Pro-Batasuna Demonstration

This report of the pro-Batasuna demonstration in Bilbao comes to us via The Militant:

Basques protest banning by Madrid

BY LAURA GARZA

MADRID, Spain--On September 14 tens of thousands of people poured into the streets of Bilbao, a major city in the Basque provinces, to oppose the Spanish govern-ment’s move to ban the political party Batasuna, which backs independence for the Basque people.

"We are protesting against the loss of fundamental political freedoms in the Basque Country, stated Unai, a student demonstrator. "This protest shows that the people oppose the authoritarian policies of the Spanish government." Marchers stepped off behind a banner reading, "Long Live the Basque People" (Gora Euskal Herria) together with a large Basque flag.

Independence for the Basque region, which straddles territory in southern France and northern Spain, is widely supported in the region. The intransigent fight by Basques had been a thorn in the side of the Spanish government, which has consistently opposed this demand.

The protest came within weeks of an August 26 order by Spanish High Court judge Baltasar Garzón declaring Batasuna banned for three years, while an investigation is under way to justify a permanent ban by linking supporters of Batasuna with the illegal pro-independence group ETA (Basque Homeland and Freedom). Garzón issued orders to close offices of the political party, freeze bank accounts, and shut down taverns and other businesses in the Basque region. The order included a ban on protests by supporters of Batasuna.

Cops seek to break up march

The September 14 march, estimated to be between 30,000 and 50,000 people, greatly outnumbered the several hundred police seeking to disrupt it. The cops set up a barricade across the road at a point about halfway between the starting and ending points. When the demonstrators reached the barricade they were ordered to disperse. Shortly afterwards the police opened up on the crowd with high-powered water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets.

March leaders managed to address the crowd and most people then dispersed. Batasuna leader Arnoldo Otegi, one of those banned from publicly speaking, stated, "Today we have seen who is defending human rights. There will be new demonstrations and new opportunities. We ask that this should end peacefully."

A week earlier, hundreds protested in Guernica September 8 against the policy of transferring Basque political prisoners to prisons far from the Basque region. The next day in San Sebastian, thousands marched behind a banner reading, "The Basque Country Needs Freedom." Spanish government officials complained that the Ertzaintza, the local Basque police, had not broken up these events. Prior to the September 14 action, the Basque regional authorities agreed to hand a copy of Garzón’s orders to the marchers. The Madrid government, however, demanded that the Ertzaintza be ordered to carry out the judge’s order, and the Basque authorities complied.

These protest actions have deepened a schism between the capitalist parties ruling the Spanish state and the pro-independence bourgeois party in power in the Basque autonomous region. Officials in Madrid demanded an explanation of why the September 14 march had been allowed to take place. A spokesperson for Spanish prime minister José María Aznar’s ruling Popular Party in the Basque region complained, "ETA-Batasuna gained their objectives, they brought more than 70 buses into Bilbao, gathered their people, occupied the streets of Bilbao for more than half an hour, and held a political act addressed by no less than Arnaldo Otegi." He demanded someone be held responsible for letting tens of thousands of people take to the streets.

In response, the Basque National Party, the ruling party in the Basque region, accused Judge Garzón of perverting justice by limiting the right to free speech, and threatened to sue the judge for usurping power that belongs to the Basque regional authorities. Basque officials have also refused to abide by an order to dissolve the grouping of Batasuna representatives in the parliament, where they hold seven of 75 seats.

Madrid’s moves come in the context of the drive to war against Iraq and stepped up moves to justify repressive legislation on the basis of fighting terrorism. The government has recently proposed adding 20,000 troops to the streets under the guise of fighting delinquency, and has proposed an amendment to a law on foreigners that would allow the deportation of any immigrant found guilty of minor offenses. In the days leading up to the Bilbao march, Prime Minister Aznar told President George Bush, "We have strong reasons to support the United States," in its plans to attack Iraq, putting Spain at Britain’s side in giving full backing to Washington’s war.

Madrid is trying to use the war drive to push ahead with further measures aimed a limiting the rights of Basque activists. Previously, Spanish officials unsuccessfully tried to have Batasuna declared a terrorist group, thereby giving French and Belgian rulers a free hand in shutting down the offices of the party located in these countries. They hope to reintroduce such a proposal now that the group has been banned in Spain.

Meanwhile, the capitalist media here has given front-page coverage to a series of arrests in France of ETA members.

.... ... .

Laxalt's Land

This is a nice essay on Robert Laxalt's book called Sweet Promised Land.

Too bad the Laxalts never got the USA to abandon its policy against the Basque dream of self determination.

Without further introduction, here it is:

Robert Laxalt’s Sweet Promised Land: A Place to Come To

by David Río Raigadas Universidad del País Vasco

This article was originally presented by the author as a paper at the II International Conference on Regional Literatures (Space and Place: The Geographies of Literature), Liverpool John Moores University, April 11-13, 1996.

Sweet Promised Land (1957)(1), the first and possibly best-known of Robert Laxalt’s books, appears to be a personal and rather simple story about the journey of the author’s father, Dominique, to his Basque homeland after forty-seven years as an immigrant sheepherder in the American West. In fact, the book has been often described as an intimate biography or as an affectionate memoir of a son to his father. Even Laxalt himself has emphasized to me the personal quality of this story:

“I couldn’t write it as a novel because something was missing. I thought that the poignancy of this trip moved me very much. It was a story of discovery for me, too. [..] It was a book written from the heart.”(2)

The intimate approach taken by Laxalt to portray his father’s life pervades the whole book and contributes to its success. Readers feel attracted by Laxalt’s personal and direct statements on his father and the fact that it is the true story of a man viewed through the eyes of his son, though some incidents in the book may have been a little fictionalized. Laxalt himself felt that the work meant an invasion of his family’s privacy and was particularly apprehensive of his father’s reaction toward it:

“When I told him about it, I thought I was running a risk of getting shot, but he accepted it well and even a little detachedly.”(3)

However, Sweet Promised Land must be read as the story not only of Dominique Laxalt, but of many Basque immigrants in the American West. The book goes beyond its personal level to embody the experience of Basque immigrants in the United States and even becomes a metaphor for American immigration in general.

Laxalt wrote this story about his Basque father at a time in which Basques were neither well-known nor popular in America. As William A. Douglass has pointed out,

“...the Basque-Americans were few in number, scattered lightly over the vastness of the American West and [...] their ethnic success as sheepherders par excellence identified them closely with the region’s most denigrated occupation.” (1986:xiii)

Set against this particular background, Sweet Promised Land constituted a vindication of the role of the immigrant Basque sheepherder in America, represented by the figure of Dominique Laxalt and his capacity to endure hardship in the New World. Basques in America identified themselves with Dominique’s story and felt encouraged to show their ethnic pride. At the same time, the wider public in the United States discovered Basques, “they discovered this romantic sheepherder thing,” in Douglass’ words.(4)

Although the book deals mainly with the way of life of Basque sheepmen in the American West, their experiences can be regarded as a symbol of the struggle of American immigrants in general. In fact, Laxalt himself agrees with this point and he even, in all modesty, refers to his lack of a deep knowledge about the Basques to support this idea:

“Sweet Promised Land became an immigrant book, not particularly a Basque book, because I didn’t know so much about the Basques.”(5)

The truth is that the story works as a classic tale of immigration, where the immigrant’s experience is portrayed by Laxalt as a process divided into three basic stages: the immigrant’s decision to abandon his homeland, his fight for acceptance in the new country and his impossible return to his native land once the assimilation process is over. Throughout these different stages Laxalt shows his deeply felt concern with the modern individual’s need for meaning, for a sense of place and identity.

Although Sweet Promised Land emphasizes primarily the challenges that immigrants must face in America and their often fruitless attempts to recapture the past, it also explores the main reasons that lie behind their decision to seek their future in America. Thus, immigration is presented as the only way to escape from poverty for many European youths, symbolized by Dominique. He, as most immigrants, regretted leaving his native land, but he was well aware that he had to find an opportunity in life somewhere else:

“What chance was there if I stayed? There was no money for anything. I wanted stock and the land to move in, [...] and we didn’t even own the property where we lived.” (1986: 35)

At first, the journey to America was viewed by people like Dominique just as a temporary experience, as a way to earn enough money to return home. However, most of these immigrants soon realized that their way to success was in America, a raw new land that could provide them with a chance in life if they were ready to suffer and work hard. Thus, America represents for Dominique and many other immigrants the land of opportunity, the place to make their fortune. Nevertheless, Sweet Promised Land also describes the decline of America as a land of opportunity since the mid-century, particularly for new groups of immigrants like the Puerto Ricans, who are shown leaving for Brazil in search of another America.

Although Laxalt stresses the importance of the economic reasons in the immigrant’s decision to abandon his native land, he also refers in the book to the lack of freedom of these people in the Old World. Thus, for instance, one of the characters in Sweet Promised Land, Michel, escapes from France in order not to be imprisoned after running away from the seminary where he was to be ordained. Besides, there are other references to the restrictions imposed by the French authorities on one of the main symbols of the Basque culture: the Basque language. This meant, as Dominique says, “to be made to feel that it was a crime to be born a Basque.” (1986:76). Being unable to display their ethnic identity in their own land, these people feel constricted in the Old World and they set their heart on America, which symbolizes for them not only the land of opportunity, but also of freedom.

The integration experience of the immigrant in American society is described by Laxalt as a gradual process in which the immigrant’s desire for acceptance and his reluctance to lose his ethnic identity often act as opposing forces. He particularly focuses his attention on the challenges that the newcomer must face during his first years in America. Thus, he gives in his book a detailed description of the hardships endured by his father when he first arrived in Nevada. Although Dominique’s struggle for integration presents some specific characteristics related to his condition of Basque sheepherder, the tests he must undergo during this process illustrate the hard lessons the ordinary immigrant usually has to learn in the new land.

One of the first challenges that the immigrant must face in America is the adaptation to a new setting, often completely different from that of the Old World. Laxalt particularly emphasizes the deep impact that the Nevada desert produces on Basque sheepherders like Dominique, who longs for his green land:

“You would have to see the beauty of the Basque country before you knew what I meant, but I remember going out into that cruel desert when I first came, and nights when I cried to sleep in my tent.” (1986: 50)

Thus, on their way to integration, these immigrants will inevitably have to adjust themselves to a harsh landscape, with a devastating climate, and gradually they will have to overcome their nostalgia for the old country, too.

Laxalt also portrays isolation and loneliness as common trials for the immigrant. Besides, in the case of the Basque sheepherders the challenge becomes especially arduous. Their loneliness is not simply the result of their condition of newcomers, their ignorance of the language or the bad reputation of their job, as was often the case with other immigrants. The loneliness of the Basques is also produced by the utter solitude in which they find themselves as sheepherders on the open range. In the most desolate corners of the American West they long for human company, for the sound of a human voice, and the monotony of their lonely life exposes them to potentially severe mental strain. Related to this, it is worth mentioning that, even though the Basques had a special reputation among all nationalities in America for their capacity to endure solitude,(6) Laxalt includes in Sweet Promised Land a Basque sheepherder, Joanes Ergela (or Crazy John), who loses his mind from loneliness in the mountains. This example works as a symbol of the serious nature of the ordeals that the immigrants must undergo in their new country.

Another major challenge that immigrants must face is economic survival, a subject that plays an important role in Sweet Promised Land. Laxalt shows that immigrants, apart from suffering hard working conditions, as in the case of the Basques mentioned above, usually have a difficult start making their living in the New World. America may be the land of opportunity, but working hard is not enough there. The newcomer must be ready to fight competitors, even resorting to violent means. In addition, he must resist the temptation of wasting his money, even if that means staying away from town for a long period. Last but not least, his economic success often depends on a volatile market. All these features are perfectly represented in Sweet Promised Land by the struggle experienced by Dominique and Basque-American sheepherders in general. Thus, these immigrants are shown in open conflict with the cattle ranchers for the feed and the water. Besides, the book describes their obsession with saving and their difficulties in resisiting the temptation of wasting their money in town. Finally, Laxalt also introduces the livestock crisis of the 1920s as an example of the uncertain economic conditions: the sheep market began to go and immediately most of the Basques lost everything for which they had worked so hard.

Apart from the different challenges mentioned throughout this paper, immigrants must sometimes confront hostility, fun-making or contempt from the host community. In some cases this hostile atmosphere is closely related to economic reasons, as we saw in the conflict with the cattlemen described above. However, in many cases this situation is simply due to the cultural and ethnic distinctiveness of the newcomers. They do not fit into the standard patterns of the American society because they are outsiders, who speak a different language and have a different culture. And at that time in America, as Robert Laxalt remembers, “it wasn’t fashionable to be ethnic.“(7)

As a result, the Basques, as other groups of immigrants with special ethnic features, will experience some bullying, fun-making, and rejection. Laxalt does not wish to exaggerate the importance of these incidents and consequently he does not include any episodes of violent discrimination against the Basques in Sweet Promised Land. However, he shows how two young Basques are made fun of just because of their speech and clothes and he also refers to the shame suffered by Basque-American children when they speak Basque in public. These examples illustrate the intolerance of the American society in the first half of the twentieth century toward expressions of cultural or ethnic diversity. As William Douglass has pointed out,

“persons who clung to their native language and who continued to manifest Old World lifeways were suspect.” (1986:x)

So, these immigrants, in spite of their reluctance to lose their original identity, will often have to hide their ethnic heritage or to renounce it in order to become Americans.

All these hardships that immigrants must endure to achieve their integration in American society are symbolized in Sweet Promised Land by boxing, a sport whose rules Dominique and other immigrants understand perfectly well. The comparison between boxing and the immigrant experience enables Laxalt to enhance the sacrifice of these newcomers in America:

”Like the men in the ring, they too had stood alone and fought alone, with their only weapons the hands that God gave them, and the fight was everything they had ever done and seen and felt.” (1986:65)

The struggle for acceptance of the immigrants also extends to their descendants, for whom boxing works as a useful model, too. As Laxalt knows from his own experience, second- generation Americans often must fight harder than the rest, just because they “were born of old- country people in a new land.” (1986:66)

Although Laxalt’s interest is mainly focused on the obstacles that the immigrant finds on his way to integration, he also shows how the newcomer gradually becomes familiar with the host country and its people and even identifies himself with them. This process has its origin in the immigrant’s capacity to adapt himself to the new environment without questioning it:

”...afterward it wasn’t suffering, because it was the way things was, and a man couldn’t do anything about it, and maybe that’s why he didn’t spend the time thinking about it, either.” (1986:50)

However, the self-identification of the newcomer with American society is accelerated by a series of elements that represent the progressive acceptance of the immigrant by the host community. As an example of this, Laxalt describes the first time that his father did not feel like a stranger in America. It was an encounter with a group of bandits, where he discovered that even the cruel people who inhabited the harsh land were capable of kindness toward a foreigner like him. This incident shows him that the new country is not only a place of disillusionment and brutality, but also of generosity and love.

In Sweet Promised Land, Laxalt also pays close attention to the last stage of the immigrant experience: the impossible return of the native. The book shows the return to the homeland as an unrealistic idea for most immigrants. Certainly, Laxalt provides the reader with the examples of two Basques (Nazario and the innkeeper) who come back to their native land after a few years in America and decide to remain in their country of birth. However, these two cases can be regarded as exceptions because most of the Basque immigrants in the story fail to return to their homeland. In addition to this, the main character, Dominique, who manages to see the Basque Country again, prefers in the end to go back to America.

Although a lot of immigrants in Sweet Promised Land talk about going home, their return is nearly always postponed and in most cases it never takes place. Two opposite reasons may be argued to account for this situation: the failure of the integration process, and its overwhelming success. Actually, the book describes a group of Basque immigrants who are unable to overcome the challenges of the new land, but have to remain in America because their return has become physically impossible. They have failed to save money or they have been defeated by adversity, age, or loneliness. As one of the characters in the story says,

”...they were lost souls, and they did not even have the good fortune to be lost in their own hell. They were foreigners when they came and they will always be foreigners.” (1986:107)

As a contrast to these immigrants, Laxalt focuses his attention on the figure of his father, who symbolizes the success of the assimilation process. After forty-seven years in the New World, Dominique is so integrated in the American society that his early wishes to return to the Basque Country and settle there have vanished. We can even see how he hesitates when his family encourages him to go back to the old country for a short visit to his sisters. His nostalgic trip to the Basque Country is portrayed by his son, who accompanies him, as a shocking and ambiguous experience. In particular, Robert Laxalt emphasizes the deep impact produced on his father by his sudden return to the old country after forty-seven years of absence. Besides, the return becomes a catalyst for very opposite feelings. On the one hand, it is a moment for joy, reward and fulfillment. Dominique has the opportunity to meet his relatives again and these welcome him as a hero, as “the youth who had gone out into the world in beggar’s garb and come back in shining armor.” (1986:122) On the other hand, the return makes Dominique feel sad and old because he realizes that too much time has gone on and nothing can be the same again. His parents and some of his old friends are dead and, in spite of the joyous reunion with his relatives and the recall of youthful memories, he cannot avoid feeling like a stranger in his own land.

Robert Laxalt ends his tale of immigration by stressing the impossibility of returning to the past. To illustrate this point, he uses the example of his father’s nostalgic trip to the Basque Country. Actually, Dominique’s final decision to leave again for the United States shows that once the assimilation process is over and the old land has become only a dimming memory, the return of the native is nearly always a chimerical idea. As Dominique says at the end of Sweet Promised Land,

“I cannot go back. It ain’t my country anymore. I’ve lived too much in America ever to go back.” (1986:176)

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Eolian Energy

This information was published by the web page Innovations Report:

European Programme to promote renewable energy

04.10.2002

The European Commission has accepted EVE, the Basque Energy Entity, and Eolicas de Euskadi within the programme to promote renewable energy. The European Union is aware of the effort EVE is doing to obtain 12 % of primary energy from renewable energy. This entity has been accepted in the programme Campaign for Take-Off, together with Eolicas de Euskadi. The programme has been designed by the European Commission and as the first step they want to create a Renewable Energy Partnership. This partnership would group companies, public and private organisations that commit themselves in the development of renewable energy of the nature.

EVE has been included, particularly, through the programme “Photovoltaic solar installations connected to the electrical network in schools of the Basque Country”. This programme has been created with the collaboration of EVE, Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government. The aim of this initiative is to raise public awareness in relation to the advantages of renewable energy. Similarly, and as a consequence of this initiative, before the end of this year the Basque Autonomous Region will duplicate the number of photovoltaic installations.

The agreement, a pioneer at national level, between 2002-2005 will set 170 new photovoltaic solar installations in many other schools of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. Each installation will have a power of 5kW. According to that, and taking into account that by the end of the year 2002 50 new installations will be established, the actual power will be duplicated. As for the information provided by EVE, on 31st December 2001, 227 kW were produced with photovoltaic installations.

The company Eolicas de Euskadi has been accepted after the presentation of the work “Plan for Promoting and Developing Eolian Energy in the Basque Country”. This plan explains how to make the maximum use of energy of less environmental impact. It suggests important socio-economic advantages: using native renewable resources, increasing of self-sufficiency rate of energy and promoting use of clean energy, and that way, polluting emissions to the air will be reduced.

The Basque Autonomous region is one of the countries that produces the less eolian energy. The generation of 27 MW eolian power places this region in the tenth position. However, in the next years, a significant increase of this kind of energy is expected in the Basque Autonomous Region.

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Basque Saga Takes a Twist

Yesterday, the Nobel Peace Prize, human rights activist Rigoberta Menchu was the honor guest speaker at an European Forum. Among many other things she spoke about the right of the Basque people for self determination and she also spoke against the new law in Spain that allows the government to outlaw oppositon political parties. She also spoke against ETA's violence and begged the terrorist group to stop their killings.

In response the PP, the ruling party in Spain demanded that her name be removed from a street in Madrid that honors Rigoberta Menchu for her actions to defend the rights of the indigenous people in Central America. The major of Madrid said that they should cut her some slack since she was from a land so far away that she was ignorant of anything regarding the Basque issue. Today, Spain's delegate to that European forum requested that since Rigoberta Menchu was not european, she should not be allowed to speak at that forum, and get this one, they heed to her request and Rigoberta Menchu could not speak today!

Rigoberta defended what she said and she is to visit the Basque Country in the next couple of days. Let's hope that Spain does not deny her a visa.

What is wrong with people?! The fascist Spanish government is openly attacking a Nobel Prize that is asking for easing a peace process in the region! Are the europeans going to forget so easily what the whole experience of Hitler and in recent years Milosevic tought them?

I hope not.

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Bilbao

After our visit to Gazteiz, it is now time to learn some information about Bilbao. Bilbao, (also Bilbo), in the west of Euskal Herria, is the capital of the province of Bizkaia. The city is the most financially and industrially active part of Greater Bilbao, Greater Bilbao’s 900,000+ inhabitants are spread along the length of the Nerbioi River, whose banks are home also to numerous business and factories, which during the industrial revolution brought heightened prosperity to the region.

Geography

A major seaport and industrial center, the city is located on the Estuary of Bilbao, the city's suburbs extending to the Bay of Biscay.

In the north, Bilbao’s city edge is considered to be around the towns of Erandio, Sondika and Derio, in the east it is encompassed by Zamudio and Etxebarri. The southern border passes outside Basauri and Arrigorriaga and in the west, Barakaldo and Alonsotegi are the furthest extremes. The urban area is enclosed by two small mountain ranges called Pagasarri (to the south) and Artxanda (to the north), this fact gives the city its nickname, "el botxo", "the hole".

Districts

The city of Bilbao is divided into eight different districts, including the following neighborhoods:

* 1st District (Deusto): Deusto, San Ignacio, Ibarrekolanda, Arangoiti, Ribera de Deusto/Zorrozaurre.

* 2nd District (Uribarri): Uribarri, Matiko, Castaños, Zurbaranbarri and Ciudad Jardín.

* 3rd District (Otxarkoaga-Txurdinaga): Otxarkoaga and Txurdinaga.

* 4th District (Begoña): Begoña, Santutxu and Bolueta.

* 5th District (Ibaiondo): Casco Viejo, Bilbao La Vieja, San Francisco, Zabala, Atxuri,(La Peña) Iturrialde, Solokoetxe, Abusu and the newly developed neighbourhood of Miribilla.

* 6th District (Abando): Abando and Indautxu.

* 7th District (Rekalde): Rekalde, El Peñascal, Ametzola, Iralabarri and San Adrián.

* 8th District (Basurto-Zorrotza): Basurto, Altamira, Masustegi, Olabeaga and Zorrotza.

History

Bilbao was founded as a village by Don Diego Lopez de Haro V, Lord of Biscay, on 15 June 1300 on the opposite river bank of an existing fishing settlement (now known as Bilbao la Vieja or Bilbo Zarra, "Old Bilbao").

Prior to formal establishment as a township, a village and port called "Bilbao" (the name designated in the founding village charter of 1300) is believed to have been located near an ancient wall (circa XII century) recently discovered by the "San Anton" Bridge. Other evidence suggests that first settlements in Bilbao came earlier near the "Malmasin" promontory.

The name of the city stems from Basque "bi albo" meaning "two river banks".

Nearby places like Sestao and Ugao-Miraballes have the same ending that could be Basque aho, "mouth".

1300–1600

Don Diego gave the city rights and privileges along with land for growth. At first there were only three streets: Somera ("Upper"), Artekale ("middle street") and Tendería ("Shopkeeper's"), following the pattern of three parallel streets found in other Basque towns, and the Santiago church, surrounded by a city wall. Bilbao was in the northern branch of the Way of Saint James, thus the name of Santiago (Saint James') church.

The city grew slowly but steadily, its area is now known as the "Seven streets", after the new parallel developments. The privileges conceded by the successive Lords of Biscay were resented, sometimes violently, by other chartered villas like Portugalete and by the unchartered villages. In the 15th century wars between noble families disrupted the city, which had reached a population of almost 3000. Three floods and a fire shook the city, and Santiago Church was almost totally destroyed. But once again the city recovered and it grew beyond the wall.

In 1511 the Consulate of Bilbao was granted to the city, this allowed Bilbao to be the main export port for Merino wool from Iberian peninsula to the northern European cities, like Antwerp.

Bilbao became the most important commercial and financial hub of the Basque coast during the Spanish Empire era. The swords exported through Bilbao were known in England as "bilboes".

1600–1900

In 1602 Bilbao was made capital city of Biscay, replacing the former capital Bermeo. The following centuries saw a constant increase of the city's wealth, especially after the discovery of extensive iron resources in the surrounding hills. At the end of the 17th century, Bilbao overcame the economical crises that affected the Iberian peninsula thanks to the iron ore and the commerce with England and the Netherlands. During the 18th century the city continued to grow and almost exhausted its limited space.

The 19th century's industrial revolution was crucial for Bilbao, with the developing of strong mining, steel and shipbuilding industries. At the beginning of the 20th century Bilbao was tone of the wealthiest cities of Europe, where the main banks (BBVA) and insurance companies were established.

Bilbao was besieged four times by the Carlists during the Carlist Wars in which the Basques supported the side that promised to uphold and respect the ancient Basque laws, but due to the defenders (the regular army and local Liberal volunteers), it was never conquered, as is recorded in the city's title ("undefeated").

In 1886 the University of Deusto was established by the Company of Jesus and a major plan for the city was announced after the village of Abando was annexed. The Alzola, Achúcarro and Hoffmeyer "Ensanche" (extension) project of 1876 almost doubled the city's area and was developed during the following decades, as it happened in other cities like Barcelona at that time.

The 20th century

In 1925, the village of Deusto was annexed and several other parts of the city were developed including Basurto and Begoña.

Bilbao sided with the Republican Government in the Spanish Civil War and was the capital of the first Basque Autonomous Government led by José Antonio Aguirre. A defensive ring, called "Cinturón de Hierro" (Iron Belt) was built around the city, with heavy artillery and a good number of bunkers linked by kilometers of tunnels. Despite these efforts, on 19 June 1937 Bilbao succumbed to Franco's troops' siege (aided by the betrayal of the engineer Goicoechea, designer of the defensive ring); the bridges were destroyed to stop the enemy, but the city survived relatively intact.

During Franco's dictatorship the city's heavy industries fueled Spain's economy and thousands of immigrants from central and southern Spain moved to Bilbao, the city and surrounding towns expanded greatly and sometimes chaotically. In an effort to accommodate the influx of immigrants in the city's limited space, the towns in the adjacent Txoriherri valley (Erandio, Derio, Zamudio, Sondika, Lezama) were annexed. This annexation was reversed in 1981.

In 1983 heavy floods struck the city, killing many people in the province and causing great damage to the old part of the city; the old Arriaga Theater was devastated. Since then the "Casco Viejo" (the old district) has been renewed, along with the general trend of renewal seen all around the city.

Regeneration and renewal

The city has recently undergone major urban renewal, in order to move away from the region’s industrial history and instead focus on tourism and services. The developments are centered around the new metro system by Sir Norman Foster and, most of all, the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum by Frank Gehry (featured in this post). The Port of Bilbao, formerly on the river, has been moved and expanded downstream on the Bay of Biscay, opening a great deal of central real estate on the river that has been the site of most of the new building. Other new landmarks include the Santiago Calatrava- designed Zubizuri Bridge and the Euskalduna Palace, a cultural centre, further downstream. The two points are linked by a new riverside passageway opposite University of Deusto, which provides an open green space for the city’s inhabitants to relax.

Tourism and monuments

As well as the famous Guggenheim Museum, the city acts as home for the Fine Arts Museum recognised as one of Spain’s finest art museums and recently refurbished) and the Maritime Museum on the Nervión’s banks, which recently hosted the RMS Titanic exhibition which has been touring Europe. Museums are only a part of the city's attractions.

Since the inauguration of the Guggenheim museum in 1997, eight new hotels have been opened in the city, reflecting the increasing interest for the city.

Museums

* Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
* Fine Arts Museum
* Basque Museum
* Maritime Museum

Churches

* Santiago Cathedral
* Saint Anton church
* Basilica of Begoña
* Saint Nicholas of Bari church
* Santos Juanes church
* Saint Vincent church

Civil buildings

* Arriaga Theater
* Bizkaia Delegation Palace
* City Hall
* Chavarri Palace (Moyúa square)
* Plaza Nueva
* Ribera Market
* San Mamés Stadium
* University of Deusto

Other

* Doña Casilda de Iturrizar park
* Artxanda Funicular
* Zubizuri bridge

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Aznar Outdoes Himself, Again

Is this article at Yahoo News about a guy that looks like Milosevic more and more everyday?

Or is just my imagination?

Will we ever learn? Or in a couple of years NATO soldiers will be laughing while Spanish soldiers murder ethnic Basque men and boys?

Just read and decide:

Spanish Prime Minister warns Basque government against meddling with independence

Mon Sep 30,10:46 AM ET

By CIARAN GILES, Associated Press Writer

MADRID, Spain - Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar warned the Basque regional government Monday that he would not tolerate any attempts to break up the Spanish state.

"There will be no margin for rupture," Aznar told a meeting of his conservative Popular Party. "Nobody is going to set up an illegal regime, nobody is going to be allowed take it upon themselves to choose which laws they will obey and which they won't."

Aznar was speaking in the wake of a storm raised by Basque regional premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe who on Friday announced he wanted to redefine the Basque region's relationship with the Spanish government along the lines of shared sovereignty and free association.

Stressing what he called the right of the Basque people to decide their own future, Ibarretxe said he hoped to have a draft proposal for a "new pact for coexistence" ready within a year and to put the definitive proposal to vote before the northern region's some 2 million inhabitants.
Ibarretxe said he would begin preparatory talks with other groups in the Basque Parliament next week but made no mention of consulting the Spanish government.

Aznar, backed by the opposition Socialist party, is firmly opposed to any changes in the Basque region's status as one of Spain's 17 semiautonomous regions.

Critics accuse Ibarretxe of playing into the hands of ETA, an organization which has killed more than 830 people since it began its campaign for Basque independence in 1968.

ETA is most recently blamed for the death of a Civil Guard paramilitary police officer in a bomb explosion last Tuesday.

Spain's 17 regions have ample administrative powers while the central government retains control over key areas such as defense and foreign affairs. The Basque government has long demanded greater autonomy and in recent months has criticized Madrid for ignoring agreements to hand over control over more than a dozen areas of government.

Ties with the Basque and Madrid governments have soured even more lately mainly because of moves by Aznar's government to outlaw the radical Basque independence party Batasuna because of its alleged links with and support for ETA. The ban is opposed by Ibarretxe's Basque Nationalist Party and other nationalist groups in the region."

If you don't know what happened in Bosnia, don't bother trying to figure out who Milosevic is.

Think Hitler and the Gypsies instead, oh no wait, you wouldn't know about that either. Easy, think of Hitler and the Jews.

Me for one, I stand up and accuse Aznar of being the European heir of racist monsters like Mussolini and Hitler, who were the bosses of Franco, who was the boss of Aznar's daddy.

The rest of the world in the mean time, look the other way, like you did with Bosnia. Is more comfortable.

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Altube

Altube

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Blessed Land

This nice article about Euskal Herria comes to us via The Guardian:

Basque glories

The San Sebastian Film Festival runs until next Sunday. Andrew Wilson undertakes a mini-tour of the region

Andrew Wilson
The Guardian,
Saturday September 21 2002

I was standing on a street corner in the old part of San Sebastian in the Spanish Basque country, when I caught the eye of a Catweazle lookalike. Dressed in loosely fitting, tie-dyed clothes and sporting an excessively long beard, he started to shout as he made his way towards me. Trying to diffuse a potentially threatening situation, I smiled at him and said, "Hola". Yet as soon as I had uttered the word I knew I had said the wrong thing. "Kaixo!" he barked back at me, Euskera for "Hello".

Although I had read in a guidebook that an "x" is supposed to sound something akin to "sh", the word seemed almost impossible to pronounce, but after a few attempts I must have managed to mutter something approaching an approximation, as he suddenly smiled, seized my hand and moved on.

The experience illustrates the importance of language to the region, the knuckle of green countryside and wide sandy beaches ranged around the Bay of Biscay. During Franco's 40-year rule, the fascist leader not only exiled and executed thousands of Basques, but he also outlawed the speaking of Euskera, one of the world's oldest languages.

The opening of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in 1997 has resulted in a new influx of travellers to the area, but many confine their visit to the grim, post-industrial city with its shiny new symbol. As a result, they miss out on the many delights of Euskadi, its stunning landscapes, fairytale seaside resorts and its delicious cuisine.

A good view of Frank Gehry's iconic building can be had from Puente De La Salve and, if you have the energy, you can follow the river Nervion from here until you reach the old town, crossing the Puente Del Arenal into the graceful El Arenal and exploring the tangle of streets known as the Casco Viejo. A good coffee stop is the art-nouveau Cafe Boulevard at Arenal 3.

The elegant Plaza Nueva is home to many of the city's best tapas, or pinchos, bars. Local specialities include bacalão pil-pil (cod with an olive oil and garlic sauce, named after the gentle movement of the pan on and off the heat), calamares con cebolla (squid with onion), cogote de merluza (neck of hake), percebes (barnacles) and txangurro (spider crab). A good accompaniment is txakoli, a crisp dry wine costing around €6 a bottle.

San Sebastian, or Donostia as the Basques call it, is a short drive east from Bilbao on the A8. Just before arriving, it's worth taking a slight diversion to Hernani, home to the inspirational Chillida Museum - a collection of work by the recently deceased Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida.

Made famous by the Spanish royal family, who came to take the waters during the second half of the 19th century, San Sebastian takes you back to the elegance of the belle epoque. From Monte Urgull, there is a spectacular view of the glorious Playa de la Concha and its wedding-cake cafes and hotels.

In the harbour, in front of the aquarium - whose restaurant serves a good three-course lunch for around €30 a head including wine - you can see grown men throwing themselves into the green-blue sea with all the zeal of young boys. As I watched a group of children learning to sail in the bay, the liquid gold light dancing across on the ocean, I heard a gasp of delight from a group of French tourists nearby. I followed the direction of their gaze and saw a dolphin leaping from the water, covering the apprentice sailors with sea spray. Pakito the dolphin arrived in San Sebastian two or three years ago; apparently he liked it so much that he decided to stay. It's not hard to understand why.

In the evening, the Alameda Del Boulevard buzzes, seemingly dedicated to parade and pleasure. If you want to escape the crowds, take one of the streets off the boulevard into the Parte Vieja, the oldest section of the town, and step inside Santa Maria del Coro. This 18th-century church on Via Coro is topped by a writhing statue of San Sebastian; inside its shadowy interior, look out for the alabaster sculpture by Chillida.

The Parte Vieja also houses some of the town's best pinchos bars. Start an evening of txikiteo - an upmarket, Basque version of a pub crawl, stopping off every now and then for a mouthful to eat - a few minutes' walk from Santa Maria at Ormazabel on Calle 31 de Agosto, whose counter displays a lavish selection of treats for €4-6 each.

Another good one is Martinez, on the same street, which specialises in courgettes stuffed with crabmeat. If you want red wine, ask for crianza , which usually costs no more than €1.5 a glass.

Before returning to Bilbao, it's worth driving south-west to Vitoria (Gasteiz), the capital of Euskadi and home to the new contemporary art museum, Artium with a fine permanent collection of Picassos, Dalís and Mirós.

Although by the end of my short visit, I had not mastered even the basics of Euskera - after all, Basque is known as the language that defeated the devil himself - I was left with a desire to return. I was keen to witness a game of mus - the Basque card game that incorporates a series of facial ticks and cheating devices into its play - and wangle an invitation from one of the txokos , gastronomic clubs that only admit male members. "Everyone who has visited the Basque country longs to return," said Victor Hugo. "It is a blessed land."

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Yahoo and Basque Pictures

Amazingly enough, the media is now acknowledging the Basques, they presented a series of four pictures at Yahoo News that were published yesterday, if you follow the link, you will also see some pictures about the last pacific demonstration in Bilbo that was organized by artists and intellectuals and had the permission of the Basque Government until the soon to be Peace Nobel Prize decided that not, that it had been organized by ETA, so he ordered the Lehendakari Ibarretxe to send the police against tens of thousands of people exercizing their right to express their opinions and of gathering.

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Marching for Self Determination

No matter to which lawless depths Madrid wants to descend on its virulent campaign in Euskal Herria, the Basque society will demonstrate again and again its will to be free and sovereign.

This article was published at The New York Times:

Basque March Reflects Gains In Anti-Madrid Separatism

By EMMA DALY
Published: September 9, 2002

About 3,000 Basque nationalists marched through the sunlit center of San Sebastián today shouting pro-independence slogans, allowed to proceed by the Basque regional police despite an official ban on the demonstration.

The decision, fiercely criticized by national officials in Madrid, illustrates the difficulty of enforcing the Spanish government's policy of outlawing the separatist movement, which it says forms an integral part of the militant group E.T.A.

Opposition to the policy, including a ban on Batasuna, a political party linked to the E.T.A., is growing among Basque nationalists, even those strongly opposed to E.T.A.'s violent tactics.

''For Freedom,'' read the banner at a silent protest in Guernica -- Gernika to the Basques -- which was held on Saturday by Batasuna's political rival, Eusko Alkartasuna, a member of the coalition running the Basque government. The party shares Batasuna's aim of an independent Basque country, but not its tactics.

Recent measures that Basques across the political spectrum consider threatening include a Spanish judge's suspension of all Batasuna activities for three years. The governing Popular Party, backed by most of Congress, has asked the Supreme Court to outlaw the party.

''Emotions are running very high, the tension is very noticeable,'' said José María Larrañaga, of the nationalist labor union known by its initials, E.L.A. ''We see this as a kind of coup d'état against the Basques. I don't agree with E.T.A., but I also don't agree with banning Batasuna; that is going to create a lot of problems.''

In San Sebastián, masked riot police officers in black jumpsuits stood waiting near the city's scenic waterfront, packed with revelers and tourists attending the annual rowing regatta. As the demonstration, called in support of Basque prisoners, set off behind a banner declaring, ''The Basque Country Needs Freedom,'' the police moved to block the street.

''It's a disgrace, a shame what those police are doing,'' said a well-dressed, middle-aged woman walking past.

But the police, after taking the names of those leading the march, allowed the protest to move on surrounded by traffic on a main, tree-lined avenue.

''They only let us go because there are too many people, and on a day like this, banning the march could cause major trouble,'' said Leire, who would not give her full name. She said she had been imprisoned for 10 years because, she said, ''I was a militant separatist -- I still am.''

As the rally ended, the protesters raised their left fists and sang the Basque nationalist anthem. A few even shouted, ''Long live military E.T.A.!''

Leopoldo Barreda, spokesman in the Basque country for the Popular Party, accused the Basque government of negligence in allowing the march to proceed. ''There must be some kind of political responsibility -- someone must have given the relevant instructions and someone will have to explain why those responsible for maintaining order in the Basque Country proved incapable of stopping the terrorists' friends from marching through the streets of San Sebastián,'' he said.

One of those marching, Joseba Álvarez, is a member of the Basque parliament for Batasuna, but under the judicial order suspending the party's activities, he is barred from speaking in Batasuna's name, from holding meetings or rallies or from taking part in politics as a member of the party.

Despite all this, he said separatists would continue to organize. ''The Basque people engaged in political activities during Franco's time, when there was no legal infrastructure,'' he said. ''If Madrid takes away our basic rights, we will find other ways to continue the struggle for independence.''

''If you close down all democratic, political routes, it will feed the violence,'' he warned.

Despite concern that the protest today -- and another illegal gathering on Saturday evening in Bilbao -- would provoke clashes between militant youths and the police, the narrow streets of the historic center here were peaceful, albeit packed with partygoers.

But next weekend yet another demonstration has been called for Bilbao, that one a silent protest. Those seeking permission for the gathering -- a prominent Basque poet, a journalist, former members of the Basque parliament and others who say they represent no group -- hope that such an innocuous gathering will not be banned.

The Spanish government is determined, with the backing of the opposition Socialist Party, to crush E.T.A. and its supporters. But Batasuna won 150,000 votes in regional elections in May 2001, and it is the second-largest Basque political group.

''Fifteen percent of the Basque electorate will not have political representation in the next regional election,'' said Mr. Álvarez, adding that any successor party to Batasuna would also be outlawed under legislation approved this year.

The national government presented more than 1,000 pieces of evidence to the Supreme Court that it contended tied Batasuna to E.T.A., but even if the case is proven and the party outlawed, Batasuna supporters and other nationalists say they will remain loyal to the cause.

''We're going to keep on until we win freedom for the Basque country,'' said Elvira Matía, 93, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War who was attending the Guernica rally to protest the banning of Batasuna. ''We have been fighting for 90 years. We're not going to stop now.''

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