Eusko Flickr : 16. Korrika Zarratun (Basauri)

16. Korrika Zarratun (Basauri)
Originally uploaded by Txadonak2

Women and the Korrika

This article comes to us via EITb:

15th edition of race to boost Basque language officially presented

The event will pay tribute to Basque women in this edition, trying to underline the importance and the essential role women play in transmitting the Basque language.

Korrika, the race in favor of the Basque language that kicks off every two years, was presented Thursday (March 15) at the headquarters of the Royal Academy of the Basque language (Euskaltzaindia) in Bilbao.

Different cultural and social agents attended the official presentation of the event and watched the Korrika 15 video.

This time "Korrika" pays tribute to the Basque women, underlining the importance and the essential role women play in transmitting the Basque language.

All over different periods, it has been women who have struggled against the laws contrary to the Basque language, with great strength and courage, and it has been them who have kept, maintained and transmitted the language orally in Basque homes.

This year the race will last 11 days and will go from Karrantza harana/Valle de Carranza to Pamplona/Iruña. More than 600,000 people are expected to participate, as in previous editions. The race will kick off on March 22.

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The Basque Race

He, I would love to see the face of those who lured by the title of the post came here thinking that I was going to splurge in some sort of glorification of what being Basque is. I'll leave that to the rabid nationalisms that fueled by an inferiority complex insist on stealing the land of others while unleashing genocide and repression (read Israel, Spain, France, England).

This is about another kind of race, the kind in which a group of people depart from one place in order to see who gets to the destination spot first.

Here you have the note, it appeared at EITb:

Organized every two years

Race to boost Basque language will pay tribute to female speakers

12/18/2006

The popular race Korrika, organised by Basque language school net for adults AEK once every two years, will celebrate its 15th edition in 2007. Its main aim is to boost the language, but this edition will pay tribute to female speakers for their job protecting and passing on language and culture. Under the slogan "Heldu," the race will kick off on March 22 at the Carranza Valley, northwestern Basque Country, and finish in Pamplona/Iruña on April 1.

The 2007 edition was presented Monday by the manager of the event Edurne Brouard, AEK general coordinator Mertxe Mujika and Asier Amondo, member of AEK's National Commission.

The slogan of the current edition will be "Heldu," "mainly because it defines AEK's job very well, teaching adult learners, 'heldu' means that in Basque," as Brouard explained. "Heldu is a Basque word with several meanings, all of them positive. It means arrive, grasp, hold, maintain, grow up and mature."

Thus, Edurne Brouard defended Basque language "as an identity document" since "we make up the Basque Country when we speak in Basque." That is why "we can't waste what characterises us."

Likewise, Brouard believes that "everybody's compromise to claim that we are the country of the Basque language" is necessary. Korrika 15 bets for the work and collaboration of "all agents in the Basque Country," political parties, associations, unions and institutions that "overcome laws and measures that deny or limit the survival of the Basque language."

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To Eguzkitza

Bilbo

I said before that to create spaces for Euskera to develop is a task of titans.

Mainly because of the two linguistic giants that share the geography of Euskal Herria, Spanish and French.

So whenever Euskera loses one of its champions, one realizes more needs to be done.

I was glad to read about the hommage to Eguzkitza's work and legacy at Berria:

Always remembered… a thousand years on (*)

A group of authors organised a beautiful, moving event at the Euskalduna Hall in Bilbo yesterday to pay tribute to the late Andolin Eguzkitza

Irune Berro – BILBO

As a child he played with trains and planes. From a young age Andolin Eguzkitza (1953, Santurtzi-Bizkaia – 2004, Bilbo) had the spirit of an explorer, according to his brother, Iñaki Eguzkitza. He was an untiring explorer of the Basque language. He was a writer, linguist and member of the Academy of the Basque Language, the Euskaltzaindia. When he was 15 he joined the Basque language race; from his hometown of Santurtzi (Bizkaia) he set out on the road to become a Basque speaker. So remembering the numerous Basque citizens who have taken that road, tribute was paid to Andolin Eguzkitza yesterday in the context of the Korrika cultural events. The event, entitled Mila urte igaro eta… (*), was organised at the Euskalduna Hall in Bilbo by a number of authors to pay tribute to the Basque language lover who died last year.

The event brought together a broad spectrum of representatives of Basque culture and Basque language activity; among those present were Xabier Mendiguren-Bereziartu, the General Secretary of Kontseilua; Gabi Basañez, a member of the EHE; Joan Mari Larrarte, secretary of the Board of the EKT (the publishers of BERRIA); Andres Urrutia and Xabier Kintana, the chairman and secretary, respectively, of the Euskaltzaindia; Kirmen Uribe, the writer, and Mikel Martinez, the actor.

(*) “Mila urte igarota, ura bere bidean…”: the beginning of an epic poem dating back to approximately the 16th century about the Battle of Beotibar (1321), which means that the water follows its course a thousand years on.

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Step by Step

I've just received this information via emai:

Basque Country Step by Step

Information Service from Basque Country

Introduction

This is an information service focused on the struggle of the Basque Country for freedom and the respect of human rights included the right to self determination.

1.- Spain, a criminal state

On the 31st of March it was discovered that Cesid Spanish "intelligence" services was spying the quarters of the political party Herri Batasuna in the city of Gasteiz years before the banning. This spying had taken place for three years. During the last days of March of the present year former heads and agents of Cesid had been processed with the result of the last Director of Cesid being sentenced to three years in prison, a fine of 11,160 Euros and the inhabilitation to be employed in a public post for 8 years. The Spanish State has also being declared liable on this affair.

It has been know that the General Public Prosecutor if Spain pressured the public prosecutors of the Provincial Audience of Alava, so no penal charges would be imposed on the accused members of Cesid. The Spanish General Prosecutor is appealing the sentence.

2.- The Ikurriña banned

The Parliament of the Navarrese Autonomous Community debated on the 26th of March the new Symbol’s act. The votes of the governing conservative party, Union del Pueblo Navarro, plus the votes of the Socialist Party and conservative Convergencia Democratica approved the Draft of the Symbols’ Act that bans the use of the Ikurrina, Basque emblem, flag, in public institutions.

3.- Trade Union’s compromise with political rights

The majority of the Basque Trade Union movement in the Basque country facing the ilegalisation of Batasuna subscribed on the 5th of April a document titled "For the right to politically participate". The trade union movement claims the need "of ensuring all rights for all persons in the Basque country".

The Basque Trade Union movement hopes to build within and from the workers movement a solution to the political conflict at the Basque Country.

4.- Here comes Korrika

On the 4th of April Korrika began in the north of the Basque Country, in Maule. Korrika, meaning "running" in Basque, is one of the most important initiatives that takes place in favour of Euskara.

Aek and Korrika

The Korrika is an event organised by the Alfabetatze Euskalduntze Koordinakundea (AEK), the co-ordinating committee for promoting literacy and teaching Basque.

AEK is a popular movement that promotes literacy in Basque and teaches Basque to adults. This organisation has over a hundred centres and thousands of students throughout the Basque Country.

The Korrika is not a regular event, it is a giant race that crosses the whole Basque Country during 10 days, non-stop, night and day. It is not something that can be seen everyday: thousands of people from all walks of life and all ages taking part in this race and running over 2,100 kilometres.

Korrika, which happens every two years, has become a phenomenon that rouses Basque society. The number of people who take part in the race increases from one Korrika to the next. Thousands of people collaborate in the organisation of the Korrika in the committees formed in towns and neighbourhoods. While the campaign is on, hundreds of festivals and cultural acts are organised.

The movement created around the Korrika reflects the size of the effort that Basque society makes to recover its language. From the moment that the first Korrika crossed the Basque Country from Oñati to Bilbao in 1980, it has been one of the most highly participated events organised in support of the Basque language. Twelve Korrikas and more than 20 years have gone by since, but the success of the Korrika continue.

Korrika 13th, A nation carving its future

The work done at the Basque Country in order to recover its culture and language is not new.

During the end of the 60’s and the beginning of the 70’s Basque culture experienced a very important renaissance in all areas; music, literature and plastic arts amongst others. Ikastolak (primary schools where subjects are taught in Basque) and night schools (where adults are taught the Basque language) spread to many towns. A standardised Basque language was created (euskara batua). In music for instance, it is clear that the reason why we have a decent production level in respect of both quantity and quality, and a ‘normalised’ market today, is due to the effort made at that time.

In order to recover this spirit, the Korrika wants to pay tribute to the protagonists of this renaissance. Many people worked very hard at that time and they all deserve the tribute. Amongst them we find the cultural movement called ‘ez dok amairu’ (there is no thirteen).

This 13th Korrika wants to remember the enthusiasm and vitality of those who created ‘ez dok amairu’. Jorge Oteiza chose the name which he borrowed from a popular tale collected by Azkue in the Basque province of Bizkaia to show that Basque culture could break the spell of the unlucky number thirteen and continue to bloom.

Today the Korrika wants to tell society exactly the same thing; there is no thirteen, there is no curse. In the same way they managed to give Basque music and culture a big push during the inflexibility of the dictatorship, we also want to be able to carry on over all measures against Basque. We have to take Basque society through another period of renaissance because we are able to.

Euskal Herria, on the 15th of April, 2003.

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Bono the "Radical Chic Artist"

This article published by The Phoenix tells us what Fermin Muguruza thinks of Bono, the lead man for Irish band U2:

Basque planet

Fermin Muguruza takes Bono to task

BY JOSH KUN

On the opening night of the World Economic Forum last January, Bono introduced Jean-Paul Messier, the CEO of Vivendi-Universal, by calling him a " corporate motherfucker. " Far from an insult, it was an elbow nudge between millionaires and a sign of just how empty Bono’s merger of pop and politics has become. Even before Angélique Kidjo and Ravi Shankar took the stage to do a post–September 11 version of " we are the world, " the script’s finale had been written and performed: corporatized rebellion had triumphed, and the international audience of business executives and world leaders gathered to " address global issues " and to engage the forum’s " corporate members in global citizenship " had been assured that dissent can be bought.

As post-punk Basque singer/songwriter Fermin Muguruza reminds us on his 2000 album of cheery agit-ska, FM 99.00 Dub Manifest (newly available in the United States on Piranha), this was not the first time Bono had embarrassed himself in the presence of world leadership. In " Radical Chic, " Muguruza blasts Bono for calling the pope a " funky pontiff. " Bono’s blur of trans-national politics into corporate handshakes and wanna-be cool poses represents everything Muguruza — who since the 1980s has been a leading musical voice for Basque nationalist independence — is against.

Bono is what Muguruza calls a " radical chic artist " : someone who in trying to make rebellion cool sacrifices the true purpose of art: to be dangerous, to tell the truth, to upset the social balance. Just look at the yellow crime-scene tape bearing the slogan " Artist Line Do Not Cross " that adorns FM’s liner notes. At Muguruza’s world economic forum, the musician is not an entertainer but a people’s cop who protects and serves the non-corporate members of the global citizenry. The Basques are the oldest indigenous ethnic group in Europe, and for the past three decades many of them — the car-bombing separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna ( " Basque homeland and freedom " ) being the most extreme example — have been struggling to be recognized as an autonomous people and region.

On FM’s opening track, Muguruza — who sings in Euskera, the Basque language — bills himself as the " commander " of a musical army armed with " dissident thinking against just one memory. " On " Nazio Ibilitaria Naiz, " a song from another Muguruza album now available, Brigadistak Sound System (Piranha), he calls himself " a wandering nation, " does a Public Enemy " fear of a Basque planet " riff, and then outlines a " strategy of symbolic resistance to linguistic domination, to the structured division of society. " He wants to keep modernization from becoming synonymous with cultural homogeneity — as he sings on " Big Benat and Korrika 2001: Reunite the World! " , he wants to be both a Basque and a citizen of the world, without having to sacrifice one for the other.

Although both albums were released more than two years ago, it’s hard to listen to either FM or Brigadistak without hearing them through the ears of Passover massacres and Jenin border attacks. Both albums come from a world of bombs exploding on city streets and of people so wedded to the land they call their own that they are willing to saturate it with their own blood. On FM’s " Ekhi Eder, " Muguruza laments that " the right to live in the place of birth appears to be on sale. "

Ever since the Franco dictatorship that Muguruza was born into suppressed Basque culture with death squads and political imprisonment, the violent tug-of-war between the Basques and the Spanish has had its echoes of the Middle East conflict, complete with political assassinations, ethnic separatism, and anti-state violence committed in the name of future state formation. Throughout Brigadistak — where Muguruza’s " musical army " is backed up by a global crew of " fellow travelers " that includes Mexican border punks Tijuana No and peripatetic Franco-Spanish agitator Manu Chao — he sings of language as if it were a weapon of war, of occupation as a way of life, and of culture as a military battlefield. He pays homage to his favorite Arabic bar while " remembering the words we have in common " ; he equates the US bombing of Iraq with " Madrid fascists " killing Basques.

You could see this as a shortsighted, even irresponsible, conflation of very different political situations. Or you could see it the way Muguruza does, as a brand of global thinking that instead of merging economies and linking national interests to international markets merges oppressions and links struggles. In short, one that calls Jean-Paul Messier a corporate motherfucker and doesn’t expect a laugh.

Issue Date: May 9 - 16, 2002

By the way, Manu Chao is Basque too, his mother is Basque, not Spaniard.

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