Friday, July 31, 2009

The Reign of Silence

The nightmare goes on. The Spanish Audiencia Nacional has decided to go ahead with the process open against the Basque newspaper "Euskaldunon Egunkaria", despite the request to drop the case by the defendants' defense team and the district attorney's office. As a direct result from this decision, five Basque citizens with professional ties to the Euskara printed newspaper that was shot down on orders by Spanish judge Juan del Olmo will now be forced to seat at the bench, accused of "integration" to ETA. They will have to face the indictments made by the extreme-right groups called Dignidad y Justica and Asociación de Víctimas del Terrorismo, both groups are resorting to a civil lawsuit, since the district attorney will not present any federal charges. The district attorney's office is not pressing any charges due to a powerful reason, after seven years of police investigation and the exhaustive analysis of thousands of documents no one has been able to find one single piece of evidence to sustain the slightest connection between ETA and the newspaper.

Powerful but insufficient reason obviously, given the decision by the judges, for this exception tribunal to declare desert a case that should have never been opened in the first place. A case that started covered by the cloak of secrecy in an obscure Guardia Civil office, that developed as a result of the internal disputes within the Audiencia Nacional, that flourished in full force with the arbitrary and traumatic clamp down on Egunkaria, and that, despite being destined to succumb due to the lack of solid evidence is being kept alive due exclusively to the dark political impulse that moves the Spanish justice system when it comes to the Basque Country.

And when it comes to the Basque Country, there is no boundaries for the Spanish democracy, that even in the XXI century allows itself to shut down Basque media outlets over one single justification: suspicion. They did it with Egin, and satisfied about the result, they did it again with Egunkaria. ¿Solid evidence?¿No room for reasonable doubt? tiny technicalities with no consequence, easily disregarded by the importance of the mission: to silence the dissidence, gag those who dare to expose and denounce the official discourse. And next to the forced silence, the chosen silence, the option by the majority of the media outlets (both Basque and Spanish) that prefer to bow before the official discourse and hide so much injustice from the public.

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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Political Prisoners and Dirty War

The executive order to remove the pictures of the Basque political prisoners from the squares and streets of Euskal Herria is just the one more absurd and useless tactic, since it does not solve any single kind of issue.

During the last few years whe have seen how several youngsters have been incarcerated without them ever having committed a single act outside the law, we are also witness to how a number of individuals are in jail without ever even touching a fire arm. Despite this they get sentenced over "terrorist acts" and "collaborating with an armed band" charges, without incontestable and solid evidence.

The whole thing is an entire process of ill-intentioned repressive tactics. The media outlets in the Spanish state, including radio stations and tv channels broadcast news and phony debates year long, using comments with no intellectual nor political or historical value regarding the situation in the Basque Country. They freely hand out labels like "etarras", "violent bunch", "dangerous people", "the must wanted", "the masterminds" and just about any epithet that they may find suitable. And then the arrests start, really young people with their entire lives ahead of them. The arrests are loud, humiliating, brutal, and in must cases they involve torture, physical abuse, threats, humiliation and incommunicado regime.

Then they are subjected to Kafkian trial where all the main witnesses are police officers that often contradict themselves or that even commit perjury to sustain their accusations, with no evidence which is not actually the worst part, there is not even logical arguments to justify the arrest, which in turn is irrelevant too. The trial are a circus show, absurd theater plays and then the conviction comes, even more absurd, out of proportion and with no legal coherence. They are thrown into inhumane jails, taking special care in dispersing them all over the geography of the Spanish and French state. The worst jails, the worst conditions, without access to doctors or psychologists, without any humane consideration, they even endure being kept from the right to get an education and all kinds of obstacles are put up to make impossible to communicate with their relatives, friends and life partners. They receive the worst treatment a prisoner can get.

The great majority of Basque political prisoners serve unfair sentences over makeshift crimes. They serve lengthy sentences over minor crimes and are forced to serve the length of their sentences despite experiencing health problems, and many of them, with terminal illnesses are still in jail years after having completed their time.

Eternal trials and sentences, and on top, with all kinds of trickery serving time at inhumane detention center in the worst condition, and in the eventuality of regaining their freedom then there is plenty of more opportunities to continue to punish them: confiscate their homes or property, harassment, put them in jail for writting a book or an article at a newspaper, for clapping their hands, for drinking a beer at an herriko or maybe for speaking Euskera or breathing pro-independence air. And if all of this does not work, dirty war will do the job, like having them going missing, abduct them, execute them... no problem at all, because in the end, in the Spanish state this atrocities are never published, nor commented, let alone punished.

Victoria Mendoza/Gara


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Saturday, July 25, 2009

Friday, July 24, 2009

New Facilities for Center of Basque Studies

This not was published at the Nevada News site:

Dedication set for Center for Basque Studies

Natalie Savidge

The Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno is celebrating the dedication of its new location in the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. The Center’s new facilities are specially designed to showcase the largest collection of Basque materials outside of the Basque country, which is also the largest special collection in the University library.

“We are excited to celebrate this amazing new facility where the University’s Center for Basque Studies will continue to strive for cultural preservation, outreach, youth revitalization and Basque-related research, instruction and publishing,” said Co-director for the Center, Eric Herzik.

The dedication also coincides with the annual convention of the North American Basque Organizations (NABO) held on campus Friday in the Knowledge Center, the 50th anniversary of the first Western Basque Festival held in Reno in 1959, and the 20th anniversary of the University’s Zenbat Gara Dance Troupe whose members have served as ambassadors and mentors for the Basque culture and dance groups throughout the American West.

Who: Basque and campus community members, invited guests, University President Milton Glick and Co-directors for the Center, Eric Herzik and Joseba Zulaika.

What: Dedication of new location and 42nd anniversary of the founding of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada. The afternoon reception will feature Basque entertainment, hors d’oeuvres and drinks.

When: 4 – 6 p.m., Friday, July 24, 2009.

Where: University of Nevada, Reno campus, Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center, Third Floor’s North Patio. Parking is available in the Whalen parking garage directly across from the Knowledge Center.

For more information about the Center and NABO.


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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Astarloza Takes Tour Stage

Great news!

Euskaltel Euskadi has finally taken a stage in this year's edition of the Tour de France. Here you have it via Yahoo News:

Astarloza tames mountains to win stage

Astarloza wins with late surge. Contador stays in yellow ahead of Armstrong and Wiggins. Voigt crashes heavily, forced out of tour

Julien Pretot

BOURG ST MAURICE, France, July 21 (Reuters) - Spain’s Mikel Astarloza used his climbing and downhill skills to win the mountainous 16th stage of the Tour de France on Tuesday as the leading contenders unsuccessfully tested each other out.

The Basque rider, 29, surged in the last two kilometres of the 159-km trek to Bourg St Maurice to give his Euskaltel team their first Tour stage victory since 2003.

“I’m a good climber, I can keep a good pace on the flat, but I’m not a sprinter. My only chance was to attack from far and I’m delighted it worked,” Astarloza told reporters.

Astarloza, who finished ninth overall in 2007, climbed to 11th place in the general classification.

Frenchman Sandy Casar had to be content with his sixth second place in a Tour stage, ahead of compatriot Pierrick Fedrigo, winner of the ninth stage in Tarbes.

Astarloza and the two Frenchmen were part of a break which shaped up in the two big climbs of the day, the Grand St Bernard and Petit St Bernard, crossing over to France from Switzerland and Italy.

Spaniard Alberto Contador retained his leader’s yellow jersey one minute 37 seconds ahead of team mate Lance Armstrong with Briton Bradley Wiggins third, 1:46 behind.

The leading contenders seemed content to neutralise each other until six kilometres from the top of the Col du Petit St Bernard when Andy Schleck suddenly raised the tempo.



Great job Euskaltel Euskadi!

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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Euskaltzaindia's 90th Anniversary

This article was published at EiTB:

Basque Language Academy "Euskaltzaindia" turns 90

E. S.

Euskaltzaindia is celebrating its 90th birthday at the headquarters of the Academy of the Basque language in Bilbao.

Representatives of institutions such as the Spanish Royal Academy, the Royal Academy of the Galician Language or the Philology department of the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, will be present at Euskaltzaindia’s 90th anniversary celebration in Bilbao on Friday 17.

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

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

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


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The Wrath of Ares

Rodolfo Ares who acts as the head of the Basque Autonomous Community's Interior department issued a series of threatening statements against anyone that dares to show some solidarity towards the Basque political prisoners.

He has announced that his department will violently clamp down on owners of 'txosnas' (Basque mobile bars for festivals) who support or allow the placement of posters or banners of Basque political prisoners or torture victims in their premises.

In an interview with Radio Catalunya, Ares explained that the decision is aimed to reduce the human, civil and political rights of the Basque citizenry using as an excuse that they will be acting "against violence collaborators or against people allowing that those actions take place in our streets, towns or villages" for whatever that means.

"We will act against everything that offends the memory of the victims, against everything that infringe Law," he added. Curiously enough, he belongs to a political party (PSOE) that deployed a terrorist group in the Basque Country known as GAL, a group that murdered, tortured and maimed dozens of Basque citizens. None of the members of GAL are today in jail due to certain political manouvering by the PSOE, the PP and the Spanish crown. That tells you just how hypocrite this Spaniard is.

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Eusko Flickr : Untitled



Originally uploaded by CAZASCO

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Basque Orchestra in Scotland

Well, seems like this summer Scotland will be under the spell of the Basque culture. We just mentioned an article about a Basque delegation to the Inverness Highland Games and now thanks to EiTB we learn about the Basque Youth Orchestra being invited to perform in Aberdeen:

Basque Youth Orchestra to perform in Scotland

E. S.

The Basque Youth Orchestra is starting the summer season on July 26 in its homeland. After performing in the three Basque capitals, its members will be touring around Scotland.

The Basque Youth Orchestra (EGO in their initials in Basque) is starting its summer season on July 26 at the Principal Theatre in Vitoria-Gasteiz. After performing in the three Basque capitals (Bilbao -July 27, Euskalduna Palace-, Donostia-San Sebastian -July 29, Kursaal-) and at the Urko Sports Centre of Sopelana on July 28, its members will be touring around Scotland.

The orchestra is taking part at the Aberdeen International Festival in Scotland, an event aimed to support the young in the world of arts, as the EGO said in a statement. Over 30,000 people are expected to visit a ten-day long festival which counts on more than 70 events scheduled.

From August 1 to 5, the young orchestra will be performing in venues such as 'His Majesty's Theatre in Aberdeen or at the 'Perth Concert Hall' in the Scottish town of the same name. The EGO will be accompanied by other European bands like the Northhollands Youth Orchestra, the Iceland Youth Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland or the Inverness Youth Orchestra.


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Basque Delegation at Inverness Games

This article was published at The Press and Journal:

Games to have international appeal

Record number of overseas competitors visiting Inverness for Masters World Championships

Jane Candlish

This year’s Inverness Highland Games will have an international feel, organisers said yesterday.

A record number of foreign competitors – more than 80 from 10 countries – will take part in the Masters World Championships, including the first participants from Japan and France.

And there will be a Basque feel to the whole afternoon as the Nazioen Mundua Display Team demonstrate their traditional games.

The Pyrenees group will take part in wood-chopping, stone-lifting, anvil-lifting, bale-lifting, tug o’ war and sawing.

The group made their debut in Inverness last year, with a display in Falcon Square.

The 65-strong Nazioen Mundua Party will also include traditional Basque dancers, singers and musicians and a team of Basque Yoaldunak marchers.

Yoalduna means “he who has the bells" and each marcher has two giant metal bells attached to their sheepskin jacket and the sound of ringing can be heard from some distance away.

The event, which is part of the Inverness Summer Festival, will start at the Bught Park at 11.30am on Saturday, with the shinty World Cup final between Fort William and Portree.

Heavy events will start at 1pm each day.

A spectacular opening ceremony will see the first appearance of the new official Inverness Highland Games tartan.

Inverness Provost Jimmy Gray will be the first wearer of the specially designed tartan.

The Inverness Highland Games will be the largest gathering yet staged in the Highland Capital since the event was revived in 1822.

More than 10,000 spectators are expected to attend the event, which will feature more than 600 competitors and performers.


In the last few years Scotland has joined Nabarra in the front line of the demand for self determination of the European nations trapped by the outdated but generalized conception of state. This is why we think it is positive that both nations send their own delegations so we can weave a tight net of solidarity so our voice is heard loud and clear in the European and international institutions.

For more information about the Inverness Highland Games visit their page.

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Integrating Through Own Identity

Here you have a note published at Basqueresearch:

Basqueness is an element of social integration for the Basque communities in the United States

A PhD thesis undertaken at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) involved the ethnographic study of young dancers belonging to the Zazpiak Bat Basque Club based at Reno (Nevada, USA). Using this case, how the dances and activities of the Basque communities intervene in the process of multicultural socialization in the United States, was studied.

The PhD thesis aimed to show the subjectivity of persons making up the Basque community in the United States, to which end a study was undertaken of how the dances and activities of these Basque communities in that country intervene in the process of multicultural socialization in that North American country.

The author of the thesis is Ms Clara Urdangarin Liebaert and has entitled her work Dancing the Jauzi under the stars and stripes: an ethnographic study of the Zazpiak Bat Group of Dancers from Reno, Nevada. In order to carry out this research she stayed at Reno from February 2003 to January 2004.

Through the rehearsals and performances and so on of the Basque folk dantzaris from Reno, the researcher was able to see how a code of communication adjusted to the social context in the United States was internalized. Thus, Basqueness is an element of social integration in this multicultural society.

Internal and external logic

The author analyzed the relationship between the internal logic of the Basque dances and the external logic of the dancer. Each one of these logics is divided into four sections, each as a function of the relation of the subject to space, to time, to the other actors and to objects.

The socialization of United States Basques as demonstrated in this work is within a social context characterized by a multiracial society which strives to marry the different origins of its inhabitants with the social cohesion of the country. To a certain extent, the features distinguishing Basques from other ethnic groups in the United States have the features of multiculturality: a United States citizen linked to an immigrant origin, identified with customs and a desire for brotherhood with other groups.

The results show the characteristics of the internal logic of Basque dancing and the social framework in which it happens. The Basque dance in the United States presents a citizen who associates with other Basque citizens to form a group and thus build their identity within the framework of North American minorities. In this way, the Basque fiestas construct a Basque who presents himself or herself to the multicultural community with pride. The Basques dance in order to exist in the multiethnic mosaic that is the United States.

Material culture

Material culture —culture associated with objects— shows a United States person who uses objects of consumption linked to his or her own identity. In the same way, Basque activities underpin their identity —peaked caps embroidered with brotherhood motifs, balloons and banners in white, red and green and car license plates with the inscription proud to be Basque—.

Also, the liking for uniforms is quite clear with the clothing of the dantzaris and other who actively participate in the fiesta. According to the researcher, these objects link the citizen to the group they belong to and, in this case, the Basque with his or her ethnic community.

Information about the author

Ms Clara Urdangarin Liebaert (London, 1960) is qualified as a psychiatric nurse and a graduate in Physical and Sports Education. She undertook her PhD thesis under the direction of Mr Joseba Etxebeste Otegi from the Department of Physical Education at the Faculty of Physical Sports Activities Sciences (UPV/EHU), and spent time at the Center of Basque Studies at the University of Reno (Nevada). She is currently working as a lecturer in the Department where she carried out her PhD.


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Monday, July 13, 2009

Euskaltel Euskadi and The Pyrenees

The Daily Peloton page has published an article about how Euskaltel Euskadi fared at the Pyrenees this year, here you have it:

Three Days in the Pyrenees

Christopher Fauske

Euskaltel-Euskadi finally has something to shout about in its back yard.

Le Tour de France comes through every year, and every year—whether the cols are early or late in the race—there is talk of how this is the stamping ground of Euskaltel-Euskadi, of how hundreds of thousands decked out in bright orange, waving the flag of the Basque country, and getting in the faces of riders will astonish the millions watching on TV, many of them clueless about the root cause of the fervor.

And each year when it is over, commentators and cynics alike are left wondering why, how, once again, the team from the Basque country didn’t really figure in the races.

For the 2009 version of the race, the team talked down expectations before the start. Amets Txurruka had reflected that “personally, I would prefer for the Pyrenees to come towards the end, because when other people are fresh it’s more difficult for me to stand out. At any rate, these are special stages for us and we will try to put on a good show for our fans.”

The first week’s racing played out to include some utterly unexpected time losses for potential GC leaders and highlighted the apparent dominance of Astana, with only Columbia-HTC and Garmin-Slipstream at first offering a challenge. But there were also some individual stage wins that no one saw coming and races-within-races developed. Euskaltel-Euskadi, though, was suffering, most noticeably during the TTT through Barcelona when team captain Mikel Astarloza fell twice. He later expressed gratitude to the team for limiting his loss to mere “minutes.” Importantly, though, the team responded to Astarloza’s falls that day as a team, and it was that attitude that would influence its approach in the Pyrenees.

Day one in the Pyrenees (stage 7) saw Egoi Martinez join a nine-man breakaway that stayed away to the end, ultimately crossing the line alone in fifth place, 45 seconds back. The day’s outing eased him up to fourth place in the King of the Mountains competition. But no one seemed to notice particularly, and stage 8 saw the squad send Astarloza on to the attack from the start. While stage 7 was the only mountain-top finish in the Pyrenees, there were enough climbing challenges on stage 8 for the breakaway to be whittled down as the day wore on, and after the Col d'Agnes Astarloza was one of only four riders to settle into the task of staying away for the final 40KM. He was rewarded with a third place finish, gaining 1’ 54” on the race leaders.

Despite the third place finish, frustration showed in his remarks that “Honestly, I don’t know what else can we do to achieve a stage victory.” Still, he reflected, “I have taken some time [out of the GC leaders]. We went for the victory and those two minutes are a little reward for so much work."

Stage 9 revealed that Euskaltel-Euskadi was not just launching riders each day in hopes of a stage win in the local mountains, a strategy that would most likely have seen Igor Antón get the nod for the final stage. Instead, Martinez attacked once more, this time supported by Txurruka. On the Col d’Aspin, the two of them joined the remains of an earlier escape and by the Col du Tourmalet they had firmly established themselves. Martinez, who had quietly picked up 11 KOM points on stage 8, snagged 8 more points on the Col d’Aspin and 16 on Col du Tourmalet before re-joining the chasing peloton, mission accomplished, and ending the day in the Polka Dot Jersey.

It was, he said later, something of importance to the team, and to him personally: “ [After my fifth place one stage 7] I said we are a team that has trouble winning. Yesterday, Mikel Astarloza was very strong but could not finish his great work.”

“Last night the team agreed we had to do everything possible to win the Polka Dot jersey and that we had a lot of work to do.” This was the team’s focus, and “Amets Txurruka has done an incredible job,” Martinez offered.

Toward the end of the day, after the racing was over and the circus was preparing to move on, Martinez made his way to the team bus, where he was met by team president Miguel Madariaga, who embraced his rider while reportedly close to tears. “This is the first time in the history of our team we have this jersey that is so beloved by Basque fans," Madariaga told the media who remained.

DS Igor González de Galdeano then announced the team’s intentions: “We will see if we can keep it!" Which might just change the strategy for the Alps, but before next weekend come stages of various complexion, all with a few mountain points on offer here and there, and, as Thor Hushovd neatly demonstrated on stage eight, those small points can matter.

And as George Hincapie in turn showed, one way to protect a points jersey for a teammate, or, at least, to limit the damage, is to go out and grab them for yourself. It may be that prior to the Alps, Martinez is protected not just by his own accomplishments but by his teammates attacking to protect the points on offer. And all the while Astarloza will wait for the Alps, which, as he reminds people, “have treated me very well, and in the third week [of the Tour] endurance runners like me should benefit.”

For now, though, the image that is captured in Basque eyes is that of one of their own, Egoi Martinez, on the podium in red and white. It’s not bright orange, but no one minds.


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The Fascist Friendly Catholic Church

It is not enough, you could actually file this one under the "too little, too late" label, but at least it brings into the lime light one historic fact that is often denied by revisionist historians, the Catholic Church supported the fascist dictatorship of Francisco Franco, a murderous regime that lasted forty years. This note regarding the ceremony by the Basque Autonomous Community's bishops to ask for an apology for their silence regarding the execution of Basque priests by Francisco Franco's troops during the so called Spanish Civil War was published at The Telegraph:

Basque Bishops call for Catholic Church apology

Bishops in the Basque Country have urged the Roman Catholic Church to apologise for its silence over the killing of priests by General Francisco Franco's Right-wing forces during the Spanish Civil War.

Fiona Govan

Spain's Catholic Church supported Franco's uprising against the elected Left-wing Republican government. While the Church has always honoured the thousands of clergy who died at the hands of the Republicans, those who were killed by Franco have been officially ignored.

In an unprecedented step, a service was held in the cathedral of the Basque Country's capital, Vitoria, to remember 14 priests who were killed by Franco's forces during the 1936-39 war.

"The silence with which officials of our Church surrounded the deaths of these priests is not justifiable, nor acceptable for much longer," said Miguel Asurmendi, the Catholic bishop of Vitoria, during the ceremony.

"Such a long silence was not only a wrongful omission, but also a lack of truth and an act against justice and charity."

The Catholic Church has beatified hundreds of "martyrs" who were killed by the Republicans, who were explicitly anticlerical. Pope Benedict XVI staged the largest beatification ceremony ever in October 2007 when he honoured almost 500 Spanish priests, monks and nuns who died in this way.

There are plans for another such ceremony, sparking further criticism by Spaniards who feel the Church should atone for having supported Franco's regime, which lasted until the general's death in 1975.

Spain has made great strides in coming to terms with the trauma of its recent history. Two years ago, the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero passed the Historic Memory Law, which recognises Franco's victims.


Sadly, the author chooses to give Zapatero a free pass. Yes, a Historic Memory Law was passed under this government but it is actually a watered down version of the original. Zapatero made sure that this Law would represent no danger to the Spanish elites that today uphold Francisco Franco's principles, a Law that erects all kinds of roadblocks for the NGO's trying to literally unearth the truth of what happened. After all, Zapatero works directly for Juan Carlos Borbon, a "king" that was selected by Francisco Franco himself to perpetuate his regime.

No, regarding the Basque bishops act of contrition, it is not enough with asking for forgiveness. The damage caused must be repaired. The names of the priests that murdered Republicans must be provided, the Catholic Church archives have to be available for researchers and truth commissions, the continuous support of the Catholic Church towards fascist regimes must be denounced. Asking for forgiveness leads to nothing. What's so courageous about condemning yesterday's executions when today you join ranks with the direct descendants of those who ordered the executions?

Truth and justice, trial and punishment for those responsible. That's what they must demand, not just play it easy and resort to a deceitful request for forgiveness.

Asking for forgiveness does not right a wrong, only justice does. Not forgotten, not forgiven, a loud and clear no to reconciliation.

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Saturday, July 11, 2009

Friday, July 10, 2009

Bilbao's Quarry

Every year around this time we are witness to the dance of the "billion euros legs". The football teams in Europe do everything and anything they can to secure the services of one of the top players in the different leagues across the continent. This year was exceptional, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's team Real Madrid hired two of the top players in the world: Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaká. They want to be able to compete against the best team in Europe, Catalonya's pride Barcelona.

But there is one team in Europe that refuses to enter this maelstrom, Athletic de Bilbao... Nabarra's pride. Here you have this article featuring Athletic published at SoccerLens:

Athletic Bilbao and ‘Cantera’

Alasdair Sim

Chances are that if you’re in the pub with your friends and the inevitable topic of football is discussed, and perhaps less inevitably Spanish football is mentioned (unless it’s a dig at Real Madrid), then Athletic Club Bilbao will not be high on the list of subjects.

But perhaps it should be. Amongst the arguments of ‘who’s better Messi or Ronaldo’, ‘who will David Villa join’, and, ‘oh by the way who’s round is it’, Athletic Club barely get a look in. However in today’s ever declining lack of footballing morals, ethics and loyalty, Athletic Bilbao at least deserve a drunken supportive rant.

Formed by British migrant workers in 1898, Bilbao has become somewhat of a romanticised club. They are team whom are idealised in a modern world where cheap footballing imports and the EU have almost brought the great youth systems of Europe it their knees.

Gone are the days of the Lisbon Lions who won the 1967 European Cup with players who were all born within 30 miles of Glasgow. Look at every Premier League team in England, only an average of 3 English players per team start every weekend. And yet, in a small part of Northern Spain a team has consistently defied the globalization of football and strove to preserve its values and fundamental beliefs in an age where football is slowly falling into an abyss filled with greed, monetization and self-interest.

The sun quietly descends behind the Stadio San Mamés, or ‘The Cathedral’ if you’re a Los Leones, as it is still sometime before the hustle and bustle of the new La Liga season comes to these shores. When you think of all the great names that have graced this pitch: the prolific Telmo Zarra, José Ángel Iribar and Joseba Etxeberria to name just a few you begin to see the curiosity and interés that surrounds this club. They are all Basque. They all hail from the Basque region of Northern Spain. And what makes the club more intriguing is that since 1912, almost 100 years ago, the Athletic Bilbao team has only consisted on Basque players. Remarkable. Do you think you would ever see Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson only playing footballers born in London or Manchester?

This policy of Cantera (literally ‘quarry’) is one that the club, the supporters and the Basque people are immensely proud of. By implementing this policy the club is ensuring the survival and promotion of the Basque game, they choose to nature their own talent rather than buy an import. It is also more than this. It is a stand against centralization. A voice that yells “we are Basque!”. During the 28 year reign of General Franco the Basque people suffered terrible oppression; their unique language, culture, customs, style were all banned, persecuted and oppressed because they didn’t fit in with the ideal of a one-nation Spain. It was conform or suffer the consequences. Support for Bilbao was a vote against Franco. Much in the same way that Barcelona is self-described as ‘more than a club’, Athletic Bilbao are similar, but they take it a step further.

And yet, not everyone looks upon Athletic Bilbao as the ideal football club.. Admittedly these critics mainly come from outside the region but perhaps they do have a point when they say that Cantera is restrictive to Bilbao’s progress. While it has cemented its position in footballing history as a club that is genuinely local (if you overlook the fact that it was created by foreigners), it has also been somewhat left behind when it comes to success.

They haven’t won a domestic trophy since 1984 and since we have entered the 21st century their highest finish has been 5th. Not bad you might say considering they are up against the likes of Real, Barcelona and Valencia who can open their cheque books and sign anyone from any part of the world, but when you consider their success historically in that they have won 8 La Liga titles and sit 3rd behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in terms of league titles won; the policy of Cantera looks outdated and obsolete. A throwback to a distant age when football was idyllic and naïve.

And yet this isn’t the view of the club nor the fans. Their president, Fernando Garcia Macua, announced that “we’d rather go down than change our habits, I know the supporters feel the same.” They have only a 3 million strong population in which to find their next Telmo Zarra.

If the Arsenal Board decided that the club could only buy players that are part of, or have descended from, the 7.5m people that live in London there would be a revolt. But yet we look upon Bilbao as well, somehow right and honorable. Of course clubs should have a ‘local’ presence, of course they should protect and nurture their own; it’s a sorry state of affairs that most clubs have neither the will nor the courage to do so.

So next time you’ve have one too many Carlsbergs in the local and have moved on to why Messi is a hundred times better than Ronaldo, spare a thought for Bilbao. Because unless the Basque country has a sudden baby boom of superstars, Cantera might not be around for another 100 years.


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Running With the Hemingways

Sanfermines, the main festivity in the Basque country which takes place the second week of July in the capital city of Iruñea (known also as Pamplona) and the iconic US writer Ernest Hemingway will be forever some sort of symbiotic entities.

Regarding this connection between the Sanfermines and Hemingway we strongly recommend that you read the book "San Fermingway" by Mundaka's writer Edorta Jimenez, in the mean time we leave you with this article published at the Irish Times:

Hemingways give the bulls a good run for their money

John Fleming

PAMPLONA LETTER: Some bearded gents compete to get in character. Oh and the sun also rises

HERE THEY come running and snorting, muscular and well-fed, thundering through the cobbled streets of Pamplona. Most are sure-footed but others slump heavily against the cordoning walls of the Basque town. While some have bull necks, these guys also have beards and many have American accents.

Coiffured and growling in voices laced with cigar smoke, they came just in advance of the week-long San Fermin festival with its bull run taking place at 8am each day. They have a specific purpose apart from running with the bulls or observing them from safety. One and all, they are here in Pamplona for the first international Ernest Hemingway lookalike competition.

The manly gun-loving bull-idolatrist writer was part of a coterie of Americans whose reverse voyage of discovery to the old world led them to a rediscovery of Spain in the first half of the 20th century.

Holed up in the Navarra capital’s old city, Illinois-born Hemingway wrote the textbook on bull running and fighting. Revering it as a spectacle of blood and lust and soft machismo, he was a literary anthropologist firing a blunderbuss of adjectives into noble savages (bull and man), much in the way Robert Flaherty framed Irish islanders in Man of Aran in 1934.

But Hemingway was a participant observer, living among the peasants. He was drawn to visit Pamplona on nine occasions starting in 1923, staying for the most part in the Hotel Perla.

In the main square, Plaza del Castillo, under a long arcade, like many a writer the world over, he sat and drank and stared at the sinking sun. His novel The Sun Also Rises appeared in 1926, putting the town of Pamplona and its reverence of the bull on the international map.

In 1957, four years before he died, Hollywood made a film of the novel, shooting it on location in Pamplona with Errol Flynn and Ava Gardner and projecting the city firmly into the world’s consciousness. His favourite bar in the plaza now bears his name and is the focus of this impersonator competition held a half-century on from his last visit.

Hemingway liked to nurse a drink. It can seem difficult to find a bar in any touristy quarter anywhere that does not proclaim him as one of its more famous frequenters. The man’s fondness for spreading his custom is often mocked – be it by a bar on Plaza Santa Ana in Madrid that guarantees its clients they are in the one bar where Hemingway certainly did not drink. Or here in Pamplona, where a “Hemingway Pizza” joint waves a red flag to ardent literary pilgrims and cooks in soft mockery with its buffalo mozzarella.

Gangs of young Spaniards, Australians, Englanders and others flock in on buses in a parade of bravado, combining surfing holidays in San Sebastian and crossborder Biarittz with the running of the bulls. As they get set for an eight-day street orgy of wine-bathing and over-consumption of sangria, some portly gents arrive as leisurely guests of the government of Navarra’s office of culture and tourism.

While the energetic young ones don Daz-whiteness T-shirt and trouser outfits and tie red cravats around their necks and feel part of a history bigger and even crazier than their over-enthusiastic selves, the old chaps are thoughtfully decapitating decent cigars and getting ready to roll on down to the unlikely talent show.

All the finalists grind down through the streets to the central plaza. They are now fully in character, all beards and bellies, and must perform for a while as the celebrated writer.

They charge past tattooed young hedonists on Interrail passes just finished their first-year exams. They cut through stunning Spanish youths who know this fiesta of bulls mauls the internet back into its box.

They nod to similar-aged locals whose ardour for San Fermin never flags but whose intensity of celebration now finds form in the preparation and consumption of excellent cod stew.

The product of the best bovine breeding, some of the international Hemingway doubles are veterans of qualifying heats elsewhere.

But the only heat here is the 36 degrees bombarding these greying men.


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Thursday, July 09, 2009

The Other Red Wine Cocktail

Slowly but surely a Basque concoction is becoming the favorite party drink around the world. Its name? Kalimotxo.

Here you have some info from Austin 360:

Calimochos (The other red wine cocktail)

Addie Broyles

Sangria might be the king of exported Spanish drinks, but calimochos — a drink that originated in the Basque region that combines red wine, Coke and lemon juice — are just as beloved. Calimochos are cheap, easy (no cutting up of fruits) and contain ingredients you can get a convenience store.

The combination of red wine and cola sounds disgusting, I know, but in the five years since I lived in Alicante, Spain, I've introduced hundreds of people to this drink and few have turned me down for seconds.

There are endless regional variations throughout Europe of drinks involving wine and other beverages (pink wine and lemonade, white wine and Sprite, etc.), but this is the only one I continue to drink.

The recipe is simple: Half cola, half red wine, with a squeeze of lemon and plenty of ice. Cheap wine works best, as does a bottle of wine that's been open for a few days. As with all drink recipes, tweak the proportions to your taste.


Funny thing, Alicante is not in the Basque Country.

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Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Sanfermines : Time Magazine 1932

Because of its historic value we thank Time Magazine for publishing this article about the Sanfermines in Iruñea from back in 1932:

Animals: Pamplona's Encierros

Monday, Jul. 11, 1932

For 51 weeks of the year the capital of Navarra is a sleepy little Spanish city where half-naked children play in the narrow streets and café waiters doze under the arcades of the broad, quiet Plaza de la Constitucíon. But in the second week of July, Pamplona becomes bull-mad, its streets and plaza are full of snuffing, rushing bulls. Hotels and rooming houses overflow with visitors from Madrid, Bilbao, San Sebastian, with tourists from St. Jean-de-Luz, Biarritz and Paris. Peasants from miles around sleep in wagons, in the fields, or do not sleep at all. For four days from 6 a. m. until long after midnight sleep is next to impossible while Pamplona celebrates the Fiesta of San Fermín, its patron saint. There are bullfights, street dancing, parades of huge grotesque figures, much drinking of strong Spanish wine. But by far the most exciting ceremony—one which takes place only at Pamplona—is the encierro (driving of the bulls).

Soon after dawn the first day of the fiesta this week, hundreds of youths gathered at the edge of town near the railroad station. Men climbed upon six big cages, reached down and opened them. Out walked six bulls, blinking in the sunlight. They were strong, lithe, handsome, each branded with the mark of Don Ernesto Blanco. They looked around, uncertain what to do, until from the crowd of youths came a yell: "Hah! Hah! . . . Toro!" The bulls lowered their heads, charged the crowd. The crowd took to its heels, the bulls stampeding in pursuit.

Through the narrow streets rushed the yelling rabble of boys and young men, while women cheered from the safety of windows. From every doorway came male recruits to swell the throng. Across the city they ran, the foremost bull not three paces behind the last man. At the plaza the path of the encierro is marked by fences, behind which hundreds of tourists and visitors watched. A few, carried away by the excitement, vaulted the fence, joined the runners. Occasionally a runner fell, lay still while the bulls, their eyes on the moving mass, pounded over them. From the plaza the chase poured into another small street, then men & bulls made one mad rush for the entrance of the bull ring.

The gate is far too small to let all through at once. Those who could not get in fell to the ground. Men piled upon men, bulls leaped over a human wall and charged snorting into the ring. There they found men waving coats, shirts, rags—anything that remotely resembled a matador's cape. The bulls charged here & there. Sometimes a novice held his bull's attention, executed several passes. Sometimes he went down with a horn wound in his leg.

Into this bedlam now trotted a bunch of steers. The bulls charged, goring the steers at first but gradually making friends with them, quieting down in the company of fellow cattle. Then the steers led the bulls out to pens under the arena.


The failed to mention anything regarding the Basque identity of this tradition, but at least they did mention Navarra and not just Spain.

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Eusko Flickr : Ajuntament Etxarri


AJUNTAMENT ETXARRI
Originally uploaded by Dani Morell

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Bulls and Hemingway

In this article published by Time Magazine you will get some basic information about the main festivity in Euskal Herria, the Sanfermines in Iruñea:

The Running of the Bulls

Randy James

As they have each July for centuries, the narrow, cobblestone streets of Pamplona, Spain, are thundering with the sound of charging bulls. The weeklong annual celebration originated as a religious festival to honor St. Fermin, the patron saint of this small city in Spain's northern Basque region. Today the festival attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world, many of whom are drawn to its world-famous encierro, or running of the bulls, which begins July 7 and was made famous outside Spain by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 classic The Sun Also Rises.

The running of the bulls began as a way to move bulls from Pamplona's corral to its bullfighting ring. The animals would run the roughly half-mile stretch as children and adults herded them with shouts and sticks. The practice may date back as far as the 13th century, but it is known to have continued virtually uninterrupted since 1592, when the festival was moved from September to July. People are thought to have joined the herd sometime in the 1800s.

Nowadays, thousands of participants from around the world dash through Pamplona's streets trailed by charging bulls. Thousands more watch from safe nooks and balconies along the route, and spectators can also follow the events on national TV. Every morning from July 7 to 14, hordes of daredevils gather in a historic section of the city, many dressed in traditional garb and carrying rolled-up newspapers to swat the bulls if necessary. They sing a traditional homage to St. Fermin, asking him to guide them through the run. After two small rockets are fired, six bulls are released (along with a herd of steers), and the chase is on. The event generally takes just a few minutes.

As one might imagine, running with an angry, half-ton bull on your heels is not a particularly safe pastime. Since 1924, 14 people have been killed at the St. Fermin festival; the last to be fatally gored was a 22-year-old American, Matthew Tassio, in 1995. Witnesses said Tassio was knocked to the ground by a bull, then got up again and was struck by a second animal — a violation of the axiom that runners should remain on the ground if they get knocked down. Many people are injured each year, by both the animals and the crush of sprinters frantically making their way to the bullfighting arena on slippery cobblestones. Observers say foreigners — especially, for some reason, Americans — are most likely to be injured. "Americans come here with the image of The Sun Also Rises and just don't realize how dangerous it is and how easy it is to trip up," Daniel Ross, an American vice consul in Spain, told the New York Times after Tassio's accident.

Another factor fueling injuries in Pamplona is alcohol. As Hemingway chronicled, the festival is awash in wine and sangria, and runners partake copiously during long nights of partying. Participating in the run while tipsy is against the festival's rules, but violations are common. Another oft broken requirement is that all runners be at least 18 years of age. Many Spaniards were outraged to see televised images of a smiling 10-year-old boy dashing through the streets of Pamplona in 2007. The boy's mother was horrified as well; her ex-husband, who took the youngster to the festival, lost his visitation rights and was fined $200.


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Saturday, July 04, 2009

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Solidarity With Etxeberria in Venezuela

This article was published at VHeadline:

AD thugs attack solidarity with the Basques activists outside Supreme Court

Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The Solidarity with The Basque People has organized another rally in front of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) in Caracas protesting against the possible extradition of Inaki Etxeberria to Spain.

According to a spokesperson, Etxeberria has been living legally in Venezuela for more than 12 years and the group accuses the State of illegally arresting Inaki in Valencia, Carabobo on April 21.

According to Venezuelan law, the case should have been declared proscribed because of the 15 years and four months that had passed since Etxeberria was charged in Spain for assassination.

The arrest warrant issued by Interpol, the spokesperson adds, contains contradictions in stating the actual terms surrounding charges.

The TSJ has not ruled on the matter, a spokesman comments, despite the fact that the Attorney General has declared that the case does not merit extradition.

However, it emerges that the protesters were attacked by opposition sectors that turned up outside the building accompanying Metropolitan Mayor Antonio Ledezma and opposition hardliner, Oscar Perez.

According to a report published by Aporrea.org, those supporting the Basque revolutionary were attacked with sticks and fists by Accion Democratica (AD) thugs.

Organizers complain that the Metropolitan Police (PM) not only failed to provide any protection, even though the anti-extradition group was there first but also forced them aside with tear gas to allow Ledezma, Perez and followers through to the TSJ building.


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Strasbourg Upholds Spain's Apartheid

This article was published at Easy Bourse:

Court Ruling On Spain's Batasuna Ban "Bad News" - Leader

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AFP)--A ruling by the European Court of Human Rights upholding Spain's decision to ban the Basque separatist organization Batasuna is "very bad news," the group's leader said Wednesday.

Conceding that Spain had won a political battle, Arnaldo Otegi told a press conference in the northern Spanish city of San Sebastian that it was also a "serious mistake."

"It gives political cover to the state of apartheid in the Basque Country," he said.

In three rulings, the Strasbourg court rejected all the petitions of the Herri Batasuna and Batasuna organizations, which had tried to register as political parties in 2001 but were declared unconstitutional by the Spanish government and disbanded in March 2003.

The groups had appealed to the court on the grounds that their rights to freedom of association and expression had been violated.

But the court said disbanding the parties was a response "to a pressing social need," given their ties to Basque militant group ETA, listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the U.S.

"Given the situation in Spain for several years regarding terrorist attacks, these ties can be considered objectively as a threat to democracy," said the court, backing the position of the Spanish authorities.

The judges said the Basque parties "contradicted the concept of a 'democratic society' and presented a major danger to Spain's democracy."

Otegi said the ruling smacked of the "war on terror" declared by former U.S. president George W. Bush," adding that Batasuna's demand for negotiations with Spain leading to the right of self-determination for the Basques was unaltered.


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Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Extreme Basqueness

This article and recipes come to you courtesy of Canton Rep:

Extreme surroundings yield extreme cuisine

Jim Hillibish

Imagine living in rugged mountain territory isolated from the 21st Century. Your land spreads over two vastly different nations.

As with many things Basque, cooking reflects their culture. These are tough sheepherders and fishermen along the Pyrenees separating France and Spain. Their isolation has allowed their culture to grow. They are accustomed to doing things their own way and protect this freedom from the outside.

The result is a cuisine drawing from the countries it touches. Then the Basque Way is applied — supercharging with strong ingredients, getting the absolute most flavor out of everything. This is not subtle stuff. Your own most flavorful American recipe would be considered way bland here.

They use strong olive oil in almost everything, and garlic to the point of tears.

Stews and soups simmer for hours. A Basque cook shakes the pan violently where we would stir. He (men often do the cooking) produces dishes ahead, knowing that flavors increase with advance preparation.

Spanish tapas, the appetizers so popular in bars worldwide, started with the Basques. Now we know why they are flavor-packed. Chorizo is another Basque contribution, a dried or semi-cured sausage of potent power from heavy and heady use of pepper and hot paprika.

Basques have endured a number of scatterings as their people seek better lives in new countries. A million of them live in Chile. There are major concentrations in Mexico. The few who have made it to the United States seek territory similar to their home country, many in Idaho. Boise has a sizable Basque population, and the restaurants to prove it.

Chorizo in wine is simple but hearty enough to be consumed only with homemade bread. Basque pot roast features the flavors of bacon, pork and garlic all melded together in a powerful mix. This is classic Basque technique.


CHORIZO IN WINE

1 pound chorizo, the softer semi-cured instead of the dried hard-cured
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup dry white wine
1 baby leaf
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Slice the chorizo into inch-long rounds. Brown in oil and drain off the fat. Add wine and boil. Add bay leaf and pepper flakes, reduce to low, cover and simmer 45 minutes.

Serves four with a loaf of homemade bread and butter.


BASQUE PORK ROAST

4 slices bacon, thick cut and peppered, diced
3 pounds boneless pork roast, fat included
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 large red onion, sliced
1 large green pepper, seeded and sliced
1 small jar pimento
1/4 cup white wine

Wash and dry roast. Pierce meat with a knife in several places and insert slices of garlic. Rub with salt and pepper.

Place bacon in a heavy pot and fry until crisp. Remove bacon and add roast. Brown on all sides. Add onion, green pepper and pimento. Add wine and cover, baking slowly at 325 degrees for three hours. Drippings may be converted to gravy by heating and whisking in a tablespoon of cornstarch.

Serves 6 to 8.

Note: Lamb or venison may be substituted for pork.


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Anchovy Veto to Continue

This may sound like bad news to many but we agree that the stock needs to be replenished to make sure we do not really regret it in the future:

Anchovy veto gets year's extension on Gulf of Biscay

Staff

Before the ruling of the committed, the ban - which was due to be in force until 30th June 2009 - will be automatically extended. Basque fishermen say the decision represents "a massive blow for the fleet."

The EU's Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries confirmed on Monday the recent report by The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea which recommended that the current ban on anchovy-fishing currently in force in the Cantabrian Sea be maintained for another year, taking it up to July 2010.

In line with the ruling of the committee, which supports the view that there are still insufficient numbers of anchovies in the sea, the veto - originally in force until the end of June 2009 - will be automatically extended.

"According to the scientific verdict, the current bio-mass of anchovies is at 21,270 tonnes," in other words, at a level inferior to 24,000 tonnes, the minimum quantity at which the European Commission considers fishing to be permissible.

"As a consequence, the ban on anchovy fishing should remain until further reports indicate that the bio-mass has once again risen above the 24,000 mark."

Sources indicate that the next scientific report on the state of the fishing-ground will be published in June 2010.

Basque fishermen

Basque fishermen confirmed that the decision represented "a massive blow for the fleet" which were hoping to be able to go out fishing. Secretary for the Biscay Brotherhood Federation, Aurelio Bilbao, reiterated that the veto is already in its fifth year and was now becoming intolerable.


The note was published at EiTB.

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Eusko Flickr : Neska


Neska
Originally uploaded by Soniko