Euskadi, News, Travel

Basqueing in the Glow of Two Basque Cities

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(I couldn’t resist the pun.)

Some big news for the Basque Country’s biggest cities.

First, Donostia has been chosen, along with Wroclaw, Poland, as one of the two European Capitals of Culture in 2016.  EiTB has the news here. This means that for the year of 2016, Donostia will host events that highlight Europe’s cultural heritage, presumably from a Basque perspective. Each year, two cities are chosen from two candidate countries, so Donostia beat out other Spanish cities, including Burgos and Cordoba.

Not to be outdone, Bilbao became the first city ever to be chosen as Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, otherwise dubbed the Nobel prize for cities (this was announced in May… guess I’ve been a bit out-of-touch).  Again, EiTB has the news. Bilbao was chosen, at least in part, for its efforts to regenerate and renew the city from its industrial past.  Specifically, from the Prize’s website, “Bilbao has shown that strong leadership and a commitment to a systematic and long-term plan, based on solid processes and supporting infrastructure, are key factors to the success of a city’s transformation.”

Here is a video highlighting Bilbao.

I first visited Donostia in 1991, when I began a year (well, closer to 10 month) studies abroad in the Gipuzkoan capital.  While it seemingly rained the entire first 6 months I was there, I still fell in love with the city, the life style of the Basques, and the Basque people.  I spent more than my share of evenings in the Parte Vieja and walked along La Concha to class, which has to be one of the best strolls in the world.  I returned some years later with my wife and was amazed at how much had changed.  Near the Cathedral, they had expanded the pedestrian-only zone and filled it with outdoor cafes.  They had also built the cube, which I understand is a bit of a controversy for such an elegant city.  But, they also cleaned up Gros beach, which when I was there was only used by the surfers.  Donostia keeps getting more beautiful with time.

During that first visit to the Basque Country, while I spent a lot of time in Bizkaia visiting family, I only made it to Bilbao once or twice, and that was centered on El Corte Ingles more than anything to do some shopping.  It wasn’t until a few years later, visiting a friend who took me to the Running of the Bulls, that I got to know the city a bit more.  Bilbao is certainly transforming itself, cleaning up the river, building signature architecture, and positioning itself as a true equal of Donostia in terms of a wonderful city to visit.  The Siete Calles in the Casco Viejo is simply a great place to wander, to explore the twists and turns, discovering new shops and bars.

I certainly look forward to seeing what these two awards will do for these two cities.  And I look forward to many more days of exploring two of the most interesting cities I’ve had the pleasure of seeing, though I might have some small bias.

Euskadi, Politics

How the last election breaks down by region

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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 overwhelmingly for the new party, Bildu.  Bizkaia is more traditionalist/conservative and went more for EAJ/PNV.  Araba is a mix of pretty much everything, though still a majority of EAJ and Bildu.

One thing I find interesting is that Araba is strongly Bildu along its border with both Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, which maybe makes some sense — those regions would have maybe the strongest Basque identity.  But, that didn’t happen so much in Bizkaia.  While there are pockets of Bildu strength, it isn’t reflected in the border with Gipuzkoa, for example. Not saying it means anything, I just find it an interesting observation.

Euskadi, People

A 6-year-old in Franco’s Basque Country

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The Basque Country has changed dramatically since the time my father left for a new life in the United States.  Not only politically, with the death of Franco, the activity of ETA, and the rise of the Basque Autonomous Community, but socially, as well, as the Basque people have taken their culture into the 21st century with the big green recycling tubs, punk music, and wifi.  How would it be for a 6-year-old, accustomed to life in the United States, to just be uprooted and replanted in the Basque Country of the 70s, with Franco still ruling and Guardia Civil on every corner?

That is just the life Mark Bieter describes in his blog posting My Life Under Franco, capturing life the way only a 6 year old can (well, or a grown man remembering life when he was 6).  From the ever-pervasive Ducados to the terror of a kid starting school when no one knows his language, or vice versa, Mark does a nice job of drawing you into the life he experienced those many years ago.

Politics

New party, Bildu, very successful in regional elections

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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 nationalist party, was banned.  Bildu itself had been banned by Spanish courts all the way to the Spanish Supreme Court.  However, the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled that the party was legal and allowed it to stand for elections (I am not knowledgeable enough about the Spanish judicial system to know how these two courts are related).

The key, in my understanding, is that Bildu rejected violence.  However, Sortu had done the same, but was still ruled to be an incarnation of Batasuna, widely viewed as ETA’s political arm.  I am not entirely clear on what the difference between Bildu and Sortu is (except maybe the Constitutional Court never ruled on Sortu?).

In any case, today saw the first elections in which leftist nationalists were represented by a political party since the early 2000s when Batasuna had last been allowed to run.  And, their success has been nothing short of amazing (see this EiTB article).  Of all of the political parties represented, they received the second most votes (second only to PNV; 25 vs 29.9%) and the most seats in government (907 vs PNV’s 822) (I assume the disparity between number of votes and number of seats depends on where the votes were cast).  Even in Nafarroa, which has recently been pushing to reduce Basque influence within the province, saw Bildu get about 11% of the vote.

After the PNV lost power in the Basque Autonomous Community to Patxi Lopez and the PSE-EE, it will be interesting to see how this new swing to the left and to another decidedly pro-nationalist party will affect things in the Basque Country.  It is also amazing that a party that, until very recently, was banned is the choice of so many people.  It makes you think that a large number of voters didn’t have a voice they felt represented them.

I’d be very interested in getting some reaction from people in the Basque Country about their view of the meaning of these election results as well as more insight into the history of these parties.

Euskadi, Food, Travel

Rick Steves takes you to the Basque Country

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If you’ve never been to the Basque Country and are considering your first visit, you might have no idea of where to start your tour.  Or if you’ve been several times to see family, you might want to break out of the routine of visiting the family baserria and find something new.  Rick Steves, “America’s leading authority on European travel,” has a segment on the Basque Country which gives the standard overview of the Basque Country, but also gives a few glimpses into areas off the beaten path, even if he doesn’t stray from the main attractions of the Basque Countries. And, of course, he samples the local cuisine, giving some new things to try.  In particular, he delves into the pintxo bar-hopping scene, which any visitor to the Basque Country absolutely must experience. He also delves into some odd tangents, such as growing marijuana.  His tour takes him from Donostia to Gernika to Bilbao to Bainoa and finally to St-Jean-de-Luz.

The segment is available for free here on Hulu.

Food, People

BasqueStage: Cooking in the Basque Country

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I just stumbled onto this by pure accident (sometimes, spending too much time just surfing the web does lead to serendipitous discoveries).  Basque Stage is part project, part contest, with the goal of teaming up young chefs with world-renowned chef Martin Berasategui, owner of his signature restaurant in Lasarte-Oria, Gipuzkoa.  Basque Stage will award two scholarships for young people to journey to the Basque Country and learn from Berasategui.  If you are into cooking, sounds like a marvelous opportunity.

Basque Stage has a channel on the video site vimeo, where they share recipes for things like kokotxas and bizcocho.  Two students are at Berasategui’s restaurant right now, learning from him and sharing what they learn for the rest of us to see. The two students are Athena Thickstun and Tracy Chang.  They are also blogging about their experiences in the Basque Country, Spain, and France — links can be found on the Basque Stage site.  The next two students, who will start this July, have already been identified, Marco Bahena and Cameron Rolka.  But, it looks like this is an ongoing effort, so you still have your chance.

The project is sponsored by Sammic, a company in Gipuzkoa that produces equipment for the food industry.

Admin

Isil-isilik dago…

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It’s been way too quiet around here.  My apologies.  I have my typical excuse, real life.  But, to ensure that these pages are vibrant and alive, I want to do a much better job of posting, of sharing all things Basque.  So, if you have suggestions, please let me know. What should I be posting?  What is missing?  Do you have anything to contribute?  I’m always looking…

Nor Naiz Gu Gara

Nor Naiz, Gu Gara: Linda White

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Nor Naiz, Gu Gara (Who I Am, We Are) is a series aiming to explore the meaning of Basque Identity around the world, both within Euskal Herria as well as in the diaspora. For an introduction to the series, look here, and for a list of the previous entries, look here.

What a pleasure to appear on Buber’s Basque Pages! Throughout my career at the Center for Basque Studies, I have experienced the Basque community from the privileged position of “welcome guest.” Genetically, I am not Basque. I certainly do not look Basque. People meet me here and in the Basque country and ask, “Why have you studied the language? How did you come to spend your life studying the Basques, their language, and their culture?”

The role of Basque friends and professors in my life has been a huge motivator. In college, the late Professor Eloy Placer intrigued me by speaking Basque in the halls of the humanities building. He loved and encouraged his students, tolerating our faulty Spanish, laughing with us at his own silly jokes, and giving us second (and third) chances to understand the material he was trying to impart about Spanish literature. I find it amusing and ironic that my love of Spanish literature was instilled in me by a Basque professor. But he also inspired a curiosity about the Basque language.

My first Basque class was a night class with the late Jon Bilbao. We used the tiny pocketbook, Euskera, Nire Laguna, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Did we learn much Euskera? Not really. But as a language teacher, I know that one night a week does not bode well for progress in a language. What we did learn was that the attempt to learn Basque, in and of itself, imparts a special camaraderie to a group of people who had been strangers before coming together in that setting.

After joining the staff of Basque Studies in 1981, I studied on my own for six months. Dr. Gorka Aulestia noticed my interest and my dedication, and he offered me Basque lessons! I jumped at the chance. We met two mornings a week before work in our own private classes, while I went home every weekend and spent twenty hours preparing for the next week’s lessons.

“Oh, no,” I hear you groan. “Twenty hours a week to learn Basque?! I don’t have that much time!”

Of course not. Learning Basque was my passion, but it was also encouraged by my employers, and admired by my growing group of Basque friends. My college degrees were in foreign language and literature. My job title soon became “Lexicographer” as I assisted Dr. Aulestia with the Basque-English dictionary.

But as David Cox explained in his entry for this column, you don’t have to be fluent to warm the hearts of the generous Basque people. Nowhere have I seen greater rewards for one’s earliest steps toward learning a language. Communicating in Euskara at a very low level is like wielding a key to the kingdom of Basqueness. But even if you despair of ever producing a full coherent sentence in Euskara, studying the language provides an insight into the way Euskara shapes the thinking and world outlook of those who do speak Euskara.

As someone who has always felt warmly welcomed by the Basque-American community, I can report that any and every effort to respect Basque history and culture through learning something about the language is well worth while. It was in this spirit that I spent the last several years completing my textbooks for studying Basque, either at home or in a classroom. Dialogs and pronunciation guides are available on-line as MP3 files for downloading. Answers to exercises are provided in the books.

Those who might be interested can visit www.studybasque.com for more info on Dr. White’s two-volume textbook Aurrera! A Textbook for Studying Basque, along with vocabulary study tips.

Nor Naiz Gu Gara

Nor Naiz, Gu Gara: José Antonio Alcayaga III

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Nor Naiz, Gu Gara (Who I Am, We Are) is a series aiming to explore the meaning of Basque Identity around the world, both within Euskal Herria as well as in the diaspora. For an introduction to the series, look here, and for a list of the previous entries, look here.

For me, to be Basque is to have a Basque surname—a name that is tied to the land and house of your ancestors—a name that has lived on through the test of time.  Even if one does not have a Basque name, one can still feel Basque. This feeling of being Basque runs real deep and is  represented by these traits: hard work, brevity, independence and stubbornness. It represents being different—using creativity for innovation and change.  A Basque is proud of their heritage and enjoys celebrating and sharing it with others. Being Basque is also using the language, Euskara— reading, writing, speaking and teaching it to others.

My Basque ancestors voyaged to the New World from Irun/Hondarribia, Gipuzkoa in the mid 16th century and settled throughout Latin America. I get my Basque heritage from my father, who is from Guatemala. In 2003, a distant relative reached out to my father and I from Hendaia with a bit of family history and the hope of uniting the greater Alcayaga family. It was not until 2008, when I decided to visit Euskal Herria for the first time to learn Basque and to meet with family.

Nor Naiz Gu Gara

Nor Naiz, Gu Gara: Aitor Latxaga

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Nor Naiz, Gu Gara (Who I Am, We Are) is a series aiming to explore the meaning of Basque Identity around the world, both within Euskal Herria as well as in the diaspora. For an introduction to the series, look here, and for a list of the previous entries, look here.

My parents’ generation and, in my opinion, the Basques living in the diaspora have a “traditional”, let’s say, more Aranist point of view about what being a Basque is. I therefore agree, more or less, with what Gloria Totoricaguena states in her book, Identity, Culture and Politics in the Basque Diaspora. In other words, that the vast majority of those that were born roughly during the first half of the 20th century and those that emigrated abroad have a more ethnic, blood related viewpoint of what being a Basque is (ancestors, Basque surnames, etc.). That thought about what it means to be Basque was probably passed from generation to generation amongst the diaspora and I do not think I’d be mistaken in saying that the diaspora, at least until now, has had a romantic, idealistic image of the Basque Country. I do not believe, however, that diaspora Basques think that language is a must, as is blood. For example, most Basques in the diaspora do not believe that knowledge and grasp of the Basque language is necessary to be considered Basque because that would/might rule them out. Nevertheless, maintaining the Basque identity in the world is tough and a lot of hard work is done in keeping it alive. The intention alone and the effort in learning the language is, in my opinion, worthy of mention. That’s what I value the most, the intention and eagerness to learn. So I, as a Basque, am greatly thankful of that and do not think that more can be demanded. What’s more, even if that person from, let’s say Argentina, does not have Basque ancestors but does have a passion towards everything Basque and has the intent in learning Basque, could be considered Basque. Why not? Why can a Spaniard, that has no intention in learning anything about our culture and that immigrated to Barakaldo, for example, be considered a Basque and not someone that loves our culture and wants to be a Basque, even though he or she lives thousands of kilometres away?

For me Basque is one who simply wants to be Basque and proclaims him or herself as that. I would differ although, in that sense, between those who live in the Basque Country and those abroad. I do think that those living in the homeland have, as Basque citizens, a responsibility in maintaining the Basque traditions, culture, language, etc alive. If there is no Basque language, culture, etc, there can be no Basques, not in the homeland nor abroad in the host countries. I think we should demand from those that live in the Basque Country and from all those who want to be Basque (all those new Basques that are now coming to the Basque Country looking for new opportunities like our ancestors did when they went to the US, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, etc.) a commitment from their side in terms of learning some Basque and facts about the Basque people, our history and heritage. This is something that is done in other nations and countries (ie Catalonia, Quebec, US). During decades there have been many, many people from Spain that came to the BC looking for work opportunities and I am sometimes appalled when I see that a lot of them and their children not only do not know Basque, they do not even intend to learn it. I sometimes feel as if some people from the Bilbao area, for example, live on another planet with a different culture because they are less familiar with the Basque heritage than the Basques from Boise or Bakersfield.

The Basque government should guarantee that all Basques (those from Bilbao or Vitoria-Gasteiz or those that have just arrived from Romania or Colombia) know basic things (culture, history, and language) about the country where they live and want to belong to, if in fact they do want to belong to it. This however would bring political conflict because PSOE and PP would raise their voice. We’d now be talking about politics. That’s something that the Basques abroad, especially in the US I believe, don’t understand. They don’t understand how they have managed to, despite the difficulties, culturally and linguistically flourish in the diaspora and see, on the other hand, that in the BC there are people that know less Basque than they do. I have been told in the US that the Basque culture in the BC has been too politicized. But by whom?

There is another question that should be addressed as well. What do the people abroad originally from Navarre consider themselves? I think that the vast majority consider themselves Basque. But what does the present day Navarrese government think about that? There is a real challenge here for the Basque-Navarrese abroad to clarify with the government of Pamplone. I know it is difficult and risky for the Basques abroad to take a politic stance but I think it would be the best tribute they could pay to their homeland.

Summarizing, we the Basques constitute a nation. We have a distinct identity, language, history, culture. Not better. Not worse. We are simply different. In my opinion, the Basques abroad, although American, Argentine, or Australian are part of that nation and must play a very important role in consolidating it. Those with no Basque ancestors but with a passion towards everything related to us are welcomed. I therefore believe in a very broad, modern and open view of being Basque but with commitments from the other person’s side as well. Why? Our feeble nation needs in this globalized world all the help it can get and those that live abroad, that live in the Basque Country, or come to live in the Basque Country must/should help us.

Aitor is an engineer who works both in the automobile industry and as a city councilor in Gernika-Lumo. Born in Gernika, he was raised in Toronto before ultimately returning to the Basque Country as an adult.