Saturday, September 29, 2007

Navarre's History, Struggle Against Assimilation

This comes to us thanks to our friend Txabi:

The Basque Struggle against French, Spanish Assimilation

France's absolutist monarchy found strong opposition in the northern Basque territories in France. The mercenaries of Louis XIV killed all the farmers in Zuberoa who rebelled against the policies of centralisation imposed by the monarchy. Bernard Goyhenetxe who led the rebellion in Zuberoa was guillotined.

Many of the Basque revolts against French centralisation were led by women: Mugerre and Iturbe in 1696; Ainhoa in 1724; Baiona and Donibane Garazi in 1728. In 1784, hundreds of women in Hasparren challenged 150 'grenadiers' and 5 brigades of the marechaussee. The intervention of the village priest prevented a confrontation between the women and the French forces.

The French National Assembly decreed the abolition of the feudal regime and the tithe on the night of August 4, 1789 - happily for everyone including the Basques. However, it also abolished the constitutions of the Basque territories of Navarre, Lapurdi and Zuberoa. On August 26 it introduced the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen." The Constituent Assembly furthered these reforms, proclaiming the revolutionary idea that people had the right of self-determination.

In 1790, the Basque territories were incorporated, together with Bearn, into the Departement de Basses Pyrenees.

A new assembly (the Convention) met in September 1792. It proclaimed an end to the monarchy and established the republic. The convention introduced governmental limitations on prices, declared that education should be free and compulsory, imposed taxes on the rich and made other economic and social "reforms."

The Convention took terrible measures in the Basque territories whose constitutions had been abolished by the National Assembly. Citizens of Sara, Ainhoa, Azkain, Itsaso, and Ezpeleta, without distinction of age or sex, were deported to Landes and Gers. Suspects in Kambo, Biriato, Macaio, Larresore, Medionde and Lohosa were held prisoners in churches. More than half of the deportees died of starvation, and illnesses from lack of hygiene. Survivors returned to their homes only to find these had been plundered.

The Revolution ended in 1799 when Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris and was crowned First Consul. Napoleon established a powerful central administration and a strong code of law. He introduced the `department prefets' and obligatory military service outside the provinces. French became the only official language of France.

Among its positive aspects, the French Revolution abolished the feudal regime and monarchy. It achieved the victory of liberalism and of an individual conception of society. In the Basque territories, however, "revolution" centralism suppressed the collective rights of a community: its language, laws, and institutions.

The society that emerged in the Basque territories after the French Revolution was in the hands of a small group of nobles, landowners, and merchants who were unable to guarantee the development of an industrial or commercial capitalism. Poverty and underdevelopment during the last centuries generated massive migration of their citizens to Bordeaux, Paris, and especially, to the United States.

In Spain, the main agency for the diffusion of the ideas of the Englightenment and liberalism into Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa was the Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del Pais (Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country), founded by the Basque aristocracy in Azcoitia in 1764. This society provided Carlos III (1759-88) - the same monarch who made Bolivian indian females wear dresses copied from the regional costumes of Basque and Andalusian peasant women - with the model for the subsequent establishment of similar societies throughout Spain. The main attentions of the society were oriented toward the modernization of agriculture and the Basque metallurgical industry, the two main pillars of Spanish Basque aristocratic income.

This Spanish Basque elite - both urban and rural - regarded itself as the direct descendants of those, "uncontaminated by either Jewish or Moorish blood", who had reconquered Spain from infidels and restored civilization and Christianity to the country. Although many were familiar with Euskera, Spanish was their preferred language both domestically and publically. The nouveau riche had the most costly foods brought from France; Europe's top couturiers cut their dresses and outfits; and they sent their children to study at British and French schools. They imagined themselves at the pinnacle of European culture.

In 1767 the Society, promoters and sponsors of the Hirurak Bat (Baskongadak as the Basque Country), founded the Academy of Vergara, the first secular school established in Spain. This illustrious sector also gave the "entrepreneurial inspiration" to the Royal Guipuzcoan Company, a Basque controlled trading company in Venezuela. The Royal Guipuzcoan Company's publicity brochures pointed with pride to the company's Venezuelan philanthropies much as, two centuries later, the American Standard Oil proclaimed its own virtues. The profits extracted from one of the world's reachest countries by these pundits, in proportion to the capital invested, are only comparable with those obtained by old-time slave merchants and pirates.

Navarre's hour of revenge seemed to have stricken in 1833 when peasants, artisans and small traders arouse in arms for equality and social justice and in defense of their fueros or laws.

With the ascendance of the Bourbon dynasty to the Spanish throne in the eighteenth century, state centralism became an overriding goal. The Spanish Liberal Constitution drafted by Joseph Bonaparte and ratified by the Cortes in 1812 aroused fierce opposition among Basques.

Known as the Carlists Wars (1833-1872), these guerrilla wars took the form of a popular uprising in the defence of Basque liberties and laws as opposed to Spanish centralism. Liberalism which sought the disentailment of common lands together with political and economic uniformity was an obvious political creed for the Basque urban bourgeoisie. The Basque urbanites and their liberal cronies in Madrid united to attack frontally the Basque political system based on fueros. Peasants, artisans, and small traders were fiercely opposed to integration into a Spanish national market. Integration meant the free import of Castilian cereals and livestock which would increase competition and further decrease prices. Imposition of Spanish customs duties would also result in a dramatic increase in taxation on rural consumption. In addition, the sale of common lands, which had intensified throughout the early 19th century due to liberal disentailment legislation, had already undercut a crucial buttress of
the Basque peasant economy.

The liberal Basque urbanites saw in the rural Carlists only a symbol of barbarism, the backwardeness and ignorance, the anachronism of the countryside confronting urban civilization, the beret and the abarketa against the frock coat, the stone and the knife against the troops of the line, Euskera against Spanish, illiteracy against the school. Such scorn and hatred were an expression of antipatriotism clearly tinged with political economy.

The first Carlist war broke out in 1833 and ended in 1839 with the Treaty of Bergara. The Carlists wars developed in the Spanish State but fundamentally in the three Basque provinces of Araba, Bizkaia, and Gipuzkoa and in Navarre, the conquered Basque state.

The Carlist leadership was based in Navarre. Fearing the end of their regional autonomy, Basques aligned with the Catholic church and the followers of Don Carlos, a contender to the Spanish throne, in a war against the Liberal central government. For seven years, Carlists organized their own state which spanned the Basque speaking areas of the southern territories and had the massive support of the peasants. The Carlist army comprised of volunteer Basque peasants. Historians think that the military potency of Carlism resided in the guerrilla tactics employed by its army. The first Carlist war ended four years after the death of the Carlist General Zumalakarregi.

The Treaty of Bergara offered to guarantee the Basque fueros or laws. However, the Law of 1839 which confirmed the treaty stated that "[t]he Fueros of the Basque provinces and Navarre are reaffirmed unless they are prejudicial to the constitutional unity of the monarchy." Navarre never accepted the treaty but Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa went along. There was a split between the Basque traditionalists of the interior and the liberals of the cities of Bilbo and Donostia.

Spain was paving the road to the annexation of Navarre. In 1841 the Spanish government passed the law of Modification of the Fueros (aka Pacted Law) and Navarre was transformed from a viceroyalty into a province. All legislative and executive powers were transferred from the Assembly to the Spanish parliament and government. A Provincial Assembly, an administrative body with no control over public funds, was set up as the main institution of Navarre. The establishment of compulsory military service caused uprisings during the following eight years. In 1833, a royal charter restructured the Spanish state into forty nine administratively equivalent provinces. The "Hispanic" character of Navarre, the dream of the Spanish conquerors, had come true.

The Land Reform of Madoz of 1855, despite its liberal and progressive ambitions, prepared the way for the nascent mercantilist oligarchy. Basque peasants and artisans, whose communal lands passed into the hands of the commercial and landed elites, would be turned into teeming proletariat of the Spanish economy which was to devastate the Basque countryside.

The popular insurrection, however, was used by the Carlist leadership to advanced the political ambitions of Don Carlos, brother of the deceased Spanish king, Fernando VII, allied against the defenders of Isabel II, the unanticipated daughter of the late king and the wife of his old age, Maria Cristina of Naples.

Regrettably the protection of the "Basque laws" was not the main goal of the Carlist leadership, but the religious unification of Spain. A second Carlist War broke out in 1872 and ended in 1879 with the defeat of the Carlists. As a consequence of the Carlist defeats, the fueros of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa were abolished. Basques lost their leadership and their culture and language became under attack in their own homeland. In 1893, a massive rally called the 'Gamazada' took place in Pamplone (Iruña in Basque language), the capital of Navarre. The rally gathered 80,000 people protesting against the attempts of Spain's minister Gamazo to abolish Navarre's fiscal system. This was the first popular mobilization uniting the Navarrese
people in the defense of their laws.

From 1876 onwards, the integration of Spain's Basque territories into a national market made possible the emergence of the first monopolies of the Basque industrial and financial oligarchy in Bizkaia, centered on five families linked by marriage. With the abolition of the Basques fueros there was no obstacle to free trade and the intensive extraction of Bizkaian iron ore. Under the foral regime the mines were municipal property and rights of usufruct were available to all municipal residents.

The Spanish Basque oligarchy was rewarded with an instrument for increasing its profits and economic power: a special fiscal and administrative regime - the economic concerts - for Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. This regime allowed the Spanish Basque oligarchy to control the Provincial Councils (Diputaciones) and reduce fiscal pressure on industrial production which was to have repercussion on the working class and the popular strata.

"Very importantly, however," writes Marianne Heiberg, "the Basque urban liberals were dedicated to preserving within the new system of Spanish constitutional unity the one aspect of the foral regime which had been of considerable importance to their interests: fiscal autonomy." The Spanish parliament approved a special fiscal and administrative regime - the conciertos economicos - for Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. This regime enabled these three Basque provinces to negotiate their own taxes with Madrid and pay a fixed sum into the Madrid treasury. The quotas agreed upon, which were significantly inferior to the taxes paid out by other Spanish provinces, were to be raised in whatever manner the Basque provincial governments deemed suitable.

The Basque oligarchy became a Spanish national bourgeoisie and opted for the construction of a Spanish capitalist state. Industrialization was largerly confined to the areas surrounding the city and port of Bilbo and, to a lesser extent, specific urban centers in Gipuzkoa. Navarre and Araba remained mainly rural until the 1950s. The heart of Basque industrial potential lay in the rich deposits of high quality iron ore located in the mines near Bilbo. This way, from the Adour river to the Ebro, from Baiona to Bilbo, liberalism and the process of consolidating the capitalist mode of production brought with it the domination of the markets, cities and ports by the bourgeoisies of the Basque territories.

Bibliography: Mikel Sorauren, Historia de Navarra, el Estado vasco, 1999; Tomas Urzainki, La Navarra maritima, Pamiela, 1998; Roger Collins, The Basques, Basil Blackwell, 1986; Jean-Louis Davant, Ebauche d'une histoire du peuple Basque, in Euskadi en guerre, Ekin, 1982; Marianne Heiberg, The Making of the Basque Nation, Cambridge University Press, 1989; Luis Nuñez Astrain, La Razón Vasca, Txalaparta, 1995.


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Basque Baskets

Yes, it sounds like tongue twister but here you have the note published by EITb:

Sports
Basketball - Spain's Super Cup

Basque derby in the super cup final

09/29/2007

Tau defeated Real Madrid and Iurbentia Bilbao Basket stormed into the final by downing Barcelona.

There will be two Basque teams, Tau Cerámica and Iurbentia Bilbao basket, at the final of the ACB's super cup after both of them won their semifinal game.

Spain's super cup opens the basketball season in Spain every year. The winner of the ACB cup, the playoffs winner, the best team during the regular season and the host team play the super cup.

Tau Ceramica made it to the final by beating Real Madrid 83-82. Pablo Prigioni was unstoppable leading the Basques with 18 points .

Marcelinho Huertas led the way for Iurbentia Bilbao Basket, who took control of the game frustrating Barcelona. It will be the first time the Bilbao team plays a final.


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Canadian Lawyer : Spain Tortures

This note appeared at the International Herald Tribune:

Lawyer says evidence against accused Basque terrorist taken under torture

The Associated Press
Published: September 28, 2007

VANCOUVER: The lawyer for a man accused of being a Basque terrorist said Friday that evidence used in the decision to deport his client to Spain was obtained from witnesses under torture and should be dismissed.

Lawyer Phil Rankin told the Immigration and Refugee Board that Canada has signed the U.N. Convention Against Torture, so the evidence the Canada Border Services Agency is relying on to deport Victor Tejedor Bilbao should be set aside.

Bilbao, 51, is accused of the attempted murder of a newspaper executive in 1981.

A hearing officer for the Canada Border Services Agency, Jesse Davidson, told the hearing that Basque separatist supporters often make claims of torture without proof.

He said they have been known to injure themselves while incarcerated.

"They're willing to chew their own wrist to make a point," Davidson told the hearing.

Bilbao has been living illegally in Canada for 11 years.

Rankin said Bilbao was associated with the political party Herri Batasuna, which is now illegal in Spain because of its ties to ETA, the militant separatist group.

Rankin stressed his client was a member when the party was considered legal and that there is no evidence that the group even has links to terrorism.

"You're just making an inference that's improper," he said. "You're saying 'well, Herri Batasuna supports ETA, therefore you're a member of ETA. That's not good enough."

He stressed his client is in no way a member of ETA, which Bilbao is suspected of joining in 1979.

But Davidson said there is compelling evidence ETA and Herri Batasuna are linked and that ETA created the group as a political front.

Bilbao was arrested in June for living in Canada illegally under several false names and has been in Canadian custody because officials believe he's a flight risk.

The border agency said there is no evidence he was ever tortured.

Two of Bilbao's co-accused have been sentenced to 17 years in prison for the attempted murder of the journalist.


Well, finally someone is saying the truth about how any Basque citizen can be accused of terrorism by Madrid, Phil Rankin is bringing the issue of the practice of torture against those who suffer the incomunicado regime.

Too bad there is some scumbags like this Jesse Davidson who are willing to stomp all over the justice principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty, for him Victor Tejedor is guilty because Madrid said so. Maybe he should read the report by Theo Van Boven regarding the issue of torture in Spain and the way the Spanish government reacted despite the evidence.

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Ibarretxe Calls For Referendum

Well, Juan José Ibarretxe, the lehendakari for the Basque Autonomous Community has finally called for a referendum on the Basque issue for 2008.

Now, let us remember that he represents only three out of the seven Basque provinces so it will be interesting to say how the call for a referendum plays out.

Here you have the note from EarthTimes:

Basque region to hold referendum on independence in 2008 - Update
Posted : Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:55:04 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Europe (World)

Vitoria, Spain - Spain's northern Basque region Friday announced that it would hold a referendum on its future, understood to include the option of independence, on October 25, 2008. Regional Prime Minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe made the announcement during a parliamentary debate.

Ibarretxe believes the referendum would help to solve the conflict opposing Spain to the armed Basque separatist group ETA, but Spanish mainstream parties immediately condemned his plan.

Conservative opposition leader Mariano Rajoy described it as "illegal" and as "blackmail," while Basque Socialist representative Jose Antonio Pastor said it was "a crazy dream."

Ibarretxe, who had earlier proposed a "free association" between Spain and the Basque region, said he would first seek a pact with the Spanish government. The contents of the pact would be submitted to a binding regional referendum.

If no acceptable pact was reached, a non-binding referendum will be held.

Ibarretxe has been making plans for a referendum since 2000. The Spanish government says the Basque authorities do not have the right to hold referendums and that such a vote would have no practical significance.

In 2005, the Spanish parliament rejected the so-called Ibarretxe Plan, which included the referendum.

Ibarretxe, however, said Friday that the vote would have "full political validity."

The date of the referendum, October 25, coincides with the anniversary of the Gernika statute, which granted the Basque region a wide measure of autonomy in 1979.

During the 1939-75 dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, the region had suffered under a cultural repression, with the Basques often not even allowed to speak their language in public.

The repression sparked the birth of ETA, which is blamed for more than 800 deaths, and whose violence is opposed by Ibarretxe's moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government failed in an attempt to launch a peace process with ETA in 2006.

Ibarretxe believes an open discussion about the independence question would help to solve the problem of ETA, which the European Union and the United States regard as a terrorist organization.

Spain, however, fears the rise of separatist currents not only in the Basque region, but also in nearby Catalonia.

About a half of the Basque region's 2.1 million residents support Basque nationalist parties like the PNV. The other half backs mainstream Spanish parties such as the Socialists and the conservatives.



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Eusko Flickr : Haritz Bartzelona


Friday, September 28, 2007

The Bilbo Effect


guggenheim bilbao
Originally uploaded by lari pissarra
This is quite an interesting article by The Art Newspaper about how Bilbo managed to reshape itself.

Enjoy it:

A franchise model for the few—very few

Posted 27 September 2007

When the Guggenheim Bilbao opened ten years ago, it was the cornerstone of a regeneration strategy that commissioned famous and fashionable architects—“starchitects”—to build the foundations of a post-industrial future on the carcass of an industrial past. The strategy was bold in conception and focused in execution, backed by a strong national or regional (depending on perspective) Basque sensibility and significant EU structural funds. Alongside Frank Gehry’s titanium-clad icon—perhaps the only post-war building to challenge Sydney Opera House in emotional resonance and immediacy of recognition—have been designs by Cesar Pelli (riverfront renewal), Santiago Calatrava (airport and footbridge), Norman Foster (railway station), Ricardo Legorreta (a Sheraton hotel), Robert Stern (a mall) and Federico Soriano (a conference and concert hall). Zaha Hadid has subsequently been commissioned to redesign the Zorrozaurre peninsula, the nearby sprawling port area.

The strategy has been successful. In an age of heavily subsidised European air travel, this small city has, definitively, diversified beyond heavy industry and port-related commerce into a tourist destination and a focal point for the region’s service industries. The Guggenheim’s visitor numbers hit 1.3m in 1998, dipped a little subsequently and predictably, but climbed back up, passing the million mark in 2006 for the first time since 1999. Over half of the visitors are from outside Spain. For purposes of comparison, Bilbao’s population is only 350,000.

The capitals of the two other Basque Provinces (Vitoria in Alava, San Sebastian in Guipúzcoa) have followed this diversification strategy, with monographic museums of Eduardo Chillida and Jorge Oteiza, contemporary art museums and performing arts centres. The fly in the regenerative ointment is ETA, the separatist movement, which last year revoked its 2003 “permanent ceasefire”. But the Basque country is culturally vital and economically stable. Setting aside the usual self-congratulatory economic impact studies and giddy urban renewal rhetoric promulgated by vested interests, the story is immensely and genuinely positive.

The partnership between the Basque government and the Guggenheim has had its high and low points but it has endured. The Basques were predictably miffed by the Guggenheim’s desire to build a bigger Gehry building in downtown Manhattan and, now, in Abu Dhabi. It pulls the rug from under the Unique Selling Proposition that Bilbao represents, replacing it with “This museum is coming soon to a town near you…” The tension between the programmatic dictates of Fifth Avenue and local market are also occasionally in evidence in the anaemic character and depth of local outreach, and the extent to which acquisitions and programming reflect Basque as opposed to international cultural trends and strengths.

But the political, social and economic benefits justify the initial investment of $100m. These were once described by Joseba Arregi, the visionary Basque Minister for Culture responsible for shepherding the plans through cabinet, as costing as less than a kilometre of new highway, a comparison his cabinet colleagues found compelling. And, critically, the Basque government provides ongoing support for annual operating costs and acquisitions, without which the museum would be another floundering vanity project. “Bilbao” has become shorthand for the reincarnation of a rundown industrial city or district into a vibrant tourist destination, the poster child of the “instrumental” rationale for capital investment in iconic architecture.

The Guggenheim Museum has, with Bilbao under its belt and on its calling card, been scouring the world for a context in which to repeat the exercise, fulfilling the rhetoric of the global franchise that has become de facto its manifesto. For fees in excess of $1m a pop, the museum has, with the consultants McKinsey & Company, undertaken multiple feasibility studies in Central and South America, South East Asia, China and Europe. The income has been a welcome source of support of the museum’s historically weak balance sheet. However, the extraordinarily ambitious 300,000 sq. ft proposition announced for Abu Dhabi earlier this year is the first in a decade to appear to have secured a client’s support and therefore moved from feasibility study to at least press release.

The Bilbao effect—big-name architect, envelope-straining building, and high-profile cultural partner—does not seem easily replicable. I would suggest you need at least the following five ingredients in the mix: 1. The Guggenheim is the jewel in the Basque crown—but there is a crown. The Guggenheim Bilbao is part of a much wider investment strategy that extends well beyond culture into transport, accommodation, retail and other infrastructure; 2. The investment strategy embraces not only capital but ongoing revenue support, with no fantasies about an early or eventual “break-even” period. Ten years on, the government is still solidly providing significant revenue support. Withdrawal of operating support would put the strategy in a tail-spin; 3. There are museum-goers within a reasonable “catchment” area, given transport costs. Contemporary Western art is generally enjoyed by a Western, highly educated, usually affluent population. A change in transport costs would vitiate the strategy, as would an attempt to replicate the strategy without access to this market; 4. There is a “first mover” advantage in Bilbao that is difficult to replicate. Each time another piece of highly visible, highly expressive architecture goes up anywhere—facilitated by advances in building technology, structural engineering, new materials, available funding, or sheer design flair—the overall “wow” factor of any one such icon is diminished. The museum boom has a bit of the aroma of crack cocaine—bigger and bigger hits are required to command attention; 5. The Basque country has a strong and unified political culture and, in a Europe in which regional identity increasingly trumps national identity, a regional symbol can—and in this case does—play a transcendent role. It is no coincidence that the Basque country has, in Mondragón, the world’s largest and most successful workers’ co-operative.

These multiple conditions for success are not easily met. They are unmet in most, if all not all, of the Guggenheim’s subsequent candidate sites for its franchise. Maybe the fees are sufficient to dull the pain caused by the sad fizzling out of so many feasibility exercises. But if the Guggenheim is genuinely seeking a lasting international franchise, and to build on Bilbao, then a more nuanced understanding of its own singular success may be required.

The writer is a director of AEA Consulting (www.aeaconsulting.com) and a regular contributor to The Art Newspaper.

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Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Answer is Yes

Courrier International published a short note regarding yet one more voice demanding an end to Spain's monarchy.

Here you have it:

Should the Spanish monarchy be abolished ?

Regional independence movements have attacked the Crown on several occasions in Spain recently. The writer Juan Bas, who was born in the Basque country, calls for an open debate on institutions. "Why am I in favour of a third republic and not of a king as Head of State ? For a fundamental democratic reason in keeping with the modernity of the 21st century: because in a republic, the Head of State is the president, who is elected, rather than someone who inherits power at birth, in total contradiction with the fact we are all born equal. ... Monarchy belongs to an obsolete world with a medieval aesthetic: a world that no longer exists, except for a few exceptions."

El Correo (Spain)


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Mundaka to Host the Billabong Pro

This was published at World Surf News:

Billabong Pro Mundaka

ASP World Championship Tour Event #8
Mundaka Basque Country
2 - 14 October 2007

FOSTER’S ASP WORLD TOUR WILL MAKE IT WAY TO MUNDAKA NEXT WEEK

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 26 September, 2007 : - - Mundaka – The official waiting period for the Billabong Pro Mundaka, stop No. 8 of 10 on the Foster’s ASP World Tour, begins just one day after the completion of the Quiksilver Pro France currently underway in Hossegor. The Billabong Pro waiting period stretches from October 2-14, 2007.

The Spanish event plays an integral role in the race for an ASP World Title, as illustrated last year when Kelly Slater (USA) sealed his 8th world title at Mundaka with two events to spare. Slater also credits his sole Billabong Pro Mundaka win as being a precursor to one of surfing’s most exciting title races – the 2003 battle between himself and 3X World Champion Andy Irons (HAW).

“Mundaka has set me up for a couple of really good years,” Slater said. “In 2003 it set me up pretty good because I had a win there and then last year, obviously, to win the title in Mundaka felt nice. The Spanish people have been really, really supportive and if the waves go off it's one of the most beautiful places in the world to surf. Hopefully we get some swell.”

Halfway through this season, five surfers sit in strong contention for the title. Australian Mick Fanning sits atop the ratings, followed by Slater, Taj Burrow (AUS), Andy Irons (HAW) and Joel Parkinson (AUS). Though Burrow, currently rated World No. 3, has fared well at Mundaka, he has never won the event.

"I've nailed a 3rd place and a runner-up finish back in ‘03 when Kelly won so I'm pretty excited to step it up and turn this last result into a 1st,” Burrow said. “Mundaka is crucial for sure, last year Kelly won the title there, and this year, the title race looks crazier than ever. So I'm definitely focused on this event.”

Defending Billabong Pro Mundaka Champion Bobby Martinez (USA) won last year’s event as a rookie – scalping his second win on the 2006 Foster’s ASP World Tour with the victory. His first win was at another barrelling left –Teahupoo, Tahiti.

“It's cool to go back to Mundaka, but last year is last year and I might do what I did in Tahiti this year and get a 17th,” Martinez said. “I’m looking forward to going back because I had fun, but that’s as far as it goes. It’s not like I have a lot of confidence because I won there, that was last year. Hopefully we’ll get some waves and just see how it goes.”

Held at Europe’s best left-hand wave in the fishing village of Mundaka, the venue boasts a long and hollow wave barrelling over 200 meters at the river mouth of the Guernika river.

World Qualifying Series (WQS) No. 3 Tiago Pires (PRT), Tahitian charger Manoa Drollet (PYF) and local surfer Hodei Collazo (SPN) have been given wildcards into the main event. Pires has already qualified for the 2008 ASP World Tour, Drollet, a Teahupoo specialist, will experiment the hollow tubes of Mundaka for the first time in his career and Collazo delighted the local community with his 2006 Billabong Pro clash with Slater.

Collazo will be utilizing his fourth Billabong Pro Mundaka wildcard to gain added experience against the world’s best. "Mundaka is a fantastic opportunity for me to compete against the world's best surfers,” Collazo said. “I've been doing the WQS for a few years now and my goal is to qualify for the World Tour so getting a wildcard every year at Mundaka is a good way to see how my surfing is evolving."

The Billabong Pro Mundaka will officially start on October 1st, with the inaugural ceremony and press launch to be held at The Casino at 10:30am, and surfing to potentially begin the next day..

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Basque Recipe at Washington Post

Believe it or not, here it is:

Chicken Basquaise, Part I
The Washington Post, September 26, 2007

* Course: Main Course

Summary:

This aromatic mixture of onions, peppers and dried Basque seasonings is good enough to eat on its own. It takes about an hour to prepare, and then can be paired with scrambled eggs for the Sunday Supper and as a braising sauce for Chicken Basquaise, Part II.

Removing the skins of the bell peppers and tomatoes will ensure a smooth, almost creamy texture for the piperade, which can be refrigerated for up to 4 days or packed in an airtight container and frozen for up to 2 months.

4 servings

Ingredients:

* 4 medium green bell peppers
* 2 medium red bell peppers
* 6 medium tomatoes
* 2 large Spanish or Vidalia onions, ends trimmed
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 3 mild chili peppers, stemmed, seeded and cut into thin strips (may substitute with a small red bell pepper)
* 2 to 4 medium cloves garlic, minced (germ removed)
* 2 teaspoons sea salt, or more to taste
* Pinch sugar
* 2 sprigs thyme
* 1 bay leaf
* 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon piment d'Espelette (may substitute Anaheim chili powder or chili powder)
* Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Position the top oven rack 4 to 5 inches from the broiling element; preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Boil a kettle of water.

Meanwhile, stem the bell peppers, discarding their seeds and ribs; cut so they can lie flat, skin side up, on the baking sheet. Broil for several minutes, until their skins are well blistered; transfer to a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for a few minutes so that steam loosens the skins. Discard the skin and cut the peppers lengthwise into 1/2-inch-wide strips. Set aside.

Cut a small X on the bottom of each tomato. When the kettle of boiling water is ready, place the tomatoes in a heatproof mixing bowl and pour enough water over them to cover completely. Let sit for 1 to 2 minutes, then drain. Peel the tomatoes and cut into chunks; there should be about 3 cups total. Set aside.

Cut the onions in half from top to bottom, then lay each piece cut side down on a cutting board and cut each piece in half again from top to bottom, stopping just short of the root end; cut each onion half crosswise into thin slices; there should be about 4 cups total.

Place a large, high-sided skillet or casserole with a cover over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of the oil. Warm the oil for a minute, then add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the onions have picked up some color. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet, then add the strips of peppers and the chilis. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low; cook for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the tomatoes, garlic to taste, salt, sugar, thyme, bay leaf, piment d’Espelette and a few grinds of black pepper to the skillet, mixing well to combine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, then remove the lid and let the piperade cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. There will be a fair amount of liquid. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper or piment d’Espelette.

Use a slotted spoon to transfer 2 cups of the mixture to a bowl. Spoon in a little of the cooking liquid; cover and set aside to make the Sunday Supper (see related recipe). Transfer the remaining mixture to an airtight container; refrigerate until needed.


Not a clue about why this is part I according to the title. On egin!

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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Sarkosy's Imprint

George W. Bush has been giddily happy ever since French extreme rightist Nicolas Sarkozy became Prime Minister. Without Tony Blair and José Aznar Bush was feeling kind of lonely as the world's top human right violator.

But then Sarkozy visited him and they came up with an strategy to ensure that France is never again an obstacle to Bush's whims.

What you are about to read is a token of Bush's appreciation nicely packaged by CNN and Time Magazine. Read on:

A Terrorist "Second Front" in France?

By BRUCE CRUMLEY/PARIS

Monday, Sep. 24, 2007

Monday's arrest of 13 Basque nationalists suspected in a 2006 French hotel bombing is a reminder that European security services continue to view violent Basque separatists as potentially as dangerous as al-Qaeda. That doesn't mean there's anything to speculation in European media of any cooperative links between the Islamists and the separatists. Counter-terrorism officials tell TIME, however, that they have recently noticed parallels in the profiles of recruits now joining both movements.

"They both involve the embrace of a radical ideology affirming an identity they feel their parents abandoned in favor of integration," a French security official — referring simultaneously to the European children of North African immigrants who embrace radical Islam and to many French-born Basque youths whose parents had long since abandoned the struggle for independence from their native Franco-era Spain. "It offers the passion and righteousness of an identity and struggle they think society forced their parents to give up as the cost of living in France."

While the phenomenon is well documented among Muslim immigrants, a small but growing number of 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. That nascent cross-border youth movement is a potential long-term terror threat, says the security official.

What makes the Basque case different from that of alienated Muslim immigrant youth is that while the latter retreat into a global militant religious identity, many alienated Basque youth in France retreat into an alternative national identity. "With Basque youths feeling adrift, the question of 'Who am I, anyway?' is answered by looking at the ground below, realizing 'I am Basque, and this is my land,' and reaching out to other Basques struggling to take control of their land," the French official says. "The jihadist wants to conquer the world for Islam; the Basque nationalist wants to conquer his backyard. But both are ready to use violence to attain their goals."

New signs of radicalism among younger French Basques follows an extended period largely free of the nationalist violence that continues to plague the Spanish side of the border. Many of those living in France recognized the futility of a violent independence struggle, and its negative consequences on the local economy. But the calmer, violence-averse atmosphere in France allowed ETA, the Spanish Basque separatist group, to conduct logistical work, procuring materials, and occasionally preparing attacks to be carried out in Spain.

New evidence of France's importance as a rear base for Spanish-bound terrorism came with the Sept. 2 bust of a house in southwestern France, where four ETA commandos were arrested and 350 kilos (770 pounds) of explosives seized. According to the French official, hollowed-out water heaters had been filled with explosives for use in car bombs in Spain.

Although one of the men arrested, 50-year-old Luis Ignacio Iruretagoyena, is a high-profile ETA figure previously arrested in 1992 when explosives were found in his Paris apartment, his three accomplices aged between 25 and 31 suggest ETA is rejuvenating its ranks. "They're finding young people to step up and take baton in Spain," said the official. "And we're starting to see a new generation of Basque nationalist awake in France, too. A cycle is ending, and unfortunately, another cycle seems to be beginning."

French security sources also fear that ETA is starting to rely less on France as a sanctuary, in favor of increased underground activity in Portugal. Indeed, they fear that if the long-standing logic — shared by al-Qaeda — of refraining from attacking countries that are predominantly used as staging grounds, then the move to Portugal may suggest that France may be facing a stepped-up Basque terror campaign on its own soil.


ETA and al-Qaeda together a real threat to France, wow, this Bruce Crumley really knows how to put together sentences that will scare the bejeezus out of the retard US public. Is he a journalist? Far from it, really.

And if Sarkozy is smiling, somewhere obscure little Aznar is ecstatic.

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Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Nafarroa : "Frontier of Catholicism"

Thanks to Txabi we received this essay about the dire consequences that the marriage Vatican-Spanish Crown brought to the people of Nafarroa (Navarre).

Here you have it:

The Inquisition and the University: Guarantors of Assimilation

Carlos V, heir to the Holy Roman emperors by purchased election, occupied the Spanish throne and governed with a retinue of rapacious Flemings whom he showered with bishoprics, bureaucratric titles, and even the first license to ship slaves to the Latin American colonies. He drained Latin America of its treasure to hound Satan all across Europe and to spread the true faith. When the former inquisitor general Cardinal Cisneros who led the military invasion of Navarre was appointed Pope Adrian VI, Carlos granted him the right to purge the Navarrese church. The Pope appointed only clergymen sympathetic to the empire to ecclesiastical posts in Navarre. The Basque state's redemption seemed impossible or doubtful, but the fanatical mission against the Navarrese people's "heresy" was mixed with the fever that a new treasure stirred in the conquering hosts.

The leader of the Counter-Reformation was Carlos' son, Ferdinand II. From his huge palace-monastery, Escorial, near Madrid, Philip spread his armies against the centers of heresy. Calvinism had taken hold in Holland, England, France, and northern Navarre.

Navarrese "heretics", or those suspected of "heresy," were roasted in the Inquisition' s purifying flames. For Spain, the Tribunal of the Inquisition in Logroño provided a means to eliminate the Navarrese intellectuals, thinkers, theologians, and clergymen suspected of opposing the foreign master.

The defense of the Catholic faith in Navarre was twofold: on the one hand, it turned out to be a mask for the submission of Navarre; on the other, the war against Protestantism was also the war against ascendant capitalism in Europe.

The metals of Latin America provided a means for Spain to fight against the nascent forces of the modern economy. Carlos V had already defeated the Castilian bourgeoisie in the uprisings of the Comuneros, which had become a social revolution against the nobility, its property and privileges. The uprisings were crushed following the betrayal of Burgos. In 1521, taking advantage of the revolt of the Comuneros, Henri d'Albret King of Navarre tried to recover Navarre from Spain. Northern Navarre and the Roncal valley united their armies led by Andre de Foix, seigneur d'Asparroz. Pamplone went up in revolt against the Castilians who quickly surrended. Most of the Navarrese territory was recovered, but having defeated the Comuneros, the Castilian troops returned to Navarre. Many Navarrese died in the battle of Noain in the Iruña valley where the troops of Andre de Foix were defeated by the army of Carlos V.

The betrayal of Navarre extended across the Pyrenees. There, a Basque parasitic nobility complete with its cortege of intellectuals who made their living from service to the king of France, decided that Lapurdi, Zuberoa, and northern Navarre should be annexed to France. During the spread of the Counter-Reformation in France, the bishop of Baiona, Bertrand de Echauz, plotted with Cardinal Richelieu's plea to the king of France requesting that Navarre be annexed to France, which was carried out in 1620 with the Edict of Union. The annexation notwithstanding, northern Navarre kept its own institutions and laws which were the same national institutions of the entire Navarrese kingdom.

Basque identity was still present in 1789 when the parliament of (northern) Navarre declined an invitation to submit the Cahiers des Doleances to the French National Assembly which they considered a foreign institution. Unlike the western Basque lands of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, the Basque territories north of the Pyrenees maintained close relations with (southern) Navarre for many centuries.

For its foreign masters and its chief associate, the Church, and for the Basque nobility who sold its soul to the devil at a price that would have shamed Faust, the conquest of Navarre was perfectly rational.

Ideological justifications were never in short supply. The bleeding of Navarre became an act of charity, an argument for the faith. With the guilt, a whole system of rationalizations for guilty
consciences was devised.

Purged, humiliated, and with its Basque character undermined, Navarre was transformed under the double seal of Spanish unity and Roman Catholic Orthodoxy into a "frontier of Catholicism, " the religious version of Spanish monarchic unity in the elaboration of which ascetic, mystic, jurist, moralist, philosophical and theological writers all worked together to come up with ideas within which to frame the "Hispanic" character of Navarre in order to secure its annexation. In the geopolitical concept of imperialism, Navarre is no more than a natural appendage of Spain.

In the dioceses, universities, and ecclesiastical tribunals of 16th and 17th century Spain, the number of theologians from the Basque territories increased as Hispanic assimilation was guaranteed both by the Inquisition and the university. These theologians who worked at the service of Spain spreaded the imperial ideology throughout the Basque territories. The most important centers for the dissemination of "Hispanic" ideology were the University of Salamanca, sponsored by Queen Isabel, and the University of Alcala, founded by Cardinal
Cisneros, the fierce conqueror of Navarre.

Bibliography: Mikel Sorauren, Historia de Navarra, el Estado vasco, Pamiela, 1999; Tomas Urzainki, La Navarra maritima, Pamiela, 1998; Roger Collins, The Basques, Basil Blackwell, 1986; Jean-Louis Davant, Ebauche d'une histoire du peuple Basque, in Euskadi en guerre, Ekin, 1982; Marianne Heiberg, The Making of the Basque Nation, Cambridge University Press, 1989; Luis Nuñez Astrain, La Razón Vasca, Txalaparta, 1995


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Sunday, September 23, 2007

The 2007 Edition of Zinemaldia

This note was published by EITb:

Zinemaldia

55th Edition of the Zinemaldia

10 days of cinema kick off in Donostia

09/21/2007

The Kursaal was the place where Thursday night the inauguration of the Festival took place. There David Cronemberg praised the festival and Vigo Mortensen say a few words in Basque, "ondo pasa" (enjoy).

The Zinemaldia invited Thursday, in its inauguration, to enjoy the ten days of gestures, emotions and people looking at the 228 films that will be showed in this 55th edition. The edition opened with Eastern Promises, the new violence story by David Cronenberg.

On the stage of the Kursaal and with the sound of the Txalaparta by Oreka TX on the background, the Cayetana Guillén Cuervo and the journalist Edurne Ormazabal guided the audience towards the different sections of the festival, that presented Spanish and International actors and actresses.

This edition will also be a special edition for the Basque cinema, because the Day Of the Basque Cinema celebrates its 10th anniversary.

Paul Auster loves the Cinema

The jury was left for the end, and the president, the North American writer Paul Auster, said he was in Donostia-San Sebastián because he loves films. His last film Martin Frost’s inner life, will be presented in the Official Section out of the competition.

David Cronenberg and Vigo Mortensen, the main character of Promesas del este (Promises of the East), which was then showed to the audience, closed the ceremony.


That was a nice gesture by Vigo Mortensen.

~ ~ ~

Samuel Sánchez Delivers

This is great news, Samuel Sánchez takes the all-Basque Euskaltel Euskadi team to the winner's podium the best way possible, with his third stage victory.

Here you have the note published by VeloNews:

Sánchez wins, climbs podium; Menchov secures; Sastre endures
By Andrew Hood, VeloNews European correspondent
Filed: September 22, 2007

Samuel Sánchez delivered his third stage victory of this year's Vuelta a España to secure his Basque Euskaltel-Euskadi team its first-ever podium finish in a grand tour in the team's 14-year history.

Sánchez roared over Saturday's short 20km individual time trial in the suburbs north of Madrid to knock Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) off the podium and give compatriot Carlos Sastre (CSC) a good fright for the second spot on the podium.

Race leader Denis Menchov (Rabobank) didn't risk crashing after a late afternoon squall dampened some portions of the route and stopped the clock for second at 12 seconds back to secure overall victory going into Sunday's finale in Madrid.

"When I heard that I had taken four seconds out of Evans at the first time check, that only gave me more motivation to push even harder," said Sánchez, who started the day nine seconds behind the Aussie. "The goal today was to claim the podium. Winning a third stage is just a bonus."

It all came down to a matter of seconds for the final podium spots.

Sánchez took 19 seconds out of Evans to relegate the Aussie to fourth place by 10 seconds.

A runner-up at the 2007 Tour de France, Evans was poised to become the first rider since 2002 to finish on the podium in two grand tours in one season, but he faltered over the past few days under relentless attacks from both Sastre's Team CSC and Sánchez's Euskaltel-Euskadi.

Evans was just four seconds slower than Sánchez at 7.3km but lost grip on third when he ceded 13 seconds by 15km on the undulating course with a series of rollers and false flats. Sánchez, smelling blood of delivering the stage win-podium double, flew over the final technical sections of the course and Evans stopped the clock in sixth at 19 seconds slower.

"It's a little bit disappointing, that's true. I felt good in the time trial and I honestly don't know where I lost the time. It's the fatigue of the season catching up with me," Evans said. "When you're so close to winning the Tour and so close to finishing on the podium at the Vuelta, of course I'm disappointed. I've been at the top for a long time in this season and I didn't see a lot of those guys (Sánchez or Sastre) ahead of me at Paris-Nice or the Tour."

Sastre, 32, finally ended his bad luck run of fourth place finishes by holding off both Sánchez and Evans in the time trial to hang on to second.

Continues...

Overall
1. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 78:21:40
2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 3:31
3. Samuel Sánchez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 3:46
4. Cadel Evans (Aus), Predictor-Lotto, 3:56
5. Ezequiel Mosquera (Sp), Karpin Galicia, 6:34
6. Vladimir Efimkin (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne, 7:07
7. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne, 8:09
8. Igor Antón (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 8:44
9. Manuel Beltrán (Sp), Liquigas, 9:38
10. Carlos Barredo (Sp), Quick Step-Innergetic, 10:12


Hopefully Sánchez will be taken into account for the strategy for next year's Tour de France so Euskaltel Euskadi can improve what was done a couple of years ago by Iban Mayo and Haimar Zubeldia.

~ ~ ~

Bilbo Revisited



Originally uploaded by txiribiton
The New York Times has published quite the article about Bilbo, here you have it:

Bilbao, 10 Years Later

By DENNY LEE
Published: September 23, 2007

A LIGHT patter bounced off the titanium fish scales of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao as a tour bus pulled up beside “Puppy,” Jeff Koons's 43-foot-tall topiary terrier made of freshly potted pansies. A stream of tourists fanned out across the crisp limestone plaza, tripping over each other as they rushed to capture the moment on camera. After the frisson of excitement dimmed, they made their way down a gently sloping stairway and into the belly of the museum, paying 10.50 euros to see the work of an artist that most had never heard of.

It was a ritual that repeated itself several times an hour, like a well-run multiplex. And if Anselm Kiefer, the controversial post-war German artist, was eclipsed by the metallic blob that held a retrospective of his work, consider how Bilbao, a rusty port city on the northern coast of Spain, stacked up to the very museum that put it on the cultural map.

“We don't know anything about Bilbao besides the Guggenheim,” said Luigi Fattore, 28, a financial analyst from Paris, who was taking pictures of his girlfriend under the puppy. As if to underscore the point, they showed up at the museum's doorstep with their suitcase in tow. “We've arrived half an hour ago,” he said, “and went straight to the Guggenheim. Aside from the museum, we don't have any plans.”

Such is the staying power of Frank O. Gehry's architectural showstopper, 10 years after it crash-landed on the public psyche like a new Hollywood starlet. The iridescent structure wasn't just a new building; it was a cultural extravaganza.

No less an authority than Philip Johnson deemed it “the greatest building of our time.” The swooping form began showing up everywhere, from car ads to MTV rap videos, like architectural bling. And in certain artistic and architectural social circles, a pilgrimage to Bilbao became de rigueur, with the question “Have you been to Bilbao?” a kind of cocktail party game that marked someone either as a culture vulture or a clueless rube.

“No one had heard of Bilbao or knew where it was,” said Terence Riley, director of the Miami Art Museum and a former architecture and design curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “Nobody knew how to spell it.”

The Guggenheim changed that overnight. Microsoft Word, Mr. Riley noted, added “Bilbao” to its spell checker. And as word of the Guggenheim spread, tourists of all stripes began converging onto the small industrial city — the Pittsburgh of Spain — just to check it off their list.

“I've been down there four times,” Mr. Riley added proudly. “That's probably more than most.”

Even for those who couldn't spell “Bilbao,” let alone pronounce it (bill-BAH-o), the city became synonymous with the ensuing worldwide rush by urbanists to erect trophy buildings, in the hopes of turning second-tier cities into tourist magnets. The so-called Bilbao Effect was studied in universities throughout the world as a textbook example of how to repackage cities with “wow-factor” architecture. And as cities from Denver to Dubai followed in Bilbao's footsteps, Mr. Gehry and his fellow starchitects were elevated to the role of urban messiahs.

But what has the Bilbao Effect meant for Bilbao?

I first visited Bilbao in 1999, a lone, wide-eyed tourist who had read about the “Miracle in Bilbao” on the cover of The New York Times Magazine, in which the paper's architecture critic, Herbert Muschamp, likened the “voluptuous” museum to “the reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.” And on that cold and dark March afternoon, when the lush green folds of the region's coastal mountains were shrouded behind a gray veil, the Guggenheim indeed glinted like a blonde metallic bombshell.

After loading my 35-millimeter camera, I took pictures of the museum's sinuous curves, surreptitiously ran my fingers across the titanium shingles and marveled at the galleries' lack of right angles. Oh, there was art, too: Jenny Holzer's soaring L.E.D. columns, a collection of sketches from Albrecht Dürer to Robert Rauschenberg and — caged behind a chain-link fence in a parking lot — one of Richard Serra's “Torqued Ellipses” for a future exhibition.

But the thing that struck me most, more than the dazzling architecture or cool art, was the horrible smell. Here was this magnificent museum, the most celebrated piece of architecture in a generation, and yet the river beside it was as brown as sludge and as putrid as a sewer — a world-class museum swimming in third-world biohazard.

The Guggenheim, I later learned, was built on a former shipyard, and the Nervión River, which snakes through Bilbao to the Bay of Biscay, was the nexus of Spain's Industrial Revolution. Blessed with iron-rich mountains, railroads and an excellent port, Bilbao blossomed in the late 19th century with metalworks and shipbuilding. But a century of belching factories turned the mighty Nervión into a toxic cesspool, earning the city the unflattering nickname “El Botxo,” the Basque word for hole.

But the iron mines eventually gave out; shipbuilding moved to Asia. And when the Guggenheim opened its doors in October 1997, what remained was a Dickensian waterfront of rusting cargo rigs and hollow warehouses. Farther up the river, grease-coated factories croaked along its lifeless banks, like a cemetery for the Industrial Age.

The rest of the city hadn't fared much better. The boulevards radiating from the Guggenheim may have evoked grandeur with their neo-Baroque facades and monumentality, but they were caked in soot and sadly devoid of street life. Sure, there were other signs of design — the caterpillar-like entrances by Norman Foster for a new metro system, a sweeping footbridge by Santiago Calatrava — but they only made the city seem dingier, like a polished fork in a tray of dirty silverware.

But if Bilbao wasn't exactly ready for its tourist spotlight, the gray industrial air gave the city a raw authenticity and gritty undercurrent that was charmingly provincial. In the Casco Viejo quarter, on the other side of the river, the urine-soaked cobblestones and graffiti-covered walls (mostly in support of the Basque separatist group E.T.A.) may have needed a good scrub. But it felt like a real neighborhood, warts and all, that was proudly oblivious, bordering on rude, to tourists.

In the morning, stumpy grandmothers waited in line for fresh bread and Bayonne ham at antiquated shops. By noon, old men sat in dingy pintxos bars drinking txakoli, a semi-sparkling white wine. And when the weekend rolled around, the dark alleyways vibrated with roving bands of Basque youths stumbling between pubs and drinking kalimotxos, a local concoction made from cheap wine and cola. The futuristic Guggenheim seemed to be in another city, far removed from the grubby fish markets and well-tended flower boxes that gave old Bilbao its character.

That cultural schism, however, began to dissolve. In its first year, the Guggenheim was clocking about 100,000 visitors a month. And rather than drop off precipitously like a summer blockbuster, attendance rates have leveled off to “a cruising speed of around one million visitors a year,” said Juan Ignacio Vidarte, the Guggenheim's director, adding that the vast majority were from outside the Basque region, and more than half from other countries. By the end of 2006, some nine million visitors had paid homage to Gehry's miracle.

THE impact on this city of 354,000 was dramatic. Charmless business hotels and musty pensions were supplanted by trendy hotels like the Domine Bilbao and a Sheraton designed by the Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta. The rusty shipyards near the Guggenheim were razed for a manicured greenbelt of playgrounds, bicycle paths and riverside cafes. A lime-green tram was strung along the river, linking the Guggenheim to Casco Viejo and beyond.

And all across the city, a who's who of architects added their marquee names to Bilbao's work-in-progress skyline: Álvaro Siza (university building), Cesar Pelli (40-story office tower), Santiago Calatrava (airport terminal), Zaha Hadid (master plan), Philippe Starck (wine warehouse conversion), Robert A. M. Stern (shopping mall) and Rafael Moneo (library), to name just a few. It's as if Bilbao went on a shopping spree, commissioning a trophy case of starchitects and Pritzker Architecture Prize winners.

A tangle of construction cranes today rises over the city's terra-cotta rooftops, but the changes are already apparent at the street level. Bilbao, a muscular town of steelworkers and engineers, is slowly becoming a more effete city of hotel clerks and art collectors.

The city's main artery, Gran Vía de Don Diego López de Haro, is no longer a soot-stained canyon of bank offices. In the tradition of the Champs-Élysées, the sidewalks were widened, curbside parking removed and stone buildings scrubbed. On a warm Friday last May, shoppers streamed out of countless Zara boutiques. Men in natty business suits sat on benches, smoking cigarettes and reading El País. In front of the opulent Hotel Carlton, a handsome couple was being married.

The beautification was echoed throughout the city. Traffic circles like Plazas Campuzano and Indauxtu had been transformed into piazza-like parks, with sculptural lampposts, ergonomic benches and ultramodern landscaping. In place of polluting cars, laughing children now use them as impromptu soccer fields.

Casco Viejo was almost unrecognizable. The graffiti had been erased. The stone facades sandblasted. And old butchers shared the sidewalk with H & M and Billabong.

At lunchtime, crowds converged on upscale pintxos bars like Sasibil, grazing on octopus and Iberian ham sandwiches, which were exhibited like jewelry under polished glass cases and halogen lights. After sundown, well-dressed couples strolled through the warren of alleyways and tunnels, now brightly illuminated by cheery shop windows and klieg-like streetlamps.

But the most striking metamorphosis wasn't cosmetic: the Nervión River no longer stank. With the sludge-spewing factories gone and sewage treatment plants installed, the river began to heal itself. It may not be as blue as the Danube (the color today is more like a rusty green), but within an hour of my arrival, I spotted a lone sculler in a red jersey, gliding by a pair of cormorants.

The cleaner water, however, hasn't necessarily brought more tourists upriver. Despite a host of tourist information centers, including a glass shed outside the Guggenheim staffed with professional guides and a rainbow of color brochures, Bilbao remains very much a one-attraction town.

On a cloudless Sunday morning, the Museo de Bellas Artes — with important works by El Greco, Francis Bacon and Eduardo Chillida — was nearly empty, despite a 2001 expansion and being just a quick stroll from the Guggenheim. Maybe that's why the museum closes at 2 p.m. on Sundays. (At least it was open. The city — restaurants, grocery stores, cafes — shuts down on Sundays; everything, that is, except the Guggenheim.)

The Maritime Museum, which traces the city's port and sailing history, was completely deserted, save for the bored-looking woman at the ticket counter. Even the Moyúa neighborhood next to the Guggenheim, which should have benefited from the Bilbao Effect most acutely, is far from tourist ready. There's one postcard store across the street and a couple of hip restaurants nearby, but this residential district is otherwise filled with featureless stucco apartments, five-and-dimes and plain bodegas. A clutch of art galleries have sprung up along Calle Juan Ajuriaguerra, but its proximity to the Guggenheim is merely coincidental.

“There's no art market in Bilboa,” said Javier Gimeno Martiñez-Sapiña, who owns the year-old photogallery20. “I don't think the Guggenheim has helped. It's still very hard for local artists to sell art here. They have to go to Madrid or Barcelona.”

No wonder many guidebooks still devote as many pages to the Guggenheim — reprinting floor plans, offering tips and expounding on the museum's design — as they do the rest of Bilbao. On paper at least, Bilbao seems to have it all: world-class museum, fine Basque cuisine, a rollicking night life and lots of shopping. But like the new bike paths that were rarely used during my visit, the city lacks the critical mass of attractions to take it from a provincial post-industrial town, to a global cosmopolitan city. And in the meantime, it is losing the shabby edge that gave the city its earlier appeal.

The concentration of first-rate architecture is astounding, even without Gehry's titanium masterpiece. But architecture alone does not a city make. Bilbao is all dressed-up, but hasn't figured where to go.

“Our local culture still hasn't integrated with the Guggenheim,” said Alfonso Martínez Cearra, the general manager of Bilbao Metropoli-30, a public-private partnership that is guiding the city's revitalization. “This is still an industrial city.”

The disconnect between Bilbao the brand, and Bilbao the city was on display one Saturday night, when the narrow streets of Casco Viejo were once again packed with young bar-hoppers. The smell of marijuana wafted from a crowd outside a bar on Calle de Somera. In the group was Ikel, a 22-year-old studying to be an engineer, like his father.

“I've never been to the Guggenheim,” Ikel said between puffs, as mechanical street cleaners starting scrubbing beer and urine from the cobblestones. “It's for tourists.”

DENNY LEE is a contributing writer to the Travel section.


~ ~ ~

Donostia Hosts the Nixon Surf Challenge


Surf Zurriola
Originally uploaded by ortzio2
This note appeared at Global Surf News:

Nixon Surf Challenge

Playa Zurriola San Sebastian Basque Country
21 - 23 September 2007

Day one of Nixon Surf Challenge kicks off in San Sebastian

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 21 September, 2007 : - - A perfect day in San Sebastian with a cloudless sky, clean 4 foot swell and light winds. The Nixon Surf Challenge kicked off in traditional chilled out style after a night out in San Sebastian. The boys hit up the local tapas bars and got intimate with a few Cuba Libre’s as they took in the Basque culture.

Standing out in heat No. 1 was Tim Boal who’s smooth radical surfing took the lead. Heat No. 2, CJ Kanuha showed off some incredible progressive surfing with a number of reverse 360’s to narrowly beat Spain’s Gony Zubizarreta. Canaries star Jonathan Gonzales took Heat No. 3 doing a massive air 360 then connecting into powerful turns, proving that he’s undoubtedly one Europe’s finest surfers.

Benjamin Sanchis managed to just take the lead from UK surfer Reubyn Ash with some powerful, stylish surfing. Heat No. 4 was a great example of two strong surfers with very different styles. Cheyne Magnusson fell out in his very first heat and was sent to the losers round where he completely redeemed himself with a fresh bag of tricks and several powerful turns, allowing him to advance. Hodei Collazo was flying the Basque flag strong to snatch the lead from birthday boy Simon Young.

As the afternoon went on a few beers were cracked and the beachside lunch was fit for a king. The competitors were at full attention as the waves improved with the afternoon. Tiago Pieres arrived in time for Heat No. 6 and proved why he has qualified for the WCT, defeating local surfer Norman Landa who had one of the most difficult heats of the contest.

Basque local Jaime Azpiroz won heat No. 7 surfing against local 13 year old wonder kid Ethan Egiguren who narrowly lost to Nigel Gibb. Clay Marzo squeezed into San Sebastien just in time to make the last heat of the day, and completely blew up and showed everyone what progressive surfing is.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the quarter finals and finals.

Past winners include:
2005 – Josh Kerr (Australia)
2004 – Tiago Pires (Portugal)
2003 – Miky Picon (France)
2002 – Fredo Robin (France)
2001 – Jonathan Gonzalez (Canary Islands)
2000 – Eric McHenry (United States)


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Friday, September 21, 2007

Propaganda Games

Time to time I run into an article obviously written by a Basque-phobe. Well, this time the honor goes to an anonymous writer at the English publication The Economist.

It is just so darn juicy that I am gonna piece it apart paragraph by paragraph, here we go:

Spain and its regions
Autonomy games

Sep 20th 2007 | MADRID
From The Economist print edition

Tensions with the regions ahead of next March's general election in Spain

POLITICIANS can be more loved when they give up power than when they have it. This seems true of Josu Jon Imaz, leader of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV). His decision to quit has provoked laments all round, including from the prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Mr Imaz's party won only 1.6% of the vote in the 2004 general election. But, like the Basque country, the PNV punches above its weight. It has dominated Basque politics for 30 years, leading every regional government since 1980, including that of the current premier, Juan José Ibarretxe. And it runs a region that has more autonomy than just about any other in Europe.


Yes, you can see that this magazine is published in London, a city where the political class is having to swallow the bitter pill of the Scottish push for independence. Therein lies the reason about the editorial decision to parrot whatever comes out from Madrid's propaganda ministry.

Of course Zapatero decries Imaz's resignation, after the excellent job he did to derail the peace process now Zapatero faces a future without a high profile traitor within the ranks of the Basque Nationalist Party.

Fortunately the author gives us a comic relief when he mentions that the PNV got the 1.6% vote in the general elections in Spain, my goodness one would think that a fella who writes about "Spain regions" would know that the PNV's area of political influence is reduced to the Basque Autonomous Community and Navarre, they are really not that interested on presenting the Spaniards with a Basque Prime Minister option.

Oh and what a relief to read the "Autonomy Mantra" right off the bat. Anonymous should know that autonomy can be reduced if that move fits the political strategy of the power that grants such autonomy, independence on the other side can not be reduced or increased by a foreign state unless of course in the case of war, something that allegedly could never happen again in advanced Europe.

Let us continue:

It is not, however, its administrative and legislative power over 2.1m Basques that makes the PNV so important to Mr Zapatero. He cares about two other things. The first is the PNV's role as the engine driving what is often the pushiest region in Spain. Where the Basques lead, others (especially Catalonia but also Galicia) try to follow. The second is the party's attitude to, and fraught relationship with, the terrorist group ETA. The PNV would be a vital contributor to any possible peace settlement with ETA; ETA formally ended its ceasefire in June, although (thanks mainly to good police work) it has not since staged any big terrorist outrages.


It is so weird to read how a mouth piece for a government that so willingly tried to starve to death the entire Irish people, a government that bestowed its best honors to pirates, a government that engaged in war crimes like the airborne bombing of unarmed civilians in what is today know as Iraq; calls an armed group by the term of terrorist to then link it with a Basque political party, what is funny is to see that after all the efforts by Ibarretxe, Anasagasti, Imaz and Balza to play by the Spanish rules Madrid and London still consider the PNV as much part of ETA as Batasuna.

Meaning, for Madrid and London (and Paris for that matter) all Basques are terrorists, period.

But there is more:

The PNV is divided both over how hard to press Madrid and over how friendly to be to ETA. Mr Imaz is a moderate “pactist” who wants to be tough on ETA and not too pushy with Madrid. His opponents, the “sovereigntists”, want to be more aggressive with Madrid and gentler on ETA. Mr Imaz's narrow leadership victory four years ago showed how balanced the two factions are. His sovereigntist rival, Joseba Egibar, came within a whisker of victory.


No comments, clear as water.

Now, a plain out lie:

Mr Imaz is against the go-it-alone referendum that has been suggested by the regional government, to ask Basques to decide for themselves what relationship they want with the rest of Spain. The referendum, originally Mr Ibarretxe's idea, is probably illegal under the Spanish constitution. It would certainly trigger a clash with Madrid. But Mr Imaz failed to block a watered-down plan for a referendum in the PNV national council.


No sir, referendums are legal both under Spanish and under European Union precepts. And if that was not enough, referendums are enshrined by the UN Charter. Shall I remind you how did Montenegro, Slovakia and the Czech Republic obtained their statehood?

Back to the article:

By walking away from the leadership, he claimed, there would be no recurrence of the old PNV nightmare: a permanent split. A rival nationalist party, Eusko Alkartasuna, spun off in 1987. And young PNV malcontents helped to create ETA in 1959. The party's future direction now depends on who takes over as leader. Inigo Urkullu, a pactist, is the strongest candidate. But one of the sovereigntists may yet run.

The Basque country is, as ever, being watched intently in Catalonia, which is both bigger and stronger. With a population of 7.1m, Catalonia is home to almost one in six Spaniards. It has plenty of sovereigntists of its own, a few of whom burnt pictures of King Juan Carlos when he visited Barcelona recently. Catalans were also irritated when the Madrid parliament voted this week to bar sub-national sports teams from international competitions.


Not only Catalonia my dear, also Galiza, Brittany, Corsica, Wales and Scotland, which is why the English (and the French) are so worried about the outcome in Euskal Herria.

In Catalonia Mr Zapatero has, at least, done his homework by securing a new autonomy deal that Catalans approved in a referendum last year. He hopes that the new deal has sorted out Catalonia for a generation—and that if a moderate wins the PNV leadership, a similar deal might even work with the Basques. Yet the sovereigntists are now getting noisier in Catalonia, ahead of next March's general election. Spain's regional tensions seem likely to continue for a while yet.


So, there you go, now you begin to understand why the European Union is so adamant about not trying harder to resolve the Basque issue, three of its most representative states are dealing with a push by the "sovereigntists" for eventual independence, this is why a magazine in London is so willing to publish rubbish against the Basques, because today they scratch the itch on the back of those who in the near future may be scratching in reciprocity.

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Basque Cinema's Day

This note was published by EITb:

Zinemaldia

Next 26 of September to celebrate Basque Cinema’s Day

09/18/2007

Celebrated since 1997 in the frame of the Cinema Festival of San Sebastián, the Day of Basque Cinema is a tribute to the film creation in the Basque Country.

This event, organised by IBAIA and the Cinema Festival of San Sebastián, also has the collaboration of EITB, EAB Association of Basque Actors, Culture department of the Basque Government, Basque film library and the Newspaper Berria

The Day of Basque Cinema presents a day dedicated to the promotion and exhibition of the last Basque productions. They are showed in the cinema “Principes”, where works from different genres can be seen: animation, fiction, documentaries, short films and some important contribution from the Basque Film Library.

But, the Day of Basque Cinema is also a meeting day for experts in this area, where they give three awards: IBAIA award, which pays tribute to production and/or audiovisual initiative; and AMALUR award, for important people in this area, which this year AMALUR awards will be for the musician and composer Alberto Iglesias; and finally Berria award, given to the best short film made in Basque language.


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Thursday, September 20, 2007

Egibar Says No

Seems like no one wants to hold what thanks to Imaz's wrongdoings has become quite a hot potato, this note appeared at EITb:

Politics
Vote within the PNV

Egibar will not stand for the presidency of the PNV

09/19/2007

Joseba Egibar, president of the PNV in the province of Gipuzkoa and candidate to the presidency of the party four years ago, thinks the current situation within the party leads to an agreement on the candidate.

Leader of the Basque nationalist party PNV in Gipuzkoa Joseba Egibar will not stand in the party's vote to appoint a new president in the Basque Country, Basque TV station ETB announced on Tuesday.

In a PNV meeting, Egibar told the other members of the party he was not standing in the next vote to elect the new president as "the agreement on the party's policies, strategy and composition of the party's board leads irrevocably to a new agreement on the candidate".

Joseba Egibar and Josu Jon Imaz stood for the presidency of the PNV four years ago, which lead to in-fighting within the party.

The leader of the PNV Josu Jon Imaz said last week's Wednesday he was quitting politics. Josu Imaz said in a statement he hoped his decision to leave the presidency of the Basque Nationalist Party would help unite the group.

Media reports say there could be an agreement on Bizkaian PNV leader Iñigo Urkullu as the candidate to the presidency of the party.


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2007 Universal Basque Award

This note was published by EITb:

Life
Breaking News

Guggenheim Bilbao Museum wins 2007 Universal Basque Award

09/19/2007

The Basque Government announced Wednesday the award to the Basque museum for its promotion of the Basque Country abroad.

The Guggenheim museum at Bilbao, the biggest and most internationally famous museum in the Basque Country, won Wednesday the 2007 Basque Universal Award.

The Universal Basque Award, organized by the General Secretariat for Foreign Action and Basque savings bank Caja Laboral-Euskadiko Kutxa, is a recognition of the personal and professional careers of individuals, associations or entities whose activities have had a bearing on promoting the Basque Country abroad.

Since the award was created in 1996 the recipients have included Orfeón Donostiarra, Ainhoa Arteta, Martin Ugalde, Jorge Oteiza, Xabier de Irala, Joane Somarriba, Pedro Miguel Etxenike, Monseñor Laboa and Pablo Mandazen, more commonly known as “Brother Ginés.”


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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Belgian Issue

There is a lot of politicians that would like to think that nations can not evolve and that such evolution can very well lead to a process in which the borders need to be reshaped. More so, this can not happen in Europe. How could it?

Well, how about this, it was published yesterday by the BBC:

BREAK UP BELGIUM?

"There's no Belgian language. There's no Belgian nation. There's no Belgian anything," according to Filip Dewinter of the extreme Flemish nationalist party, Vlaams Belang.

Not everyone in Belgium supports his party, but recent polls suggest there is alot of support for an independent Flanders, the larger, wealthier Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Belgium has just over 10 million people, and 11 local parties in parliament. There is no single national politician or national identity between Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia. The Economist magazine recently said it's time to abolish Belgium, calling it "a freak of nature". What other countries would you break up? Is it time to say 'au revoir' Canada? Dis-unite the United Kingdom? Since Czechoslovakia managed a "velvet divorce," why not end the vows of Spain's Catalans, Basques, Galicians and Castilians?


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Monday, September 17, 2007

Aranburu Takes the Pro Surf


Pro Surf Zarautz
Originally uploaded by Zabala`s photos
Good news from Euskal Herria, one of the locals won the Pro Surf tournament that took place over the weekend in Zarautz.

Here you have the note:

Zarautz Pro Surf

ASP WQS 3 Star Mens Event
Zarautz Basque Country
13 - 16 September 2007


ARITZ ARANBURU (EUK) WINS ZARAUTZ PRO SURF IN SPAIN !

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 16 September, 2007 : - - Zarautz, Basque Country -- Aritz Aranburu (EUK) won the first edition of the Zarautz Pro Surf 3 Star WQS event this afternoon in his home village of Zarautz, giving the thousands of spectators an intense surprise.

Always consistent throughout the four days of competition, the Basque surfer confirmed his favourite status with his current World Qualifying Series 11th rank. Starting slowly in the thirty-minute decider Aranburu faced an impressive level of surfing from his closest opponents Marlon Lipke (DEU) and Shaun Gossmann (AUS).

Posting an excellent 8.27 pts ride halfway through the battle, Aranaburu waited not more than three minutes before catching up with the german leader and powerhouse surfer Lipke when he secured another excellent 9.07 single wave score to post the second highest two wave combined tally of the event with 18.00 points out of possible 20.

“So stoked to get this title at home... I really felt no pressure and having the whole crowd behind me pushed me further to get these highscores. Marlon surfed really well and it wasn’t easy to catch up but it all came to the best end possible for me.”

Talking about the massive support, “It’s just so special and good to feel that support from every person around. To have my family and friends all around throughout the event, to feel relaxed and have such a good event on my home spot. I didn’t think of any pressure or ratings or points as this event doesn’t change anything for me on the WQS ratings, but it’s an amazing bonus after this year.”

“Still a lot of very important events coming up so I’ll enjoy the small break before the Canarian events and make sure I keep going well in the main events,” finished Aranburu clinching US$ 7 000 for his victory, and keeping a firm grip on the European Pro Surf Tour ratings.

Afer his victory in the Movistar Pantin Classic 4 Star WQS a week ago, Marlon Lipke (DEU) ended very close to a second title in a row, leading the final for more than twenty minutes with a 17.16 points total. Finishing second of the Zarautz Pro Surf 3 Star WQS, Lipke keeps going on a very consistent roll and remains a favourite for the 2007 European Pro Surf Tour Championship.

“I was close to this second win in a row but Aritz just ended the final perfectly and I couldn’t do much more than post these two high scores. I’m so happy for him because it means a lot to win at home and we’ll just enjoy this great finish.”

Continues...


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