Saturday, June 28, 2008

Friday, June 27, 2008

Russian Football's Basque Tactics

Too bad the Russian national team was unable to kick the annoying Spaniards out of the Euro Cup 2008 the way they did with the Dutch, here you have an article that comes to us via The Guardian about the link between the Basque and the Russian football tactics:

The Soviet tactical revolution has its roots in a 1930s Basque team

The fluid teamwork which came to define football in the USSR owes much to a 1930s touring team and the inspirational Dinamo coach who built on it

Jonathan Wilson
June 26, 2008 10:34 AM

Valeriy Lobanovskyi has a tendency to overshadow any discussion of the Soviet style and, given his success, understandably so. He was not, though, its progenitor. He shaped it to his vision and, thanks to his use of cybernetics, took it to new levels, but he was working in a tradition, a stream of thought that swept from Russia to Ukraine and back again to define the Soviet conception of the game.

It may have been the Dutch style to which football in the USSR ended up being most closely related, but the movement towards that philosophy was kick-started by encounters with a Basque select side that toured the USSR in 1937 to raise awareness of their cause during the Spanish Civil War.

A national championship had begun in the USSR in 1936, but football in the region remained fairly backward, tied to the old-fashioned 2-3-5 that was the default when British sailors first introduced the game to St Petersburg at the end of the 19th century. Isolation meant few games against foreign opposition, and little opportunity to recognise the advances that had been made elsewhere.

The Basques, featuring six of the Spain squad from the 1934 World Cup, soon exposed how underdeveloped the Soviet game was. Deploying the W-M formation that had been developed by Herbert Chapman at Arsenal in the late 1920s, they won seven and drew one of their nine games, losing only to Spartak, who were the one side to match them shape-for-shape.

"The performances of Basque Country in the USSR showed that our best teams are far from high quality," a piece in Pravda pointed out. "It is clear that improving the quality of the Soviet teams depends directly on matches against serious opponents. The matches against the Basques have been highly beneficial to our players (long passes, playing on the flanks, heading the ball)."

The lessons were there to be learned, and no one learned them faster than the Dinamo coach, Boris Arkadiev. Born in St Petersburg in 1899, he had moved to Moscow after the revolution, where he taught fencing at the Mikhail Frunze military academy. It was fencing, he later explained, with its emphasis on parry-riposte, that convinced him of the value of counter-attacking.

"After the Basque tour, all the leading Soviet teams started to reorganise in the spirit of the new system," Arkadiev wrote. "Torpedo moved ahead of their opponents in that respect and, having the advantage in tactics, had a great first half of the season in 1938 and by 1939 all of our teams were playing with the new system." Dinamo struggled to adapt, slipping to fifth in 1938, and a lowly ninth the year after.

Others might have gone back to basics, but not Arkadiev. With the mould broken, he experimented further. In February 1940, at a pre-season training camp in the Black Sea resort of Gagry, he took the unprecedented step of spending a two-hour session teaching nothing but tactics. His aim, he said, was a refined variant of the W-M. "With the third-back, lots of our and foreign clubs employed so-called roaming players in attack," Arkadiev explained. "This creative searching didn't go a long way, but it turned out to be a beginning of a radical perestroika in our football tactics.

"To be absolutely honest, some players started to roam for reasons that had nothing to do with tactics. Sometimes it was simply because he had great strength, speed or stamina that drew him out of his territorial area, and once he had left his home, he began to roam around the field. So you had four players [of the five forwards] who would hold an orthodox position and move to and fro in their channels, and then suddenly you would have one player who would start to disrupt their standard movements by running diagonally or left to right. That made it difficult for the defending team to follow him, and the other forwards benefited because they had a free team-mate to whom they could pass."

The season began badly, with draws against Krylya Sovetov Moscow and Traktor Stalingrad and defeat at Dinamo Tbilisi, but Arkadiev didn't waver. The day after the defeat in Tbilisi, he gathered his players together, sat them down and made them write a report on their own performance and that of their team-mates. The air cleared, the players seemed suddenly to grasp Arkadiev's intentions. On June 4, playing a rapid, close-passing style, Dinamo beat Dynamo Kyiv 8-5. They went on to win the return in Ukraine 7-0, and then, in August, they hammered the defending champions Spartak 5-1. Their final seven games of the season brought seven wins, with 26 goals scored and only three conceded, and Dinamo swept to the title.

"Our players worked to move from a schematic W-M, to breathe the Russian soul into the English invention," Arkadiev said. "We confused the opposition, leaving them without weaponry with our sudden movements. Our left-winger, Sergei Ilyin, scored most of his goals from the centre-forward position, our right-winger, Mikhail Semichastny, from inside-left and our centre-forward, Sergei Soloviov, from the flanks."

Movement and the interchange of positions became key. War caused the abandonment of football for four years, and by the time the league began again, Arkadiev had moved to CDKA, where he instituted the same principles that continued to underpin Dinamo's method. Between them, the two sides won the first seven post-war Soviet titles, and as his 1946 book, Tactics of Football, became acknowledged as a bible for coaches across eastern Europe, the Arkadiev style became the Soviet style.

Most significantly, its effectiveness was recognised abroad as Dinamo charmed British fans and experts on their 1945 tour. They played, Geoffrey Simpson wrote in the Daily Mail, "a brand of football which, in class, style and effectiveness is way ahead of our own. As for its entertainment value - well, some of those who have been cheering their heads off at our league matches must wonder what they are shouting about". Nine years after being taught a lesson by the Basques, Soviet football was handing out lessons of its own.


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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Udaleku '08

This note comes to us thanks to The Buffalo Bulletin:

Basque-ing in the culture

Summer camp draws teachers and students from afar

By Grant Smith

Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 10:02 AM CDT

Since its inception in 1973, the Udaleku summer camp has offered youths the opportunity to expand their interest in Basque history and culture in the hope of preserving and continuing Basque tradition from one generation to the next.

“Many of our participants have an interest in Basque language or music and they feel weird because none of their friends can relate. We give them the opportunity to see that they aren’t so odd in their interests,” said Kate Camino, the internal director for the camp.

Camino, a Buffalo native who works in the Basque Studies Department at the University of Nevada Reno, used her professional contacts to assemble a group of energetic instructors willing to travel to Buffalo and share their skills.

Jexux Larrea agreed, despite not knowing English. Jexux, who is teaching Basque dance at the camp in Clear Creek Middle School, came from the city of Donostia in Spain where he works as a dance master in a culture group that teaches the methodology and history of Basque dance.

Larrea remembers his interest in dance being sparked at an early age. “I started dancing at 14 and never stopped,” said Larrea, speaking through a translator. He further noted that the language barrier has not been an impediment in conveying his passion. “If you want to teach the history or the background of the dance you must know the language, but to teach the dance itself you can just teach by example,” said Larrea.

Another native of the Basque country teaching at the camp is Eneko Espiro, who came to Buffalo from the town of Vitoria Gasteiz. Espiro agreed to instruct students on the playing of the txistu — a Basque fipple flute containing only three holes. “It has been a great challenge to take kids who don’t even know how to read music and then teach them how to do that and learn a new instrument, but almost all of them will be doing really well at the end of two weeks.” said Espiro.

In addition to music and dance, participants take courses in Basque culture and language. Incorporated into the classroom sessions are outings geared towards exploring first hand different facets of Basque culture. Such activities include a camp-out in sheep wagons, caroling through Buffalo during the solstice celebration of San Juan, and a trip to the Gatchell Museum to learn about early Basque sheep ranchers in Johnson county.

Forty-three students between the ages of 10 and 15, including visitors from six different states, are participating in the camp this year. “All the out-of-state campers are housed by volunteers in the Buffalo community and we owe them a big thanks for their support and assistance,” said Camino.

The students will showcase their new talents during an end-of-camp show at 7 p.m. Friday, June 27, at the high school auditorium.

“We eat, live and breathe Basque culture,” said Camino, “What we really want to do is to inspire these kids to the point where they will take our positions in the preservation effort.”

For more information concerning next year’s Udaleku camp or other Basque activities go to www.nabasque.org or contact Teresa Fieldgrove at 758-4540.


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Eusko Flickr : Donibaneko Hondartza II


Donibaneko hondartza II
Originally uploaded by josu.orbe

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Basquephobe of the Week : Martti Ahtisaari

Meet Martti Ahtisaari, our Basque-phobe of the week.

The press calls this individual by terms like peace-maker and conflict mediator. His resume includes work in high profile cases like Northern Ireland, Aceh and Kosovo, yet, when it comes to Euskal Herria his response is no, nyet, nein, the Basques do not deserve their independence because he says so.

He is so ignorant in this matter that he thinks that Euskal Herria is occupied only by Spain, not a word about France. Then he insists that Euskal Herria does not deserve its freedom like Kosovo because "the history of both regions is diametrically different". But then he does not care to elaborate why are they so different because then people would figure out that it is precisely because of their history that it is hard to deny freedom to the Basques while granting it to the Kosovars.

After saying that the Basques in their obsession to put forward their invalid call for freedom would go to the extreme of claiming Kosovo as a precedent even if Kosovo was located in a different planet (just try to imagine the amount of euro-pesetas Madrid paid Ahtisaari to say something like that) he goes on to say that it was Milosevic's genocidal campaign in Kosovo what set the background for Kosovo's independence.

What about Francisco Franco? Being a protege of Hitler and Mussolini, bombing the civilian populations of Durango and Gernika, executing hundreds of gudaris after Bilbao's armistice, banning Basque culture and language throughout his four decade reign of terror does not count someone as a criminal like Milosevic? He was worst than Milosevic!

And what about his excuse that the history of Euskal Herria and Kosovo being diametrically different?

Actually it is, Francisco Franco murdered more Basques than Milosevic did Kosovars while perpetuating a 500 year genocidal campaign by Castile/Spain against Euskal Herria.

The note with Ahtisaari's statements comes to us via BalkanInsight:

Ex-Envoy: Kosovo Not Precedent for Basques

23 June 2008 Pristina _ Kosovo’s independence is absolutely no precedent for Spain’s Basque Country, the former UN envoy for Kosovo’s final status, Martti Ahtisaari argues.

Ahtisaari dismissed any connection between Kosovo’s independence and any move towards separatism by Spain’s Basque country saying that the history of both regions is diametrically different.

“Perhaps some people try to turn Kosovo into a precedent and use it so but they would do so even if Kosovo was from another planet,” Ahtisaari told Spanish daily, El Pais.

Appointed by the United Nations Secretary General, Ahtisaari facilitated two-year talks between Belgrade and Pristina over the final settlement of Kosovo’s political status, which has been administered by the UN for nine years since the end of the war between Serb military forces and ethnic Albanian majority in 1999.

At the end of negotiations, Ahtisaari proposed a comprehensive proposal for Kosovo’s ‘supervised independence’ with exclusive rights and provisions for minorities, particularly Kosovo Serbs.

However the internationally-mediated talks failed to produce a mutually-agreed solution, since Serbia insisted on keeping Kosovo under its sovereignty as an autonomous region, while Kosovo asked for nothing less than independence. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on February 17 based on Ahtisaari’s blueprint.

Twenty out of twenty-seven European Union member states have recognised Kosovo’s independence so far but countries like Spain, Romania or Cyprus refuse to do so, arguing that the move violated international law.

Madrid is particularly concerned that Kosovo’s independence sets a bad example for its autonomous provinces, particularly the Basque Country, where demands among Basque hardliners for independence has led to decades of sporadic bombings and shootings.

Recently Britain’s former Minister for Europe, Denis MacShane wrote in an editorial that Spain was lobbying against the recognition of Kosovo’s independence in Latin American countries. Read more: http://balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/11190

“When in the case of Kosovo one defends the international legality, one does not say that it was Slobodan Milosevic who unconstitutionally annulled the autonomy of Kosovo and illegally ordered the slaughters and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Albanians,” Ahtisaari told El Pais.

He said Serbia lost Kosovo as a consequence of the policies of former Serb strongman Milosevic, and that the international community must now help Serbs understand that there is no way back and nothing will change.

Ahtisaari added that EU countries who now oppose the statehood of Kosovo had declared during the final status negotiations that the Kosovo case is unique.


Well, if it is of any consolation for Ahtisaari, his hatred towards the Basques is anything but unique.

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Friday, June 20, 2008

Empty Promises

Zapatero will continue with the Spanish State policy of depriving the Basque citizens of their must basic human rights. Irene Khan of Amnesty International would make a huge mistake if she takes Zapatero's word as the word of a man with moral integrity.

This report appeared today at Amnesty International's page:

Time for Spain to deliver on human rights

20 June 2008

In Madrid today, Amnesty International made public the human rights agenda for the Spanish government’s second term, a review of progress to date and a number of concrete suggestions for future action which was presented yesterday to President Rodriguez Zapatero.

“We welcome the commitment President Zapatero gave us to adopt a national Human Rights Plan by the end of 2008,” said Irene Khan, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. “This is an opportunity to show leadership in delivering results on human rights.”

Spain – a Stronger commitment, more effective action – A Human Rights Agenda for 2008 – 2012 reviews progress made over the government’s previous term, defines the key human rights challenges facing Spain, and sets out a roadmap for change which includes a list of 17 indicators to test the government’s performance against its promises.

“President Zapatero told us his Human Rights Plan will be ambitious, and we shall certainly hold him to that,” said Irene Khan. Amnesty International is calling for a plan which is widely consulted, consistent with Spain’s international obligations, and coherent in demonstrating the same commitment to human rights at home and abroad. The plan must be responsive to the human rights challenges facing Spain, strengthening protection for those most vulnerable in society such as women survivors of violence, children, migrants and the detained. It should set challenging and clear benchmarks, against which progress can be mapped in a transparent manner.

“The plan must not be just a paper promise – it must be a plan for delivery of results,” said Ms Khan.

Amnesty International’s review of the past four years shows progress in some areas but also the need for stronger commitment and more effective action in some others. Amnesty International welcomes the law to control the trade in military equipment and the law to combat gender-based violence. They show political will but much more than political will is needed to convert these measures into effective action. The law on the rights of victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime was an important first step but it has fallen short of expectations on truth, justice and reparation.

“The time is ripe for a truly ambitious national Human Rights Plan – a Plan that builds on these achievements and boldly moves further to tackle the critical human rights challenges of today,” said Ms Khan.

One of the challenges the government faces is that of the continuing grave abuses by Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). Amnesty International has consistently and unreservedly condemned the violence by ETA as grave human rights abuses and categorically refutes any arguments or objectives which attempt to justify them.

The government has an obligation to protect people from such attacks but it must do so within the framework of human rights and the rule of international law. “Terrorism cannot be overcome by undermining human rights and the rule of international law – that is Amnesty International’s message in the fight against terrorism worldwide and it is our message in Spain,” said Ms Khan.

Another of the complex challenges facing Spain, and indeed the whole of Europe is that of migration. While Amnesty International recognizes that states have the right to control their borders this should not, however, be at the expense of undermining the human rights of migrants, whether they have documents or not.

“Having no documents does not mean you have no rights,” said Ms Khan, “and Amnesty International is deeply disappointed by the adoption on 18 June of a European Union directive which will now allow member states to detain people who have not committed any crime, including minors, for up to 18 months”.

The Spanish government has indicated that it will be revising its Aliens Law. Amnesty International calls on Spain not to drive down its standards on the treatment of migrants to the lowest common denominator of Europe. The government reiterated the commitment it made in its election manifesto to ratify the Convention on Migrant Workers, which Amnesty International welcomes. “We challenge the Spanish government – in developing its National Human Rights Plan – to take the lead in Europe to build a migration policy of best practice based on human rights,” said Ms Khan.

Spain must also wake up to the Europe-wide challenge of racism and xenophobia. Despite the creation in Spain of an Observatory on these issues, no data or statistics have been published. “Racism and xenophobia are alive in reality, but invisible in official terms. Such a situation must be brought to an end immediately,” said Ms Khan. Amnesty International calls for the adoption of a comprehensive strategy for gathering and publishing such information throughout Spain, as part of a wider plan to combat racism and intolerance.

Research by Amnesty International and others shows that incidents of torture and ill-treatment, while not systematic, continue to be reported by a wide range of individuals from across the country. The organisation welcomes the increasing recognition on the part of the authorities that torture and ill-treatment are not isolated aberrations, and calls for action to tackle the problem, including through the establishment of an independent mechanism to investigate complaints against the police, as is done in a number of European countries. Safeguards such as this are the best way to protect both the rights of detainees and the reputation of law enforcement officials against false complaints.

One welcome preventative measure in this regard has been the introduction of video cameras to monitor detainees in police custody – a move pioneered by the Basque Country and now followed by Catalonia. The introduction of measures that would allow judges to order the video surveillance of incommunicado detainees held by state police forces is an improvement. Amnesty International calls for such a measure to be made compulsory in all cases of detention. “In any case, the Spanish law on incommunicado detention is an anomaly in Europe, and should be repealed,” said Ms Khan.

In the international arena Amnesty International calls on Spain to show a commitment to human rights consistently across the entire spectrum of its foreign policy. Amnesty International welcomes Spain’s commitment to multilateralism and the positive support it has given in recent years to the human rights institutions at the United Nations. But it needs to show a similar commitment to human rights in its bilateral relations with governments such as China, Colombia, Morocco, Russia, and the USA.

“Subordinating human rights to short-term economic, strategic and political interests in bilateral relations is not only short-sighted, it contradicts and undermines the Spanish government’s overall foreign policy goals of promoting human rights multilaterally,” said Ms Khan.

“President Zapatero has launched a bold initiative for a global moratorium on the death penalty, which we support,” said Ms Khan. “We challenge President Zapatero to be equally bold in leading on other pressing human rights challenges at home, in Europe and abroad. In its second term the Zapatero government has got a unique opportunity to deliver on human rights.”

Background

An Amnesty International delegation, led by Secretary General Irene Khan, has been in Spain since 14 June, meeting with representatives of civil society, parliamentarians and members of the government. In the Canary Islands the delegation met with the President of the autonomous government and visited a centre for unaccompanied minors. In the Basque Country Irene Khan met the President of the autonomous government, the Ombudsman and the Counsellors of Interior and Justice. She was also invited to address the Basque parliamentary Human Rights Commission. While in Madrid Irene Khan´s official meetings included those with President of the government, the Minister of Justice, the Secretaries of State for Migration, Interior and Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General, the President of the Criminal Chamber of the National Criminal Court, representatives of the General Council of the Judicial Power, and representatives of different political parties in the parliament.


Following their crazy imperialist quest, the Spaniards have been murdering people for the last 500 years, they have destroyed entire civilizations and countless cultures and languages and to this day they have never apologized for what they've done, so why is Zapatero going to change things now? After all, he watered down "the law on the rights of victims of the Spanish Civil War and the Franco regime" despite the fact that his own grandfather was assassinated by Franco's underlings. Zapatero is a spineless coward at the orders of Juan Carlos Borbon who today is Spain's king due to the work of one man, Francisco Franco, you do the math.


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National Geographic's Politics

Go ahead and read the caption for this picture:



PHOTOS: Summer Solstice Marked With Fire, Magic & More

June 19, 2008—Flames illuminate thousands of revelers in a cave in Zugarramurdi, Spain, during a 1998 Aquelarre, or Witch Coven.

Held on or near the summer solstice, the festival commemorates the alleged witches who used the cave in centuries past—many of whom died by fire during the Basque witch trials of the 1600s.

For millennia the summer solstice has been embraced as a time of rebirth and hope, and as a herald of abundant food and warm temperatures to come.

Falling this year on Friday, June 20, in the Northern Hemisphere, the longest day of the year is still regarded by many as a day of mystical and religious significance—and the cause for many a celebration.


Innocent isn't it?

Well, not really, read these paragraphs again:

Flames illuminate thousands of revelers in a cave in Zugarramurdi, Spain, during a 1998 Aquelarre, or Witch Coven.

Held on or near the summer solstice, the festival commemorates the alleged witches who used the cave in centuries past—many of whom died by fire during the Basque witch trials of the 1600s.

This is the problem when a geography and travel magazine gets into politics. First they state that Zugarramurdi is in Spain, no mention of the cave being in the Basque Country. But then it refers to the Witch Trials conducted by the Spanish Holy Inquisition as "Basque witch trials". We all know the negative view that people now a days have about the witch trials, so National Geographic gets into the smear campaign against the Basque people by starting the caption without a mention to the Basque country but then "dropping" the word Basque to refer to the witch trials that were conducted by the Spaniards to punish the Basques by murdering as many Basque women as they could.

Shame on National Geographic.

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Tartalo

Remember how not too long ago an US "journalist" accused the Basque society of being unable to compete in the modern world because of its stone-age language suited only for sheepherding?

Well, seems like things are not so bad in Euskal Herria when it comes to technology, check out this article appeared at Physorg.com:

Tartalo the robot is knocking on your door

A research team from the University of the Basque Country, led by Basilio Sierra, is devising a robot that can get around by itself. Tartalo is able to identify different places and ask permission before going through a doorway.

We are accustomed to seeing robots programmed to carry out a concrete task such as the robotic arms well known in industry. What is surprising is to see a robot walking without help and making decisions for itself. This is precisely what the Autonomous Robotics and Systems Research Team at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) are involved in: increasing the autonomy of robots so that they are evermore capable of carrying out more tasks on their own. Some years ago they developed Marisorgin, the robot for distributing mail and now they have put Tartalo into operation.

Those working on the third floor of the Computer Science Faculty in the Basque city of Donostia-San Sebastián find it normal and everyday to meet Tartalo in the corridors- meet, not bump into! This 1.5-metre tall, intelligent machine side-steps any obstacle in its path, thanks to sensors that have been installed around its "body": sonars that emit and detect ultrasounds, infrared sensors and laser rays. The laser, for example, measures the distance of the robot from any object within a radius of 180 degrees. Mr Basilio Sierra's team, although it did not build the robot, having acquired it, but it is developing and enhancing its abilities.

With these sensors and the computer that is the robot's 'brain', Tartalo will have the wherewithal to move from one place to another without problems; in fact, to wander. What the research team at the Department of Computational Sciences and Artificial Intelligence want to achieve, however, is a robot capable of going anywhere it is told to.

Finding one's way inside buildings

The machines best known for guiding one from a starting point to a given goal are GPS navigation systems. However, these do not function inside buildings and neither would it be realistic to create a database with the plans for every building in the world. For this reason the UPV/EHU researchers use biomimetic systems as a basis for developing the robot, meaning that Tartalo does the same as a person or animal on entering a new place: explore the terrain and take in points of reference. But, for a machine to carry out what living creatures do by, as it were, instinct, the computer programmers have to nevertheless put in a huge quantity of data, programmes and calculations.

Buildings are semi-structured environments wherein determined common spaces are always found. Tartalo has been "taught" (programmed) to recognise four of these: room, corridor, front hall and "junction". Thus, if we were to take the robot to our home, the first thing it would have to do is to carry out a process of auto-location, going around the apartment in order to memorise the location of these four places. By this process the machine creates a species of topological map and the homeowner only has to teach it what each space is called. For this to be possible, UPV/EHU researchers are designing systems of interaction between machine and persons. For example, in order for the robot to understand instructions, they are perfecting a voice recognition system and touch screen.

Single eye, sharp vision

In order to identify what is in front, to distinguish between a room and a corridor, for example, Tartalo uses this single eye - which gives it its name ?as a camera. It measures the images received through the eye-camera, compares them with its database and then evaluates probabilities to decide what the image that it has ahead looks like. The robot knows, for example, that if the space is long and narrow, it is a corridor.

The most important skill that Tartalo has been taught is to recognise doors. In fact, in order to access most of the places instructed to do so, the robot will have to pass through a doorway first. This is why the camera is located at the level of the doorknob or handle, which is what enables the identification of the door. When this happens, the system is programmed so that, when moving down a corridor, it seeks and negotiates doorways. If the door is closed, as it is not yet fitted with an arm to open it, it knocks two or three times on the door with its "feet".

The aim of the UPV/EHU research team is to develop the navigation system of the robot and the recognition of doors is fundamental to this end. From now on, Tartalo will have to learn to distinguish between many other things, such as faces, voices or any object that it is asked to fetch. But each one of these actions requires a specific programme and this, for the time being, is outside the remit of the research being undertaken by the UPV/EHU Autonomous Robotics and Systems Research Team. Nevertheless, little by little the skills developed by other teams will be incorporated into this robot.

Source: Elhuyar Fundazioa


But where did the robot got its name?

Here you have the answer, via Wikipedia:

Tartalo

In Basque mythology, Tartalo is an enormously strong one-eyed giant very similar to the Greco-Roman Cyclops. It is speculated that the name may derive from the Greek underworld Tartaros. He lives in caves in the mountains and catches young people in order to eat them. He also eats sheep. In Biscay, it's known as Alarabi. There is a story about him that appears to be derived from the Odyssey.

Story

One day, while two brothers of the Antimuño baserri (a kind of basque farm) were hunting, a storm broke, so they decided to take refuge from the rain in a cave, which was Tartalo's cave. Soon after, Tartalo appeared with his flock of sheep. He saw the two brothers and said: "Bat gaurko eta bestea biharko" ("one for today and the other for tomorrow").

That same day he cooked and ate the eldest one, and then, he went to sleep. While he was sleeping, the youngest brother stole Tartalo's ring and then he stuck the burduntzi ("roasting spit" in Basque) in his only eye. Tartalo was blind, but not dead yet.

He started to look for the boy among his sheep, but he put on a sheep's skin and escaped from Tartalo. But, unluckily, when he got out of the flock of sheep, the accuser ring started to shout: "Hemen nago, hemen nago!" ("Here I am, here I am!").

Tartalo got out of his cave and he started to run after the ring, hearing its shouts. The young one wasn't able to take off the ring, so, when he arrived to the edge of a cliff, he cut off his finger, and since Tartalo was near, he decided to throw it down the cliff. Tartalo, following the ring's shouting, fell off the cliff.



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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Canada Collaborates With Torturers

Canada is supposed to be a country that protects and defends human rights, well, it just failed to live up to that status. As it happens, Canada just delivered a Basque citizen to a government known around the world for its widespread practice of torture.

This note comes to us via Yahoo News:

Suspected Basque terrorist has been deported to Spain from Vcr

Tue Jun 17, 2:34 PM

By The Canadian Press
ADVERTISEMENT

VANCOUVER - A man accused of being a Basque terrorist has been deported from Canada to Spain, where he faces trial for attempted murder and his alleged role in a bombing campaign.

Canada Border Services Agency confirms Victor Tejedor Bilbao was put on a plane in Vancouver and sent back to Spain on Monday.

"The government takes its obligation to safeguard public safety very seriously and will take all necessary measures to ensure Canadians are protected. Canada's doors are not open to those who break the law and endanger the safety of our citizens," the agency said in a statement released Tuesday announcing the deportation.

Agency spokeswoman Faith St. John said no further details would be released.

Late last year, 51-year-old Bilbao was ordered deported by the Immigration and Refugee Board after it ruled he had been a member of the Basque terrorist organization ETA and had engaged in terrorism in 1981.

Spanish authorities accuse Bilbao of taking part in the bombing of power stations and the attempted murder of a Spanish journalist considered a "squealer" by ETA. Two of his co-accused have been sentenced to 17 years in prison in Spain.

Bilbao was arrested in June 2007 in Vancouver, 11 years after arriving in Canada and beginning a new life under an assumed name.

Bilbao tried to claim refugee status in Canada after his arrest, arguing that he was a member of the Basque political group Herri Batasuna nearly 30 years ago but, to his knowledge, it wasn't a front for the Basque terrorist groups.

The Immigration and Refugee Board denied his claim and ordered Bilbao deported last November.

A lawyer for Canada Border Services had argued that Bilbao was considered to be a flight risk, saying Bilbao confessed in 1988 that leaders of ETA had ordered the hit on the reporter.

But Bilbao later recanted and said he made a false confession because he was tortured.

His lawyer Phil Rankin fought the extradition, warning his client faced the risk of torture or death at the hands of Spanish police.

Rankin cited an Amnesty International report stating Spain cannot control the police treatment of prisoners - particularly Basques - but the board disagreed and ordered the accused terrorist returned to face Spanish justice.

Agency lawyer Jesse Davidson told an earlier hearing that there was no finding by the court system that Bilbao was ever tortured.

The Immigration and Refugee Board has also ordered the deportation of Ivan Apaolaza Sancho, who was arrested on board a Quebec City ferry last summer.

Sancho, who is wanted by Spain in connection with a series of car bombings tied to ETA, had been living in Canada since 2001 under false aliases and forged documents. Sancho initially lived in the Vancouver area, rooming with Bilbao, and moved to Montreal in late 2006.

He, too, says he will be tortured if returned to Spain and his lawyer is appealing the board decision.

Sancho has admitted to being part of the Basque nationalist movement but has denied ever supporting ETA.


I'm sure that wherever he is, Francisco Franco is proud of Jesse Davidson.

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Eusko Flickr : 2008/06/17


2008/06/17
Originally uploaded by inaxo

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

French Arrogance

When people want to talk about revolution and freedom and equality they usually refer to France. They fail to understand how the Basques and the Corsicans and the Bretons want nothing to do with such a fraternal state like the French Republic.

Well, this article appeared at The Guardian will provide some answers:

Local language recognition angers French academy

Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
The Guardian,
Tuesday June 17 2008

For years France's regional languages were seen by Paris as a taboo that threatened national unity and should be repressed - children were punished for speaking Breton in the playground, banned from speaking Occitan in southern schools or Alsatian dialect in the east. But now, just as the French parliament has taken a historic step to recognise minority languages in the constitution, a new war of words has broken out.

L'Académie française, the institution that defends the purity of French, yesterday issued a furious warning that recognising regional languages in the constitution would be "an attack on French national identity". In turn, local language militants criticised the academy as a ridiculous relic of outdated nationalism.

The row has highlighted how far France differs from other European countries in the defence of minority tongues. Unlike the UK, which has acted to protect languages such as Welsh and Scottish Gaelic, France is one of the few European states which refuses to ratify the European charter for minority languages and give legal status to its various language groups.

France boasts 75 regional languages, including those spoken in far-flung territories from the Indian Ocean to South America. Regional languages such as Alsatian, Occitan, Corse, Breton and Basque, and even smaller ones such as Béarnaise and Picard, have increasingly powerful and well-organised lobby groups. Parents have campaigned to set up regional language schools outside the state system, while the state has started offering some bilingual classes.

But minority languages have no legal status and are deemed by Unesco to be dying out. Before 1930 one in four French people spoke a regional language to their parents; that figure has nosedived.

Last month the parliament broke a taboo by holding a debate and agreeing to insert a line in the constitution recognising local languages as part of French heritage. "Speaking or singing in Breton, Alsatian or Basque doesn't stop you being patriotic," said one Breton MP. All parties were unanimous.

But before the senate examines the issue today, l'Académie française has objected, warning that writing regional languages into the constitution would dilute French identity.

Dàvid Grosclaude, president of Occitan language group l'Institut d'Estudis Occitans, issued an open letter to the academy, which he called "full of bitterness, resentment and fear" and too blinkered to recognise France's diverse citizenship.

Philippe Jacq, director of l'Office de la Langue Bretonne, said the constitutional change was only a small step, and France must provide legal recognition and sign the European charter.

He said: "All we ask for is to speak our languages in public life, to have services in our languages, for parents to have the right for their children to be taught in the language of their choice."

Small Talk

Alsatian Dialect of German spoken in Alsace and Lorraine (at times part of German state) by 500,000 in 1999; only 15% pass it on to children, though 160,000 pupils learn it at school

Occitan or Langue d'oc; 780,000 speakers in southern Europe in 1999, half in Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrénées

Corse Spoken by 90,000 on the island, and studied by 90% of primary pupils

Breton or Breizh Celtic language spoken by one million in Britanny at start of 20th century; now down to 270,000, with two-thirds aged over 60


Equality? Fraternity? Liberty? ... for the French they are just empty words.

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Monday, June 16, 2008

Vulture Infestation in Iparralde

No, I am not talking about the French occupation of the northern portion of Euskal Herria, this note is about a EU regulation gone wrong.

It was published at The Telegraph, here you have it:

How EU turned vultures into birds of prey

By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 16/06/2008

Farmers in the French Pyrenees are blaming the European Union for a rise in the number of vulture attacks on their livestock.

EU ruling introduced in 2006 stipulates that carcasses must be incinerated, which deprives the scavengers of their usual food.

Before the rule was enforced, the birds were able to gorge on an estimated 150,000 tons of rotting pig flesh that was left out by Spanish farmers every year.

But since the restrictions came in, French farmers claim, the birds are crossing into the French Pyrenees – and in one case flying as far as Belgium.

"It's becoming crazy," said Vincent Moustirats, 31, a farmer in Beguios, in the French Basque region. "Every week there is an attack. They killed one of my cows as it was giving birth on Saturday, and that same day they ate two calves in the nearby village of Sare."

In Saint-Michel, near the Spanish border, Pascal Guecaimburu said he fought to save four young heifers.

"I was milking. The vultures came in low then swooped down on their backs. The heifers ran but were cornered by the gate. Twenty or so birds surrounded them and moved in. I got my gun and fired in the air."

The birds flew off, but Mr Guecaimburu had to rescue the heifers again before nightfall.

"These were four healthy cows," he added.

Ornithologists insist such accounts are exaggerated and that vultures feed only on dead or dying animals.

But farmers reported 87 vulture attacks last year, four times more than in previous years.

Jean Lassalle, deputy of the département of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, backed the farmers. He said: "Vultures used to be our friends as they dealt with dead animals, but have now become predators. The state won't acknowledge this and is treating farmers as imbeciles."


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A Culinary Tour of Iparralde

This article comes to us via The Sidney Morning Herald:

Basque in gastro glory

June 15, 2008

Tricia Welsh goes hunting for European delicacies

It's the hunting season in the French Pyrenees and the surrounding, lush, oak-covered mountains are studded with cepe and girolle mushrooms just waiting to be plucked.

The days are becoming shorter - it's not light until about 8am and the mountain air cools right down early in the evening. The signature Basque beret is not worn merely through tradition. It really is needed in this delightful but coolish autumnal weather.

We're on a gourmet tour of the region and we are in the capable hands of Patrick and Robyn Arrieula from Bowral, NSW. They have been leading food and walking tours of the area for the past 12 years.

Patrick has a wealth of knowledge and knows the Basque region well - he grew up here. His parents live in Abos, where his father is deputy mayor. Patrick makes twice-yearly forays back from Australia to share his passion with like-minded travellers.

Passion is a word that sits well with the Basque folk. It's passion for their own unique traditions that has kept alive the extraordinarily complex Basque language and that has maintained their own Basque-speaking schools, Basque flag and rich traditions dating back many centuries.

From our hotel base in the village of Hasparren it is an easy drive in any direction to explore this primarily agricultural region. Its picturesque landscape changes dramatically with every bend in the road, from impossibly green fields where thick-coated sheep graze, to the steep mountains that form the perilous border with Spain - for many years the latter provided a popular smugglers' route.

The hotel runs the village's best restaurant kitchen. Breakfasts comprise perfect croissants and crispy baguettes that prove a wonderful foil for the locally produced ewe's milk Ossau-Iraty cheese - considered one of the five best cheeses in the world. It is traditionally eaten with a black-cherry conserve from the nearby cherry capital, Itxassou. But it goes down equally well with local ham.

The region produces some of the country's finest gourmet produce, such as Bayonne ham, foie gras, duck confit, wild boar and squab. Farmers and artisans sell it all over Europe.

Our first day is typical of the next nine. We start with a visit to one of the many trout farms at Banca that hold succulent fingerlings in pens in the chilly waters of the Nive des Aldudes, which cascades down from the Pyrenees. These rainbow trout are fed on prawns and hake pellets and smoked over beechwood.

Smoked trout pate{aac} is passed around. It gets the nod of approval as manager Francois Juanicotena says he gets into trouble for telling the truth about the artificial colouring that goes into 80 per cent of cheap smoked salmon. His product has won gold medals at the International Agricultural Show in Paris.

Nearby is the celebrated charcuterie of Pierre Oteiza. Formerly a butcher, Oteiza has revived the rare porc Basque breed of pig that has found appreciative markets around France for its unique and rich flavour, very similar to the acorn-fed jamon iberico of Spain. Here, in the lush valley around Les Aldudes, he has built traditional hay-stacked sties with a chestnut tree in each enclosure - the pink- and black-spotted pigs graze on the windfall.

Oteiza tells of how he discovered his home region's rare breed of pig when he went to the Easter Show in Paris in 1988. Instead of returning with a diamond ring for his fiancee, he turned up with two pigs under his arms. From that breeding pair there are now 3000 pigs in the area.

Oteiza has also opened 10 smallgoods shops that sell everything from Basque ham to foie gras and confit. He, too, has won many awards for produce.

Next stop is the charming village of Saint-Etienne-de-Baigorry, where a long lunch table has been set up in the Arce Hotel's conservatory-style restaurant, which overlooks a little stream. Glasses are filled with good local wines as we tuck into grilled trout with house-made pasta, and fresh fruit tarts.

Another day we visit a small village metres from the Spanish border in the Labourd province. Ainhoa is a gem of a town with historic old farmhouses in the main street featuring the traditional bastide architecture - many dating from the mid-17th century. In 1629 they were nearly all destroyed by the Spanish.

We wander through the village and happen upon a shop selling traditional Basque berets. A dozen sales later and the shopkeeper's face has brightened up somewhat.

One morning we are given a demonstration of how to cook the traditional gateau Basque. The specialist Basque patisserie chef, Bixente Marishvlar, is po-faced and has us in hysterics as he demonstrates the cooking steps. Once made from cornflour, pork fat and honey, this sophisticated cake resembles a shortbread pie filled with either a rum-and-vanilla cream or bitter cherries. Either way, it is delicious and we enjoy generous samplings.

We head for a lovely nearby farmhouse that has been converted in recent years into splendid country accommodation with a restaurant. The family cooks, waits on the table and offers outstanding country hospitality, producing one of the highlights of the tour: pan-fried foie frais. This is not canned or packaged foie gras; it is fresh, lightly fried and served with roast vegetables and pear. It oozes flavour and melts in the mouth.

Also on the itinerary are visits to a duck farm; to the fortified village of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on market day; to a cheese farm; to Espelette, the capital of the red chilli; to the magnificent house and garden of Edmond Rostand, author of Cyrano De Bergerac; a terrific tapas lunch in Bayonne; and a day at the beach in Biarritz.

Tricia Welsh was a guest of Singapore Airlines, Rail Plus and In The French Pyrenees Tours.



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Sunday, June 15, 2008

Think Gaur Euskadi 2020

They say it is a long term plan when they know that their political referent (I was going to say ally but that term implies equal conditions) the PSOE is plotting to put Patxi Lopez in Lakua as soon as possible. And the PSOE holds all the cards: Urkullu is an ideological heir to Imaz and we all know just how negative Imaz was for Basque nationalism, the PP is crumbling down and the PNV unleashed the Spanish state's reign of terror on the true nationalist parties (Batasuna, ANV, EHAK).

So, taking those variables into consideration I present to you this article appeared at EITb:

Politics

PNV's event

PNV presents its long-term project

06/15/2008

Under the name 'Think Gaur Euskadi 2020', this project expects to lead Basque society’s future. The Basque Premier has said that the Basque referendum proposal is "of great significance".

Basque Nationalist Party PNV has presented 'Think Gaur Euskadi 2002' project at BEC (Bilbao exhibition Center), which has been set in motion today and ends in December. This project expects to lead Basque society’s future.

The president of the ruling Basque nationalist party PNV Iñigo Urkullu has faced this challenge renouncing neither objectives nor principles and on the basis of the party’s unity.

Mong the questions that PNV members have been able to ask during the event, there have been many references to the referendum that Basque government wants to carry out in October. In this respect, Basque Premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe Ibarretxe has assured that his referendum proposal is "of great significance".

Right to decide and Basque people

Ibarretxe has defended that "the right to decide" and "the existence of the Basque people" are "two basis" of "great importance more and more each day" among Basque society.

In his opinion, citizenship observe "with total normality and no dramatics" the fact that they will be questioned and will have to answer those questions". "Political parties are the ones observing with dramatics and nervousness", he added.


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Araba Euskaraz in Labastida

This note regarding the ongoing project in Euskal Herria to strengthen Euskara (the Basque language) comes to us via EITb:

Life

Araba Euskaraz

Basque town of Labastida holds 15th edition of Araba Euskaraz

06/15/2008

Ikastola Bastida organizes Araba Euskaraz this year, and will use the money raised to improve and extend its classrooms of psychomotricity and computer science. This year’s slogan is "Ametsak dirau".

The Basque town of Labastida (in the Rioja Alavesa) is holding the 15th edition of Araba Euskaraz festival. This festival takes place annually in different Basque schools in the province of Alava (Basque: Araba). This time it has been organized by Bastida Education Center. This town in Alava organized this event four years ago and it is doing it again this year, with the help of Ikastola Bastida (Ikastola: Basque school), which will use the money raised to improve and extend its classrooms of psychomotricity and computer science.

"Ametsak dirau" ("The dream remains") is the slogan used for this fifteenth edition festival of Basque schools in Alava.

People coming around have the chance to go along a circuit fitted out for this event in the side of Toloño Mountain, a lovely landscape according to the organizers.

Along five kilometers people can enjoy Basque music groups such as Etsaiak, Governors, Txapelpunk or Sarkor, and children can also enjoy Koko and Moko clowns show or several children games. There is an special area for children, with Betizu cows (children’s program pets in ETB1 Basque TV channel) as protagonists.

People can taste products with eusko label (Basque quality label) and wine from Alava and there will be a popular dance at 17:30 with the Basque music group Tapia eta Leturia.

To finish with, provincial council of Alava has financed 40,000 reusable glasses with 8,000 euros, to preserve natural environment of Labastida.


For more information about this event visit:



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Saturday, June 14, 2008

Wikipedia : Kingdom of Navarre (Episode III)

I was going to add the word "epilogue" to this the last post regarding the Basque kingdom of Navarre as published at Wikipedia, but since we Basques are still writing our history by working towards the independence of the Basque Country (the modern day version of the same political entity then called Navarre) the last word about our beloved land is yet to be known.

So, here you have it:

Later history

The last independent king of Navarre, Henry III (reigned 1572–1610), succeeded to the throne of France as Henry IV in 1589, founding the Bourbon dynasty. In 1620, Lower Navarre and Béarn were incorporated into France proper by Henry's son, Louis XIII of France. The title of King of Navarre continued to be used by the Kings of France until the French Revolution in 1791, and was revived again during the Restoration, 1814–30.

As the Kingdom of Navarre was originally organized, it was divided into merindades, districts governed by a merino ("mayorino"), the representative of the king. They were the "Ultrapuertos" (French Navarre), Pamplona, Estella, Tudela and Sangüesa. In 1407 the merindad of Olite was added. The Cortes of Navarre began as the king's council of churchmen and nobles, but in the course of the 14th century the burgesses were added. Their presence was due to the fact that the king had need of their co-operation to raise money by grants and aids, a development that was being paralleled in England. The Cortes henceforth consisted of the churchmen, the nobles and the representatives of twenty-seven (later thirty-eight) "good towns" — towns which were free of a feudal lord, and, therefore, held directly of the king. The independence of the burgesses was better secured in Navarre than in other parliaments of Spain by the constitutional rule which required the consent of a majority of each order to every act of the Cortes. Thus the burgesses could not be outvoted by the nobles and the Church, as they could be elsewhere. Even in the 18th century the Navarrese successfully resisted Bourbon attempts to establish custom houses on the French frontier, dividing French from Spanish Navarre. Yet the Navarrese were loyal to their Spanish sovereigns, and no part of the country offered a more determined or more skilful resistance to Napoleon.

Navarre was staunchly Catholic and much under clerical influence. This, and the resentment felt at the loss of their autonomy when they were incorporated into Spain in 1833, account for the strong support given by many Navarrese to the Carlist cause. Until the French Revolution the kings of France carried the additional title king of Navarre. Since the rest of Navarre was in Spanish hands, the kings of Spain also carried (until 1833) the title king of Navarre. During that period Navarre enjoyed a special status within the Spanish monarchy; it had its own cortes, taxation system, and separate customs laws. In 1833, Navarre became the chief stronghold of the Carlists but recognized Isabella II as queen in 1839. As a reward for their loyalty in the Spanish Civil War, Franco allowed the Navarrese to maintain their ancient fueros, which were charters handed down by the crown outlining a system of self-government.

Institutions

The institutions of Navarre which maintained their autonomy until the 19th century included the Cortes, Royal Council, Supreme Court and Diputacion del Reino. Similar institutions existed in the Crown of Aragon (in Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia) until the 18th century. The Spanish monarch was represented by a viceroy.

Territory today

The territory formerly known as Navarre now belongs to two nations, Spain and France, depending on whether it lies south or north of the Western Pyrenees. The Basque language is still spoken in most of the provinces. Today, Navarre is an autonomous community of Spain and Basse-Navarre is part of France's Pyrénées Atlantiques département. Other former Navarrese territories belong now to several autonomous communities of Spain: the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, La Rioja, Aragon and Castile and Leon.

And to think that the Spaniards get upset when we demand the independence of Bizkaia, Araba (including Trebiño), Gipuzkoa, Nafarroa, Lapurdi and Zuberoa when in all justice, we can also claim Errioxa (La Rioja) and parts of Kantabria (Cantabria) and Aragoia (Aragon).

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Basque Cookbook in Braille

The web page WRAL.com brings to us this article:

Cookbook helps the blind cook Basque cuisine

By ALBERTO LETONA
Associated Press Writer

Posted: Jun. 13, 2008

BILBAO, Spain — For Jose Angel Iturbe, making the renowned cuisine of Spain's Basque region more accessible to the visually impaired was a bit like cooking blindfolded.

It also was a delicious success.

Asked to create a cooking course for the blind, Iturbe and 30 students from his school of restaurant and hotel management at Leioa University produced not just a class, but also an award-winning Braille cookbook.

"It was a big challenge because at all times we had to act as if we were blindfolded," Iturbe said recently of the effort that produced "Cocinar a Ciegas," or "Cooking in the Dark."

The idea for the class came from the Basque office of the National Organization of Blind Spaniards, one of the nation's most respected and effective advocacy groups.

"Until now, cooking was off limits to blind people because of the danger it involved," said Claudio Congosto, the 46-year-old head of social services for the organization's office in Bilbao. He lost his sight in a car accident.

Iturbe called the kitchen the most dangerous room in the house for the blind because of the presence of water, heat, sharp objects and corrosive cleaning liquids.

So in teaching blind people to cook "you have to look after a lot of details; guide them physically, make sure utensils are easily accessible and the knives not too sharp."

For that reason, the book's 100 recipes - which are drawn from Basque cuisine's rich heritage of seafood and tapas-style foods - have been adapted for microwave cooking.

This spring, "Cooking in the Dark" won a prize at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in London.

"Blind people appreciate gastronomy and take an interest in it," said Edouard Cointreau, founder of the Gourmand awards. "But until now no one had dared to design a practical course for them and write it all down in a book."

The book, which was released last year and distributed to the Basque region's more than 3,400 blind people, has proved so popular that thousands more copies are to be printed.

And the course from which the book was drawn has proved successful, as well.

Iturbe's team so far boasts two graduates from its 60-hour cooking course, which was held for the first time last year. Another course is scheduled for this year.

One of the graduates, 52-year-old Conchi Calderon, said she now is able to cook for her 85-year-old mother, with whom she lives.

"I was terrified of the stove," said Calderon, who now has mastered recipes such as a warm salad of mushrooms and prawns, and a popular Basque dish of hake simmered in a sauce of parsley and garlic.

The other diploma-holder, 48-year-old Jose Antonio Garcia, said he now cooks for his wife and two children and enjoys whipping up his favorite dish - potatoes stewed with red peppers.

"After taking the course, I am now the best chef in my house," said Garcia.


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Eusko Flickr : Palacio Real Olite


Palacio_Real_Olite_116
Originally uploaded by ariel7515

Friday, June 13, 2008

Wikipedia : Kingdom of Navarre (Episode II)

By now the reader should have a clear picture about how the Basques are a people with an national identity of their own and that the Basque drive for independence and sovereignty is nothing new.

Well, time to read about how hard they fought against Castille and France in an effort to remain independent.

Here is what Wikipedia says about it:

Navarre in the High Middle Ages

Thibault, as Teobaldo I, from 1234 to 1253, made of his Court a centre where the poetry of the Troubadours that had developed at the court of the counts of Champagne was welcomed and fostered; his reign was peaceful. His son, Theobald II of Navarre (1253–70), married Isabel, the second daughter of Louis IX of France and accompanied his saintly father-in-law upon his crusade to Tunis. On the homeward journey, he died at Trapani in Sicily, and was succeeded by his brother, Henry I of Navarre, who had already assumed the reins of government during his absence, but reigned only three years (1271–74). His daughter Joanna I of Navarre not yet being of age, the country was once more invaded from all sides, and the queen mother, Blanca, with her daughter sought refuge at the court of Philip the Bold of France, whose son, Philip the Fair, had become engaged to the daughter and married Joanna in 1284. In 1276, at the time of the negotiations for this marriage, Navarre effectively passed into French control.

In 1305, Navarre passed to the guardianship of King Philip IV of France. It stayed with the French crown until the death of Charles IV of France at 1328. As Charles died without male issue, when Philip of Valois became king of France, the Navarrese declared themselves independent and called to the throne Joanna II, daughter of Louis Hutin and senior niece of Charles, and her husband Philip of Evreux (reigned 1328–43), called Philip the Wise. Joanna waived all claim to the throne of France and accepted as compensation for the counties of Champagne and Brie those of Angoulême, Longueville, and Mortain.

King-consort Philip III devoted himself to the improvement of the laws of the country, and joined King Alfonso XI of Castile in battle against the Moors of 1343. After the death of his mother (1349), Charles II of Navarre assumed the reins of government (1349–87). He played an important part in the Hundred Years' War and in the French civil unrest of the time, and on account of his deceit and cruelty he received the surname of the Wicked. He gained and lost possessions in Normandy and, later in his reign, the Navarrese Company acquired island possessions in Greece.

His eldest son, on the other hand, Charles III of Navarre, surnamed the Noble, gave the land once more a peaceful and happy government (1387-1425), exerted his strength to the utmost to lift the country from its degenerate condition, reformed the government, built canals, and made navigable the tributaries of the Ebro flowing through Navarre. As he outlived his legitimate sons, he was succeeded by his daughter Blanca (1425–42) and her husband John of Penafiel (1397–1479), son of king Ferdinand I of Aragon.

As king-consort John II ruled Aragon in the name of his brother, Alfonso V of Aragon. He left his son, Don Carlos (Charles) of Viana, in Navarre, only with the rank of governor, whereas Blanca had designed that Charles of Viana should be king. In 1450, John II himself regained to Navarre, and, urged on by his ambitious second wife, Juana Enriquez of the illegitimate Castilian line, endeavoured to obtain the succession for their son Fernando (the future Ferdinand the Catholic). As a result a violent civil war broke out, in which the powerful party of the Agramontes supported the king and queen, and the party of the Beaumonts -- called after their leader, the chancellor, John of Beaumont -- espoused the cause of Charles; the highlands were on the side of the prince, the plains on that of the king. The unhappy prince was defeated by his father at Aybar, in 1451, and held a prisoner for two years, during which he wrote his famous Chronicle of Navarre, the source of our present knowledge of this subject. After his release, he sought in vain the assistance of King Charles VII of France and of his uncle Alfonso V (who resided in Naples). In 1460 he was again imprisoned at the instigation of his stepmother, but the Catalonians rose in revolt at this injustice, and he was again liberated and named governor of Catalonia. He died in 1461, without having been able to reconquer his kingdom of Navarre; he named as his heir his next sister Blanca, who was, however, immediately imprisoned by John II, and died in 1464.

Her right was inherited by her sister Eleanor I of Navarre (Leonor), Countess of Foix and Béarn, who had been an ally of her father. After her death, which occurred very soon after that of John II, the claim to the throne of Navarre passed to her grandson, Francis Phoebus of Foix (who reigned over Navarre 1479–83). His sister Catherine I of Navarre, who, as a minor, remained under the guardianship of her mother, Madeleine of France, was sought by Ferdinand the Catholic as a bride for his eldest son; but she gave her hand in 1494 to the Jean d'Albret, count of Perigord, a man of vast possessions in the south of France, brother-in-law of Cesare Borgia.

Castilian conquest

Nevertheless, Ferdinand of Aragon did not relinquish his long-cherished designs on Navarre, and married secondly Germana (Germaine of Foix), the daughter of Catherine's uncle who had attempted to claim Navarre over his deceased elder brother's under-age children.

When Navarre refused to join one of many Holy Leagues against France and declared itself neutral, Ferdinand asked the Pope to excommunicate Albret, which would have legitimised his attack. When the Pope refused, Ferdinand fabricated a false bull and sent his general Don Fabrique de Toledo to invade Navarre in 1512.

Unable to face the powerful Castilian-Aragonese army, Jean d'Albret fled to Pau, and Pamplona, Estella, Olite, Sanguesa, and Tudela were captured. Some months later the legitimate King returned with an army recruited north of the Pyrenees and attacked Pamplona without success.

After this failure, the Navarrese Cortes (Parliament) had to accept annexation to Castile, which agreed to keep Navarrese autonomy and identity. In 1513, the first Castilian viceroy took an oath to respect Navarrese law (fueros).

Nevertheless, the Castilian occupation forces carried out a severe repression that forced many Navarrese into exile or even death. Most unfortunate were the formerly buoyant Jewish community of Navarre and also the Moriscos (Muslims) of Tudela, who became the main victims of the Spanish Inquisition.

There were two more attempts at liberation in 1516 and 1521, both supported by popular rebellion, especially the second one. It was in 1521 that the Navarrese came closest to regaining their independence. As the liberation army commanded by General Asparros approached Pamplona, the citizens revolted and besieged the military governor, Iñigo de Loyola, in his newly built castle. Tudela and other cities also declared their loyalty to the House of Albret. The Navarrese-Bearnese army did manage to liberate all the Kingdom. But Asparros, overconfident, let the infantry get out of control and besieged Logroño, being finally defeated in the Battle of Noain, June 30 of 1521, by a much superior army.

Nevertheless, in 1522, two hundred Navarrese revolted at Amaiur castle, Baztan, where a monolith now commemorates their heroism. That same year, an army of one thousand Navarrese took Hondarribia for some days.

Navarre was a thalassocracy in its later existence and was involved in whaling, fishing, and beaver trapping in and around Newfoundland. Basque coastal exploration of the northern Atlantic coast of North America was extensive and outposts were present on the Newfoundland coast around or before the time of the New World arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. They continued to operate there as agents of the Spanish and French after losing their independence until France's 1762 loss of Newfoundland to the British in the French and Indian War.

Independent Navarre north of the Pyrenees

A small portion of Navarre north of the Pyrenees, Lower Navarre, along with the neighbouring Principality of Béarn survived as an independent kingdom which passed by inheritance. Navarre received from Henry II of Navarre, the son of Jean d'Albret, a representative assembly, the clergy being represented by the bishops of Bayonne and Dax, their vicars-general, the parish priest of St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, and the priors of Saint-Palais, d'Utziat and Haramples. The area north of the Pyrenees (Lower Navarre) remained an independent kingdom with large additional French estates until 1620.

Queen Jeanne III converted to Calvinism in 1556 and, consequently, promoted a translation of the Bible into Basque language, which is one of the first books published in this language. She and specially her son, Henry III of Navarre, led the Huguenot party in the French Wars of Religion. In 1589, Henry became the sole rightful claimant to the crown of France, though he was not recognized as such by many of his subjects until his conversion to Catholicism four years later.

When Labourd and High Navarre were shaken by the Basque witch trials in 1609 and 1610, many sought refuge in Lower Navarre. Only in 1620 was Navarre fully incorporated to France.


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Sri Lanka : Che's 80th Birth Anniversary

I will dedicate the next posts about Che Guevara (the revolutionary leader with a Basque last name) to some infamous gusanos (worms) that pollute the blogosphere, specially to one by the name of Val Prieto and to his lap dog Dean Esmay.

Here we go:

The 80th Birth Anniversary of Che Guevara:

Remembering an extraordinary man

Jayatilleke de Silva

Had he lived, Che would have turned 80 today - June 14. Unfortunately his life was cut short at the age of 39. Scared to hold him alive after capture, the enemy cowardly ended his life in the obscure jungles of Bolivia where he led an armed movement for liberation.

His assassins, still in fear, severed his body and buried different parts in different places before announcing “triumphantly” to the world the “death of Che Guevara”.

Yet, 41 years after his death in combat, he is very much alive.

His ideas have gained fresh adherents and winds of revolutionary change are sweeping across Central and South America from the Caribbean in the North to the Strait of Magellan in the South. Today, the first signpost of socialism in the Western hemisphere - Cuba, whose revolution Che had the privilege of leading with Fidel, is not alone.

Che lives in his ideas and in the struggle being waged by the people the world over for a better future for mankind. He lives in the struggle against neoliberalism, in the movement for sustainable growth, in the fight against poverty and human degradation, in the movement for freedom of the peoples, in the movement for socialism.

He has become a revolutionary icon for millions of youth both in the developed and the developing world. “Let us be like Che!” is the motto of millions of them.

Che was a man of extraordinary courage and extraordinary combative spirit.

Full of optimism and faith in humanity he never wavered in his convictions. During the most difficult days of the guerilla war he always volunteered to undertake the most dangerous operation regardless of the danger to his life.

“I wouldn’t consider my death a frustration, but... I will take to my grave only the regret of an unfinished song”, he wrote to his father for prison in Mexico in 1956. Yet Che was not only a heroic guerilla. He was “also a person of visionary intelligence and broad culture, a profound thinker”, as Fidel told a memorial rally in Havana on October 18, 1967.

Che realised that the building of the new society, the revolutionary transformation required two pillars: the education of the new man and woman and the development of technology. The excellent results achieved by Cuba in its development at present in both these fields show the potency and validity of Che’s thought.

In place of the relations of domination and subjugation that exist in the world Che fought for relations of mutual respect between nations.

“Foreign trade should not determine policy, but should, on the contrary, be subordinated to a fraternal policy toward the peoples”, he told the Afro - Asian Conference in Algeria on February 24, 1965. This principle is today beginning to assert itself among member countries of the ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America) - a grouping of progressive countries in Latin America.

He consistently fought against the use of capitalist norms in trade exchanges between socialist countries and insisted that wealthier countries offer concessionary terms to the weaker.

At the same Conference he said: “the socialist countries must help pay for the development of countries now starting out on the road to liberation. .......We believe the responsibility of aiding dependent countries must be approached in such a spirit. There should be no more talk about developing mutually beneficial trade based on prices forced on the backward countries by the law of value and the international relations of unequal exchange that result from the law of value”.

Che was above all an internationalist. His very life is an example of the highest internationalism. In fact, in this respect he stands taller above everybody else. Born in Argentina, he led the Cuban Revolution and died in Bolivia in an attempt to liberate its peasants. He was a true follower of Jose Marti who declared that “Humanity is my home”.

The staunch revolutionary he was, he nevertheless was a man of exceptional sensitivity.

It was his sense of duty to fellow humans that made him choose the life of a revolutionary instead of becoming a medical doctor.

As he wrote in his Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War, wounded in the first battle at Alegr¡a de P¡o when he had to choose between a backpack full of medicine and a box of ammunition, he chose the latter.

On the 80th anniversary of his birth, we could agree with his comrade in arms Fidel Castro that “he constituted the singular case of a most extraordinary human being, able to unite in his personality not only the characteristics of the man of action, but also the man of thought, the person of immaculate revolutionary virtues and of extraordinary human sensibility, joined with an iron character, a will of steel, indomitable tenacity”.

The greatest homage one could pay him is to complete the “unfinished song”, the memory of which he took to his grave.


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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Wikipedia : Kingdom of Navarre (Episode I)

Here you have the second delivery of Nafarroa's history at Wikipedia. This information will provide the reader with a better grip of who the Basques are and their right to their self determination.

Enjoy it:

Kingdom

Earliest historic period

Garcia Sanchez's son, Sancho II Garces, nicknamed Abarca, ruled as king of Pamplona from 970 to 994. The valley of Aragon he had inherited from his mother. The Historia General de Navarra by Jaime del Burgo says that on the occasion of the donation of the villa of Alastue by the king of Pamplona to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña in 987, he styled himself "King of Navarre", the first time that title had been used. In many places he appears as the first King of Navarre and in others the third; however, he was at least the seventh king of Pamplona.

Under Sancho and his immediate successors, Pamplona reached the height of its power and extent. Sancho III the Great (reigned 1000–35) married the heiress of the county of Castile. The realm reached its zenith under him: he ruled over Pamplona, Castile and Aragon, exerting protectorate also over Leon and Gascony, and conquered Ribagorza and Sobrarbe. Under the sway of Sancho el Mayor, the country attained the greatest prosperity in its history. He seized the country of the Pisuerga and the Cea, which belonged to the Kingdom of Leon, subjected Castile to vassalage, and marched armies to the heart of Leon, ruling the north of Iberia from the boundaries of Galicia to those of the count of Barcelona.

Division of Sancho's domains

At its greatest extent the Kingdom of Navarre included all the modern Spanish province; the northern slope of the western Pyrenees called by the Spaniards the ultra puertos ("country beyond the mountain passes") or French Navarre; the Basque provinces of Spain and France; the Bureba, the valley between the Basque mountains and the Montes de Oca to the north of Burgos; the Rioja and Tarazona in the upper valley of the Ebro. On his death, Sancho divided his possessions among his four sons. Sancho the Great's realm was never again united (until Ferdinand the Catholic): Castile was permanently joined to Leon, whereas Aragon enlarged its territory, joining Catalonia through a marriage.

Of Sancho's sons, Garcia of Najera inherited the Kingdom of Pamplona, from the proximity of Burgos and Santander to the border with Aragon; Castile and the lands between the Pisuerga and the Cea went to the eldest, Fernando; to Gonzalo were given Sobrarbe and Ribagorza; Lands in Aragon were allotted to the bastard son Ramiro. The realm was divided thus once more, into Navarre, Aragón, and Castile.

Younger son Ferdinand I was given Castile as count, but after acquiring the Kingdom of Leon, he used the title of King of Castile as well, and he enlarged his realm by various means (see Kingdom of Castile).

The bastard son of Sancho III, Ramiro de Aragon, founded the Navarrese line of Aragon.

García, the eldest legitimate son, was to be feudal overlord of his brothers, but he was soon challenged by his brothers, leading to the first partition of the kingdom after his death in the Battle of Atapuerca, in 1054.

Ecclesiastical affairs

In this period of independence, the ecclesiastical affairs of the country reached a high state of development. Sancho the Great was brought up at Leyra, which was also for a short time the capital of the Diocese of Pamplona. Beside this see, there existed the Bishopric of Oca, which was united in 1079 to the Diocese of Burgos. In 1035 Sancho the Great re-established the See of Palencia, which had been laid waste at the time of the Moorish invasion. When, in 1045, the city of Calahorra was wrested from the Moors, under whose dominion it had been for more than three hundred years, a see was also founded here, which in the same year absorbed the Diocese of Najera and, in 1088, the Diocese of Alava, the jurisdiction of which covered about the same ground as that of the present Diocese of Vitoria. To Sancho the Great, also, the See of Pamplona owed its re-establishment, the king having, for this purpose, convoked a synod at Leyra in 1022 and one at Pamplona in 1023. These synods likewise instituted a reform of ecclesiastical life with the above-named convent, as a centre.

Navarre's dismemberment

First partition

García Sánchez III (1035–54) soon found himself struggling against his brothers, specially ambitious Ferdinand of Castile. He died fighting against him in Atapuerca, near Burgos, then the border of Pamplona.

He was succeeded by Sancho IV (1054–76) of Peñalén, who was murdered by his brothers. This crime caused a dynastic crisis that the Castilian and Aragonese monarchs used to their benefit.

The royal title was transferred to the Aragonese line but Castile swiftly annexed two thirds of the realm from the historical border of the Atapuerca-Santander line to a vague partition-line at the Ega valley, near Estella.

It is in this period of Aragonese domination that the name of Navarre first appears historically, referring initially to a county that comprised only the central part of modern Navarre.

The three Aragonese rulers, Sancho Ramirez (1076–94) and his son Pedro Sanchez (1094–1104) conquered Huesca; Alfonso "the Fighter", 1104–34, brother of Pedro Sanchez, secured for the country its greatest territorial expansion. He wrested Tudela from the Moors (1114), re-conquered the entire country of Bureba, which Navarre had lost in 1042, and advanced into the current Province of Burgos; in addition, Roja, Najera, Logroño, Calahorra, and Alfaro were subject to him. He also annexed Labourd, with its strategic port of Bayonne, but lost its coastal half to the English soon after. The remainder was since then part of Navarre and eventually came to be known as Lower Navarre.

Restoration

This status quo stood for two decades until Alfonso the Battler, dying without heirs, decided to give his realm away to the military orders, particularly the Templars. This decision was rejected by the courts (parliaments) of both Aragon and Navarre, who then chose separate kings.

García Ramírez, known as the Restorer, is the first King of Navarre to use such a title. He was Lord of Monzon, a grandson of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid, and a descendant by illegitimate line of Garcia V of Navarre, a son of Sancho the Great. He and his son Sancho the Wise fought bitterly against Castile (and sometimes also against Aragon) for the recovery of the historic Pamplonese territory.

In 1177, the dispute was submitted to arbitration by the English King Henry II. The Navarrese based their claims on the proven will of the locals and history, the Castilians on their merits as crusaders. The English decision was Solomonic, giving to each side what they actually controlled militarily at the time: to Navarre: Alava, Biscay and Guipuscoa. To Castile: La Rioja and the other western lands.

Although the arbitration decision was ignored for two years, in 1179 the contending kings finally agreed to a peace on the same terms.

Sancho Garcia, known as Sancho VI "the Wise" (1150–94), a patron of learning, as well as an accomplished statesman, fortified Navarre within and without, granted charters (fueros) to a number of towns, and was never defeated in battle.

The rich dowry of Berengaria, the daughter of Sancho VI the Wise and Blanche of Castile, made her a desirable catch for Richard I of England. His aged mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, crossed the Pyrenean passes to escort Berengaria to Sicily, eventually to wed Richard in Cyprus, May 12, 1191. She is the only Queen of England who never set foot in England.

The reign of Sancho the Wise's successor, the last king of the male line of Sancho the Great and of kings of Pamplona, king Sancho VII the Strong (Sancho el Fuerte) (1194–1234), was more troubled. He appropriated the revenues of churches and convents, granting them instead important privileges; in 1198 he presented to the See of Pamplona his palaces and possessions in that city, this gift being confirmed by Pope Innocent III on 29 January 1199.

Second partition

However, in 1199 Alfonso VIII of Castile, determined to own coastal Navarre, a strategic region that would allow Castile much easier access to European wool markets and would isolate Navarre as well, launched a massive expedition, while Sancho the Strong was on an international diplomatic voyage to Tlemcen (modern Algeria).

The cities of Vitoria and Treviño resisted the Castilian assault but the Bishop of Pamplona was sent to inform them that no reinforcements would arrive. Vitoria then surrendered but Treviño did not, having to be conquered by force of arms.

By 1200 the conquest of Western Navarre was complete. Castile granted to the fragments of this territory (exceptions: Treviño, Oñati, directly ruled from Castile) the right of self-rule, based on their traditional customs (Navarrese right), that came to be known as fueros. Alava was made a county, Biscay lordship and Guipuscoa just provinces.

The late reign of Sancho the Strong

The greatest glory of Sancho el Fuerte was the part he took in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), where, through his valour, the victory of the allied Christians over the Calif En-Nasir was made decisive. He retired and died in el Encerrado. His elder sister Berengaria, Queen of England, had died some years earlier childless. His deceased younger sister Blanca, countess of Champagne, had left a son, Theobald IV of Champagne.

Thus the Kingdom of Navarre, though the crown yet was claimed by the kings of Aragon, passed by marriage to the House of Champagne, firstly to the heirs of Blanca, who simultaneously were counts of Champagne and Brie, with the support of the Navarrese Parliament (Cortes).


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