Sunday, May 29, 2005

The West

Just like that, "The West", for whatever that means.

A few weeks ago I read an article on the Serbian press that claimed a diplomatic effort to grant Kosovo independence was underway.

I dismissed it, after all, it was the Serbian press, and well, you get used to drivel like that coming from places like Belgrade or Madrid.

I was sorely mistaken, just a couple of days ago I read the footnote to a picture taken in Kosovo that read: "The West hopes to open talks later this year on whether Kosovo becomes independent - as the 90-percent Albanian majority demands - or remains formally part of Serbia."

And it slapped me on the face.

It is actually happening, they will grant independence to Kosovo, and all that talk about the unity of the nation-states, all that talk about doing anything possible to prevent the Balkans from erupting into violence, all that talk about not allowing nationalities vying for independence that harbor armed groups among them to get away with what they demand, all that was nothing but lies.

And to hell with Euskal Herria, Catalonia, Corsica, Brittany and all the other European nationalities without state.

That simple footnote is very telling of all the hypocrisy and double standard in today's politics, a lack of consistency that leaks to all the main media outlets.

There is a country called Albania, and believe it or not, it is inhabitated by Albanians.

If independence is granted to Kosovo, then they will be free to join Albania, which in turn will tell the Albanians living in Macedonia that they too can split from that nation and join the long held dream of a Greater Albania. And then there is sizable Albanian communities in northern Greece and in southern Croatia, so the forecast here is that the West will continue to facilitate the transfer of territories from all neighboring countries, and I'm thinking here that they will all say yes, just go ahead.

Recipe for disaster if you ask me, only a fool would think that the Serbians will be the only ones to be against the idea.

But check this part: "as the 90-percent Albanian majority demands".

Whoa!

Meaning 90% of people described as "ethnic" Albanians. Not Serbians of Albanian background, no, no, no, ethnic Albanians.

If the Basques would dare to say something nowhere close to that they would be called racists or something similar.

Can we say that in the past elections in Euskal Herria 90% of the Basques voted for the pro-independence parties (PNV, EA, Aralar and EHAK), while the Spaniards voted for the PSOE and the PP?

In that case, if the Alabanians are to the Basques what the Spaniards are to the Serbians, then, the West has more redrawing of borders to do.

Oh no, but wait, the Basques allow ETA to act with impunity, and well, the KLA/NLA are sisters of charity planting flowers and building amusement parks for Serbian and Macedonian children.

But Kosovo always belonged to the Albanians since the dawn of times, some will claim.

Yes, and the Basques arrived in Euskal Herria just 50 years ago.

What about the claim that Euskal Herria does not have the economic potential to be independent?

Albania is the poorest country in Europe, while Euskal Herria (and Catalonia for that matter) are two of the richest regions in Europe!

Darn, I'm about to lose my faith on the almighty West.

*Here you have a couple of news articles to bring you up to speed:

Bush Has Plan to Act on the Status of Kosovo

Kosovo Faces Renewed War

Report: UN Mission in Kosovo a Farce


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One Basque Country in Peace

Seems like I got a few Basque-phobes incensed at HispaLibertas.

They came up with some sort of non sense that they think insults me.

Just a couple of things here:

a) I like Spaniards, have nothing against them, I think they got a raw deal from the hands of Franco and again from the hands of the Neo Francoist Partido Popular.

Other than that, their unability to understand that Euskal Herria, Catalonia and Galiza are bound to go their own way sooner or later can be blamed on a lack of consistency between what they believe in and what was ingrained in them by their older generations.

It is that inconsistency what leads them to champion the cause of self determination and independence of Tibet, Palestine, Kosovo, Checnya and Kurdistan at the same time that they refuse to let go of the nations trapped in this monolythic ideal of a One Spain.

b) Not all of us Basques come from Hegoalde, something that the dimwits from HispaLibertas seem to miss when addressing the author of this blog.

Their own fault, they are so obsessed with this idea that the Basques want to break up Holly Spain that they really believe the Basques are Spaniards.

And that would be all Basques, including the ones from Iparralde damn it!


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Palm Trees in Bilbo

At the blog Palm Trees you can find quite a few excellent pictures of the Guggo, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbo.

The author of that blog takes the Basque city of Bilbo to task, but the pictures are good nevertheless.

And by the way, the Basque Country is NOT Spain, as many people around the world would like yout to think.

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Saturday, May 28, 2005

This Is Missing

(This post was moved from Berri Berriak/Bitxikeriak)

Thanks for the answers to the previous post "What's Missing?".

This is what is missing.

The picture I posted says: "Children play next to graffitti writen in Basque..."

Now, picture one says: "Ethnic Hmong refugee children walk through the remains..."

While picture two says: "An ethnic Albanian farmer works on his land..."

So, what the heck are the children in the picture I posted here?

Japanese?

Nope, they are Basque.

And that is the quid of the question, our wonderfully balanced media tailors the information it provides to meet its own objectives, whatever those objectives are.

If you ask me, their goal is to manipulate the international community's perception of what goes on in certain part of the world. I can tell you one more thing, they do not do that for free, oh no sir, their pockets are conveniently lined.

If they were to say that the children in the picture are "ethnic Basque children" there would be acknowledging that in fact, the Basques are not Spaniards. Just like the Albanians are not Serbians. Spain spends a lot of moolah in trying to convince people that the Basques are in fact disenchanted Spaniards, but Spaniards nevertheless.

So, this way is easier for those easy to manipulate to think something in the lines of "those Basques are crazy, it they are Spaniards, why do they want to be separated from the rest of Spain?".

The media then makes sure that the readers, who would usually root for the underdog, get all confused about what to think.

Enter the word ethnic, and images of holocausts and genocides come into place. Poor ethnic groups, always persecuted by the big bad villains. We must stop those tyrants from erasing the defenseless ethnic groups from the face of the Earth.

So we think, look at Laos, mistreating their poor ethnic Hmongs.

Or look at Serbia, bent on killing off every single ethnic Albanian.

And look at Spain, dealing with those Spaniards ...oh wait, well, that's fine.

So, on the Hmong and the Albanian issues, the media takes the side of the perceived underdog, but not on the Basque issue.

Unique, indeed.

If you don't believe, follow this links to News Photos at Yahoo, for the first one I typed Albanian, for the second one I typed Basque, check out the footnotes and start two columns where you can place a little "x" each time you see the word ethnic. See how many you get on each column.

Those are two European ethnic groups, guess which one has a country to call home, guess which one doesn't.

The irony of this all is that, as Angie can tell you, my roommate is Albanian.

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Friday, May 27, 2005

One Picture...


Bilbo Posted by Hello

...says more than a thousand words.

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Good Question

"Does anyone thinks this will help to bring about peace?"

-Miren Azkarate.

On today's edition, Berria English publishes an article with the reaction by Miren Azkarate, spokesman (spokeswoman?) for the PNV to the arrest of Arnaldo Otegi.

She went on to say:
There is no denying that the decision has a political tinge. “Certain acts carried out by the Spanish National Criminal Court do not escape the suspicion of being politically motivated.” She said she is “astounded” whenever she hears about such judicial proceedings, because they have tended to have very little basis, and remind her of the Egunkaria case or the freezing of Martin Ugalde’s bank accounts.
The article also contains the reaction by Josu Imaz:
Josu Jon Imaz, the Chairman of the National Executive Committee (EBB) of the EAJ-PNV, said during comments he made to the Telecinco channel in Madrid that there were real suspicions of a political motive behind the jailing of Otegi. He said: “It was a decision taken to use justice for political ends.” He put the jailing of Otegi in the context of the indictments issued by Judge Garzon of the Spanish National Criminal Court, and said “Garzon has not stood out for being specific in legal matters.”
Bottom line, the situation does not help the dialogue. The Basque society wants a peaceful resolution, it is the only way to end a violence that is an everyday reality for many families in Euskal Herria and Spain.

The problem is that Madrid is fully engaged on criminalizing ideas, when that happens, then the communication is poisoned. That is how no matter how many times you reject the violence unleashed by an armed group, if you also denounce the violence generated by an state against an entire society, then you are an apologist.

Go figure that one out.

Just a couple of days ago Amnesty International issued a press release in which it states its dismay over the denial by the Spanish Courts to look into the multiple claims of torture against Basques and immigrants.

There is people that has never pronounced themselves against the rampant torture at the Guardia Civil detention centers, but they oh so ready to cast judgement on others.

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Thursday, May 26, 2005

I Stand Corrected

Seems like there has been some reactions in the international media regarding the arrest of Arnaldo Otegi.

This comes from Yahoo News, via AFP:
The detention of a leading Basque politician, following a spate of bombings by his hardline nationalist allies, sparked anger in the region and buffeted Spanish government hopes of brokering a political dialogue.

The banned Basque nationalist party Batasuna accused Madrid of being behind the detention overnight of its spokesman Arnaldo Otegi and called on supporters to demonstrate against his imprisonment.
Of course, the note stinks, for Otegi was not indicted, he was accused. And in the civilized world we tend to uphold a simple legal concept that goes like this: You are innocent until proven guilty.

Madrid claims that Otegi and Batasuna are the political arm of ETA, therefore, it is up to Madrid to prove it. It has been more than two years since Batasuna was banned thanks to a law of political parties that reminds us how much José María Aznar loves Francisco Franco.

In those two years, the courts have produced nothing, violating a second principle in law, timely trial.

So, that part about "his hardline nationalist allies," is what we can call drivel.

Here is another pearl:
However, Justice Minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar insisted Otegi's incarceration showed the "determination of all institutions to deal with ETA."
Meaning, arrest and incarcerate any Basque that moves.

This the one shoe fits all tactic; if they want to speak Euskera, if they want self determination, if they speak of freedom, they all belong to ETA.

Easy and simple, that line of thought worked for people like Franco, Pinochet, Mussolini, Milosevic, Stalin and Hitler.

This whole thing just comes to show the state of exception and the blatant political apartheid in place against the Basques.

The article gets only 0ne thing right, actions like this one do nothing to improve the dialogue. It takes away hope.

After all these years of violence, all what people want is peace.

* You can read the entire article at Artxiboak along with all the other articles mentioned today.

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Demonstration in Elgoibar


Askatu Posted by Hello

Supporters of jailed leader Arnaldo Otegi of the Basque nationalist party Batasuna carry a banner written in Basque, which reads 'Release Arnaldo', during a demonstration in Otegi's hometown of Elgiobar, northern Spain, May 26, 2005. Otegi was jailed on Thursday, accused of belonging to armed separatist group ETA, with bail set at 400,000 euros ($502,800), court documents showed. REUTERS/Vincent West

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To Jail a Politician

This is not happening in North Korea.

This violation of civil liberties is not taking place in Saddam's Irak.

Many would think that a politician on the opposition could only be jailed in Castro's Cuba.

No.

This is taking place in advanced Europe, where human rights are allegedly upheld against all sorts of abuse.

Not in Spain, not when it comes to the Basques.

Yesterday, Arnaldo Otegi was called to testify in regards of the allegations leveled against him by clown judge Baltasar Garzón.

This is what took place according to BBC News:
The spokesman for the banned Basque nationalist party has been detained on suspicion of being a leader of the armed separatist group Eta.

The judge said there was evidence that Arnaldo Otegi's Batasuna group was in a network with Eta.

Mr Otegi, who has been a member of the Basque regional parliament, can be released from prison if he pays a bail of 400,000 euros (£275,266).

BBC News goes on to say:

Batasuna has denied being the political wing for Eta but has refused to condemn attacks by the group.

Last year, Mr Otegi called for peaceful dialogue between all sides to end decades of armed conflict, but he stopped short of making an explicit call for an Eta ceasefire.

Of course, such a punitive measure against a politician engaged in a process aimed at ending the violence caused some reactions among the few people that are consistent with what they champion, in this case, Gerry Adams, leader of the Irish Sinn Fein, a political entity that is widely known as the IRA's political arm.

This is what UTV tells us:
Arnaldo Otegi was jailed after a judge said there was evidence of links between Eta and the Basatuna political group.

But Mr Adams warned the Spanish authorities that the process of criminalising Basque leaders would undermine efforts to rebuild the peace process there.
What Mr. Adams say makes sense, if what you really want is a peaceful resolution. Here you have some more:
"Yesterday`s decision to jail Basatuna leader Arnaldo Otegi is deeply concerning and will only serve to setback efforts to establish a peace process," he said.

"The policy of criminalisation and exclusion pursued by successive Spanish governments has been a failure and should be ended.

"It is our view that a real opportunity exists to make progress and last week`s vote in the Spanish parliament, and the outcome of the recent elections in the Basque country, are further evidence of that. This opportunity should be grasped."
Batsuna went ahead and called for a news conference in Donostia to condemn the jailing of their leader.

This is what Expatica tells us about it:
The banned Basque nationalist party Batasuna accused the Spanish government of being behind the detention of its spokesman.

Batasuna, which was outlawed for its links to ETA, called on supporters to demonstrate against the imprisonment.

Permach goes into more detail:

Permach, however, said the arrests would not change the party's proposal for a political solution to the decades-old conflict, including direct talks between the government and ETA.

"Today, Batasuna reiterates its commitment despite the imprisonment of Otegi. No external agent will be able to change the strategy of the independent left," he said.

So, now all we can do is wait and see.

Will the international community decry this episode?

Fat chance.

UPDATE: The author of HispaLibertas (who happens to be a Basque-phobe like the Barcepundit and the Trasatlantic Intelligencer) has dedicated an entire post to respond to this post of mine. If you wish to learn the way a Pro One Spain Under God clone thinks, go check it out, warning, the post is in Spanish.

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Goirizelaia Speaks


Madrid Posted by Hello

Jone Goirizelaia, lawyer for Arnaldo Otegi, the head of the outlawed Basque nationalist party Batasuna, speaks to reporters outside the high court in Madrid May 26, 2005. A Spanish judge ordered Otegi jailed on Thursday, accused of belonging to armed separatists ETA, but said he could be freed on bail of 400,000 euros ($502,800), court documents showed. Otegi, who has served a four year prison term for ETA-related crimes, lost his immunity from prosecution as a member of the Basque parliament earlier this year. REUTERS/Paul Hanna

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Batasuna's News Conference


Donostia Posted by Hello

Jose Permach, a leading member of the outlawed Batasuna party, seen as the political wing of the Basque Separatist group ETA, talks at a news conference in San Sebastian, Spain, May 26, 2005. Permach said the Spanish government was behind the judge's order to jail the leader of Batasuna, Arnaldo Otegi. The order came late Wednesday at the end of a day in which a powerful car bomb blamed on ETA injured 52 people in Madrid. Batasuna members scrambled Thursday to come up with the 400,000 (US$ 500,000) set by the judge as bail to get him out of prison. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

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Free Otegi


Askatu Posted by Hello

Tourists pass a mural saying in the Basque language 'free Otegi' in San Sebastian, Spain, Thursday, May 26, 2005. A Spanish judge has jailed outlawed Batasuna party leader Arnaldo Otegi, the Basque region's most prominent pro-independence militant, accusing him of being a leader of the armed separatist group ETA. Associates of Otegi accused the government Thursday of being behind the order and undermining efforts for peace in a region scarred by decades of violence. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Liverpool's Basque Savior

They were down three to nothing.

Their dream of becoming the European League champions was all but gone.

But they would not go without a fight, Steve Gerrard and then Vladimir Smicer were in charge to put the team in red on the score board.

Finally, Xabi Alonso, the Basque midfielder from Donostia would be the one to give Liverpool the chance to fight for the championship with his goal.

And they went on to win it, making history in the process.


Ataturk Stadium Posted by Hello

Liverpool's midfielder Xabi Alonso (L) scores on the rebound after his penalty shot was saved as AC Milan's Italian defender Alessandro Nesta (2nd L) tries to block him during the Champions League final soccer match at the Ataturk Olympic stadium in Istanbul May 25, 2005. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

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Otegi in Madrid


Madrid Posted by Hello

Arnaldo Otegi (L), leader of Batasuna, a political party banned as a representative of the Basque separatist guerrilla group ETA, and his lawyer Jone Goiricelaya (R) arrive at Madrid's High Court May 25, 2005. Otegi appears on Wednesday before a judge on charges of belonging to an armed group and extortion. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

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Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Actually, More Like Twenty

Liverpool and A.C. Milan are about to come face to face in the Champion's League final.

This article says that players of nineteen different nationalities will be present on the field.

Here is the list: Brazil, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Argentina, Denmark, Georgia, Portugal, Poland, Finland, France, Spain, Germany, Norway, Czech Republic, Australia, Croatia, Ireland, Italy and England.

That makes 19.

And the one Basque player?

Well, that brings the figure to twenty.


Xabi Posted by Hello

Liverpool's Xabi Alonso adjusts his headphones during a news conference at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul May 24, 2005. Liverpool will face AC Milan in the Champions League final on Wednesday. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

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Monday, May 23, 2005

If People Listens

Against what I have come to expect from them, Time Magazine actually published a note regarding the ongoing effort from Rodriguez Zapatero to stablish talks with ETA with the purported objective of a peace deal.

It is just that Time Magazine again and again fails to publish anything of what goes on in the world that directly or indirectly affects the Basque Country.

Part of the smoke screen campaign if you ask me.

The article called "It's Good to Talk" is writen in a positive light, although they fail to provide Batasuna with the benefit of being innocent until proven guilty.
The Spanish Congress last week passed a resolution giving the government authority to negotiate with eta — if it lays down its arms. Batasuna, the banned political party close to eta, welcomed the move. "We think it's a step in the right direction," says Arnaldo Otegi, Batasuna's spokesman.
But hey, at least they portray the PP on all their arrogant and bullish ways:
The opposition Popular Party (PP) and victims' groups are livid, accusing Zapatero of providing eta with what María San Gil, the PP's leader in the Basque Country, called "the oxygen that they were lacking."

And the bottom line of the story is, only by stablishing an honest dialogue can the violence come to an end, which is what both Basques and Spaniards want.

Time says it this way:
Keep those communication channels open.
Yes, please, do so.

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EHAK Flexes its Muscle


Izaskun Bilbao Posted by Hello

Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) member Izaskun Bilbao (centre R) greets deputies after she was elected for the Basque regional parliament presidency in Vitoria, northern Spain, May 23, 2005. Bilbao's election victory puts an end to the deadlock which occurred after the former PNV candidate for presidency, Juan Maria Atutxa, and Socialist PSE candidate Manuel Buen were tied with 33 votes each after several rounds of voting. Bilbao won an absolute majority with 42 votes. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Sunday, May 22, 2005

Big "Ez" in Baiona


Baiona Posted by Hello

Supporters of the 'no' vote, most of them Basques, carry banners and Basque flags during a march for the 'no' vote in next week's referendum, in Bayonne, southwestern France, Saturday, May 21, 2005. With just days left before the May 29 referendum, polls show a statistical dead heat over the 'yes' or 'no' to the European Union's first constitution. The banner reads: 'No to this constitution' (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

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Friday, May 20, 2005

Stuck With 33


Imaz Posted by Hello

Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) president Josu Jon Imaz holds a news conference following the third day of parliamentary elections for the Basque regional parliament presidency in Vitoria, northern Spain May 19, 2005. As happened on Monday and Tuesday, Juan Maria Atutxa, the current parliamentary president, was tied with Socialist PSE candidate Manuel Buen with 33 votes each. Voting was then suspended until Monday. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Thursday, May 19, 2005

Is Mayo Back?

I certainly hope he is.


Iban Mayo Posted by Hello

Iban Mayo looks on after finishing the third stage, from Salou to La Granada at the Tour of Catalonia cycling race in La Granada, near Barcelona, May 18, 2005.

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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Uri Avnery and The Basque Lullaby

I thought it was over, but seems like the whole thing about Naomi Shemer lifting the tune for "Jerusalem of Gold" from and old Basque lullaby has been creating havoc in Israel.

Here is what Uri Avnery, member of Gush Shalom, has to say about the issue:
The song touched the souls of all who heard it. But it would have remained just a beautiful song if the Six-Day War had not broken out a few weeks later. The Israeli Army conquered East Jerusalem, reaching the Western Wall, a remnant of the ancient Jewish Temple. Israel was swept by the intoxication of victory, spiced with a semi-religious mysticism.
Overnight, "Jerusalem of Gold" became the supreme expression of a victory that was seen as a redemption.
At the time, I was a member of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, and saw an opportunity. I do not like our national anthem. Written more than 100 years ago, it expressed the longing of the Jewish Diaspora for the Land of Israel. It is a hymn of a dispersed religious-ethnic community rather than the anthem of a sovereign state.
In addition, more than 20 percent of Israeli citizens are not Jews, and it is not healthy that so many citizens cannot identify with the anthem and the flag of their state.
I proposed Naomi Shemer's song as a national anthem, introducing a bill in the Knesset to this effect. Its speaker insisted I obtain Shemer's agreement, so I met her in a Tel Aviv café. I detected a certain hesitation on her part, which I understand only now. But in the end she was not opposed to the idea.
The bill was never put to a vote, but "Jerusalem of Gold" has since enjoyed the unofficial status of a second national anthem, and especially as the anthem of the Six-Day War. This is what makes the present uproar more than a scandal about a song and its author. "Jerusalem of Gold" has suffered the same fate as the Six-Day War.
If you read the whole article, you will realize Mr. Avnery is to date the harshest but most objective critic of the motives that pushed Mrs. Shemer to lie about plagiarizing the song.

The note appeared today at The Herald Tribune, the name there is "Meanwhile: A Song and a Victory that Ring Hollow", but it has been around in a few Muslim media outlets for a couple of days. It seems like there is not too much love for Mr. Avnery among some sectors in Israel due to his position in regards of a peace process with the Palestinians.

You can also read the Printer Friendly Version and a copy I have at Artxiboak under the name Death of a Myth.

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Batasuna and the Peace Talks


Donostia Posted by Hello

Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the outlawed Basque separatist party Batasuna, speaks during a news conference in San Sebastian, Spain, May 18, 2005. Spain's parliament granted the government permission on Tuesday to open peace talks with ETA if the illegal Basque separatist group lays down its arms, a possible step toward ending 37 years of killing. REUTERS/Pablo Sanchez

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Graffitti in Gernika


Gernika Posted by Hello

Two girls run past a stencilled anagram of the Basque separatist group in Gernika, northern Spain, May 18, 2005. Spain's parliament granted the government permission on Tuesday to open peace talks with ETA if the illegal Basque separatist group lays down its arms, a possible step toward ending 37 years of killing. The words written in Basque language reads: 'The two paths are one.' REUTERS/Vincent West

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Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Yes to Talks With ETA

It seems to be a huge political victory for Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The Spanish Parliament has green lighted his proposal to talk to ETA with aims at a resolution to the armed conflict.

From here on, there is just hope that this will be it, this will be an honest approach by Madrid to the end of the violent spiral triggered by Franco and his Falangists over 60 years ago.

Every step of the way will be full of obstacles laid down by those among the PP and the other parties and groups that will do anything they can to perpetuate an status quo that fits the way they like doing things.

For them, there is only one way to deal with the dreams of independence of the three nations within Spain looking for their self determination, and that is through repression, abusive measures and political apartheid.

They will rear their ugly heads here and there, read on:

The Popular Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, calls Zapatero's proposal a premature gesture to a terrorist group that detonated four small bombs over the weekend. Rajoy says Zapatero's overture amounts to the "surrender of Parliament" to ETA because the group has not renounced violence or declared a cease-fire, and Zapatero should keep pressuring ETA through police measures.

"We don't understand the why or wherefore of this proposal," Popular Party parliamentary spokesman Eduardo Zaplana told the chamber. "We don't see why the government must be the interpreter for a supposed willingness to abandon terrorism, which ETA refutes with its constant crimes."

Tuesday's vote is politically potent and could be the death knell for an anti-terrorism cooperation pact that the Socialists and the Popular Party have abided by for several years.

But Zapatero, accused of being naive by the darkest forces in Madrid, has this to say:

Zapatero argues now that ETA has been decimated by arrests and has not staged a fatal attack in two years, so the time is right to try to launch a peace process. No previous Spanish government ever openly sought Parliament's backing for the idea of negotiating with ETA.

A poll released over the weekend showed overwhelming popular support for talks with ETA if the group renounces violence.

And I really want to believe him, but the PSOE will forever be linked to the GAL, and well, that is something that we as Basques can not afford to forget.

One thing I have to say is, the talks with ETA have nothing to do with the political negotiations in place with the different political parties in Euskal Herria, who ever thinks that needs to learn a lot more about what is going on in the Basque Country.

The Basque society has proven again and again, at the voting stations, that their will is their self determination, and that is something that not Madrid nor ETA will take from them.

However, it opens a door of hope for all those political prisoners in both Spain and France, accused of belonging to ETA just because they defend the right of Euskal Herria to be.

If ETA calls a truce, or if they give up the armed struggle in behalf of a political avenue, then there will be no more excuses for the repressive Spanish forces to go around closing down news outlets and schools, arresting people in the middle of the night, torturing and murdering innocent individuals, nor they will keep Basques in preventive prison for up to 5 years just to drop the charges and charge huge fines for them to go home after being in prison for the crime of loving their country, their people, their language and their culture.

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Zapatero Celebrates Approval for Talks


Zapatero Posted by Hello

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (C) speaks with Spanish Industry Minister Jose Montilla (R) and Socialist parliamentarian leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba after a parliamentary session in Madrid May 17, 2005. Spain's parliament granted the government permission on Tuesday to open peace talks with ETA if the illegal Basque separatist group lays down its arms, a possible step toward ending 37 years of killing. REUTERS/Victor Fraile

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Atutxa Ties Again


Gazteiz Posted by Hello

Basque communist party deputy Karmele Barasategi (L) walks by Basque premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe (R) on the second day of parliamentary elections for the Basque regional parliament presidency in Vitoria, northern Spain, May 17, 2005. As happened on Monday, Atutxa, the current parliamentary president, was tied with Socialist PSE candidate Manuel Buen with 33 votes each. Voting was then suspended until Thursday. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Idaho and The Basques

The city of Boise in Idaho is revving up for the upcoming Jaialdi 2005.

Home to the largest Basque community in the USA, Boise counts with a major of Basque background and it boasts a number of Basque venues.

Last weekend I again was prompted to explain that the Basques are not Spaniards nor French, they are Basques.

Today the Idaho Statesman published an article called "Many Historical Figures Were of Basque Culture But Called Spaniards". Or French, like Maurice Ravel and Louis Daguerre.

Someone ended up at my blog after typing the words "what do the Basque people look like?".

Good question, but it would be best to look at some pictures, gladly, I have published many here, so hopefully this confused cybernaut found the answer.

Here is a couple of paragraphs from the note:
It has been the fate of the Basque people to be under the domination of France and Spain for many centuries, and for their accomplishments to be credited to those countries.Did you know that Columbus reached the New World in 1492 with a Basque navigator named Lakotze, called by the Spanish Juan de la Cosa? Or that we credit the first circumnavigation of the globe to Magellan, even though he was killed in the Philippines, and it was a Basque captain named Elkano who sailed the survivor of the expedition's three ships back to Spain?

Things haven't changed much in our time either. When Jose Maria Olazabal won the Masters golf championship in 1999 he was called a Spaniard, as was Miguel Endurain when he won the Tour de France bicycle race for an unprecedented fifth time in a row.

The last name is actually Indurain, but oh well.

You can also read the whole article here.

.... ... .

Is There Hope?

Excuse my skepticism.

Even knowing that the PP is out of the picture thanks to their commitment to the old Francoist ideals and their inclination to openly repress everything and anything Basque, I still have my doubts about the honesty from Madrid to seek a resolution, the PSOE's track record is not exactly something to admire.

And well, ETA is not helping either.

From the whole article "All Parties Barring the PP Prepare to Back ETA Talks", this is the part worth reading:

The resolution, stemming from Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's commitment to ending the Basque conflict, voiced during last week's state of the nation debate, would open the way to talks with ETA.

Though the motion has gained the backing of the left and regional nationalists from across Spain, the Socialists' efforts to secure the support of the PP have so far failed despite conversations between representatives of both parties yesterday. The resolution is therefore likely to be approved by 202 votes in favor to 148 against, barring a last-minute change in heart on the part of the PP. That, however, is unlikely given the conservative force's outright rejection of negotiations with terrorists.

The approval of the resolution today will be "the greatest humiliation of parliament," PP Secretary General Angel Acebes declared in a press conference yesterday.

Acebes, you can always count on him to say something really stupid.

You can find the whole article at Artxiboak.

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Monday, May 16, 2005

Atutxa's Headache


Atutxa Posted by Hello

Juan Maria Atutxa of the Basque Nationalist Party PNV (C) passes a vote from Basque communist party deputy Aiora Mitxelena (R) during parliamentary elections for the Basque regional parliament presidency in Vitoria, northern Spain, May 16, 2005. After three rounds of voting, Atutxa, the current parliamentary president, was tied with Socialist PSE candidate Manuel Buen with 33 votes each. Voting was then suspended until Tuesday. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Saturday, May 14, 2005

Simple

This article was published at Financial Times:

On the trail of Basque delights

Kieran Cooke

It’s a busy night at the Café de Bilbao. The city is celebrating the end of the working week and, at 8pm, people are crowding round the marble-topped bar.

“The Basque language is very simple,” says my friend Txanton through the hubbub. “You just need to think in a different way.”

When someone says something is simple it’s a sign – as sure as thunder follows lightning – that life is about to become complicated.

An elderly gent is reaching for the pintxos – a mouth-watering selection of savouries that adorn the top of the bar. In the act of grabbing a skewer full of octopus and peppers, he inadvertently thrusts an elbow into my back. This causes me to lurch sideways, launching a domino-like movement among the gathered drinkers. Each Bilbaino tilts a little further. A man dressed in a large black beret sitting on a bar stool at the far end of the counter catches the full force of the wave and crashes to the floor.

A plateful of prawn and aubergine goes flying. A bottle of Txakoli – the slightly fizzy white wine of the Basque region – cartwheels through the air. All eyes turn to me. Suddenly, I think of George Campbell.

Campbell, who died last year, aged 92, was a remarkable Scottish linguist who spoke and wrote fluently in more than 40 languages and had a working knowledge of at least 20 others. (Once, in a cinema watching a western featuring a battle with the Sioux, he shouted out: “They’re talking the wrong damn language.”)

However, Campbell, whose linguistic skills have been noted in the Guinness Book of World Records, was forced to admit that Basque was one of the few languages that defeated him. I’m proud to be in concert with Campbell. All I can muster in Basque are irrelevant phrases from the guidebook. “Ni John naiz” (my name is John) and “Eskerrik asko” (thank you very much). Neither is much good in the present circumstances.

Txanton shouts apologies. Coats are brushed down, berets adjusted, shoulders shrugged. Normal service is quickly resumed.

“We Basques have more – how you say – phlegm than the rest of the Spanish,” says Txanton. “We are not so exciting, we are quieter.”

To escape the noise we go to the Boulevard round the corner, one of Bilbao’s oldest cafés, full of gleaming brass and art nouveau. Remarkably, the Boulevard is also full of the other drinkers from the Café de Bilbao, going about their pre-dinner perambulations around the city’s favoured watering holes.

We do not stay long. Txanton ushers me on to a tram. We pass the Guggenheim, rain splattering off its giant shimmering titanium shell, sculptured shapes showing through its skin. We are off to Donastia – the Basque name for San Sebastian – for dinner. In Basque country, as in the rest of Spain, the evening meal is a late affair.

The bus takes an hour. The perfect, enclosed bay in San Sebastian is buffeted by a hail storm. People struggle along the esplanade, bending into the wind. By 10.30pm, dripping wet, we are sitting in a small restaurant in the parte vieja, or old quarter, of the city.

“San Sebastian boasts the most Michelin stars per square kilometre in the whole of Spain,” says the guide book. The Basques – a bit of a mystery when it comes to their origins and cultural roots – have, it seems, built a civilisation on good food and wine.

The maitre d’, a man whose corpulent frame and rosy face are testimony to the heartiness of the local cuisine, addresses me in old-fashioned, elegant French. San Sebastian is only a few miles from the French border: serious gastronomes think nothing of popping over to Basque country to indulge themselves.

My meal is chosen for me. First, says Txanton, I must have some anchovies to brighten up the pallet, followed by txipirones en su tinta (squid cooked in its own ink). Waitresses dressed in black with starched white pinafores rush about.

Txanton’s friend, Eguskina, attempts to lead me through the dark corridors of Basque history. There is talk of Visigoths, Moors and Carlists. “We are the real aboriginal people of Europe,” she says. “No one knows where Euskara, our language, comes from. It is a bastard, like no other.”

A smattering of squid ink decorates my shirt. We move on to the bacalao. It’s after midnight when we leave and it’s snowing. Eguskina laughs, saying her name, translated, means “sunshine”.

San Sebastian fills the mind – and stomach. Next morning we stand in the rain at the city’s small port and toss down delectable grilled sardines, followed by a bracing walk round the high headland that dominates one side of the bay.

There is a British cemetery: Colonel Tupper ended his days in the mid 19th century fighting in Basque country. Not a bad place to finish up: it was in those times that San Sebastian became fashionable among Europe’s aristocracy. Lords and ladies and the odd king and queen would come to take the waters and potter along the promenade, doffing hats and bowing. It’s that sort of place.

Eguskina takes me off to the San Temo museum to view what she describes as a naughty painting. Antonia Ortiz Ecague was an Argentinian artist who lived in Europe in the early 20th century. A canvas dominating one wall at San Temo, once a Dominican monastery, features a supine nude woman, looking over her shoulder with a cheeky look on her face. There are vivid colours and flowers but, to one side, there’s also a dark, priestly figure – the face of the painter himself, staring at the woman.

“It is very like the earth,” says Eguskina. “Very lovely, very complex.”

“Just like the Basques,” I say.

“No,” she says. “We are simple people.”

I hold my breath. Somehow, I know life is about to become rather complicated.

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Friday, May 13, 2005

Kurlansky on the Basques

Mark Kuralnsky, author of "The Basque History of the World", is in Sydney promoting his new book "Boogaloo on Second Avenue".
The article Big Fish in a Big Pond, notes that he is now famous for writing biographies about things: Cod, Salt, the Year 1968...
...and the Basques.
He has proven again and again how much of a friend of the Basque people he is.

It comes as no surprise then when he takes the opportunity while talking about his books to pay a compliment to the Euskaldunak:

"We live in a world in which people are really struggling with the issue of how to live in a modern global environment and still preserve their local culture and identity. The Basques have been dealing with this question for centuries. It's astonishing to me the extent to which, in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds, the Basques have preserved their culture," Kurlansky says.
The article tells us a bit about Kurlansky:
Born in 1948, he grew up in industrial, blue-collar Hartford, Connecticut, a Jewish boy in a distinctly non-Jewish neighbourhood. His home was filled with Jewish culture, from the Hebrew school he attended to the constant cooking and baking.

"My mother used to bake a dessert every night. Of course, you couldn't eat it all and there were leftovers and after a week of that there were enough baked goods to open your own shop. I remember my sister and I used to sometimes go into the kitchen late at night and just stare at all this stuff and wonder," Kurlansky says.
And then, he tells us about his upcoming book revolving about the land of so close to his heart, Euskadi:
"I always wanted to write books and to be honest ... I always saw newspapers as a way of getting into books," he says. He's working on a collection of short stories about people and food, an essay on non-violence and a translation of Emile Zola's Le Ventre de Paris. His Basque children's book, The Girl who Swam to Euskadi, will be published in the US this year.
Read his books whenever you have a chance.

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Euskaltel's Woes

There is an update about Alberto Lopez de Munain at Cycling News today, and it does not look good.
The hope is that by the end of the coming week, he will be well enough to be flown from Italy to a hospital in his hometown of Vitoria-Gasteiz. There, he will continue to receive treatment on his punctured lung and various broken bones. Head honcho, Miguel Madariaga, tells us that there is still some worry about the state of his lung. His collarbone, says Madariaga, will "require exhaustive tests to ascertain the extent of the damage and it will be a few days until we know how Alberto's situation will evolve". The good news, is that the worst seems to be over.
As if it was not enough, another team member, really struggled yesterday.
The team received a further shock on Thursday when David Lopez, who had been on the attack on that day and that before, came down in the last 10 kilometres of the stage. David seemed to try and get himself up and back on his bike, but immediately found himself incapable of doing so.
Hopefully the team will be able to get back on track, and well, maybe all of this is just a test so they can prove themselves at the Tour de France.

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Thursday, May 12, 2005

Lullaby: The Basque Twist

Why?

What is the reason for seeing things on a negative light?

Why does the knowledge that a song is a copy of another song has to have unpleasant reactions among people?

What is going to take for the Basques to stop being misrepresented in the media?

On an article that appeared at Forward, titled "The Situation: Basque Twist Tarnishes Jerusalem's 'Gold'", Ofer Shela tells us that there is many Israelis distressed by the news about Naomi Shemer's plagiarism of a Basque lullaby.

In the article, Ofer Shela talks both about the Basque lullaby and the defeat of TAU Vitoria at the hands of the Maccabi team in Moscow last weekend.

But the information Shela provides about the Basques is so full of clichés that is painful to read through it. You would think that an author that deals with how the Jewish community and Israel are misrepresented in the media constantly would be a little bit more thorough and objective about the Basque people.

The author repeats the one line that I did not like at all from Shemer's mea culpa letter:

"My only comfort is that I tell myself that perhaps it is a tune of the Anusim [Inquisition-era Spain's secret Jews or Marranos] and all I did was restore past glory."

Meaning, there is the possibility that the Basques heard the tune from an Anusim and they themselves plagiarized it for Pello Joxepe, the lullaby. So, it was just divine justice to reclaim it, and not only that, to restore it to past glory after the Basques had perverted it.

We Basques read that line, and still we were corteous and sided with Naomi. But that was not enough for Ofer Shela who then indulges on some Basque bashing. Just read this line:
The news that "Jerusalem of Gold" had been borrowed — "stolen," as many media reports put it — struck Israelis like a thunderbolt. It was as though a piece of their identity had been snatched from them by the Basques, a tiny nation within a nation in far-off Spain whose name conjures up guitars, terrorism and echoes of the Inquisition.
Guitars?

Terrorism?

Inquisition?

Is that how the Israelis and the Jewish perceive us?

I don't think so, I think that is the way Ofer Shela perceives us.

We are not known for playing the guitar, those would be the Roma or the Andaluces. We play the trikititxa (accordion), the txistu (flute) and the txalaparta (drums).

The Inquisition was quite brutal against the Basques after the defeat of Navarre. For those of you that do not know it, the Basque religious beliefs would fit into the description of Animism, think Wiccan. Now you see the picture.

And well, the same old shoe, terrorism. That one hurts, a lot.

But Ofer Shela was not done, oh no, then he uncorked this one, when talking about the basketball team TAU Vitoria:
Just days later, like lightning striking twice in the same place, Israelis won their identity back in a basketball game against, of all teams, the Basques. The May 9 game was the last round of the European championship, pitting Israel's national team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, against the fast-rising Tau Vitoria, representing the sleepy capital of Spain's Basque autonomous region.
Nevermind that no Israelis nor Basques where actually on the court.

Sleepy capital?

Talk about a bias. Sleepy is the way in which cities in Spain are constantly described. It brings back images of siestas and lazy people. But the undertone is even more telling, for the author, the Basques are actually Spaniards, there is no cultural differences between the two nationalities. We play guitars, and when we are not burning witches or setting bombs off, we take siestas.

The lazy part is an insult for both Basques and Spaniards, and since we are all the same, to Catalans and Galizans, fuck, throw the Portuguese in that one too.

What about the Basques from Iparralde, are Bayonne and Biarritz sleepy also?

This is what I was talking about when I said that this was a golden opportunity for the Jewish community and the Israelis to get to know the Basques better, and just look at that, Ofer Shela just wasted it.

Related posts:

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Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Blogosphere Reaction to Basque Lullaby

There has been some reaction in the blogosphere regarding the song "Jerusalem of Gold" by Naomi Shemer being based on a Basque lullaby.

The information can be found at the blog Blog in Dm at a series of post, starting with "The Source of Jerusalem of Gold's Melody".

The author by the name Hasidic Musician first points you towards the blog Jewschool (pretty cool iconography at that blog by the way) and more specifically to the post called "Jerusalem of Gold: Giant Ripoff".

Now, ripoff is a bit of a strong word. No one is making waves, just check out what Luistxo has to say about it at his blog "The English Cemetary" on a post that provides with a link to hear Pello Joxepe (the Basque lullaby at the center of this issue) on his post called "Hear the Basque Original for Naomi Shemer's Jerusalem of Gold".

Blog in Dm also directs you to the blog called Bloghead and more specifically the post by the name "Gold-plated Jerusalem?".

And well, the rabid racist point of view could not fail to rear its ugly head, find out by yourself at the post titled "Jerusalem of Goldberg".

Related posts:
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EHAK Talks to Patxi


Patxi EHAK Posted by Hello

Patxi Lopez (L), Socialist Party candidate for the Basque premiership, meets Maite Aranburu (2nd L), Nekane Erauskin (2nd R) and Karmele Berasategi, representatives of the Communist Party of the Basque Lands (EHAK), at Socialist headquarters in Bilbao May 10, 2005. Lopez, the leader in the Basque Country of Spain's ruling Socialist Party said on May 5 he was seeking the Basque premiership in a challenge to the region's moderate nationalist leader Juan Jose Ibarretxe. REUTERS/Vincent West

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Monday, May 09, 2005

Euskaltel's Rider Accident

When exactly is this spat of accidents going to come to an end?

The riders of the Euskaltel Euskadi team have been involved in a series of serious accidents in the last couple of years.

First it was the terrible crash (under rather suspicious circumstances) suffered by Joseba Beloki in the Tour de France 2003.

Then came the one by Iban Mayo in that godforsaken cobbled road in the Tour de France 2004, the one that exposed a certain scumbag as someone that does not believe in concepts like chivalry or sportsmanship.

Today, sadly, Alberto López de Munain fell and hit the guard rail face first while competing in the Giro d'Italia.

The Daily Peloton reports that he is in good conditions now, taking into consideration the gravity of the accident.

Enough of it, please.

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Sunday, May 08, 2005

To Commemorate the Nazi Defeat

There has been multiple news articles regarding the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 during the last few days.

There is plenty of reasons to commemorate, and to celebrate.

60 years later, the importance of what took place reverberates in the lives of millions of people.
I am but one more person who lost a family member to the conflagration, my grandfather was a Basque gudari who gave his life fighting against Nazi Germany in particular and Fascism in general.

In his blog The Moderate Voice, Joe Gandelman published a post called "Bush: FDR Blew It On Postwar Europe". It refers to the attitude towards the Soviet Union after the end of the conflict that enabled Stalin to subjugate vast swaths of Central and Eastern Europe.

It would be a good idea to read that post and follow the links that he posted there.

But it was not only in the East that the Allies dropped the ball. Sadly enough, they did so in the West also, when they allowed for Francisco Franco to remain in power even after the Fascist idiot had been ushered to power by Hitler and Mussolini.

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero took part of a ceremony in Mauthausen in which many Republican Spaniards, Basques and Catalans met their deaths.

The Nazis wanted to make sure their little puppet in Spain would not have many enemies left. In the mean time, Franco's Blue Brigade fought alongside the Nazis in Stalingrad and later in the defense of the German Fatherland.

The Allies had promised the Basques, the Catalans and the Republican Spaniards that they would take care of Franco, but soon after the capitualtion of Nazi Germany those who call the shots decided that it was not to their best interest to keep that promise, and Francisco Franco, a Hitler underling, was spared.

Later he would be used as a pawn in the face off between the Free World and the Soviet Union. What he did in Euskal Herria, Catalonia and Spain during his reign of terror has been downplayed by the press and by the way the governments both in America and Europe impart their view of history and Franco's place in it.

There is a lot that needs to be done to correct those mistakes.

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Friday, May 06, 2005

Poisonous Politics

That is about the only way you can describe what Patxi Lopez is doing.

Here are his words according to Reuters on its article titled "Spanish Sociales Seeks to Become Basque Premier":
"I am ready to present my candidacy as lehendakari (Basque premier) out of respect for the thousands and thousands of Basque citizens who have made a firm commitment for things to be done differently," Patxi Lopez told a party meeting which endorsed his bid to become Basque leader.
This coming from a candidate that got 19 electoral votes. Which begs the question.

Just exactly in what kind of democracy someone that won 19 electoral votes feels like he has more rights that someone that won 29 electoral votes?

Only in Spain, and its "young" democracy, obviously.

Please, notice the misnomer he uses on the Spaniards that live in the BAC:
"out of respect for the thousands and thousands of Basque citizens who have made a firm commitment for things to be done differently"
Give me a break.

And then, he gets really nasty:
Lopez launched a sharp attack on moderate nationalist Juan Jose Ibarretxe, Basque premier for the last six years, accusing him of seeking to become "a kind of lehendakari for life, a lehendakari by divine right."
Divine right?

Only the idiotic followers of Fraga, Aznar and the PP believe in such things as Divine Rights.

Finally, a sobering thought by rancid Anti-Basque Reuters:
He could seek allies in the Popular Party, which won 15 seats in the election, but building a majority looks impossible without the backing of Basque nationalists or communists.
And those communists are EHAK, the party often described as Pro-Independence.

Bleak.

Patxi is coming across as a sore loser.

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It's OK

After reading the breaking news about Naomi Shemer plagiarizing a Basque lullaby for her famous song "Jerusalem of Gold", which is considered an alternate national antem for the Israelis, many thought that the Basques were going to be upset.

As violent as they are.

For anyone that knows the Basque character the reaction should not come as a surprise.

And what is the reaction?

In the words of Paco Ibanez in a follow-up article by Haaretz called "Shemer Had No Reason to Feel Bad, Says Basque Singer of Copied Tune":
Ibanez said yesterday that he was saddened to hear of Shemer's guilt feelings over basing the song on the Basque folk melody and not admitting it. "It is a shame. She had no reason to feel guilty," he said yesterday. "True, I think she heard the song from me, but that's life and that's how I see it. It wasn't even a secret. I spoke to friends about it and mentioned it in conversations with people. I didn't speak to Naomi Shemer since then because I didn't see her again, and it didn't really matter to me. If I had seen her, I certainly would have mentioned it, but of course, without anger."
Meaning, no hard feelings.

And just in case you want to hear the original:

Ibanez said his mother would sing the lullaby to him when he was little and sat in her lap. He recorded the song, which is based on a folk tune, in his volume "Songs I Heard from My Mother."
Dan Almagor adds a bit of info about Naomi's denial that she had lifted the tune from a Basque lullaby:
Almagor said he had been with Shemer and a group of other musicians at Ibanez's performance in a Jaffa club in the early 1960s. "[The singer] Benny Amdursky reminded her of this for years on end," he said.
So, it was not a random friend singing the song, they went to a concert by Paco Ibañez. Now, lets think about it, we are talking 1962, at that time Israel was still trying to consolidate itself, and the Basques were being opressed by Franco and his Falangists. So you can imagine in what state of mind those Israeli musicians, singer and composers went to see Ibañez perform. It is just natural that one of the songs would leave a mark on those who had the chance to go to the concert.

Like I said, hopefully the Israelis will learn a lesson from all this situation, and maybe they will come to accept the Basques for what we are.

You can also read the whole article here.

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Thursday, May 05, 2005

Reports on the Meeting

Today was the day when the Lehendakari of the BAC Juan José Ibarretxe and the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met again to discuss the ongoing negotiations in regards of the political relationship between Gazteiz and Madrid.

I want to stress that these series of meetings are being conducted exactly the way the international community has demanded from the Basques since 1945. Maybe it is time the powers to be are a bit more consistent with what they demand.

Anyway, here are a couple of recounts of what happened, first by Reuters, a news agency not too friendly to the Basques:

Spain's PM Urges Basque Leader Not To Go It Alone.
"The prime minister reminded the Basque premier that ... any reform of the statute of autonomy must have broad support from parties with parliamentary representation," said a statement from Zapatero's office after the talks.
Now, Zapatero went to into this meeting knowing that Ibarretxe has the upper hand on his bid towards a new term as a Lehendakari, enhanced by the meeting a couple of days ago with the leaders of the proscribed political party Batasuna:
In a tacit recognition that the tiny PCTV's success reflected support for Batasuna, Ibarretxe held talks on Tuesday with the heads of the outlawed party as part of consultations aimed at forming a new Basque regional government. The meeting dismayed the ruling Socialists and drew howls of outrage from the right-of-centre opposition Popular Party (PP), whose spokesman called it "shameful, indecent and intolerable". The PP wants Zapatero to outlaw the PCTV. They blame him personally for what they call the return of ETA to the Basque parliament.
On the other hand, Expatica, reported things their own style:

Zapatero In Crunch Talk Over Basque Future.

Against their usual way of reporting news about the Basque Country, Expatica actually published the words of the Lehendakari in which he insists a peace process must be followed:
Ibarretxe said prior to the talks — the second between the pair in recent months — that they were designed to set in train "a peace process and political normalisation" for the wealthy northern region whose autonomy the regional leader seeks to upgrade.
Then they are back to their old ways:

Batasuna, banned two years ago by the Spanish supreme court, called on voters to support a communist party grouping (PCVT-EHAK), which won nine seats.

Batasuna was banned because of links to armed Basque separatist group ETA, and the group features on an EU list of terrorist organisations.

If Batasuna was either a Chechen, Albanian Kosovar or Taiwanese party, the media would be questioning how come that after two years, Madrid has been unable to prove that Batasuna is the political wing of ETA. But since it is a Basque party, they just go ahead and repeat what the Spaniards say. In other words, to hell with the assumption of inocence and with the old strategy by some governments to smear the opposition with outlandish accusations.

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Basque Lullaby for Jerusalem

It is all over the news today, Naomi Shemer inspired herself on an old Basque lullaby to write her song "Jerusalem of Gold".
This is what Reuters reports:
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - "Jerusalem of Gold," a song that became Israel's anthem to victory in the 1967 Middle East war and claim to all of the holy city as its capital, was lifted from a Basque folk song, the Haaretz daily said Thursday.
It reported that a few days before her death last year, composer Naomi Shemer wrote to a colleague that an Israeli folk singer had once sung the Basque lullaby to her and the melody "must have crept into me unwittingly" while writing the song.
For decades she denied it, but on a letter written to one of her best friends, she explains that she heard the lullaby from a friend and that later, when asked to compose a song for a festival, she just added a few extra notes that gave her authory of her version.
This is the way Haaretz describes it:
"I consider the entire affair a regrettable work accident - so regrettable that it may be the reason for me taking ill," she wrote to Aldema, another Israel Prize laureate who initiated the composition of the song. "You are the only person in the world - besides my family - who should know the truth about 'Jerusalem of Gold,' and here is the truth," Shemer wrote.
Now, at the very end of the note by Haaretz, there is these intriguing words by Shemer:
At the end of her letter to Aldema, she wrote, "My only comfort is that I tell myself that perhaps it is a tune of the Anusim [Spanish or Portuguese Jews who were forced to convert and kept Jewish practices in secret, called by the insulting term Marranos by the Christians] and all I did was restore past glory. Now you, Gil, know the truth, and I permit you to publish it."
This sadly indicates a trend.
a) Once again there is an attempt to divest something Basque of its Basqueness.
b) Shemer had and many other Israelis and Jewish people around the world have a poor knowledge of the history of Euskal Herria.
When the Catholic Kings of Spain ordered all the Jewish and Muslims out of the Iberian Peninsula, many found a haven in very Basque and very Catholic Navarre. There, they enjoyed the same rights as anyone else, until Spain invaded the tiny Basque Kingdom.
During WWII, when Hitler was busy persecuting Jews all over Europe, once again Euskal Herria served both as a haven for those escaping the Gestapo and a launching pad to England, many Jews were rescued thanks to the aid of Basque gudaris, smugglers, priests, fishermen and farmers.
Is it possible that the folk singer that sang the Basque lullaby was a refugee in Euskal Herria and learned it there?
I say yes, very possible.
Or maybe the folk singer was in one ot the refugee camps in England where many Basque girls worked as volunteers after they themselves had been refugees as younger children in the very same camps?
Plausible.
So I say, this is a golden opportunity for the Jewish community around the world to learn a little bit more about the Basques, and their struggle to one day call home their own Promised Land.

Related post:

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