Aberri Eguna

As we cant tell for the little news coverage and the lack of enthusiasm for other people to share this important day with us, the problem with our valid yearn for freedom is not only having to deal with colonialist powers clinging to past glories, but with an international community that can care less about authentic freedom and peace seekers.

But that is ok, we were there thousands of years ago, no one could conquer us and destroy our language or culture, invasion after invasion, and it was just because of Hitler medling in our issues that the current conflict exists.

Gora Euskal Herria Askatuta!

On our own we stand, forever!

We are a land!

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Gipuzkoa

We already shared some information about Araba and Bizkaia, it is time now to pay a visit to Gipuzkoa.

Gipuzkoa is a province of Euskal Herria. It is bordered by the provinces of Bizkaia and Araba (on the W and SW respectively), Nafarroa (SE), the province of Lapurdi (E) and the Bay of Biscay.

Its area of 1,980 km2 (764 sq mi) makes it the smallest province in Hegoalde. The province numbers 88 municipalities, about a quarter of its population live in the capital, Donostia. Other important towns are Irun, Errenteria, Zarautz, Arrasate, Oñati (with an old university), Eibar, Tolosa (during a short time capital of the province), Beasain, Pasaia (the main port), Hondarribia (an old fort town).

Gipuzkoa stands out as a region of hilly and green landscape linking mountain and sea, besides being heavily populated with numerous urban nuclei that dot the whole territory. The conspicuous presence of hills and rugged terrain has added to a especial leaning towards hiking, nature and mountains on the part of Gipuzkoans. Some mountains steeped in tradition hold an iconic and emblematic significance, their summits being often topped with crosses, memorials and mountaineer postboxes. In addition, pilgrimages (which have gradually lost their former religious zeal and taken on a more secular slant) are sometimes held to their summits. Some renown and iconic mountains to mention but a few are Aiako Harria, Hernio, Txindoki, Aizkorri, Izarraitz, etc.

Gipuzkera is a dialect of the Basque language spoken in most of the region as well as neighbouring areas of Navarre, which shows a considerable vitality and holds a prominent position among other dialects. The province's patron saints are Ignatius of Loyola, who was born in the neighborhood of Loyola in the town of Azpeitia, and Our Lady of Arantzazu.

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Celebrating Aberri Eguna

Today we celebrate the Aberri Eguna all over the place in the Basque Country and among the Basques around the world, in Euskal Herria, people goes out to the streets to celebrate their national identity, and they hang Ikurrinas from the balconies and windows in their houses.

The Basque National Day, is always celebrated on Easter Sunday.

The word Aberri 'Fatherland' was coined by the Basque nationalist Sabino Arana in the late 19th century.

The practice of celebrating Aberri Eguna was itself introduced by Arana in his attempt to awake a dormant Basque identity, since then, the day has become and event of considerable importance, and it has always been celebrated except when persecution by Spanish dictatorships has prohibited this.

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Arzalluz : Hit and Miss

In this short article by the BBC the PNV's leader Xabier Arzalluz hits and misses when it comes to his view of the current events in Euskal Herria:

European press review
Friday, 29 March, 2002, 05:25 GMT

Aznar is a 'pocket Sharon'

The leader of the Basque National Party, Xabier Arzalluz, has called Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a "pocket Sharon" and compared his policies in the Basque Country to those of President George W Bush in Afghanistan, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Speaking at the party's celebration of Basque National Day, Aberri Eguna, in Bilbao, he said he wanted the Basque Country to have "its own place in Europe, not as a sublet of Spain or France".

He accused Mr Aznar of "trying to do to the Basque Country by means of the Law-based State what (dictator Francisco) Franco did by other means".

He accused the armed separatist group ETA of being "Aznar's front organization" in obscuring debate of serious issues by its attacks.

He poured scorn on ETA's recent announcement that it would continue the armed struggle as "such an immense contribution", but criticized the government's proposal to ban the political wing of ETA, Batasuna, as "providing an oxygen cylinder to ETA and moving us further away from peace".

If ETA put away its guns, Basque constitutional nationalists would have an absolute majority, Mr Arzalluz said, adding "Euskadi is the homeland of the Basques and we are the masters of our own destiny".

His comparison of Aznar to other genocidal murderers like Sharon, Franco and Bush a hit, more than a hit, a home run with loaded bases.

His miss? To oversimplify the political outcome if ETA were to give up its armed struggle. Would Sharon stop murdering Palestinians if the PLO were to call off its armed defense of Palestine?

We all know the answer.

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Reactions To Idaho's Memorial

As you can imagine there has been some reactions to Idaho's Memorial supporting Basque self-determination (as contemplated for all nations without statehood by the UN), here you have a note from Yahoo News:

Political Furor Erupts From Idaho

Mon Mar 18, 2:43 PM ET
By DAN GALLAGHER, Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The last thing anyone in Idaho expected was an international incident.

When the Idaho House took up a nonbinding resolution last week urging peaceful self-determination for Spain's Basque minority, it hardly raised an eyebrow. There are 15,000 Basques in Idaho, the biggest such community in the United States, and Basque issues occasionally come up.

State Rep. David Bieter — whose mother was Basque — introduced the measure, and 84-year-old Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa, a Basque, spoke glowingly of his heritage and praised the resolution.

"Today in the Basque country there is great joy," he said before the measure passed on a unanimous vote.

What happened next rippled all the way to the White House and beyond that to Spain.

Javier Ruperez, the Spanish ambassador to the United States, complained that the resolution was a "gratuitously unfriendly gesture" and said Spain gives a high level of autonomy to the Basque region.

He also said that failing to specifically condemn the violent Basque separatist group ETA — blamed for hundreds of deaths over the past 30 years — was like discussing Sept. 11 without mentioning al-Qaida. Ruperez was kidnapped by the ETA in 1979 and held for a month.

At the White House's request, the resolution was held up before it got to the Idaho Senate. The Bush administration set up a meeting between Idaho Basque leaders and State Department officials about possible U.S. involvement in resolving the Basque-Spain conflict.

In exchange, Idaho lawmakers changed the resolution to have it condemn the ETA, and approved the measure unanimously.

Bieter later told his colleagues: "I, like you, had no idea that we would get the world's attention."

The talk has not stopped in Idaho's Basque community, which includes a Basque Block in downtown Boise, a group of restaurants, bars and a museum built around what was once a boarding house for sheepherders.

The Basques, a people of unknown origin speaking a language that appears to be unlike any other, settled thousands of years ago on both sides of the Pyrenees, the mountains that divide present-day France and Spain. Although the Basque country has never existed as a political entity, its people have always had a sharp sense of their uniqueness and fierce pride in their language and culture. Even the Romans were content to let the Basques alone while part of the empire.

Most Idaho Basques are descendants of immigrants from the Spanish province of Viscaya, a forested region on the Bay of Biscay. Many sailed with the Spanish conquistadors to South America or fished off Labrador long before the French or English arrived.

By the late 19th century, they began migrating to America to escape war and poverty, and the men took jobs as sheepherders in the remote, high deserts of the West's Great Basin. Thousands ended up settling in Idaho and other nearby states, their descendants becoming merchants, teachers, bankers and politicians.

A second wave fled Spain when dictator Francisco Franco crushed an attempt to form a Basque nation in the 1930s. Basque Homeland and Freedom, or ETA, evolved in the late 1960s as a militant response to Franco, who banned the Basque language and other displays of their culture.

Joe Goicoechea's family was among those who fled war in Spain, coming to the West during the second Carlist War in 1873.

"My grandfather said, 'I'm not going to lose my boys in this senseless war,'" Goicoechea recalled. The ended up in Idaho's arid Jordan Valley.

Goicoechea, an 81-year-old retired iron worker, counts himself among the "Amerikanuak," or American Basques who want peaceful self-determination for relatives in the old country. "I'm anti-ETA. I'm anti-anything that takes people's lives from them," he said.

Basque community leaders said their talks with the Bush administration in the past week generated a commitment for further discussions in the next month or two about the possibility of the U.S. government getting involved in brokering the Basque conflict.

The State Department has declined comment on further talks, and the experts seem split on what they could mean. "If what comes out of it might be an opening for some kind of dialogue, then the political impact would be far greater than they thought it would be," said Carolyn Patty Blum, who specializes in human rights law at the University of California at Berkeley.

Jorge Ramirez, an international affairs expert at Texas Tech University, said he believes any kind of communication has value. But he said: "Will anything come of it? I seriously doubt it."

Is funny how easily people are fooled by the red herring placed by Spain regarding this matter, they speak of violence and they all think of ETA, yet, no one talks about the several crimes committed by Spain during 500 years of their genocidal occupation of Euskal Herria (the Basque Country).

Oh, and by the way, Navarre (the Basque kingdom) was a sovereign and independent political entity for 800 years, maybe Dan Gallagher should get his facts right instead of parroting whatever the fascist Ruperez has to say about the Basque Country.

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Pete Cenarrusa

Pete Cenarrusa is the Idaho Secretary of State, last week, he led the Basque community to sign a memorial aiming towards the resolution of the Basque Issue, he is the most prominent Basque politician in Idaho, where there is a community of 20,000 Basque Americans.

The original memorial came under fire from the Spanish ambassador to the US since it did not mention ETA (the Basque pro-independence group that has recently been branded a terrorist organization by the State Department), Mr. Cenarrusa talked to President Bush and agreed to add a condemn to ETA's violence into the memorial, this time the memorial was approved by every single politician in Idaho, and obtained from Bush the promise that the US government will look into a resolution to the Basque self determination.

Letters have been sent to the Prime Ministers of Spain and France, the President of Nafarroa and the Lehendakari of the Basque Autonomous Comunity.

Through pacific ways, the Basque American community brought more attention to the Basque yearn for self determination than years of violence, ironically, after the war, when the Basques were one more ally against the Fascists, they had the option of going to war (they had the weapons and they had volunteers to come and help from all over Europe, and without Hitler, Spain was weak) or negotiate (option offered by the Allies, since they have promised to clean Europe from every fascist dictator, and Franco was one of them).

The Basque society, having experienced war for 9 years decided to negotiate, negotiations never came, the Allies soon forgot their promise since they had to face a new threat, the Soviet Union. Franco imposed his reign of terror in the Basque Country, that violence generated more violence, he divided the Basque Country into two political entities, he murdered, tortured and incarcerated any Basque that opposed his regime.

But the indomitable Basque spirit survived, and today, that dream of freedom still lives in their hearts. Now they know that the children of the Basque Diaspora have the same dream, the same yearn.

What Idaho did is creating a new awareness among the Basque communities around the world, it was like a voice that awakened a concert of echoes. Many wrong doings were committed against our people, maybe is the time to make it right.

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The Ambassador's Letter

As you know by now (and thanks to the text about Pete Cenarrusa that I posted yesterday), the State of Idaho is working on a memorial to defend the right of Euskal Herria (The Basque Country) to its self determination.

Well, what you are about to read is a letter sent by the Spanish Ambassador Javier Ruperez to the state of Idaho's congressmen:

Dear Congressman:

I have just received a copy of the proposed House Joint Memorial #14 with which the House of Representatives and the Senate of the State of Idaho aim to speak out on violence in the Basque region.

Nothing is more deserving of respect than the daily work carried out in democratic countries by the legislative chambers as they deal with matters of interest to the citizens who elect them--I myself was a member of such a legislature for many years.

Nonetheless, one of the most difficult tasks of the legislative process is to obtain adequate information, and not just that which has been manipulated by self-interested parties.

It is not my purpose in this letter to provide the information lacking in the proposed House Joint Memorial, which I invite you to obtain through the means you see fit, but I would like to briefly underscore a few important facts:

The Basque region is granted by the Spanish Constitution and by its Statutes of Autonomy the greatest level of self-government of any region of Europe.

The Basques, like the rest of the Spanish people, have been determining their own future in each and every one of the successive democratic elections held since the restoration of democracy to Spain in 1977, and each time those who favor terror receive less and less popular support.

It is true, as the proposed Joint Memorial states in one of its rare instances of accuracy, that aside from a marginalized fraction of the population, the vast majority of the Basque people reject violence. It is therefore astounding, but very revealing, that a document which purports to contribute to ending that violence is not at all directed at those who practice it, those who with their lies and distortions promote it, those who through their silence support it. Esteemed Congressman, to not even mention ETA in a document concerning violence in the Basque region, is like speaking of September 11th without even referring to Al-Qaeda.

Esteemed Congressman, the terrible tragedy of September 11th and the subsequent war against terrorism have unmasked those who try to distinguish between "bad" terrorism and "good" terrorism, terrorism that hits you at home and terrorism that is far removed from your experience. Today we have all learned to call things by their rightful names and to distinguish only between terrorists and their victims.

Honorable Congressman, the position of the Government of the United States has always been very clear with regard to the situation in the Basque region. And the Basque people and all Spaniards are very much aware of President Bush's recent expressions of solidarity.

Therefore, no one in the Basque region or throughout Spain would understand such a gratuitously unfriendly gesture on the part of the legislature of Idaho and the misinformation which has given life to the measure does not excuse it.

Honorable Congressman, I respectfully invite you to reject the proposed Joint Memorial. If you truly want to contribute to peace in the Basque region, I urge you to direct yourselves to ETA and its accomplices and ask them to stop killing and to comply with the oft-repeated will of the by-far vast majority of the Basque people and of the rest of Spain

Sincerely

Javier Rupérez

Ambassador of Spain

Embajada de España en Washington
2375 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20327

The Basques are not Spaniars just like they are not French, the Basques have been inhabitating their land sinche long before Spain and France became states. The right to the self determination of a nation without statehood is protected by a UN resolution, it is therefore not up to Spain nor France to decide the future of Euskal Herria, that future can only be decided by the Basques.

Regarding the violence I would like to remind Mr. Ruperez that Spain has murdered thousands of Basques throughout history. Spain conquered Navarra (the Basque Kingdom) after a long war and there has been several attempts by the Basque people to regain their sovereignty and independence. Is good to remember now that the Basques sided with the Allies during WWII while Franco volunteer his soldiers to fight along Hitler.

Now you can see to which extent the Spaniards can go when it comes to their campaign of lies and misconceptions against Euskal Herria and the Basque people.

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Cenarrusa's Dignified Defiance

He is not leaving without a fight.

Here is the note that the Idaho Statesman published today about Pete Cenarrusa's efforts to push a Memorial throgh Idaho's legislature, a Memorial that would recognize the right of Euskal Herria to its independence.

Here you have the note:

Cenarrusa not taking the quiet road to retirement

The Idaho Statesman 11-03-2002

Dan Popkey

Instead of quietly accepting good wishes for his retirement, Pete Cenarrusa is spending his last days in office fighting for Basque nationalism and taking a barrage of criticism from the Spanish government.

Cenarrusa, 84, the son of immigrant parents, learned Basque as his first tongue. He is the longest-serving state elected official ever, with 17 years in the Idaho House and 35 years as secretary of state. Beloved by his Republican Party, he is respected by Democrats for his fairness.

Last month, Cenarrusa was treated to standing ovations by Republicans across the state at 15 Lincoln Day events. Now, he is employing a lifetime of good will to push a measure through the Legislature that's drawing howls from Madrid and opposition from the White House because it conflicts with anti-terrorism policy.

Cenarrusa, working with Rep. David Bieter, D-Boise, is advancing a non-binding measure of the sort that lawmakers often pass to make themselves feel good.

House Joint Memorial 14 is different. Cenarrusa has maddened the hornets by calling on President Bush, Congress and Spain to hear Idaho's plea: End the violence in the Basque region, begin negotiations and allow a vote on independence.

It is the call for peace talks and a referendum that conflicts with Madrid and Washington, who refuse to deal with the ETA terrorist organization that has killed 900 people over 30 years.

The memorial passed the House 64-0 last week, after Cenarrusa urged its approval in an unprecedented return to the speaker´s chair he held for three terms in the 1960s.

"Today, in the Basque country, there is a great deal of joy," he said. "There is a body in North America -- the Legislature of the State of Idaho -- that understands their problems. You can´t imagine how much they enjoy that and love you for it."

Among those standing to cheer was Speaker Bruce Newcomb, who said, "He´s been a great representative for the Basque community and the state."

Nobody thinks the Legislature will change U.S. policy, but all parties say the memorial is significant.

Spanish Ambassador Javier Ruperez, who had hot words with Cenarrusa during a visit to Boise in November, wrote every legislator urging defeat of HJM 14. He called it a "gratuitously unfriendly gesture" and said its silence on ETA, "is like speaking of Sept. 11th without even referring to al-Qaida."

Florentino Sotomayor, the spokesman for the Spanish Embassy, said legislators are meddling in an internal matter. "Maybe they are a little bit confused about the situation because of their distance."

That Idaho Sen. Larry Craig knows Ruperez, has traveled to Spain, and is a member of GOP leadership also extends the clout of our small state with a big Basque population. I wasn´t able to learn Craig´s position on HJM 14, but he apparently played a role in helping the White House delay a vote in the Senate State Affairs Committee Friday.

The memorial will probably pass the Senate this week despite Bush Administration concerns about it supporting ETA. Cenarrusa and Bieter firmly reject any parallels with Sept. 11.

Bieter said Spain is using Sept. 11 "against Basques" and "trying to hook that incident somehow with the Basque cause." That, Bieter said, makes the timing of the Idaho measure important.

But outside the new foreign policy hotbed of Boise, Spain´s strategy is working. The Bush Administration has reinforced its support since Sept. 11. On Feb. 26, Treasury Secretary Paul O´Neill announced a list of 21 "financiers of terrorism" working on behalf of ETA.

"Our two nations have a common goal," O´Neill said. "We are not only committed to cooperating in the financial war against terrorism, but we are playing a leadership role together."

So, for Basque nationalists, Idaho is a rare and loyal friend. Martxelo Otamendi, editor of Egunkaria, a Basque language newspaper, is staying in Bieter´s garage apartment and giving HJM 14 front-page play.

"This is important for the Basque political class because it shows the solution," Otamendi said. "Madrid's message is, "We don't have a political problem, we have a criminal problem."

"But they'll have to admit one day they have a political problem. Someday, they will have to sit down at the table."

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Koxkera's Hake

As promised in my previous post, here you have the recipe in English:

Koxkera's Hake

Ingredients

6 Thick Slice of Hake
6 White Boiled Asparagus
10 Olive Oil (1 dl.)
3 Eggs
2 Clove garlic
6 Prawns
18 Shellfish
Italian Parsley chopped

Preparation

We start off by finely chopping the two garlic cloves and put them in the casserole with the olive oil to saute it. When the garlic is golden, take the casserole off of the heat and wait until the oil is cooler. Next, put in the casserole dish the seasoned hake slices. With the fire, we should softly move the casserole in a to and fro motion continuously, getting a homogeneous and thick sauce. This takes more or less 8 minutes, 4 minutes for both sides of the hake slice.

The shellfish is better boiled separetely, to avoid mixing the sable with the hake sauce. When the shellfish are open we add them to the hake's casserole.

The prawns and eggs, previously boiled, are added to the hake casserole, the first being peeled and the second cut through the middle.

Finally decorate the rest with the white boiled asparagus and sprinkled with finely chopped parsley.

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A Recipe in Euskara

In an effort to make Euskera available to my readers I now post this recipe:

LEGATZA KOXKERA MODUAN

1 Legatza (Zerratan)
Perrexila
Berahatza
Olioa
3 Arraultza
6 zainzuri
6 Otarrainskak
Txirlak

Legatza zerrale gazitu egiten dira.

Berahatzale oliotan frijitu egiten dira, poliki txikitu ondoren. Berahaltzak kolore hartu erduko, olioa epeltzer utzi,legaltza zerrak bota eta landu egiten da ( lurronzia ezkerretara eta eskuinetara mugituz) sutatik aparte, olioemulsionatu dadin, eta zurituz hasten deneak zerrak itzuliz. Hau sutatile hurbil egin behar da, olioa bero egon dadin (baina irakin gabe).

Gero, txirlak ipini eta sutan jartzen da hauek zabaldu arte.

Gero, zainzuriak eta arraultzak(egosita eta lau zatitan ebakita) ipintzen dira.

Amaitzeko,perrexila gainetik bota, poliki txikituta.

Next I will post it in English

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