Benoit Etcheverry Macazaga has been a presence the internet, promoting Basque culture, for a number of years now. His newest venture, 8 Probintziak Elkartea, rekindles a theme he initiated a few years back of trying to draw together with stronger ties the Basque Country and the Basque diaspora. Part of his goal is to simply make Basques in the Basque Country more aware of their cousins in the diaspora, and vice versa. The goal of his website it to facilitate this by sharing links and news items that might be of broad interest to Basques, support genealogical research, promote physical exchanges between Basques in the Basque Country and in the diaspora, and exchange business ideas between all Basques to encourage economic development. As part of this, his website lists the feeds from a number of other Basque websites, including this one (thanks Benoit!)

In fact, the name of the site — 8 Probintziak Eklartea — emphasizes this idea of an 8th Basque province, the diaspora, that has it’s own contributions to make to the Basque experience, that the diaspora is a significant part of Basque culture. By promoting these connections and establishing stronger ties between the Basque Country and Basques all around the world, Benoit is trying to strengthen Basque culture world-wide.

A companion project is a radio program, 8HZ Radio. Co-hosted with Robert Acheritogaray and Adelaide Daraspe, the program directly engages the Basque diaspora and brings their views and activities to the Basque Country.

The only thing he is missing is a snappy logo!

Update: Benoit pointed out to me that he does have a snappy logo, on the Facebook page for 8 Probintziak. Sorry Benoit!