In an article published in the BERRIA newspaper (“Deriba erreakzionarioa geldiarazi”, (17-10-2024) (https://www.berria.eus/iritzia/artikuluak/deriba-erreakzionarioa-geldiarazi_2132090_102.html) the philosopher Andoni Olariaga referred to the link between migration and colonialism. In the article he mentioned, among other things: “Being People and persons living in the global North, and knowing that we are based on a model of life based on the exploitation of the global...
"Rebellion in the Pacific Ocean colonies" could also be the title of this Editorial. A title that would reflect very well the atmosphere of the last few months in New Caledonia (Kanaky, in the local language), a French colony since 1853. The autochthonous population (Kanaks), mostly pro-independence, has become recently fed up with French imperialist policies and held large...
Our opinion
REQUEST TO THE BASQUE NATIONALIST PARTIES (A SIMPLE, SIGNIFICANT, COMPELLING AND EFFECTIVE ONE)
For the next term, we wish to address a specific request to the Basque nationalist parties to always speak in Basque in the parliaments of the Southern Basque Country and Spain.
One does not need to be an expert to understand that all languages hold symbolic and instrumental value. Languages provide a means of communication among people, while at the...
On April 21, the citizens of Alava (excepting Treviño), Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa will have to decide once again the composition of the Parliament of the Western Basque Country (Basque Autonomous Community). According to all polls, that parliament will have a large Basque nationalist majority (currently that majority is at 70%). It is foreseeable that the political forces in favor...
Last 6 December, the Spanish celebrated their customary Constitution Day. By contrast, this terrible date reminds us of our political subjugation. While some sectors and individuals of our nation worked that day, most Basque workers held the 6 December as a bank holiday, the first of a long weekend, the gateway to a leisurely parenthesis. We need our own...
We were surprised by the Spanish President's decision, in a fit of desperation, to bring forward the Spanish elections. And this obliges us to clarify as soon as possible the doubts we had regarding these elections. Although in the Naziogintza Taldea group we had started a discussion on the position to adopt with regard to the Spanish elections, the...
National liberation processes are usually long and difficult. And some, unfortunately, also dramatic and bloody. If we look at the process of creating the states that have been born in Europe over the last 40 years, we will realize that some nations have completed their self-determination without a long conflict (Estonia, Latvia, Montenegro...) while in others that process has...
Note for our international readers: In the Basque language, Basques who speak our own language are called "euskaldun". A Basque-speaker never calls himself "vasco" (in Spanish) or "Basque" (in French), but "euskaldun". "Euskaldun" is neither a demonym nor a geographical concept, but an ethnic and linguistic concept.
As a consequence of suffering a long linguicide and colonization, the national personality...
The desire to have a Basque Republic is not new among Basque patriots, not something that has suddenly occurred to us this morning. On the contrary, it is a claim with a long historical tradition. In the 18th century, 130 years before the birth of Sabino Arana (founder of modern Basque nationalism), the Jesuit Larramendi wrote the following: "Why...
“At first we were nationalists. Later, since nationalism was ugly, we became "abertzales" (patriots). Now patriotism is not pretty either, and you have to be a non-nationalist and non-patriot independentist ….. Always retreating. "
Joxe Azurmendi, "Hizkuntza, Nazioa, Estatua".
We were shocked to hear a well-known leader of the Basque Patriotic Left a few years ago say this in Scotland: "I...