Friday, March 28, 2008

A Matter of Wealth

Do you ever wonder why has Spain resorted to such vicious and violent extremes to prevent the Basque Country from regaining its sovereignty?

This article published at Euroresidentes may dispel one of the many mysteries regarding Madrid's efforts to perpetuate its colonialist hold of Hegoalde, the southern portion of Nabarra:

Region in Spain with highest total personal income

Inhabitants in the Basque Country the richest in Spain

The Basque Country has overtaken Madrid as the area of Spain with the highest capita per inhabitant. Figures published yesterday by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE) showed that GDP per inhabitant in Madrid was 29,965 euros compared to 30,599 for inhabitants in the Basque Country. Extremadura and Andalucía remained at the bottom of the list although figures show that the difference in GDP between parts of Spain is going down year by year. The average income per inhabitant in Spain is now estimated at 23,396 euros.

This is the first time that Madrid has lost its place at the top of the list since 1995 when the INE began to publish these figures although this change has been put down to more to changes in the Basque Country’s demography to its economic growth. In fact, the economy in the Basque Country has grown less than the national average over recent years. However, the population has hardly grown at all. Since 1995 it has only grown by 2.3% while the population of Madrid has increased by a massive 21%.

Income per inhabitant has fallen in the Balearic islands. Figures for 1995 showed that income per inhabitant was equivalent to 120% that of the national average while now it is just 108%. However, the population in this part of Spain has also grown by 37% over the last 12 years. Furthermore, the incorporation of more workers in its economy has not led to economic growth. The Canary islands is also a similar case.

The figures just published for 2007 show that Catalonia has the highest GDP in Spain valued at 196,000 euros, followed by Madrid, Andalucía, Valencia and the Basque Country. Aragón showed the biggest growth at 4.5% compared to an average growth in GDP of 3.8% for the rest of Spain. The INE showed that Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia all had thriving economies with strong manufacturing sectors. Economic growth in Aragon was attributed mostly to building work in preparation for the Expo which starts in June.

Continues...


Oddly enough, some "pundits" insist that Nabarra could not survive economically on its own.

Same goes for Catalunya.

.... ... .

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Reply to Bruce Crumley

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

Bruce Crumley,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

q They have French nationality

q They have French Basque origin

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

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

q They are of Basque ethnicity

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

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

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

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

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

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

Note that Navarra was taken away from Euskal Herria

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

.... ... .

Eusko Flickr : Xorroxin


Xorroxin
Originally uploaded by ardazka

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Canada Overlooks Spain's Torture

Canadian authorities are so obsessed with Spain's demand to extradite a Basque activist that they are willing to overlook the fact that the evidence provided in the case was extracted under torture according to this article published at The Record:

Interview tactics questioned at deportation hearing

Jonathan Montpetit

Canadian immigration officials are being accused of resorting to evidence gathered under torture to try to deport a suspected Basque terrorist.

Ivan Apaolaza Sancho claims that Ottawa's case against him relies partly on information gleaned from an interrogation where Spanish police were accused of roughing up a suspect.

"She made some declarations to the police and after this woman said she was tortured,'' Sancho said in an interview from a Montreal detention centre. "But the Canadian government didn't show it like that.''

Sancho was arrested by the RCMP last summer on an immigration warrant. Ottawa is seeking to deport him to Spain, where he is thought to be linked to the violent Basque separatist group ETA.

Government immigration lawyers are basing their case on a Spanish arrest warrant that ties Sancho to a series of car bombings in Spain between 1999 and 2000.

According to Sancho's legal team, that warrant contains statements made by Ana Belen Egues Gurruchaga, who was arrested by Spanish police in November 2001 following a Madrid car bombing. She was detained under Spanish anti-terror laws that allow suspects to be held incommunicado for up to five days.

Sancho's lawyer, William Sloan, said Gurruchaga filed a criminal complaint with a Spanish court not long after she was released alleging she was tortured.

"The facts point to these declarations having been obtained by torture,'' he said. "They match word for word the warrants that Canada is using as evidence.''

Calls to Canadian immigration officials were not returned.

Sloan plans to call a French jurist to testify during Sancho's deportation hearing that Spanish justice officials often resort to aggressive interview tactics.

He charged there is scant evidence to support Ottawa's deportation order.

The government's case rests largely on a fingerprint of Sancho's that was allegedly found alongside explosives in a Spanish apartment.

The government has also produced intelligence reports that link Sancho to ETA from as early as 1991.

Sancho has acknowledged using at least two different names since he arrived in Canada. He also told an earlier deportation hearing that he initially roomed with Victor Tejedor Bilbao, who is also accused of ties with ETA.

"I was scared they were going to send me back to Spain and arrest me there and torture me,'' he said, explaining the use of an alias.

After several years of relative calm, ETA declared a formal end to its cease-fire in June 2007, around the time Sancho was arrested. Since then, ETA has carried out more than a dozen bombings and assassinated two police officers.

The hearing resumes tomorrow.


Canada is showing an unusual disrespect towards human rights. Everything and anything counts against the Basques.

.... ... .

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Eusko Flickr : Saharamarathon 2008


To Be Basque-American

US citizens love to hyphenate what they think is their nationality but what is actually how millions of individuals born in the continent that goes for Canada to Argentina are called. They hyphenate in an strange effort for you to be a "red, white and blue American" without giving up your background. They love a good story containing all the elements of Americana, like a woman sacrificing her own education in behalf of her relatives, a war veteran and boy scouts. And then there is the issue about the last names and how you have to do whatever you can to show the family link due to the fact that women give up their family last name when they marry (what is called "maiden name").

So here you have it via Idaho Mountain Express, the perfect Basque-American family history:

Florentina Teresa Sabala Laragan

Florentina Teresa Sabala Laragan joined many family members and friends in heaven on Sunday, March 9, 2008, in Twin Falls. Flora died at home as she had hoped, with her loving husband by her side, holding her hand and kissing her good-bye.

She was born in Twin Falls on Oct. 31, 1919, to Francisco and Florentina Yrazabal. She spent her youth in Twin Falls and attended St. Edward's Catholic School. As the third oldest of eight children, she mothered her younger siblings and sacrificed her high school education to work and take care of them. She made sure they would have the prom dresses or suits she never had the chance to wear herself. She always put others before herself. She worked for a couple of dry cleaners in Twin Falls and then for Sabala Cleaners in Ketchum before she was married.

Flora, a beautiful, vibrant Basque woman, married the handsome Lt. Col. Joe E. Laragan, who returned from World War II and swept her off her feet. They flew (just to be adventurous) to Elko, Nev., and were married Aug. 10, 1946. As the plane dipped and swerved, Dad told Mom, "Look what I got us into." Mom replied that she would go to the ends of the earth with him and that if the plane went down, they'd go together. Their marriage was later sanctioned by the Catholic Church. Flora and Joe made their home in Ketchum for 32 years. Flora was Joe's secretary for his oil business. While raising their children in Ketchum, Flora was involved with the Papoose Club, the Gold Mine, the Community Library and Cub Scouts, and was room mother for all three children at Ketchum Elementary School. She was actively involved in Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church and taught Catechism.

Mom's best friends were her siblings and in-laws. She lived for and could hardly wait for the many reunions, get-togethers and adventures they all enjoyed throughout the years. In 1978, Flora and Joe retired to Twin Falls where they traveled to Spain several times with Flora's sisters and brothers and spouses, and to Arizona and California during the winter months. They attended every Jaialdi Basque Festival since its inception. Flora was a parishioner at St. Edward's Catholic Church. Her faith in God and gratefulness to God and her love of the rosary were demonstrated on a daily basis.

The most important part of her life was her family, which included immediate family, her siblings, their spouses and her nieces and nephews. Having lost her parents early in life, she cherished her husband's parents as her own and kept her Basque sharp when communicating with them. Flora had a wonderful sense of humor, was an excellent cook and the ultimate homemaker and mother. Her nieces and nephews and children's friends always knew they were welcome in her home and could always feel her unconditional love for them. Flora could turn any object or piece of clothing into a prop to make everyone laugh. She excelled at bringing a smile or laugh from those she loved, even at her own expense. She loved reading books and solving crossword puzzles, and was proud of the fact that she always won the spelling bees in grade school. She golfed and loved garage sales and movies. Mom and Dad were married for 62 years and through the ups and downs they never failed to dance.

Flora is survived by her beloved husband, Joe, and her children, Kathy (Durg) Perron, Kim Laragan-Uranga and Joe (Tammy) Laragan. Eight grandchildren survive her: Nikki (Greg) Maynard, Ryan (Sahily) Perron, Josh (Sheena) Perron, Jake (Kris Sang) Perron and Joel Perron, Sebi and Solee Uranga and Chelsea Laragan (Mike Byron). She is survived by nine great grandchildren: Lindsay, Gregory and Joshua Maynard, Ryan, Riley, Sahily and Kameron Perron, Tyson Laragan and Maria Byron. She is also survived by two sisters, Anna Berriochoa and Nettie Nance, one brother, Manuel Sabala, three sisters-in-law, Alice Sabala, Carmen Wallace and Bert Laragan, and one brother-in-law, Gene Hillis.

She was preceded in death by her parents, an infant sibling, her brothers Frank and John, her sisters Mary and Rosie; six brothers-in-law, John LePore, Carli Berriochoa, Joe Mendiola, Albert Nance, Marcey Laragan and Francis Wallace; four sisters-in-law; Lou Sabala, Grace Sabala, Juanita Laragan and Rita Hillis; a grandson, Gabe Perron; a great-grandson, Nathaniel Maynard; and two nephews, Garry Sabala and Jackie LePore. There is one heckuva "Farkle" Family Reunion and lots of jota dancing going on in Heaven.

We would like to express our appreciation to Dr. David Spritzer, Mia and Carol, and Dr. Stan Mogelson for being so good and kind to Mom and our thanks to Shanny Gallegos of Helping Hands and to Sylvia Wybenga for their kindness and help.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to St. Edwards Building Fund in honor of Francisco and Florentina Sabala, the Gooding or Boise Basque Center, ALS Research or to a charity of your choice.

The rosary will be recited on Tuesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. at Reynolds Funeral Chapel, 2466 Addison Ave. E., Twin Falls with Deacon Jim Herrett reciting. The Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, March 18, at 11 a.m. at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, 161 6th Ave. E., Twin Falls with Father Victor Manuel celebrating. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Reynolds Funeral Chapel, Twin Falls.

You will live on in our hearts. "Goian Bego" ... be with God and your family at peace now.


.... ... .

Sunday, March 16, 2008

EITb's "Gernika 1937-2007" Wins Prize

This note appeared today at EITb:

Sci/Tech

Worldwide recognition

"Gernika 1937-2007" wins "Pulitzer for Infographic Design"

03/15/2008

Basque web sites hiru.com and consumer.es also won Malofiej awards. Nytimes.com's “Deadly Rampage at Virginia Tech” won the best-of-show prize.

The multimedia work carried out by the Basque news and information channel eitb24.com on the anniversary of the bombing of the Basque town of Gernika won on Friday one of the Malofiej Awards, considered as the "Pulitzer Prizes for Infographic Design".

“Gernika 1937-2007”, which includes three infographics, two audiovisual works and a virtual walk through Gernika (by Axiora) before, during and after the bombing, won the bronze award. It entered competition together with other 1,300 entries that were submitted from 124 media in 24 countries.

Other winners announced during the Friday ceremony in Pamplona/Iruña include hiru.com, the web site of the Department of Education of the Basque Government and consumer.es.

The three infographics were carried out by Aitor Eguinoa and Cristián Werb, of 90grados.

Continues...


Now, I strongly recommend that you spend some time learning about what lead up to the vicious and genocidal attack on Gernika by the fascist regimes (Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy) in support of Francisco Franco.

Here you have the link:



It is almost flawless, and I say almost because of one huge disservice to the Basques' struggle to regain their independence. You see, EITb plays by the Basque Autonomous Government's rules and since the members of the ruling Basque Nationalist Party want to play "moderate" to the eyes of the international community they are very willing to incur in authentic acts of treason, acts of treason that are merrily echoed by the media outlets at their disposition.

So, when you read about the bombing you will find a tally of victims that has been trimmed, instead of the 1,600 deaths that history has recorded EITb stands by the "newer" count: 250.

This revisionism works in behalf of Spain, it helps sanitizing the image that the public has of this country. But history has a penchant for setting things straight as in this case.

Spain has a long history of violence against other nations, and this violence translated into the worst genocide in recorded history, the conquest of America in which millions of people perished and entire civilizations disappeared as a result of a long campaign to loot the resources of the continent. Navarre / Euskal Herria as an European soil colony is not the exception and thousands of Basques have been killed throughout the centuries that the Spanish occupation has lasted.

More so, those Basques killed in Gernika are victims of the Nazis too, and if the Basque Government of the time established the 1600 figure I do not see a reason for them to lie about it. And if the Jewish claim that the Nazis murdered 6 million of their people I want to see who is willing to reduce that amount to a mere 15%.

No one would do such thing without being labeled a racist pig, a Nazi apologist and an anti-Semite. So why are people willing to cut Spain and Nazi Germany some slack by reducing the number of Basque victims?

Treachery, pure treachery.

.... ... .

Saturday, March 15, 2008

2008's Euskaltel Euskadi

This report comes to us thanks to Podium Cafe:

Back Pocket Previews: Euskaltel-Euskadi

By chris
Posted on Sat Mar 15, 2008 at 01:19:01 AM EDT

Attributes: Like Bweeg, a strong regional identity and sense of purpose, only more so. Well rounded (by Basque cycling standards). Sam-San is one of those guys you'd pay to watch. Old-skool black shorts. Rabid fan support that would make Packer backers blush. An endless supply of skinny climber dudes, nothing to sneeze at in 2008.

Problems: Like Bweeg, limited ambitions equals limited results. Turns out, some of the best riders in the world aren't Basque, which means they can't ride for Euskie. Also, the Basque world encompasses part of France, up to Bayonne. So why no French riders?

Key Rider(s): Sammy Sanchez, I suppose. It'd be nice to come up with a more clever observation here, and the fact is Astarloza, Anton and Koldo Fernandez could all make their mark this year, giving Euskaltel a big boost. But Sanchez has yet to define himself, offering hope in the big classics or grand tours or both. All of this is on the table... but how it turns out is anyone's guess. So as obvious as it seems, Sanchez is still the guy to watch.

Key Moment: July, Pau to Hautacam. Not that all eyes won't be on the Spanish climbers, but Astarloza, Zubeldia and Sanchez will all be candidates to make a big splash that day. And with a pretty short ITT on stage 4, we're talking about taking the maillot jaune.

Passing Thought: For years, Euskaltel were wholly focused on mountain stages of the Tour, and briefly with supporting Iban Mayo for something greater. Mayo's departure last year for Saunier Duval, his last stop en route to doper oblivion, was perhaps the best thing that happened to Euskies in a long while. No more chasing Mayo's silly ambitions, no more laser-like focus on the Tour Pyrenean stages. Sanchez gets a lot of the credit, I would suspect, with his breakout in one-day racing giving the team something else to live for. Personally, I'm wholly rooting for Koldo Fernandez in every big sprint. Anyway, however it came about, it's good to see Euskaltel expanding its boundaries and becoming a team to watch more than one week a year.


.... ... .

Basque Cuisine in Miami

More about Basque cuisine and Miami, this note comes to us thanks to EITb:

Entertainment

Basque gastronomy

Biscay and its gastronomy captivates Miami

03/14/2008

Basque ancient music intruments "trikitixas" provided the entertainment to the event wich has coincided with the International Cruise Fair that has been celebrated in Miami too.

A total of 100 people from different society sectors, economy, culture and politics have attended a meeting organized by the Biscay Regional Council to "boost tourist promotion" in the American city of Miami, where Biscayan gastronomy has become one of the "main attractions".

During the conference, Tourist Promotion Council general manager, Garbino Martínez de Arenaza has presented a Biscay that is "alive, modern and modernist, that is in social, cultural, economic or town-planning permanent development, that does not forget its origins, its traditions and great cultural legacy from ancient times, and that bets on future, modernity and technology".

In this meeting, Martínez de Arenaza has reviewed the diverse tourism proposals existing in Bilbao, with special attention to cruise tourism, to the new entry to Biscay and Basque Country from the sea: cruises dock in Getxo, which "is generating a revolution in Biscayan tourism".

Basque ancient music intruments "trikitixas" provided the entertainment to the event, which has had a sample of Biscayan gastronomy under the leadership of some chefs such as Aitor Basabe, Aitor Elizegi, Eneko Atxa, Jose Miguel Olazabalaga, José Ibarra and Sabin Arana, in which there could be tasted some delicious appetizers like risotto with cockles and young leeks, typical Basque “gildas” (a tapa made of pickles), “gazpacho de txangurro” (crab gazpacho); and a tasting of plates like cold foie, tuna, potatoes in clam green sauce, cod, ox taco and toasts.

This meeting has coincided with the International Cruise Fair that has been celebrated in Miami.


Remember the Sabin Arana mentioned in this note?

I just posted something about him a couple of days ago.

.... ... .

Eusko Flickr : Biarritz Surf Festival Tents


Friday, March 14, 2008

"Condemned"

This note was published by EITb:

Politics

Interview with Radio Euskadi

Ibarretxe to Zapatero: "We are condemned to understand each other"

03/13/2008

He thinks 2008 is the year of "breaking of politics deadlock". Therefore, "an important year to achieve peace, political agreements, to coexist between Basque Country and Spain".

Basque Prime Minister, Juan José Ibarretxe, has said that he phoned Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero on election night and told him that the agenda was open and after saying they were "condemned to understand each other", he has assured that he believes in a "possible" agreement.

In an interview to the Basque radio station Radio Euskadi, he has declared that they have to "start working" and has emphasized that, in conversations with Zapatero, he told him he was ready for an agreement. "We need, we want an agreement and we think it is possible", he has said.

The Basque premier is convinced that 2008 is the year of the "breaking of politics deadlock". Therefore, "an important year to achieve peace, political agreements, to coexist between Basque Country and Spain, and a year to keep governing".

Ibarretxe has also pointed out that he hopes to take the achieved agreement with the Spanish Primer Minister to Basque Paliament.

Extended hand

Basque Prime Minister has stated in relation to a possible negotiation, that when someone wants to negotiate, he has to show "openness". "Zapatero has been negotiating with the Basque armed group ETA five months ago about Basque people’s right to decide, since if he has been negotiating with ETA why would not he negotiate with the Basque premier", he has pointed out.

Steps

Ibarretxe has pointed out that the first step to carry out in the "political agenda" is political negotiation. He has explained that if a pact cannot be taken to the Parliament, a request will be presented in order to "give Basque society the word to make clear their position about two subjects". Those two aspects would be, on the one hand, to tell ETA that a dialogued process to finish with violence must be opened. On the other hand, to give political parties a mandate, so that in a certain period and before 2010 a "democratic agreement" is achieved.


Oh but they understand each other already, they both work towards one goal, to deprive the Basque people from their right to decide their future. Ibarretxe is all words and not much else as proven by his actions throughout the length of his time as lehendakari of the Basque Autonomous Community. In fact, Ibarretxe enters this period heavily weakened because this time 120,000 Basques decided to take away the support they showed him for the last eight years, eight years in which Ibarretxe allowed Jabier Balza to repress and torture as many Basques as he could in behalf of Jose Maria Aznar and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

.... ... .

Autonomy Is Not Enough

This article was published by Earth Times:

Spain intends to defuse Basque sovereignty plan

Europe World News

Madrid - Spain's re-elected Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will attempt to defuse a looming conflict with the Basque region over its independence strivings by offering it a more limited enlargement of its current autonomy status, the daily El Pais reported Friday. Zapatero's Socialists won a second consecutive term in Sunday's parliamentary elections.

Basque regional Prime Minister Juan Jose Ibarretxe announced in 2007 that he would stage a regional referendum in October on the right of the 2.1 million Basques to decide their own future. The options are understood to include a self-government bordering on independence.

Ibarretxe believes that a referendum would help to end Spain's conflict of four decades with the militant Basque separatist group ETA, which has claimed more than 800 lives.

ETA's most recent attack occurred two days before Sunday's elections, when a gunman shot dead a former Socialist councillor in the Basque town of Arrasate.

The Spanish government, however, regards the referendum as illegal and has vowed to block it.

Zapatero's new government, which has not yet been appointed, is now expected to try to defuse Ibarretxe's initiative by offering to enlarge the Basque region's autonomy within the limits imposed by the constitution.

The Basques already have the widest measure of self-government among Spain's 17 regions, with their own police force, the right to raise taxes and to teach their language in schools.

The Zapatero government enlarged the autonomy of six other regions during the previous legislature.

The Socialists, who did not win an absolute majority in Sunday's elections, are hoping to govern with the support of Ibarretxe's Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and some other smaller party.

Ibarretxe was not expected to easily relinquish his referendum plan, which he described as remaining valid despite the PNV only taking 6 seats, one less than in 2004, in the Spanish parliament.

The PNV is, however, divided between Ibarretxe's separatist-minded and a more moderate current.


And this is when exactly when the plot thickens. For the last few weeks the European media has been telling us about how Kosovo declared its independence unilaterally after refusing to accept the a more limited enlargement of its autonomy status by Belgrade. Meaning, nations without statehood do not need to accept crumbles of freedom from their occupying powers anymore, and let us remember that Kosovo's independence was immediately recognized by a number of states around the world.

One more thing, the article cites the deaths caused by one side of the conflict but fails to offer a figure of how many Basques have been murdered by Spain (and France).

.... ... .

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Sabin Arana, The Chef

This note comes to us thanks to the Miami Herald:

Basque chefs bask in Miami's glow

By Fred Gonzalez

You might see an accordion player and a tambourine artist around town this week, dressed in traditional Spanish garb, playing music to clap and smile to. They're here from Spain's Basque region with hopes of promoting tourism, food and wine in their part of the world.

Six of the region's top chefs, each with his own restaurant, are in Miami until Thursday, producing invitation-only meals at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden for the local Basque community and the Tides Hotel on Ocean Drive. We caught up with one of them, Sabin Arana, for a chat.

Q: Is it hard working with so many chefs on one menu?

A: More than six chefs, they are six friends, so working together is easy.

Q: How did you prepare for your collaborations?

A: We know we are going to Miami, and we have to get the ingredients in Miami, so the six of us get together and we talk about what we are going to make.

Q: This is your third trip to Miami; for other chefs it's the first. So, where do you go eat?

A: We end up going to places we don't see back home. Like the churrascarias.

Q: What makes food from the Basque region unique?

A: Actually, it's always been a way of eating. In the Basque region, in old times, the mother's typically stayed at home and cooked for the family. So our influences come from this.

Q: Why should people come to the Basque region and enjoy the food, wine and tourism?

A: It's hard to explain. In Spanish, No somos ni los mejores ni los peores. No es por eso. Somos nosotros. [We're not the best, nor are we the worst. That's not the reason. We are just ourselves.]


Let me tell you, that chef sports quite a name.

.... ... .

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Lakua Mulls Defeat

As you may know by now, the ruling party in the Basque Autonomous Community was the big loser in the recent electoral process, an electoral process pregnant with repression and deceptive moves by Zapatero's government, an electoral process in which a large portion of the Basque citizenry was left without a valid political option after an Spanish judge banned two political parties from participating in a clear throwback to Francisco Franco's reign of terror.

Well, here you have the mea culpa from the Basque government:

Politics

Basque government

"There haven't been the best results for the tripartite govt."

03/11/2008

There will be an early election in the Basque Country if the Spanish Government says no to dialogue with the Basque Government, the spokeswoman for the Basque Government said.

Spokeswoman for the Basque Government Miren Azkarate said that the Basque Premier Juan José Ibarretxe will call an early election or a referendum if the Spanish Government "says no to dialogue" with the Basque executive.

In a press conference in Vitoria-Gasteiz after the weekly meeting of the Basque Government's councilors, the spokeswoman for the Basque Government Miren Azkarate said the results of the Spanish general election on Sunday were not "the best" results for the three parties in the tripartite government.

Azkarate added that Ibarretxe keeps "his hand held" to dialogue and agreement and says that in case the Spanish Government "says no to dialogue without giving a chance for an agreement", the Basque Parliament will decide "whether to call an early election or to call a referendum to overcome the situation of paralysis".

According to Azkarate, the Basque PM has already got in touch with José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to tell him "his agenda is open".


The truth is, their lost comes as a result of their open betrayal against the people they claim to represent.

.... ... .

Eusko Flickr: Elantxobe


ELANXOBE
Originally uploaded by fredpanassac

Sunday, March 09, 2008

Kudos Bjork!

This note appeared at Yahoo News:

China stricter after Bjork's Tibet chant

Fri Mar 7, 4:46 AM ET

China will be stricter on foreign performers after Icelandic singer Bjork shouted "Tibet! Tibet!" at the end of her concert in Shanghai this week, the government said Friday.

A statement by China's Culture Ministry said Bjork's outburst "broke Chinese law and hurt Chinese people's feelings."

Bjork shouted "Tibet!" after a passionate performance of her song "Declare Independence" on Sunday. The outburst drew rare public attention inside China to Beijing's often harsh rule over the Himalayan region.

The statement, posted on the Culture Ministry's Web site, also said "there is no country that admits that Tibet is an 'independent country.'"

Bjork has performed the song to support other independence movements in the past. She dedicated the song to Kosovo while performing last month in Japan. The lyrics include the phrase "Raise your flag!"

China's 58-year rule over Tibet has drawn frequent condemnation from foreign governments and activists, often inciting a prickly nationalism among the Chinese government and ordinary people. Many Tibetans consider the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as their rightful leader.


Basque people, raise your flag!

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Friday, March 07, 2008

Bush Openly Supports Torture

Many US bloggers felt compelled to post about the Basque Country today. I will no talk about the topic that had them casting all kinds of judgment against the Basque people.

The reason for this stance is simple, non of them said a word about the torture suffered by Igor Portu, Mattin Sarasola and Gorka Lupiañez a few weeks ago.

All of them are hypocritical and use a double standard whenever is convenient to them.

But what you're about to read may explain their twisted self-righteous behavior:

Bush to veto bill banning waterboarding

1 hour, 36 minutes ago

The White House says President Bush will veto legislation on Saturday that would have barred the CIA from using waterboarding — a technique that simulates drowning — and other harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects.

Bush has said the bill would harm the government's ability to prevent future attacks. Supporters of the legislation argue that it preserves the United States' right to collect critical intelligence while boosting the country's moral standing abroad.

"The bill would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror, the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives," deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday.

The bill would restrict the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation techniques listed in the Army field manual.

The legislation would bar the CIA from using waterboarding, sensory deprivation or other coercive methods to break a prisoner who refuses to answer questions. Those practices were banned by the military in 2006, but the president wants the harsh interrogation methods to be a part of the CIA's toolbox.

Backers of the legislation, which cleared the House in December and won Senate approval last month, say the interrogation methods used by the military are sufficient.

"President Bush's veto will be one of the most shameful acts of his presidency," Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said in a statement Friday. "Unless Congress overrides the veto, it will go down in history as a flagrant insult to the rule of law and a serious stain on the good name of America in the eyes of the world."

He noted that the Army field manual contends that harsh interrogation is a "poor technique that yields unreliable results, may damage subsequent collection efforts, and can induce the source to say what he thinks the (interrogator) wants to hear."

Their president not only supports torture, he invaded a country and was busted lying about the reasons for his warmongering actions. Hundreds of thousands of people have been murdered as a direct result of his deception and his lust for innocent blood.

It is him and the members of the US armed forces (including the CIA and the mercenaries euphemistically called "civilian contractors") the ones that the entire world consider the biggest terrorists of our time.

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A Basque American Idol?

Archuleta is a Basque last name, there is a large Basque community in Utah and he is not competing in the Latin American Idol so, is he a Basque-American Idol?

The note appeared today at Yahoo News:

Archuleta de Triomphe: Teen 'Idol' star

By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press WriterFri Mar 7, 2:04 PM ET

It was no secret that David Archuleta could sing — students and teachers had heard him belt out holiday carols during Spanish class and an opera aria at a school arts festival. None of that was reason enough to believe the junior at Murray High School would transform from a shy and impish 17-year-old to a fast-rising star on "American Idol."

"He giggles every time you confront him," Archuleta's 11th grade English teacher Chantel Thackarey said. "I can't believe how well he's doing because he's just so painfully shy."

Week after week, Archuleta seems to out-sing the competition on the top-rated Fox television show, winning the hearts — and votes — of viewers. Idol judge Paula Abdul has said Archuleta is "destined for superstardom."

"He commands the stage," said Dean Kaelin, a vocal coach who has worked with Archuleta over the past six years.

In spite of his obvious talents, Archuleta has kept a low profile on the Murray High campus. An A student with a quiet demeanor, he wasn't among the school's most popular kids, nor the star of school plays.

"I didn't see it coming," said Murray High student body president Adam Ward, who witnessed Archuleta's Spanish class serenade in 2006. "He's this little guy, and he just belted that music out. It was amazing. He's a notch above."

Kaelin recalls a similar reaction when an 11-year-old Archuleta first came to him for vocal training prior to appearing on the CBS network TV talent show "Star Search." (He won the junior singer division in 2004.)

Even then, the boy with dark hair and piercing eyes sang with a maturity beyond his years, Kaelin said.

"The thing that's unique about David is his sense of musical styling and phrasing. The one thing that is hard to teach is the sense of the music, the feeling of the music and the rhythm," Kaelin said. "It's intuitive. Sort of like a sixth sense."

Maybe talent is just in Archuleta's genes: His father, Jeff Archuleta, plays the jazz trumpet; and Lupe, David's Honduras-born mother, a singer. Both have performed professionally, and they've exposed their five kids to a wide range of music, Kaelin said.

David Archuleta started singing at about age 7, stopping only to recover from a paralyzed vocal chord discovered about the same time puberty began to deepen the teen's voice.

Kaelin describes his student as a focused, hard-working musician who sets specific goals for technical growth and understands that songs are stories, too, Kaelin said.

"It's about connecting with people and connecting with the song. It really wouldn't make a difference if he was on TV with 40 million people watching or if he was singing in a church or in a rest home."

Out of the spotlight, Kaelin calls Archuleta a genuinely nice kid whose family and faith keep him grounded.

"My personal belief is that he has no idea what a big deal he his," Kaelin said.

Big deal indeed.

Beyond viewer votes, Archuleta's soaring success has spawned dozens of fan sites on MySpace and Facebook — most seemingly from teenage girls — that wax about his heartthrob good looks and prognosticate about his being crowned the next "Idol." Other fans say they've been brought to tears by Archuleta's "gift," and a handful of young women have proposed marriage.

Back home in Murray, a growing fan club of students and teachers said they tune in weekly to watch.

"I have both my kids going at my house the whole time the show's on, with two phones, getting in as many votes as they can," school principal Scott Bushnell said a bit sheepishly. "I've heard many stories of students texting more than 100 times for David."

Thackarey said Archuleta deserves every accolade. Embarrassed by compliments and always more interested in others, Thackarey said Archuleta isn't driven by some hope of fame.

"I can't picture David saying 'I want to be a rock star, I want to be famous,'" said Thackarey. "He's more like, I want to do music because I love it. He's a follow-your-bliss kind of guy."


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Basque Filmmakers in New York

This note comes to us via EITb:

Entertainment

Film Festival

Basque filmmakers present their works in New York

03/06/2008

Peio Varela, David Cívico and Guillermo Sánchez are in New York to present their works at New York Independent Film and Video Festival. The Basque filmmakers will present there their works "Badaezpada" and "Txakurkalea".

New York Independent Film and Video Festival has invited Basque filmmakers Peio Varela, David Cívico and Guillermo Sánchez to present their last works there.

Peio Varela, who is from Basque regional town of Vitoria-Gasteiz will present his short film "Badaezpada" in New York. This work is based on Azorín’s "El vecino afectuoso", and it tells how a craftsman in Toledo faces the inquisition.

In Varela’s opinion, "it is an interesting work since it is based on romanticism, something which makes this work very special".

On the other hand, David Cívico and Guillermo Sánchez will present "Txakurkaleak". Dog¿s relations between them and humans create the story formed by several artists from Bilbao. The creators of "Txakurkaleak" have declared that it is something "exotic since telling a story in New York about some dogs in Bilbao has an exoticism point".

New York Independent Film and Video Festival is an important market where many producers and distributors search for films already premiered in US.

Without any doubt, a perfect place where Basque filmmakers will be able to show their works to the world.


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Oldfield in Bilbo

This note was published today by EITb:

Entertainment

At Guggenheim Museum

Mike Oldfield to present his latest album in Bilbao tonight

03/07/2008

The artist, who will present his last work "Music of the Spheres" on Friday in Bilbao, is very "surprised and happy" after his first rehearsals with the Basque Symphony Orchestra and the Choral Society of Bilbao.

Mike Oldfield will present today in Bilbao his last work "The Music of the Spheres" together with the Basque Symphony Orchestra and 40 women from the Choral Society of Bilbao. A few hours before the world premiere, Basque TV station ETB has been able to talk with the great composer.

It was 35 years ago when Oldfield composed his first notes, but from then on, the Britsh composer and singer has not stopped. 24 albums have already been published. The long wait of thousands of worldwide fans will end tomorrow at last.

For the recording of his last work he has been helped by the New Zelander soprano Hayley Westenr and Chinese pianist Lang Lang. With no doubt, good music is secured.

Although Basque Symphony Orchestra already invited Mike Oldfield some time ago to come to Bilbao, they have only had time to rehearse a couple of times.

For the new album’s premiere, which will take place at Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao, Oldfield will count on the help of Basque Symphony Orchestra and 40 women from the Choral Society of Bilbao.

In an interview the British composer has agreed to give ETB he has said he feels "surprised and very happy" with final results, since the songs sound as in the album.

With regard to the place of the presentation, Oldfield has admitted that music will adapt very web to the space, though "Music of the Spheres" album has a "gothic and dark point".

Mike Oldfield has said that playing in such a “bright and modern place will be with no doubt a perfect inspirational source for the next work”.


If you wish to learn more about this artist you can visit his page:




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Thursday, March 06, 2008

The Cod Files

This article comes to us thanks to the Miami Herald:


The beauty of bacalao: In the hands of a master, salt-dried codfish sings

Posted on Thu, Mar. 06, 2008

By Enrique Fernandez
efernandez@MiamiHerald.com

Like many Cuban Americans, I grew up eating bacalao a la vizcaina (codfish Basque style), rehydrated slabs of dried codfish cooked in a typical tomato, onion and pepper sauce (sofrito). Not very inspiring, really.

That desiccated fish from the North Atlantic became a staple on a Caribbean island is an anomaly of history -- a gift of immigrants from Spain's Basque region. And unless one's ancestors were among them, we Cubans generally are not masters of cod.

Bland in its fresh state, cod benefits from salt-drying. The process concentrates the flavor, and the reconstituted fish, if treated properly, has wonderful taste and texture.

It was not until I visited Spain that I experienced the full glory of salt cod, particularly in a sublime Basque preparation called bacalao al pil pil: The fish, soft and pillowy, swims in a bed of creamy, golden sauce.

Later, when I dared to try cooking it, I discovered there is no cream in the sauce. It is, instead, an emulsion of olive oil and the juices emanating from the fish as it cooks, ever so slowly, in a pan that is shaken by hand for 20 minutes or more. (The name comes from the Basque pilpiliar, ''to shake.'') In my hands, alas, the emulsion curdled and the dish was a disaster.

When a new Basque restaurant, Sinfonía, announced the pil pil dish was on the menu, I rushed there not only to eat it but to learn the secrets of making it from chef Jaime Pérez, 72, who was born in a town near Bilbao.

Pérez begins with salt cod loin from Norway (''The best comes from Scandinavia,'' he says, echoing age-old wisdom), and soaks it for 36 to 48 hours, changing the water frequently.

He cooks garlic cloves slowly in extra-virgin olive oil to flavor it, then discards the garlic. He pours the oil into a clay pot and heats it on the stove. He puts the cod in the oil, and for half an hour moves the pot up and down while the fish releases its juices.

If the sauce is too thick, he adds a few drops of water. Finally, he removes the pot from the fire, but keeps shaking it while the fish and the sauce finish cooking.

''Clay takes a long time to heat, but also a long time to cool down,'' Pérez explains.

His pil pil turns out beautifully, as does his bacalao a la vizcaina. The latter is quite different from what is served at local Cuban restaurants, although, like the Cubans, Pérez uses tomatoes in his sauce rather than the traditional pimientos choriceros, a mild Spanish chile he says he cannot get here.

The Basques mastered salt-cod cookery because they dominated the cod trade from the 11th to the 16th century -- an epic story Mark Kurlansky tells in his award-winning book, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (Walker, 1997). For a wealth of salt-cod recipes, however, no one can beat their chief competitors on the Grand Banks, the Portuguese.

The menus at Old Lisbon on Coral Way and the newer Coimbra on West Flagler Street are full of cod dishes. Coimbra's chef-owner, Fernando Santos, offers such classics as reconstituted loin of cod, grilled and served with a sauce of oil, parsley and garlic -- a dish of austere simplicity. Other cod dishes revel in excess: potatoes, egg, cream sauces, mayonnaise, the works.

Santos, too, sings the praises of Norwegian cod, although he complains about the prices. Canadian cod is an alternative. (Overfished to near-collapse, cod is relatively scare and commensurately expensive today.)

''You can take advantage of every part of the cod,'' says Santos. ''The cheeks, the tongue, the liver.'' Bone-in cod is tastier than the deboned loins, he says, but only hard-core cod fans, usually Portuguese or Brazilian, insist on it and call ahead to have it made.

Coimbra also serves bacalhau à Brás, a Portuguese comfort food that I've had almost every time I've dined with Brazilians. It's nothing but shredded cod with fine strips of onion and fried, shoestring-cut potatoes, all scrambled with egg. It's a dish that can evoke home even in someone like me, who never had it at home.

There is one dish at which all salt-cod eating nationalities excel, and that is fritters: Cuban frituras de bacalao, Portuguese bolinhos de bacalhau, croquetas de bacalao -- the latter good not only at a Basque emporium like Sinfonía but at every Spanish restaurant in town. Everybody gets it right, even Yankees, whose fish cakes are made with cod.

And, having learned some of chef Perez's secrets, I'm ready to tackle bacalao al pil pil again in my own kitchen. Any time now.

If you go:

• Sinfonía (Basque), 4825 SW Eighth St., Coral Gables: Lunch and dinner; dinner entrees $13.50-$33; wine and beer only; free parking; 305-445-1103.

But it does not stop there, they provide the Bacalao al Pil Pil recipe too, here you have it:

Recipe: Bacalao Al Pil Pil (Codfish in a Special Garlic Sauce)

Posted on Thu, Mar. 06, 2008

Main dish

Codfish in a Special Garlic Sauce

The day before you plan to cook, place the salted codfish in a large pot, cover it with cold water and let it soak for 2 hours. Drain the fish, cover it with fresh water and soak for 10 more hours or overnight. Drain the fish again. Remove any bones and skin, and cut it into 3-inch squares

• 1 ½ pounds salted codfish, prepared as described above

• 2 cups Spanish olive oil

• 20 garlic cloves, peeled and cut into slivers

Place the codfish pieces in a 4- to 6-quart pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the fish is tender, about ½ hour. Drain the fish, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

In a large pan at least 4 inches deep, with two sturdy handles, heat the olive oil over medium heat and sauté the garlic until golden but not brown. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and set it aside. Allow the oil to cool in the pan for about 1 hour.

Place the fish in the cool oil, turn the heat to medium-low, and rhythmically shake the pan as the fish fries. Do not stop shaking (''pilpiliando,'' as the Basques say) for 20 minutes, or until the oil has turned somewhat milky. With a slotted spoon, remove the fish to a large casserole (an earthenware one is typical).

Pour the cooked oil into a container with a spout (a gravy separator works best) and let it cool until the milky substance has settled to the bottom. Carefully pour the oil into another container, reserving the milky substance.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the milky substance in a blender or food processor and process it at low speed. With the machine running, pour in the oil in a slow, steady stream; the mixture will thicken like mayonnaise. With the blender still running, pour in enough of the reserved cooking liquid so that the sauce is thin enough to pour.

Scatter the garlic slivers over the fish and pour the sauce over all. Cover the casserole and warm it in the oven for about 20 minutes. (You may instead warm it in the microwave at a medium setting for about 5 minutes.) Makes 4 servings.

Source: A Taste of Old Cuba by María Josefa Lluriá de O'Higgins (HarperCollins, 1994).

It is nice to see Cuba and Euskal Herria together in an article.


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Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Basque Michelin Constellation

Here comes the report by the Michelin Guide regarding the restaurants in Euskal Herria, the piece of real state with more Michelin stars per square mile.

The information comes to us thanks to EITb:

Life

Gastronomy

The Basque Country, a place full of Michelin stars

03/04/2008

Updated annually, the Michelin Guide's ratings shows that the new Basque Cuisine is highly valued by more and more people all over the world every year.

Three three-stars, three two-stars and twelve one-star restaurants make the Basque Country the epicenter of this constellation of haute cuisine as Michelin, the bible of gastronomy, announced the winners and losers of its 2008 edition.

The Michelin guide unveiled on Monday the list of restaurants awarded stars in the world of French gastronomy. In November, the French guide announced the star-winners in the Iberian Peninsula. Both lists confirmed the Basque Country as a land well-known for the exquisite quality of its food prepared with top- quality ingredients and all the know-how of master-cooks.

The restaurant Les Pyrénés in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (Donibane Garazi) upgraded to two stars, becoming the third two-star restaurant in the Basque provinces southwest France.

In the Basque Country northeast Spain, Juan Mari Arzak, Martin Berasategi and Pedro Subijana maintained their coveted third star.

Most of the restaurants in the north Basque Country maintained its star, but for Les Platanes and Le Sissinou, which were downgraded.

In the south Basque Country, no restaurants were downgraded and one obtained its first star.



Three-star restaurants in the Basque Country:

Arzak (Donostia-San Sebastian)

Martin Berasategi (Lasarte-Oria)

Akelarre (Donostia-San Sebastian)

Two-star restaurants in the Basque Country:

Les Pyrénées (St Jean Pied de Port / Donibane Garazi)

Mugaritz (Errenteria)

Zuberoa (Oiartzun)

One-star restaurants in the Basque Country:

Ithurria (Ainhoa)

Auberge du Cheval Blanc (Bayonne / Baiona)

Du Palais (Biarritz / Miarritze)

Le Moulin d'Alotz (Arcangues / Arrangoitze)

Table et Hostellerie des Frères Ibarboure (Bidart / Bidarte)

Ferme Hégia (Hasparren / Hazparne)

Grand Hôtel (St Jean de Luz / Donibane Garazi)

Auberge de la Galupe (Urt / Ahurti)

Kokotxa (Saint-Sébastien/Donostia)

Kursaal (Saint-Sébastien/Donostia)

Azurmendi (Larrabetzu)

El Molino de Urdaniz (Urdaitz)


Things like this you will not read about the Basques too often in the main stream media.

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Eusko Flickr : Gorges de Kakouetta


GORGES DE KAKOUETTA
Originally uploaded by dragonash73

A Gaffe?

Go ahead and read this article that appeared at The Earth Times:

Police gaffe in Spain: 'ETA terrorists' were ordinary people

Posted : Wed, 05 Mar 2008 14:50:01 GMT
Author : DPA

Madrid - A Spanish judge has ordered the release of a Basque couple whose arrest had been touted as the capture of two of the "most wanted" members of the militant Basque separatist group ETA on Sunday, press reports said Wednesday. The photos of Oroitz Aldekoa-Otarola and Agurne Salterain had been distributed by police, but it turned out there was not even an arrest warrant against them.

The couple had lodged an ETA member whom they described as a childhood friend. They told the judge they did not know that the man belonged to ETA...


Things like this happens when a country like Spain renounces to a law principle like the one that indicates that every person is innocent until proven guilty. As it happens, according to Madrid and Paris, all Basques are guilty until proven innocent, and if they are proven innocent then you can still torture them until they admit having committed a crime.

Spanish jails are full of "ordinary" Basques.

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Monday, March 03, 2008

The Aspen Bark Glyphs

More information about the aspen tree glyphs from the Denver Post:

denver and the west

Aspens hold fading tales of loneliness

By Jason Blevins
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 03/03/2008 01:45:16 AM MST

The shepherd, stuck a century ago in Colorado's frigid southern San Juans, was clearly frustrated.

"No Luck Dam Horses Gone Snow Walking Out!"

His fellow sheepherder just south of Steamboat Springs was desperately lonely.

"You could not pay me a million dollars to come back here next year."

Their flock-guarding brother on the flanks of Lake Irwin near Crested Butte summed up his misery more succinctly.

"I hate Colorado."

Etched into the bark of aging aspens across Colorado, thousands of notes from lonely shepherds from afar linger on a fading canvas. They are lonely narratives carved carefully and passionately a century ago by Mexican, Peruvian and Basque sheepherders, delivering a blunt glimpse into their hard lives.

"They felt so totally isolated, and the trees were like their confidants," said Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has studied such carvings for two decades.

"It was almost like a therapy for them because they could write, and after that, they felt a little better."

Almost 150 years ago, a wave of Basque immigrants arrived in California. They scraped together small flocks of sheep, which they would safeguard through winter for eventual delivery to protein-hungry gold miners in the spring.

Their flocks grew and their numbers did, too. Over several decades, they moved east into Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado. And they left their marks in the paperlike barks of aspens.

Known as arborglyphs or dendroglyphs, the impressions divulge the raw isolation of men far from the warmth of family and home.

A vast majority of the carvings are simply names and dates or utilitarian notes sharing the location of a spring or warning of some danger.

But there are yearnings for distant loves. Etchings of horses, mosquitoes, snakes, crosses. Boastful descriptions of forays into a nearby bordello. In the case of a particular grove up Buffalo Pass near Steamboat Springs, a menagerie of long-haired and buxom beauties in an array of revealing poses serve as one version of pornography.

"I guess they get pretty lonely up there," speculates Mike Rawkowski, a 19-year ski guide with Steamboat Powder Cats who often brings his clients through.

Angie Krall, an archaeologist for the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, hopes to compile an "aspen erotica" book noting the prevalence of steamy sketches in the western portion of her forest beat.

"There are some that are just raunchy, but by and large, I think it is mostly an articulate expression of loneliness," said Krall, noting one that translates as, "How sad it is to live alone."

The educational nonprofit San Juan Mountains Association studied arborglyphs along stock trails in 2001 and again in 2003 using a grant from the Colorado Historical Society. The group found almost 1,000 impressions on 200 trees.

Lately, researchers have recognized a sense of urgency to recording the marks. Disease is sweeping through southern Colorado's aspen groves, killing entire root systems. Pests and fire-repression have damaged groves.

But mostly nature is taking its course. With a life span of 80 to 120 years, many of the older glyphs are succumbing to gravity's pull. Mallea-Olaetxe estimates that 75 percent of the country's aspen glyphs have already disappeared into forest floors.

"I would like to go back and fill in the story before it's all gone," said Ruth Lambert, cultural program director for the San Juan Mountains Association.




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Spain's Fascist Measures Anger Basques

This note appeared at Yahoo News:

Spain hurts ETA but crackdown angers Basques

By Ben HardingMon Mar 3, 8:23 AM ET

The mayor of the Basque town of Hernani is defiant. She will not be voting in Sunday's election because her party has been banned, but she says Spain cannot ignore separatists' calls for independence.

Marian Beitialarrangoitia enraged many Spaniards when she publicly applauded two suspected members of the Basque separatist group ETA, who had been accused of bombing Madrid's airport in a 2006 attack that killed two people.

Her views are more extreme than most in Spain's northern Basque Country, but even moderate nationalists here are angered by what they see as bullying by the Socialist government as it struggles to court voters in Spain's heartland ahead of the March 9 poll.

Beitialarrangoitia described her actions, repeatedly broadcast on television in January, as an act of solidarity with men she said were tortured, and who should be innocent until proven guilty.

"You can ban us for centuries, you can persecute and jail people but the ideology of 200,000 people is not going to disappear tomorrow," she said in her office, a few kms inland from the chic resort of San Sebastian.

Pictures of imprisoned members of ETA hang from balconies in the pretty square opposite the town hall where she works.

The status of the Basque Country -- a region of green hills falling to a coastline of coves and inlets near the French border -- is the most venomous issue in Spanish politics.

Many Spaniards believe Basque demands for greater autonomy threaten the nation's unity. Millions have marched across the country to condemn ETA guerrillas, who have killed 821 people over four decades in a violent campaign for independence.

Under fire from the opposition for going soft on ETA, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero launched a crackdown on the guerrillas and their allies after peace talks broke down following the Madrid bombing.

This month, Beitialarrangoitia's Basque Nationalist Action party and another group were banned because of their links to ETA. Strikes were called by the radical left, buses were torched and dozens of people were arrested in the region.

"Why don't they just leave the Basque Country in peace?" said retired Bilbao resident Roberto, who declined to give his last name. "We are more than capable of surviving on our own."

Political football

Zapatero won power in 2004 because of widespread indignation that the conservative Popular Party (PP) government falsely blamed ETA for bomb attacks on Madrid trains in which 191 people were killed. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility.

Now, Zapatero's government is leading the polls ahead of the PP, which has focused its campaign on the weakening economy and on calls for more controls on immigration. It has also accused Zapatero of talking to ETA and then lying about it.

Zapatero says the PP's criticism is political opportunism and damaging to the creation of a united front against ETA.

If he wins the election by a narrow margin, he may have to strike deals with moderate nationalist parties in the Basque region and nearby Catalonia in order to form a government.

Inigo Urkullu, president of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), says both sides are playing political football with the region, and using ETA's violence as an excuse to avoid the deeper issue of Basque demands for self-determination.

"There is a deliberate effort to confuse ETA's aims with those pursued by democratic Basque nationalism," said Urkullu.

The PNV, which runs the regional government, does not explicitly call for independence but wants Basques to vote in October on whether to start a debate about the status of a region that has its own language, traditions and culture.

Zapatero has said such a vote would be illegal.

"Why is it possible for Kosovo to be independent, or Estonia or Lithuania -- countries the same size as the Basque Country -- and not the Basque Country?" Urkullu said.

The more separatist tone from the PNV in recent years comes as ETA's strength and influence declines.

"ETA have had a bad year operationally ... but in the political sphere they could say 'look, moderate nationalism is adopting our position,"' said journalist Florencio Dominguez.

ETA on its knees

Sources in the security services say ETA or "Euskadi Ta Askatasuna" -- Basque Homeland and Freedom -- has never been so weak.

Hundreds of "etarras" have been arrested in the last decade, reducing most fighters' experience to months rather than years, and a crackdown in France's southwestern Basque country has deprived the group of a base to hide and practice bomb-making.

"A terrorist cannot exist on his own," says Dominguez, who has studied ETA for 30 years and written several books on the group. "He needs a supply of weapons, financing and contact with other members. There are many now who can't even make a bomb."

Despite its vow to "attack on all fronts" after it ended a ceasefire last June, police restricted ETA attacks last year to their lowest level, outside a ceasefire. It is a shadow of the group that killed 234 people between 1978 and 1980.

As attacks have diminished in number and strength, so ETA's ability to intimidate people in the Basque Country has faded, said Pello Salaburu, a former rector at the University of the Basque Country, outside the region's biggest city, Bilbao.

The guerrillas lost much local support after they kidnapped councilor Miguel Angel Blanco in 1997. He was shot dead after two days despite huge protests demanding his safe release.

"Before, there was a very strong sector behind them and another, larger, group of people who didn't disagree with what they were doing, or at least turned a blind eye," said Salaburu.

"This has changed completely," he said. ETA's Marxist brand of nationalism was also increasingly at odds with the wealthier Basque society, he added.

The strength of Basque nationalism and pride in the region's history, language, even genetic differences, should not be confused with an urge to break with Spain, he said.

"If you put the question (to Basques) directly: 'do you want independence?' I believe, with absolute certainty, the answer would be 'no."'

(Additional reporting by Vincent West and Marco Trujillo; Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile)


Funny how "reporters" like Ben Harding always stick to the drivel spurted out by Madrid's Propaganda Ministry. They always remind the readers about the death tally by ETA but they never quote the thousands of Basques murdered by Madrid over the last decades. They have no ethics, they are not professionals, they are fakes.

One more proof of this is how Ben Harding dismisses the torture suffered by Igor Portu and Mattin Sarasola but right afterwards he states that EHAK and ANV have ties to ETA, something the Spanish High Court is yest to prove, that is why both parties were prevented from the present electoral process but not banned. Innocent until proven guilty.

Regarding Salaburu's last sentence, then why does Madrid opposes a referendum with such venomous attitude? Let the Basques say no to independence, but let THEM say it.



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Sunday, March 02, 2008

Bartlett Accepts His Bias

Well, what would you know, not all Democrats are US politicians, my fault, as it happens, Andrew Bartlett is Australian and he is an Australian politician. A Democrat Australian politician.

My fault, I stand corrected.

But I will take the opportunity provided by the mea culpa to provide more evidence about how some politicians who claim to care about human rights are in reality biased individuals who think their membership to a political party allows them to say whatever they may please.

Here you have Bartlett's update to his own post:

In a nice example of just how fraught it can be making any sort of comment on this sort of thing, I’ve discovered that the above remarks of mine have got me labelled as “Basquephobe of the week” by a blogger who campaigns for Basque independence. I guess it gives me another award to add to CV of achievements, although I must say I don’t know anywhere near enough about the situation in the Basque region to have an informed opinion on the issue (or even an uninformed one).

Leaving aside this blogger’s not-so-minor error of labelling me as a US politician - thus giving the writer a seriously wrong-headed excuse to bash US politicians - it is interesting how what I thought was a determinedly neutral piece can immediately be seen as vehemently anti-something (in this case anti-Basque). It seems that merely using the term “Basque separatists” is enough to place one in the category of ‘Basquephobe’, which is something I should remember if I’m ever going to mention that topic again. Seeing I have dipped back into this post to add this update, I may as well add for the record that my personal view on Kosovo is that it did seem unnecessarily quick for Australia to announce formal diplomatic recognition, although I imagine the eventual end outcome of an independent nation will be much the same, regardless.


First he belches out this sentence:

"No doubt Spain’s opposition is in part based on concerns about Basque separatists within their own state."


Then he says that he knows not "enough about the situation in the Basque region".

So, how is it there is no doubt on his mind that Spain's opposition to the diplomatic recognition of Kosovo has anything to do with the Basques? How can he be so sure that the inhabitants of a "region" he knows nothing about are to blame for Spain's decisions over Kosovo's independence declaration?

Then there is the fact that he keeps on labeling the Basque Country as a "region" despite having called Taiwan a "self-governing and autonomous country".

When you bestow upon the Taiwanese the very same right that you deny to the Basques then you are discriminating, period. And when you discriminate an entire people without even having the must basic information about their history and political struggle then you are biased against them for some obscure reason.

When you speak against the Basques without having consistent information about them you become a Basque-phobe, just like speaking against the Jewish makes you into an anti-Semite.

And then there is the issue of what the Australians did to the Aboriginals which got the Australian government to apologize not too long ago.

I rest my case.


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Basque Police Protects Fascist Demonstrators

This note published by EITb will set things clear for you.

The members of the current government in the Basque Autonomous Community work in behalf on Madrid as proved by their actions. They sent the Ertzaintza (Basque police) to protect a group of fascists and to repress the local citizens who protested their presence in Donostia.

Here you have the note:

Politics

Controversy

At least two arrested after far-right wing rally in San Sebastian

03/01/2008

Clashes broke out after the Falange party, linked to former dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, gathered Saturday at the central Pio XII plaza for a political rally.

Dozens of protesters clashed with police guarding a far-right wing rally in the northern seaside resort of Donostia-San Sebastian in the Basque Country Saturday.

Clashes broke out after the Falange party, linked to former dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, gathered Saturday at the central Pio XII plaza to hear leaders Ricardo Saenz de Ynestrillas and Manuel Andrino speak under heavy police protection.

Participants sang anthems associated with Franco's regime and waved flags and banners with right-wing symbols. "This is not a provocation, we have come to celebrate our Spanishness," said Ynestrillas.

As anti-demonstrators began to crowd around the rally-goers, shouting, "You, fascists, are the terrorists,'' police charged, using rubber bullets to scatter them.

Passers by in cars honked horns in disapproval at the rally and local residents also hurled derision.

As demonstrators shouted abuse at rally goers, police fired rubber bullets and charged protesters, detaining several.


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Saturday, March 01, 2008