It happens to most of us often, even though we live in towns where Basque is widely spoken: the substitute doctor at our clinic asks us to speak in Spanish (the regular doctor speaks Basque, but is on sick leave); the police officer who stops us at a traffic checkpoint demands that we speak Spanish; the South American who...
Definition of diversity
‘Diversity’ is a concept that is used more and more in our society. Nevertheless, what do we mean by ‘diversity’? Since there is no concrete definition of the term, we shall examine the positions and intentions, usually political, that lie behind the meaning of the word. First of all, we must make it clear that the term...
It is often said that if someone fools you once, it is their fault; but if the same person fools you more than once, the fault is not theirs, but yours, for being naive.
It has been years since the Spanish judges of the Basque Autonomous Community began issuing judgements against the Basque language. Since then, there have been quite...
In the last few weeks, a cultural incident made its way to the news that took us aback. Albeit not new and isolated, sparked uproar in Basque cultural circles. The young athletes of the rowing society Orioko Arraunketa Elkartea, entrenched in the town of Orio, receive guidelines and advice in Spanish during their training sessions. Orio happens to be...
The relations of love and hate between countries are reflected in the admiration or rejection that certain political figures tend to acquire outside their borders. For example, President Vladimir Putin is viewed with respect in Belarus, where he is a friend and ally of the People of Russia. In Ukraine, on the other hand, he represents old Russian imperialism...
Manuel Larramendi was born on 25 December 1690 in the Garagorri manor farmhouse located in the valley Leizotz, next to the town of Andoain. He was the son of Domingo Garagorri and Manuela Larramendi, and died in Loiola on 29 January 1766 at the age of 76. It is known that he was a member of the Society of...
In our group Naziogintza we have lamented more than once that we Basques know very little about our history, including our recent history. Therefore, some historical episodes of great importance remain ignored, in the shadows of our collective imagination.
In this article we want to bring to light one of those historical episodes: the pro-independence pact signed 101 years ago...
The first part of the article we published, here: https://www.naziogintza.eus/en/political-dictionary-of-naziogintza-part-1/
BASQUE LANGUAGE (EUSKARA): The language of the Basque Country. Can we imagine a German who does not know German, a Spaniard who does not know Spanish, a Frenchman who does not know French? Nor can we imagine an Euskaldun who does not know Basque.
EUSKALDUN: A person who speaks the Basque language....
Unfortunately, political culture is not very common among the Basques. Not even among Basque nationalists. As a result, we often use basic political concepts incorrectly, and in doing so we always come out losers in the ideological confrontation.
We want to gather some political concepts in this dictionary so that not to get entangled in ideological discussions. It is not...
Most of the groups and entities working for the Basque language agree that the language policies applied in the Basque Country under Spanish administration no longer work. Although the knowledge of the Basque language has increased somewhat in the Basque Autonomous Community and in Navarre, the use of the language is falling (the fall in its use in traditionally...
