Ibarretxe and Zapatero

Zapatero Ibarretxe

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (L) shakes hands with Basque premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe after his arrival for a private meeting at Madrid's Moncloa Palace May 5, 2005. Ibarretxe is trying to form a new government after the April 17 Basque regional elections. REUTERS/Andrea Comas

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Today in Gazteiz

Arnaldo Otegi, left, leader of the Batasuna party, outlawed in 2003 on grounds it is part of the armed separatist group ETA, talks with Juan Jose Ibarretxe in Vitoria, Spain Tuesday May 3, 2005. Ibarretxe, who is trying to form a new government after winning the April 17 Basque regional elections held the meeting with Batasuna who called Tuesday for all-party talks to end the Spanish region's decades of violence as they concluded a much-criticized meeting with the acting Basque president. (AP Photo/EFE, David Aguilar)

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cyberEuskadi

Reading Euskal Kultura (something I should do more often) I found out that there is a site called cyberEuskadi that is dedicated to anything and everything that has to do with Euskal Herria and the internet.

They keep a nifty ranking of all the Basque websites in the net, or at least the ones they have identified as such.

Hint hint!

Anyway, I added the link to their page at my Basque Sites list.

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Their Commitment is the Sling

In their article titled "Fighting Against Goliath", Berria describes the problems faced by teachers of Euskera in towns where Spanish is spoked more widely.

Here is a paragraph that describes the situation:

Jaione Zabala, who teaches at the Alkartu council school in Barakaldo, does not fully concur with this assertion. “You can also learn English in the Basque Country, but the thing is that it is a much slower, more tiring process. The same thing happens to us with our Basque. They don’t have the same facilities for learning Basque as people in Basque-speaking areas do. They have to buy sweets in Spanish, they won’t be watching Basque TV (ETB), because their parents or older brothers and sisters don’t understand Basque…”

This is something that has been addressed multiple times, the danger of having Euskera, the oldest European language, competing against two formidable linguistic behemots. There is a huge gap between what Madrid claims and what they actually allow. Having members of the PP calling the Ikastolas by the term of "hotbeds of terrorism" because education is imparted in Euskera is but one example.

One thing though, the commitment of all those involved in the strenghtening of Euskera can be quite an effective sling against this Goliath.

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Udalbiltza Is Back

The nation building process in Euskal Herria requires the compromise and efforts of the Basque people in the seven provinces.

Udalbiltza, the first Basque institution representative of all the seven herrialdes is back after the repressive attack by Madrid:

The day after the second anniversary of the police operation against Udalbiltza, its chairman, Loren Arkotxa, asserted yesterday that the national institution continued to be valid and was fully committed to contributing to the process which needed to be started in Euskal Herria.

Berria goes on to publish Arkotxa's call to unity:

He called for a commitment from every single player. He extended “an invitation” for the resources of political, social and trade union players and of representatives of the institutions “to be placed at the service of the process” and urged that “the political moment be put to advantage”.

Finally, he insists on the need to apply a democratic model that will provide a voice to all Basques:

He said: “The outlines of the model of a democratic process to enable Basque citizens to express their wishes have begun to take shape.” He said at the heart of this process lay the need for consensus among all Basque citizens, a process without exclusions and a chance for all Basque citizens to be given a say.

You can read the note as published by Berria here.

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Conde-Pumpido the Inquisidor

Seems like the PP has a magnificent guard dog in Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido.

Despite the extensive investigation prior to the elections in which it was stablished that EHAK has no links to Batasuna, the Attorney General now says that he will screen those who acted as scrutineers for EHAK at the voting locations.

The sad thing is, the European Union turns its back on this less than candid demonstration of totalitarism by the most reactionary elements in Madrid.

Armed with their Ley de Partidos they deprived thousands of people of a political option, it is just natural that these voiceless Basques would look for another party that they feel represents them. Last time it was the PNV for some of them, this time it was EHAK for the majority of them.

Madrid can not go on stiffling the political options of the Basque society, because it is only through politics that a negotiated and peaceful solution to the conflict can be found. If this crazy atmosphere of political apartheid continues, Madrid will be in fact denying the option to vote and be voted to a lot of individual in the Basque Country.

To elect those who will represent you is both a right and a duty as a citizen, to take that away from people is a flagrant violation of human rights and civil liberties.

This is taking place in Europe from all places, boy, they have to wake up and smell the coffee, pronto.

Here is the note by Berria, Conde-Pumpido is acting on a report from the Guardia Civil, Spain's repressive para-military police force, here is a paragraph that will amuse you:

Conde-Pumpido’s investigations have led him to take the matter up with the offices of the Public Prosecutors of Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Navarre, so that they in turn can approach the Electoral Commissions to obtain the lists of the people who acted as scrutineers in recent elections. “We do know that there have been a number of isolated coincidences, because they have been detected by the Security Forces of the State.” But he pointed out that all the data needed to be gathered to conduct a “thorough” investigation.

The stench of Aznar is not gone.

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Gernika

Today we commemorate one more anniversary of the bombing of Gernika.

Don't allow the Basque spelling to confuse you, you may know this town by the name of Guernica.

And I'm sure that you are familiar with the famous painting by Pablo Picasso by the same name, "Guernica".

Maybe many times you wondered what all the nightmarish imagery in the painting represented, maybe someone told you it represented the bombing of a town during the Spanish Civil War.

The painting has become an icon of all what is wrong with war, the civilian casualties, the horrors unleashed on the innocent bystanders, the crazyness of a human killing another human over some little quarrel.

It is no wonder that not too long ago it was concealed behind a blue curtain while lies about some inexistent weapons of mass destruction were tossed around in order to convince the world of the necessity of yet one more war.

Ironic, because from all the missconceptions about the Basques, there is one that tells us that the people Guernica was the first civilian population to endure an airborne bombing.

For it was Winston Churchill who ordered the systematic murder of civilians in present day Iraq, using airplanes to reach remote areas.

Later the same tactic would be used against the rebellious Berbers in northern Sahara.

But since we are an Eurocentric society, we like to say that it happened first to the Basques, for they are after all, Europeans.

Or maybe it is that they were bombed by the biggest of all evils, Adolph Hitler.

Which in turn begs the question, if the Basques were targeted by Adolph Hitler, how come no one mentions them during each year's commemorative acts of the Holocaust?

The bombing of the Basque town of Gernika took place on a day like today in 1937.

It was not a military target for it was well beyond the front lines. But two individuals needed to placate their demons.

Franco was quite upset about the way the war was going, against all odds, the Basque army had been able to hold up on its defence of the newly created Basque Republic. Franco had the resources, the war machinery and troops from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. But somehow, the Basque gudaris that shouldn't have lasted days, managed to last weeks, and then months.

Hitler and Mussolini started to doubt the capability of Franco to win this war. They also started to question the reports given to them by Franco and the Pope that the Basques were all communists that were against the Church. Because day after day they witnessed the Basque devotion to the Catholic faith, and every so often a Basque priest would be captured while assisting the wounded gudaris, or sometimes even fighting side to side with them.

Hitler's advisors also were concerned with Franco's obsession on destroying the Basque industrial infrastructure. They could not understand why Franco was hell bent on conquering the region just to destroy its more valuable asset, its industry.

So Franco needed to break the Basque spirit, and he ordered the destruction of the very heart of the Basque nation, Gernika.

Hitler on the other hand needed to try this new strategy posed to him by his air warfare strategists. They needed to try out these new Junker bombers, they needed to try out their Stukas, heck, a prototype of the Messerschmitt was also waiting to be put to test.

And Hitler agreed, and the rest is history.

But they Basques did not give up just like that after the rape of Gernika, oh no, they continued to fight all the way to 1945.

Many gudaris and their families ended up in death camps in Germany and Poland. In Hegoalde, the Falangists abducted, murdered and tortured Basques that opposed the regime. The Guardia Civil torched the farms of Basque families that assisted Allied pilots, Jewish refugees and varied other peoples escaping the Nazis. In Iparralde the Gestapo rounded up as many Basques as they could to try to break down the organization known as La Ligne, an underground group that was the backbone of one of the escape routes out of occupied France.

This is why I agree when Suslush says that every Basque family should have a "Guernica" on the wall in their living rooms.

Today, my heart aches, for what happened that market day in Gernika, and for what its happening to humankind.

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In Donibane Garazi

Donibane Garazi

Hundreds of demonstrators march behind a banner that reads 'Reconstruct Navarre for the Independence of the Basque Country' as they march through the streets of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, southwestern France, ' Saturday April 23, 2005. The demonstrators support the Basque nationalist party Batasuna, outlawed in Spain. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

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Moron Alert

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know by now that I have not too much love for right-wing loonies.

There is some halfwit that writes for The Miami Herald by the name of Carlos Alberto Montaner who just penned an article called The Chavez- 'Banana Left' Alliance.

It is the classic drivel, but to tell you the truth, Chavez is not exactly my favorite cup of tea, so I did not really care for what Montaner had to say, that is until I read this paragraph:

• In Mexico, the colorful Subcomandante Marcos, noted for supporting ETA's Basque terrorists and denouncing the Spanish monarchy, has gone from being an icon of the left to becoming an embarrassing fellow traveler.

I can not believe that after two years the right wing Cubans at the orders of Madrid are still trying to pin that one on the Sup.

Just a couple of weeks ago I posted something about it here at Ingeleraz.

I also have posted at Gazteleraz the original letters in Spanish by the Subcomandante Marcos and in none of them he offers a hint of support for ETA. Quite the opposite, he demands from them to stop the violence and he even offers himself as a victim if only to give the Basques a chance to negotiate a way out of the conflict.

The Subcomandante Marcos and the EZLN have repeatedly voiced their support for the Basque people, but only an idiot or someone that wants to manipulate the perception of the Basque conflict would call that support for ETA, like Fehr from Mana did.

When I read notes like the one by this Montaner character I realize how much ignorance and misconception there is about the Basques, their struggle and their right to self determination.

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Eleanor and Michael, Basque-phobes

Well, fresh from the Outback we get the Basque-phobe of the week.

Eleanor Hall has this nicety to say about the Basques:

The Basques have long been a thorn in the side of Madrid, with terrorist group ETA killing hundreds of Spaniards and local opponents in its fight for an independent state.

Well, she sounds rather informed and fair on her statements isn't it?

But she was not alone, on an article by her outfit called "The World Today", which is a feature at ABC online, she and a Michael Vincent ride the same wave that has been all over the international media saying the Basque dream of independence has been destroyed because get this, Basques voted for EHAK, a pro-independence party, instead of granting majority to Ibarretxe and the PNV.

Huh?

Anyway, Michael Vincent gets quite patronizing when he calls Juan José Ibarretxe by the title senor:

Senor Ibarretxe had hoped to win a majority and force Madrid to help make this region into an internationally recognised state. Instead, he'll now have to negotiate with his Basque political opponents.

Senor Vincent, a "Mr." Ibarretxe was more than enough.

And while we are all weary of China invading Taiwan, Senor Vincent takes the idea of military intervention in Euskal Herria lightly:

Some Spaniards consider the plan sedition, with newspaper editorials in recent days saying Spain risks disintegration. And back in January the National Defence Minister threatened to send in the troops if any region engaged in, quote, "projects which violate the sovereign will of all Spaniards".

Finally, Senor Vincent, an Australian that doesn't understand what democracy is, and can care less about a concept called "assumption of innocence", goes ahead and parrots Aznar's mantra about Batasuna being the political party of an armed group:

MICHAEL VINCENT: But the new force he speaks of is the recently created Communist Party. They were backed in this election by Batasuna, the banned political wing of terrorist group ETA.

Just like that, Michael Vincent arrives to a veredict that not even Madrid has been able to consolidate with something called evidence.

Thanks to their blatant stupidity, Eleanor Hall and Michael Vincent are this week's outstanding Basque-phobes.

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