Reply to Bruce Crumley

One of our readers left this reply to Bruce Crumley as a comment on our post titled "Sarkozy's Imprint" from September of last year:

Bruce Crumley,

Based on your misleading and incorrect information that you have written about the French Basque I think you can mislead and confuse your readers and especially those readers who have never heard of the Basques!

This is the convoluted article that you wrote, making implications, about the French Basque youths, in your article you stated, “alienated young French people of Basque origin don't share their parents' Spanish nationality but don't feel French, either. Some are beginning to identify as Basque, with a nationalist passion that inspires them to reach out to separatists on Spain's side of Euskal Herria, as they call the Basque country”.

Let me break down the convoluted misleading and incorrect information that you have written about the French Basque:

1. Alienated young French people of Basque origin don't share their parents' Spanish nationality but don't feel French, either – you have implied two things here:

q The parents of the French Basque youths had/have Spanish nationality

q The French Basque youth are alienated because they don’t feel Spanish like their parents but don’t feel French either since they are children of immigrants!!!

2. Some are beginning to identify as Basque, with a nationalist passion that inspires them to reach out to separatists on Spain's side of Euskal Herria, as they call the Basque country” You have implied here

q The French Basque youths are identifying themselves as Basques because they feel alienated for been the children of Spanish immigrants to France

q The French Basque youths are reaching out for help from the separatists Basques in Euskal Herria as they call the Basque Country

Let me correct your mess of misinformation with the following reasons:

1. The French Basque youths don’t feel alienated in their homeland the Pays Basque which is in France for the following reasons:

q They have French nationality

q They have French Basque origin

q The French Basque youths are called French Basque because they have/had parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and so forth that have lived in France before the stone age, Celts, Romans and any latter invader/new comer to the country called France

2. The French Basque young, middle age and old have always proudly identify themselves as Basque or French Basque for the following reasons

q They are of Basque ethnicity

q They are French Basque because they and their ancestors are/were from the Basque Country/ Pay Basque in France

q The French Basque don’t want to be entangled in any geopolitical intrigue(s) or mess

The way you mention that the French Basque youth call Spain’s side of Euskal Herria or the Basque Country is unclear and somewhat incorrect.

Pays Basque is the name of the three French Basque Provinces of Labourd, Basse Navarre and Soule

Pais Vasco/Euskadi is the name for the three autonomous Spanish Basque provinces of Viscaya, Guipuzcoa and Alava

Euskal Herria is the Basque term for the historically and culturally Basque territory, which includes Euskadi (Spain), Navarra (Spain) and the Pays Basque in France

Note that Navarra was taken away from Euskal Herria

Throghtout history many have attempted the old tactics of “Divide et Impera” better known as Divide and Conquer or Divide and Rule against the Basques!

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