Saturday, December 31, 2005

Interesting Take on the Cava Issue

The post "No Corks Popping for Cataluña" at blog Back Seat Drivers is quite an interesting read.
Here you have a portion of it regarding the issue of the boycott against the Catalonyan Cava by disgruntled Spaniards:
Around this time last year I mentioned the boycott on cava, the sparkling wine produced mainly in Catalonia. The boycott is on again this Christmas and, while last year it was seen with amusement by many Spaniards and the Spanish media, this time around people seem to be taking it far more seriously. The catalyst is the current campaign for a new statute of autonomy for Catalonia, something which has gone from a proposal last year to a very real possibility this year. This has prompted many Spaniards to vent their ire by boycotting one of the products most associated with Catalonia.
Check it out.
Hopefully 2006 will make some Basque and Catalonyan dreams come true. With boycott to Cava and Txakoli if you want, no big deal.
Update: More on the Cava issue at post Sparkling Spain published by A Fistful of Euros.
I particularly liked this part:
Of course the real hurdle to cross in establishing a tri-national Spain is not the identity of the Catalans or the Basques. The real issue, IMHO, is that it is the Spanish themselves who need to define their identity.

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A Wet Farewell to 2005


Men and women swim in the sea at Biarritz, southwestern France, for the annual last swim of the year, Saturday Dec. 31, 2005. Some 100 swimmers took part in the celebration. (AP Photo/Bob Edme).

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Thursday, December 29, 2005

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Not Just a Game

It was not just another football game between Euskadi, the Basque National Team and Cameroon, with a triumph for the African team:


It was also an opportunity to tell the world that there is a lot to do when it comes to upholding the human rights and the civil liberties of the Basque society as seen in this pictures with the banners for Presoak on display by a great number of fans:






Fans wave flags and banners, demanding the re-grouping of Basque prisoners to jails in the region, before a friendly soccer match between Euskadi and Cameroon, at the San Mames stadium in Bilbao, northern Spain, December 28, 2005. Cameroon won 1-0. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Euskal Selekzioa in Action


Cesar Cruchaga, right, of the Basque Country regional team, steals the ball from Olembe Olembe of the Cameroon national team during a friendly soccer match in Bilbao, Spain, Wednesday Dec. 28, 2005. (AP Photo/EFE, Luis Tejido)

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Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Monday, December 26, 2005

Soccer in Iruñea

There was a friendly match between the Chinese national team against the team of players from Nafarroa, here you have some pictures of that game:




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Saturday, December 24, 2005

Eguberri On!


To all friends, bloggers and internet dwellers who happen to stumble upon this space today, I want to wish the best of times to all of you, and may the peace and joy of the season remain among us for ever.

Hurry up, you still have some time to do your good deeds so Olentzero can deliver those special gifts you are wishing for.

And I'm not talking about material stuff here, I'm talking about the other gifts, the ones that we need to improve the conditions of all of those around us and most important of all, the healing of our Mother Earth.

I may not believe in any structured religion, but I do respect the importance of the message that Jesus and many others like him brought us.

Eguberri On!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas!

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Friday, December 23, 2005

Woody in Gazteiz





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Basque Film Archive

Last nigh I saw the excellent movie "Silencio Roto" (Broken Silence) by Montxo Armendariz, the director of the acclaimed "Obaba".
Today, looking for more information about Mr. Armendariz, I ran into a quite interesting web page called the Basque Film Archive at the University of Nevada in Reno.
Check it out, they are investing a great effort into it.

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Thursday, December 22, 2005

Olentzero: Two Versions

The Missourian published an article about Santa Claus, Poinsettias and other Yule Season related stuff in an article titled "Weird holiday wonders".
Strangely enough, it mentions the "Basque Santa", Olentzero.
Not only that, it tells two different versions of the Olentzero tale. First a sort of gruesome one:
Then there’s Olentzero, from the Basque region of Spain. Instead of arriving on a sleigh with a bag full of goodies, he clambered down from the mountains with a sickle and a heart full of contempt. The story of Olentzero began with a group of giants who one day noticed a burning object in the sky. Only one could look at it and he confirmed their fear: It was a sign of the coming of Jesus Christ. While climbing down the hill, they all tripped and fell to their deaths except one, Olentzero. He marched down the mountain with his sickle and then cut the throats of any of the town’s people who ate too much on the day before Christ’s arrival.
And then, the one we are familiar with today:
In the last century a new version appeared: Olentzero is abandoned as a child and adopted by a beautiful fairy. He grows up to become a collier, making coal from wood and crafting toys for the town’s children in his spare time. Once he had a bag full of goodies, he’d come to town and spend the whole day passing out gifts. One day he came to town and a house had caught fire. Olentzero ran in and lowered frightened children from the second-story window. After he’d saved them all, he went downstairs to get out of the house, but it collapsed on him before he could escape. Suddenly, the people of the town saw a burst and a flash of light toward the sky. The fairy who’d adopted the benevolent Olentzero had decided that he should not be allowed to die, but should live forever making gifts for the children.
I'm gonna have to check into the first version as soon as I can.

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Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Nahia, The Basque Grey Seal



Nahia, a five-day-old grey baby seal, is seen at the Biarritz Sea Museum, southwestern France, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005, where it was born Friday Dec. 16. Nahia is 80 centimeters (31-1/2 inches) long and weighs 15 kilograms (33-lbs) and is the first grey seal born in captivity in France, the museum's director Francoise Pautrizel said. The gender of the baby seal was still unknown Wednesday. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)


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Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Christmas in Bilbo


Christmas in Bilbao : A public bus decorated to mark the holiday period drives through downtown the northern Spanish Basque city of Bilbao. (AFP/Rafa Rivas)

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Landslide


Basque police officer walks next to a landslide site where two cars and a truck were trapped in the northern Spanish A8 highway between Bilbao and San Sebastian, near the town of Deba, December 20, 2005. One person suffered minor injuries when rocks crashed on to the motorway and the road has been closed in both directions. REUTERS/Pablo Sanchez

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Sunday, December 18, 2005

One by Iker

Iker is known for posting excellent pictures of Euskal Herria at Flickr, and here you have one of his lastest:

Photo by Iker

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Saturday, December 17, 2005

Dear Steven Spielberg,

My youth is filled with memories of your movies, to some degree you have been a part of my life for a long time, so please, allow me to call you Steven.
Steven, I grew up in Acapulco, and at the tender age of 10 you gave me a scare that produced goosebumps on me each time I went for a swim in the ocean.
Then came an onslaught of easy to watch movies, not a whole lot of content, but easy to watch nevertheless.
One day you surprised many around the world with your movie about Oskar Schindler and the Holocaust. By then I was heavy into Kurosawa, Kubrik, Stone and Scorcese. So, I thought it was a valiant effort on your part, but the movie was not all that.
Now they are announcing your new movie, the one called "Munich". I read something about you wanting to be up for a bunch of Oscars and I really don't know if you are going to be able to pull the trick, but good luck to you.
But let me get to the reason of this open letter to you.
As you may know, there is a large selection of movies that revolve around the Holocaust. They must be hundreds.
If you add those to all the movies made about WWII and the Nazis, we can be talking about thousands of movies that touch some way or the other the nightmare that this particular era was to all of humankind.
Today I ask, in how many of those movies about the Holocaust do you get to see what happened to all the non-Jewish victims of the Nazi murderous machinery?
How many are there that talk about the Roma*?
How many show what happened to the Basques?
I'm sure you know that millions of Roma died in the same concentration camps where the Jewish were massacred.
You may not know that also many Basques met their deaths at those very same camps. Is not your fault, the Basques have been all but removed from the world's historic records.
What I am getting at is that not you nor any of the other movie directors that talked about the Holocaust so far have had the courage to present the other victims of the Holocaust to the world.
Why does this happen?
One world: box office.
The Roma and the Basques do not sell as well as the Jewish, so why bother making a movie about them.
And in doing so you help perpetuate what the Nazis (an many others) worked on, to refuse a place for the Roma, the Basques and many others in this planet.
We all decry what happened to the Jewish community in Europe under the Nazi regime, we really hope that it never ever happens again.
But only a few of us wish for that also for many others: the forgotten victims, the unsung heroes, the voiceless.
Not you nor any of your fellow movie directors ever made a movie about the Basque resistance being fully engaged in the rescue of Jewish individuals (children mainly) throughout World War II. Name a movie that depicts the horrors of Gernika being bombed by the Luftwaffe.
You can't, because there is none.
But suddenly you feel like including something Basque in one of your movies, and this is all you could come up to according to an article by the World Peace Herald called "Walker's World: Terror's challenge to democracies":
The next mission, in Greece, finds the Israeli team, who are claiming to be European terrorists from the Basque ETA, and the German Red Army Faktion, sharing a safe house with a group of PLO bodyguards. Inevitably, but in a scene that strains credulity, the Israeli team leader finds himself discussing the justice of the Palestinian cause with one of the PLO men.
Oh my.
Never a movie about the Basque priest that used to spirit Jewish children away from the Nazis by carrying them on his back from Vichy's France to the Spanish Basque Country. Never a movie about the 14 year old Basque boy tortured by the Gestapo as to obtain information about the boy's father who was in charge of a group taking Jewish people across the border. Never a movie about the Basque smuggler who scaped a Nazi jail even with a broken leg. Never a movie about the hundreds of Basques murdered by Franco's underlings for hiding Jewish families.
Oh, but there you go, making a movie that will perpetuate the wrong (and criminal) perception that equates the Basque people to terrorism.
Steven Spielberg, shame on you.
Shame on you.
* Wrongly called Gypsies

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Today on EITb

Here you have the latest digest of articled published by EITb:
About a thousand people rallied in Donostia-San Sebastian Saturday evening to pay homage to Mikel Zabalza, a Navarre bus driver that was arrested by the Spanish paramilitary Civil Guard police on the grounds that he was a member of the armed Basque group ETA and was found dead drowned in the Bidasoa river 20 years ago.
The demonstrators protesting against torture marched through the streets of the Gipuzkoan capital holding a banner that read "Leave the Basque Country alone. No to torture" and chanting slogans such as "people will not forgive" or "police torture and kill".
The rally, organized by the organization in defence of the Basque political prisoners' rights Askatasuna, was controlled by the Basque Police and the Donostia-San Sebastian local police. No clashes between demonstrators and police were reported.
Basque Government's Justice Councillor Joseba Azkarraga announced the Spanish High Court is considering a Basque Government's request to hold the trial against the Basque youth left-wing organisations in the Basque Country via videoconference in order to relieve the prosecuted people of the travelling expenses to Madrid.
The Basque councillor explained there exists the chance for the trial to take place this way and avoid the prosecuted the expenses of travelling to Madrid three times a week.
Azkarraga also said he asked the Basque High Court to allow the trial to take place in its rooms in Bilbao.
Basque research group Tekniker has joined Spanish aerospace technology centre CTA on an INTA project to develop leading-edge instruments for testing modern low-pressure turbines. Technological improvements in aircraft engines depend on how much is known about the phenomena occurring in different phases, with measurements in combustion chamber and turbine being absolutely crucial. This is the task CTA is now facing, with backup and support from Tekniker on the development of manufacturing techniques for the micro-sensors required. The duo will also be able to call on INTA’s experience in aircraft engines and fluid dynamics analysis.
The moviemaker from Brooklyn Woody Allen and his band, New Orleans Jazz Band, will play next Friday, December 23, in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
The members of the band are Allen, clarinet; Hedi Davis, musical director and bass; Conal Fowkes, double bass; Robert Garcia, drums; Cinta Sayer, piano; Simon Wettenhall, trumpet; and Jerry Zigmont, trombone.
An only appointment for Allen's followers, since, for geographical reasons, they can't show up at The Carlyle club, on the 76 of the Madison Avenue in New York, where he has been playing every Monday since many years ago.

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Earlier in Iruñea




A woman votes in a bar which will decide how the cusomers want to deal with the smoking issue in Pamplona northern Spain, Saturday Dec 18, 2005. Spain's parliament has given final approval to a law banning smoking in the workplace which also forbids the sale of tobacco to people under 18 and extends a ban on cigarette advertising to include the media, billboards and product promotions. Under the new law, smoking will be allowed in smaller bars and restaurants, at the proprietors' discretion, but such premises would have to be clearly marked as allowing smoking. The legislation takes effect Jan. 1, 2006. Main writing on poster reads 'How do you want yor bar?' (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)


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Friday, December 16, 2005

One by Pampero

Time for the Basque related picture at Flickr.
This time, a breath taking landscape:


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Basque Research

I have no clue what took me so long.
I just added the link to the page called Basque Research to my list of Basque Websites.
They are constantly publishing the results of a number of research projects, here you have a couple of examples.
The circulation of cancer cells through the blood vessels is often the cause of metastasis. These cancer cells contaminate normal cells and the pathology spreads throughout the body. Metastasis is the main risk in cancers. In order to prevent this process from occurring, a team from the Chemistry Faculty at the Donostia-San Sebastián campus of the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) analysed the connections between cancer and normal cells.
Concretely, the UPV-EHU analysed the proteins that are involved in these connections. From amongst these proteins, they chose the ones that have a single active centre. If this centre is blocked, the cancer cell will not be able to adhere itself to a healthy cell and, thus, this path of spreading the disease is blocked.
The first thing to do is to analyse the structure of the proteins chosen. This task is undertaken using computers, given that the proteins are gigantic molecules. Once the structure is analysed and with the data for the active centre of the connection, the design of a new, small molecule to block this centre is initiated.
A study undertaken in 38 Intensive Care Units (ICUs) throughout Spain, one of which was the Galdakano Hospital in Bizkaia, analysed what the most used antibiotics were and identified the elements that have to be taken into account when making a choice of treatment for hospital-acquired infections caused by grampositive microorganisms. It was seen from the study that, with these infections, therapeutic failure following standard therapy with vancomicyn or teicoplanin is greater than that registered with linezolid.
Nearly half the infections occurring in the ICUs are produced by these microorganisms, the most frequent infections being pneumonias associated with mechanical ventilation and bacteremias related to vascular catheters.
More than 800 patients were involved in the study. The results of the research was presented at the XVI Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Workgroup of the Spanish Society for Intensive, Critical and Heart Unit Medicine (SEMICYUC) which was held recently in the city of Zaragoza.
The antibiotics analysed were the new pharmaceutical linezolid and the standard therapy with vancomicyn and teicoplanin. The first of these medicines belongs to a new family of antibiotics, the oxazolidinones, that represent the main alternative to these kinds of resistant bacteria. The studies have shown that, in those cases of pneumonia acquired in hospitals through methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (SARM), linezolid, the first molecule of the new family, and as a first-line treatment instead of the standard therapy with vancomicyn, improves the cure rates and even the survival rates in that sub-group of patient that need mechanical ventilation.
My apologies, better late than never.

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Thursday, December 15, 2005

A Farewell to Jon de Cortina




People pay their respects to the Jesuit priest Jon Cortina , in the chapel of Catholic Universituy , San Salvador , El Salvador , Thursday, Dec. 15, 2005. Cortina 71 , of Spain , was born in the Basque country and lived in El Salvador since the 1980s . Cortina was the director of the Pro-Search Association , a group that since wars end has conducted searches fort children allegedly abducted by armed forces. (AP Photo/Luis Romero)

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Smoking in Donostia



An employee smokes a cigar at his workplace in San Sebastian, northern Spain, December 15, 2005. The Spanish Parliament has approved on Thursday a law that will prohibit smoking in the workplace from January 2006. More than 50,000 Spaniards die every year as a direct result of smoking, and 700 from passive smoking, the Department of Public Health said. REUTERS/Pablo Sanchez

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Smoking in Bilbo



A woman smokes a cigarette in a bar during her coffee break in Bilbao, northern Spain, December 15, 2005. The Spanish Parliament has approved on Thursday a law that will prohibit smoking in the workplace from January 2006. More than 50,000 Spaniards die every year as a direct result of smoking, and 700 from passive smoking, the Department of Public Health said. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Basque-Catalonyan Fest in Sao Paulo

Here you have the information:



Hopefully whoever reads this masters Portuguese, at least enough to understand what's published there.

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Kontseilua at Work

This is very important, it has everything to do with ensuring that Euskera has a place in the future.
The note appeared at Berria, here you have it:
It has put forward the main guidelines that need to be followed to bring about the normalisation of the Basque language

Asier Iturriagaetxebarria – BILBO (Bilbao)
Kontseilua, the Council of Social Organisations in Favour of the Basque language, yesterday presented a report aimed at guiding the Basque language normalisation process. It includes ten main language policy guidelines that will need to be implemented over the next four years. Kontseilua’s general secretary Xabier Mendiguren explained that these guidelines would need to be applied in order to bring about the normalisation of the language. He added, however, that specific aims and deadlines would have to be added. “Otherwise all that has been achieved so far will not be of any use to normalise our Basque language, and the aims will be postponed sine die.”
He summarised what language policy should be like over the coming years thus: “One which will have specific deadlines and aims, be given the necessary resources, include all departments, be designed in such a way as to reach all sectors of society, it should start from the general administration and permeate right down to local administrations, it will aim to guarantee linguistic rights, be applicable throughout the Basque Country and have an overall perspective”.
Iñaki Lasa, responsible for Kontseilua’s politico-institutional line, complained about the administration’s failure to take effective measures. “Very often Basque speakers are blamed for failing to use the Basque language, but this is unfair, because Basque speakers will not have the chance to use their language if the necessary measures and resources are not in place.”
The report comprises ten proposals:
1) To go beyond the Linguistic models in education to ensure that students are proficient in Basque when they finish their compulsory secondary education.
2) To create a deputy vice-presidency for Basque in the BAC Government.
3) To make the administration Basque-speaking.
4) To make the workplace Basque-speaking.
5) To have laws in favour of the Basque language passed.
6) To expand the teaching of Basque to adults.
7) To establish quotas for the media in accordance with sociolinguistic development.
8) To increase the budget for Basque.
9) To make university education and vocational training Basque-speaking.
10) To draw up an adequate language policy that establishes aims and deadlines and includes all sectors.
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One by Cazenave

Although Flickr has been experiencing some problems the last couple of days, as promised, here you have a picture from Euskal Herria:


Photo by Cazenave

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Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Lof is Free



Basque militant Jean-Francois Lefort, known as 'Lof', arrives at the Bayonne railway station, southwestern France, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005. Lefort, a spokesman for Askatasuna, a legal defense group for Basque prisoners, has been detained since December 2004, after police suspected the group of ties to the banned Basque militant group ETA. Lefort was freed Monday. (AP Photo/Bob Edme).

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No Cabs Available




A passenger walks past taxis from Bilbao's Sondika airport during a suspension of services for an hour, in Sondika, northern Spain December 13, 2005. Taxi drivers throughout Spain took part in a one-hour strike at midday following the murder of Eduardo Robledo, a forty-five year old colleague from Bilbao, stabbed in the neck by a twenty-year-old assailant, early morning December 12. Drivers in Bilbao remain on strike since the assault, calling for increased security measures. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Monday, December 12, 2005

Congrats Miren and Jose Mari!

A week too late, but here you have the news about the opening of the new Basque restaurant Leku Ona in Boise:
He left his home in Muxika in 1966 to herd sheep in Idaho
Jose Mari Artiach left his home in Muxika in 1966 to herd sheep in Idaho. Besides herding sheep, he has also worked in lumber mills, driven hay trucks, finally to purchase his own trucking company in 1975 (still operating today), and run a cattle ranch. Even after all these accomplishments, Jose Mari still had a dream that he finally realized on December 6th with the official opening of his restaurant the Leku Ona (The Good Place) on Boise’s Basque block. “He has been very sentimental over the last several weeks remembering all that he had to go through to get to where he is today.” said his wife Miren (née Rementeria). “In testament, there is a wall mural that shows him tending a flock of sheep.”
The restaurant is located directly across from the Basque Center at 117 S. 6th Street. It features three floors of restaurant space, each complete with bar, and a card room on the middle floor. The basement level is ideal for private parties, or larger gatherings, while the top floor is reserved for finer dining specializing in Basque family-style service. Both top and middle floors include outdoor patios, the latter connecting to a five-room hotel next door.
Chef Ramon Barquin, who is in charge of the kitchen, is originally from Idaho but has spent more than 10 years cooking in the Basque Country. His menu includes upscale traditional dishes such as seafood soups, salt cod, paella, lamb shanks, and grilled steaks smothered in pimentos. His lighter fare also includes various pintxos.
Even after years in the U.S. Artiach still holds a special place in his heart for his friends in Muxika. Miren continued, “If they ever come to visit us, they will find that their pictures are in collages on the walls of the restaurant.”
For more information on the fascinating life of Jose Mari Artiach refer to: www.basquemuseum.com/oralhistory. And for more information regarding the Leku Ona call (208) 345-4296.
I'm looking forward to my next visit to Boise so I can dine at the Artiach's place.

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Today on EITb

Here you have one more digest:
A huge smoke cloud from a British fuel depot fire has drifted over Brittany and Normandy in northwestern France and is headed toward the Basque Country, and could reach it in 48 hours; France's national weather service said on Monday.
Some smoke also passed over Belgium, officials said. The main cloud is expected to pass through western France and head out over the Atlantic Ocean, though some fumes will likely also reach the Basque Country in 48 hours, said Francoise Benichou, chief deputy of forecasting at Meteo France.
Spanish police found Monday morning the corpses of the two Basque mountaineers missing Unai Otamendi Otegi, aged 32 years old, and Joxean Azkue Arrastoa, aged 38 years old, buried by an avalanche, some kilometers far from the mountain pass of El Portalet in the Spanish region of Huesca.
Spanish police started searching for the mountaineers on Monday early in the morning after the wife of one of the mountaineers reported them missing Sunday night. Both had left for the mountain pass of El Portalet in Huesca, Eastern Spain, last December 8 to practice ski mountaineering, the Spanish government's office in Huesca said.
European champions Liverpool arrived in Tokyo on Monday, tired but determined to add the FIFA Club World Championship to the trophy cabinet at their ground, Anfield. Basque midfielder Xavi Alonso, still injured, is likely to drop off.
Liverpool are hoping their involvement in the six-team competition will attract investment in the club, although Parry kept talk of business to a minimum upon the team's arrival. "First and foremost, this is a competitive trip and not a commercial trip," Parry told reporters. "It's not about raising revenues. It's not about money. It's about trophies."
The hearing in the 18/98 case is to be resumed Monday evening with the suspects responsible for the closed newspaper Egin -accused of being the front for fund-raising and other support for ETA- taking the stand this week.
The first suspect to take the stand is Jesus Maria Zalakain Garaikoetxea, who is facing a sentence of 48 years in jail. Nine suspects will follow Zalakain, all of them responsible for the closed newspaper Egin. Xabier Alegria, main responsible for the newspaper, facing 51 years in jail and charged with membership of ETA and tax fraud, will be last of the suspects to take the stand.
Javier Aguirre's Osasuna made it eight wins out of eight at El Sadar to equal their best home run in 22 seasons thanks to an early goal from Pierre Webo. The Cameroon striker clipped the ball over Toni Prats after the Mallorca keeper scuffed a clearance into his path with just five minutes on the clock.
Osasuna dominated throughout and regularly threatened with their slickly worked counter-attacks, but despite a host of clear scoring chances they were unable to extend their lead.
There you have it!
Friendly reminder, click on the title of each news note if you want to read it as published.

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One by Txiribiton

He has been earning some accolades for this excellent picture of Sopelana in Bizkaia, he deserves every and each one of them.


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Jon de Cortina


This is a July 20, 2005 picture of Jesuit priest Jon de Cortina, 71, of Spain, who died Monday, Dec. 12, 2005 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Cortina was born in the Basque country and has lived in El Salvador since the 1960s. Cortina was the director of the Pro-Search Association, a group that since war's end has conducted searches for children allegedly abducted by armed forces. (AP Photo)

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Friday, December 09, 2005

Mundua eta Musika




An adventure that started out a couple of years ago.
Jose Santacara, who departed from his town of Carcastillo in Nafarroa (Navarre) to go across five continents, is today a guest of the land of the pheasant and the deer.
He drove through 42 countries in Europe, Asia, Oceania and America.
The cronichles of his wanderings around the world can be found at his website Mundua eta Musika. The page is published in Euskera (Basque), Spanish and French and in each stage you can listen to music tracks from the place he was visiting then.
After the American continent is completed (only the USA and Canada will be left after departing Mexico) he will be back to Euskal Herria to plan the trip that will take him to Africa.
If you can read any of the languages mentioned and/or if you are interested in the music from around the world, don't miss the chance to visit the site.

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Udalbiltza's Push for Nationhood

Very interesting note, indeed.
Loren Arkotxa, leader of Udalbiltza, the first Basque national institution, told Berria that his organization is ready to present the request for nationhood for Euskal Herria to the UN.
Here you have the note:
The Udalbiltza continues its work, difficulties notwithstanding. Its chairman, Loren Arkotxa, is proud of the work it has done and upbeat about the future

Aitziber Laskibar – DURANGO (Bizkaia)
We met Loren Arkotxa (Ondarroa, Bizkaia, 1945) on Spanish Constitution Day (December 6). Before going to the demo called by the Bai Euskal Herriari (Yes to the Basque Country) initiative in Durango, he told us that the demand for Basque nationhood would lead to practical results “sooner rather than later”. That is the context in which the campaign Udalbiltza is due to launch tomorrow is set. They will be requesting that Basque nationhood be recognised in the UN. On the other hand, he is optimistic and hopeful about the resolution of the Basque conflict, even though he reckons he has a “70% chance” of being sent to prison, in view of how the 18/98 is progressing.
Now that the Udalbiltza has been in existence for six years, you have been quoted as saying that one era has come to an end and that another cycle will be starting. What has the past era been and what can one expect of the new one?
The Udalbiltza was founded six years ago. When it was founded, it had to fill many gaps. And these six years have been truly fruitful for the Udalbiltza and, in my view, what the Udalbiltza has given has also been fruitful. In other words, at that time significant players were thin on the ground, although that is not the case today. For instance, the Conflict Resolution Commission and the National Development Council that have been created out of the Forum for National Debate, which has a National Plan today. This has filled many gaps and that is where our work and efforts have been directed from the very start. On the other hand, the Udalbiltza has struck deals to collaborate with many other social players. Even though the public at large has many players, what was needed was one that somehow linked them in a national perspective. And that is why we are saying that a period has somehow been completed. And from now on we will have to pursue other lines. In other words, the Udalbiltza will be moving towards its natural position; in other words, municipal work and the work of municipal elected representatives from the perspective of the whole of Euskal Herria. The Udalbiltza is obviously not an Eudel. It does not simply look to municipalities, but is also an institution to conduct work on a national level for the whole of the Euskal Herria from the town councils. I think the elected municipal representatives are active elements. (…)
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Thursday, December 08, 2005

Nothing to Grin About

Or maybe there is.
Paul Schmelzer, author of blog "Eyeteeth: A Journal of Incisive Ideas" makes a point on his post "Smile, you're in hell".
Here you have what he says:
Giselle just dropped off this ad for Tourismo Madrid, torn from a travel magazine. The headline seems to suggest viewing Picasso's Guernica, a visceral depiction of Franco's 1937 massacre of 1600 civilians in the Basque city of the same name, is something to grin about.
I agree, nothing to grin about.
But there is something positive, someone is at least counting the Basque casualties in the conflict.
They remained quite forgotten for a long time, just count how many Basques (or Roma for that matter) appear in the slew of movies about the Holocaust.

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One By Luistxo

I decided to start posting here the pictures that appear at Flickr with the tag Basque.
They already appear at Yahoo Blog Results and at Technorati, so why not here also. Plus, so far I only posted pictures that appear at Yahoo News.
So, we are going to start with one by Luistxo, the blogger behind the blog called "The English Cemetary".
Here you have it, it has to do with the Euskararen Nazioarteko Eguna.

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Saturday, December 03, 2005

Gaur, Euskararen Nazioarteko Eguna

Not being able to speak Euskera, the Basque language, will not stop this blogger from joining the thousands of Basques celebrating its International Day.
Here you have a text by Berria:

Eusko Ikaskuntzaren ekimena izan zen abenduaren 3a Euskararen Nazioarteko Egun izendatzea. Zehazki, 1948an Baionako batzarrean hartutakoa. Denbora asko igaro da ordutik, baina oraindik euskarak bultzada handien beharrean segitzen du. Gaur hainbat ekitaldi egingo dira egun hori dela eta, baina handienak atzo egin ziren: Bilboko Erakustazoka zaharrean ekitaldi ofiziala egin zen, agintari ugari han zirela. Eusko Legebiltzarrak, berriz, deklarazio instituzionala onartu zuen euskararen aldeko konpromisoa bereganatuz.

Esan bezala, gaur ere izango dira ekitaldiak. Esate baterako, Bilboko Plaza Barrian euskara ardatz duen jaia egingo da egunean zehar. Gure artean euskaraz jartzen duten eskuturrekoak ere banatuko dituzte. Athleticeko jokalariek, berriz, euskararen aldeko pankarta aterako dute gaurko partidaren hasieran.
Gora Euskal Herria!

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Friday, December 02, 2005

Euskararen Nazioarteko Eguna

The newly created EuskoSare is working hard to advance the use of Euskera, the Basque language.
They have called for December 3rd to become Euskera Day.
Here you have the information:

In support of Euskara, this initiative is a campaign open to all that will conclude on December 3rd when International Euskara Day will be celebrated. Using EuskoSare, Eusko Ikaskuntza proposes a series of actions to help spread the message to the entire world in support of the Basque language.

On December 3rd, International Euskara Day (Euskararen Nazioarteko Eguna) will be celebrated in many different parts of the world. This celebration was created by Eusko Ikaskuntza-Society of Basque Studies in 1948 and held its first celebration in 1949 with ceremonies held in cities from all parts of the world. Since then and with the addition of entities, institutions, and Basque organizations from different countries, the celebration has become more powerful each time.

After this 2005 edition, Eusko Ikaskuntza proposes to actively use today's modern technology. That is why EuskoSare will be the tool for promoting the Basque language. In order achieve that, there is a separate section dedicated within this site:

You can participate in this celebration by one of the following ways:

Show your support for Euskara by means of brief text messaging.

Participate on December 3rd: Global Campaign of Text Messaging via cell phones and email with the slogan "Get hooked on Euskara!"

May the message in support of the Basque language reach millions of people that day!
The author of this blog joins this campaign.
Let Euskera grow strong!

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Today on EITb

Here you have some of the notes published in English by EITb:
The former president of the Basque Parliament, Juan Maria Atutxa, has been interviewed on TV. There he has affirmed there have been "important moves" in favour of a peace process.
Thus, he sees the Spanish president "completely convinced" and "taking risks" to reach an agreement, while within outlawed Batasuna he feels "some will" that must be accompanied by facts.
The Basque Parliament has approved a proposal in favour of the right of homosexuals to get married. There they condemn those attempts carried out by different sectors to oppose their marriage.
The vote has been secret following the petition of the Socialist Party, and although parliamentarians have supported their respective parties' stance, two of them have abstained.
The Center for Basque Studies of the University of Nevada, Reno will be holding a press conference on Monday, December 5th at Euskaltzaindia’s Bilbao location (Plaza Barria, 15) to present this year’s publications, thirteen in all.
The event beginning at 12:00pm will be attended by Center director, Joseba Zulaika, along with a number of authors including: Mari Jose Olaziregi, Gabriel Gatti, Iñaki Martinez de Albeniz, Pedro Ibarra, Jon Azua, Javier Viar, Joxerra Garzia, and Agustin Oiarzabal. Press kits will be provided to journalists in attendance.
Basque president Juan José Ibarretxe announced that the regional executive was planning to start an innovation agency in which private and public material would be shared with local businesses and that would "synthesize the progress made over the last six years" in information technologies, R&D+I and quality. Ibarretxe announced that the new organization would "try to measure quality while enabling us to take the region's temperature to get daily updates on our progress in these areas."
Úbiqa tecnología, ideas y comunicación, member of Basque audiovisual cluster EIKEN, launches Basque rock band Doctor Deseo's latest CD-DVD. The veteran group of Bilbao releases its eighth album, Metamorfosis. It is a live concert that was performed on January 18th at Bilbao's Arriaga Theatre.
The concert is dedicated to the fans that have closely followed the band's 18-year career. Metamorfosis is a compilation of the group's all-time greatest hits.
Remember, to read the entire note you can click on the title of each digest.

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