Sunday, August 31, 2008

This Time, Biarritz

It is the summer, so a lot of the news papers take this rare chance to talk about the Basque Country without referring to the political conflict, which is a welcomed relief. Yesterday I posted about traveling from England to Euskal Herria by ferry, well, today is time to pay a quick visit to Biarritz thanks to The New York Times:

36 Hours in Biarritz

By KABIR CHIBBER
Published: August 31, 2008

THE glitz may have migrated to the French Riviera, but Biarritz doesn’t need it. The posh seaside town in southwest France is enjoying a renaissance, as people discover the appeal of this aristocratic resort on the Bay of Biscay where worlds collide and expectations are upended. Once the reigning vacation spot for Europe’s noble and gentry classes, Biarritz’s golden shores are now shared by everyone from bronze beauties in designer sandals to drop-out surfers in frayed flip-flops. Even the languages are mixed up. Walk into any of the town’s creaky old bars, and the patrons might strike up a conservation by saying a few words in rapid-fire French, Spanish, English or even Basque, the local language that, like the resort, is in a class by itself.

Friday

5 p.m.

1) THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE

Biarritz is a tale of two beaches, so start by getting acquainted with the Grande Plage, a curved stretch of golden sand dotted with brightly colored parasols. Buy a gelato from La Passion des Fruits and watch the impossibly pretty young things in oversized Christian Dior shades flirt for hours in the blazing sun. Farther down the beach, the crowd splits between chic-looking families frolicking in the water, and wealthy 50-year-olds enjoying their early retirement.

9 p.m.

2) DUCK!

Linguists have long been stumped by Basque, a language that bears no relation to Latin or any other European tongue. Hear it shouted at a pelote match, a game similar to handball that’s reputed to be the fastest sport in the world and is played in almost every village. Watch a competitive match, sometime using a curved wooden glove called a xistera, at the Fronton Couvert Plaza Berri.

10:30 p.m

3) LA CôTE BASQUE

Avoid the tourist-trap fish restaurants and head straight for L’Instant in the Port Vieux area, the throbbing historic old town. Be prepared to pass some time: the small restaurant is run entirely by the husband-and-wife team of Jean-Marc and Sylvie Leonhard-Salva. The menu, which changes monthly, features seasonal dishes like baked Basque trout with a light artichoke purée and an almond tart with an ice cream made of cheese. A meal for two, about 70 euros.

Saturday

10 a.m.

4) CAKE WALK

Pick up a gâteau Basque, a small cake filled with a delicious eggy custard, from the posh pâtisserie Loubère. Then head down to the Côte des Basques, a plain beach with rowdy waves where Peter Viertel, a Hollywood screenwriter, introduced surfing to the stunned French more than 50 years ago. Expect to find rows of beat-up vans with makeshift clotheslines parked along the road leading to the sea. There are no changing rooms, so be prepared to shed your modesty or practice changing underneath a towel.

11 a.m.

5) ÉCOLE DU SURF

If you’re prone to wiping out, track down Jean-Baptiste, the true-blue dude at the beach’s sole surf shop, BTZ Clothing. He’ll set you up with a lesson at Hastea, a professional surfing school, and BTZ’s owner. Ninety-minute lessons with the gruff-but-friendly instructors run 35 euros per person for a group session. And don’t worry about all the small jellyfish in the water. They don’t sting ...much.

1 p.m.

6) RECHARGE

Walk straight up from the shore to Le Surfing, the coziest of the two bars on this undeveloped stretch of coast. It may be the most casual place in Biarritz, with groovy boards, black-and-white surf posters and friendly employees who don’t mind if you’re dripping water everywhere. Order the brandade de morue, a sort of purée of salt cod, or the hefty rib-eye steak.

4 p.m.

7) FASHION VICTIM

As the day progresses, the unspoken dress code goes from beach bum to Diddy and Donatella. Pay a visit to 64, a fashion label that has several stylish stores on Biarritz’s most fashionable street, including ones for beachwear and children, and was set up by local designers. Named for the area code of this département of France, 64 is famous for making T-shirts with the eponymous number in every color. Devotees of the brand collect them all.

8 p.m.

8) FOOD AS ART

With his long hair and air of cockiness, the Ducasse-trained chef Philippe Lafargue may come across as a pretentious rock star. But his restaurant, Chez Philippe serves some of the most exciting nouveau Basque cuisine in the region. Start with an aperitif of Txakoli, a sparkling wine from the Spanish Basque country, and then sample the degustation menu, which features delights like roasted pork loin and sea bass with herbs from the restaurant’s own garden.

11 p.m.

9) BEER-ITZ

People in Biarritz don’t booze, but they certainly know how to unwind. Start with drinks at the Côte Vestiaire. This unassuming little bar, which feels a world away from the masses in the Port Vieux, is packed with rugby shirts hanging from hooks and other memorabilia, a reminder of how proud (and borderline fanatical) everyone here is about the local team, Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque. Strike up a conversation and rest your feet on the quintessential French stool: overturned wine crates.

1 a.m.

10) CLUB WITH A VIEW

Park the Ferrari with the valet and slide into Le Carré Coast, a sleek club that looks out over the beach. Sip vodka cocktails with the sons and daughters of Europe’s elite until the wee hours. Not ready to go home? Just cross the road and sit on the Grande Plage with the other diehards until the sun rises.

Sunday

11 a.m.

11) ONE-STOP SHOP

Pick up goodies at the Halles, a large covered market just off the Rue Gambetta, where getting elbowed by a grandmother who jumps the line is part of the fun. Overwhelmed? Pick up a few slices of the famed Bayonne ham from Didier Carrére’s stall. Then, walk down the road to Mille et Un Fromages, where the moustachioed, fourth-generation owner Henri Bilé sells only the finest in Basque cheeses and wines. Try a Bostmendi, a bright-red liquor made from prunes and sealed in bottles with melted wax.

1 p.m.

12) HISTORY LESSON

It would be heresy to leave Biarritz without meeting Jêrôme Dimitri. He’s an institution, a Serbian who gained fame by photographing celebrities and European royalty in Biarritz’s heyday in the 1960s. His store, Biarritz Photo, is in a back alley, and covered with old photos for sale, as well as pictures and articles about himself. Dimitri doesn’t speak much English, but that won’t stop him from talking about his past, his travels or his children — until you’re called back out to the sea.


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Spain is Not England

Arnaldo Otegi has been released from jail. He spent over a year behind bars because he is the spokesman for a large sector of Basque society often referred to as the pro-independence left. He was one of the chief negotiators during the peace talks torpedoed by Zapatero and Ibarretxe. To many, both in Euskal Herria and abroad, he was jailed to punish him for trying everything he could to make sure that the peace talks could continue. This is the reason why I present to you this article appeared at The Independent:

Martin McGuinness: There can be no going back

Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister was once said – in a government euphemism – to have had 'first-hand operational experience' in the IRA. But, he says, since teaming up with his former foe Ian Paisley, attitudes towards him changed overnight

Sunday, 31 August 2008

Brightly coloured sight-seeing buses cruise along the Falls Road, with rain-soaked heads turning as the guides point out the headquarters of Sinn Fein: this is post-Troubles Belfast.

But inside the building, things are not at all relaxed: it is a hive of activity, with men and women bounding purposefully up and down the stairs and in and out of the building. "That door never stops," said the cheerful republican on security duty.

There used to be a great deal of overlap between Sinn Fein and the IRA, but now the "armed struggle" is no more. Once a centre of subversion, the office is now strictly confined to the business of politics.

This is one of the offices used by Martin McGuinness, once regarded by Downing Street as a republican with "first-hand operational experience". Now he is a senior political figure.

As Deputy First Minister, he also has another office in the baronial splendour of Stormont Castle, once occupied by the British ministers who used to run Northern Ireland.

Today Westminster shares power with Belfast's devolved government, which last year came into being amid widespread amazement and a general welcome for what was seen as an epic breakthrough.

McGuinness, a one-time icon of militancy but now a symbol of his movement's politicisation, readily acknowledged the difficulties within the administration that was headed jointly by Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party.

Not too many years ago, talk of difficulties often brought warnings of a possible surge in violence. Today, this element is gone. There will certainly be crises ahead, but they will be political, and not matters of life and death.

Time was when many viewed McGuinness as one of those who kept the Troubles going, blaming him for prolonging the conflict. Many felt exactly the same about his loyalist counterpart, the Reverend Ian Paisley.

Yet the general perception of both men changed dramatically last year, when Sinn Fein and the DUP formed their governing coalition. Most people were, in the words of McGuinness, "gobsmacked and amazed" that they could make peace after all those decades of implacable enmity.

A double act developed, characterised by so much bonhomie and good cheer that McGuinness and Paisley became known as the "Chuckle Brothers". Paisley (like the IRA) has now left the scene, to be replaced as First Minister by his deputy, Peter Robinson.

The republican leader now sounds almost nostalgic about the Paisley-McGuinness double act, saying of the octogenarian loyalist leader: "I respected his mandate, I respected his age and the courageous decision that he took to come into government."

He recalled how attitudes towards them changed overnight. "Ian Paisley and I would tell each other stories about the people who approached us after making the deal," he said.

"He told me about coming off a plane at Heathrow, and this woman came over and said, 'Mr Paisley, can I shake your hand?' And he said yes, and they shook hands. Then she said that a couple of months earlier she wouldn't have shaken his hand; she would probably have slapped him on the face – and it turned out she was the Mother Superior of a nunnery. But she praised him to high heaven and said he had done a good thing and she wanted to say thanks."

McGuinness has had similar encounters. "I told him about being in the City Hotel in Derry, and this woman came running up to me and said, 'Can I give you a big hug?' And I said yes, and she hugged me. Then she said, 'I wouldn't have given you a big hug before this – I'm an Ian Paisley supporter, but I think what you've done is absolutely tremendous.' That happens to me all the time.

"I think that tells you how things have changed, and that something very, very powerful has happened. And it's not just on this island.

"In all the times I've travelled to London since 1994, everybody that comes up to me tells me to keep up the good work. I haven't heard one angry voice, which is absolutely amazing."

But does he get such reactions from people who have specifically suffered at the hands of the IRA? "I meet people all the time who have been hurt by the IRA," he replied. "Some of the most humbling moments are meeting those people, and they put out their hands and say, 'Well done, this is good, keep it going.'"

He recalled receiving a letter asking for a meeting from a number of disabled police officers. The request produced, he said, "all sorts of opinions within Sinn Fein" on whether or not to hold such a meeting.

"But I met them," he recalled. "When they came into the room. it was clear they were disabled as a result of the conflict and as a result of being injured by the IRA. But they shook hands and said, 'We're here to say we support what you're doing, that we support this process.'"

The IRA killed many police officers, but now Sinn Fein supports policing and justice: McGuinness has paid hospital visits to a number of officers who have been injured in attacks by dissident republicans.

Of the violent dissidents, he commented: "Those people think that more car-bombing, more military activity, is going to bring about the freedom of Ireland, but they're living in cloud cuckoo land.

"They need to recognise and understand that we're in a new situation, and that there cannot be – under any circumstances whatever – any contemplation of going back to the bad old days. People should assist in the apprehension of those who are involved in these deeds."

To those splinter groups who still wage small-scale campaigns of sporadic violence, he said: "My message is that it is a totally futile exercise that runs totally contrary to what the people of Ireland as a whole want.

"Any attempt to plunge us back into the violent days is not going to be supported. Do they really want to see 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers back on the streets?"

The Deputy First Minister gets up at 5.30am each day to drive from his home city of Londonderry to Belfast – a journey he says, with a passing grumble about the state of the motorway, that can take hours.

Then it's attending the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast, chairing and taking part in meetings, signing letters, studying documents, seeing delegations until eight or nine o'clock in the evening. "It's just wall-to-wall meetings from morning to night," he said.

McGuinness has never met David Cameron, though he has met members of the Shadow Cabinet. Gordon Brown, he said, has been through "excruciatingly difficult" times.

In common with other political figures, he reported that there is "huge interest, absolutely amazing interest" in the Irish peace process from further afield, citing visitors from Sri Lanka, the Middle East, the Basque country and elsewhere.

He has travelled twice to Helsinki and once to Baghdad for talks on Iraq. "All we can do is offer our experiences. I tell them that without decisive leadership, it is almost impossible to resolve conflict. We have no delusions of grandeur about our abilities to resolve those conflicts – but if it saves lives, why not negotiate now?"

Could that not apply to Ireland as well? "We have to recognise that, in the final analysis, we got it done," he responded.

The performances of McGuinness and his party's president, Gerry Adams, were both commended in the recent book on the peace process by Tony Blair's chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, who spent many hours engrossed in often tense negotiations with them.

Powell wrote: "It was a remarkable act of leadership by Adams and McGuinness to talk the IRA into peace and to persuade them to settle for something far less than they had demanded in 1993." (Of the two, Powell found McGuinness "more human, though we suspected he had more first-hand operational experience".)

The peace process is now at yet another tricky point, since Paisley's replacement in June by the markedly less jovial Peter Robinson. Sinn Fein figures complain that few major governmental decisions have been going their way.

McGuinness is reserved, but not hostile, when talking about his new governmental partner. "I have entered into the relationship with Peter Robinson with a commitment and dedication to make it work," he said.

"I think it's fair to say there have been difficulties, but my assessment is: why would he not want it to work? It's still early days in the leadership of Peter Robinson, but I'm working on the basis that he wants this to succeed. I'm optimistic."

There are grumbles, in the republican grassroots, that the DUP is blocking what Sinn Fein would like to see happening in important areas such as policing and justice, education reform, the status of the Irish language and the future of the old Maze prison.

McGuinness acknowledged that there was a certain amount of restlessness and frustration in the republican community, and added: "I suppose that has been a feature of the process from the very beginning – people are impatient for change, and I think rightly so.

"Nobody could say with their hand on their heart that, at this stage, the institutions have delivered everything that people want. But I think what they want to know is: are they beginning to deliver and is the potential there for delivery?

"All of this is worth nothing if it doesn't make a difference, a real difference."

The power-sharing executive clearly has its stresses and strains: republicans, as ever, want rapid movement on various fronts, while loyalists, as usual, are suspicious of wholesale change. Robinson is certainly in favour of the settlement, but some in his party want to see rather less chuckling and rather more opposition to the republican agenda.

McGuinness is hopeful. "A Rubicon has been crossed by everybody, and the project for me now is to ensure that there can be no going back. This is the only sane and sensible way forward for all of us," he insisted. "This is the best way to break down the old hatreds and divisions."

As a young man, he pursued military victory over his opponents; now, in his late fifties, his talk is of relationships, of negotiation, of mandates, of his belief that violence is futile.

What has he learnt in the course of his controversial, incident-packed career? "Compromises have had to be made: compromise is a dirty word in the course of Irish politics, but people recognise that they had to be made," he said.

"I'll tell you what I've learnt. I've learnt that nothing is impossible – that no matter how things are, if there's a will to find a way through, then a way will be found."


Like I said in the post's title, Spain is not England.

The euphemism is quite easy to understand, England knew that McGuinness was an IRA member, the big bad "T" word was involved, and yet, now he is considered a peace maker.

This is proof that every conflict can be resolved if all parts involved are really and honestly willing to negotiate. That is what is lacking in the ongoing conflict between Spain and Euskal Herria, true and honest will to build a new future without one nation being imprisoned by the other.

One more thing, the members of the Irish diaspora were never reluctant to show their full support for an independent and then unified Ireland, unlike the Basque diaspora, too happy to play along with what Lakua dictates and Madrid approves.

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Saturday, August 30, 2008

Pride of Santurzi

More about travel experiences and the Basque Country, this time from The Independent:

Bilbao by ferry: Plain sailing

The 'Pride of Bilbao' may take 36 hours to reach Spain, says Simon Calder, but it's worth it

Saturday, 30 August 2008

Flying through one of the London airports during a peak weekend in August tests any passenger's nerves to destruction. Earlier this month, Stansted airport exemplified the appeal of flight-free travel. After the barely penetrable mass of humanity at check-in, security was overstretched and undignified, and the shuttle to the western satellite was packed tight.

In my experience, departure screens at airports mostly comprise a succession of fibs: "boarding" usually translates as "not boarding". But I hurried to the gate just in case – to find a scrum of passengers going nowhere. While I waited, two announcements caught my ear.

One reproached the unfortunate passengers who had just discovered they were going to experience a flight-free Sunday: some had hoped to fly to Edinburgh, others to Naples, but they failed to negotiate the airport labyrinth before the gates had closed. "Report immediately to gate 18 for transport back to the terminal or you will be waiting here even longer," a disembodied voice warned.

The other was for the flight to Bilbao, announcing a delay of an hour. The biggest city in the Basque Country is accessible in a couple of hours once the flight departs, but having tried both, the 36-hour surface version is far preferable. The Pride of Bilbao may not be the most modern ferry in Europe, but she is comfortable enough – and the two-night voyage provides relaxation, indulgence and excitement in whatever proportions you choose. The average no-frills flight does not offer that choice.

The electronic map aboard the ship shows the route in both directions as virtually identical, yet they are very different experiences. Leaving Portsmouth after dark, the ship slides into the busy shipping lanes of the English Channel and steers west-south-west for the pointy bit at the end of Brittany. The on-board catering ranges from a defiantly proletarian self-service to a restaurant branded as Langan's Brasserie, and it is easy to find a quiet corner of a bar for a nightcap.

When you awake (in your cabin, silly, not the bar) the vessel is likely to be near the tip of the Breton peninsula, where she turns a full right-angle to head south-south-east across the Bay of Biscay towards the Basque Country.

For anyone with an interest in sea life, this is where the fun starts. A naturalist is on board and on hand to spot the marine mammals who converge on the bay, and shrieks go up from the assembled passengers whenever whales or dolphins are sighted. In between times, you learn about the lives of the cetaceans – and the role that a regular ferry can play in researching the creatures.

Make sure you are up in good time on the second morning for the triumphant arrival on Spain's north coast. At about the time that mobile phones reawaken with a cacophony of bleeps, trills and gongs after their day-and-a-half-of slumber, the shoreline hoves into view: thrillingly corrugated, with a green ridge rasping beyond it melting into the (not-infrequent) mists.

Gradually the deep inlet leading to Bilbao takes shape – and only at this stage do a few poorly researched passengers realise that the ferry stops short of the city proper. She should really be named Pride of Santurzi, since that is the name of the dockland suburb where the voyage ends. No disappointment necessary: foot passengers can hop on the fast and frequent train direct to the heart of the city, perhaps pausing to admire the gigantic transporter bridge that commands the skyline. Meanwhile drivers who want to set the controls for the heart of sunny, ie. southern, Spain, can easily access the autopista network. Now, the neat thing about Bilbao is that there are no wrong answers in terms of onward direction: due west takes you into lovely Cantabria, going east puts you amid the Pyrenees in no time.

In between are three other viable vectors; south-west, for León and, beyond it, Extremadura; south, into the Rioja; and, south-east to Zaragoza – still with three weeks in its role as Expo 2008 venue – and beyond to the Mediterranean. And, when you reach ports such as Barcelona and Denia, you can carry on flightlessly flitting across Europe. If the ferry to Italy does not appeal, how about a (relatively) short hop to the Balearics? Palma airport may be one of the very busiest in Europe, with millions touching down in August alone – but you will have gone the pretty way.

Coming back on the long haul from Bilbao, you will have an equally attractive journey as outbound, just different. The voyage north is faster, and begins at lunchtime. This means that around 24 hours later you have a fascinating approach to Portsmouth along the south side of the Isle of Wight, then swinging around into the Solent and a dramatic arrival back to mainland Britain. And, unlike in Stansted, you will not be hanging around waiting for your luggage.


By the way, the triumphant arrival is not on Spain's north coast. You arrive on Euskal Herria's coast, its only coast.

.... ... .

The Media and Otegi

As you may know by now, Arnaldo Otegi has been released from jail. The media all over the world is dedicating some articles about this issue but as usual, they doing little more than to repeat the press release from Madrid.

I'll give you three examples:

Deutsche Welle says: Spain Releases Basque Separatist Otegi From Prison

The New York Times claims: Basque Separatist, Free From Spanish Prison, Backs Talks

And The Herald Tribune: Basque politician freed from prison

Few different words here and there but pretty much this is what all of them say:

A former leader of the banned Basque separatist party Batasuna was released from prison on Saturday, having served a 15-month sentence for glorifying terrorism.

Arnaldo Otegi, 50, was met by dozens of supporters as he left the jail in the northern coastal town of San Sebastian.

"There is an unresolved problem in this country," Otegi told reporters. "I personally consider this problem will only be solved through dialogue and negotiation."

Otegi also said that during the process "all Basque political prisoners must be freed."

While serving his sentence Ortegi reportedly kept a low profile, spending his time learning English and only having rare visits from political figures. Asked what he had planned for the future, he said only, "We'll see."

He was imprisoned following a failed appeal against charges of glorifying terrorism in a speech praising a member of ETA, the Basque separatist group.

Otegi's detention in June 2007 came days after ETA called off a ceasefire with the Spanish government. He is believed to have been a key figure in the resumption of violent attacks against the Spanish state.

Batsuna has been banned since 2003 for refusing to formally sever links with ETA, which has waged a 40-year terror campaign for Basque independence in which 823 people have died.


Absolutely no editorial style that could tell you that you are reading a news paper from Germany, or from England or from the United States, they all parrot whatever Spain says.

And what is the problem?

Well, none of them dares to even question the press release. They are quite happy with switching a few words on the header and that's it.

The truth is, Arnaldo Otegi ended up in jail because he represented the part of the Basque society that honestly backed the most recent attempt at peace negotiations between the political forces in Euskal Herria, Spain and France. His only sin was to trust Zapatero a little bit too much. From the beginning Zapatero showed no desire to see the peace negotiations through, all what he did was to escalate the violent repression against Basque society going to the extent of ordering the ETA delegates to the peace talks arrested, something that violates international agreements.

But Zapatero was not alone in this ill conceived strategy against the peace talks, he had supporters, and I am not talking about Juan Carlos Borbon nor the PP led by Mariano Rajoy, oh no, I am talking about how Ibarretxe and other prominent members of the PNV stalled the peace talks as much as they could for one simple reason: Otegi represents those who want full independence for Euskal Herria (and that includes the seven provinces) while Ibarretexe represents those who want a new political frame of co-dependence between Madrid and the Basque Autonomous Community (meaning only three out of the seven provinces).

They needed an scape goat, and they put Otegi in jail. Strangely enough, unlike they do for Mandela, they do not call Otegi a political prisoner.

By the way, shall I remind the media outlets about the principle called "presumption of innocence"?

Batasuna stands accused of being the political wing of ETA, yet, the banning took place more than five years ago and to date Madrid is yet to present one single piece of evidence to support its accusation, which leads us to a second principle called "expedite trial".

Both principles are being violated and the media keeps quiet about it, in doing so, news paper editors from around the world become apologists of an authoritarian and fascist regime.

And I can not end this post without stating this, with the Afghan and Iraqi civilians death toll approaching the two million people, two wars over oil and gas profits, how dare the USA apply the "terrorist" label to anyone?

Oh, and by the way, Spain has taken part in both wars.

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Eusko Flickr : Nafarroa


Nafarroa.08
Originally uploaded by La Cabeza Remota

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Open Circle Dances

This article comes to us via EITb:

Basque dances

Open circle dances in one or two rows

08/25/2008

The most popular of the dances is the Aurresku, which means “first hand” in Basque, and is the name given to the first dancer in the Rope Dance and is in charge of leading the dance

Open circle dances, the most common kind of dances in the Basque Country, have a number of variations: Aurresku, Gizon dantza (Men’s Dance) or Soka Dantza (Rope Dance).

The most popular of the three is however the Aurresku, which means “first hand” in Basque, and is the name given to the first dancer in the Rope Dance, who is the most agile of the group and is in charge of leading the dance. This ancient and simple structure is repeated in virtually all of our local fiestas.

Still widely performed in Gipuzkoa are a variety of Gizon Dantzas, one of which is performed in San Sebastian’s Plaza de la Constitución on the eve of St. John’s Day. Others are those of Legazpi (May 3), Oñate (Corpus Christi), Abaltzisketa (evening of June 23), Tolosa (St. John’s Day), Zumarraga (July 2) and Aretxabaleta.

In Ordizia, on July 26, St. Ann’s Day, we can see a version of the Aurresku known as “Santaneros” which is performed by the couples who have married during the year.

Dances of this kind are still to be found in the Bizkaian towns of Abadiño (May 15), Berriz (June 29 and July 2), Forua (July 31, St. Ignatius), Garai (July 25, 26 and 31), Gernika-Lumo (Carnival Sunday), Iurreta (Sept. 29 and the following Sunday), Mañaria (Aug. 15), Markina-Xemein (Aug.29 and 30) and Elorrio (first Sunday in October). A number of versions are danced by women, as is the case of Lekeitio and Garai, performed on June 29 and July 26 respectively.

Variations likewise exist in Alava, such as the St. Isidore Dance (14 May) in Salinas de Añana and the popular Txulalai or Marmarisola danced on February 2 and 3 in Páganos, a neighbourhood of Laguardia. The Soka Dantza is also performed in Maeztu (June 17), and in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Aug. 5), at the “Virgen Blanca” fiestas.


.... ... .

Monday, August 25, 2008

Red Bay Basques

This information comes to us via The Western Star:

Musicians to tell story of Basque whalers in tour

ASHLEY FITZPATRICK
The Western Star

DEER LAKE — A group of musicians from the Bonne Bay area will be performing in commemoration of the Basque whalers of 16th-century Red Bay, Labrador.

The tour, which will feature two west coast dates, will also be promoting a new CD created by the group that tells the story of the Basque presence in Red Bay.

At its peak, Red Bay was the site of employment for as many as 1,000 whalers and, even today, remnants of the whaling trade can be found along its shores. A National Historic Site has been established in the area to present the story of the whalers and how their presence affected the Red Bay area.

That story has become the inspiration for recent work by a group of musicians and songwriters in Newfoundland, according to songwriter Shirley Montague of Norris Point.

Montague, who is originally from Labrador, has written six songs for a CD by the group entitled, “Remembering the Red Bay Basques.” The CD will be coupled with performances by the musicians — Montague, Daniel Payne, Louis McDonald and Paul Barry — in the communities of Rocky Harbour and Woody Point in order to promote Red Bay’s whaling history.

“It’s such a powerful part of our history,” said Montague on Friday.

In order to write her contributions to the album, Montague visited the community and consulted with local historians. In particular, Montague received help from the Red Bay National Historic Site, which was a large part of her inspiration.

“I was always kind of smitten with the site,” said Montague. “The whole project was basically inspired by the site itself.”

According to Montague, the story of the whalers of Labrador, as told through the historical site, has been ignored in recent years, with more attention going to other historical areas and groups.

Montague and her group are hoping that their efforts may change all that and get the Red Bay story out.

“It basically is telling the story of the Red Bay Basques in music and song,” said Montague. “That is the goal of this CD. It’s about storytelling.”

The stories told by and through these songwriters were developed with the help of historians and existing research on the Red Bay whalers, said Montague.

For example, Montague’s song, “Saddle Island Shore,” is about an area of Red Bay where many of the fat-rendering facilities for whales were located. These were areas where whale blubber would be transformed into valuable whale oil that would then be shipped back to the European market. Plenty of cooperages for barrel making and whaler graves were also present on the island during the peak whaling period, she said.

The music created by the group about the whalers also includes flavours of the home of the Basque ethnic group, in an area of northern Spain and southern France. Those unique sounds come from instruments like the mandolin, not common to traditional Newfoundland music.

Montague hopes that the words, songs and sounds will encourage more people to take an interest in the whalers of Red Bay and lead to more visitors at the Red Bay National Historic Site.

The musicians and songwriters will be performing this Sunday at the Oceanview Motel in Rocky Harbour, and Thursday at the Woody Point Heritage Theatre.

The live performances are entitled, “The Red Bay Basques in Word, Music and Song.”


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Friday, August 22, 2008

Art Inspired by Gernika

This note talks about art inspired by one of the many crimes committed by Spain against the Basque people, it comes to us via the Knaresborough Post:

The words behind Picasso's painting

Published Date: 22 August 2008
By Staff Copy

Picasso's Guernica: An Adventure in Poetry and Prose
Henshaw’s Taste Gallery

THE story of Guernica, Picasso’s anti-war masterpiece, was told by Ian Gray in a presentation, which interwove poetry, prose and pictures and dealt with the wider story, events and personalities surrounding the painting.

The atrocity which inspired Picasso was the bombing of Guernica, a small town in the Basque country in April 1937, by aeroplanes from the Italian Air Force and the German Condor Legion, killing around 1,600 people and injuring 900.

The report on the bombing by The Times journalist, George Steer shocked the world and horrified Picasso, who set about making sketches for Guernica.

Picasso had been asked to submit a painting for the Spanish Republican Pavilion at the World’s Fair in July 1937, and within a few weeks had finished the awe-inspiring, 27”x 11.5” painting. Possibly as a reaction to horrific black and white photographs and newsprint, the painting is black, white and grey.

Gray’s poetry and prose linked all elements of the painting’s history up to the present. He examined the symbolism of the images, the importance of the press reports, the painting of the picture and its impact.

The painting is still controversial in the 21st century. In 2003 a tapestry of Guernica had been covered over before a photographic session at the United Nations, when Colin Powell, then US Secretary of State, was presenting the American case for war against Iraq.

A few weeks later Iraq was invaded. This inspired a moving poem ending: “A man came to seduce the world and would not take “no” for an answer.”

It was a thought-provoking and informative evening and served to underline that unfortunately in the theatre of war and the bombing of civilians little has changed.

Sheila Loffill


The thing is, while Germany apologized for their part in the genocidal attack, the Spanish government is proud of what took place that day.

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Europe : 400 / 500

Our friend Txabi from the SUBO initiative sent to us these two maps of Europe at the demise of the Roman Empire. They clearly show how the Basque people were one of the first peoples in Europe to regain their sovereignty.

First the map ot Europe in the year 400:





Now a map of Europe in the year 500:





Now you do the math, the Basques as the only masters of their land all the way from the year 500 AD to the year 1522 in which peninsular Navarre was conquered after a long war.

A thousand years of sovereignty, and some say that the Basque people have never been independent and that there has never been a Basque state.

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Eusko Flickr : Zanpantzar

Zanpantzar - a visitor from the Basque Country

A member of the Zanpantzar of the town of Usansolo in the Basque Country : tough guys dressed with sheep wool, leather and funny hats, and on the back two giant bells. Very spectacular performance at our Waverwoudfestival, Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium.


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Monday, August 18, 2008

More Basque DNA Research in Boise

This note comes to us via Boise's 2News:

Basque students gather DNA in the West

By Associated Press

BOISE (AP) - The research station was simple, a folding table parked on the front lawn of a small brick house that sheltered some of the first Basque sheepherders to immigrate to Idaho in the early 1900s.

But then Adrian Odriozola explains why he's traveled about 5,300 miles from his home in Spain to be here, at a Basque festival in downtown Boise, and it gets quite a bit more complicated.

"We are trying to improve the health of the population," said Odriozola, a doctoral student from the University of the Basque Country in Spain.

Odriozola was sent to the United States in early July to collect DNA samples from descendants of the Basque families that left their historically troubled homeland, where the Pyrenees Mountains separate Spain from France, and immigrated to a states such as Idaho, Nevada and California.

The goal: Collect enough DNA to support one of the most comprehensive genetic maps of the ethnic minority.

The University of the Basque Country is funding the research and hopes to explain why large portions of Basques living in their homeland suffer from diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and learn why diabetes is more prevalent among Basques living in the United States.

Odriozola and his research partner, 27-year-old history student Eneko Sanz, spent several weeks at festivals in California, Nevada and here in Idaho, where some 15,000 Basques live and make up the third-largest population in the world, behind Argentina and the Basque homeland on the Spanish-French border.

"Sometimes, it's difficult," Odriozola said, "at a festival people want to party."

The day was still early when he stationed himself at his makeshift research station at the San Inazio Basque Festival in Boise. Odriozola surveyed the block of bars and restaurants, a neighborhood where Basque descendants congregate each year to honor Saint Ignatius.

The Boiseko Gasteak Basque Dancers wouldn't perform for several more hours. Clear plastic cups were filled, for the most part, with nonalcoholic drinks.

And Odriozola, a 26-year-old foreigner who would spend the day persuading Basque descendants to gargle a vial of pink, cinnamon flavored mouthwash and fill out a 50-question survey about their health, was optimistic.

"This will be our strong day," he said.

As the festival rolled out live music, food and dancing, and then waned into the evening, Odriozola and Sanz had collected nearly 100 samples from people like Louise Murgoitio Gunderson. Her grandparents immigrated from the Basque homeland near the end of the 1800s.

"It was a hard life in Spain," said Gunderson, a 56-year-old budget officer with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boise.

She swigged down the pink vial of mouthwash, swished it around in her mouth for 10 seconds, and then spit the liquid back into the clear vial before she started filling in a detailed survey about her and her family's health. Did any of her relatives have a blood disorder? What about tumors? Skin diseases?

The process took about 10 minutes and Gunderson became "USA169-BOIDV2" in the study, where names are kept anonymous and vials will be identified by coded stickers and studied at a DNA bank at the University of the Basque Country.

There, researchers will try to determine whether environment or genetics played a role in how Basques descendants developed diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes.

But first, the samples will be processed at a lab at Boise State University, where graduate student Mike Davis is also studying Basque DNA for his master's thesis. Davis helped Odriozola and Sanz gather DNA in Idaho.

Altogether, the team collected about 400 samples from Nevada, California and Idaho before Odriozola and Sanz left the United States in late July to return to Spain to process the data they've collected so far. The pair will travel to Latin America later this year to collect more DNA samples.

Few migrant populations present such a perfect test case for explaining whether genetics or the environment is a bigger factor in why large numbers of Basque have developed certain diseases, Davis said. The Basque offer a tight-knit population, essentially identical when it comes their DNA, but living in two different countries.

"They've always had this sort of mystery about them," Davis said, "their language, nobody really knows where it came from."

Linguists and historians haven't been able to define the origin of the Basque language, called Euskera, and it has no definite link to any other widely spoken tongues in Europe, said John Bieter, acting director of the Basque Studies Center at Boise State University.

"This leaves the Basque as kind of a mysterious group," Bieter said, "studying their DNA may be one way to unravel that mystery."

The AP finally acknowledges the Basque people as an ethnic group, that's a first one.

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Saturday, August 16, 2008

Aste Nagusia in Bilbao

This article comes to us thanks to EITb:

Bilbao's Great Week kicks off

08/16/2008

Basque chef Aitor Elizegi was in charge of launching the firecracker rocket at 19,00 at Arriaga Square in Bilbao to start the "Aste Nagusia" (Basque name for Great Week).

Bilbao's "Great Week" kicked off officially at 19,00 with a warm reception to Marijaia -the figure of the festival- and the launching of the firecracker rocket –"txupinazo"- by the Basque chef Aitor Elizegi. An hour later the open air bars –"txosnas"- will be opened and the 23rd local pop-rock show will start with the performance of Mamba Beat and Munlet.

First fireworks of the "Great Week" 28th contest will be launched by the Saragossan pyrotechnic, beginning at 10:30 p.m.

The first concert will start at midnight in Botica Vieja with groups such as Delorean and The Teenagers.

As it is usual, Bilboko Konpartsak has already organized an alternative program to create an even greater festive atmosphere. Pinpilinpauxa, for instance, has organized a male strip tease at midnight.


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Basque Fair Play

When you get the media outlet to mention anything about the Basque Country what you usually get is your classic smear campaign against the Basque people.

Thanks to the Olympic Games we get this unusual note from the WSJ, one with a positive reference to a person of Basque background, here you have it:

Another Daunting Olympic Quest: The Search for Gallant Behavior

Fair Play Committee Seeks Athletes to Honor; Nominations Aren't Exactly Flooding In

By BARRY NEWMAN
August 15, 2008; Page A1

BEIJING -- In a cheat-plagued sports world, the International Fair Play Committee wants you to keep a sharp eye out for a type of behavior at the Olympics that's harder than ever to detect: athletes willingly giving up a chance to win in order to stop another athlete from, say, drowning.

Sunil Sabharwal was on the job at the women's saber matches the other day. He sat in the darkened stands, following the cuts and thrusts of floodlighted fencers, poised to spot some gallantry.

"Fencing has a tradition of grace," Mr. Sabharwal was saying. "It calls for fair play and honesty all the time."

He is 44, born in India, raised in Hungary, and a former Ohio State fencing champ. Now he is treasurer of the Fair Play Committee, an obscure and ill-funded organization devoted to cataloging instances of athletic self-denial.

It didn't take long for him to catch one. In a furious exchange, Sofia Velikaya, a Russian, lunged at Tan Xue, from China, who immediately stuck her hand in the air: She was acknowledging a Russian score before the referee had a chance to call it. It was as if a baseball player called himself out in a close play at home.

"It's goodwill," said Mr. Sabharwal with satisfaction. "These moments of fair play, they seem like small, common things, but they aren't small and they aren't common."

A year ago, trolling for allies in its war on dope, the International Olympic Committee revived the Fair Play Committee's status as an IOC affiliate. It called on the public to nominate uncommonly unselfish athletes for a Fair Play Committee trophy. "We would love to receive your proposals," said the IOC.

About 30 names are typically submitted each year by National Olympic Committees, on behalf of all sports everywhere. Since the IOC's call for public help, the number hasn't budged.

"It's a strange thing," said Jeno Kamuti, the Fair Play Committee's president and a doctor who also heads Hungary's Olympic team in China. "We don't get more nominations, even now that it's all on TV and you can watch everything over and over." He knows why: "Victory is a huge motivation. A great number of people make money off athletes. Sports federations, commercial sponsors -- everyone pressures them to get to the top. Athletes live under threat."

Dr. Kamuti, 71, was a fencer in his day, too. At a championship in 1961, his opponent took sick. Dr. Kamuti gave him time to recover, then got beaten. At the 1968 Olympics, he won a silver medal on a technicality. When his opponent protested, Dr. Kamuti agreed to a replay. He lost.

Why did he do it? "Because it was correct," he says.

On the Hunt

The Fair Play Committee has been on the hunt for athletes who play fair since 1964, when it was set up by Jean Borotra, the "bounding Basque" of French tennis. It has since awarded more than 200 trophies for "action" (though just 16 of them Olympic-related). Among the winners:

The motorcyclist who gave up a lead to help a racer who'd crashed into a tree; the cross-country runner who stopped short of the finish to let a bushed front-runner cross the line on his knees; the soccer player who agreed to a hospital visit by a rival who had deliberately broken the soccer player's back.

A Canadian hockey team won for declining to accept a forfeit after its opponents didn't show because they misread the schedule. A U.S. triple-jumper won for "controlling his own disappointment" after losing to a Pole. A Cuban boxer won for passing up "many good contracts" and never turning pro.

Continues...



But who was this Borotra fella?

Here you have a (corrected) bio courtesy of Wikipedia:

Jean Robert Borotra (13 August 1898–17 July 1994) was a Basque champion tennis player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from his country who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Borotra was born in Domaine du Pouy, near Biarritz, Euskal Herria and married with an English woman.

Known as "the Bounding Basque", he won five Grand Slam singles titles in the French, Australian, and British championships, failing to win only in the American championships. His first appearance was in the French Davis Cup team of 1921.

A member of François de la Rocque's Parti social français (PSF), he became 1st General Commissioner to Sports from August 1940 to April 1942 during Vichy France, leading the Révolution nationale's efforts in sports' policy.

Arrested by the Gestapo (November 1942), he has been deported in concentration camp in Germany until 1945.

The Four Musketeers (which included another famous Basque player, René Lacoste) were inducted simultaneously into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1976. In 1984, he received a Distinguished service award from the United States Sports Academy in recognition of his achievements.

On 17 July 1994, Jean Borotra, Founder and president of Honour of the CIFP (International Committee for Fair Play) passed away at the age of 95, after a short illness. He was buried at Arbonne in 1994.

The International Fair Play Committee recognises achievements annually including awarding the Jean Borotra World Fair Play Trophy.


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Eusko Flickr : Eguzkilore de Ardaitz


Eguzkilore de Ardaitz
Originally uploaded by aitetxi

Friday, August 15, 2008

Bilbao's Zazpi Kaleak

This article about Bilbao's iconic Zazpi Kaleak (The Seven Streets) comes to us via EITb:

Bilbao's seven street: the heart of the villa

08/15/2008

Somera, Artekale, Tendería, Belostikale, Carnicería Vieja, Barrenkale y Barrenkale Barrena. These are the names of the seven parallel streets located between the Church of Santiago and the estuary of Bilbao.

When the villa was established, traders settled in these streets. The oldest place in the old quarter of the city is still known as Siete Calles (Seven Streets). The narrowness of the city ceases to be a problem due to the environment of its bars and its picturesque trades.

It is a pleasure to wander round the Siete Calles heading nowhere. However, we have planned a route for those who do not want to miss any attractive details in the area. We will start our itinerary from the Church of San Anton, next to the bridge with the same name that was the first successful attempt to link both sides of the estuary.

San Anton is in fact San Antonio Abad, to whom this graceful temple was dedicated in the fourteenth century. It was constructed in the fourteenth century on top of the primitive fortress of the villa and it is a gothic building with a squared plan. Its picture comes up on the shield of Bilbao next to the picture of the bridge.

An impressive building of eclectic style located next to the church catches the eye of anyone passing nearby. It is the Ribera Market. “Nothing can be conceived more lively or picturesquely as the look the market of Bilbao offers”, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer wrote about what he saw in front of him. This big market place, known as the Ribera Market or the Atxuri Market, was constructed in 1929 on the side of the river. It is a project designed by Pedro de Ispizua y Susunaga from Bermeo. Have a look at its glass.

It is a must-do to properly go into the Siete Calles, through Belostikale or any of its parallel streets. If there is enough time, we will be able to go shopping or practice the txikiteo, you know, chatting as we go from one bar to the other and so on.

However, we will stop at the church of Santiago, the tallest and most important building in the Old Quarter that stands in a way that makes the main door be the first thing people see. It was built on top of an ancient cemetery and it is of gothic style. However, the following building works have added, once at a time, newer elements, such as a neoclassic cloister and a façade from the nineteenth century, under the directions of Severino de Achucarro.

We cannot forget that Bilbao once constituted part of the Camino de Santiago (Saint James’ Way) and that the apostle is the patron saint of the villa from the seventeenth century. It was before, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when the church, that has 26 altarpieces, was constructed.

On the other side of the cathedral, we will find the Church of the Santos Juanes (Juanes Saints) and, next to it, the Basque Museum of Bilbao. It is an archaeology, ethnography, and historical centre that gives the visitors the opportunity to acknowledge the roots of the Basque Country. It was built on top of an ancient school with a cloister that belonged to the Jesuit Company; the work of art that stands out the most is the Mikeldi, a pale-Christian sculpture of animal-like shape that was possibly worshipped as if it was an idol.

Our attempt of approaching the Old Quarter will end by going to a newer place, the Plaza Nueva (New Square). This magnificent arcaded square of neoclassic style is a place for encounters and party. If the weather is good, relax in one of its terraces. If it’s Sunday, do not give up on the idea of wandering round the bazaar. The king Fernando VII started the process of building this square, and it was finished in the middle of the nineteenth century, under the orders of the architect Antonio de Echeverria. The square has 64 arches with columns of a classic Greek style and the space it guards has always a nice environment.


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Askatasunaren Eguna

Today the Navarrese (Basque) people celebrate the date in which they told Europe that they wanted their independence and their sovereignty, and they did that by defeating the most powerful army in Europe at the time. The events that came as a result of the outcome of this battle led to the formation of the Basque kingdom of Pamplona that would go on to became the Kingdom of Navarre. This date is therefore a stark reminder for those who go around saying that there was never a Basque Country before that they are lying.

The Battle of Orreaga can be compared to the Battle of Thermopylae because the small Basque army was able to defeat a larger military force thanks to the bravery of the Basques and their knowledge of the terrain, a military operation that favored tactics over numbers.

This is a recount of what happened that day:

Battle of Orreaga

The Battle Orreaga, also known as the Battle of Roncevaux Pass (French and English spelling, Roncesvalles in Spanish, Orreaga in Basque) was a famous battle in 778 in which Hruodland (Roland), prefect of the Brittany March and commander of the rear guard of Charlemagne's army, was defeated by the Basques. It was fought at Roncevaux Pass, a high mountain pass in the Pyrenees in the heart of the Basque Country. The battle gave rise to a body of legend that far outlasted the facts.

Background

After the Muslim invasion of 711 and the rise of the Carolingians, the Duchy of Vasconia and Aquitaine had been severely punished by both sides. The last double Duke, Waifer, had been defeated by Pepin the Short and the Frankish domain north of the Pyrenees seemed consolidated.

The plot

Sulayman al-Arabi, Wāli of Barcelona and Girona, had been present at the Court meeting of Paderborn in 777. It seems that he induced Charlemagne to invade Al Andalus by promising him an easy surrender of its Upper March. The King didn't make up his mind until the winter, but he finally decided to launch an expedition into the Iberian peninsula the next year.

The Franks advanced as two armies: one by the east (Catalonia) and another by the west (Basque Country). Charles himself took the command of the second army that crossed Vasconia and camped at Pamplona without apparent opposition.

Meanwhile in Zaragoza, the capital of the Upper March of Al Andalus, its governor Hussain Ibn Yahya al Ansari, apparently part of the pro-Frankish conspiracy, had to face other problems. Abd ar-Rahman I, emir of Cordoba sent his most trusted general, Thalaba Ibn Obeid to take control of the possibly rebellious city and to prevent the Frankish invasion. Al Ansari and Ibn Obeid clashed repeatedly; eventually the wali managed to defeat and to imprison the Cordobese general.

Reinforced in his autonomous position, al Ansari became reluctant to yield his new privileged status to the Frankish monarch. No matter what they might have previously negotiated, the gates of Zaragoza remained closed against the Christian army.

It is unclear if Charlemagne besieged Zaragoza. Whatever the case, the military pressure on the city could not have lasted much more than a month. This time was filled with negotiations that nevertheless did not result in the surrender of the city.

Both conspirators seem to have tried to appease Charlemagne by giving him the prisoner General Thalaba and a large tribute of gold, but Charlemagne was not easily satisfied, putting Suleiman al-Arabi in chains.

The retreat

As the Frankish army retreated towards Pamplona they suffered an ambush led by the relatives of al-Arabi. Suleiman al-Arabi was liberated and brought to Zaragoza, where both conspirators jointly resisted a new attack by Abd al-Rahman. Suleiman al-Arabi would eventually be murdered by al Ansari.

After stopping at Pamplona, Charlemagne ordered this strategic city be destroyed, possibly fearing that it could be used by the Basques in future rebellions.

The battle itself took place in the evening of Saturday, August 15th 778, causing numerous losses among the Frankish troops, including several most important aristocrats and the sack of the baggage, probably with all the gold given by the Muslims at Zaragoza. After their success, the attackers took advantage of the night to flee.

The sources are somewhat contradictory, yet the second redaction of the Annales Regii (falsely attributed to Eginhard) reads:

Having decided to return, [Charlemagne] entered the mountains of the Pyrenees, in whose summits the Vascones had set up an ambush. When attacking the rearguard confusion spread by all the army. And, while Frankish were superior to the Vascones both in armament as in courage, the roughness of the terrain and the difference in the style of combat made them inferior. In this battle were killed the majority of the paladins that the King had placed in command of his forces. The bagagge was sacked and, suddenly, the enemy vanished thanks to their knowledge of the terrain. The memory of the injury so produced darkened in great manner in the King's heart that of the feats made in Hispania.

The Vita Karoli mentions the names of the most important paladins killed among many others: Eggihard, Mayor of the Palace, Anselmus, Palatine Count and Roland, Prefect of the March of Brittany.

The Basque army

The guerrilla army of the Basques is not well known. A later source, the anonymous Saxon Poet talks of the Basque spears, which fits with the Pyrenean and Basque tradition that would be present much later among the almogavars. Such typical mountain warrior would have two short spears and a knife or short sword as main weapons, not using armour normally.

Pierre de Marca suggests that the Duke of Vasconia, Lop may have been their commander. This opinion is also held by the authors of the General History of Languedoc who claim that Duke Lop was the leader of the Gascons that attacked Charlemagne.

Location

Ibaineta (Roncevaux) pass

The mainstream opinion is that the battle took place somewhere not far from Roncevaux itself as it is not just one of the easiest routes but also traditional.

Notably the old Roman road (also called Route of Napoleon) followed a different route than the modern one, not crossing Ibaineta (the traditional location) but heading eastwards and crossing instead the Lepoeder and Bentartea passes, not far from Urkuilu peak, at Aezkoa. It might well have been at one of these narrow passages where the actual battle took place.

Another possible location that has been suggested for the battle is that of the Selva de Oza pass, in the valley of Hecho, in the border between Aragon and Navarre, since the old roman road called 'Caesar Augusta' that lead from Caesaraugusta (Saragosse) to Benearnum (Bearn) crosses the Pyrinees there. It is to be noted that both Roncesvaux and Selva de Oza are just about 30 kilometers away.

Consequences

The Franks failed in capturing Zaragoza and suffered significant losses at the hands of the Basques. They would only be able to establish the Marca Hispanica a decade later, when Barcelona was finally captured. Zaragoza remained an important Muslim city, capital of the Upper March and later of an independent emirate, until the 11th century.

Defenceless Pamplona was captured by the Muslims soon after and held by them for some years, until in 798-801 a rebellion expelled them as well and helped to consolidate the Banu Qasi realm and eventually the constitution of the independent Kingdom of Pamplona in 824.

Legend

Over the years, this battle was romanticized by oral tradition into a major conflict between Christians and Muslims, when in fact both sides in the battle were Christian. In the tradition, the Basques are replaced by a force of 400,000 Saracens. (Charlemagne did fight the Saracens in Iberia, though not in the Pyrenees.) The Song of Roland, which commemorates the battle, was written by an unknown troubadour of the 11th century. It is the earliest surviving of the chansons de geste or epic poems of medieval France in the northern dialect or langue d'oïl of what became the French language. There is a tombstone near the Roncevaux Pass commemorating the area where it is traditionally held that Roland died. Several traditions also state that Roland was slain by a child who, in time, would become the very first king of Navarre: Iñigo Arista.

Until a few years ago the French would teach their kids in school that it was the Etruscans and not the Basques the ones that defeated Charlemagne, just so you get an idea of how distorted the truth about the history of the Basque is when it suits the interests of the French and the Spaniards.

Second and Third battles of Roncevaux

In the year 812 there was a second Battle in the same pass, that ended in stalemate due to the greater precautions taken by the Franks.

In the year 824 was the maybe more important Third Battle of Roncevaux, where counts Eblus and Aznar, Frankish vassals, were captured by the joint forces of Pamplona and the Banu Qasi, consolidating the independence of both Basque realms.

Value for comparative history

In the case of the Battle of Roncevaux, historians possess both the description of an event by contemporary and fairly reliable sources and the depiction of the same event resulting from centuries of an oral tradition, in which it was magnified to epic proportions and changed almost unrecognizably.

The ability here to compare both accounts, and trace how an actual historical event is transformed into myth, is useful for the study of other events of which the only existing account is one deriving from centuries of oral tradition, and in which historians need to try to reconstruct the actual historical facts and separate them from later myth, specially the one created by the Franks in which Roland goes on to slain thousands of "Saracens" before being wounded (for example, Homer's depiction of the Trojan War or the Biblical account of the Exodus).



And some claim that Basque nationalism started at the end of the XIX century.

Note: The original source was Wikipedia but there was so much anti-Basque slant to it that I was forced to remove entire paragraphs.

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Thursday, August 14, 2008

The 2008 Billabong Pro in Mundaka

This article comes to us via Global Surf News:

The Billabong Pro returns to mythic barrels of Mundaka

Billabong Pro Mundaka

ASP World Tour event #9
Mundaka, Basque Country
29 September - 12 October 2008

The Billabong Pro returns to Europe’s mythical Mundaka rivermouth

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 12 August, 2008 : - - - Mundaka has become a reference in worldwide surfing for its mythical rivermouth left-hander located at the opening of the river of Gernika and the North Atlantic Ocean. Since the inaugural event in 1999, surfing legends from all over the world have come over to surf this mythical wave, renowned for its long and hollow waves.

However, the wave of Mundaka is also known for its fickle conditions. This was made evident with the absence of a workable sandbar, reason for the cancellation of the event in 2005. According to the latest studies and the comments of the surfing locals, the barrels of Mundaka are in perfect condition.

This year, Billabong will set up an alternate site on the beach of Sopelana, a place that offers fantastic waves. The site is only a few car-minutes away from the center of Bilbao. The decision to surf either at Mundaka or Sopelana will be taken on a daily basis by the contest director, after assessing the conditions in both sites with the surfers and the ASP officials.

The Billabong Pro Mundaka plays a crucial part in deciding world champions. Being the third last event on the 11 stop tour intense competition ensues as tour leaders jostle for rating points leading into the final two events of the year in Brazil and Hawaii.

Bobby Martinez (USA) will be back to try to make it 3 wins in a row at Mundaka along with prestigious names such as Joel Parkinson (Australia), Taj Burrow (Australia), 07 World Champ Mick Fanning (Australia) and current tour leader Kelly Slater (USA).

Alongside the 45 world´s best surfers, three “Wild Card” surfers have also been invited to compete in the Billabong Pro Mundaka: surfing legend Marc “Occy” Occylupo (Australia ), local charger Hodei Collazo (Basque Country) and rising star Marcos San Segundo (Basque Country).

More information about rankings, surfer profiles and the tour can be found on aspworldtour.com.

The opening of the Billabong Pro Mundaka sees a truly traditional show with dances and music. At the start and end of the competition, surfers and officials will be greeted by the Aurresku, an honorific and traditional dance, and the 2008 winner will be carried by the local surf club members to be thrown in the port.

Winners always accept their trophy wearing a wetsuit and a newly-won Txapela (a traditional large hat)! That is the price to pay to have your name carved in the white stone of the perpetual Billabong Pro trophy. The Billabong Pro Mundaka is supported by Euskaltel, Kustom, Von Zipper, Nixon, Yamaha and Cobra Jetski, as well as the villages of Mundaka and Sopelana with their respective Surf Clubs and the EHSF.


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South Ossetia's Lessons

This article comes to us thanks to The Kurdish Globe:

Plaything of the gods

The Guardian

South Ossetia is a scrap of land with only a few thousand inhabitants.

As it tries to break away from its neighbour Georgia, independence movements around the world wonder what its fate will mean for them. But is it just a pawn in a larger political game? Tim Judah, who has just visited the region, reports Even before the fighting that claimed so many lives, Tskhinvali, the putative capital of South Ossetia, was a pretty miserable place. Stalin Street (really) was its one and only proper thoroughfare; it had a tiny market with a couple of old women selling vegetables and batteries, and billboards celebrating eternal Ossetian-Russian friendship. A couple of miles away, bored Georgians soldiers sat keeping warm around a brazier.

When I visited it a few months ago, South Ossetia seemed like the end of the world, not the place that would spark a new war in the Caucasus. It was one of the four so-called "frozen conflicts" of the former Soviet Union and, as it had been for years, still very much in the deep freeze.

The mood was not much different in Sokhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, to the west. This city by the Black Sea, much of which remains in ruins from the war of the early 1990s, was once the holiday playground of the Soviet elite. Now old men played chess under gently swaying palms in front of wrecked hotels, and I visited a memorial for the Abkhaz soldiers who had died fighting the Georgians. At the Inguri river, where you crossed from Georgia proper, the Georgians had erected a sculpture of a huge pistol pointing north to Abkhazia - but in a futile gesture the barrel had been tied in a knot.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia both broke away from Georgia in savage fighting when the Soviet Union disintegrated. The other two "frozen conflicts" in this region are Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave wrenched from Azerbaijan, and Transnistria, whose Slav population rebelled against Moldova, whose people and language are closely related to Romania. All are the unhappy legacies of Stalinist map-making, lines drawn in a period when the wishes of people counted for little and the demise of the Soviet Union was beyond imagination. All are unrecognised but exist as de facto states, albeit with support from Russia and, in Nagorno-Karabakh's case, Armenia.

Take South Ossetia, which like Abkhazia had autonomous status within Soviet Georgia. Although many South Ossetians live in Tbilisi and elsewhere in Georgia, its people are really connected in terms of family, kin and language with North Ossetia, which is now in Russia, across the mountains to which it is connected through the Roki tunnel.

Ossetians speak a language related to Persian and believe (truly) that the King Arthur of British myth was actually an Ossetian. I found billboards in Tskhinvali emblazoned with pictures of men dressed as knights in armour celebrating the 17th anniversary of South Ossetia's declaration of independence.

Its population is tiny - somewhere between 22,000, as the Georgians claim, and 70,000, according to the South Ossetians. The numbers vary not least because, as there is no work (and no university) in South Ossetia, many go to Russia and only come home for the holidays.

Even before last week, South Ossetia was hardly a candidate to be a viable state, especially as large swathes of it - as much as a third - were held by the Georgians. Only 800 metres separated the centre of one Georgian-controlled village from Tskhinvali. The Georgians had recently built a brand new cinema and sports complex in that village, and roads and infrastructure were being upgraded.

The head of the Georgian administration for South Ossetia was a burly former military man who had defected from the separatists. He cut little ice in Tskhinvali, where officials scoffed at his notion of striking a deal and making peace with Georgia. Indeed, their plans were rather more ambitious.

"Our aim is unification with North Ossetia," Alan Pliev, the deputy foreign minister of South Ossetia, told me in his broom cupboard of an office. "We don't know if that would be as part of Russia or as a separate united Ossetian state." Juri Dzittsojty, deputy speaker of parliament, says: "I would prefer there to be an independent and united Ossetia, but today it is not possible. It is safer to be with Russia. The main aim of the struggle is to be independent of Georgia."

A few hours' drive away, along the road now cut by Russian troops, the Abkhaz dream was a different one. Their goal is simply to hang on to what they have got. And here's the rub. Before the Abkhaz war of the early 1990s, less than 18% of its population were ethnic Abkhaz. Today, of some 200,000 people, this group still constitutes only 45% of its people, and hundreds of thousands of Georgians who left Abkhazia in the 1990s want to return home. The Abkhaz, who are in firm control of the government and of all levers of power, argue that to allow more of these refugees back than they have already permitted would simply be to turn back the clock and to make the Abkhaz once more a small minority in their own homeland.

In the foreign ministry of the unrecognised republic I waited to see Maxim Guinja, Abkhazia's deputy foreign minister. Then he came out, and before we talked he tidied away some flags in the waiting room. There had just been a meeting in Sokhumi of the leaders of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria.

"We became 18% because of Soviet rule and Russian before that," he explained. Abkhaz were deported to Siberia and Turkey, and Georgians settled here. "My grandfather was put on a train in 1937 with thousands of others, and the next day a train arrived with Georgian settlers. No one returned from Siberia." His dream is that one day hundreds of thousands of Abkhaz - or rather their descendants who fled the Tsarist invasion to Turkey in the late 19th century - will come home. A pipe dream? Maybe, but Guinja said that he had a very clear precedent in mind. Israel did it, so why not Abkhazia?

In the meantime, the Abkhaz have to play gingerly with the Russians, whom they distrust as much the Ossetians trust them. "For Russia, Abkhazia is just a card that can be played," I was told by Leyla Taniya, who runs a thinktank in Sokhumi. "Abkhazia is linked to Russia, and Russia is the only country that actually cooperates with Abkhazia, and today many are afraid this could lead to our political absorption." She wants to correct a "common misunderstanding" in the west: despite its small size, Abkhazia "is not a Russian puppet".

It is easy to comprehend why such a misunderstanding should exist. The Abkhaz, like the South Ossetians, have all been given Russian passports and vote in Russian elections, even though their unrecognised statelets are legally part of Georgia. They use the rouble, their people work and study in Russia and they speak Russian at least as much as Abkhaz or Ossetian. Their elderly receive their pensions from Russia. And, as the last few days have helped demonstrate, without Russian military support, it is doubtful whether the breakaways would still exist.

Yesterday, Abkhazia began a military operation to take back a strategic sliver of territory held by the Georgians within Abkhazia. They could do this because Russian troops had struck far outside Abkhaz territory, routing the Georgian forces. No wonder everyone was so relaxed when I was in Sokhumi. I went to see Stanislav Lakoba, the Abkhaz official in charge of security. Georgia, I put it to him, was pouring 10% of its GDP into its army, was bidding to join Nato, had intensely courted the US and was demanding that Russia pull its so-called peacekeeping troops out of Abkhazia, 14 years after their deployment. "Georgia just screams about it," he said laconically. "It would just mean suicide if they attacked." He obviously knew what he was talking about.

Despite its massive military support for the breakaways, the curious thing is that Russia does not actually want their full secession. It is a case of, "Listen to what I say, not what I do." After battling separatists in Chechnya and beyond for well over a decade, Moscow is afraid of anything that might set a precedent and encourage the break-up of the Russian Federation. It is not the only big power with such concerns: China is nervous about anything that might boost separatist hopes in Tibet or Xinjiang, let alone Taiwan.

This year the argument over breakaways and precedents has reached fever pitch, and the reason for that is Kosovo. On February 17, Kosovo, which has a population of some two million, 90% of whom are ethnic Albanians, declared independence from Serbia. Serbia of course rejects its independence, as does Russia, China and indeed the majority of countries in the world, including Georgia. Twenty out of 27 EU states have recognised it, however, alongside the US and other western countries. But in doing so these 45 states seem to have crossed a legal Rubicon. Until then, the only new states in Europe had been the six republics of the old Yugoslavia, such as Croatia or Bosnia, the 15 former Soviet republics and the Czech and Slovak republics. Kosovo is different. Like the four post-Soviet breakaways, it was a province or part of an existing republic. So, argued Serb leaders, it did not have the same right to independence as the republics did. "Yes, we do," argued the Kosovo Albanians. Their struggle, they argued, was based on the legal right of a people to self-determination - just like the Serbs argued in 1991 when they briefly set up a breakaway republic of Krajina in Croatia.

Quite simply then, in Kosovo as in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two pillars of international law - that is to say, the territorial integrity of states versus self-determination - stand in stark opposition to one another.

Hence Russia's refusal to back Kosovo's independence. "The threat of a disintegrating Russia - comparable to the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 - is still today seen as a very real threat by the Kremlin and the Russian elite," says Pavel Felgenhauer, a leading Russian commentator. "The west is seen today by many in the Russian elite and public as a threatening force that is plotting to tear Russia apart and rob it of its natural resources. By supporting Serbia's right to veto Kosovo's secession, the Kremlin clearly believes that it is defending Russia's undisputed right to sustain its territorial integrity by any means available."

Of course, Russia is interested in its territorial integrity, not Georgia's. By supporting Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it has the means to keep Georgia at its mercy and prevent it from following the pro-western path chosen by its electorate. But beyond that, it has little real interest in the breakaway states. Where the EU has poured billions into the reconstruction of Sarajevo and other Balkan cities ruined by wars of the 1990s, Russia has spent not a kopek in rebuilding Sokhumi or Tskhinvali.

In September, Serbia will ask the General Assembly of the United Nations to ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hand down an advisory opinion on whether Kosovo's declaration of independence was legal or not. If this ever happens, the ruling could have tremendous impact - or not, as the case may be. If Kosovo's 1.8 million people can declare independence and be recognised without the permission of Serbia, then so can Abkhazia or South Ossetia, to say nothing of the Republika Srpska (the Serb part of Bosnia), Iraqi Kurdistan and - who knows? - one day perhaps even Catalonia or the Basque country.

On the other hand, the ICJ could declare that Kosovo's declaration was indeed illegal - and then what? Not much, probably. In 1975, the ICJ ruled that the people of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara had the right to self-determination. This was disputed by Morocco, which had occupied the country. Now, 34 years later, Morocco, a good friend of the west, is still occupying Western Sahara, most of the population has been driven out and lives in miserable camps in the Algerian Sahara, and the Moroccans have built a wall around the country to keep separatist guerrillas out. No one outside the region cares a hoot about them because, when it comes to these types of conflicts, hypocrisy is everyone's order of the day.

What it comes down to is simple: being in the right place at the right time and having the right friends with the right guns and interests. Precedent, for all of the diplomats' fear of the word, is only part of it. It is where you are on the map and what you can get away with that counts. In 2002, on a trip to Iraqi Kurdistan, I was struck by the way the Kurds' homeland had been carved up as the Ottoman empire collapsed. Few Kurds I met then made any secret of their desire not just to achieve independence from Iraq but also to act as a vanguard that would eventually rally Kurds from Iran, Syria, and Turkey into one large Kurdish state.

I asked one official if the aim of a Kurdish federal unit in Iraq was to provide an example for Kurds in Turkey and so that later they could join together. "Yes," he said. "That's the aim." Then, embarrassed, he added: "But don't write that down." Musa Ali Bakr, the man who was then in charge of refugees in the Kurdish region of Dahuk, explained that if the Iraqi Kurds moved too quickly their neighbours would strangle them by closing the borders. He then summed up what for me then was the Kurdish dilemma, but I now realise is really the dictum of all successful separatists: "If you are sick, you visit the doctor. He prescribes the medicine. You take a spoonful three times a day and eventually you are better, you are free. However, if you drank the whole bottle all at once, it would kill you."

· Tim Judah covers the Balkans for the Economist. He is the author of The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia, and Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know, which will be published by Oxford University Press in September.


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The US West's Basque Legacy

This article comes to us thanks to the Baker City Herald:

Speaker outlines Basque sheepherders' legacy in the West

Published: August 13, 2008

By MIKE FERGUSON

Baker City Herald

In the early 1970s, Kent McAdoo joined a group of Nevada-based Basque sheepherders for 13 months to study the effects coyotes were having on the large flocks tended by Basques.

On top of his predation research, McAdoo came away with a deep appreciation of the sheepherders, who came to this country from their homeland in the Pyrenees Mountains that separate Spain and France.

"They had a penchant for hard work, a dedication to the task at hand, strong entrepreneurial skills, and they've left an indelible imprint on the High Desert" of Northern Nevada, Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon, McAdoo told a crowd of about 45 Saturday evening at the Baker Public Library. "I met a lot of very interesting characters."

McAdoo, who works for the Nevada Cooperative Extension, came to Union and Baker counties last week as part of the Libraries of Eastern Oregon's "Sense of Place" series sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

McAdoo called his hour-long presentation "Basque Herders: The End of an Era." While 90 percent of the herders who worked their flocks in the High Desert in 1970 were Basque, their numbers had shrunk to 14 percent of all herders by 1976.

McAdoo thinks he knows why: Francisco Franco, the Spanish leader who "kept his thumb on the Basques," died in 1975, and many Basques returned home as soon as they could following the death of Franco and the expiration of their work contract.

"I wasn't in there when (Franco) died," McAdoo said, "but I guarantee you throughout the region there was a big celebration going on. It changed their lives."

The Basque presence changed the region and changed McAdoo, too.

"In our part of the country, many small towns have celebrations" of Basque culture, he said. "Elko (Nevada) draws between 8,000 and 10,000 every year to watch people lift weights and chop wood. It keeps the culture alive even though the sheepherders are gone from the face of the landscape.

"To me that is kind of sad," McAdoo said. "I mourn the loss of their culture. I know when I was working with them that they were something special, but the impact they had was something I took for granted."

Sheepherders from the old country

Basques began moving to the American West in the 1850s. Many, according to McAdoo, "were sheepherders in the old country."

With the 1934 passage of the Taylor Grazing Act, formal sheep and cattle operations were put in place. Many operations were owned by Basques, who used the option of taking part of their payment in "bummer," or orphan lambs, as a way to build up their herds.

The herders McAdoo studied worked hard. Their contracts specified just one day off every year — for the sheepherder to celebrate his birthday.

The men McAdoo lived among followed the Goicoechea Trail, lambing just north of Elko, Nev., then driving the sheep up to summer range just south of Mountain Home, Idaho.

Sheep do indeed play follow the leader, McAdoo noted: one slide he displayed showed a pair of sheep jumping over nothing in particular after they'd seen their leader jump over a clump of sagebrush.

"I'll bet 90 percent of them jumped over nothing, too," McAdoo said with a laugh. "I must have taken a whole roll of film."

The sheepherders were up by 4 o'clock each morning to cook breakfast and boil coffee.

"I learned to pour coffee over rich, thick sheepherder bread with condensed milk," McAdoo said, smacking his lips at the memory. "I got so I liked it pretty well."

The country the sheep and the shepherds traversed is steep, "but these guys are used to it," McAdoo said. They never trucked their sheep, instead slowly working them along a common trail.

"The sheep aren't pushed intensively," McAdoo said. "It's better for weight gain and better for the trail."

To McAdoo's consternation, every day a herder would count the 60 or 80 black sheep among the 7,000-member herd. Why spend time every day counting such a tiny minority, he wondered.

He learned that the Basques figure if one black sheep is missing, that means 100 or more white sheep are missing. If two or three black sheep are missing, time to drop everything and find the hundreds of lost white sheep.

"It was not just a ritual," McAdoo said.

The men clearly had time on their hands, which often led to endless debate, McAdoo said.

"They would melt snow for their horses, and a big topic (of conversation) was not to burn the water so it takes on the metallic taste of the tub," he said. "That conversation took hours."

The Basque language is notoriously difficult to learn — and here are examples why: "etxekoandrea" means "housewife." The number "77" is rendered "Iruetamarzazpi."

"Their language is 75 percent unrelated to any other language, and 25 percent related to Latin languages," McAdoo said. One linguist, he said, found a connection between the Basque language and the language spoken in strife-torn Georgia.

During his 13 months of study, McAdoo met only one sheepherder who could read and write his native language. The afore-mentioned Franco wouldn't let Basques speak their own language on the streets, nor would he allow it to be taught in schools.

"People weren't literate," McAdoo said, "in the language they spoke every day."

In the early 1970s, shepherd pay began at $350 per month, and the rancher bought all the shepherd's clothes and food, "and some of their whiskey and all of their wine," McAdoo said.

"These guys saved money like you wouldn't believe," he said. "Remember, they only had one day a year (their birthday) to spend their money in town."

Nowadays, McAdoo said, sheepherders in Western states come from many different nations, including Mexico, Chile, Peru and China. They, too, are willing to work hard for very little money, he said.

One thing McAdoo has learned to do when he offers his presentations is to say the place names and family names involved in the stories he's telling.

"I pronounce their names because people know them," he said. "This is a very tightknit community, and they have relatives throughout this region."

With that, McAdoo flashed one last message in the Basque language: "Eskerrik asko!" or "Thank you very much!"


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