Basque People and their Neighbors

The country of Spain is divided in 17 autonomous communities. Each Autonomous communities has its own Executive Power, its own Legislative Power and its own Judicial Power. Within these 17 Autonomous Communities Spain has fifty provinces. The 17 Autonomous Communities are listed below with their capital cities.

• Andalusia: its capital is Sevilla

• Aragon: its capital is Zaragoza

• Asturias: its capital is Oviedo

• Balearic Islands: its capital is Palma de Mallorca

• Basque Country: its capital is Vitoria

• Canary Islands: they have two capitals - Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife

• Cantabria: its capital is Santander

• Castile-La Mancha: its capital is Toledo

• Castile and León: its capital is Valladolid

• Catalonia: its capital is Barcelona

• Extremadura: its capital is Mérida

• Galicia: its capital is Santiago de Compostela

• La Rioja: its capital is Logroño

• Community of Madrid: its capital is Madrid

• Region of Murcia: its capital is Murcia

• Navarre: its capital is Pamplona

• Valencian Community: its capital is Valencia

The Spanish language is the official language in all of the Autonomous Communities, but 6 autonomous communities have their own languages that they speak as well as Spanish. 

In Catalonia they speak Catalan and Occitan.

In the Valencian Community they speak Catalan, also called Valencian.

In Balearic Islands they speak Catalan.

In Galicia they speak Galician.

In Basque Country they speak Basque.

In Navarre they speak Basque also but only in the north.

Spain also has two cities on the north coast of Africa, Ceuta and Melilla. They are called Autonomous Cities.

How the 17 Autonomous Communities are financed has been one of the most important aspects concerning their relationship with the central government. The constitution gave all of the Autonomous Communities control over spending, but the central government retained effective control of each Community’s revenue intake. This means the central government is still in charge of levying and collecting taxes, which it then redistributes to the autonomous communities. This applies to all Autonomous Communities except for the Basque Country and Navarre.

Many in the Basque country still view their communities as independent Nations, not just as Nationalities under Spain as a plurinational state or a Nation of Nations. In 2004 the Basque parliament approved the Ibarretxe Plan, where the Basque country would approve a new Statute of Autonomy containing key provisions such as shared sovereignty with Spain, full independence of the judiciary, and the right to self-determination. The plan was rejected by the Spanish Parliament in 2005.

The Spanish Government does not recognize the right of self-determination for any of the underlying nationalities or nations and will not respect the outcome of a regional referendum regarding the subject of self-determination. However, the Basque Parliament voted for recognizing this right in its region’s independence. The term nationality refers only to the Autonomous Community, and not to its citizens. An Autonomous Community can be a nationality, but that does not mean that their citizens have the nationality of that community, because there is only one Spanish nationality.

The Basque Country is Spain's fifth largest regional economy, with a gross domestic product of 66.1 billion euros, meaning it accounts for around 7 percent of national GDP. Basque has the highest per capita output in Spain at 31,288 euros compared to the national average of 23,271 euros and an European Union average of 25,134 euros, this is according to the national statistics office.

"Euskadi is in better shape to weather this situation because over 20 years ago it bet on industrial policies," said Inigo Urkullu, the leader of the Basque Nationalist Party.

Many of Spain's biggest corporate names are Basque.

1- BBVA, is Spain’s second-largest bank. BBVA is a major player in South America; it is the source of more than half its revenues.

2- Gamesa is the world's fourth largest manufacturer of wind turbines.

3- CAF, a producer of rolling stock, sells trains as far afield as the United States and China.

references:

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_communities_of_Spain

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/28/us-spain-economy-basque-idUSBRE85R0K120120628

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalisms_and_regionalisms_of_Spain

Basque Immigration and Diaspora

Basque Diaspora is the name given to those people who left their homeland "Basque Country" to go live in other regions of the world for economic or political reasons. There are approximately ten million Basque people all over the world whom have preserved their original Basque language and culture. A Well known Basque community or Basque Diaspora in the United States is in Boise, Idaho

Euskal Etxeak or Basque clubs are organizations where Basque immigrants around the world and their descendants gather to share aspects of Basque culture. The majority of the members are descendants of Basque immigrants who left their homeland in the nineteenth century in search of a better life. There are 161 Euskal Etxeak in 21 countries. There are 106 Euskal Etxeak located in Latin America. In Latin America, Argentina has the most with 76, then Uruguay has 10, and Venezuela has 6. Outside of Latin America, there are 36 in North America, 10 in Spain, 5 in the rest of Europe, and 3 in Australia.

Basque fishermen and sailors reached American waters before the voyage of Columbus in 1492. They were amongst the first Europeans to hunt whales off the coast of North America. When Columbus recruited his sailing crew, the majority of his crew were of Basque ethnicity. The Basques continued to participate in voyages across the Atlantic during the earliest years of European exploration of North America. While large-scale immigration to the United States did not begin until the Mid to late 1800s.

The Basque people started to immigrate to the United States in the mid 1800's. Main reasons why the Basque people started immigrating from Basque to the United States and other Countries during the mid 1800s include: Production declines, Economic Stagnation, and Political upheaval in the Basque Country during this period. All of these negative factors arose in the Basque Country during and kept on continuing after the two Carlist wars. The first Carlist war was between 1833 and 1839, the second was between 1872 and 1876.

Today most Basque immigrants around the world consider themselves as they are part of both a country and a culture. Basque immigrants will classify themselves as Basque-Argentinean, Basque-American, or Basque-Mexican. This shows that these Basque immigrants identify themselves a s members of the new country they immigrated to, but still did not forget their original Basque culture.

references:
http://www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/Basque-Americans.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_diaspora

Interview

I am interviewing a native Basque citizen online, his name is Beñat Apaolaza

Interview:

1- where are you from in the Basque Country?

I am from Oiartzun, a small town in Gipuzkoa, near San Sebastian.

2- what is your opinion about the ETA Euskadi Ta Askatasuna)?

In my opinion, Its period is gone, With its violent activity get the Basque goals (the language and the independence) are impossible to get (and nonsense this way), because nowadays the violent activity is nonsense, because we are not living under Franco’s system, but it's true that still there is a repression to any national political activity.

3- what is the opinion of the general Basque people about the ETA Euskadi Ta Askatasuna)?

ETA is a response of the huge repression that Franco did, it began this way, but there were a lot of processes that led to the violence of the ETA, but most of the public believes that today the ETA'S violence is unacceptable, it might have been during Franco's days.

4- What are some interesting aspects about that Basque culture that not everybody might know about?

The Basque language is a huge treasure, it's not that the origin is unknown, the mysterious is that it lasts alive for so many years. It's the language of a really old civilization. Another interesting thing is that the Basque dances gave some steps to "Vallet" (there is the Basque step). We also have another Basque singers "Bertsolari", and they song in the main square with some certain rythms (Almost all of the singers are graduated in the university). We also have our own sports (Eskupilota, aizkolaritza, txingak, sokatira, harrijasotzaile....).

5- What actions are the Basque taking to preserve their native Basque language (Euskara)?

We have our own schools (ikastola), but there is also some Basque public schools (in the beginning they were just in Spanish). We also have schools for grown people that they want to learn and speak. (40 000 students). There are also some groups, supporting the movement and the normalization of the Basque in their own region. We also have man or woman Basque writers, the literal movement is big. And we also have Basque radios and TV. By the way, i made my degree in Basque (not all the subjects, but the most important).

6- are there any internal conflicts between the Spanish Basque and the French Basque?

I don't think so, i don't know at least about it.

7- What historical or natural sights may a person visiting Basque should go see?

Gernika, because there is the only tree that stand after the bombing of condor legion. Bilbo and Donosti, because they are the main cities of Basque country, and they are so nice. Arantzazu, because it's a cultural and religious place. Any place of the coastline, even the "Spanish side" or the "France side" both are amazing and a there are a lot of mountains anywhere. In Navarra is Iruña/pamplona, because historically it was the capital of the Navarra kingdom.

8- Are the Basque people still affected by their harsh history, especially what Dictator Francisco Franco put the Basque people through for many years?

Yes there are, there are a lot of disappeared people that still are unknown where they are. There were a lot of executed people by shooting (fusilamiento). A lot of people that were in prison for so many years, and tortured. They stole the house and steal Basque books and some valuable stuffs. Steal their children, raped people....There are many books just with the victims

Basque Cultural Survival

The main difficulty to the Basque's cultural survival until today is reaching an agreement regarding relations between the Basque Country and Spain (the State). People have tried to resolve this issue by force and violence, but this hasn't been an effective method yet. 

This major disagreement between the Basque Country and Spain has been traced back to the 15th century or even before then. Between the 15th century and the 19th century, there were many conflicts and wars that arose because the Basque provinces wanted to exercise sovereignty over the Basque people. Between 1936 and 1975 the Basque problem got worse. During this time period dictator Francisco Franco had control of Spain, and he believed in one unified Spanish State. He banned many parts of the Basque culture, especially he banned the use Basque language Euskera. In 1958, the ETA (Euzkadi Ta Azkatasuna) or Basque Homeland and Freedom was born as a result of the extreme repression. In 1975, dictator Francisco Franco died, and Basque's transition towards Autonomy began. In 1978, Basque's right of Autonomy was approved, but until today Basque still has issues with the Spanish State.

The continued survival of the Basque nationalism is mainly due to a great emotional power all Basque people have, and this makes up the Basques' group identity.

A major wonder is the extreme loyalty the Basque diaspora have towards the Basque language, culture, and identity throughout the years and distances. The Basque ethnic populations have demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt to new environments, while still holding on to their traditional culture. This could help us understand Basque identity persistence in their diaspora, even after five and six generations after immigration.

Many say that the Basque Culture survived until today, because Spain gave the Basque Country freedoms that other countries did not give to their indigenous groups. Besides the time Between 1936 and 1975, during the control of dictator Francisco Franco, Basque never suffered the extreme degree of economic deprivation, exploitation, or collective political oppression by Spain, that is usually associated with separatist movements. Basque language, culture, and history are allowed to be taught in schools, this I think is a major reason why the Basque culture has survived until today.

references:

http://www.elkarri.org/en/textos/quienes1.php