Thursday, January 31, 2008

Ibarretxe to Visit Stanford

I wrote about this issue a couple of days ago.

This update note comes to us via EITb:

Politics

Visit in February

Ibarretxe visits Standford: University pleased, others unpleased

01/30/2008

The prestigious university of California is hosting a conference by the Basque PM Juan José Ibarretxe. Two people have started collecting signatures against the conference. The conference pleases Stanford.

Basque Prime Minister Juan José Ibarretxe is visiting California on February, where Stanford University has invited the Basque leader to speak at a special forum on February 14th.

However, it seems that the conference does not please everybody. The University's newspaper, The Daily Stanford, reported last week a student at Stanford along with a Silicon Valley worker who grew up in the Basque city of Vitoria-Gasteiz have circulated an online petition on the Internet to protest against the conference.

The protesters say the Basque Premier sympathizes with the armed Basque group ETA and the conference influences the Spanish general elections, set for three weeks after the scheduled visit.

The petition has garnered 3,500 online signatures so far, ,most of them from Spain according to the U.S. university. The Government of Navarre has also signed the petition and has sent a letter to the president of the University protesting the Basque PM's visit.

Academic freedom and tradition of European political leaders

Stanford provost John Etchemendi, of Basque descent, argued that the political climate in Spain has made it easy for certain parties to condemn all Basque politicians for the crimes committed by the ETA.

Several professors have also defended the invitation to Ibarretxe, remarking the academic freedom and tradition of Stanford of inviting European politicians.

Ibarretxe's conference falls within the Basque PM's travel to California, where he will also meet California's Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi.


Uh oh, excuse me Mr. Etchemendi but, what about the centuries of violence by Spain and France against the Basque people?

.... ... .

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Kelly Family's Basque Success

Remember the video by The Kelly Family to a Basque song that I posted a couple of days ago?

Well, here you have an update about the craze it stirred among Basque internet users:

Entertainment

Video in internet

Kelly Family’s Basque song "Agur Jaunak", succeeds in Youtube

01/29/2008

It had nearly 5.000 visits in six months, as many as the ones it has had now in only six days. It started moving through e-mails and aupatu.com, as eitb24.com. has checked.

A video in which the Irish American music group The Kelly Family sings the famous Basque song "Agur Jaunak" in a multitudinary concert, has become this week the last youtube’s phenomenon among Basque internauts, according to the data obtained by eitb.com.

During these days, through e-mails “bounced” and from a news promotion Basque site called aupatu.com, this video has doubled its visits number. It was uploaded in Youtube on 22nd of June and it was visited by nearly 5.000 people in six months. In the last week, since it has been moving among Basque internauts, it has had more than 10.000 visits.

The Kelly Family is a folk music group with more than 30 years with several millions albums sold in Europe. The famous group is formed by nine brothers and sisters and their children. They moved from US to Germany and after 1973, they arrived in Pamplona/Iruña, where they gave concerts in a known pub.

Two years after, in 1975, they became famous while they were playing at streets and they soon recorded their first album, which was really successful in Germany, and in all Europe after that.


.... ... .

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Lamb 'Nads

Here you have it, two media outlets cover the note, check it out.

First the note from The Star:

Jan 28, 2008 04:30 AM

Meet Grey Ruegamer, New York Giant, who has castrated lambs with his teeth.

Whether or not he will have a similar effect upon the New England Patriots' Super Bowl aspirations come Sunday remains to be seen. But isn't it enough, for now, to know there are more dimensions to the 6-foot-4, 300-pound offensive lineman than meet the eye?

There is no rock too large or small to get turned over and microscoped, microphoned and televised during the two weeks leading up to the big game. The rocks removed (so to speak) in Ruegamer's case, though, are unprecedented.

"You grab the forelegs and pin them to the ground," he tells the East Valley (Ariz.) Tribune in an article receiving massive Internet exposure, "and then you grab the back legs and throw them on their back." With the targets thus exposed, "away you go. It's the way the Basques do it. ... You pull them out with your teeth, spit them in a bucket, next one."

Ruegamer, rest assured, is not still involved in such impromptu veterinary practices. A native Nevadan, he was helping out a rancher friend, a Basque, several years ago when asked to sink his teeth into the meat of the moment. "I was hesitant," he tells the newspaper. "But it is what it is. She (the friend) needed help. There was beer. Good times. It was worth it."

Added Ruegamer, an Arizona State graduate who won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in 2001: "It's just a little lamb. It's not a big animal. I have pictures. The blood on your moustache is the worst part."

What plays more or less harmlessly on ranches and in locker rooms (athletes are all the time trying to castrate each other, figuratively) is sure to be at odds with more mainstream, urban sensibilities. Already burdened with the horrors associated with Michael Vick's dogfighting convictions, the NFL is sure, too, to be getting the inevitable feedback this week from organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. No one has suggested, at least yet, that the ancient Basque practice is illegal or any more or less humane that the alternatives.

A nine-year NFL veteran, Ruegamer is in his second year with the Giants and has proven highly valuable during their remarkable run to the championship by filling in at different positions on the offensive line due to teammates' injuries. He has also seen some time on the other side of the ball, at tight end, in certain short-yardage situations. He'll see plenty of action in Sunday's game at University of Phoenix Stadium, a contest some have characterized as the New Yorkers playing the roles of lambs to the slaughter.

For the time being, though, Ruegamer is the early, runaway leader in terms of weird countdown-to-Sunday curiosities. He's the Ozzy Osbourne (bites the head off bats) of the gridirons, the Iron Chef of the prairie oyster set, the Hannibal Lecter of cowboy caviar, fava beans and Chianti.

Ruegamer is, too, a reminder that it takes all types to play this sometimes vicious game. "Grey is not someone you want to mess with," teammate Shaun O'Hara tells the Tribune's Jack Magruderin in his excellent article. "He keeps all of his toenail clippings and callous shavings all season long in a cup, and if anybody wrongs him and he deems it necessary, he will dump that cup in a personal belonging of theirs. He's known for that."

And much, much more.


And now the follow up by the San Jose Mercury News:

If a lineman can do this with his teeth . . .

Compiled by John Ryan
Mercury News
Article Launched: 01/28/2008 02:07:19 AM PST

In the Easy Valley (Ariz.) Tribune, New York Giants lineman and ex-Patriot Grey Ruegamer shares the tale of a previous job: He castrated sheep.

By biting their testicles.

"You pull them out with your teeth, spit them in a bucket, next one. . . . The blood on your mustache is the worst part," he said.

This sounded too good to be true. But we Googled, and there it is; The method of removing lambs' testicles is common in the Basque region of Spain. Ruegamer said he performed the service for a Basque friend who had a ranch outside Las Vegas.

"She needed help. There was beer. Good times. It was worth it," he said.

OK. So either Ruegamer is telling the truth, or he did an inordinate amount of research for an all-time psych job against a Patriots defensive line that has received quite a bit of attention for dirty play.

We're thinking he actually did the deed. And we're also thinking Pats defenders might want to think twice about telling Ruegamer to "bite me."


I bet this will add some spice to this weekend's Super Bowl match.

.... ... .

Carnival Season

This cultural notes comes to us thanks to EITb:

Life

Ritual tradition


Carnivals kick off in the Basque Country

01/28/2008

The carnivals held in the villages of Ituren and Zubieta, among the most popular carnivals in the Basque Country, mark the beginning of the celebration of carnivals.

Carnivals in the Navarre towns of Ituren and Zubieta marked on Monday the beginning of the Carnival celebrations in the Basque Country.

The first Monday after the last Sunday of January about twenty men or “ioaldunak” from Zubieta, an small town in the heart of Navarre, gather in the square of Zubieta, near the pilota court.

Dressed in Basque traditional footwear, petticoats and wool lined coats, carrying huge cowbells on their backs and hispos (a kind of magic wand made with mane) in their hands, go to the neighbouring Ituren led by a man.

This man keeps the pace of the march and the rhythm of the cowbells’ music which sound thanks to the rhythmical movements of the “ioaldunak”.

Halfway to Ituren, the zanpantzarrak from Ituren meet the zanpantzarrak from Zubieta, go together to Ituren and march through the streets of Ituren.

The next day, the zanpantzarrak from Ituren are the ones who do the same think. Dressed in the same way, half way to Zubieta they are met by the zanpantzarrak from this village and march through their streets.

This ritual tradition is closely related to nature. It is said that the sound by the cowbells and the shaking of the hispos scares away the bad spirits.


.... ... .

State of Denial

That is the only way to describe what Madrid is up to these days. Through their corrupt they are still trying to punish Hernani's mayor Marian Beitialarrangoitia for denouncing the widespread practice of torture against Basque nationals by Spain's occupation forces in Euskal Herria.

Here you have the note appeared at EITb:

Politics

High Court's prosecutor's office

Trial file against Beitialarrangoitia appealed

01/28/2008

Public prosecutor’s office believes that the Mayor committed a crime of serious slanders and libels against Spanish Security Forces for accusing "police and repressive forces" of using "torture systematically".

High Court’s Prosecutor’s office has appealed Criminal Division of the National Court against Santiago Pedraz’s decision of filing away the open trial to the Mayor of Hernani, in Gipuzkoa, from the Basque Nationalist Action party ANV about an alleged crime in praise of terrorism and has accused her of slandering police.

In the appeal, the prosecutor’s office insists on the fact that Hernani’s Mayor, Marian Beitialarrangoitia, committed a crime in praise of terrorism when in an electoral act of ANV celebrated last January 12th in Pamplona, she asked for applause "as warm as possible" for he alleged ETA members Igor Portu and Martín Sarasola and all Basque political prisoners.

Moreover, Public Minister considers The Mayor responsible of an alleged crime about serious slanders and libels against Spanish Security Forces. She stated that "all police and repressive forces" use "torture systematically against Basque independence supporters".


.... ... .

Fear of Evolution

Spain's political class are afraid of evolution and they show it by clinging to a colonialist past that throws them back ideologically at least five hundred years.

Here you have a text appeared at Earth Times from an author that tries hard to sound fair and balanced but fails in the attempt.

Enjoy it:

Fears of disintegration persist in Spain - Feature

Posted : Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:09:03 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Europe (World)

Madrid - Will Spain hold together, or will separatist tendencies gradually cause its structure to loosen until some regions finally secede? More than half a millennium after Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella laid the foundation for the political unification of Spain, the question remains on top of the political agenda.

Spain is known for the Basque separatist group ETA, which has killed more than 800 people in its four-decade campaign for the northern Basque region and neighbouring Navarre to merge with a part of southern France in a new state.


Actually, Ferdinand and Isabella laid that "foundation" by invading the Basque kingdom of Navarre, a long war ensued because the Navarrese did everything they could to stop the neighboring state to deprive them from their sovereignty. By the way, who is counting the Basques killed by the Spaniards?

The Basque nationalist movement is, however, much wider than the violent and marginalized ETA. Separatist currents are growing stronger also in the bigger northeastern Catalonia, and even in Galicia in the northwest.

The roots of separatism lie in Spain's linguistic, geophysical and historical variety.

The country's 2.1 million Basques have their own language, unrelated to any other in the world. Catalonia, with 6.8 million residents, and Galicia, with about 3 million, have Romance languages related to Spanish.

Dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled from 1939 to 1975, tried to suffocate any separatist potential with an iron fist. His policies, such as a partial ban on regional languages, sparked counter-reactions including the birth of ETA.


Partial ban?

No sir, people where tortured and/or put before a firing squad for speaking Euskara, the Basque language.

Democratic governments that followed Franco resorted to the "soft" method of granting regions significant measures of autonomy.


Democratic governments that ban political parties, have deployed death squads and practice torture against Basque activists, sure, my definition of democracy too.

Spain is today divided into 17 regions with varying degrees of self-government, with the Basques and Catalans even having their own police forces. Catalonia is promoting its language so strongly that some Spanish-speakers feel discriminated against.

The attempt to dilute separatist tendencies by recognizing regional identities has, however, backfired, some analysts believe.

The autonomy system "has not helped to reduce centrifugal dynamics, but rather the contrary," political scientist Ignacio Sotelo said.

The system has encouraged even regions which did not traditionally have clearly distinct identities, such as Andalusia or the Balearic Islands, to seek more autonomy, analysts argue.

At the same time, however, migratory movements within Spain have increased ethnic and linguistic homogeneity. In the Basque region, for instance, an estimated 40 per cent of the population does not have a single Basque parent.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist government tried to solve the huge problem that ETA represents for Spain, attempting to launch peace talks with the group, but failed like previous governments had done.

ETA sees no chance for peace as long as Spain refuses to put the question of independence on the table, and ended its 14-month ceasefire in June 2007. It has since then killed two police officers in southern France.

ETA and its banned political wing Batasuna are, however, only the extreme expression of a Basque nationalist movement which also comprises more moderate parties, such as regional prime minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe's Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).

Ibarretxe believes that the only way to solve the problem of ETA is to stage a referendum on future options including independence, a plan that the Spanish government is prepared to block in court if necessary.

Meanwhile in Catalonia, the separatist party ERC has been in the regional government since 2003, and the larger moderate nationalist formation CiU has also grown bolder in demanding more autonomy.

"I am not considering independence ... but the right to decide includes everything," CiU leader Artur Mas said.

Demonstrations requesting Basque or Catalan "national" sports teams have turned into separatist rallies, small Catalan groups have burned pictures of King Juan Carlos, and dozens of Basque and Catalan city halls refuse to hoist the Spanish flag.

Even in Galicia, which had been quiet on the separatism front, a group called Galician Resistance has emerged, carrying out minor attacks.

Separatism is rising to one of the top themes in the March 9 elections, with the opposition conservatives accusing Zapatero of having encouraged it by negotiating with ETA and by granting several regions more self-government.

Internal separatist movements have influenced Spain's stance on the possible unilateral independence of Kosovo, which Madrid is not keen on, for fear of a possible knock-on effect in Spain.

At the same time, however, separatism may not be as big a threat for Spain's unity as the opposition and related media make it seem.

The question of independence divides opinions in the Basque region, where around half of the population votes for mainstream Spanish anti-independence parties.


Same odds at the time of the independence war of the thirteen colonies against England, so, not a strong argument against Basque independence there.

In Catalonia, only 30 per cent of residents back independence while 38 per cent are against, according to a 2007 poll.


Hopefully the other 32 per cent will swing the right way when the time comes.

.... ... .

Outlawing Democracy

In a political move that would remind people of authoritarian regimes led by infamous tyrants like Hitler, Suharto, Batista or Mussolini, Spain has started the process to outlaw two more Basque parties.

Here you have the note appeared at Earth Times:

Process to outlaw two Basque parties moves on in Spain

Posted : Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:50:05 GMT
Author : DPA

Madrid - Spanish state prosecutors on Tuesday filed a request at the Supreme Court for a ban on a Basque political party on the grounds that it had links with the militant separatist group ETA. The prosecutors requested the court to suspend the activities of the Communist Party of Basque Lands (EHAK-PCTV) and to bar it from contesting the Spanish parliamentary elections on March 9.

The request was one among several steps planned by judicial parties to seek a ban on the EHAK-PCTV and a related party, the Basque Nationalist Action (ANV) as successors of Batasuna, which was outlawed in 2003 as the political wing of ETA.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's government on Friday authorized the state judicial service to launch measures against the two parties.

The EHAK-PCTV has nine legislators in the Basque regional parliament.

The ANV is represented on the municipal level, with more than 400 councillors in the Basque region and neighbouring Navarre.


.... ... .

Monday, January 28, 2008

The Kelly Family - Agur Jaunak

Maite from Vascos México has come upon this authentic jewel in You Tube.

During a concert, The Kelly Family sings Agur Jaunak, a beloved song from Euskal Herria

The Kelly Family is a German music group comprised of a multi-generational family (Kathy, John, Patricia, Jimmy, Joey, Barby, Paddy, Maite and Angelo), that has enjoyed considerable chart and concert success in Europe and other parts of the world, especially in Germany, the Benelux countries, East Europe, Spain and Portugal. They have sold over 20 million albums since the early 1980s.

For many years, the group presented a unique gypsy image and a vagabonding lifestyle. This was emphasised by their 'ethnic' clothing (such as long floral skirts worn by the female band members), their hair (very long hair even on all the male band members), and also by their travels around Europe in a double-decker bus and houseboat. In recent years, however, they have presented a more modern look.

Here you have the lyrics to the song (in Euskara):

Agur Jaunak

Agur Jaunak
Jaunak agur, agur t'erdi
Danak Jainkoak eiñak gire
zuek eta ak eiñak gire
zuek eta bai gu ere.
Agur Jaunak, agur,
agur t'erdi, emen gera,
Agur Jaunak.



A very special moment in the video takes place when one of the members of the band express their solidarity to the Basque people.


.... ... .

Before Carnival Season

This note comes to you thanks to EITb:

Fiestas & traditions

Donostia - San Sebastian

Prelude to the Carnival

01/28/2008

Being part of the prelude to the Carnival in San Sebastian, the Tinkers' Parade takes place the first Saturday of February. The nursemaids and Shepherds' Parade takes place the day after the Tinkers' parade.

The Tinkers' parade and the Nursemaids' and Shepherds' Parade form part of the prelude to the Carnival in San Sebastian.

Tinkers' Parade

Being part of the prelude to the Carnival in San Sebastian, the Tinkers' Parade takes place the first Saturday of February. This parade stages the arrival in town of the Hungarian tinkers, who announce the upcoming Carnival. A bear leads the Parade, which is one of the characteristic animals in the Basque carnival mythology.

The Tinkers' Parade is made up of different tribes which represent the various clubs taking part in it. One of the most characteristic features of this parade is the peculiar sound emitted by the tinkers as they beat their hammers against the pots which form part of their outfit. The show also includes canticles and dances performed by gypsy women. The queen, who is actually a man, offers the comic talent of this celebration. Beautiful floats decorated with brilliantly coloured lamps bring up the rear of the parade.

Nursemaids' and Shepherds' Parade

The nursemaids and Shepherds' Parade takes place the day after the Tinkers' parade, that is, the first Sunday after the Tinkers' Parade.

Together with the Tinkers' Parade, it forms part of the prelude to the carnival. This parade stages the period when shepherds used to come to town to court nursemaids and it is made up by dancers, drum players and dressed up people, being Kresala the society in charge of its staging since 1973.

The most awaited moment by those attending the parade is when the nursemaids "launch their babies to the sky." Works by such Basque composers as Sarriegui are performed.


.... ... .

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Eusko Flickr : Vitoria


VITORIA 1
Originally uploaded by alberto71

Web Attack Against Ibarretxe

What would you know?

Rodríguez Zapatero is now resorting to a shady web of pro-Aznar thugs to carry out his dirty campaign against the Basque Autonomous Community's president, Juan José Ibarretxe.

Here you have the note from the San Jose Mercury News:

Basque government president's invite sparks dissent via Web

By Lisa M. Krieger
Mercury News
Article Launched: 01/26/2008 01:34:19 AM PST

Vehement protest has greeted the decision by Stanford University to invite the controversial president of Spain's Basque regional government to speak on campus.

Juan José Ibarretxe is author of a hotly debated proposal for a referendum on independence for the mountainous region of northern Spain.

While resistance to a Feb. 14 seminar with Ibarretxe started on campus, much of the mounting pressure comes from the other side of the world.

A globally circulated online petition with more than 3,500 signatures holds names of people far outside the Stanford community, including a European Parliament member and the sister of a Sevilla official assassinated by ETA, a Basque terrorist group. Even Spain's regional government of Navarra has weighed in, sending a letter of protest to Stanford President John Hennessy.

Campus dissent is nothing new, but technology is delivering regional disputes to college door stoops. Speaker selection is traditionally an internal affair, protected by policies of academic freedom.

Because of the Internet, "Spaniards can easily bring their feelings to bear. They don't even need an envelope and a stamp," said University of California-Berkeley school of journalism Professor William J. Drummond.

In Stanford's tiny Spanish community, there is no consensus on the visit, said Manuel Franco Sevilla, president of Iberia, the Spanish students association at Stanford.

Nor does the average student hold a strong opinion. "I don't think the general population of students at Stanford are really aware of this visit," Sevilla said.

The international protesters say that Ibarretxe does not deserve a platform at Stanford because he calls for a referendum on Basque independence from Spain and France. His visit - coming on the eve of Spanish elections - is politically motivated, they say. They criticize the professor who invited Ibarretxe, saying he shares the president's ideologies.

The petition opposing his visit was organized by a graduate student at Stanford, who asked not to be identified due to fear of reprisals against his family in Spain, and software engineer José Manuel Camporro of San Jose, who grew up in the Basque city of Vitoria and came to California four years ago.

"It's not a free speech issue," said Camporro. "I agree it is important to get informed about any situation or opinion, but there are always good and not so good sources of information. When a professor invites a politician of his same ideology during the election process, that's not academic anymore."

"Stanford chose to invite one of the most prominent representatives of the regional neo-nationalism in Spain," he said. "Most of the Basque population lives in fear. We can't speak freely there, and that's why it is funny that anybody mentions 'free speech' regarding Mr. Ibarretxe."

Stanford Provost John Etchemendy, of Basque descent, responds that a college campus is a place for all views to be aired, and that even unpopular views deserve a platform.

Stanford professor of Spanish and Portuguese Joan Ramon Resina defended the event, titled "A Proposal To Transform the Basque Conflict" and sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. He says that Ibarretxe's popularity is proven by continuous victories at the polls. Ibarretxe's party has governed the region since 1936, interrupted only by the Franco dictatorship, he said.

"This is hard to accept by political opponents, whose level of tolerance is so low that they cannot countenance a formal address by Mr. Ibarretxe at a prestigious university," Resina said.

Worried about the increasing number of universities that have rescinded invitations issued to outside speakers, in July the American Association of University Professors reaffirmed its official policy, saying "the freedom to hear is an essential condition of a university community and an inseparable part of academic freedom."

Within the past five years, Harvard University was pressed to cancel an Irish poet; the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts canceled a speech by a British cleric. Colorado College and the University of Colorado were urged to cancel a leading Palestinian representative. The visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Columbia University last year triggered a deluge of e-mails and phone calls to university President Lee Bollinger.

Protest has a long and healthy tradition on college campuses, said UC-Berkeley's Drummond.

What's changed, he said, are the global complaints of Internet-posted petitions.

"People can register their feelings in a concerted way," said Drummond. "The Web has proved to be great for organizing widely separated communities."

Yes indeed, the web is an amazing tool, and in the hands of reactionary individuals like this Camporro character it can become a dangerous weapon.

Now, I stand corrected, Provost Etchemendy is proving to be an all-weather Basque, my respect to his work and his courage.

.... ... .

Thousands March

This note comes to us thanks to EITb:

Politics

Mass demonstration

Thousands of citizens march to defend Basque institutions

01/26/2008

“In defense of our institutions” was the motto to protest against the sentence to Atutxa, Knörr and Bilbao. These three politicians disobeyed a Supreme Court ruling when they refused to dissolve a Basque leftist party.

More than 50,000 people attended the rally organized by the Basque governing tripartite PNV, EA and EB-Berdeak, under the motto “In defense of our institutions”. The march finished with the reading of a report to protest against the sentence ruled by the Spanish High Court against former Basque parliament president Juan Mari atutxa and vice-presidents Kontxi Bilbao and Gorka Knörr.

The march started this evening at 6:20 p.m. The members of the Basque Government and the Basque premier Juan José Ibarretxe were leading the rally.

The march is the answer of the Basque Government to the sentence ruled by the Spanish High Court to Juan María Atutxa, former President of the Basque parliament, and its two former vice-presidents Gorka Knörr and Kontxi Bilbao. These three politicians disobeyed a Supreme Court ruling when they refused to try and dissolve the Basque leftist party Sozialista Albertzaleak in the Basque parliament in November 2003.

The organizing parties, PNV, EA and EB, assured the march is not a vote-catching event, but a defense of democratic institutions.

Atutxa ruling

Juan María Atutxa, former President of the Basque parliament, and its two former vice-presidents Gorka Knörr and Kontxi Bilbao were found guilty of disobeying a Supreme Court ruling and sentenced them to a suspension from public office and obliged to pay fines.

According to the ruling, the three politicians disobeyed a Supreme Court ruling when they refused to try and dissolve the Sozialista Albertzaleak party in the Basque parliament in November 2003.

The case dates back to an appeal of the right-wing organization Manos Limpias. Atutxa, Knörr and Bilbao were first tried by the High Court of Justice in the Basque Country and found not guilty in january 2007.

The Basque court agreed with their defence that their jurisdiction in the matter was far from clear. Atutxa said he never said ‘no’ to the Supreme Court, but based his opposition to following their request on a report published by the ex Attourney General, Jesús Cardenal in November 2002, which said that the dissolution of a political party was the responsibility of the legislative chambers.

The ‘Manos Limpias’ group made an immediate appeal against the sentence.




.... ... .

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Judge Files Lawsuit Away

These are good news, but wait and see how someone will try to go against this ruling, it could be one of the fake ONG's like AVT, Foro Ermua, Manos Limpias and Basta Ya, or it could be a vindictive judge like Garzón and Grande-Marlaska, but in the mean time, the lawsuit against Hernani's mayor does not proceed.

Here you have the note about this issue published by EITb:

Politics

Spanish High Court

Spanish judge closes lawsuit against Mayor of Hernani

01/25/2008

Spain's High Court judge Santiago Pedraz considered the acts did not constitute a crime. Beitialarrangoitia said she did not mean to "praise" ETA but to express her feelings towards the Basque prisoners.

Spain's High Court judge Santiago Pedraz closed on Friday the lawsuit against the Mayor of the Basque town of Hernani over her conduct during a political rally in Pamplona/Iruña.

The High Court judge considered the acts did not constitute a crime, judicial sources reported.

Marian Beitialarrangoitia, Mayor of the Basque town of Hernani, took part in a political rally of the left-wing party ANV to present the list of candidates for the March parliamentary vote. During the rally, Beitialarrangoitia requested a round of applause for Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola, two presumed members of the armed Basque group ETA arrested this month.

Beitialarrangoitia, who appeared in court to testify on Thursay, said she did not mean to "praise" the armed Basque group ETA but to express her feelings towards the Basque prisoners.


.... ... .

The Basque's Will

This note comes to us thanks to EITb:

Politics

Rally in Bilbao

"The Basques's will can not be falsified"- PNV, EA, EB

01/25/2008

The three parties in the Basque Government appealed the Basque citizens to attend a rally on Saturday in Bilbao to defend the Basque institutions.

The three Basque parties in the Basque Government PNV, EA and EB Berdeak appealed to the Basques to attend a rally on Saturday in the Basque city of Bilbao to protest against the sentence in the "Atutxa case", to support the Basque institutions and to say clearly that the Basques' will can not be falsified by anybody."

"The political will can not change as it pleases to those who think they are the only interpreters of the law, twisting it at their own will with total impunity backed by the state and near the edge of the democratic control", Iñigo Urkullu, leader of the Basque party PNV, said in a press conference together with the leaders of EA and EB.

EA leader Unai Ziarreta denounced the sentence in the "Atutxa case" means a "direct attack" to the Basque parliament and the separation of powers and added the court ruling reveals the necessity of a Basque judicial system "free of ties", as well as the necessity to "activate politics and dialogue without exclusions".

Javier Madrazo, leader of the communist party EB, said the sentence was a "true blow to the institutions" and asked the parties PP, PSE-EE, EHAK and Aralar to think why they are not supporting the rally.


.... ... .

Friday, January 25, 2008

Usurbil and Jupiter

Another example of a group of Basque scientists spearheading important scientific research, this time it has to do with Jupiter.

This note appeared at Space Daily:

The Mystery Of Jupiter's Jets Uncovered

by Staff Writers
Usurbil, Basque Country (SPX) Jan 25, 2008

At the end of March 2007, scientists all over the world observed with surprise and awe a rare change in the atmosphere of Jupiter. A giant perturbation occurred amongst its clouds and two extremely bright storms erupted in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, where its most intense jet stream - reaching speeds of 600 kilometers per hour - resides.

Research into these unusual storms (previous ones had been seen in 1975 and 1990) and the reaction of the jet to them, undertaken by an international team coordinated by Agustin Sánchez-Lavega, from the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), gives a more precise idea about the origin of these current flows and likewise can help to gain a better understanding of terrestrial meteorology.

The work, entitled "Depth of a strong Jovian jet from a planetary-scale disturbance driven by storms', is the cover of the 24 of January issue of the journal Nature.

The team, made up of scientists from the UPV/EHU, researchers from the Fundacion Observatorio Esteve Durán in Barcelona and from several North American centres: NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Universities of Berkeley and Arizona, as well as the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, amongst others, monitored the event with a spatial and temporal resolution without precedent.

On the one hand, they used the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and, on the other, the NASA telescope at the mountain tops of Hawaii and the telescopes in the Canary Islands, due to the infra-red light of which, the highest clouds and temperature changes can be observed. Moreover, also decisive was the help of a whole battery of smaller telescopes located around the Earth's southern hemisphere, from where planet Jupiter can currently be seen in better conditions.

Fortunately, the beginning of the storm was observed by the HST as a backup of the observations that the New Horizons spaceship undertook in its overflight on its way to far off Pluto. They observed how the storm grew quickly from 400 km to 2,000 km in less than 24 hours, explained Mr Sánchez-Lavega.

According to the study, the very bright storms are formed amongst the deepest clouds of water on the planet, rising vigorously and injecting a mixture of ice ammonia and water up to 30 km above the visible clouds. The storms move with the maximum velocity of the jet, - more than 600 kilometers per hour, creating disturbances and generating a stele of turbulence of reddish clouds that circle the whole planet. The infrared images show the brilliant festoons that make up the storms abandoning the jet stream to leeward.

Surprisingly, and despite the enormous amount of energy deposited by the storms and the mixture and whirlwinds generated thereby, the jet stream stayed practically still during all this perturbation and, when it was over, this stayed robust, despite the event suffered. The computer models simulating the progress of the phenomenon suggested that the jet stream goes deep into Jupiter's atmosphere, to more than 100 km below the visible cloud level and where solar energy cannot reach.

This confirms the results previously obtained by the Galileo probe when it penetrated Jupiter's atmosphere in December 1995. Although the regions studied are meteorologically different, everything points to Jupiter's jet streams going very deep and suggests that the internal energy source plays an important role in its generation, states Mr Sánchez-Lavega.

The comparison of the currently observed phenomenon with the previous cases of 1975 and 1990 show surprising similarities and coincidence, although without an explanation for the time being. The three eruptions have had a periodicity of between 15 to 17 years, strange for Jupiter as they do not bear any obvious relationship with the known natural periods of this planet.

The storms arose at the peak of the jet, where the velocity is maximum, not to the North or to the South and there have always been two storms (not one or more or one less) and, finally, in all cases they move at the same speed. If, at some time in the future, we are able to crack this riddle, we will know the mysteries that lie beneath Jupiter's clouds, comments Mr Sánchez-Lavega.

The atmosphere of the giant gaseous planet of Jupiter, ten times the size of the Earth and where the day lasts only 10 hours, is in a permanent state of agitation. Atmospheric circulation is dominated by a system of jet streams, alternating in latitude and that distribute their clouds in bright and dark rings parallel to its equator - all these phenomena being unexplained. The changes in the cloud rings are sometimes violent ones circling the planet.

Their origin and that of the energy source generating them as well as the jet streams are all matter for controversy amongst meteorologists and planet scientists. They might be generated by the deposition of solar radiation as on Earth or by the intense internal energy source emanating from Jupiter's interior or perhaps by a combination of both.

Knowing the mechanisms that operate in these phenomena is important for terrestrial meteorology - which is home to many storms and where jet streams also dominate atmospheric circulation. In this manner Jupiter represents a natural laboratory where scientists can study the nature of and the interrelation between jet streams, storms and violent atmospheric phenomena.


.... ... .

Basque Robotics

Here you have an example of how advanced science and technology are in Euskal Herria, just in case you read Keith Johnson's piece of slander against Basque society.

It was published by Medical News Today:

Robotics Project: Led By Tekniker-IK4

Main Category: Medical Devices
Article Date: 25 Jan 2008 - 4:00 PST

The "ROBAUCO: mobile, autonomous and collaborative robots" project was recently initiated, being led by Tekniker-IK4 and also involving the participation of another Basque technology centre, Fatronik, the Valencian Instituto Tecnologico de Informatica (ITI) and CARTIF, the technology centre in Castilla-Leon. Moreover, university teams outstanding in robotics research have also collaborated - from the Carlos III University in Madrid, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, the University of Seville and the University of the Basque Country. The project is to last 30 months and has a budget of nearly 2 million euros, of which somewhat more than 650,000 euros has been allocated to Tekniker-IK4, coordinator and proponent of the idea.

The principal objective of the project is the generation of the technologies necessary for the development of mobile robots able to carry out complex tasks with a high degree of autonomy and capacity for collaboration. These robots, moreover, have to share tasks with people in the most friendly and natural way possible.

The technological areas in which solutions are to be developed are:

~ The perception of the robots. Using sensors and sensorial systems which, with a holistic approach, are capable of recognising the complex environment (given that the idea is for exterior applications, over unknown terrain and changing situations).

~ Communications. Between the robots themselves and with humans, in such a way that mutual collaboration leads to success in the targets set.

~ Person-robot interaction Here the idea is that the robot is not limited to just obeying control orders that are formulated electronically, but they are also enabled to interact with their human collaborators and in the most natural manner, including with voice and, above all, with gestures which, for tasks in the exterior and in extreme conditions, may be the most reliable channel of communication.

~ Autonomous behaviour. In this case the idea is to resolve complex problems of navigation on surfaces and in spaces that are difficult and equip the robots with self-perception in such a way that they are aware of their state, can undertake self-diagnosis and adopt measures in case of breakdown or limitations to their capacities.

~ Mecatronic components. The problem to be tackled in principle is the movement through and overcoming of obstacles in all media, terrestrial, aquatic and aerial.

It is hoped to materialise all these developments in a terrestrial robot prototype which, in all probability, will be a test bank for solutions to emergency situations such as forest fires, rescues, etc. In order to know the peculiarities and skills these tasks require and thereby to orientate the prototype accordingly, contacts have been made with SOS Deia (the Basque Emergency Rescue Service) and it also expected to know other viewpoints from other autonomous emergency services.

The project is one of 6 which, at a Spanish State-wide level, is being financed by the State Office for Small and Medium Enterprises of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, through the programme of partnered projects designed to stimulate a synergic effect from the collaboration of various technological centres.


.... ... .

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Iglesias and Oscar

This note comes to us via EITb:

Entertainment Ceremony on Feb. 24

Basque composer Alberto Iglesias enters Oscar race

01/22/2008

Iglesias was nominated for the best Original Score for the original score of Marc Foster's The Kite runner. It is his second nomination after the one for the original score for The Constant Gardener.

Basque composer Alberto Iglesias was selected Tuesday among the nominees to the Oscar Awards for the best Original Score for the original score of Marc Foster's The Kite Runner. This nomination come on top of the nomination for the 2006 Oscar awards for the original score for The Constant Gardener.

Based on Khaled Hosseini's literary work and directed by Marc Forster, The kite runner tells the story of Amir, who returns to his homeland in Afghanistan after spending years in California to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.

Fellow nominees of Iglesias were Dario Marianelli for Atonement; James Newton Howard, for Michael Clayton; Michael Giacchino, for Ratatouille; and Marco Beltrami por 3:10 to Yuma.

Alberto Iglesias's work was also nominated for the Golden Globes and the Bafta.

He was born in Donostia-San Sebastian (Gipuzkoa), where he learnt to play the piano and studied Harmony and Composition. Iglesias is one of the most significant composers in the Spanish State and has created several original scores for films by Julio Medem and Pedro Almodovar.

The Basque composer is currently working on the original score of two new films for Steven Soderbergh, Guerrilla and The Argentine, based on the character of the Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Once finished, he plans to work once again with the Spanish director Pedro Almodovar.


.... ... .

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Lukewarm Criticism

The web site called Earth Times has published an article that contains the reaction to the Audiencia Nacional to punish Juan Mari Atutxa, Gorka Knörr and Kontxi Bilbao for refusing to disolve Sozialista Abertzaleak back in 2003.

Here you have the note:

Spanish court criticized for sentencing Basque politician

Author : DPA
Category : Legal (General)

Madrid - Spain's Supreme Court has barred a former president of the Basque regional parliament from holding public office for refusing to dissolve a radical separatist party in 2003, media reported Tuesday. Juan Maria Atutxa, as well as two former vice-presidents of the regional parliament, Gorka Knorr and Kontxi Bilbao, were barred from holding public office for two years and ordered to pay fines of up to 108,000 euros (156,000 dollars).

The three were charged with refusing to dissolve Sozialista Abertzaleak, a successor of Batasuna, regarded as the political wing of the Basque separatist militant group ETA, in the regional parliament after Batasuna was outlawed.

The court's decision will most affect Bilbao, who remains in the Basque parliament while Atutxa and Knorr have retired from active politics.

Atutxa's moderate Basque Nationalist Party PNV, which governs the region, as well as the far-left Izquierda Unida and Basque Socialists on Tuesday criticized the court's decision as politically motivated or incorrect.

A different criterion was applied to the Basques than to banker Emilio Botin, a complaint against whom was rejected because charges had not been filed by prosecutors in addition to a private party, as was the case with the Basque politicians as well, critics argued.

The Spanish judiciary is now widely expected to ban the ANV and PCTV-EHAK, two parties which have emerged as the new successors of Batasuna, to prevent them from contesting the March 9 general elections.


The problem being, Spain is yet to prove that Batasuna is ETA's political arm, years have gone by and the Audiencia Nacional has not presented any evidence to support their bogus claim. So, if Batasuna has not been taken to court how can Sozialista Abertzaleak by guilty?

And therefore, how can Atutxa, Knörr and Bilbao be guilty too?

Spain's justice system is weirder than the Twilight Zone.



.... ... .

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Danborrada in Donostia

These pictures of the Children Danborrada (Tamborrada) come to you courtesy of Diario Vasco:










Thousands of young people participate in the traditional 'tamborrada' during 'El Dia Grande' the main day of San Sebastian feasts, In the Basque city of Donostia, Euskal Herria, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008. From midnight to midnight companies of performers parade up and down the city. AP. 20/01/2008


.... ... .

The Usual Tricks

Well, according to this note from the AFP seems like Spain is using the same old tricks to try to get Canada to extradite a Basque national.

Here you have it:

Canada immigration board refuses to dismiss ETA case

Sat Jan 19, 5:16 PM ET

A Canadian immigration panel has refused to dismiss a case against a suspected member of the armed Basque separatist group ETA but has yet to decide whether to extradite him to Spain, local media said Saturday.

The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada said Ivan Apaolaza Sancho, detained in Montreal since June, must respond to charges that he belongs to ETA and that it will hold a new hearing on February 18, Radio-Canada reported.

Apaolaza is accused of participating in several attacks carried out in Madrid after the collapse of a ceasefire ETA called in 1999.

He had lived in Quebec under a false name for six years until his arrest in June.

Spain has requested his extradition and sent to Canadian authorities part of their case against Apaolaza, including references to a fingerprint found in an arms cache and incriminating statements by the suspect.

But his attorney, William Sloan, told Radio-Canada that he has not received any of the accusations.

"I believe I know why: they are documents that (Spanish authorities) cannot use before a court. You can't use information obtained through torture," he told the broadcaster.

Spain's high court issued a warrant for the capture of Apaolaza, born in the Basque town of Beasain in Guipuzcoa region in 1971, five years ago and he also is on a European Union list of terror suspects.


Yeap, same old tricks, bogus documents and confessions extracted with torture. Hopefully Canadian judges are not as corrupt as their Mexican counterparts who a couple of years ago extradited six Basques after Spain provided no evidence to back up its case.

.... ... .

Hispanic-Basque?

This is going to take more than one person by surprise, check this out:

Will 2018 produce the first Hispanic governor of Texas?

12:00 AM CST on Saturday, January 19, 2008

Mercedes Olivera molivera@dallasnews.com

If Rafael Anchía had any higher political goals in Texas other than being a state representative, he just got a major boost from the February edition of Texas Monthly magazine.

Titled "El Gobernador," Paul Burka's lengthy piece starts with a hypothetical story from the magazine's 2018 edition, written right after a November election in which Republicans have been relegated to "semi-permanent minority status" in Texas and the state's first Hispanic governor has been elected.

Yup – or should I say, – you guessed it!

Mr. Anchía, D-Dallas, is the first gobernador of Texas elected, according to the story.

The writer also comes back to the present with a dose of sobering statistics – the changing demographics of the state that ultimately will transform the political landscape of Texas.

The demographic projections made by Texas' former state demographer Steve Murdock over the past several years are right on target – Latinos are swiftly becoming the state's largest ethnic group, even without immigration. By 2020, Hispanics could represent 46 percent of Texas' population.

So Mr. Anchía, a transplanted Latino from Florida – a state where Latinos are integrated and excel at all levels of society – seems like an obvious choice.

And, although the voting numbers for Hispanics leave much to be desired, time will also change these as greater numbers of U.S.-born Latinos assimilate and follow the same cultural trajectory as all immigrant groups before them.

Mr. Anchía's story is no different.

He is the son of Basque immigrants, and his family history is profiled in Mr. Burka's piece, revealing a few surprises.

Mr. Anchía had planned to follow his father's footsteps onto the jai-alai court. The sport originated in Spain's Basque region, where his father was born. His mother is the daughter of Basque exiles who immigrated to Mexico, where she was born.

And Mr. Anchía seems to have inherited much from his Basque roots, including a streak of independence and a drive for equality.

He seldom talks about his Spanish ancestry – preferring to focus on his constituents, many of whom come from Mexico or are of Mexican heritage.

Mr. Anchía admits he is flattered by the piece but sees himself only as a metaphor for the larger picture.

"I think Paul Burka is right that we will have a Latino governor by 2018 – whether it's me or someone else," he said Friday.

Mr. Anchía's interest in education, neighborhood and voting rights issues, coupled with his ability to extemporize on the house floor, has propelled him onto a platform of his own.

For his work in the Legislature, Texas Monthly named him Democratic Rookie of the Year in 2005 and one of the Ten Best legislators in 2007.

In 2006, he was elected chairman of the board of directors for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund.

This high-profile position at the nonpartisan organization offered Mr. Anchía an opportunity to spread his wings on the national stage, after having refrained from seeking the Dallas mayor's seat when Laura Miller decided in 2006 not to run for re-election.

Although he had numerous calls from Latino, black and Anglo community leaders urging him to run, in the end, he said his family came first.

His wife, Marissa, gave birth to their second child that summer. After talking with former Denver Mayor Federico Peña, who advised him to seriously weigh all the alternatives, Mr. Anchía opted not to run.

Last year, he worked with business leaders in Texas to defeat measures targeting illegal immigrants and small businesses.

Now, he's looking to 2012, when the data from the next U.S. census will be quantified and released, and the dust on redistricting battles will have settled.

The article lets the broader community know the coming impact that Latinos will have on the state's politics, he said.

"It also lets Latinos know that they have a significant electoral potential that remains underutilized," he said.


Basques are not considered to be Hispanic, neither ethnically nor culturally, Basques are... well, how to say it... Basques. By the way, Mr. Burka, how about saying bai which is how you say yes in Euskara, the Basque language.

.... ... .

Summit on Independence

Political change is taking place in Europe, check out this note:

European summit on independence

1 day ago

Politicians from across Europe discussed constitutional changes at a ministerial summit in Edinburgh.

European minister Linda Fabiani was among those at the European Free Alliance meeting, along with ministers from the Welsh Assembly and from the Catalan, Basque, Flemish and Galician governments.

The politicians also discussed cultural and linguistic co-operation at the summit, which was held at Our Dynamic Earth.


The BBC provides more information about this meeting:

Politicians discuss 'new Europe'

Politicians from across the European Union have been meeting in Edinburgh to discuss independence in Europe.

Ministers from six governments which have a form of devolution attended the European Free Alliance (EFA) ministerial summit at Dynamic Earth.

The EFA is a grouping of political parties who believe in either full political independence or some form of devolution or self-government.

Welsh, Catalan, Basque, Flemish and Galician ministers were present.

The SNP's Linda Fabiani, Scotland's Europe minister, also attended the meeting.

The ministers signed a joint declaration aiming to establish cultural co-operation.

SNP MEP Ian Hudghton said it was hoped the meeting was the first in a series of similar gatherings. He said: "We had a pretty good session. We got together to exchange some ideas about where we go from here and how we make progress towards the real aim that we have to be independent in Europe."

Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans said: "These are exciting and historic times when our parties and our nations are working together to create the new Europe."

Others attending the summit include Joan Manel Tresserras, the Catalan minister of culture; Tontxu Campos, the Basque minister of education; Rhodri Glyn Thomas, the Welsh heritage minister; Bert Anciaux, the Flemish minister for youth, culture sports and heritage; and Anxela Bugallo, the Galician minister for culture and sport.


I want to dedicate this post to my dear friend Colin Davies, I know he will love to learn about this.

.... ... .

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Year of Languages

This important note comes to us thanks to News Wales:

Welsh minister marks UN year of languages

19/1/2008

Rhodri Glyn Thomas, the Minister for Heritage will meet with his counterparts from the Basque Country, Catalonia, Flanders, Galicia and Scotland at a conference on cultural and linguistic policy in Edinburgh today to mark the United Nations International Year of Languages 2008.

Addressing the conference, Rhodri Glyn Thomas will say: "We have a saying in Welsh: Cenedl heb Iaith, cenedl heb galon - a nation without a language is a nation without a heart. The Welsh Assembly Government fully understands and appreciates the contribution that the Welsh language has to play as part of our nation - as an intrinsic and fundamental part of our culture, our history and the very social fabric of our country."

"Wales has a prestigious history of strong cultural interfaces with the world - from the ambitions for sharing and world harmony at the root of the foundation of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod through to the challenge of Art to reflect humanity in our recently established Artes Mundi competition, we are eager to develop Wales's international profile."

As well addressing the conference, he will sign a joint declaration on cultural policy with the other culture Ministers to:

~ Establish cultural co-operation mechanisms between the nations.

~ Promote joint initiatives in the field of culture, the promotion of cultural heritage and support for the diversity of language.

~ Promote an exchange of ideas, experiences and good practice in the field of culture.

~ Maintain periodic contact in order to monitor and review the joint initiatives.

UPDATE: The people behind the initiative International Year of Languages 2008 (IYL 2008) have posted a temporary web site with additional information and access to documents that support this project.

.... ... .

Erabaki : The Right to Decide

This note appeared at EITb:

Politics

Erabaki Platform

80 prominent Basque figures back the Basques's right to decide

01/18/2008

The platform presented its official manifesto on Friday claiming the right to decide "to open the path of peace and normalization. They also presented a web site and will have their first rally next February 10th.

Several Basque celebrities from the cultural and social spheres in the Basque Country presented on Friday a manifesto signed by 80 prominent people claiming for the right to decide "to open the path of peace and normalization."

The driving forces behind this initiative have formed the platform "Erabaki" (To Decide) aiming to achieve the "capacity to decide our future as a society and as a nation." They have also presented its official manifesto under the name of " Queremos decidir y vamos a decidir!" (We want to decide and we shall decide!) and its web site.

The members of the platform at the press conference included journalist Julio Ibarra, former director of Emakunde Txaro Arteaga, president of the Sabino Arana Foundation Juan María Atutxa or general coordinator of Lokarri Paul Ríos.

Basque sculptor Néstor Basterretxea, writer Toti Martínez de Lezea, bertsolari Andoni Egaña, stone-lifter Iñaki Perurena or journalists Xabier Euskitze and Josu Loroño were also among the signatories to the proposal.

The platform seeks to look for support through the web site and call a rally in favor of the right to decide in the Kursaal Conference Center in Donostia-San Sebastian next February 10th.

The manifesto says that "all the people have the right to be asked about the problems they are concerned with and all the people have the right to decide freely their future" and, consequently, the "Basque people, one of the oldest in Europe, have the right to decide freely their own future in accordance with the right of self-determination".


.... ... .

Eusko Flickr : Mundaka


DSC_00271_marked
Originally uploaded by langio

Thursday, January 17, 2008

1,400 Generations Speaking Basque

We want to thank Javier for sharing this important information from National Geographic regarding Euskara, the Basque language.

Here you have it:


Basque Language

Dates about 35,000 years ago

Type Culture

The Basques live in the rugged Pyrenees Mountains of north central Spain and southwestern France. Their distinct language which they call Euskara is one of the world's oldest documented languages and one of the few non-Indo-European tongues spoken in Europe. Thought it is spoken by only 600,000-700,000 people, Euskara has been the subject of much linguistic study.



The language has a number of distinct dialects and a rather sparse written history. Some linguists have tried to link the tongue to languages of the Caucasus region of Georgia and Russia, or to ancient languages of Spain and/or Italy. But most experts consider Euskara to be a language isolate with no extant relatives. A related theory suggests that the Basque language is an ancient remnant of an ancient Cro-Magnon tongue which has subsequently evolved isolation over the ages.




The Basque language's realm has been steadily shrinking since the Middle Ages, but recent efforts have spurred hope of rejuvenation among younger generations.


Javier actually did the math and he came up with an amazing figure, there has been 1,400 generations of Basque speakers to date, that is a bit of data that Basque-phobes like Keith Johnson should consider before launching themselves into a self righteous crusade against a unique jewel in humankind's cultural heritage.

.... ... .

Txori

This gastronomic review appeared at Seattle's "The Stranger":

Restaurants

Embrace the Octopus

Belltown's Txori Is What Harvest Vine Has Always Wanted to Be

by Bethany Jean Clement

The woman at the next table at Txori wants mint tea. The man wants a Diet Coke. The server explains with equanimity that neither of these beverages is available. "We're in San Sebastian!" he says encouragingly. (The servers at Txori are patient, encouraging people.) Some sort of liquid compromise is reached, and he leaves them to look over the menu of pintxos. (Pintxos are the Basque, harder-to-say version of tapas—"txo" is pronounced "chõ." Those inclined to arguing about authenticity and showing off their accents will have a field day here.) She doesn't like olives, she says. She doesn't like octopus. She doesn't like the taste of either garlic or alcohol (it's momentarily hard to hear). The man's empathy is nearly visible. It must be love!

At another table—they're so close together, eavesdropping is involuntary—a group talks about their last trip to Spain, about choosing blindly from menus there, about someone who was making out with everyone at a party. They're drinking red wine (the list is all vascos—Basque—and other regions of Spain) and using bits of bread to get every iota of sauce off every little plate, and then they're ordering more wine, more bread, more little plates. They're talking more about kissing.

Luckily, Mint Tea and Diet Coke have their mutual admiration to sustain them until they get to an olive-free zone. She gives him a sip of her non-mint tea, holding the cup for him; he looks charmed. The trip-to-Spain people watch other people's food go by nonsurreptitiously; they will have one of those (indicating something at another table), too—no, make that two.

Txori is the new Belltown branch of Harvest Vine, the Spanish favorite of Seattle's octopus-embracing set for a decade. I've wanted to love Harvest Vine; I've felt like I should. The ingredients are impeccably sourced, the food is indisputably good, and owner Joseba Jimenez de Jimenez is magnificent of name and mustache. But the price/portion/formality balance always felt off, and I have no recollection whatsoever of the interior. Txori is what I've always wanted Harvest Vine to be.

Txori—Basque for "bird"—is compact and light. In the front, on the dark wood shelves with their rolling ladder, there's a birdhouse, along with reassuring stocks of olive oil, spices, cookbooks, wine. Some bird-themed art hangs in the back. A bird printed on the coasters is ready to eat the dot off the "i." This makes Txori sound cute, which it isn't; the hardwood floors, clean lines, and Euro-style glass doors (which will eventually lead to a patio) are cosmopolitan, anti-precious. On the tables: small-size flatware; pottery toothpick containers; both those thin, tissuey squares that function as napkins in Spain and domestic paper napkins actually capable of absorption.

The prices at Txori promote the kind of abandon you'd like to indulge in at Harvest Vine. Even better, they promote the feeling that even the rare thing you don't care for—one thing, in my experience so far—is worth it. Most of the pintxos, priced individually, are a couple of simple, exactingly prepared elements perched on top of a small piece of bread. The glass case at the stand-up-only bar offers a preview (one or two may look dried out, which will not be the case with yours).

Txori's octopus is particularly delicious. It's imported from Valencia, and it's blanched three times to avoid vulcanization—if you lurk at the bar and look curious, you'll learn things. You might be invited to taste-test the expensive lagrima olive oil ("the tears of the olive," gathered via precipitation instead of pressing) against extra virgin and pomace (from the pits). Or you can just eat the pulpo de feira ($3.50), a bite of octopus skewered to a bite of potato (both of ideal, transcendent consistency) with lagrima and pimentón. Or you can eat whatever octopus special is on the blackboard. Or—why not?—one of each.

Some of the pintxos are hot, some cold. Oceanic flavors are unabashed: mojama ($3.50), rich, salty cured tuna topped with rich, salty large roe; boquerones txepetxa ($5.25), a mound of fluffy pink ham/crab mixture with two vinegary anchovies curled around it. Lavish, buttery meats may have lavish, buttery complements—braised oxtail resting on panadera potatoes ($6). Chorizo is given shavings of chocolate over the top ($2.25). A ramekin of tomato sauce ($2.75) is sweet with garlic, balanced with gentle, melted tetilla cheese. A mushroom/serrano ham tartlet ($2.50) was dry and a little dull, the sole disappointment.

A few slightly larger plates, raciones, are available, such as albondigas ($6)—three veal and pork meatballs, pink at their centers, in a lush sherry sauce. Pochas con almejas ($9)—a totally creditable version of clams, white beans, and garlicky broth—is, in context, unremarkable. Contrariwise, revuelto de gulas ($9)—a special of eggs soft-scrambled with thin, noodly strips of hake—was shockingly tasty for something so mild. Sprinkles of pimentón and a border of green oil made this food look like a flag—every plate at Txori pleases the eye.

For sweets, a coffee flan ($3) makes both coffee-flavored things and flan itself seem like newly excellent ideas. The sweetened-up espresso drinks—café bombón ($3), with condensed milk; café kantoi ($3), sundae-like, with caramel—are as good, maybe better. Txori's cocktails (sweet, saffron, with anchovies) deserve exploration as well, and Basque specialty drinks combine wine or beer with soda pop. But not Diet Coke.


.... ... .

Kudos Ibarretxe!

Well, what would you know, Ibarretxe is not buying into Zapatero's antics anymore!

You don't believe me?

Not a problem, here, read this note appeared at EITb:

Politics

Spain-Basque Country relationship

Basque PM confesses to being "fed up with" Zapatero's "good vibes"

01/16/2008

According to Ibarretxe, "there has not been respect" to the Basques "despite the good words". He added the banning of ANV would be one more chapter of the "election act".

Basque Primer Minister Juan José Ibarretxe confessed on Wednesday to being "fed up with the good vibes" of the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, whom Ibarretxe accused of being disrespectful to the Basques.

Ibarretxe added the attitude of the conservative party PP and the governing PSOE towards Catalonia and the Basque Country is completely identical. "One thinks that the PP and the PSOE's conduct around the respect to the Basques and Catalans is a Siamese conduct", the Basque PM said.

Ibarretxe said he considers it is "quite difficult" to have a good relationship with the PP, "so rough, so hard, so bitter", but he added he is also "fed up with the good vibes" of Zapatero, as, "behind his good words, there has not been respect" to the Basques.

The Basque PM also reminded that the only transfer of power from the Spanish to the Basque government was in timed of José María Aznar.

Speaking to the Catalan radio station Rac 1, about PP and PSOE's attitude towards the Basque and Catalan languages, Ibarretxe pointed out that PP and PSOE do not realize that "the Catalan language, the Basque language belong to the Catalans and Basques, but they are also world heritage".




Excellent, now, lets get to work and reinvigorate the peace process by adding efforts with all the Basque political parties to enable the Basques to present an unified front against both the sandpaper lies by the PP and the velvet lies by the PSOE.

Oh, and by the way, Ibarretxe, is time to do something about the PP-PSOE's mole in the PNV and incarcerate Javie Balza for his recent apology of torture.

.... ... .

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Ibarretxe and His Referendum

This note appeared today at EITb:
Politics
Interview on TV3
01/15/2008

The Basque PM said he was "totally convinced" that "he will go to the polls next October, 25th. About the likely banning of ANV, he said "the exclusion is not the solution."

Basque Prime Minister Juan José Ibarretxe said he was "totally convinced" that there will be a referendum in the Basque Country and that he will go to the polls next October 25th and he will cast his ballot "at 9:30."

"The proposal is legitimate, democratic and will be the way we will walk in the future".
Ibarretxe said in an interview on the Catalan TV3's "La nit al dia" program.

Concerning the refusal to the referendum of the Spanish PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Ibarretxe said he defends "he is ready to negotiate with the Spanish President" and "to respect the Basques' will" opposite to Zapatero's "we won't negotiate" or "I won't respect the Basques' will".

The Basque PM added he was against the possible banning of the Basque left-wing party ANV. "The exclusion is not the solution", Ibarretxe said.

Ibarretxe also said he "will never question Zapatero's negotiation with ETA" but remarked he does "not accept or understand that the Spanish President refuses to negotiate with the Basque PM and the Basque democratic institutions the issues he has been negotiating with ETA five months ago".

Referendum

The president of the Basque country announced a referendum on the region's future some months ago. The Spanish government quickly rejected the idea on grounds that under the constitution only Madrid, not a regional administration, can convene a referendum.The Basque president said the referendum on Oct. 25, 2008, would be based on two principles: rejection of violence by the armed Basque group ETA and what he called the right of the Basque people to choose their future.

Ibarretxe said that, if approved, the referendum would issue a mandate for the government to undertake new peace talks with ETA. He said he would seek support from Madrid for holding the vote, but go ahead with it no matter what the Spanish government decides.
Good luck to him, with Zapatero out of touch with reality and Rajoy salivating over the chance of becoming Spain's next prime minister there is good chances that Ibarretxe will be joining Otegi pretty soon.

.... ... .