Basqueing in Stanford

Well, this comes to us via The Stanford Daily:

New Basque Studies class elicits strong support

January 11, 2007
By James Hohmann

Senior Casey Nevitt’s dream of starting a Basque Studies class on the Quad was realized Wednesday when almost 30 people crammed into a classroom for the first session of her student initiated course.

“It’s been a work in progress since last school year,” she said. “There’s been so much support.”

Of course, it helps when the University’s chief academic officer and its top donor both trace their roots to the relatively small region in northern Spain, one of 17 autonomous states in the European country.

“It’s about time,” said Provost John Etchemendy, who could not recall a Basque Studies course since he first came to Stanford in 1976.

Billionaire construction magnate John Arrillaga is one of the “students” taking the course. He said his father was conceived in Spain and remembered playing basketball in Bilbao in 1960.

“We have nine sessions in which we are going to try and cover thousands of years of history, culture and identity,” said course instructor Gloria Totoricaguena. “Basque culture is not monolithic. It is very heterogeneous.”

Totoricaguena is the director of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. The preeminent Basque scholar will fly in Wednesday afternoons to lecture.

Students said they enrolled in the course for a variety of reasons. Some visited Spain and fell in love with the culture. One student said she was taking the course because her boyfriend is from the Basque region. A Human Biology major said she dreamed of one day living in Spain.

“I wanted to learn about Basque culture beyond what’s on Wikipedia,” said senior Ash Siddiqui, who is studying math and computational studies.

Through the hour-and-a-half meeting, Totoricaguena offered an executive summary of her survey class. Using vivid, high-resolution photos in a PowerPoint, she previewed what will be covered each week.

She noted that women traditionally dominate the Basque family unit and cited recent archaeological discoveries of entire towns in the region, which she described as “absolutely incredible.”

The class will learn three traditional Basque folk dances one week and will make a field trip to a high-end restaurant another. Totoricaguena also plans to delve into what motivates the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), a terrorist group that strives for an autonomous, socialist Basque state.

After class, in a corner of the room, Nevitt sold the books that will be referenced through the quarter. With a Basque flag hanging behind her, she assured her peers that the books were the best deal she could find. She bought them used on Amazon, she said, and was selling them at cost.

Arrillaga was the first in line to buy the texts, with cash in hand.

One can only hope that by the end of the class the references to Spain and the Spaniards will cease.

And does Arrillaga really needs to buy discount books?

I mean, after donating millions of dollars to a sport that NO ONE practices in the Basque Country, he should be ashamed.

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ETA's Press Release

A man is seen reading a newspaper in Pamplona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007, with the headline reading that the Basque separatist group ETA claimed responsibility for a bombing in Madrid that killed two people last Dec. 30. ETA claimed responsibility for the bombing, but insisted the truce it called in March which they described as permanent is still in force. It was the first deadly attack by ETA since May 2003. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

Now, if the Spanish politicians would get some sense of what is going on maybe there would be a chance for justice to prevail.

What they need to do is to shake up their old glories, get rid of that false sense of honor they draw from their past as invaders and colonizers.

How can they be proud of the genocide they conducted in America?

How can they be proud of the amazing cultures and societies that they oblitarated?

How can they find excuses to continue to do it today?

How can they think like they did during the XV century at the dawn of the XXI century?

Are they ever going to evolve and become a democracy and justice oriented people?

The Spaniards do not deserve their political class. Starting with their king.

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Gero Arte Roberto

And now, we take a break from politics to give a warm farewell to Basque cyclist Roberto Laiseka, here you have the note from EITB:

Euskaltel-Euskadi

Basque rider Roberto Laiseka gives up cycling

01/09/2007

Euskal-Euskadi Basque rider Roberto Laiseka announced Tuesday he gives up cycling at the age of 37 years old.

In a press conference in the County Council of Bizkaia in Bilbao, Laiseka explained he took the decision to give up as he has not recovered yet from a long knee injury he suffered last Italian Giro.

Laiseka was the only rider in Euskaltel-Euskadi left from those that were in the Basque team when it was born in 1994. He has won stages at Spanish Vuelta and Italian Giro.

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ETA's Renewed Compromise

ETA expressed its commitment to the Peace Process in the Basque Country.

Here is the note by EITb:

Statement

Basque armed band ETA affirms March 24 cease-fire still holds

01/09/2007

Basque armed group ETA insisted Tuesday that a cease-fire it declared in March still stands, even as it claimed responsibility for a Dec. 30 car bombing that killed two people in Madrid. ETA made its assertion in a statement sent to the pro-independence newspaper Gara.

ETA said it did not mean to cause casualties in the attack, accusing the government of failing to evacuate the parking garage targeted at Madrid's airport despite three warning calls pointing out exactly where the car bomb was parked. The airport was largely evacuated, but both victims were sleeping in parked cars.

ETA blamed the Spanish Government and the governing Socialist Party for "placing obstacles endlessly in the democratic process," Gara said in a summary of what it called a long Basque-language statement.

Hours before ETA's statement, the government announced the arrest of two suspected ETA members in southern France linked to arms caches found in late December and last week in the Basque region. They were the first arrests since the Madrid car bombing.

Peace process, in danger

ETA and its political supporters had been warning in recent months that continued arrests and trials of suspected ETA members were endangering the peace process, which was launched with its announcement March 22 of a "permanent" cease-fire. It had been demanding, and the government refusing, the transfer of ETA prisoners from jails around Spain to prisons in the Basque region.

Spain's Government has responded to the bombing by scrapping plans for negotiations with ETA and declaring the once-promising peace process terminated.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said he had not immediately read ETA's statement, but his initial impression was that "ETA has only one path left to take, which is to end the violence."

Right to "respond"

In its statement, ETA reiterated a claim that the government had made, and was not keeping, unspecified promises as part of the process that began with the truce.

The group wants to promote the peace process, but reserves the right to "respond" if what it calls government aggression against the pro-independence movement continues, Gara reported.

ETA insisted progress in the peace process must come from a "political agreement" that includes "the minimum democratic rights owed to the Basque Country,'' an apparent allusion to Basques long-standing demands to be able to decide between independence and remaining part of Spain.

Demand to halt fruitless "police formulas and policies"

It called on the government to halt "police formulas and failed policies that lead nowhere," said Gara, which did not publish a full text of the ETA statement.

The explosion destroyed a five-story parking garage at Madrid airport, which in addition to killing the two Ecuadorean immigrants, injured 26 people.

Until now, ETA had not claimed responsibility for the bombing but a caller warning of the blast said he represented the group.

It was time for Rodriguez to be exposed in all his mendacity. He is no different from Aznar or Felipe Gonzalez (the creator of the state sponsored terrorist group known as GAL, that on top of the regular terrorist organization known as Guardia Civil). He thought he could bring ETA to the negotiating table while steping up the Spanish repression in Euskal Herria. And while Rodriguez was using the international forums to claim he was engaged in a peace process, all the while he was hammering down on one of the columns of peace, justice.

Now, if only Rodríguez and his PSOE and Rajoy and his PP can get it through their thick heads that they need to stop their genocidal violence against the Basque people, maybe in the near future we can finally see justice served, which in turn will usher a new age of peace.

Read that again, justice first, and then peace will take place as part of a natural process.

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The Ceasefire Stands

A young boy plays with the letters of graffiti from the Basque separatist group ETA that reads, 'It's Necessary To Make the Basque Country', in Alsasuna, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007. ETA claimed responsibility Tuesday for a powerful car bombing that killed two people, but insisted a ''permanent'' cease-fire it called in March remained in force and said the fatalities were unintentional. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

For those who do not understand, is actually quite easy, the Spanish government never once gave up on their violence and repression against the Basque people, meaning, they did not live up to their part in the truce, they have no honor.

To all the little people that thinks this is a turn for the worst, show me in your blogs a post were you demanded a halt to the dispersion policy or to the rampant practice of torture against Basque political prisoners.

Once.

See?

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Batasuna's Call for Compromise

For those of you who do not know it, Batasuna is a political party that was banned by José María Aznar, yes, you read that correctly, in Spain a so called "young democracy" they ban political parties. You are going to love it even more when you learn that this Aznar is the son of a prominent junta member during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. As you can see, some things never change in Spain, no wonder why the Basques want nothing to do with a country that shows such disregard for democracy, civil liberties and human rights.

Well, Batasuna was banned for refusing to state something some else wants them to state, as if you could be sent to jail for refusing to say "I hate rap music" when someone else demands it from you.

As it happens, the politicans from Batasuna are the only ones with the political courage to demand from ETA to stick to its compromise in behalf of the Basque Peace Process.

Here you have the note from Yahoo News:

Basque militant urges continued peace

By MAR ROMAN, Associated Press Writer

Mon Jan 8, 5:06 PM ET

A leading pro-independence militant urged the armed Basque separatist group ETA on Monday to maintain a cease-fire which the government declared void following a Dec. 30 car bombing in Madrid that killed two people.

Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the outlawed Batasuna Party, called on ETA "to keep intact the commitments and objectives stated in its March 22" cease-fire announcement. He also encouraged the government and ETA to resume contacts.

"Political dialogue has to be developed ... in the absence of any kind of violence," he added.

Batasuna, considered ETA's political wing, has never called on ETA to halt its attacks. Last week, party members said they said they were surprised by the Madrid bombing and offered condolences to the victims in another unexpected gesture.

The bomb destroyed a parking garage at Madrid's international airport, killing Ecuadorean immigrants Carlos Alonso Palate and Diego Armando Estacio, and wounding 26 people.

Hundreds of people in the Spanish capital, meanwhile, staged a silent protest in memory of the two victims.

Five-minute silences were observed at noon in Madrid from city hall to the airport. Workers, passengers, firefighters and police at the blast site stopped all activities for the five minutes of silence.

The bombing was ETA's first fatal attack in more than three years and it shattered a nine-month cease-fire that the group had described as permanent.

The government, which had announced plans to negotiate with ETA, responded by declaring the peace process was over.

On Monday, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero met with opposition leader Mariano Rajoy for talks aimed at forging a united stance following the attack, but no agreement was reached.

ETA has not claimed responsibility for the blast, but a man who made a warning call to authorities before the explosion said he represented the group.

Zapatero has said he is more determined than ever to end ETA's nearly four-decade campaign of violence, aimed at achieving an independent Basque homeland.

Rodriguez (some like calling him Zapatero for some reason) must understand that to end violence one simple thing needs to be accomplished, for justice to be served, and that will happen when the Basques are allowed to go their own way, as enshrined at the UN's Charter.

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From Batasuna to ETA

Arnaldo Otegi (R), spokesman of banned Basque party Batasuna addresses a news conference with Batasuna negotiating team member Rufi Etxeberria in San Sebastian, January 8, 2007. Otegi asked armed separatists ETA to continue with their ceasefire agreements. REUTERS/Vincent West (SPAIN)

Now, this is politics, all the other tugs from the PP, the PSOE and the PNV are too busy trying to win their piss contest.

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YouTube: Video From Anoeta

Here you have a video hosted at YouTube that shows the repression against Basque demonstrators that took to the streets of Donostia nearby Anoeta to demand a compromise with the peace process:

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Robocops Against Pro-Amnesty Demo

Acting as sidekicks to the Spanish occupation forces, the Ertzaintza (Basque Police) acted to stop a demonstration in Donostia following the orders dispatched from Madrid.

If Ibarretxe and his minion Balza had a bit of dignity left in them, the first thing they ought to do would be to stop callling this Ertzaintza by that name in order to honor those Basques who fought against Spain's occupation as members of the real Ertzaintza.

Here you have the note by EITb:

Deemed illegal by high court

Basque police stops pro-amnesty rally in Donostia-San Sebastian

Basque police clashed on Saturday with Basque leftist supporters at a demonstration in the Basque Country on the day that the body of a man killed by a car bomb blamed on the armed Basque group ETA was flown home.

The rally had been called in the seaside city of Donostia-San Sebastian by Basque leftist militants to demand an amnesty for prisoners belonging to the armed group ETA.

The gathering had been deemed illegal by High Court Judge because it had been convened by outlawed organisation Askatasuna.

The rally was due to have taken place in the velodrome of Anoeta, next to the city's football stadium but protesters were stopped from entering the grounds by police. Protesters then began a sit-down protest, the spokesman said.

Police charged several times to clear the area around the Anoeta Stadium, and three people were arrested, the spokesman said.

One person was taken to hospital with light injuries and one police car was burned, the spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with forces' policy.

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Is He For Real?

EITb published this note about the aparent compromise by the lehendakari to push forward with the Peace Process.

Here it is:

New Year's Eve Message

"I won't consider peace process or dialogue broken" - Basque PM

Basque premier Juan José Ibarretxe said Sunday the armed Basque group "ETA has spoiled us the New Year's Eve but it has not taken away our hope".

In his traditional New Year's Eve message, talking about the situation in the Basque Country after a bomb wrecked a car park at Madrid's international airport and broke a nine-month truce, Ibarretxe said neither the Basque Government nor the Basque President "will consider the peace process or the political dialogue broken." "We can not let our hope crumble," he added.

Ibarretxe expressed sympathy for the two people still missing and those hurt in the blast after the car bomb blast in Madrid's airport.

"Our aim and our responsibility is to work in order to achieve peace, as well as to reach political agreements to decide our future, among everybody, here, in the Basque Country", Ibarretxe said.

Ibarretxe added that "(we) will not move forward as we keep mistaking ETA's violence with the solution of a political conflict. It is necessary not to mistake or to make the end of ETA's violence conditional on our right to decide our own future or, on the contrary, to make our democratic right to decide conditional on the end of ETA's violence".

On this matter, the Basque president remarked "the right of the Basques to decide their future is not neither in the hands of ETA, nor of the Spanish Govt., but in the hands of the Basques themselves".

Is he going to find the courage to strenghten the ties between all Basque political parties including Batasuna?

Or will he give up to the preassure applied by the PSOE and the PP.

Lets see what kind of a lehendakari 2007 gives us.

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