Ezpeletako Piperrak

Via France Today we get this article that talks about a condiment that is the pride of a Basque town in Iparralde, here you have it:

Hot Stuff

Since just before the turn of the 21st century, the fiery red Basque pepper called the piment d'Espelette, or in the Basque language Ezpeletako Biperra, has had its own AOC-the official recognition that the Espelette pepper has unique qualities of taste and aroma rooted in its terroir. In this case, the territory is the area of ten designated communities near the medieval village of Espelette, about 25 km (16 mi) inland from Biarritz, where in autumn garlands of peppers drying in the sun adorn the facades of the traditional red-and-white Basque houses. The ancestors of the piment d'Espelette were imported into Europe in the 16th century, along with other exotic foods and spices from the Americas. The piquant-but not explosive-peppers flourished in the local soil and warm oceanic climate of the Basque Country, and were rapidly incorporated into traditional regional dishes. They can be cut into fine strips for chicken or tuna Basquaise, ttoro fish stew and piperade omelet, or they can be used à la Basque, in powdered form as a substitute for black pepper (it's best to go lightly at first, and, to preserve its unique aroma, sprinkle the powder at the end of cooking). Today piment d'Espelette has become a favorite ingredient in contemporary cuisine throughout France. The Confrérie du Piment organizes an annual piment festival in Espelette, on the last weekend in October, and this year some 20,000 fans turned out to celebrate the country's hottest AOC product.

Maybe I forgot to mention that France is the colonialist power occupying Iparralde, the continental portion of Euskal Herria.

.... ... .

Basques Are Not Spaniards

The article you are about to read was published at a web page called 24 Hour Museum, and it is a fine example of how wrong things can go if you sacrifice historic accuracy for political correctness. Here you have it:

SOUTHAMPTON BASQUE WAR REFUGEES ARCHIVE WINS HLF AWARD

By Culture24 Staff

A project to preserve the memories of nearly 4,000 Spanish children who fled to Southampton more than 70 years ago has received a grant of £47,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Uh!?

The header says they were Basque children by suddenly the first paragraph insists they were Spaniards. This could be just a small little details of no consequence if it was not for one single devastating fact: the Basques were forced to evacuate their children because the Spaniards were conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign in the Basque Country. Would you swap nationalities between Serbs and Bosnians? Or between Israelis and Palestinians? Of course not!

Sarajevo, a Bosnian city, was demolished by Serbian troops, so everyone is extra careful not to call the Bosnian refugees by the nationality of those who mercilessly attacked them. Well, Basques deserve the same kind of attention and calling them Spaniards is a real insult.

But lets keep reading:

The Los Ninos exhibition at Southampton University will produce an education pack for schools and an online exhibition chronicling the stories of Basque children who arrived in the city during the Spanish Civil War.

Professor Chris Woolgar, Head of Special Collections at the University of Southampton Library, said: “HLF support creates an important opportunity for us not only to record the life stores of some of the child refugees who came from Spain in 1937, but also to engage today’s children in understanding how conflict and migration have an impact on everyday life.”

Once again, those children did not get there from Spain, they got there from the Basque Country, a newly created republic attacked by Francisco Franco's troops that were supported and armed by Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Would you start calling the Roma by the term of German just because the Nazis slaughtered them?

Accompanied by teachers, assistants, Catholic priests and doctors, the cherubic fleet made the pilgrimage to a makeshift camp at North Stoneham, and were later resettled by the Salvation Army and the Catholic Church. Most returned to Spain at the end of the civil war in 1939.

Ok, for the last time, they went back to the Basque Country, a nation violently occupied by Spain. Are the Albano-Kosovars to be called Serbians?

The following paragraph contains the only historically accurate fact about why those children had to be evacuated to England:

Thirty surviving members of the group, who escaped attacks by fascist forces in the Basque region and a Nazi bombing campaign on the town of Guernica, will have their memories recorded, creating a travelling exhibition which will tour museum and library venues around Hampshire.

Michelle Davies, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund South East England, said: “This project is perhaps the last opportunity to record the memories of some of those who were involved in this unique event – the first mass evacuation of child refugees to Britain following the first-ever massed bombings of a civilian population.”

A spokesperson for the Basque Children of ’37 Association UK added: “As time goes by and more and more of the children enter their 80s, it is difficult to stress how important and urgent it is to record their memories and preserve them for future generations.”

So, as you can see, despite being a well intentioned note in the end it becomes another piece of propaganda that only serves Spain, condemning the Basque people to a media limbo. Talk about how to prostitute freedom of speech.

.... ... .

Spain Opposes Political Negotiation

Spain is considered a democratic state by many (just like Israel), but the truth is, Spain favors violence and repression over political negotiation.

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Juan Carlos Borbón were not happy about the pro-active way Basque society reacted after the cease fire called by ETA. They were no happy about the hard work done by many Basque political and social actors in behalf of the peace process. So they did everything they could to derail the process, including the arrest of ETA's envoys to the peace process, which constitute's a violation of international law, but Spain can care less about the rule of law.

But again, they were not happy with derailing the peace process and they wanted to punish all of those involved in it, but they knew they had little room for their oscure manuvers so they resorted to a couple of extreme right groups thinly disguised as ONGs to do the dirty job. As a result, eight Basque politicians (including a couple that belong to pro-Spain PSOE) are now facing trial for meeting in the build up to a peace process that never took place.

Via Yahoo News we get a news note that covers the issue:

Basque leaders go on trial, weeks before regional elections

by Pierre Ausseill Pierre Ausseill Wed Jan 7, 11:24 pm ET

MADRID (AFP) – The head of the Basque government and his chief opponent go on trial Thursday over past contacts with the political wing of the armed separatist group ETA, as the two prepare to face off in regional elections in March.

Actually, Spain is yet to prove that Batasuna is the political wing of ETA, something a lot of people tends to forget in their effort to sanitize Spain's image.

Juan Jose Ibarretxe, head of the governing Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), and Patxi Lopez, regional leader of Spain's ruling Socialist Party, face possible prison terms and bans on political activity if found guilty.

But neither is expected to be convicted as prosecutors have recommended that the charges be dropped.

In ordering the trial in October 2007, Judge Roberto Saiz of the Basque superior court said he saw no reason to follow the prosecutors' recommendations, and that there were, "on the contrary, indications of a crime."

Ibarretxe and Lopez, along with another senior member of the Basque branch of the Socialist Party, Rodolfo Ares, are accused of having met several times with leaders of Batasuna, ETA's banned political wing, as the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was conducting tentative negotiations with the separatist group in 2006.

Batasuna has been outlawed since 2003 for refusing to condemn violence and cut its links to ETA, which has killed 825 people in a 40-year-old campaign for an independent Basque homeland.

Batasuna was been outlawed since 2003, meaning it has been eight years and Spain is yet to produce hard evidence let alone take the case to court, talk a bout an expedite trial like western law demands. And again, who is keeping tabks on the amount of people murdered by Spain's five hundred years of colonial occupation of the Basque Country?

Four senior members of Batasuna, including veteran Arnalso Otegi, will also go on trial for disobeying the court order to disband.

All three politicians have admitted contacts with Batasuna, but as part of moves to push forward the peace process.

At a preliminary hearing last year, Ibarretxe said he had promised Basque citizens he would "talk to everyone" to find a solution to the Basque problem.

Lopez, who is hoping to oust Ibarretxe as Basque prime minister in regional elections scheduled for March 1, said he was "absolutely convinced" that the trial would not lead to any convictions.

"No court will say that politics should not be used to move on the road to peace," he told reporters.

Opinion polls indicate Ibarretxe's PNV, which has governed the region since 1980, is at risk of defeat.

In his two previous terms, Ibarretxe has tried to organise regional referendums on self-determination for the Basques, but the plans were rejected by Madrid.

Among witnesses expected to make statements at the trial are Zapatero, who could be asked to respond to questions from the court in writing, and his two predecessors, Jose Maria Aznar and Felipe Gonzalez.

This is precious, the francoist minded Zapatero, Aznar and González will act as witnesses against Basque politicians, Franco must be gleening right at this moment.

Zapatero tried unsuccessfully to resolve the Basque problem in 2006. But he has taken a hard line against the separatists since ETA called off a 15-month-old ceasefire in June, 2007, and has repeatedly ruled out any new negotiations.

Zapatero, like his predecessors wanted nothing to do with solving the "Basque problem", like I said earlier, he did everything he could to bog down the peace process be cause as a Spaniard he is proud of his country's genocidal and colonialist past. He has not taken a hard line stance against ETA, he has taken a hard line stance against the whole of Basque society, against democracy and against the civil and political rights of an entire nation. But hey, this paragraph is a clear example of the sloppy reporting by the main stream media when it comes to the Basques.

Otegi called the trial, which is the result of complaints filed by two associations opposed to talks with ETA, the Forum Ermua and Dignity and Justice, a "farce".

"This will be the only case in Europe where the the participants in talks will be in the dock for having tried to find solutions," he said.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

Forum Ermua is calling for prison terms of up to four years, as well as a ban on political activity, for the accused.

And I say that every single member of Forum Ermua should be tried and jailed for perpetuating Francisco Franco's reign of terror in the Basque Country.

.... ... .

One Basque Word At a Time

Thanks to The Atlantic we had the chance to learn about an outsider's experience about learning Euskara (the Basque language) in Euskal Herria, in Navarre to be more specific.

Here you have it:

The Basques reclaim their cultural identity, one word at a time

by Lisa Abend

Found in Translation

By the time I pull up to the farmhouse in the Spanish region of Navarre, the other students have already arrived. Waiting for lunch, we nervously pretend that we understand what’s going on. A blond woman whose name I can’t pronounce points to a bottle as she pours each student a glass and says, with exaggerated clarity, “Ardoa” (“wine”).

It’s the first word I learn at this barne­tegi, or Basque-language immersion school, and its ordinariness comes as a relief. Until now, as an American living in Spain, the only Basque words I’d managed to glean have to do with violence and power: ertzaintza (“police”), kale borroka (“street violence”), etarra (“terrorist” or “freedom fighter,” depending on your point of view). The media use the words every time an arrest, a demonstration, or an assassination—there was one in September—takes place. Indeed, most of what anyone in or outside Spain hears about Basques has to do with ETA, the radical group that has killed more than 800 people in the past 40 years in its quest for an independent Basque homeland.

“In the rest of Spain, they only talk about us as a problem—the Basque problem,” says Amaia Marin, who is attending an intermediate course at the barnetegi. She is Basque but doesn’t know Euskera, the Basque language, because it was not taught in schools when she was growing up. She doesn’t see herself as particularly political and thinks of independence as little more than “a pretty dream.” But she was driven to learn Euskera, she says, because “being Basque is the thing I’m most proud of in my life.”

Thousands of years old, Euskera has no links to any other known tongue, living or dead. That alone makes it the clearest sign of Basque identity. Franco sought to suppress the language during his dictatorship. In Spain today, when Basques enjoy greater autonomy than at any time since the 19th century, and when Spanish conservatives see that autonomy as a threat to national unity, the language remains a political issue. In some parts of Basque country, a town meeting held in Spanish is reason for protest, even vandalism; meanwhile, new laws that require 2,000 large businesses to offer their services in both Euskera and Spanish have triggered strong opposition outside Basque country. But for people like Amaia, Euskera is a way out of the Basque problem, a way to be Basque regardless of politics.

The number of Euskera speakers has risen in recent years, from 657,000 in 2001 to 775,000 (out of a total Basque population of about 3 million) in 2006. This growth can be attributed largely to schools—parents can choose how much Euskera training their children get, and the majority favor some education in their ancestral tongue. Yet 100,000 of those speakers have learned the language as adults. In my group, Celia and Maite are here because their employer—Microsoft—is expanding into Basque country, while Italian-born Nicoletta, Chilean Paula, and Spanish Dani are married to Basques and have signed up because their children are learning Euskera in school.

In class, we struggle through intro­ductions and learn to count to 10. (Actually, we learn to count to 100, but I’m so flustered by the compound words that I falter at the double digits.) We learn directions and body parts, including zakila (“penis”) and alua (“vagina”)—the Basques are nothing if not frank. In between lessons, we go for coffee in Bakaiku, a pretty mountain village west of Pamplona, where the stone houses are adorned with fat geraniums. It’s an idyllic place if you ignore the pro-independence graffiti and posters that spring up every night—one of which gives me my first thrill of comprehension: Euskal Herria Aurrera, “Forward With the Basque Country.”

No one teaches politics at the barne­tegi, but subtle messages slip in among the vocabulary words heavy with x’s and z’s. A geography lesson shows the Basque provinces without any boundary delineating the three in France from the four in Spain. And we get an explanation of the ancient fueros, laws that granted the Basques certain rights and privileges in exchange for loyalty to the kingdom of Castile.

But the rise in Euskera has not necessarily fed secessionist impulses. “The fact that you learn the language doesn’t mean that you’ll vote for a nationalist party,” says Xabier Monasterio, the director of pedagogy at the Gabriel Aresti school, which runs this barnetegi. Support for the conservative Basque Nationalist Party has stayed relatively constant over the past 10 years. So has the percentage of Basques who want independence from Spain (35 percent) over the past two decades.

“I love teaching Euskera, because it is the language of our people,” Monasterio says. “It’s who we are. It’s not better or worse than any other language—it’s just ours.” I think about his words during the last class, which we spend singing Basque songs. There are hymns to innocent love and odes to sailors, but the most moving song consists of just the words gueria da—“it’s ours”—repeated over and over. To the tune of “Hava Nagila.”

Lisa Abend is a writer living in Spain.

.... ... .

Eusko Flickr : Mauleko 'Garage Moderne'

Mauleko 'Garage Moderne' iii
Originally uploaded by bara-koukoug

Eusko Flickr : Palestina Kartela

palestina-kartela
Originally uploaded by GazteBorroka!

Basque Style Christmas Celebration

This article comes to us thanks to The Idaho Press Tribune:

Holiday in Basque Country

Patricia Gorla
community@idahopress.com

Celebrations focus more on family, food than presents

BOISE — To some, he's a coal miner. To other's, he's a charred log. But to all Basque children, the mythical Olentzero marks the holiday season with messages of health and cheer.

Izaskun Kortazar grew up in Sondika, Bizkaia, in the heart of Basque Country. She teaches a weekly Basque language class at the Boise Basque Museum, Spanish at Boise State University and coordinates all Basque teachers in the United States for the North American Basque Organization.

But Kortazar still recalls children's Christmas traditions such as placing shoes at the door, waiting for Olentzero to come and fill them with presents and candy.

Situated in northern Spain, Sondika's four-thousand-member community celebrates a more spread-out holiday season, starting on Christmas Eve and ending with Three Kings Day on Jan. 6.

Olentzero is usually depicted as an old, kind coal miner who spends his free time making toys for children, Kortazar said.

"But everywhere is different," she added. Some traditions call for a large bonfire on Christmas Eve. Town members would take the charred, remaining logs and make their pets jump over the wood. Then the logs would be burned in each house's fireplace. This ensured both the family's and animals' continual health throughout the coming year.

The symbolism also represents Olentzero, she said.

A Christmas Eve mass is held at night and a Christmas Day mass is held the next morning.

The typical Basque Christmas dinner is held late at night and usually consists of many courses.

"It's a huge, huge dinner," said Kortazar. "We spend 10 minutes with presents and three hours eating."

Dishes include "tripecallos," tripe in a red pepper sauce, ham similar to prosciutto, lamb and many different kinds of fish. Another popular feature is "txipirones en su tinta" — squid cooked in an onion sauce with its own ink. In some areas the entire family collaborates to make the seafood dish.

But Christmas meals wouldn't be complete without the plethora of desserts — turron, a type of honey-and-almond nougat that can be chocolate, soft or hard, walnut pudding, and "polvoron," various cakes and cookies.

The focus of Christmas in Idaho is different from Sondika's, Kortazar noted. Basque celebrations revolve more around family and food, she said. "It's much more about presents here."

New Year's Eve is much the same as Christmas. For Christmas, families gather for another feast. At midnight, people eat 12 grapes for every strike of the hour. Grapes in Sondika are usually not seedless, making the tradition a difficult feat.

There are too many seeds at once, Kortazar said. "I can't do it."

At the same time, children carry water from the town's fountains and bring it to people's houses across towns. Community members accept the water from the children and drink it, symbolizing a new year of health and wellness.

And even bigger than Christmas or New Year's in Basque Country is Three Kings Day. According to biblical account, the three magi Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar saw a bright star in the sky the night Jesus Christ was born. They followed the star until they reached Bethlehem and gave the newborn gold, frankincense and myrrh. Their journey took 12 days, which is why Three Kings Day falls on the twelfth day after Christmas.

Small gifts are often exchanged during this time. In Sondika, the local airport often gives plane rides to the children who receive their presents upon landing. Gifts are also distributed at local churches, following mass.

But whether a gift-making coal miner, a charred lump of wood or a free plane ride — the spirit of community and goodwill remains constant.

Basque phrases

"Eguberri on" = Merry Christmas

"Urte Berri on" = Happy New Year

"Kaixo" = Hello

"Ongui-etorri" = Welcome

Language: Euskara

Country: Euzkadi

People: Euskaldunak

Did you know?

• Linguists cannot connect Euskara to any known language.

• Some historians believe the Basques to be Europe's most ancient inhabitants, having lived in Basque country since the beginnings of recorded time.

• Boise has the highest concentration of Basques in the United States and is home to the only full-immersion Basque preschool outside of Basque Country.

.... ... .

Gaza Raid, December 2008 (Ben Heine)

Gaza Raid, December 2008 (Ben Heine)
Originally uploaded by Ben Heine

Flickr : Gaza Holocaust

Gaza Holocaust
Originally uploaded by anwarhit

Solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Gora Palestina Askatuta!

Basque Sports Teams' Recognition

This note comes to us thanks to Google News:

Basque protest seeks team's international recognition

Dec 27, 2008

BILBAO, Spain (AFP) — Thousands of people marched through the northern Spanish city of Bilbao Saturday to demand the Basque football team be allowed to take part in international competitions.

Britain is allowed "to have teams from Scotland or from Wales play at international level and we are demanding that that same right within the states of Spain and France," said Elisa Sainz de Murieta, the head of the Basque Solidarity political party.

She said the march was aimed at "demanding the official recognition of the Basque team ... within a European framework," and called for the "political will" to make this happen.

The demonstrators marched behind a banner reading "Basque Nation, one nation, one national team, one federation."

A Basque football team, drawn from the Basque regions of both Spain and France, does exist but it is not officially recognised by the game's authorities, including European football's governing body UEFA, and is restricted to occasional friendly games.

.... ... .