Some of the 20,000 protestors wave with Basque flags as they listen to Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi, left, under a banner reading in Basque 'civil and political rights' as they rally calling for Basque independence and to protest a court-ordered ban on a congress planned by the outlawed separatist party Batasuna in Barakaldo, close to the Basque port city of Bilbao, Spain, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2006. Spain's Supreme Court outlawed Batasuna in 2003 on the grounds that it was part of the armed separatist organization ETA, closing down its offices and barring it from engaging in political activity. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)
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Josu Jon Imaz, President of the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), speaks during a news conference in Bilbao January 18, 2006. Imaz said he planned to meet outlawed Basque political party Batasuna to hear first hand what its leaders had planned to say at a meeting in Bilbao on Saturday that has been banned by Spain's High Court. REUTERS/Vincent West
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In February Spanish Premier Rodriguez "Chapuzero" decided that the only solution to the territorial crisis that he and his government's supporters had created was to rename the whole country "Catalunya". From the beginning of 2007 the official language of "Catalunya" will be Catalan. The Capital will be Barcelona and all government ministries and offices are being relocated there.The King of Catalunya, Joan Carles 1, will have his official residence in Mallorca. The use of Spanish, the former official language, is to be banned. Reactions in "Catalunya" were wide ranging. The Basque Nationalists demanded independence from Barcelona. The Galician autonomous government promised to defend the "Galego" language against the imperialism of Catalan.
In Madrid the majority of citizens refused to learn Catalan, although they are delighted that all anti-government protest marches and other public demonstrations will now take place elsewhere. For this reason alone Madrid also went up 17 points on the "Quality of life" scale. "Real Madrid" football club has been renamed "Leal Madrid" and the Madrid Nationalist Liberation Movement began a campaign for independence from Catalunya.The meltdown of the country once known as "Spain" proceeded apace when, in December, "Chapuzero" was forced to resign from office for not speaking Catalan correctly.
Long, long before Julio Anchia came to the yellow cinderblock room in the back of the Dania Beach fronton, he learned jai-alai in a town called Marquina in the Basque country.
All the boys in that town did. The best went to a school to refine their skills, and when they left, they went to Mexico or Cuba or the United States to play professionally.
Anchia left because he did not want to grow vegetables like his parents did. When he was 16 he went to Italy, where he made $1,000 a month, then Tijuana for more money, then Miami, where he made more than $2,000 a month and finished his career. He was not a very good player. Nor was he bad, and in those days that was enough, because the sport was healthy. Twelve thousand people showed up some nights in Miami.
The precedent with a probable granting of independence to Kosovo could serve as a powerful impulse for the forceful resolving of many other regional conflicts. We should not rule out the option under which some older territorial disputes be revived and some new ones be set ablaze both on the Balkans (between Albania and Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia or Bosnia and Croatia) and outside them. Thus, the Basque, Corsican and Ulster separatists will gain additional trump-cards. The same is true for the Kurds - especially those in North Iraq.
Then, 1951's Miss America, Yolande Betbeze Fox, contacted the museum and offered not only her crown but also her scepter and Miss America sash.
Fox may have been the most unconventional Miss America ever. Born Yolande Betbeze in Mobile in 1930, she comes from Basque ancestry, and her dark, exotic looks were hardly typical of beauty contestants in the '50s. But her magnetism, and a well-trained operatic voice, focused the judges' attention.
Betbeze wore the fabled crown uneasily. In 1969, she recalled to the Washington Post that she had been too much of a nonconformist to do the bidding of the pageant's sponsors.One of her first acts was to inform the Catalina bathing suit company that she would not appear in a swimsuit in public unless she were going swimming. Spurned, Catalina broke with the Miss America Pageant and started Miss Universe.
When Betbeze's yearlong reign came to an end, she studied philosophy at New York's New School of Social Research. She continued to sing, appearing with the Mobile Opera Guild in The Tales of Hoffmann.In 1954 she married Matthew Fox, a businessman and movie producer, and began mounting plays in an off-Broadway theater she helped found. Today, Fox, a widow, lives much of the year in a Washington, D.C., house once owned by Jackie Kennedy.
Luckily for the Smithsonian, says Shayt, she admits to being a "bit of a pack rat," so, though she eschewed the pomp (and circumstances) of her Miss America victory, she never relinquished her crown, now part of America's cultural heritage.
Israeli goalkeeper Dudu Awat who currently plays for Spanish club Racing Santander, has complained about opposition supporters calling for the death of Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon.Awat's team held second placed Osasuna to a 1-1 draw, the first time Osasuna had not won at home in the league this season.But the match was tainted by Osasuna fanatics taunting Awat throughout the game. The supporters of the Basque team are known for their racist slogans and chants.Palestinian flagsAccording to reports, the Osasuna supporters held Palestinian flags and anti-Israel banners as well as shouting "Death to Sharon" and "We wish Sharon dies."The Israeli prime minister is currently lying in an induced coma in the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem after undergoing several operations on his brain following the stroke he suffered last Wednesday.Although clearly upset, Awat refused to repond to questions about the anti-Sharon chanting. He would only say: "I don't want to address those things. They're improper."However, Awat said that while he was playing for Santander on Sunday he was feeling worried about Sharon and his condition."Even during the match my and my family's heart was with Sharon all the time," Awat said.The Israeli international spoke of his concern for his prime minister and how he has been keeping up to date with the news via the internet."Those are difficult days for the country and I wish him a speedy recovery. It's difficult for us even here in Spain. We're following it on the Internet and hoping for the best," he said.
Osasuna fans, who are Basque, are known for their racist chants, and during the match against Santander focused their fury at the Israeli goalie. Spanish websites and journalists who covered the game reported that a large group of fans gathered behind Awat holding Palestinian flags and anti-Israel signs.
Petition in Solidarity with Basque Prisoners
SUPPORT OUR BASQUE SISTERS AND BROTHERS AND SUPPORT THE DEMAND TO:
“BRING THE BASQUE PRISONERS TO THE BASQUE COUNTRY, ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR RIGHTS!” – Ibaeta University Declaration.
There are currently almost 700 Basque citizens in prison, suffering exceptional measures that come from the so-called “antiterrorist policy”. Their situation continues to get worse. The fact that, to date, 20 people have died in jail, the latest only weeks ago, is but an example of their extremely tough living conditions.
On Saturday 26 November, 2005, representatives of 29 Basque political, trade union, and social organizations met at the Ibaeta University Campus in Donostia in order to address the issue of Basque Political Prisoners.
They agreed to make a call to denounce the consequences of the policy of prisoner dispersal and demanding the Spanish and French governments recognize the representatives of the political prisoners and engage with them so that the Basque Political Prisoners Collective (EPPK) may take part in the ongoing political process. They agree that supporting the prisoners’ rights is an essential step towards conflict resolution.
Support the demands of the Basque Pro-Amnesty movement and the organizations at the Ibaeta Forum:
· The right to respectful and dignified treatment
· End torture and ill treatment
· End isolation and beatings
· Respect for the national and cultural identity of imprisoned people.
· The right to health
· Proper healthcare--Allow doctors chosen by the prisoners to visit them
· Immediate release of those who suffer serious illnesses.
· End surveillance and restrictions in communication
· Freedom to communicate in the Basque language
· Allow Basque prisoners to freely carry out their daily lives in Basque and fully develop their language skills.
· End the obstacles to study -- Allow the possibility to carry out studies in Basque
· Women in prison have the right to be mothers in conditions that do not diminish their dignity.
· Eliminate restrictions on communication with the child’s father.
· Guarantee living conditions for children in jail. Apply parole to prisoners who have served 3/4 or 2/3 of their sentence (depending on the Penal Code under which they were tried)
· Apply the corresponding legal sentence reductions without discrimination.
· Immediate release for prisoners who suffer serious incurable diseases.
· Acknowledge the representatives elected by the Collective. Allow the Collective to freely maintain relations with other political and social actors.
· Allow the Collective to freely participate in whichever instruments for debate and discussion Basque society creates. Repatriate the Basque Prisoners!
Source: EPPK (Basque Political Prisoners Collective)
To Sign Petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/Basque/Until All Are Free - We Are All Imprisoned!
Argentinean Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel has demanded "credibility gestures" to Spain's government and Basque armed group ETA with a view to moves towards peace. In this sense, he has quoted Basque political prisoners' transfer and an unconditional "truce" as means to make progress in talks.
"I think both the Spanish government and ETA must reach agreements. It is not only a problem between ETA and the government but also a problem of the Basque Country, which should be the leading character in this matter," he has explained throughout the interview.
Bilbao Athletic suffer undeserved and painful defeat (1-2)
Deportivo Coruña moved up to third in the Primera Liga with a 2-1 win at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.
An own goal from Bilbao defender Mari Lacruz and a howling error by keeper Daniel Aranzubia gifted Depor a fourth away victory in a row that pushed them within six points of second-placed Osasuna.
Basque Premier convinced that outlawed Batasuna will run for elections 2007
Basque Premier Juan José Ibarretxe is convinced that outlawed Batasuna will take part in elections 2007, as previously, "events" that will make it possible to participate will occur.
"It would be a bad sign for the future if Batasuna does not participate in next year's elections," he stated in an interview with the Diario de Noticias group.
