Askasibar.

Defence lawyers asked for a delay of the hearing until formal irregularities in the proceedings had been corrected and all the documentary evidence was present in the courtroom. But the court overruled these objections and ordered the trial to proceed.

At the end of the morning session, the court was adjourned until this afternoon.

Coaches

It was nearly 10:30 a.m. when the first day of trial began in the Third Section of the Criminal Court, in the 'Audiencia Nacional'. This is the court in Madrid that deals with cases that cannot be dealt with at a local level.

Shortly earlier, the defendants, 59 in number, arrived from Euskal Herria in several coaches, in the company of their friends, family and a large number of Basque public personalities, all of whom had come to give the accusees their support.

Joxe Mari Olarra, the first of the accused to go through security at Casa de Campo, where the massive trial is to take place, showed his Euskal Herria Identity Card (EHNA) for identification. Since this is not officially recognised, police used Olarra's police file as a form of identification, and allowed him to proceed to the courtroom.

That procedure was repeated for each of the defendants, one by one. Every defendant wore a similar shirt bearing words proclaiming: '18/98: Support civil and political rights!'

The 18/98+ Platform, which was organised in the Basque Country to support those charged in this political witch hunt and to raise public awareness on the issue, had planned a press conference this morning in front of the courthouse, but the Spanish police prevented it from going ahead. But eventually the press conference did take place.

Members of the platform declared that the trial is legally 'untenable'. They also announced simultaneous demonstrations of protest this Saturday in five major Basque cities.

'This trial should never have started. It is nonsense,' said Roberto Etxezarreta, spokesman for the 18/98+ group. 'The right thing to do, in these new times when a more receptive disposition has been announced by the Spanish government, if there is any real intention to usher in a more democratic period following the dark era of Aznar's government, would be simply to declare the case closed.'

'We call for the discontinuation of these trials in the belief that they imply a violation of basic rights and a collective attack on Basques who defend their people's right to defend their future,' he said.

Of the numerous representatives of Basque political, social and trade-union organisations who accompanied the families and friends of the accused to Madrid to show their solidarity, many were unable to get in to the Casa de Campo courtroom owing to the lack of space.
Now, most of the news paper that are all too happy to repeat whatever press release sent to them by one of the big news outlet printed something like this: "56 Go On Trial in Spain in ETA Case" or "Trial Begings Against Alleged ETA Support Groups".

They are not telling the entire truth, they are not ready to compromise, but at least they sort of differentiate the 56 from ETA, as it should be, because in democracies, he who stands accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty.

But then there is those on Madrid's payroll, those are the ones that printed article titles like these:

United Press International: ETA super-trial opens in Spain

Sydney Morning Herald (Australia): Spain opens ETA support networks trial

But then, the exception to the rule, the one that gave Garzòn, Aznar and even Bush a reason to go to bed mad:

International Herald Tribune: With trial, Spain widens terror breadth

Kudos to IHT for not going for the lazy kind of journalism done by some many around the world.
May justice be done, as it should be.

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Scenes From the Trial









































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Thursday, November 17, 2005

Lariz Back to Uruguay

Spain has been trying to export its repression of those Basques who support the right to the self-determination of Euskal Herria to different Latin American countries.
A few days ago I described the situation in which five Basques and a Mexican of Basque background are today due to an extradition request by Madrid, they accuse them of belonging to ETA for which all what the Spaniards have showed as evidence is a copy of a blurry document.
Well, in South America they tried the same, against Josú Lariz Iriondo.
Three times they tried, and three times the justice systems in Uruguay and Argentina found no reason to extradite Lariz Iriondo to Spain, mostly because as a political refugee, they considered rather dangerous to send him to a state where the practice of torture runs rampant.
Berria informs us today that Lariz Iriondo is now free to go back to Uruguay, a country that welcomed him almost 20 years ago.
Here you have the article:
The Elgoibar (Gipuzkoa)-born refugee was deported to Argentina in 2002 after living in Uruguay for sixteen years, and has not been allowed to return until now

Gurutze Izagirre – DONOSTIA (San Sebastian)
After living in Uruguay for 16 years and then being deported, the Basque refugee Josu Lariz will now be able to return to the country. On Monday the Uruguayan President Tavare Vazquez and the Interior Minister Jose Diaz signed a decree authorising this. In 2002 Lariz was deported to Argentina where he was arrested. Last year he was released after a trial on a request for him to be extradited to Spain, but he was not allowed to return to Uruguay. Since then he has been in Argentina without documents.
While the Uruguayan government is dealing with the paperwork, it was decided that Lariz should be provided with a temporary identity card to enable him to travel to Uruguay. The Spanish Government has requested his extradition three times: the Uruguayan Government was approached once and the Argentine Government twice. Moreover, he was arrested in Uruguay three times. Spain has accused him of taking part in an attack in 1984. On each occasion the request for his extradition was examined, but his defence counsel and the prosecution said that the time for bringing prosecution had lapsed. The Argentine prosecutor even went as far as describing the request for extradition as a “scandal”, and if it were granted, then all guarantees would have to be demanded of the Spanish Government. The defence counsel warned of the risk of torture and suffering persecution.
Good for Josú, now all we can hope is that Mexico's Supreme Court shows the same degree of sovereignty and justice and that the six are finally allowed to go back to their families and friends.

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Reporters Without Backbones

It took 31 months for the so called Reporters Without Borders to mention the Egunkaria case at their website.
31 months.
During that time, this organization that claims to uphold the most elemental rights for journalists, reporters and photojournalists that find themselves in the crossfire while in exercise of their duty, that very same organization has said absolutely nothing about the decision by Madrid to shut down Egunkaria, then the only newspaper published entirely in Euskera, the Basque language.
Nor did they mention the torture suffered by its director, Martxelo Otamendi and a number of other staff members while in custody of the Spanish authorities.
Here is what they have to say today:
Reporters Without Borders today called on Spanish justice minister Juan Fernando López Aguilar to speed up the judicial proceedings that have kept the Basque-language daily newspaper Egunkaria closed since 20 February 2003, so that it can resume publishing as soon as possible.

The press freedom organisation issued its call on the eve of hearings in which the national court in Madrid will consider the appeals of seven Egunkaria journalists against their indictment on charges of being linked with the Basque armed separatist group ETA.
This press freedom organization kept mute about these series of violations against the human rights and the civil liberties of all those arrested during the night raids against the newspaper.
This is what the lawyer in charge of the Egunkaria case said:
"Despite examining thousands of documents, questioning more than 20 people, searching their homes and workplaces and ordering telephone taps, the judge has found no evidence of a link between Egunkaria and ETA," one of the newspaper's lawyers told Reporters Without Borders. "The charges are based solely on the judge's assumption, which comes down to 'suspicion plus suspicion equals proof'," the lawyer added.
Before today, all you could read at their web site was that Spain was considered a problematic country due to the constant threat of ETA against some Spanish journalists, and even in this article they insist on the same:
Reporters Without Borders added : "We point out that Basque journalists are the most frequent victims of ETA's campaign of terror against the media, which forces them to work with bodyguards or to leave the Basque country altogether."
So, for RWB, there is victims of ETA, but there is no victims of state sponsored violence by Madrid.
Does this remind you of some other fake human rights organizations?
Because that is exactly what RWB is, nothing but an instrument by repressive governments to mislead people and keep the focus away from several instances in which their repressive measures violate all those principles that democratic societies hold sacred.
Several Basque organizations contacted RWB regarding the Egunkaria issue, until today they never got back to anyone, who knows why did they finally acknowledge the situation.
Too little, too late.
* You can read the entire article at Artxiboak.

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Wednesday, November 16, 2005

EHNA in Argentina

Udalbiltza gladly announces a deal between Udalbiltza and a number of Eusko Etxeas in Argentina to start issuing the EHNA to Basques in that country.
Here you have the information:

Udalbiltza will sign agreements with Argentine euskal etxeak to allow EHNA processing in the Diaspora

Within the important framework of the National Basque Week in Argentina, which is being held in the city of Necochea this year, Udalbiltza announced it will sign agreements with a series of euskal etxeak in order to make the processing of Euskal Herriko Naziotasun Aitormena (EHNA, Declaration of Basque Nationality) possible for the Diaspora of the said South American country. At least three euskal etxeak expressed their disposition to process EHNA.
This initiative was presented by the elected councillor for Irun and member of the Udalbiltza Executive Commission, Peio Gascon, during a press conference held in Necochea, the location of the aforementioned yearly events, which congregates over a thousand members of the Basque population in Argentina. Gascon appeared before the press flanked by representatives of the towns of Trenque Lauquen (Ignacio Uriarte), Buenos Aires (Irene López), Rosario (Santiago Bereciartua) and San Miguel (Mariana Fernández).
After expressing the gratefulness of the Basque national institution towards the Diaspora in Argentina, “for having maintained and extended Basque culture all year round, and especially this week”, Gascon stressed that this year the Udalbiltza delegation “has not just come to inform you of the situation in the Basque Country and to listen to your thoughts and contributions, we are also offering the Diaspora an opportunity to take part in the Nation Building process and in the struggle to obtain all political and civil rights for the Basque Country”.
He said, “As part of its defence of the rights of the Basque Country, Udalbiltza will continue on the road we begun with the Charter of Rights of the Basque Country, in favour of the right of our country to have national status”. He insisted that “in this field of political and civil rights , the Basque Country, thanks to Udalbiltza, has a practical tool: EHNA, a declaration of Basque nationality which all Basques can join through a personal and freely taken decision”. Then he announced that “as of this week, we are extending EHNA processing to Basques from the Diaspora”.
Gascon explained it was an initiative directed at the Diaspora, “in order to claim Basque nationality, which cannot be substituted by any other nationality”, in a reference to the nationality of Diaspora Basques, in this case, Argentine nationality. Thus, he pointed out that EHNA processing within the Basque community overseas “will only afford a chance to declare the internationally recognised right through which any person has a right to a nationality”. “Through EHNA, the declaration of Basque nationality, all Basques have an opportunity to express their link to the Basque Country in an individual and collective manner” he added.
“today, we have been joined by a number of people and euskal etxeak from Argentina, who support and will bolster the EHNA dynamics in this country” said Gascón, who highlighted the fact that the General Villegas, Trenque Lauquen and Tres Arroyos euskal etxeak will take on EHNA processing on an institutional level. In addition, EHNA will also be processed (through people expressly authorised for this task) in Buenos Aires, Rosario and Bolivar. However, Gascon expressed his conviction that “more euskal etxeak will join this initiative from now on”.
*You can also read the entire text in Euskera at Artxiboak.

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Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Euskalidentity - Basquenortasuna

Thanks to Joseba Etxarri and his Euskal Kultura page we learn about a new site on the net dedicated to the Basque identity.
Here you have the link to the page:
And this is how they describe themselves:
Euskalidentity is the web site for Euskalidentity Kultur Elkartea (EIKE), a non-profit cultural association dedicated to study Basque identity worldwide. It was recently created by a group of people coming from different walks of life with two clear goals in mind: promotion and dissemination of Basque culture throughout the planet.
And their objectives:

Euskalidentity is a medium to promote not only interdisciplinary and comparative studies on Basque identity but also to disseminate information related to Basques around the world. Therefore, Euskalidentity is aimed at increasing the awareness of Basque cultural heritage needs of those Basques living abroad, among the general public and policy makers in the Basque Country.

Euskalidentity is conceived as a platform to explore Basque identities worldwide. It aims to become a virtual forum of discussion, which would combine an academic and non-academic approach towards the study and dissemination of information related to Basque people around the world.
So there you have it, check it out.

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Today on EITB

We start something new here.
From today on, I will be posting a digest of all the news that EITB posts in English about Euskal Herria.
So, here we go:
Brazilian iron and steel company Gerdau with the 40 percent, Spanish financial group Santander with another 40 percent, and members of the company's board with the 20 percent, have signed today the purchase of the Basque iron and steel company Sidenor, a sale for an amount of 443.8 million Euro.
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Sidenor basically supplies the European market devoting the 93 percent of its production, which goes mainly to the car industry. It has two iron and steel plants in the Basque cities of Vitoria-Gasteiz and Basauri and one in Reinosa (Cantabria), two forges in Basque towns of Villalba and Elgeta and trade missions in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy.
Real Sociedad striker Darko Kovacevic is confident he will play again this season despite opting for surgery to deal with an Achilles' tendon injury. "It was a difficult decision but I have reached the point where I can't stand the pain and suffering any longer," the former Yugoslavia international told a news conference on Tuesday. "I'm always optimistic, however, and I'm sure I will be back soon and that I will be able to play before the end of the season."
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The Basque side are in 10th place in the Primera Liga with 16 points from 11 matches.
French police arrested in Baiona (Bayonne) the Basque militant Ekain Rodriguez Goikoetxea, summoned by the Spanish national court within the prosecution against the Basque nationalist left-wing association Segi.
According to police sources, Ekain Rodriguez run away last September 28 2002, a few days after a Spanish judged issued an European order warrant for him.
The organisation in defence of the Basque political prisoners´rights has called a demonstration this evening in front of the police station of Baiona (Bayonne) to protest against this arrest.
On November 20th, the Society of Basque Studies in America will host its 25th annual Hall of Fame at Boise’s Basque Center, Euzkaldunak, Inc. (601 Grove Street). The Society is a non-profit organization, founded in 1979, dedicated to the study and dissemination of Basque culture, tradition, customs and folklore, in America. Membership in the Society is open to all who are interested in the Basques.
This year’s honorees were chosen due to their contributions to Basque culture, welfare and identity.
They include, the Basque Museum & Cultural Center, the leading Basque Museum in the United States; Patty Miller, Executive Director of the Basque Museum & Cultural Center; Albert Erquiaga, prominent organizer and leader of Basque activities in the Boise area; Mari Carmen Totorica, teacher and promoter of Basque culture; and Martin Goicoechea, Bertsolari and promoter of the Basque language.
In spring 2006, Vitoria-Gasteiz will be inaugurating a theme park dealing with risk prevention in the work place, which at 14,000 square metres is set fair to be the largest of its kind in Europe.
With an initial investment of three million euros, put up by the Basque government, the Alava provincial council and local savings bank Caja Vital, the initiative has been promoted by Fundacion Gokai, an organization working to integrate people with discapacities in the work place and society in general.
Ingredients: 2 Irg onions, chopped (2 cups); 5 x cloves garlic, finely chopped; 1 cup uncooked basmati or regular long grain rice; 1 x 14 oz can quartered artichoke hearts, drained; 1 x 16 oz package cauliflower, carrots, and snow pea pods, thawed; 1 cup frozen sliced bell peppers, (from 16 oz package); 2 cup dry white wine; 1 tsp. salt.
Spray 10-inch non-stick skillet with non-stick cooking spray; heat over medium-high heat. Cook onions and garlic in skillet about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender.
Stir in rice and artichoke hearts. Cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in wine and salt. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes. Stir in vegetables. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
Description:"Canned artichoke hearts and a mix of frozen vegetables make this traditional Spanish stew a fast, colourful dish."
The Museum premises are a baroque style building in the Bilbao's old quarter, originally built to house a church and school of the Jesuit Fathers, in accordance with the last will and testament of Domingo de Gorgolla, a native of Bilbao and butler to the Cardinal of Toledo. It was named the San Andrés (Saint Andrew's) School, and provided a considerable religious and cultural contribution to the city, until 1767 when a decree by King Carlos III forced the Jesuits out of Spain.
Two years later, the Saint John's Community of Atxuri moved into the former church, whilst the cloister was occupied by a centre for teachers of letters, Latin and rhetoric, in addition to the Holy House of Compassion with its workshops for printing and bookbinding, textiles and pottery.

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A Link to Bakersfield

Last year I was lucky enough to visit Bakersfield in the sister Republic of California during the NABO (North American Basque Organizations) convention.
It was a great time, the Kern County Basque Club facilities were the perfect set up for an event that attracted thousands of people, both Basques and non-Basques.
Just yesterday The Fresno Bee published an article by Diana Marcum with quite a long title:
There's only one old Basco shepherd staying in the boarding rooms upstairs, and only for a few days on his way to Bakersfield.

He's retired, among the last of the last, and will soon be gone.

But the long boarders' table at the red-brick Basque Hotel in downtown Fresno lives on. The table that once fed Basque shepherds who lived upstairs is now a decades-long gathering place for farmers from the west side.

Built in 1924, the hotel is a sturdy landmark — and tradition — on the edge of Chinatown, a neglected part of Fresno that the city and developers are targeting for a make-over.

By 11:30 a.m. every weekday but Monday, the dirt parking lot across the street fills with white pickup trucks — the farmer and retired farmer vehicle of choice. The bar, dusky with swiveling stools, is two-deep with men drinking picon punch (three-deep if it's raining or spareribs are being served). Don't let the innocuous term "punch" fool you, it's a heady-at-first-whiff brandy mixture in those bar glasses Fermin Urroz keeps refilling.
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The Basque Hotel wasn't a Basque hotel for about eight years in the 1970s. A farm contractor housed workers upstairs and ran a bar and Mexican restaurant downstairs. The red brick was painted over with murals. The bar got a reputation as a rough place and drew a lot of attention from law enforcement. It closed, the workers left, and the building sat vacant.

Fermin Urroz wanted the place because "it was a Basque hotel. It should be a Basque place."

Thousands of men from the Basque region of France and Spain migrated to the United States during the Gold Rush and headed to the open range. Boarding houses with restaurants sprang up to serve the Basque workers, becoming a distinctive part of Western culture.

Another wave of Basque immigration began in the 1950s, when there was a shortage of labor in the sheep industry and Congress increased quotas for Spanish immigrants. But by the late '60s, the European economy improved and Basque immigration dwindled. Today, many of the Basque hotels have shuttered or become touristy spots owned by non-Basque.

Fermin Urroz came from Spain in the early '60s and spent 5 1/2 years as a shepherd. He sometimes lived at the Santa Fe, another old Basque hotel in Fresno.
Well, this comes handy now that I announce reciprocal linkage with a blog called "Who Are You to Accuse Me?", published by Philippe Duhart, a fellow Basque from Bakersfield.
As it happen, both his family and mine came from Iparralde, the Northern Basque Country.
I hope I can go back to Bakersfield soon, eating a couple of meals at Benji's and Wool Growers were highlights of that trip, although the rack of lamb we ate that Sunday was to die for.
Nik (Heart) Bakersfield.
*You can also read the entire article at Artxiboak.

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Monday, November 14, 2005

Ignatius the Basque

For some reason a college newspaper called The Heights published an article about Ignatius of Loyola titled "St. Ignatius continues to inspire community". My guess is they are celebrating something regarding this character so important in the history of the Catholic Church. Here you have what they say about his bakground:
As the founder of the Society of Jesus and the inspiration for both Boston College and Jesuit universities worldwide, Saint Ignatius of Loyola has impelled millions of people to become "men and women for others."
Born in a Basque province of Spain in the late 15th century, the religious innovator entered the army in 1517 and was forced to end his career when he was 30 years old after being severely wounded.
While recovering, he studied texts on the life of Jesus, experienced visions from the Virgin Mary, and wrote a book to solidify his beliefs. Regarded as the manual of the Jesuits, Loyola's Spiritual Exercises calls for a series of meditations and contemplations to guide people in the right spiritual direction and develop a deeper relationship with God.
The same mistake is made again and again all over the world, for I heard something similar from some Jesuit big wig in Monterrey who said something quite similar to what Phil Dumontet wrote.
They insist on calling him a Spaniard. They also mention that as a soldier, he was wounded.
Ironically enough, he was wounded while fighting against the Navarrese King, yes. He was fighting against the independence of the Basque Kingdom of Navarre, what Dumontet incorrectly calls a Basque province of Spain.
Spain did not include Navarre at the time, it hardly even existed. A long war to take over the mountainous kingdom had been unleashed in 1492 . Ignatius of Loyola was wounded in 1517. The Spaniards insist that Navarre joined the rest of Spain voluntarily. I would say that anyone that fights for almost 30 to avoid being overruned by another political entity is doing anything possible to avoid losing its independence and sovereignty.
Ignatius fought on the side of Spain.
But that does not make an Spaniard out of him. He may have betrayed his people, but he is still a Basque. His statue and the legend on the base was the center of a big controversy in Iruñea (Pamplona) for a long time.
Nevertheless, Ignatius was a Basque, a Basque Navarrese or a Navarrese Basque, whichever way you want to see it.
Is time people starts to respect his identity and his ethnicity.

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Sunday, November 13, 2005

Civil and Political Rights

There is a very interesting article at Berria today, it provides information about the upcoming trial in the 18/98 Case and the so called "Excercise Book".
Here you have the entire article, is worth reading:
A thick, colourful, varied ‘Exercise Book’ reached its finishing post and two volumes were needed to include all the contributions

Aitziber Laskibar – DURANGO (Bizkaia)
The hearing in the 18/98 Case is about to start. Within a week 59 Basque citizens will be tried at the Spanish National Criminal Court. The Public Prosecutor is not only requesting 991 years behind bars for the indictees but also the dissolving of certain companies. But the 59 will not be going down to Madrid on their own; they will be going with the support of thousands of citizens. With the words and drawings that have been added to the ‘Exercise Book’ and with the warmth reflected in yesterday’s event in Durango (Bizkaia), which a large crowd turned out for.
After crossing the whole of the Basque Country, the ‘Exercise Book’ was nice and thick by the time it got to Durango. There wasn’t room for the contributions people had added to be fitted into one volume, so more than two were needed. It is thick, colourful and varied. That is the final result of the ‘Exercise Book’. It has become a symbol because many, many Basque citizens feel there has been an abuse of civil and political rights. According to the journalist Mariano Ferrer of the 18/98 + Group, thousands of people have experienced these abuses personally; they feel “involved”. That is why there have been so many “personal and intimate” contributions. Ferrer expressed the view that the public at large had understood that the abuses of civil and political rights affect everyone.
People of many different persuasions have also made their own demands in favour of rights. Proof of this is the origin of those who took part in the initiatives in Durango. The number of people indicted in the cases included in the 19/98+ Group was also clear yesterday. These cases involve over 200 indictees and wherever one looked one could see people facing charges in one case or another. Among those who turned up were Loren Arkotxa and Maribi Ugarteburu of Udalbiltza; Martxelo Otamendi, Iñaki Uria and Joanmari Larrarte of Egunkaria;Arnaldo Otegi, Pernando Barrena and Joseba Permach of Batasuna; Juan Mari Olano and Jon Enparantza of the Pro-Amnesty Movement (AAM); Rafa Diez of the trade union LAB and most of the indictees in the cases relating to the Haika and Segi Basque nationalist left youth organisations. They were joined by Jone Goirizeliala, Arantza Zulueta and Iker Urbina, the lawyers defending them.
Yesterday a prominent role was taken by the indictees in the 18/98 case, which is about to start; they climbed up onto the stage and filled it. They got a warm round of applause from the audience. They in turn applauded the people who had come to support them.

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Friday, November 11, 2005

Etxerat and the Refugees

With our ongoing and wrongly named "War on Terrorism" some states have created new laws aimed at removing many of the human rights and civil liberties of those individuals who stand faithful to their principles, their ideals and political proposals become what is known as dissidents.
On the other hand, there is governments that time to time seem to understand that to achieve peace, you most negotiate, you must yield to some of the demands put forward by those on the other side of the table.
Here you have an article that appeared at Berria today, by Ekain Rojo titled "Etxerat urges ending of oppression to fugitives":
During a press briefing given in Donostia (San Sebastian) yesterday Etxerat called on Spain and France to end the oppression of Basque fugitives. It urged them “to stop,” once and for all, “the cruel measures that only serve to prolong the conflict and spread the suffering,” and made a call for the steps needed in the Basque Country to resolve the conflict to be taken by everyone together.
Etxerat’s request in fact comes the day after the British Government published legislation that would open up the way for the fugitives of the IRA and other paramilitary groups to return home. They stressed that if the Basque conflict is to be resolved, then Basque fugitives are also needed back in the Basque Country.
Estanis Etxaburu, Etxerat’s spokesman, pointed out that over 2,000 political fugitives had fled the Basque Country, “because of the violence being perpetrated by the [French and Spanish] States”. They have taken refuge mainly in Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Panama, Cuba, Mexico, Cape Verde and Belgium. Etxaburu said they did not know what the circumstances of many of them were: “It is very tough not knowing where your sons and daughters, parents, cousins, aunts, uncles or friends are or how they are doing.”
As you read these lines, six Basques await an extradition process that is today in the hands of the Supreme Court in Mexico. Their process has been plagued with irregularities and the Inquisitorial Judge Garzón has presented nothing but a copy of a document that says absolutely nothing.
A number of Spanish politicians both from the present and the past governments have demanded from President Vicente Fox to bypass the Mexican Constitution that prevents the Mexican authorities from extraditing political refugees to countries that practice oppression and torture. Sadly enough Vicente Fox, like his predecessor Ernesto Zedillo, agreed to it.
Now, those six depend on a display of courage by the Supreme Court judges, because that is going to take in order to ensure that the executive and legislative powers in Mexico remain independent from each other.
Bottom line, Spain is looking to exporting that repression that Etxerat speaks about to other sovereign states and demanding from them to violate their own laws and regulations.
Sad indeed, taking into consideration that this is the XXI century.

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Displaced Children

A few days ago I posted about the BBC's documentary that shed light on the effort by the Basque government to evacuate thousands of children from the Basque Republic under attack by Hitler and his puppets Mussolini and Franco.
In the article "Growing up with Pedro Pan" by Hedy Weiss published by the Chicago Sun Times, Nilo Cruz, the person around whom the article revolves, tell us about the experience of growing up in the USA after being airlifted from Castro's Cuba:
"Operation Pedro Pan was a very sad chapter in Cuban history," said Cruz. "Children as young as 5 years old were separated from their parents. Three of my cousins came to the United States as Pedro Pan kids. I was only born in 1960, so I was too young. But I did a lot of research for this play and interviewed a number of those who arrived here as children. It was such a difficult situation for them; they lived in a state of limbo and uncertainty while waiting for their parents."
And then, the Cuban playwright talks about something I mentioned at my post, please, read on:
"There was the Kindertransport during World War II, when 10,000 children from Germany, Poland, Austria and Czechoslovakia were sent to Great Britain, and then on to the U.S and Canada," Cruz noted. "And there was something similar during the Spanish Civil War when 25,000 children from the Basque region were sent to other parts of Europe, Mexico and the Soviet Union. So there is a universal theme in this.

"I was also interested in what happens when two children are sent from their home to live in another place. Do they become parents to each other? Or friends and guardians? Or even lovers? What is a family?"
I recomend that you read the entire article, it is a delight to learn about this chapter of Cuban history without the bias that you usually expect in newspapers published in Miami and some other cities in Florida.

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Thursday, November 10, 2005

A Blog Called Basqueland

Hello everyone.

I just wanted to mention that since yesterday there is a new blog that is dedicated to Euskal Herria and its diaspora.

Here you have the name and the link to it:


It contains posts about current events that have something to do with the land of the Euskaldunak.

Check it out.

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Wednesday, November 09, 2005

This Charade is Over

Which charade am I talking about?
Well, the one put in place by Madrid to punish Kontxi Bilbao, Gorka Knörr and Juan Maria Atutxa for acting with dignity in the case of the ban against a political party by extreme right members of the PP.
Here you have what Berria tells us about the acquittal:
The judgment published by the High Court of the Basque Autonomous Community states that decisions taken as part of parliamentary work are protected by the right of inviolability enjoyed by members of parliament

Aitziber Laskibar – BILBO (Bilbao)
The High Court of the BAC-Basque Autonomous Community has found Juan Maria Atutxa, Gorka Knörr and Kontxi Bilbao not guilty on the grounds of the inviolability of members of parliament. The Manos Limpias association had accused the three of contempt of court for failing to abide by a ruling handed down by the Spanish Supreme Court to dissolve the Sozialista Abertzaleak group, and that was why the three had been summonsed to appear in court two weeks ago. The High Court of the BAC has, however, ruled that the right of inviolability of members of parliament protects the former members of the Presiding Committee of the BAC Parliament from their decisions.
“Members of the BAC Parliament shall be immune from the opinions expressed and votes cast in the fulfilment of their duties.” This is stated by the BAC’s Statute of Autonomy and forms the basis of the judgment delivered yesterday. The judgment also refers to an article of the BAC Parliament which has the force of law to support the decision to acquit the three: “Even after Members of the BAC Parliament have left their positions, they shall continue to enjoy inviolability with respect to opinions expressed, votes cast or steps taken in the course of their duties.” These two articles fully protect Atutxa, Knörr and Bilbao in the view of the BAC High Court’s panel of judges. In fact, the acts which have been tried “are not ones which the accused have taken as ordinary citizens but decisions taken in their capacity as members of the BAC Parliament’s presiding committee.”
The judgment also states that the charges brought by the prosecution are in connection with a decision taken and voted on by the defendants in the Parliamentary Presiding Committee; decisions taken in the BAC Parliament in the course of their work as members of the BAC Parliament. The judges point out: “Moreover, only the members who cast a specific vote in the Parliamentary Presiding Committee have been accused.” The 21-page judgment published by the BAC High Court yesterday also states that the decision taken by Atutxa, Knörr and Bilbao was taken in defence of the autonomy enjoyed by the BAC Parliament.
Seems like the people at wrongly called Manos Limpias are unaware that supporting antidemocratic measures can splatter your hands with the blood of all those murdered by a regime like the one that ruled Madrid from 1939 to 1975, a regime that was in fact perpetuated by Aznar and his cronies when they decided to start banning political formations on top of shutting down schools, radio stations, human right organizations and newspapers.

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Iparralde Burns?

Yesterday I saw a report on the news indicating the cities around France where youths have been rioting for more than a week now.
It mentioned Pau.
Too close for comfort.
But according to Berria, it seems like the fires reached Baiona:
Three vehicles were set on fire in the Zup district of Baiona (Bayonne) and an attempt was made to torch four buses in the nearby Camp de Prats

Editorial Staff
Although the riots that have spread to many areas of France appear to have reached the Basque Country, too, this was ruled out yesterday by people in positions of responsibility in the social services operating in Baiona (Bayonne). The night before last some unknown individuals did, in fact, set fire to three vehicles.
French Police arrested four people in the Zup district of Baiona yesterday in connection with their enquiries into the fires. The police said that in addition to the vehicles, premises belonging to North Africans had also been attacked. Many immigrants of African origin live in the Zup district with their children.
According to the social services, the problems in some of the poor French suburbs do not exist in Zup, and they stressed that the detainees were not immigrants. Last night an attempt was made to torch four buses in Camp de Prats next to Baiona. Firefighters put out the fires, despite the fact that windows had been smashed and Molotov cocktails thrown inside. Batasuna said during its remarks on the subject of the riots taking place in France that they indicated the “failure of the Jacobin model” of State.
Will it spread to the world like it did in '68?

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Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Bilbo's ArchiSculpture

Once again the renaissance of the city of Bilbo inspires an art related article, this one at Bloomberg.
The author, Mariana Schroeder gives us a preview of what's to see in Bilbo in an article called "Bilbao 'ArchiSculpture' Puts Foster, Gehry Next to Rodin, Moore":
Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Santiago Calatrava designed the city's new Sondica airport, a soaring white wing of a building that looks ready to take flight. Norman Foster conceived its futuristic subway, or metro, and Frank O. Gehry revamped its cultural infrastructure with his landmark Guggenheim museum.

The Basque city of Bilbao has become synonymous with post- modernist architecture, so what better place for an exhibition examining the dialogue between sculpture and architecture?

"ArchiSculpture'' is showing at the Guggenheim, itself one of the world's best examples: It looks like a gigantic Jean Arp sculpture. The new show inside reinforces the message with 180 sculptures, paintings and models of buildings, by 60 artists and 50 architects.
So, if you happen to be in Bilbo any time soon.

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The Saharawi and The Basques

Do you remember that post where I called the Spanish politicians hypocrites for supporting the right of Western Sahara to its self-determination while doggedly refusing the same right to Basques and Catalonians?
Well, as it happens, the Saharawi stand by the Basques, and the other way around.
This comes to us via allAfrica.com:
Official visit of the Saharawi president to the Basque Country

The Saharawi President was received in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Bilbao and San Sebastian. During a reception given by the lehendakari Juan José Ibarretxe in Vitoria, the latter declared that he hoped the Saharawi people would not be the forgotten people of the 21st century. The Saharawi President, for his part, expressed his concern for the situation of Saharawi citizens in the occupied territory, in southern Morocco and in the refugee camps. He considered that relations between the two peoples Basque and Saharawi would be very useful during the construction of the Saharawi state after independence. Mohamed Abdelaziz denounced "Morocco's intransigence" and reaffirmed that the problem of Western Sahara should be resolved "in accordance with international law", in the course of a reception organised in his honour by the Mayor of Bilbao, Inaki Azkuna. The official visit of President Abdelaziz to the Basque country finished with talks with political officials in the provinces of Alava and Gipuzkoa.
I wonder how Madrid is going to react to this one.

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Gernika Generation in England

It seems like everybody knows about the children of the European Jewish community who found refuge in England right before and during WWII.
What not a lot of people know is that before them there was an effort by the Basque government to put the Basque childhood out of harm's way with the Basque Republic under attack by the Fascist forces of Europe.
There is an excellent book called "The Guernica Generation" written by Dorothy Legarreta that describes the exodus of Basque children to England, Russia, Mexico and France.
The BBC, with their special love-hate relationship towards the Basques, authors of that infamous map where people is mislead to think that ETA represents the bulk of the Basque society which is incorrect since Basque people reject violent means to achieve their goal of self determination, that very same BBC broadcasted a show about the Basque children in the UK during the so called Spanish Civil War:
In 1937, 4,000 Basque children were brought to Britain to escape the horrors of the Spanish Civil War.

Even before they arrived there was controversy about the operation, as many people believed such an act would contravene the UK's stance of non-intervention in the war.

However, after the destruction of Guernica by German bombers, there were increasing fears for the safety of the civilian population in nearby Bilbao.

The government relented, allowing the evacuation, but would not provide any financial support.
The decision by the English government to block this humanitarian effort had more to do with the sympathy many English politicians felt for Franco due to their own extreme right thinking and less with the non-intervention pact. One of the most infamous leaders of this position was no one else than Winston Churchill, the same Winston Churchill that had ordered the bombing with biological weapons of Kurdish villages in northern Iraq.
But lets continue reading the article:
Once Bilbao fell to the nationalists, right-wing politicians and newspapers began pressing for the return of the children to their parents. But many had since fled Spain, while others had been captured and imprisoned by Franco's forces or were desperately trying to scratch a living under the new regime.

The arguments between politicians, humanitarian bodies and the Spanish Catholic Church became increasingly vitriolic and complex as they argued over the children's care and repatriation.

In the delicate political climate of the late 1930s, as the dark clouds of fascism spread across Europe, the children became pawns in a game of national and international politics.
In the end, many of them went back to Euskal Herria.
Some of them remained in England, it is widely known that many of the Basque refugee girls became themselves caretakers for the Jewish children that came to live in the very same camps the Basque children found shelter.
Some Basque boys grew up to be old enough to enlist and take part of the invasion of Normandy on D day.
This is information that people need to know so they can understand the staunch support that the Basques gave the Allied Forces during WWII, and the betrayal they were victims of when the West decided to recognize Franco's regime.
*You can also read the entire article at Artxiboak.

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A Basque Jack of All Trades

Via The Brownsville Herald we learn about one interesting individual with a Basque background.
His name is Chuy Abete and in the article "Retirement on the road" he tells us about his Basque background and how his daughter is interested on reaching out to other Abetes around the world.
Here you have it:
Abete believes carpentry was the trade his family brought to this country from Europe, though he’s not exactly sure.
Abete’s father, a cabinetmaker at Gloor Lumber Co., first introduced him to the trade. “His parents came from New York. Their parents came from the Basque country,” he said of his lineage.The Basque country spans the French and Spanish border in the western Pyrenees.
The Basque language’s origins are unknown and unrelated to any other language in the world.
One of Abete’s daughters became interested in her Basque heritage and began researching her roots, trying to make connections with others. “She started communicating with all the Abetes she could find. There are Abetes in New York, they’re from Cuba.”
She found Abetes all over America. “The ones in Illinois we can trace back to our own tribe,” Abete said with a laugh, “through my dad.”
So, there you have it, is completely natural to be a citizen of any given country, and at the same time consider oneself Basque, unsurprisingly.

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Monday, November 07, 2005

Confusingly Called The Basque

The Guardian Unlimited published a note called "The secret of Osasuna's success" about the soccer team Osasuna de Pamplona the current leader in Spain's premier league, and specially about its coach, Javier "El Vasco" Aguirre Onaindia:


Here you have a portion of it that contains a not surprisingly statement by the author that could be considered either pure ignorance or idiotic bias, read on:
What does a Mexican have below his carpet? Underlay, underlay.

And what does a Mexican have below his football team? The rest of the Spanish league.

Well, he does if his name is Javier Aguirre anyway. Sidekick to the second best World Cup goal ever, scored by Negrete for the hosts in '86, the Mexican they confusingly call The Basque (because of his grandparents) has taken Club Atlético Osasuna to top spot in La Liga, two points clear of Barcelona and three ahead of Real Madrid - their greatest start in nearly 90 years of history. Not bad for a team expected to be fighting off relegation. No wonder the Diario de Navarra beamed: "What joy!"
Ahem, confusingly call The Basque?
What is so confusing about it?
With last names like Aguirre Onaindia what else can you be? Pakistani?
Javier Aguirre is called The Basque for one simple reason, that is what he is. He is Mexican and proud of it, and he is Basque because that is where his family is from.
There is thousands of people around the world that are as proud of their nationality as Javier Aguirre is of being Mexican that know that they are also members of the Basque diaspora.
He was born in Mexico, he loves Mexican food, he listens Mexican music, bottom line, after several years in Spain he still speaks with his Mexican accent, unlike Hugo Sanchez for example.
But the article begs another question, does the author even know that Osasuna is a Basque team? Does he know that osasuna is actually the Euskera (Basque language) word for health?
Does he know that Pamplona is actually called Iruña (or Iruñea)?
Does he know that what he calls Navarre is actually called Nafarroa, a Basque province among the seven that constitute the Basque nation?
I bet he doesn't, despite the fact that his article is full of last names like Aguirre, Amorrortu, Cruchaga.
Blissful ignorance.
Good thing this blog exists to set the record straight.
ps. Hopefully the Maradona goal against England were he moped the field with six or seven English players is considered the best goal ever in a World Cup, because in my humble opinion, that is the only goal that one can consider better than the one by Manolo Negrete.

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A Basque Angel of New Orleans.


The website AbsoluteArts.com tells us about an effort put forward by an art gallery in Asbury Park to collect funds for a relief effort aimed at easing the burden for the people of New Orleans, victims of the hurricane Katrina rage:
2005-11-05 until 2006-01-01
Asbury Park, NJ, USA United States of America
In recent months, the world has suffered one monumental natural disaster after another. Mother Nature has waged a fury with such unimaginable resolve that countless innocents will forever suffer. However, in times such as these, it is imperative to remember that triumph is often at the heels of tragedy and heeling begins with hope and imagination. ROCK PAPER SCISSORS GALLERY hopes that the imagination fueling its new group art show will help those in need. ANGELS OF NEW ORLEANS is both acting title and impetus behind this exhibit scheduled to open Saturday, November 5. A portion of all proceeds until January 1, 2006 will be donated to HABITAT FOR HUMANITY and gallery owners, Doug Forbes and Elena Matyas have also contacted the organization to volunteer their manpower in the devastated area early next year.

Though all five featured artists offer dramatically distinct works, the common thread that binds them is a deeply rooted concern of environment and the natural and unnatural demands placed upon it.
I personally like the way they refer to Mother Nature with a mixture of both awe and respect.
The article provides a broad image of each one of the painter taking part in this project.
Here is what they say about Baptiste Ibar, a Basque from Iparralde:
Baptiste Ibar has emerged with a hybrid style of narrative painting that utilizes mythological components to address a crucial period of transition in global politics. The French Basque painter has provided a meaningful launch to a new initiative that aims to make art populist once again. His fascination with indigenous people and their art is immediately evident as is his penchant for tackling contemporary themes with a hybrid style that successfully blends the current rage for colorful graphic imagery with ancient sources of inspiration such as Sumerian picture writing. The redemptive qualities of Ibar's works make his paintings some of the most sympathetic and memorable that one is likely to come across.
So, there you have it, if you are able to assist to the gallery, don't miss the opportunity to do so and that way help those affected by this stern warnings by Mother Nature.

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Sunday, November 06, 2005

Olano and Otegi


Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi (R) speaks with ex-Basque prisoners association president Juan Mari Olano (L) and pro-amnesty movement president Jon Enparantzaa (C) during a homage to Jos Angel Altzuguren in the Navarran town of Bera in northern Spain November 5, 2005. Altzuguren was found hanged in his cell in Soria, October 31, while serving a sentence for collaboration with ETA. Spain's Supreme Court sentenced Otegi, leader of the outlawed Basque party Batasuna, to a year in prison on Friday for calling Spain's King Juan Carlos the 'leader of the torturers'. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Saturday, November 05, 2005

Regarding the King's Slander

Thanks to Feedster I got a hold of this analysis regarding the indictment against Arnaldo Otegi at a blog called Disidente on a post titled "Constitutional Monarchy".
Spain's Supreme Court has just sentenced Basque nationalist leader Arnaldo Ortegi (right) to a year in jail for insulting the King of Spain. Ortegi's crime was to describe Juan Carlos I as "responsible for the torturers".
Given that Amnesty International, and several other international human rights organizations, having conducted numerous thorough investigations into allegations of human rights abuses committed against Basque detainees by the Spanish military and police, has repeatedly concluded that there are grounds for disquiet, together with the number of members of the security services convicted of torture (and then rapidly pardoned by successive governments), Ortegi's accusation seems to be well-founded. Ortegi's original comments, February 26, 2003, consisted of saying that, "the Spanish king is the maximum head of the Spanish army; that is to say, the person responsible for the torturers who condones torture and who imposes his monarchical regime on our people by means of torture and violence."
Two things immediately occur to me: the Spanish Constitution of 1978 guarantees the right to free expression and King Juan Carlos I is indeed the Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Armed Forces.
But also...
Ortegi is the leader of the banned nationalist organization Herri Batasuna. The judge responsible for the prohibition of that organization, Baltasar Garzón, is the key note speaker at a conference on the subject of torture to be held at NYU on November 14.
One of the many ironies of all this is that while birthplace often brings with it a guarantee of nationality, Juan Carlos de Borbón - representative par excellence of Spanishness - was not born in Spain, whereas Ortegi was.
Nice to find out the Baltasar Garzón will spreading his corrupt concept of justice and his lies about torture at NYU next week. Time to contact the media regarding that.
One thing though, Otegi was born in Euskal Herria, not in Spain. Devil is in the details.

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Talking Sense in Basque Boise

Blogger Steve Bremner from Colorado is featuring some posts at his blog "Talking Sense" which portray the Basque community of Boise, Idaho.
Here you have the links:
Starting out with a question.
One about the Basque Market store.
A real shame he missed the Jaialdi a few months ago.

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Friday, November 04, 2005

Latin America's Resounding No to Bush

Today Bush had the opportunity to understand nobody likes him.
People from every country in Latin America took to the streets in Mar de Plata to tell George W. Bush: You are not welcomed here.
With his popularity in the USA on crash course as a result of his lies and betrayals, it was high time for the alcoholic-that-got-religion to understand that he may be able to fool some naive individuals in his country, but everyone around the world can see through his fog of lies and deceptions.
And by the way, I would like to show you a couple of pictures of images displayed by the people on the streets of Mar de Plata, Argentina:



Yes indeed, those are posters of Simón Bolivar and Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the two most famous Latin American liberators. That will settle the blog dispute with some right wingers that insist no one likes Che.
And by the way, both of them happen to have Basque background, with their respective families hailing from Bilbo in Bizkaia.

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Elkarri in Boise

Thanks to the newspaper The Idaho Statesman we learn about the visit by the head of Elkarri to a conference in Boise, something that was possible thanks to the tireless efforts by Pete Cenarrusa to open a window so the entire world can learn and understand the Basque struggle for self determination.
This is what the article by Dan Popkey called "Basque settlement with Spain may be near" indicates about Gorka Espiau's words:
Last year's election of Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero opened the way to talks between the government and Basque nationalists, said Gorka Espiau, director of a moderate Basque group. "There's a window of opportunity for the peace process," said Espiau.
If the terrorist group ETA declares a cease fire, Spain is willing to negotiate, a prospect rejected by Zapatero's predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar.

Aznar considered Basque nationalists terrorists. His ambassador, Javier Ruperez, lobbied against a memorial in the Idaho Legislature in 2002 urging an end to violence and peace talks. Aznar shut down newspapers and a political party and falsely accused ETA of carrying out the March 2004 Madrid train bombings.
The horror of the bombing has moderated ETA, Espiau said. "It had an impact on public opinion in the Basque country. It wasn't ETA, but it could have been. And people don't want that.
"The major Basque nationalist party now says it wants to be associated with Spain, a position short of independence, said Espiau. "All the political actors accept that we need to sit down at the table in a context of non-violence."

If a cease-fire comes, backing from 20,000 Basques in Idaho will be vital, Espiau said. "We need help to support dialogue," he said.
Once again it is demonstrated that the Basques want peace as much as they want self determination.
If only all the actors in this drama had the same proclivity towards peace and dialogue.
*You can also read the entire article at Artxiboak.

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To Slander Hitler's King

Spain is a weird place.
Arnaldo Otegui, leader of the banned political party Batasuna has been sentenced to one year for "slandering" King Juan Carlos.
Here you have the information from a note called Man Sentenced for Slandering King by Ciaran Giles that appeared at Yahoo News:

MADRID, Spain - Spain's Supreme Court sentenced radical pro-Basque independence leader Arnaldo Otegi to a year in prison Friday for slandering King Juan Carlos by saying he was in charge of torturers.
Otegi made the remark during a news conference coinciding with a visit by the monarch to the Basque region on Feb. 26, 2003. He described the king as "maximum chief of the Spanish army, in other words, the person responsible for the torturers."

Otegi was tried on the charges by the Basque region's Superior Tribunal in March, but was absolved on the basis that the right to freedom of expression entitled him to make the remarks. The prosecution appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court.

Otegi's remarks "express a blatant contempt for his majesty the king and the institution he represents, affecting the very core of his dignity by attributing to him one of the gravest crimes in a state of law," the Supreme Court said in its ruling.

Otegi, 47, announced Friday he would appeal the sentence to the Constitutional Court.

In any case, the Basque leader will not have to go to jail for the moment as sentences of under two years are suspended in Spain.
First of all, it is hard to slander a person that is today an ornament in Spain's political spectrum thanks to no one else that Herr Adolph Hitler.
The Fuhrer's little king came to power as a decision by falangist dictator Francisco Franco, who in turn was able to seize power in Madrid thanks to the military help of Nazi Germany under Hitler and Fascist Italy under Benito Mussolini on one side, and the countries that abided by the non-intervention treaty out of cowardice and a primal fear towards communism.
Attacked by the two powerful military machineries of Germany and Italy, and deserted by England, the United States of America and France, the Spanish, Basque and Catalonian Republics were defeated after presenting a courageous and honorable fight.
It is within that frame that Franco became Spain's dictator, and it is within that scenario that Juan Carlos came out of nowhere to become king.
And so, two totalitarian figures were imposed on the Basques, the oldest democracy in Europe by no one else than Hitler, yes, the same Hitler responsible for the Roma and Jewish holocaust.
About the only nice thing that this Juan Carlos did was to renounce to becoming the head of state in Spain after Franco's death.
Many congratulate him for that. They say he ushered democracy in Spain.
All of it is horse manure.
If Juan Carlos believed in democracy the correct thing to do was to abdicate and scratch monarchy from the Spanish political landscape.
To do that would take a lot of fortitude, and the will to renounce to the nice allowance that Spain gives its royalty. And well, it would take the moral stance of a saint to renounce to so much money.
But lets analyze Otegi's words:
He described the king as "maximum chief of the Spanish army, in other words, the person responsible for the torturers."
Fact number one, king Juan Carlos IS the maximum chief of the Spanish army.
Fact number two, torture of Basque political prisoners is rampant in Spain.
Spain has done absolutely nothing to stop the widespread practice of torture in its police headquarters and jails, Spain even called the UN's Special Rapporteur Theo van Boven a liar not too long ago.
Just a few days ago a Basque prisoner committed suicide as a result of the psychological trauma caused by the torture he endured.
And Juan Carlos does nothing to stop the torture, the dispersion, the oppression.
So yes, he is in fact the Chief Torturer in Spain.
No slander, just the simple truth.

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Thursday, November 03, 2005

Deffective Maps

Thanks to the blog called Bald Mary and the post titled "Make Love, Not War", we learn about this report by the BBC News regarding the so called "Basque Conflict".
The article is the classic yada yada yada, words that say nothing new.
But what really got under my skin is the map that they published, here you have it:


What in the world!?
Territory claimed by ETA?
Did they get that information straight from Fraga Iribarren?
What they incorrectly mark as "the territory claimed by ETA" is in fact the historic Basque provinces of Nafarroa, Lapurdi, Behenafarroa and Zuberoa.
Nafarroa, devided between Spain and France (known as Navarre to some) is as Basque as the Basques are Navarrese, one and the same.
What the BBC identifies as "Basque administrative region" is actually the Basque Autonomous Community or Euskadi, this Spanish "region" includes what at one time was known as the Navarre Maritime, the provinces of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa.
The seven provinces coming together as one is a dream for all Basques, and the BBC is providing faulty information when it says that it is territory claimed by ETA as if those lands indicated in the map are not part of the Basque homeland.
That article by the BBC News is in fact a little piece of fascist propaganda aimed at blemishing the Basque dream for self determination.
ETA's violence is rejected by the bulk of Basque society, it is unfair that BBC News does with this map of them.
But what else can you expect from the fat cats in the main stream media, all they care about is the money they get from people interested on getting false information printed.
And by the way, a piece of advice to Sony Pony, the Basques are not involved in a Separatist Conflict, the majority of Basques have been negotiating peacefully for independence from Spain and France since the 1930's. ETA does not represent the Basques.

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Yes to Negotiating the Estatut

You can read the whole note called "Spanish parliament approves controversial Catalan statute" at Yahoo News or at Artxiboak.
I just want to publish here what Mariano Rajoy, speaking for his PP had to say about the decision last night by the Spanish Parliament to green light the negotiations in regards of the newly proposed Catalonian Statut:
However, Rajoy blasted Zapatero's support for the statute, which the PP insists is unconstitutional.

"There are many people in Catalonia who feel Spanish and who do not share what is enshrined in the autonomy statute.

"I am Spanish and I believe Catalonia is a very important community within Spain," said Rajoy, to cheers from his party's ranks.

"The Catalans are my compatriots and I believe (the statute) is very bad and negative for them."
Words spoken like a true and rancid colonialist pig.
Of course there is Spaniards in Catalunya that feel they are Spaniards, simply because that is exactly what they are, Spaniards living in and occupied nation. And yes, there is some Catalonians (let us remember that Ferrer more worried about his pockets that about the right of his people to its self-determination) that are more comfortable as Spaniards.
To the Spaniards that Rajoy speaks of, I have one thing to say, accept and respect the will of the Catalonians and live in peace among them, if you think you can not do that, well, you can always go back to that marvelous and culturally rich country called Spain.
To Rajoy, don't be an imbecile, please, do not insult our intelligence claiming that the statute is something bad for the Catalonians. Rajoy, all you can think about is how to defend that Francoist ideal of the One Spain Under God.
Rajoy, it is because even the Spaniards are tired of how backwards the PP and its membership is that you are not their Prime Minister today, so please, do not speak for them.
And well, since this is a page about Euskal Herria and the right of the Basques to their own self-determination and eventual independence from Spain and France, here goes what the article mentions about the Plan Ibarretxe:
A similar move by the Basque region, at the other end of the Pyrenees, to achieve greater autonomy failed in February after being massively rejected by parliament.

Like its Catalan counterpart, the Basque regional assembly was strongly in favour of taking charge of its own legal system and representation abroad in organisations including the European Union.
I guess is time to propose it again.

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