Education Exchange with Nueva Vizcaya

Thanks to the Philippine Information Agency we learn about this initiative for teacher and student exchange between three higher educational centers in the province of Nueva Vizcaya in the Phillipines and a Basque university.

It is good to learn that the inhabitants of this province in Philippines are interested in learning more about Euskal Herria, where the original Bizkaia is located.

Here you have the note:

3 Nueva Vizcaya schools join twinning agreement with Spain

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya (1 February) -- Three schools in the province have showed interest to join the provincial government’s initiative to forge a twinning agreement with Spain.

Jimmy Calata, chief of the Information Technology Division and coordinator for the project said the Saint Mary’s University, Nueva Vizcaya State University in Bayombong town and Aldersgate College in Solano town have unanimously agreed to adopt in principle the project.

“In fact, they are making clarifications if they can send students and teachers to avail of the University of Basque Country’s(UBC) other programs such as Spanish and Basque languages, teacher training, information and communications technology, business and economics and others,” Calata said.

He also said they have offered the accommodation of teachers and students who are interested to come in Nueva Vizcaya.

At present, UBC has expressed strong interest in environmental science and forestry.

Earlier, Nueva Vizcaya proposed a twinning agreement with Spain in terms of culture, education and economy among others. (PIA NVizcaya)

What I found even more important is the interest to get Euskara classes for the students in Nueva Vizcaya, this opens new spaces for development of the Basque language so threatened by Spain and France's linguistic policies.

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Medical Breakthrough

This note was published by EITb:

Trichonomas vaginalis

Basque scientist contributes to a breakthrough in medicine

Felix Bastida, together with other scientists, made a great step forward in research on a sexually transmitted human pathogen. The breakthrough was echoed by important scientific publications.

The prestigious science magazine Science published a paper that describes the genome sequence of the protist Trichomonas vaginalis, a sexually transmitted human pathogen. One of the researches was the Basque Felix Bastida, actually leading Vacunek, a company of technology transference created by Neiker-Tecnalia.

The research of Felix Bastida and a group of scientists of the University of California had been recognised by its publication by Science, one of the most prestigious magazines.

After a journey at several U.S. universities, the young Basque scientist is actually living in the Basque Country and collaborating with the Department of Production and Animal Health of Neiker-Tecnalia, an ambitious project to find vaccines and products to diagnose animal diseases.

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Hunger Strike Continues

This note regarding Iñaki de Juana's hunger strike was published by EITB:

86-day strike

Prisoner on hunger strike determined not to eat until release

A few representatives of Basque culture visited Iñaki de Juana Chaos Wednesday. Writer Laura Mintegi said it's "horrific" to see how he is being "force-fed with his hands and feet tied."

A group of Basque writers visited the Basque prisoner Iñaki de Juana Chaos, on hunger strike since November 7, to denounce the fact that a judicial system, a Government and society admit that a person be "tried and sentenced for the use of the word." They also wanted to note that there's "a serious problem of democracy and freedom of expression" in Spain.

Writer Laura Mintegi spoke after visiting De Juana at Madrid-based Doce de Octubre Hospital to say "an inadmissible theory is being applied from a judicial and even human point of view," and that theory could be applied "to anyone from now on."

In turn, writer Fito Rodriguez noted that the body of law is being applied "depending on who writes, and not on what he writes," and affirmed that if the writer of the two articles were any journalist, writer or citizen "he wouldn't probably have had any problems."

Determined to keep on

In turn, Mintegi highlighted that even "physical" rights are being violated in this situation, and noted how "horrific" it is to see De Juana being "force-fed with his hands and feet tied."

Asked if De Juana will put an end to the hunger strike, Mintegi assured that he showed his determination not to eat. "He won't eat until he is not released and at home," she affirmed.

The writer also noted that De Juana voiced his pessimism with regard to the next decision by the Supreme Court following his appeal against the prison sentence, as he thinks he would stay in the same situation.

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Basque Winter Carnivals

This article comes to us via EITb:

Carnivals in the Basque Country

The most important festivities of the winter in the Basque Country are the carnivals.

Despite the fact that Carnival has often been kept alive by its rural representations, it has gradually developed and perfectly adapted itself in the cities and important towns, where it has possibly acquired even greater strength.

An excellent example of this is Tolosa (Gipuzkoa) which has endeavoured to keep its Carnival at all costs despite periods of suffering and repression. Everyone gets dressed up for the occasion in Tolosa, wearing costumes ranging from the simplest of jellabahs to the most sophisticated outfits imaginable. Bullfights, float parades, groups of dancers and competitions are only some of the activities that make the Tolosa Carnival an event to remember.

In Gipuzkoa, carnival time is announced by the tinkers' strange processions which imitate the nomadic wanderings of the gypsies who used to come to these areas over the carnival period, with their shows and skill in tin-smithery. In places such as Donostia-San Sebastian the rowdy tinkers "all the way from Hungary", arrive on the Saturday after 2nd February every year.

In Bizkaia too they remember the gypsy bands who arrived for the carnival - in the Zagari Dantza of Markina-Xemein, for example, which include a bear and its tamer among the dancers. There are many similar vestiges of rural carnival which the Basque Country has preserved. In Gipuzkoa, at the foot of Txindoki, one of the most beautiful mountains of this region, the youngsters of the two little communities of Amezketa and Abaltzisketa dance round the houses in an attempt to stir the goodwill and generosity of their neighbours. They are called txantxoak. In Zalduaondo, in Alava, the main character of the fiesta is a dummy, markitos, who, year after year is judged, convicted and put to death.

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Holocaust Warning

To all Basque-phobes out there (Franco Aleman, John Rosenthal, Joe Gandelman, Colin Davis, to mention some), you better watch it, from today on any denial of the Holocaust is considered a crime.

Here you have the note from Yahoo News:

UN condemns Holocaust denial

The UN General Assembly unanimously condemned denial of the Holocaust, in a move diplomats said was directly aimed at Iran for branding the World War II mass murder of Jews a lie.

In the resolution proposed by the United States and co-sponsored by more than 100 countries, the 192-member Assembly General "urges all member states unreservedly to reject any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to this end."

The resolution, adopted by consensus, does not name any country but points to "efforts to deny the Holocaust, which by ignoring the historical fact of these terrible events increase the risk they will be repeated."

Why does it affect you?

Because one of the core issues you deny or downplay when refusing the right of the Basque people to their self-determination are the crimes committed by Francisco Franco's regime against the Basques.

You never talk about Gernika and how the extreme right in Spain has never been accountable for the crimes commit ed by Franco and Hitler that day. I want to remind you today that unlike Berlin, Madrid has never apologized for that genocidal crime.

You conveniently leave out all the Basques that died in Hitler's death camps.

You have never mentioned that the Spanish Guardia Civil hunted down, tortured and murdered Basque resistance fighters who participated in operations to rescue Jewish people (specially children) from the Nazis.

You willingly participate in the massive cover up of the Gestapo crimes in Iparralde, where dozens of Basque villages were destroyed for the active participation of the Baques in the war efforts against the Axis.

Often you refused that there was a Basque Republic before WWII (and a Catalonian Republic for that matter), the only reason why that Basque state ceased to exist was because of the aid that Hitler and Mussolini gave to Francisco Franco.

During WWII while the Basques aligned themselves with the Allies and became a key instrument in the operations to hide and spirit away downed Allied pilots, dissidents and refugees, Franco sent his Blue Division to fight alongside the Nazis in Russia.

After the war the Basque Government in the Exile provided an intelligence network that was proven very valuable when it came to finding Nazi murderers hiding in different Latin American countries in the aftermath of WWII, something that not even the Mossad could match.

So, read this part again:

"...the 192-member Assembly General "urges all member states unreservedly to reject any denial of the Holocaust as a historical event, either in full or in part, or any activities to this end."

There you have it.

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YouTube: Segi

This video hosted at YouTube will provide you with a better understanding of how police forces react violently against peaceful demonstrations:

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The kids blocking the highway to bring attention over the human right violations by the Spanish state belong to the Basque youth movement known a Segi.

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Gipuzkoa's Museums

This article about some of the best museums you can visit while in Gipuzkoa comes to us courtesy of EITb:

Basque Museums : three stars in Gipuzkoa

Three museums must be remarked among all the one we find in the Basque region of Gipuzkoa: the Aquarium, the Miramón Kutxaespacio Science Museum and Chillida-Leku Museum.

The Basque museum of yesterday, today and tomorrow has to be the Aquarium in Donostia-San Sebastian which stands on the rocks to one side of La Concha Bay. Ever since it opened in 1928, this museum has been visited by over 10 million people, a figure making it into one of the most popular museums in Spain.

On entering the building, we are met by the enormous skeleton of the last whale caught on the coasts of Gipuzkoa. From then on, an interesting tour explaining the naval history, fishing tackle and how boats were built rubs shoulders with one of the most impressive and best stocked aquariums (with 5,000 species) in Europe.

The star of the visit is the spectacular oceanarium, visited via a 360º methacrylate tunnel, in which we can see sharks, sting rays, turtles and a whole variety of other marine animals. By way of a complement to the Aquarium’s dedication to the sciences of the sea, the nearby Naval Museum reflects the ethnographic aspects of the Basque sea world, which takes its inspiration from the locals’ relationship with the sea.

A recent arrival on the Basque cultural scene is Chillida-Leku Museum, not far from Donostia-San Sebastian, which was conceived according to the modern idea of an open-air museum and designed to bring the visitor into close contact with art. This is "Chillida's place", a space conceived by the author himself as the live exhibition of his work. Outside, among green fields populated by hundred year-old beech trees, oaks and magnolias, stand 40 enormous iron and granite sculptures. Inside the renovated 16th century farmhouse we will find smaller works, sketches, and the author’s first sculptures. This daring creation is a place in which to take a stroll and mingle with the author’s work while trying to understand and interpret or even simply enjoy it.

Likewise in Donostia-San Sebastian is the Miramón Kutxaespacio Science Museum, a modern edifice designed to increase the visitor’s knowledge of science and new technologies. Spread over 8,000 metres, this is an interactive museum intended to simply and educationally transmit the most elementary knowledge of natural sciences. A digital planetarium and an astronomic observatory offer a view of Donostia-San Sebastian never seen before. There are also specific sections dedicated to knowledge of the earth, communication, energy, light, mechanics and other unknown scientific quantities. One of these areas is specially dedicated to children and houses interesting temporary exhibitions.

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Basque Oscar Nomination

What would you know, once again a Basque film maker gets an Oscar nomination.

Here you have the note appeared at EITb:

Academy Awards

Short film by Basque moviemaker nominated for the Oscars

Borja Kobeaga will compete against four more action short films. He tells the story of a father and a son that take grandma out of the old people's house to take care of them because mother has abandoned them.

The short film Eramos Pocos, One Too Many, by the Basque filmmaker Borja Kobeaga, has won one of the five nominations for Best Live Action Short Film on the 79th edition of the Oscars.

It's a 15-minute short film starring Ramon Barea and Marivi Bilbao. The story tells about a father and his son, abandoned by the mother, who take grandma out of the old people's house to take care of them.

Kobeaga was awarded with Best Script at the 8th national short film contest of Medina del Campo's Cinema Week, one of the most important festivals in the Spanish State in the field of short films. The award allowed the shooting and premiere of the film.

In turn, Kobeaga assured that "I never thought about this award," and being a candidate for the Oscar is the "culmination" of the warm reception One Too Many has had in festivals, among them the festival of Aspen.

There is another short film competing for the Oscar in the same category, Binta and the Great Idea (Binta y la gran idea), by Javier Fesser, a circumstance Kobeaga described as "a cosmic coincidence."

Kobeaga's One Too Many will compete against Binta and the Great Idea, Helmer & Son, The Saviour and West Bank Story on February 25 at the 79th edition of the Academy Awards.

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Anarchist Support of Segi

I've found this statement at a page called Anarkismo, here you have it:

State repression of the Basque movement

Alternative libertaire is opposed to the process (led by the Spanish government and supported by French government) of banning the Basque youth movement Segi. Indeed, Segi has been recently qualified as a "terrorist organization" by the Spanish justice. Segi, a pro-independence and revolutionary left-wing organization, had already undergone two prohibitions, along with prison sentences for several of their members.

After the settlement of European orders asking for simple searches, Spanish police are allowed to arrest Basque militants belonging to political or trade-union organizations (judged to be close to the ETA army) in France. So, the prohibition of Segi will have consequences in Spain and France. This repression is merely a consequence of attacks on the Basque movement since 1999: the most important left-wing Basque movement, Batasuna, was banned in 2003, as was Segi (twice), and also associations supporting prisoners and "Egunkaria", the only daily newspaper in Euskara. The banning of Batasuna was already a very serious attack on political rights: premises were seized, the organization was sentenced to a fine of 24 million euro because of the justice statement in case of riots, demonstrations were forbidden. Cases of Basque militants tortured by the Spanish police have been denounced by civil rights organisations.

Cooperation in the fight against terrorism between Paris and Madrid was confirmed by converging views displayed when Sarkozy and the Spanish Popular Party (PP) met. The latter is expecting a return to power on the basis of the reinforcement of their security policies.

Alternative libertaire wants the Spanish government to stop the repression and legal actions against Segi, and to release immediately those militants that have been arrested.

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Myths and Legends

Time for some cultural information regarding the Basque Country's myths and legends courtesy of EITb:

Origin of Basque Myths and Legends

There is a vast collection of myths and legends which still exist today thanks to the great Basque oral tradition.

Even most primitive Man felt the need to give meaning to the phenomena and natural cycles which conditioned his existence. He interpreted them, named them, found an explanation for them, and with these answers built up his own myths, legends, and religions. These formed the framework for his relation with nature and with anything else in his environment which was incomprehensible or supposedly magic.

Primitive Basque man was converted to Christianity very late. He was also all but cut off from other cultures by an inhospitable and very inaccessible geography. Thus he came to invent a vast collection of myths and legends which still exist today thanks to the great Basque oral tradition.

For him the mountains and valleys developed an almost human significance, and in the bowels of the earth ran rivers of milk, out of the reach of mortals. Two powers ruled nature and their designs conditioned human life: the god of the firmament, "Ost" or "Ortzi" - equivalent to the Roman god Jupiter, the Greek Zeus or the Germanic Thor, and "Ilargia", the moon, a feminine force which emerged from the world of hidden things. "Ost" and "Eguzki", the light of the sun, belonged to the day, to the earth, since it was from the earth that the sun rose and to the earth that it returned every day. "Ilargia" though, belonged to the world of the deceased, of souls, to the hidden side of existence and nature.

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