Bad News

Yesterday the fascist spanish government decided to spit on the face of the international community and closed down Egunkaria, the only news paper in Euskal Herria that is printed in euskara. The accusation is the old boring "apology of terrorism".

Which means that the director Otamendi and 10 of his editors and journalists will be held with no right to talk to their lawyers for five days before charges are brought up to the court. All the offices for the news paper were closed and the computers and documents seized, their web page both in euskara and english was shut down and this comes right after scores of Basque citizens where detained for the high crime of participating in demonstrations in pro of self determination and defense of the euskara.

And Spain is considered a democracy in the US.

Wake up and smell the coffee!

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Arriving on SFO

So, I make it to San Francisco after one scary landing where we couldn't see the airport due to the fog (Phillippe tells me that you approach the airport from the bay so you never really get to see the strip until you touch down) I finally manage to get off the plane after the 589 passengers in front of me.

I was happy as a kid in a candy store, I bought some postcards in the airport to play it safe (some already made it to their destination) and after getting lost in the airport I finally got to the place where you can board the shuttles to the hotels, the Comfort Suites in this case had the honor of hosting the NABO delegates.

I am looking forward to meet my friend Susan so I do not put too much attention to the people around me till the girl behind me says something in spanish, but I keep quiet, heck, I am in California, I have to spect some spanish spoken in my vecinity. But then as we are about to pick up more people the two girls behind me burst in rejoiced surprise and start telling the fella with them that Gloria is there, and I turn aroun to see Gloria and from the moment I see her I know who she is, she is one of the main reasons why I ran like a daredevil through gate B at O'Hare, but I wait till she seats down and talks for a little while with the one fella before I ask one of the girls behind me it the lady in fact is Gloria Totoricaguena, and she says that yes, that is who she is.

I get up and sit closer to her and introduce myself, Gloria Totoricagüena is the "know everything about the Basques in the Diaspora" and I tell her that I am honored to shake her hand, she then procedes to ask me who the hell I am before she calls 911 and the moment I tell her who I am she tells me that I am one of Cathleen's friends (you better get use to those good all Basque surnames) and that she know all about us and that she is glad to be able to finally meet us, then she introduces me to the fella, Martin Goikoetxea and the girls who go by the names of Inazia and Amaia (next time a castillian says that the basque girls are ugly he can kiss my bootie).

I talked to Gloria and Martin all the way from the airport to the hotel and we made arrengements to meet later. I then meet my friend Susan and after leaving my stuff in the room we go over to the Basque Cultural Center that happened to be packed since it was Balendin Eguna (Valentine's Day for you all). There we met a bunch of people while drinking red wine and eating crusty bread and assorted cheeses. Soon the party began and after Francois Bedaurreta introduced himself to me and then introduced me to the rest of the other Basque "elders" at the bar the red wine started flowing quite freely, so I am not sure who called a cab for me but I went to the hotel to get some rest.

Tomorrow, "The NABO meeting".

Don't you dare miss it.

Bakea eta Osasuna!

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Guernica: The Art of War

This can be found at a Poets Against War site:

Guernica: The Art of War

In Baghdad, do they know
that men who cannot look
at even a weaving
of a painting,
Guernica,
will not blink to render it real
in that city's streets?

Why should warriors shy from a painting?
It is not their handiwork.
Their hands will never touch
a brush,
or paint,
or canvas.

They themselves will never say
to this old man,
Stand there,
just so,
against that wall,
where blood will mix with dust
upon a palette of broken stone.

They will never arrange that woman's
hand upon her daughter's head
at just the turning
in the bright,
black braid
where a scarlet blossom
will grow,
thrusting its petals between fingers
and thumb.

The studios of war are safe.
The artists never
see what they have done.

But in Baghdad,
where the mural
of destruction will be drawn,
it is the sky
that people
wince to look at,
knowing that from the first
black scrawl across the blue,
they will see
Guernica,
Guernica
everywhere
and nothing else
ever.

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Planes, Shuttles and Automobiles

Friday I got up early in the morning to get ready to the trip to Sanfran, went for breakfast to take my last to pills for the sinus infection and then pick up the business cards (which were not ready, and useless by now) and head out for Chicago's Midway Airport around 9:15 am.

Everything was fine on the way there besides the snow plow trucks deployed every few miles and the dozens of State Troopers stopping anyone going over 66 MPH.

So, I make it to the airport and I have to leave my car parked in what seemed to be the last available spot on the red economy parking lot and took a shuttle to the terminal where alas, the screen informs me that my flight was cancelled (I did get a courtesy call regarding this which came in friday at 10:30 am and I got monday at 3:00 am).

So, I show myself to the boot and tell them I am one of the lucky ones and they frantickly start looking for a flight for me which departs from O'Hare at 3:00 pm so shuttled again I am from Midway all the way to O'Hare where the lines to check in and to the security check points are as long as the lines to hell.

When they are done fondling me, I mean, when I am done with the security guys I got only 4 minutes to make it to my gate which if you have been to O'Hare meant I had to run like bat out of hell to make it there just to find out that I am on seat 25E on a Boeing 777 which means that you are the lucky one seated right smack in the middle with two people to your right and two people to your left which makes going to the lavatories a task for titans.

It was a 3 hours and 50 minutes flight to SFO which puts it 10 minutes shy of the 4 hours required for them giving you a meal so off here comes the cheese and crackers. The worst part, the movie was a woeful concoction with Mark Wahlberg and Tandie Newton called "The Truth About Charlie" which has to be one of the worst flicks I have ever seen.

But as soon as I arrived to SFO things starting looking good, and they just improved day by day, but for that you will have to tune in tomorrow.

Gero arte!

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Free Iñigo Makazaga Campaign

This call to join a campaign to free Basque political prisoner Iñigo Makazaga comes straight from England:

Free Iñigo Makazaga Demo

Sat 22nd Feb outside Belmarsh Prison (starting from the Belmarsh Station - asambly Plumstead Station London SE18 at 13pm ^ train from London Bridge direction to Dartford )

Iñigo Makazaga (24) is a Basque imprisoned in Belmarsh prison (London), in Category A special security status. Iñigo was an active member of the Basque student movement, as well as a member of the pro-independence Basque coalition Herri Batasuna's local committee in his neighbourhood of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

He was an active and committed member of the community involved in political and social activities carried out in the open within the public domain. As from February 1996 Iñigo found himself falsely accused of taking part in certain acts of public disorder. After a huge media and police campaign he was accused of sabotage acts. Iñigo was arrested suffering mistreatment. The police "threatened to split my head open if I didn't state what they wanted me to, all the while they punched me in the shoulders, in the chest, the ears and pulled my hair and threw me against the wall and to the floor."

In these circumstances of terror, Iñigo decided to leave the Basque Country to restart his life. He chose the UK. In order to avoid more hassle from the police he decided to hide his identity. However, Iñigo was arrested in Dover (25/04/2001) facing a claim for extradition from the Spanish Council of Ministers because of alleged membership of an armed organisation. The Spanish media went back to the attack accusing Iñigo and violating his right of presumed innocence.

We can notice that the case of Iñigo Makazaga is merely -and as it happens so many times in the Basque Country- a case of political convenience. Iñigo is another one among the thousands of Basques having to seek refuge in different parts of the world as the consequence of repression against their political beliefs and activities. Now it will be 1 year since Iñigo was arrested and theer are notcharges against him. Meanwhile he's been held in isolation. If he's sent back to the Spanish State his life runs serious risks fearing more torture.

Because of this we demand the release of Iñigo from prison and we want to invite you to join us in the demo to happen on Sat 22nd Feb outside Belmarsh Prison (starting from the Belmarsh Station - asambly Plumstead Station London SE18 at 13pm ^ train from London Bridge direction to Dartford )

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Meeting the Basque Diaspora

Well, this is it, today I meet my friends from the Basque Diaspora group, it is quite a rush.

We have been working so hard to look for ways to improve the image of the Basques around the world in order to gain some support towards the peace process and self determination of the oldest ethnic group in Europe.

And we are going to seat and speak about peace when the world is on the brink of war, when military actions are discussed in front of a blue curtain that conceals the "Guernica" at the UN, what an irony. But the world will keep going no matter what, and injustice will continue as long as people remain comfortably numb, watching their dumb TV shows and wasting time hating J Lo instead of questioning the murderous acts of people like Slobodan Milosevic and Ariel Sharon.

But we are not one dimentional people, oh no, we are going to discuss important matters but we are also going to have fun, enjoy our time with our friends, enjoy our vibrant culture that reflects itself on delicious cuisine, breathtaking sports and beautiful music, and we are going to celebrate family values. Because people with fire burning within has a passion for everything and lives each day to the max cuz tomorrow may never come.

Don't take anything for granted, it may not be there for you when you need it.

And if possible, if time allows it, expect a blog post from San Francisco (damn, I wonder why they chose such a difficult name, are they trying to honor wetbacks or what?).

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Where's Aleksu?

Where the heck is that Aleksu?

Everyone must be asking that question by now.

Ok, ok, call me wishful thinker then.

The truth is, I've been busy working as much overtime as I can, the bills don't pay themselves and it was bad business to miss work a couple of days last week. Other than that, we have been pretty active at our Basque Diaspora group planning for our meeting in San Francisco this weekend. Today I have to pick up our business cards so we can spread the good word.

In other news, yesterday they showed a couple of videos on VH1 in a segment called "Eyecandy" and what a pleasant surprise it was, they had one where one of the best actors ever, Christopher Walken dances himself away from beginning to end.

Anyway, next blog entry may be from San Francisco!

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History Repeats Itself

Then it was the Nazis supporting Francisco Franco, today they it is the US military supporting the oil barons. Yesterday it was Gernika, soon it will be Baghdad. Colin Powell instead of Goebbels.

This article comes to us thanks to the Workers World News Service:

WHO PUT THE WRAPS ON GUERNICA?

By Leslie Feinberg

A woven tapestry reproduction of the famous mural "Guernica" has hung on the wall outside the United Nations Security Council chamber since 1985. But on Jan. 27, it was covered up with a drape. Why?

Screaming, shattering people and animals: Guernica. The painting is characterized as modern art's most powerful anti-war statement.

Pablo Picasso painted the mural for the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World's Fair.

Spain was rocked by civil war. Resistance fighters, joined by solidarity brigades from the United States and around the world, were battling hand-to-hand against Gen. Francisco Franco's fascist forces.

On April 27, 1937, Franco gave the go-ahead for Hitler's air force to use a little Basque hamlet in northern Spain as bombing practice. For more than three hours, the village was pummeled from the sky with high explosives and incendiary bombs. When the smoke cleared, 1,600 civilians were dead or wounded.

By May 1, word of the horror at Guernica reached Paris. More than a million enraged people poured into the streets in the biggest May Day march that city had ever witnessed. The world was stunned. The normally apolitical Picasso was moved to capture the massacre in his now-famous mural.

Apparently the realities of war--particularly the terror, death and destruction at ground zero of bombing raids--are not the backdrop U.S. officials want for their photo opportunities.

Dignitaries have long been filmed, photographed and interviewed in front of the painting. "So it was a surprise for many of the envoys to arrive at UN headquarters last Monday for a Security Council briefing by chief weapons inspectors, only to find the searing work covered with a baby-blue banner and the U.S. logo," reported the Feb. 3 Washington Times.

The censoring curtain was draped on the days the council discussed Iraq.

"A diplomat stated that it would not be an appropriate background if the ambassador of the United States at the UN, John Negroponte, or [Secretary of State Colin] Powell, talk about war surrounded with women, children and animals shouting with horror and showing the suffering of the bombings." (Washington Times, Feb. 3)

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Batera in Baiona

For those who insist that the Basques from Iparralde are perfectly fine with the French occupation of their land here you have a note found at Yahoo News:

Thousands of people congregate in Baiona to demand recognition of the Northern Basque Country

The march started off in four columns and there were about 7,000 people in all in the pouring rain


E. Bidegain & N. Arbelbide/Baiona

An unusual demonstration was held on the streets of Baiona yesterday afternoon. According to the organisers about 7,000 people gathered at four different points in Baiona and then joined together at the San Leon crossroads. The demonstration organised by the "Batera" forum was a success, bearing in mind the driving rain, the cold and the wind, which didn't let up.

Under umbrellas or in the rain the people followed the route for two and a half hours. A special atmosphere was created by having four rendezvous and four routes, which converged at the end: one to demand a department for the Northern Basque Country, another for the official recognition of the Basque language, another for a Basque Chamber of Agriculture and the fourth for the Northern Basque Country's own university.

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On Tragedies and Self Determination

A real shame what happened today over the Texan sky, my best wishes go to the family of the six American astronauts on board of the Columbia. To see those images on tv brought back memories of the Challenger quite a few years ago, I don't know what it is, but it feels just wrong to witness tragedies like those.

In other news, I ordered some business cards today for my trip to San Francisco in order to reach out to some more Basque Americans to join our internet group and that way gain more moral support towards the democratization and peace process in Euskal Herria. I am so excited, and the last couple of nights I have been watching a series on WorldLink TV regarding the many self determination struggles around the world. There was a show about how the Aleuts and the Hawaiians in the USA, the Maoris in New Zealand and the Seris in Mexico are fighting to regain their old ways, their culture and above everything else, their language.

If people from the mega-nations with their mega-languages could understand how important it is to keep all the other cultures alive, the struggle of those defending the little voices wouldn't be as harsh. We all have a place in the symphony, is not all violins or trombons, even that little triangle has a reason to be there.

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