Of course, during my visit to Euskal Herria in early April, one of the topics that came up was the crisis. Spain is in particularly bad shape, with unemployment over 20% in the general populace and much higher for young men. The Basque Country is in reasonably good shape, with unemployment hovering in the 8-9% […]
Continuing on the big news of ETA ending violence, here are two more perspectives that might be of interest. First, Mark Bieter, who, by the way, has a wonderful blog that you should be reading if you aren’t already, has an interview he did with Jaime Otamendi, who is “a long-time ETB journalist and host, […]
Yesterday, ETA officially announced the end of its campaign of violence. While viewed with skepticism by the main political parties of Spain, this is a historic day for the Basque Country. And one that was inevitable. While the PP and PSOE make typical remarks about how we’ve seen this before and how can we trust […]
In his blog, Ricardo Ibarra posted an infographic taken from El Correo that shows the breakdown of the last elections by region within the Basque Autonomous Community, an image shamelessly stolen from him and reposted here (click on the image for a bigger version). It is interesting to see how things break down. Gipuzkoa went […]
It wasn’t long ago, in fact not even a month ago, that Spanish courts had ruled that a new party in the Basque Country couldn’t stand for elections held just yesterday. Bildu (Gather in English), a coalition of nationalist and left-of-center groups, was formed when Sortu (Create in English), another attempt to form a new […]
At the time of its closing, in 2003, Egunkaria was the only daily newspaper published solely in Euskara. It had been in operation for 13 years. In 2003, however, Spanish authorities raided the offices of Egunkaria, confiscating computers and equipment, and arresting many of the leading figures of the newspaper. The charges were association with […]
From Joe Guerricabeitia of Seattle Euskal Etxea — I thought it worth sharing: Kaixo danori (Hello everyone), This email is being sent to you to serve as reminder to remember your heritage as you sit down to fill out your 2010 US Census. As in censuses past, this year’s census asks both about 1) Ethnicity […]
Paddy Woodworth, who has written two books on the Basque Country — Dirty War, Clean Hands and The Basque Country: A Cultural History — has written an op-ed piece in the NY Times about the recent bombings by ETA in Spain.
This past week, there have been two major events in the Basque Country. First, on Sunday, March 1, elections where held in the Basque Country (as well as other parts of Spain) for the Basque Parliament, the body that governs in the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC) comprised of Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, and Araba. Since the formation […]
