Friday, November 30, 2007

Irish Ball Players

This note appeared todays at RTE Sport:

Irish handballers Basque bound

Thursday, 29 November 2007 14:21

Eight of Ireland's top handballers will compete on the European One-Wall stage this weekend at the Basque International Tournament in Pamplona.

The action gets underway on Friday where hosts, the Basque Country will be joined by Ireland, England, the USA and Holland.

The tournament is divided into two sections, singles and doubles, with matches played over two games of 15.

Armagh lead the senior men's challenge with Lurgan's Charly Shanks, and James Doyle of the Eugene Quinn club, fighting it out with the best in the One-Wall game.

In the Under 18 grade, Ireland will be well represented by Banner duo, Diarmaid Nash and Niall Malone (both Tuamgraney).

Nash recently sealed his place on the Irish Junior squad which will travel to Arizona this Christmas, and in 2006, he collected the 15 and Under World Singles and Doubles (with Malone) title.

Spearheading the women's challenge will be Kerry's Ashley Prendeville, from the famed Ballymacelligott club. Prendeville has already had a hugely successful year in the 60x30 court, where she amassed an impressive four All-Ireland titles.

The St. Coman's club in Roscommon is well represented on this Irish One-Wall squad by Marianna Rushe, Leona Doolin and Katie Costello.

All three girls have impressive on the provincial and national stage in recent seasons and all competed at last year's World Championships.

Leading the Irish International side to the Basque Country are Team Manager, Sligo's Francis McCann and Assistant Manager, Kilkenny's Betty Funchion.

The USA dominated the recent Open d'Italia and this Irish selection will need to be in top form if they are to reap success.


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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Basque New Testament on Sale

This note appeared at EITb:

Entertainment

Auction in London

Leizarraga’s New Testament has no owner

11/28/2007

Shoteby’s put up Basque author Joannes Leizarraga’s New Testament (1571) for auction this morning. First price was 28,500 euros. Nobody offered higher price and the copy has not been sold.

Prestigious Shoteby’s Auction House of London put New Testament written by Basque Protestan priest Joannes Leizarraga for auction. The first price was 28,500 euros (20,000 pounds). However, nobody offered more and therefore the copy has no owner.

Caja Navarra bought for 33 million pesetas in 1995 one of the very few extant copies ordered by Navarre’s Queen Joana de Albret. The copy was bought in Christie’s House of London.

Joannes Leizarraga

Joannes Leizarraga (1505?-1601) was the first person to translate the New Testament into the Basque language. It is known that he died at 96, and that in 1559 he professed the Evangelical faith, embracing the Reformation. In 1563 he was in Laburdi, and was invited to Pau Reformed Synod and ordained as a minister there in 1567. Queen Juana de Albret called him to translate the New Testament, and some writings of John Calvin. He translated directly from the Greek New Testament, as well as using Erasmus' Latin translation.

Leizarraga’s work

The original Leizarraga Bible was published in 1571.The facsimile edition includes three pieces of research done on this important piece of Basque literature by lecturers at the Universities of Pau and the Basque Country, respectively.


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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

A Basque American Way of Life

This note describing the journey of a documentary filming crew from Euskal Herria in the USA was published by The Sparks Tribune:

Basque film crew stops in Sparks to document and discover“American way of life”

By Jessica Mosebach
jmosebach@sparkstribune.net

John Ascuaga's Nugget played host this weekend to five young Basque professionals who indulged in the "American way of life," including larger drink and meal portions and friendly people.

The crew came from the Spanish Basque region of Europe to work on a television documentary series called “Basques in America,” exploring the Basque culture in the western U.S. The team — all native Basques — arrived in Los Angeles on Nov. 2 and includes a field producer, two reporters, a cameraman and a camera assistant. They traveled north through California earlier in November, stopping in Bakersfield, San Francisco and Sacramento before arriving in Nevada.

The experience has been an eye-opener for them, especially in the way of American life, they said.

The culture is very different here, said reporter Ander San Sebastian through translator Adela Ucar.

“Things are bigger,” San Sebastian said. "Just like a normal coffee is double the size we get .... It's been very exciting to get to know the American culture. It’s very spectaculous.”

This past weekend, they made a stop in Sparks to film the Ascuaga family at John Ascuaga’s Nugget. They also spent time with students at the Center of Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.

On Saturday, they interviewed Michonne Ascuaga, daughter of John Ascuaga and chief executive officer of the hotel-casino. Michonne spoke of her family's Basque background in the Nugget's Restaurante Orozko, which serves Basque cuisine.

To complete the documentary, the crew members were sent through the European production company, Flying Apple TV & Film Producers, S.L.

Zigor Etxebarria Enbeita, 29, and Aldo Ferraris, 37, and are long-time employees of the company. Emma Marín, 24, San Sebastian, 24, and Ucar, 27, were hired as freelancers.

"Basques in America" will feature five stories: three biographical stories, one story on Basque women in Boise and one on the Basque population in Bakersfield.

"It's been very interesting knowing second-generation Basques, who, even though they were born here, they still speak Basque and they still feel a big attachment to Basque and its culture,” Enbeita said.

"It's still very vibrant, the community," Ucar said of the population.

The European Basque culture is found in two different regions. The French Basques are located southwest of France and the Spanish Basques border north-central Spain and inhabit the Pyrenee mountains.

According to Ucar, the French Basques migrated to Bakersfield while the Spanish Basques predominantly came to Reno and Boise.

The culture is unique in that its language is not rooted in any Germanic or Slavic family. However, Ucar said it is possible there is a Celtic language connection.

Ucar called the Basques “proficient travelers,” speaking to their historical contributions of “conquering new horizons.”

"You can find a Basque descendant all over the world," San Sebastian added, including South America and China.

During its first six days, the crew followed and profiled Joe Ansolabehere, the creator of television shows "Recess" and "Rugrats," as well as his colleague Paul Germain.

As it progressed to Stockton, the members devoted one day to California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi and his family on his ranch.

San Sebastian, speaking through Ucar, said, "I think none of us had been through California before, so the trip in itself has been very interesting because (of) knowing all those characters with (such) different lives ... and backgrounds."

Marin did some research in preparation for the trip and found that the largest Basque population is in the U.S. is in the west, but said she didn't find any concrete numbers. Regardless, Marin said the response toward the crew's work was very positive by those they met with during their trip.

"We've all been very, very welcomed by the Basque community," Marin said. "Our work was very much appreciated. They kept saying, 'Thank you so much for doing this story on us, for being interested in our culture,' when it's us who are thankful for them letting us into their lives. They were very emotional about telling their stories and passionate."

Each reflected on what they learned the most of this trip. Ferraris joked and said for him, it's "an American way of life!" as the others laughed.

The documentary series is expected to be translated in Basque and aired in Europe in March. Each of the five segments will be an hour long.

The group returns home next week after its last stop in Boise to film for the final segment, "Women in Boise."


This is what Wikipedia tells us about Sparks:

Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The population was 66,346 at the 2000 census. Estimates in 2006 place the population at around 90,000 due to rapid growth in areas such as Spanish Springs, Wingfield Springs, and D'Andrea. Although Sparks was originally distinct from Reno, they have both grown toward each other to such a degree that today the border between them is purely political. They are often referred to as a twin city (i.e. "Reno-Sparks").


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Navarre and the Civil War

This information comes to us thanks to Txabi:

The Spanish Military Uprising of 1936

Under the Spanish Second Republic, the Catalans achieved home rule in 1932, but a Basque autonomy statute for Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa (Navarre excluded) was delayed until 1936.

The military uprising of 18 July 1936 "underlined the multifarious social base and, at points, contradictory nature of the ideology upon which the (Basque Nationalist) party rested," writes Marianne Heiberg.

According to Heiberg, some months previously secret meetings were allegedly held between certain Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) leaders and the right requesting arms "to form Basque militias which would function as soon as a communist revolution, which we assume approaching, explodes." A few days before the uprising two PNV deputies, Irujo and Lasarte, declared that the PNV would support the Republic in case of a military intervention. On the night before the military rebellion, the PNV executive retracted these assurances of automatic PNV loyalty.

On the day of the uprising, Heiberg writes, the first section of the PNV to react was the PNV executive in Navarre, which declared its opposition to the government of the Republic "responsible for religious persecutions. " Volunteers, 42,000 in number and called the Requetes, financed by the Carlists, were recruited mainly from the peasantry and organized into militias in defence of "God and his Church, King and Fueros!

The worst period in the orgy of Franco's violence in Navarre, had countless Navarrese sentenced to exile, prison, or the grave. Navarre was a fundamental bulwark for the insurrect Spanish army led by General Franco.

The number of Navarrese executed - more than 3,000 - by the fascists and their sympathisers in rearguard was higher than in any Spanish province with a war front. Forced recruitment, massive executions, rape, killings reported as suicides, prison, exile, and the Catholic church as oppressive agent, are denounced by the cultural organization Altaffaylla Kultur Taldea in an important research published by the group in 1986 about Navarre during the military uprising in 1936. The results of this research contradict the fascist propaganda which claims Navarre was in favor of Franco.


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The Basque Astronaut

Today at EITb:


Sci/Tech

International space station

First Basque astronaut to install new laboratory Columbus

11/27/2007

Columbus is the most important European mission to date and the cornerstone of Europe's contribution to the ISS.

NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis Flight STS-122 is scheduled to launch on Thursday 6th December 2007 from flight pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The STS-122 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will deliver and install the European science laboratory Columbus. The Shuttle's crew of seven includes ESA German astronaut Hans Schlegel and ESA first Basque astronaut Leopold Eyharts, both on their second spaceflights.

Columbus is the most important European mission to date and the cornerstone of Europe's contribution to the ISS. Once launched and operational, ESA will become a co-owner of mankind's only permanent outpost in space. As the first European laboratory devoted to long-term research in space, Columbus will further expand the science capabilities of the International Space Station. The 7 meter long and 12.8-tonne laboratory will provide internal payload accommodation for experiments in the field of multidisciplinary research into material science, fluid physics and life science. In addition its external payload facility hosts experiments and applications in the field of space science, Solar science, Earth observation and technology.

Columbus will be transported into Earth orbit in the Shuttle's cargo bay, together with five internal rack facilities (Biolab, the Fluid Science Laboratory, the European Physiology Modules, the European Drawer Rack and the European Transport Carrier). Two of its external experiment facilities (EuTEF and SOLAR) will be stowed separately in the Shuttle's cargo bay and attached to the outside of the laboratory module structure.

ESA German astronaut Hans Schlegel will play a key role in two of the three spacewalks or EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity) scheduled for the mission. During the mission's first EVA Schlegel will help to install and power up the laboratory. Just hours after opening the hatch between the laboratory and the ISS some of Columbus' multidisciplinary science facilities will start research operations. On his second EVA, Schlegel will remove and replace a Nitrogen Tank Assembly. EuTEF and SOLAR will be installed during the third EVA. After 12 days in space Hans Schlegel will return to Earth with Shuttle STS-122, while Leopold Eyharts will remain on the ISS for a further two months.

During his stay on the ISS Eyharts will play a key part in the installation, activation and in-orbit commissioning of Columbus and of its experimental facilities. He will become the first European astronaut to test and operate in-orbit all the systems of Columbus and the European science facilities and experiments carried on board. Because of his extended ISS stay, Eyharts is also likely to be onboard for the arrival of Jules Verne, Europe's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), an unmanned supply ship carrying 7.1 tonnes of cargo to the ISS, including food, air and water. Eyharts will return to Earth on Shuttle mission STS-123.

With the launch of Node-2 in October and the upcoming launch of Columbus, followed by the first launch of an ATV, Europe has entered into a new era as a partner in the ISS Programme. Europe will have taken up home in space, owning its share in the ISS, contributing to the logistics and having permanent access to science and research opportunities in orbit.

The Columbus and ATV control centres in Oberpfaffenhofen (Germany) and Toulouse (France) will become nerve centres of Europe's ISS operations. Moreover, the Columbus Control Centre is linked into a network of User Operations Centres across Europe, where scientists will be able to control their experiments and often even receive the data and results in real time via this unique networked infrastructure.

Two more ESA astronauts are already training for future missions to the ISS: Frank De Winne from Belgium (who is also the backup for Leopold Eyharts on flight STS-122) and Andrew Kuipers from the Netherlands are next in line for a stay of some two to three months on the ISS.


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Monday, November 26, 2007

Against Genre Violence

This note appeared today at EITb:

Life

UN'S International Day

Thousands of people to rally against violence against women

11/25/2007

There are rallies and events all over the world to celebrate the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

Tens of thousands of people will march through the streets of cities all over the world on Sunday to mark the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

"Against violence, the government and the parliament must realise that this is a big social problem. It must be solved, it must be solved culturally and it must be solved in the schools. And so we are here to reaffirm again, and ask again for dignity", said one protester in an Italian march held on Saturday.

Luisa Morgantini, a member of the European Parliament who took part in the Rome march said most violence against women comes from within their family: "90 percent of the women are attacked, abused inside the families. And we are here together with all the women in the world because it is the international day against violence, as the United Nations also declared to say stop!"

Several marches are also called in the Basque capitals as well as in Navarre.

Two women have been killed and 934 injured so far in 2007 in the Basque Country down to domestic violence. The Basque police have arrested 783 men.


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Basque Cuisine at Miami Herald

Despite falling into the temptation of calling the Basques by the tag "Spanish", the Miami Herald has published an interesting article about Basque cuisine, here you have it:


Lunch with Lydia

Celebrities

On the tapas trail with a superstar chef of Spain

Posted on Sun, Nov. 25, 2007

By Lydia Martin
lmartin@MiamiHerald.com

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain --
Elena Arzak has been called the most important female chef in the world. The Madonna of chefs, even. But she seems oblivious to all of her press as she leads you through the elegant streets of this seaside resort on your way to one of her favorite little pintxos, or tapas, bars.

''What a shame you have to leave today. If we had more time, I would have taken you around to taste all of my favorite pintxos,'' says the slight and soft-spoken Elena, daughter of Juan Mari Arzak, who is known as the father of modern Basque cuisine.

Juan Mari and Elena share the kitchen at Arzak, the homey, three-Michelin star restaurant that has been in the family since 1897 and is the gastronomic beacon of the Basque region. Especially when she's in her chef whites, Elena seems like that shy but brilliant science geek back in high school. Not like a culinary rock star. But don't be fooled.

A tapas crawl with Elena Arzak through a corner of Spain considered foodie mecca (San Sebastián has one of the highest concentrations of Michelin stars in the world) would be like riding in the limo with J-Lo. Like guzzling bubbly back at the hotel with Beyoncé. It's 10:30 on a Monday morning, and Elena, in street clothes, is questioning your request for café con leche.

''Bueno, we can start with coffee. But after that we have to drink txakoli, no? At least one glass,'' and straightaway, a woman at the tiny Bar Haizea (air in Basque), begins the dramatic ritual, pouring the region's signature white wine from more than two feet above glass tumblers. The height of the stream increases the gentle effervescence of the txakoli, which, you notice, half the crowd is drinking for breakfast. The other half is drinking beer.

Folks here smile and nod at Elena, who smiles and nods back. But her focus is the succession of small plates she has ordered. There are several platters of everyday pintxos displayed on the bar, but she doesn't pick any of those. Instead she asks the kitchen for a few special orders.

While you're marveling at the sweetness of grilled langostinos, the freshness of cod fish wrapped in paper-thin pastry and tied with leek, she pulls a history lesson from her briefcase.

''It's very important, if you are going to talk about my father, that you speak about several other chefs in this region,'' she says, placing in front of you a press packet that includes a list of Basque chefs: Pedro Subijana, Ricardo Idiaquez, Pedro Gomez and others.

''The New Basque cuisine started between 1975 and 1976 with my father and a couple of others who were inspired by the nouvelle cuisine of France. But it was a movement, and you have to mention others in the movement,'' she says, highlighting one of the most remarkable aspects of the contemporary Spanish culinary scene: Instead of engaging in clichéd competition, Spain's top chefs present a united front, which has a lot to do with why today the country boasts the most highly-regarded food scene in the world, blowing even France out of the water with its avant-garde strides.

Its undisputed superstars are Elena's dad and Ferran Adriá of Barcelona. They also happen to be best friends (they just chartered a yacht for a Caribbean vacation with their wives). Juan Mari Arzak was a mentor of Adriá, but Adriá took the idea of modern Spanish cuisine to the stratosphere with his foams, deconstructions and mad-scientist creations. The Salvador Dalí, the Picasso, the Beethoven of the food world, Adriá has been called. And his ''molecular gastronomy'' has become a movement, with roots that lead back to Juan Mari's earlier movement. When Elena decided she wanted to follow in her dad's footsteps, she went to culinary school in Switzerland and then on to internships in some of the world's top kitchens, including Adriá's.

Now, thanks largely to Elena, Arzak's menu features a lot of Adriá's innovations. But the borrowing is all in the family.

''We are not so worried about who came up with something first,'' Adriá says by phone from his laboratory in Barcelona. ``Juan Mari and I are like brothers. And we always felt it was very important for us to set the example. We are from two generations. Juan Mari is in his 60s, and I am in my 40s. He is Basque, and I am Catalan. But above all, what we are working for is the same thing, the exploration and investigation of something new.''

And Elena, 38, has become a crucial member of the team.

''She is very well-prepared, a very good chef,'' Adriá says. 'And the proof is in the fact that there is a very smooth transition happening at Arzak. Nobody today would say, "It's not Juan Mari in the kitchen tonight, only his daughter.' Everybody agrees that whether it's Juan Mari or Elena in the kitchen at Arzak, it's exactly the same thing.''

''Ferran is very generous,'' Elena says. "He shares many of his ideas with us and with others. I'm not saying that anybody is copying anybody. It's more that we utilize similar techniques, that we're all inspired by certain concepts.''

Take Elena's creation, From the Egg to the Chicken, a dish featuring a poached egg in a shallow pool of chicken jus, with a sprinkling of chicken crackling. Veiling it is what appears to be tissue paper but is, in fact, dehydrated egg yolk magically turned into an edible sheet.

''What is important is that the eggs and the chicken are very fresh,'' Elena says. "We might experiment with the futuristic, but in the end what we want is to honor the traditional. For four generations, our restaurant has used fish caught that day, eggs laid that day. This is still very important to us.''

Dad and daughter dream up new dishes and test them on each other. At first, Juan Mari feigned delight at everything his daughter made for him.

''He didn't want me to run scared. He wanted to encourage me,'' Elena says. Eventually, when I was confident enough, he started finishing dishes for me. He would say, 'It needs more acidity.' Or whatever. Now we finish dishes for each other.''

Says Juan Mari: "Elena and I are a team. Without her, I could not do it. I need her now to do this kind of investigative cuisine. And I'm going to keep working at her side until she kicks me out.''

Many food-world observers have characterized as remarkable Juan Mari's ability to let a woman, even his daughter, take control of his kitchen, given the male-centeredness of high cuisine. But his response is always the same. "San Sebastián has always been a matriarchal culture. My mother ran this restaurant before I did. It is the most natural thing for Elena to take over.''

''My father is very broad-minded,'' Elena says. "He is, above all, a modern man.''

As Elena chats, a server at Bar Haizea brings one of San Sebastián's most traditional pinxtos -- a guindilla (a small green pickled pepper from the region) skewered with an anchovy and olive.

''That might be a hard one for you this early in the morning. If you can't eat it, just give it to me,'' Elena offers. But you're not in San Sebastián to be squeamish. You're here for the commitment ceremony of one of Miami's most incorrigible foodies, Terry Zarikian, product development director for China Grill Management. He and partner Mikey Katz have gathered some of Miami's biggest culinary players -- among them chef Michelle Bernstein, grilling star Steven Raichlen and pastry chef Hedy Goldsmith. And a couple of days into the trip, especially after the food at the wedding (Juan Mari and Elena, present in their chef whites, dreamed up all the appetizers) the Miami foodies are equal parts orgasmic and whiney.

You just can't get the same quality ingredients in Miami, they say. Back home, there just isn't food like there is in this corner of the world. Elena hears the lament over and over. But she's not buying that Miami does not have a world-class restaurant scene.

"Maybe in Miami there is an esteem problem. I was there only once. But I ate at Bouley. I ate at the Blue Door. There is some amazing food in Miami. Some very fresh, great local fish, for example. I can't wait to go back and eat at Michelle Bernstein's, because I ran out of time when I was there. Everybody tells me it's exceptional. I also went to Havana Harry's, and I had some excellent Cuban food.''

She loved Havana Harry's tostones stuffed with shrimp. In fact, she bought a couple of tostoneras (plantain presses) in Little Havana with which to recreate the dish back home.

"I have been experimenting. But it's just not working. I fry the plantains, but they don't get crispy enough.''

Um, does she fry them once -- or twice? "Once. Should I fry them twice?''

Given your limited kitchen skills, the idea that you actually have a tip for Elena Arzak is outrageous. But, yes, she should fry them twice. Elena lights up.

''I guess I'll go back into the test kitchen and try that,'' she says. "Yes. That makes sense. Of course, you should fry them twice!''


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Basque Exports

This note appeared today at EITb:

Business

Interesting

Cloth from Dolce & Gabbana jeans, bull sperm among Basque exports

11/25/2007

The Basque Country, a small country in northern Spain home to 2.1 million people, has usually been related to ancient customs and metallurgy. However, you would be surprised if you asked about its exports.

Have you ever wondered where does the cloth of your favorite jeans come from? Or who has made that incredibly good-looking guitar your most-loved artist is playing? Well, you might find odd answers to these questions you never dared to ask.

Answers to all these questions make a very different picture of many countries. The Basque Country, a small country in northern Spain home to 2.1 million people, has usually been related to ancient customs and metallurgy. However, you would be surprised if you asked about its exports.

Lois, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce Gabbana and many of the best-selling jean firms you can think of get their cloth for their trousers from Tavex, a factory in the Basque town of Bergara. More than 11 million trousers all over the world are made with cloth made by this Basque firm.

It is not only jeans..there ra also guitars or bull's sperm.... The sperm is exported from a farm in Derio, almost 30 million spermatozoa leave the Basque Country in small tubes kept into liquid nitrogen to inseminate cows from distant places such as Mexico, France, Iran or Turkey.


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Sunday, November 25, 2007

Widespread Torture in Spain

Once again Spain (this time under Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his PSOE) is exposed by Amnesty International as a country that practices torture.

Here you have the report by Madrid's little darlings, the media outlet AP:

Amnesty: Torture in Spain 'Widespread'

By CIARAN GILES – Nov 22, 2007

MADRID, Spain (AP) — A human rights group accused Spain's government Thursday of turning a blind eye to what it called the "widespread and persistent" torture and abuse of people held in custody.

Amnesty International also called for closed-circuit television cameras in police stations and an independent body to look into suspected cases of torture.

"Up to now, the official attitude, from ministries to prosecutors and judges, is that there are only isolated cases. Our investigations show this is not so," said Esteban Beltran, the director of Amnesty's branch in Spain.

There have been allegations in the past of torture and mistreatment by Spanish police toward jailed members of armed Basque separatist group ETA, but London-based Amnesty said abuse occurs with all types of suspects.

"In Spain, torture and mistreatment of detained people by officers responsible for making sure the law is obeyed is a widespread and persistent practice," Amnesty said.

A senior Interior Ministry official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, rejected Amnesty's claims that torture and abuse was common. The official said that with some 150,000 police officers it was only logical that there should be some "isolated" cases.

The report referred to 15 sample cases, most involving beatings by police and threats of further violence to the victims.

The report said one man was arrested by police in the northeastern city of Lleida in 2003 and confessed to false charges of burning an automated teller machine after being allegedly made to stand or kneel without support for hours.


And this is what true human rights organizations qualify as state sponsored terrorism.

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Saturday, November 24, 2007

Surf's Top 45

This note appeared today at EITb:

Sports

Foster's ASP World Tour

Basque surfer Aritz Aranburu qualifies for the elite top 45

11/24/2007

The Basque surfer will be a true ambassador for Basque surfing around the world.

Basque surfer Aritz Aranburu guaranteed his place among the top 45 surfers for next year at the Reef Hawaiian Pro despite losing out in the semi-finals (5th place overall).

Aranburu eliminated Bruce Irons, world No. 2 Taj Burrow and other highly seeded surfers en-route to the semi’s to confirm his spot for next year's Foster's ASP World Tour.

“It’s been an amazing contest for me and I didn’t expect it, I was just trying to do the best I could,” said the 22-year-old. “I didn’t expect to eliminate Taj Burrow,” Aranburu told kauaiworld.com.


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A Story With Heart

This great story comes to us thanks to the San Jose Mercury News:

Transplant patient's heartfelt thanks

By Scott Herhold
Mercury News
Article Launched: 11/24/2007 01:35:28 AM PST

Mary DiMaggio of San Jose and the Larrañaga family of Mondragon, Spain, will not understand each others' words when they meet next month in Spain's Basque country. DiMaggio speaks no Spanish and no Basque. The Larrañagas know little English.

It won't matter. The American and her Basque hosts share the alphabet of tragedy and the syntax of hope. They will talk in the language of the heart.

DiMaggio, 63, a woman with the sallow complexion of a long-time patient but the sturdy frame of a swimmer, is pushing herself to endure the long air flight for one overriding reason: gratitude.

Since a Stanford University Hospital transplant in August 2003, she has been kept alive by the heart of the Larrañagas' only son, Gaizka, who was killed in a traffic accident in Reno at the age of 32.

DiMaggio is telling her story publicly to remind people of the need to donate organs. "To be able to thank these wonderful people is just unbelievable," said the San Jose woman, whose husband, Horace, is a second cousin to Joe DiMaggio, the famous Yankee slugger. "Believe me, I wouldn't get on a plane just to go to Spain."

Delayed by language barriers, the meeting almost never happened. That the donating family and recipient will be able to look one another in the eye owes to two decisive moments.

Reno tragedy

The tragedy struck first. At 5:40 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2003, Gaizka Larrañaga, a newly arrived teaching assistant at University of Nevada-Reno, was riding his bicycle in the gutter of Reno's Kings Row when he was struck by an SUV. The driver said the sun got in her eyes.

Dragged more than 100 feet under the vehicle, the sturdy athlete had no hope for survival. When his father, Jose Maria Larrañaga, arrived from Spain, he was given the bad news. He did a noble thing. He willed his son's organs for donation. He allowed Gaizka's body to be kept alive by machine until recipients could be found.

Mary DiMaggio, who spent 23 years working in customer service at Fairchild and National Semiconductor, was high on the list of those who needed a heart. The experimental drugs she took to fight cancer in the early 1980s had damaged her heart, which was working at only 10 percent capacity by 2003. She had little time left.

"They gave me about six hours' notice," she said, describing how she checked into the hospital. "You're lying in bed, hearing the helicopter, and you're thinking, 'Is that the heart? Is that the heart?' "

It was the heart - though the process of rebooting DiMaggio's body with Gaizka's heart nearly betrayed her hopes. In the three years after the transplant, she suffered three major rejections and saw her leg cut open to control a hematoma.

Though her immune system is still delicate and she can't return to work, she's suffered no big setback this year. And that realization led to the second decisive moment.

Beginning a year after she received Gaizka's heart, DiMaggio has been searching to connect with the Larrañaga family. Through the hospital, she sent them a letter. They sent one back in Spanish. Language difficulties defeated her when she called and her e-mail went into the ether. It wasn't until a friend, Consuelo Vargas, volunteered to call in Spanish that DiMaggio made contact. The Larrañagas invited her to Spain.

Status of health

This was no small order. On an airplane, DiMaggio needs to move around so her legs do not fill with fluid. And there was always the nagging doubt: Was she really healthy enough for the trip?

Four months ago, her doctor made the choice easier after she read him a letter from Spain. As long as she wasn't suffering setbacks, she could go. In fact, she needed to go.

So at 7:15 a.m. on Dec. 4, DiMaggio will leave on an American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Miami with her two good friends, Olga Andrade and Joan Perkins, along with Consuelo Vargas and her husband, Hugo. After a two-hour layover, they'll fly on to Madrid, where they'll spend a few days. Then they'll take the train to Vitoria, where the Larrañagas will meet them.

DiMaggio is encouraged by the e-mails she's received from Jose Maria, who had four daughters as well as one son. "We have a beloved heart in the body of a good and grateful American," read the translation of one of his e-mails.

One detail adds the final piece. When he was a child, Gaizka loved to play cowboys, shooting a toy gun at imaginary foes. The Larrañagas asked DiMaggio: Would she object if they gave her one of Gaizka's cowboy hats? For a woman who pretended as a girl that she was a wild horse, it seemed exactly right.


~ ~ ~

Eusko Flickr : Basque Elegance


Basque elegance
Originally uploaded by gilltheaker

Democratic Framework Campaign

This note appeared at An Phoblacht:

22 November, 2007

Other News

International : Basque pro-independence movement launches new campaign

‘Onto the streets, into the workplaces, into the universities’

THE Basque pro-independence movement has pledged to take its campaign for ‘A Democratic Framework’ for conflict resolution “onto the streets, into the workplaces and into the universities”.

A massive meeting in Donostia – which included some of the historical leaders and activists of the party together with those members of the current leadership that have not been imprisoned by Spanish courts – heard that ‘A Democratic Framework’ is the key to creating the political change that could bring to an end the current situation of “a lack of recognition and division suffered by the Basque Country at the hands of the Spanish and French establishments”.

This is a proposal that Basque nationalist left activists are ready to take to “each neighbourhood, each village... to make it known to all Basque citizens and... to unite in a real popular offensive”.

Fullaondo said she wanted to send two clear messages to “all Basque nationalist left and democrats” of the country.

“First of all, we reaffirm the commitment to work for the rights of this people. Secondly, we will keep working towards our political project – independence and socialism. Despite all aggression and all obstacles, we will not step back when it comes to achieving our objectives.”

She continued:

“In our hands we have a proposal made by the people and for the people, and [the Establishment] will not silence us. They will try to misrepresent it and to silence our proposal but, with the citizens’ commitment, work and struggle we will overcome all obstacles. The proposal will be presented on the streets, in the workplaces, in the schools and in the universities.”

The pro-independence spokesperson reminded people that the Spanish Government “only offers repression and the imposition of a constitution whose final objective is to close the doors to independence”.

From Fullaondo’s point of view, the conservative PNV Basque Nationalist Party’s strategy serves to reinforce the Spanish strategy as its framework does not consider the possibility of independence for the Basques but “an agreement that closes the door to independence” and reinforces the partition of the Basque territories.

In relation to the creation of a democratic framework, Barrena pointed out to the necessity of an agreement between the “Basque political, social and economic agents”. Initially, the proposal includes a referendum for citizens to decide on the reunion of the provinces under Spanish rule that are, at the moment, divided under two different autonomous administrations. Then those Basque territories under French control can decide if they want to join them.


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Friday, November 23, 2007

Basque Cheese Making

This delicious note appeared at EITb:

Fiestas & traditions

Ancient practice

Cheese making: Idiazabal and Ordizia

11/22/2007

Cheese making has prevailed along the years in the Basque traditions giving a well-known name to some towns such as Idiazabal and Ordizia.

The vast number of megalithic monuments scattered through the Basque countryside (dolmens, cromlechs, etc.) offer us signs of the ancient practice of livestock herding.

Shepherds tended native “Latxa” sheep throughout the year, grazing them in the highest, coolest fields in summer and the best-sheltered fields in winter. The milk they gave was made into a ball of semisolid milk, the beginnings of what today is a superb cheese.

After several centuries of evolution and with the help of modern technology to ensure proper hygiene, Basque sheepherders continue to make excellent cheeses, the quality of which has now transcended the valleys of its birthplace.

Idiazabal, the seat of a long Goierri valley stretching from Alava and Navarra to Gipuzkoa, lends its generic name to a DO product (denominación de origin mark of authenticity and control).

The milk that goes into Idiazabal DO cheeses comes from Basque sheep, although not always from Gipuzkoan. Today milk from Bizkaia, Alava and Navarra is also used to make Idiazabal cheese. Only “Latxa” sheep’s milk can be used in the Idiazabal DO, making creamy cheeses with hints of hazelnut, walnut and the unique flavor of the milk itself.

The best products are taken to compete for prizes in cheese competitions held throughout the valley: Idiazabal (May), Ordizia (June) and Zegama (November). But the Idiazabal DO’s crowning event, drawing crowds, important cheese tasters and the media, takes place in Ordizia in September with the so-called “Euskal Jaiak” (Basque fiesta). The festival and cheese contest has now become a tourist event.


~ ~ ~

Drink Basque

This refreshing note appeared today at EITb:

Gastronomy

Grapes and apples

Wine, Cider and Txakoli

11/22/2007

As opposed to the powerful wine industry, almost on an industrial scale, the production of txakolí (a light, young wine) and cider is still a limited craft.

There is no doubt that the Rioja alavesa is the great wine-cellar of Euskadi. The wines from this region have already attained international recognition. This region produces both red and white wines, the reds being made from grapes such as the "tempranillo" and the "garnacha" and the whites from "viura".

As opposed to the powerful wine industry, almost on an industrial scale, the production of txakolí (a light, young wine) and cider is still a limited craft.

It is this grape which produces "txakolí", a young, fruity wine, slightly acid and with a low alcohol content which has almost always been linked to Basque gastronomy and folklore, although up until relatively recently it hadn't received the recognition it was worthy of.

Txakolí can be both red and white, depending on the type of grape used to make it. The most renowned type of txakolí is the white variety, which because if its characteristics is very similar to other young wines found around Europe. This wine which has around 10 or 11 degrees of alcohol should be served chilled (about 8 degrees C), not cold, and is the ideal accompaniment for fish and seafood dishes.

For years, the Basque people were so convinced that txakolí was "something to drink at home" that it appeared on the wine list of only very few restaurants. Now its consumption is spreading, supported, amongst other things, by quality controls, although the fact that it has only a limited level of production means that it has not yet become a product which is available for mass consumption.

Cider is the most popular drink. This apparently inoffensive drink has enough alcohol to produce one or two disagreeable surprises if it is drunk to excess. It is best to drink it during the same year it is bottled and so that all its taste is brought out it should be served at a temperature of between 13 and 15 degrees.

It is usually kept in dark bottles which protect it from the light and, like txakolí, is poured into the glass from a distance of between 30 and 40 centimeters so that once it hits the glass, its taste comes flooding out. It has been said that eider should never stay for too long in the glass and should be drunk quickly.


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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

About Euskaltzaindia

This note appeared today at EITb:

Fiestas & traditions

Official Academic Institution

Euskaltzaindia: The Royal Academy of the Basque Language

11/20/2007

Basque is a non-Indo-European language whose speakers are largely found in the Basque Country or Euskal Herria, straddling the border between France and Spain, in the bottom right-hand corner of the Bay of Biscay.

The Royal Academy of the Basque Language (1919) is the official academic institution, which watches over Euskara or the Basque language. It carries out research into the language, seeks to protect it and establishes standards of use. The Basque name of this academy of language is Euskaltzaindia.

Basque is a non-Indo-European language whose speakers are largely found in the Basque Country or Euskal Herria, straddling the border between France and Spain, in the bottom right-hand corner of the Bay of Biscay. The territory the language is spoken in is spread over three distinct regions: the two autonomous communities of Euskadi and Navarre in Spain and, in the French Republic, the Département des Pyrénées Atlantiques.

Euskaltzaindia enjoys full official recognition as a royal academy in Spain (1976) and as a cultural association of public benefit within the territory of the French Republic (1995). At the same time it also enjoys widespread social recognition among the country's population. All this has brought about an intense normative activity leading to the standardisation and modernisation of the language in Basque society, especially since 1968.

The Academy of the Basque language was established within the context of the Basque Renaissance (Eusko Pizkundea, 1876 - 1936) in the framework provided by the Congress of Basque Studies held in Oñati in 1918, at a time when the Basque language was being proclaimed as a central cultural value to be protected and promoted.

Important figures from the 19th century had already demanded the setting-up of an academy in defence of the language (Ulibarri, 1832; Aizkibel, 1856; d'Abbadie and Duvoisin, 1862; Manterola, 1880 and Artiñano, 1886), and it was during the first two decades of the 20th century when various entities - some scientific and others more popular ones - also emphasised the need for its immediate creation.

The scientific contributions of major foreign figures (Bonaparte, Van Eys, Schuchardt, Dodgson, Gavel etc.) and from within the country (Campion, Azkue, Urquijo etc.), as well as the demand on the part of Basque language loyalist organisations (for example, Eusko Esnalea) created a favourable climate for the public authorities to take on the task of setting up the academy.

The first initiative in this direction came from the provincial government of Bizkaia, which the other three provincial governments in the peninsular part of the Basque Country subsequently joined (1918), with articles of association being approved and Euskaltzaindia being legally constituted in October 1919. One year later its journal Euskera was launched, the official organ for the publication of its rules and research work, which has survived to the present.

The present day internal structure and organisation can be summarised as follows: a ruling body composed of the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer governs the academy. The heads of the Research and Watchdog Sections are also members. Plenary sessions must be held at least once a month. Under current rules the Academy has 24 full members and an unlimited number of associate members.

The Academy is present throughout the area where Basque is used, with a head office in Bilbao and regional offices in Bayonne (Baiona), Donostia-San Sebastián, Iruña/Pamplona and Vitoria-Gasteiz.


~ ~ ~

Ibarretxe's Chess Move

Juan Jose Ibarretxe is one of those politicians that you don't know if you should like or not. Granted, his PNV has not performed a single bold move towards independence for a long time now and the actions by its pro-Spain members like Imaz and Balza are the source of strong criticism.

But then he comes up with something like this, he just announced that he wants Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to testify during his trial. Let us remember that he stands accused of meeting with members of Batasuna during the peace process that came to an end when Madrid decided to torpedo all negotiations. The thing is, Jose Luis Rodriguez also met with members of Batasuna, beyond that, top members of his party met with ETA representatives, yet, oddly enough, they are not being prosecuted.

In doing so, Ibarretxe has exposed bot Zapatero and the Spanish justice establishment for what they really are, mere instruments of Madrid's repressive machinery against the Basque people.

Here you have the note published by PR Inside:

World News

Basque president wants Spanish PM to testify in trial over talks with ETA political wing

2007-11-20 18:15:12 -

MADRID, Spain (AP) - The president of the Basque region, facing trial for meeting with a banned party linked to ETA, wants Spain's prime minister and his predecessor to testify in the case, arguing that they, too, negotiated with the armed Basque separatist group but were never charged over it.

Basque president Juan Jose Ibarretxe will present a motion to that effect Wednesday to the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque country, his spokeswoman Miren Azkarate said.

He hopes to have a subpoena issued against Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar and other senior ex-officials.

Dialogue with an extremist group in an effort to reach peace «is a democratic principle that should be preserved rather than penalized and is also embraced by the international community,» Azkarate said.

Zapatero's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The charges against Ibarretxe stem from a suit filed by two activist groups opposed to Zapatero's now-failed policy of negotiating with ETA.

Under Spanish law, private parties can seek to have criminal charges brought, and the Basque court agreed, even though prosecutors were against sending the case to trial, saying they saw no evidence of a crime. No date has been set by the court.

Ibarretxe met with representatives of Batasuna, considered ETA's political wing, in April 2006 and January 2007. Optimism was high then over prospects for an end to the decades-old conflict that has claimed more than 800 lives; ETA had just declared what it termed a permanent ceasefire, in March 2006.

Two members of the Basque branch of Zapatero's Socialist party also met with Batasuna.

On Oct. 30, the Basque court said Ibarretxe and the two Socialists must stand trial, arguing they may have committed a crime because the Spanish Supreme Court outlawed Batasuna in 2003 on grounds it is part of ETA.

Ibarretxe, who leads a nationalist party that shares ETA's goal of independence but opposes violence as the way to achieve it, will now argue that the justice system is observing a double standard, Azkarate said.

Zapatero negotiated with ETA during the recent ceasefire, which ended this year with a resumption of separatist violence, and Aznar also negotiated with ETA in 1999 during a cease-fire then, she noted.

«And nobody ever felt they had committed a crime,» she told a news conference.


Oh, and by the way, the National Court is yet to prove any links between Batasuna and ETA, four whole years after the political party was banned, four years, talk about timely trial and presumption of innocence.

~ ~ ~

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Irish Rebel & Basque Night

This info and poster comes to us thanks to the Irish Basque Committees:

SATURDAY 24TH OF NOVEMBER AT CONWAY MILL, FALLS ROAD, BELFAST

IRISH REBEL & BASQUE NIGHT

DOORS OPEN 8PM. BRING YOUR OWN. £5.


Basque solidarity DVD launch, Armagh Bandits, Ska-Reggae disco...and much more.

Organised by: West Belfast Ógra Shinn Féin & Belfast Basque Committee

Keep up to date on the Basque struggle at: www.irishbasquecommittees.blogspot.com




.... ... .

Kevin Capé : Franco Apologist

I like this time of the year for it is these days that Franco's apologists come out of the closet.

Check this one out, his article appeared at The Register Guard, I went ahead and highlighted the best parts:

32 years after his death, Franco remains divisive

By Kevin Capé For The Register-Guard

Published: November 19, 2007 05:00AM

BARCELONA — Back in 1970, my purple South Eugene High diploma in hand, I was ready for Adventure with a capital A. For me, this meant spending time abroad, and after various tests, I was admitted to the University of Madrid.

The idea of sol y sombra, (light and shade) of Spain in the twilight years of Generalisimo Francisco Franco fascinated me. But I was a few years late to experience what life really meant under an authoritarian regime, as Franco’s iron hand was beginning to rust.

For young Spaniards my age, though, change was not occurring fast enough, and inspired by the student protest movements around the world in the late 1960s, they spent more time on the streets than in the classroom.

I remember being caught up in one anti-Franco demonstration, and receiving a strong dose of tear gas and a glancing blow from a police truncheon, which probably told me all I needed to know about authoritarian regimes.

These distant memories came alive earlier this month, which marks the 32nd anniversary of Franco’s death, when the unwelcome ghost of the “Caudillo by the Grace of God” suddenly reappeared on the Spanish political stage. The catalyst for this was legislation recently passed by the government of Prime Minister José Luis Zapatero, an Orwellian-sounding Law on Historical Memory, which finally rehabilitates victims of Franco.

While the substance of this law is long overdue, since it will provide financial assistance to surviving victims and help families trace the bones of loved ones, some of its elements are more questionable. One will force local municipalities to remove all symbols of Franco (though most are already gone) and another will forbid “political demonstrations” at his gravesite.

So the controversy rages on, with the left resenting the unnecessary suffering Franco inflicted on his opponents, and the right still firmly believing that Spain was better off under Franco than it would have been under a leftist regime, which would have been chaotic at best, Communist at worst.

Then there is the position of the Roman Catholic church, which retains considerable influence within the Spanish right, and has been sparring with the Zapatero government over issues such as religious education in schools and gay civil marriages. Recently yet another wave of about 500 clergy and laity killed by the left during the civil war were officially declared “martyrs” in Rome. Though the church says the timing was a coincidence, it provided a pointed reminder that the left did not have a monopoly on suffering.

Fortunately, there is very little danger of Spain coming unglued today the way it did in the 1930s, but there are still some eerie parallels with the early 1930s.

One is that King Juan Carlos is increasingly contested by the far left, the far right and people in the Basque country and Catalonia, who see him as an unwelcome symbol of national unity. Though Catalonia remains peaceful, the Basque country is on the edge of more violence, which can only bring police repression.

The selectivity of historical memory is a striking phenomenon. When I first laid eyes on this city (then as now one of the most prosperous areas of the country) parts of it looked more like North Africa than neighboring France. It was Juan Carlos who initially assured prosperity and democracy, and when that became too much for elements of the army, they attempted a coup in 1981. This led the young king to appear on television in military uniform, facing down the rebellious soldiers.

Twentieth-century history provides a unique challenge for most continental European nations. It was only in the 1970s that the French began to engage in serious public debate about the role of the wartime Vichy regime. In Russia, high school history books praise Stalin’s World War II role, but give scant space to the arbitrary deaths of millions. Very many Italians still harbor a tender spot for Mussolini — I cannot count the number of times I have heard people say, “After all, he only killed a few thousand political opponents, nothing like Hitler or Stalin.” True enough, but the vanity of this “Caesar of the Carnival” (as a French diplomat called him) led to Italy’s involvement in a horrendous war that laid waste to wide swaths of the country.

By contrast, Franco’s defenders are quick to remind people that “he kept us out of World War II.” That is small comfort to his one-time opponents, currently being dug out of unmarked mass graves. For those of us who never lived through a civil war, perhaps what is called for is a degree of generosity toward the moral ambiguity of those who did.


If anyone was to write a note like this one about Hitler he would be called an anti-Semite and could be facing legal action, but since Franco's image has been sanitized by the main stream media, individuals like Capé are free to honor their caudillo.

~ ~ ~

180 Signatures

We continue with the aftermath of Keith Johnson's pathetic diatribe against Euskera, the Basque language.

This appeared at EITb:

Life

Answer to the Wall Street Journal

180 professionals refute Basque is "little suited to" modern life

11/19/2007

After an article by the Wall Street Journal on the Basque language caused an uproar, researchers, writers, professors and journalists representing 20 institutions in eight countries sign a letter refuting the article.

180 individuals representing twenty different institutions, media and universities in eight different countries have sent a letter to the U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal whose paramount objective is to correct the misinformation and inaccuracies of an article written by Keith Johnson regarding the Basque language. The signatories to the letter believe a resolute and official retraction is appropriate and required from the Wall Street Journal and demand it is given the same status that Keith Johnson's article: front page status.

The signatories show in a five-pages long letter that Basque is perfectly suited to contemporary life, including to science, unlike what Johnson points out in his article.

The professionals behind the letter include University professors from the Basque Country, Valencia, Madrid, Argentina, California, Mexico, Boise or Venezuela, Basque engineers working at technology industries, people working at the edge of technology in the Aeronautic industry or even revolutionary scientists like Pedro Miguel Etxenike.

Writers such as Bernardo Atxaga, who has had his novels written in Basque language translated into more than 30 languages, or prominent politicians such as Pete Cenarrusa, former Secretary of State of Idaho (1967-2003) sign the letter. There are also lawyers, journalists or bertsolaris who take issue with Jonhson's article.

You can read the whole text sent on Sunday to the Wall Street Journal in eitb24.com.


Information came to us that both Keith Johnson and his wife have attended FAES (Aznar's extreme right think tank) conferences, my guess is that Rupert Murdoch is footing the bill.

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Saturday, November 17, 2007

Reality : Nationalism

Here you have the second installment of the series called Myth at a Basque-phobe blog that I found a couple of days ago:

The mere existence of “nationalism” doesn't itself prove that a nation exists. In other words, the existence of a nation is not a necessary condition for the spout of a nationalist feeling that claims it, because this feeling could be artificially created trough the falsification and invention of a history and a national personality inexistent in realty.


I am not even going to try to translate the non sense contained in this paragraph.

All what a nation needs in order to exist is homogeinety; ethnically, linguistically, historically, geograhically. The Basque Country happens to have all of them, although in modern day nationalism the ethnicity component does not play a major role anymore.

Now, the word he was looking for was statehood. Nationalism is a component of a nation, but it doesnt necessarily means that it will eventually lead to statehood, for statehood depends on variables that sometimes are unatainable for those who seek their soverignty.

The 'national Basque identity' is simply an invention. Although for some this could be hard to accept, his perception and feeling of belonging to a Basque Nation is based in huge lies, falsifications and hidings.

They have invented all: the history, the celebrities; even the flag and the very describing word “Euskadi” (the term together with “Euskal Herria” used by separatists to name their dreamed “nation”). All of it is artificial. The Flag was invented by Sabino Arana copying an English Football Team!


Euskadi may be a coined word, but Euskal Herria has been in use for a number of centuries, it means "land were Euskara is spoken".

For the record, the Ikurriña was not copied from an English football team, it was designed after the Union Jack, the flag of the Great Britain.

The Ikurriña:


And the Union Jack:



Oh, and now that we address the issue of the flags, Spain today flies a flag imposed by a genocidal dictator, the real Spanish flag displays a purple stripe.

Now, Basque nationalism is restricted to a very specific piece of real state in Europe while Spanish nationalism is based on an artificial mega state that was formed in disregard of the nations that are being held captive by an outdated colonialism. So now tell me which of them is a fake.

.... ... .

Eusko Flickr : Perro con Verja Azul


Perro con verja azul
Originally uploaded by Tenebris

Friday, November 16, 2007

The Gastronomic Tour of Donostia

This article will make your mouth water, literally.

It was published by The New York Times:

36 Hours in San Sebastián

By DENNY LEE
Published: November 18, 2007

WHAT is it about San Sebastián that has foodies reaching for superlatives (“culinary capital of Europe”; “best place to eat in the world”)? Maybe it was the French aristocracy, who imported their haughty chefs in the 19th century, turning this belle époque town on the Basque coast of northern Spain into an epicurean resort. Or maybe it's the food-rich geography, a scallop-shaped coastline sandwiched between the fertile sea and mountainous farmlands. And then there are the Basques themselves, who approach eating with the same fervor as they do soccer. Whatever the case, this laid-back surfing resort is not for weak-willed dieters. There are sweet-smelling cafes and mouth-watering bites to tempt you at every turn — not to mention having one of the highest concentrations of Michelin stars in the world.

FRIDAY

5 p.m.
1) THREE-BEACH TOUR

It's hard to conceive of a better-looking shoreline. A milelong promenade, which serves as the city's communal front porch, is lined with frilly balustrades, whitewashed cafes and matronly bathhouses. Concha Beach, the most popular of the city's three beaches, hugs the harbor like a golden pair of outstretched arms. Walk west toward Ondarreta Beach, with its tennis courts and old-money villas. Or walk east, past the tilting glass cube of the Kursaal Auditorium, until you see the rugged surfers on Zurriola Beach. Just find a spot of sand anywhere along the shoreline's graceful arc, put down your towel and ponder the delicacies that await from the sea.

9 p.m.
2) MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY

Potatoes powder-coated in clay? Crab meat in aspic and liquid nitrogen? The Basque region has emerged as a cradle of high-tech cuisine, and its shining star these days is Mugaritz. Foodies swoon over the brand of molecular gastronomy practiced at this spalike restaurant hidden in the countryside 20 minutes east of town (Aldura Aldea 20, Errenteria; 34-943-52-24-55). Its critics, though, call this two-Michelin-star restaurant pretentious, pointing to such silly touches as toothbrushes in the bathroom. The chef, Andoni Luis Aduriz, who apprenticed at Ferran Adria's El Bulli, is known for dissecting flavors with mathematical precision. An 11-course tasting dinner (112 euros, or $175 at $1.48 to the dollar, without drinks) included a deceptively simple salad, a micro-Eden of contrasting greens that tasted like spring; and a beautifully charred steak resembling a lump of red-hot coal, served with frites made from blackened radishes. Some dishes worked better on paper (sheep's milk curd with toasted fern, for example, was as bland as oatmeal), but if gastronomy is about adventure, Mugaritz offers a thrilling and eye-opening ride.

Midnight
3) COCKTAILS WITH A TWIST

Dinner might not end until midnight, but there's plenty of time to explore the pocket-size bars in Parte Vieja, the historic old town. Many are clustered on Calle de Fermín Calbetón, where you'll see tattooed bartenders carefully spritzing gin-and-tonics with freshly cut lemon slices. As you stroll around, listen for the mellifluous baritones wafting from a stone house on Subida al Castillo. It's the private clubhouse of the Gaztelubide Society, one of about 106 gastronomic eating clubs where men (no women allowed) gather nightly to cook and sometimes sing for one another.

SATURDAY

10 a.m.
4) MORNING TORTILLA

There's a long day of eating ahead, so start your morning lightly with a cup of cortado (a strong macchiato-like coffee) and a potato-and-egg tortilla, which you can find expertly prepared in almost any tavern, from smoky dive bars to designy hotel cafes. Next, work up your appetite at the Mercado de la Bretxa (along Calle de Aldamar in Parte Vieja), an underground market where you can gape at the dazzling palette of local ingredients, from line-caught squid and bright-eyed tuna to velvety morels and chestnut-fed Bayonne ham, proudly displayed in case after polished glass case.

Noon
5) NO JACKET OR TIE

As the wealthiest city in the region, San Sebastián has a finely honed fashion sense that goes beyond megachains like Zara and Mango. For modern streetwear, check out Loreak Mendian (Calle Hernani 27; 34-943-43-41-76), a homegrown label that is making waves. And for high-concept fashion, go to Noventa Grados (Calle Mayor 3; 34-943-42-07-60), a sleek all-white space that is part boutique, part hair salon, part art gallery. Try on a blue vintage-style silk dress by Manoush (185 euros). Or pick up a red-striped T-shirt by Daniele Alessandrini (125 euros). Don't worry about being underdressed; you'll see jeans and (cool) sneakers at the most chichi of restaurants.

2 p.m.
6) IRONIC CHEF

Pay homage to the father of modern Basque cooking. For 30 years, Juan Mari Arzak, a mentor of Ferran Adrià, has been showing off his technical wizardry and culinary humor at his namesake restaurant, Arzak (Avenida Alcalde Jose Elosegui 273; 34-943-27-84-65), a three-Michelin-star institution in an old country house. Mr. Arzak is now joined in the kitchen by his daughter Elena, who has kept the creative juices flowing. A recent 12-course tasting menu (130 euros) included a wonderful poached apple with foie gras yogurt and red berries dipped in liquid nitrogen, followed by a succulent lobster claw dusted with powderized olive oil and drenched in an onion-vermouth broth. Desserts were equally fanciful: grapelike dumplings filled with melted chocolate, ice cream made from cheese, and a vaporizing piña colada.

5 p.m.
7) TAKE A HIKE

Time to burn off that foie gras. Monte Urgull, one of two hills that flank the harbor like watchtowers, offers fantastic views of Isla de Santa Clara, the wooded islet in the middle of the bay, as well as the forest canopy that rambles inland. To see it, you have to hike up a moderately steep path shaded by pine trees and dotted with old cannons. At the summit, you'll find a crumbling fort, Castillo de la Santa Cruz de la Mota, topped by a huge statue of Christ, and a grassy park with plenty of lawns for a quick nap.

8:30 p.m.
8) PINTXOS TO PINTXOS

Now that you've racked up some Michelin stars, see how the other half eats. Pintxos, the tapaslike morsels that resemble bejeweled hors d'oeuvres, are served everywhere, as if the whole city were throwing a cocktail party. Start your pintxos crawl at Aloña Berri (Calle de Bermingham 24; 34-943-29-08-18), known for prize-winning creations like “sea balance squid,” which pairs onion-stuffed squid with a cube of toasted risotto, and a sorbet made with anchovies and garnished with a wafer of deep-fried fish bone (3 euros each). Some pintxos bars are known for a single ingredient. Bar Txepetxa (Calle de Pescadería 5; 34-943-42-22-27) specializes in anchovies, served with 20-odd toppings including sea urchin (2 euros). Bar Gambara (Calle de San Jerónimo 21; 34-943-42-25-75) is home to wild mushrooms (17 euros for a sautéed assortment). And La Cepa (Calle 31 de Agosto 7; 34-943-42-63-94) is a temple to pata negra ham from Jabugo, sliced paper-thin and spread on a wooden paddle (half portion for 18.50 euros). Sample a sushi-size bite in each bar with a glass of txakoli, a fizzy white wine that is poured into tumblers from a theatrical height, before following the crowds to the next spot.

SUNDAY

11 a.m.
9) HIT THE GYM

How do all those bronze beauties and surfers stay fit in this gluttonous resort town? The beachfront is studded with gymnasiums, some built into the belle époque promenade with treadmills and stationary bikes that overlook the sea. Among the nicest is La Perla Centro Talaso Sport (Paseo de La Concha; 34-943-45-88-56), a modern fitness center with fees starting at 19 euros. There is also a thalassotherapy spa, which combines hydrotherapy with salt water.

2 p.m.
10) SEAFOOD BY THE SEA

Combine two of San Sebastián's favorite pastimes: tanning and — what else? — eating. Stroll to the far western tip of Ondarreta Beach for nouvelle seafood at Branka (Paseo Eduardo Chillida 13; 34-943-31-70-96), a three-level restaurant with floor-to-ceiling sea views. Don't be fooled by the nightclub décor and trendy crowd; the restaurant takes its food seriously. Inspired pairings included anchovies with strawberries, and bacalao (salted cod) with risotto. Lunch, with wine, is about 50 euros. Afterward, find a spot on the beach or head back to your hotel room and take a siesta. Your palate deserves a rest.


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Euskara and the European Council

This is great news for all of us who cherish Euskara, the Basque language.

The note appeared at EITb:

Life

Youth and Education Council

Basque language will be listened in the European council

11/16/2007

According to Azkarate, this event, which will take place at 3:00 p.m., it is only a demand because "there is no frame to talk about minority languages".

The European Union will listen to Basque Government's spokeswoman, Miren Azkarate, at 3:00 p.m. talking in Basque, in her speech in front of the Education and Youth Council. It is the first time Basque is spoken in an European ministries Council. A step forward, though it is only a demand, because in the European union there is no frame to talk about linguistical politics.

Azkarate pointed out that there is no "frame to talk in minority language between the states members of the European Union. There is a minister, Mr. Orban, working in this kind of things, so we hope to find a solution son".

Azkarate will attend Friday representing Spain's 17 autonomous communities, will present to the Education and Youth council, the policy in this area in Basque language.

Basque language has limited officialty in the European Union. Sessions in the European Parliament, the commission and the council are not translated into Basque.

legislations Adopted by the Parliament are translated into Basque and published in this language. Moreover, oral interventions in minority languages, as Basque government's Culture council will do Friday, are also allowed.

For speaking in Basque, Miren Azkarate, had to announce the speech previously and give the translation to the translators so that they can write the speech in other languages.


There is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to strengthening Euskara and finding new spaces for it to develop.


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Reality : Separate Entities Through History

Anyway, I decided not to link to each post against Euskal Herria posted by the author of the blog that starts with an N because that would create more traffic towards that blog, something I have to avoid since I refuse to work for the fascists that run Madrid these days.

But here you have his first "myth":

False Myth #1: Spain and the Basque region have been separated and antagonistic entities trough history.

The “Vascones” were a tribe of pre-Roman Hispania. Together with the “Vardulos”, “Caristios” and “Autrigones” they conformed the ancient base of what today is known as Basque people. If we add the population of the pre-roman Hispania (“Iberians”, “Ligures” and “Celts”), the Visigoths and the continuous movements of population, produced by the Muslim invasion and the Christian re-conquest, we will finally configure not only the Basque people, but the people of what is known today as Spain.


Wait a moment pal, the Iberians, Ligures and Celts and all the peoples mentioned in this paragraph inhabitated areas outside Vasconia, only in the borders there was such mix of peoples and cultures, and certainly they were by no means Spaniards.

After the fall of the Visigoth state, all the Spanish tribes without any exception took part of the common project of restoration of the 'lost Spain' and fought against Islam. As the rest of the Spanish, the Basques, always linked with Castille, made of the fight for their religion and the Hispanic project the foundation of their own identity.


Spanish tribes? There was no Spain yet! And they were not simple "tribes" ,by the time they initiated combined warring efforts to fight against the Muslims they were actual kingdoms. Maybe the author should tell us why the Kingdom of Navarre never launched punitive actions south of the Ebro river while the rest of the Iberian kingdoms fought until they asserted their dominion all the way to the Gibraltar strait.

The very origin of Castille has an essential Basque component. The most significant medievalist of the XX century, and president of the 2nd Spanish Republic in the exile, Claudio Sánchez Albornoz, said "Castille and the Castilians were the product of the racial and cultural symbiosis of the Cantabrian, the Basque and the Goth".


Maybe Castile (not Castille by the way) has a Basque component, after all the Basques were present in the Iberian peninsula long before the Indo-European migrations. But that doesn't mean that they became Spaniards at a time when the Spaniards did not even exist.

During centuries the Basque died for the re-conquest of Spain, participated in their government and flew in masses to repopulate where needed. In the Modern Era the Basque discovered, conquered and expanded into the New World, as Spaniards they were.


The Basques never participated in the re-conquest of Spain because there was never a re-conquest of Spain. When the Muslims started their migration towards the Iberian peninsula there was not an unified political entity called Spain, and then the Muslims remained in the Iberian peninsula for over 800 years. So they were as much a part of it as any other people in that area of Europe, there was even a Basque Muslim kingdom. After 1512 when all of the Basque Country was conquered one of the impositions was precisly that from then one Basques could be drafted to Castile's armies, so yes, Basques did take part in the conquest of America and Asia. One more thing, America was never dicovered by Columbus, millions inhabitated the continent by the time the Genoan tripped on some Caribbean islands by mistake.

In 1808, during Napoleon's invasion, the Basque fought and died for Spain, its King and its Religion, combating with enthusiasm against their enemy, as well as did many of the French-Basques, like general Harispe.

As Miguel de Unamuno wrote "We the Basques don't have any feat, any historic labor of universal value, made with the abstention of Spain or against Spain". The Basque have always been part of what is known as Spain, and have constructed this reality from its ancient origins with the collaboration of the rest of the Spanish population.

Everyone was fighting Napoleon at the time, not only the Basques.

Unamuno spoke at a time when Spain had been supressing the Basque identity for 400 years, little was known by then about the Basque kingdom of Navarre and how it fought against Castile in order to retain its sovereignty.

So, the reality is that the Vascones were a conglomerate of different peoples that somehow managed to retain their cultural identity through several invasions. At the demise of the Roman Empire they were one of the first peoples in Europe to reassert their sovereignty, finally, after the Battle of Orreaga (known as Roncesvalles) in which they defeated the Franks, they merged to conform the Kingdom of Iruñea that would eventually give birth to the Kingdom of Navarre, a kingdom that was sovereign and independent until 1512. Let us remember that Spain did not exist as an unified political entity until the 1800's after Castile lost the majority of its European outposts.

How can the Basques with such a long recorded history can be part of a country that has existed for only a couple hundreds of years?

.... ... .

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Rookie anti-Basque Blogger

Thanks to Sphere I just found out about a blog called Noggia published by a Spaniard (you know which kind of Spaniard).

He is out to prove that Euskal Herria is a myth as a nation, to do so he is using the same old mantras used by Madrid's Ministry of Propaganda.

So, now that I am taking some time off work it will be fun to demolish each and every one of his allegations against the Basque right to self-determination.

Hint, he has not mentioned Navarre once, he lost even before this got started. I wonder if Franco Aleman warned him about my presence and how I pretty much had him to stop blogging about the Basque Country.

Note: I won't be linking him for the time being.

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Book About Center for Basque Studies

This note appeared at EITb:

Basques around the world

Book about Basque studies

Presentation of the book "A Candle in the Night" in Nevada

11/14/2007

A Candle in the Night will be presented by the University of Nevada Oral History Program and the Center for Basque Studies on Wednesday afternoon. Two events are also scheduled for the book's presentation.

The book chronicles the history of the Center for Basque Studies, as remembered by many of those who were most important in its foundation and development. It also offers much valuable information about the center’s offspring, including the Basque Studies Library (the main repository of information about all things Basque for the English-speaking world), the Basque Book Series of the University of Nevada Press (one of the most successful ethnic series published by an academic press in the United States), and the University Studies Abroad Consortium, (one of the largest programs of its kind in the world.) For more information visit the university's official web site about the book.

The book is published by the University of Nevada Oral History Program and edited by Pedro J. Oiarzabal.

Scheduled events

Two events are currently scheduled for this book--ALL WELCOME:

November 29, 2007 - 5:30-7:30 p.m., Sundance Bookstore (1155 W 4th St # 106, Reno)

Sundance will be hosting a booksigning for A Candle in the Night. Chroniclers Kate Camino, Joxe Mallea, and Marc Ugalde, as well as interviewer and editor Pedro Oiarzabal, will be in attendance.

December 6, 2007 - 5:30-7:30 p.m., ASUN Bookstore (Joe Crowley Student Union, University of Nevada, Reno campus)

One of the first events at the university's new bookstore will be a booksigning for A Candle in the Night. Chroniclers Jill Berner, Sandra Ott, Carmelo Urza, and Linda White will be there to autograph copies.

How to order a copy?

To order a copy of A Candle in the Night: Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, 1967-2007. Reno: UNOHP, 2007 (Hardcover, 452 pages, illustrations, ISBN 1-56475-396-4), or for more information, please contact the University of Nevada Oral History Program at 775/784-6932.

For more information you can also check University's official web site.


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