I hope this email finds you all well. I am hoping you can spread this information through your respective websites and perhaps also contribute to the blogs, entries.

In any case, any assistance you can provide in getting this information out would be greatly appreciated!

Hope you are having a nice summer.

Idoya

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As you may know, the IV World Congress of Basque Communities in Bilbao is

coming up. The main goal of the World Congress of Basque Communities is to

promote the meeting and collaboration among Basque communities, Basque clubs,

federations and confederations of Basque clubs, and Basque institutions. You will be

able see blogs, photos, and diaries of everything that happens in Bilbao.

With EuskoSare's special coverage, those who are not participating in the IV World

Congress of Basque Communities will be able to follow along with everything that is

happening in Bilbao through the Internet.

The congress special coverage has begun with exclusive interviews with delegates

and participants of the Diaspora who have commented on their expectations in

regards to this global meeting.

During the coming together of the meeting we will count on a group of columnists

consisting of members of the EuskoSare team and collaborators that will attend as

delegates and who will constantly provide updates through a blog that has already

been put in place with news from previous congresses.

We invite all users to leave their comments and suggestions regarding this Global

Basque Community meeting.

Check it out!

http://www.euskosare.org/congress_2007

Besarkada bero bat,

Idoya Salaburu Urruty

Koordinatzailea / Coordinator

www.euskosare.org

Euskomedia / Eusko Ikaskuntza - Basque Studies Society

San Francisco, California

No upcoming events

I would like to introduce to you, my film "Gernika Lives", a 40 minute documentary in Basque, Spanish and with English voice overs, is about the bombing of Gernika and the Basque people of Euskadi in northern Spain. This film is narrated by John Randolph and stars my father Jesus Plaza, and the late Basque activist/writer, Mario de Salegui, as well as interviews with the survivors, their recollections on that attrocious day, and what it means to be a Basque, culturally, socially, politically, creatively.

This is a personal life long journey of mine. As a child my father told me of the horrors he experienced when all of a sudden bombs were attacking his home, and his small precious village. Now more than ever we need to look back on these events to contemplate the urgency of peace in the world.

I would love for everyone interested in the Basque country and it's people to know that this important film is available for purchase. $39.99. Emilia Doyaga has organized a screening at Columbia University where I will also be speaking after the film and at the New York Eusko Etxea.

Check out her site at www.begonyaplaza.com.

Mary Tahan, aneditor at Hippocrene Books, Inc. ( www.hippocrenebooks.com), a leading publisher of phrase books, dictionaries, travel guides, and language instruction books in over 100 languages, is trying to locate native Basque speakers within the tri-state area of New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey

Hippocrene needs native Basque speakers to record simple dialogues and word lists for our language

instruction manual, BEGINNER'S BASQUE.

They need four native speakers: two men and two women. The recording will take place in a recording studio here in

New York, on a day to be agreed on by all speakers usually a Saturday, since that seems to be the most convenient day for most people, but she can arrange a recording day during the week as well. Recording takes about six hours and we pay speakers $30/hour plus travel reimbursement for those coming from out-of-town.

It's easy and it's fun!

Please contact Mary Tahan at [email protected].

You can also call her at 212-685-4371.

Mary M. Tahan

Associate Language Editor

Hippocrene Books

171 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10016

212-685-4371

[email protected]

If anyone has any more info on this event please let me know.

[email protected]

Basque films and Media Arts Festival es un encuentro entre la industria

audiovisual vasca y la industria independiente neoyorkina. Un festival que

tendrá lugar el 28, 29 y 30 de Marzo en Manhattan, New York, en los

Tribeca Cinemas.

Este es un proyecto impulsado por la Dirección de Cultura del Gobierno

Vasco, en el que colaboran el Cluster de Comunicación Vasco, APV e Ibaia y

con el patrocinio de la Concejalía de cultura del ayuntamiento de Bilbao.

Adjuntamos un dossier en el que se explican los detalles del Festival, así

como las posibilidades de participación y las subvenciones para el mismo.

Click-ear en los links para poder ver los archivos.

Para más información podéis contactar con:

http://www.laaki.com/basquefilmfestival/seleccionmaterial.pdf

http://www.laaki.com/basquefilmfestival/inscripcion.pdf

http://www.laaki.com/basquefilmfestival/castellano.pdf

January 25, 2008

By Kamil Dada

When the president of the Basque Government speaks at the Arrillaga Alumni Center on Feb. 14, he shouldn’t expect Valentines from everyone in the audience.

Spain’s regional politics have indirectly led to a ruckus on campus. A controversial seminar with Juan Jose Ibarretxe, sponsored by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, has caused a firestorm in Spain and prompted a Stanford student to initiate a petition that has garnered 3,500 online signatures.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the neighboring regional government of Navarra that has opposed Ibarretxe sent a letter to President John Hennessy protesting the event. That letter, which called for other perspectives to be heard on campus instead, is detailed in Friday’s edition of Diario de Navarra, a Spanish newspaper.

Ibarretxe, the visitor, is seen by opponents in neighboring communities as a nationalist who sympathizes with the the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), which the U.S. State Department classifies as a terrorist organization.

University officials say they will not rescind the invitation and frame the visit as being about academic freedom. They say that the timing of the long-planned event has nothing to do with influencing the Spanish general elections, set for only three weeks after the scheduled visit.

Provost John Etchemendy Ph.D. ‘82, who is of Basque heritage himself, argued that the political climate in Spain has made it easy for certain parties to condemn all Basque politicians for the crimes committed by the ETA. This is analogous, he said, to condemning all Muslims for the crimes committed by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.

“The question of whether the Forum on Contemporary Europe should be allowed to invite Mr. Ibarretxe to speak at Stanford is not even a hard question,” Etchemendy said. “Should they be allowed to invite Muslim politicians, even though there are some who would condemn all Muslims for 9/11? Of course.”

The petition opposing Ibarretxe’s visit was organized by a student at Stanford, along with Jose Manuel Camporro, a Silicon Valley worker who grew up in the Basque city of Vitoria, and another working professional from the Bay Area. Organizers said to expect large protests during the visit.

Prof. Joan Ramon Resina, the chair of the Spanish and Portuguese Departments, said the majority of those who have signed the petition come from Spain.

“If our events were subject to cancellation by those who, here and abroad, do not approve of the speakers, we would soon not hold any events but the most anodyne,” he said. “[Those] people do not understand that academic freedom is the basis on which our [U.S.] universities, and Stanford in particular, stand.”

Critics, including prominent Spaniards and a member of the European Parliament, say University officials are providing a platform for a fringe politician to advocate a referendum on independence for the Basque region of northern Spain — the most controversial issue in the country for more than a quarter century.

These opponents say the proposal, which they perceive as a land grab by a territory-hungry politician, has been rejected by the central government in Madrid.

Juan Maria Atutxa, a politician in the Basque country and member of the Basque Nationalist Party, was found guilty this week of disobeying a Supreme Court ruling for refusing to dissolve Batasuna, an illegal nationalist, political wing of ETA. The U.S. considers Batasuna, which Atutxa protected, to be a terrorist organization.

According to Basque News and Information Channel eitb24, Ibarretxe defends Atutxa for his protection of Batasuna, saying he did nothing wrong. Etchemendy said that Ibarretxe is a popular politician in the Basque region because he has consistently condemned the violent tactics of ETA and supports a peaceful resolution to the turmoil, which has included bombings, murders and kidnappings.

Resina extended the invitation to Ibarretxe in conjunction with the Forum on Contemporary Europe (FCE) — a section of the Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) that houses the Iberian Studies Program, which Resina created and directs.

He said that the FSI routinely invites European political leaders from across the political spectrum and that the FCE is particularly interested in anyone who can address issues of pressing interest. Resina argued that Basque Country is one of the historical nationalities within the Spanish state and a crucial component of Iberian culture and society.

“President Ibarretxe’s talk has particular interest in the European context, where similar processes of popular consultation have taken place,” Resina said, pointing to Scotland as an example. “Furthermore, Ibarretxe’s proposal, under certain conditions, could prove to be the elusive tool to negotiate a definitive ceasefire by ETA, which in the last decade has declared 10 long-term truces only to break them later for lack of political progress in the negotiations.”

Those upset with the University program say that if better understanding the issue is the goal, then a panel of speakers with diverse viewpoints should be invited.

“Since Ibarretxe has the same position as a state governor in the U.S., why not invite another president from one of the other 16 autonomous provinces in Spain governed by liberals or conservatives?” Camporro asked. “Why not somebody who can speak for the victims of their manipulation, extortion?”

Resina argues that this would limit the Basque president’s ability to make a formal address by downgrading his lecture to a sparring match with little or no guarantee of propriety. It would also provide the protesters with a symbolic victory by forcing an unintended speaker on Stanford. Additionally, Resina pointed out that a challenger would make people forget that there is no institutional peer of Ibarretxe’s level on Basque matters.

Resina said he did not ask the Basque president to speak on any specific topic.

“I assume that his plan for a democratic consultation of the people in [Basque Country] will feature in his lecture,” he said. “But again, I have not defined or otherwise preconditioned the content of the lecture in any way.”

The lecture, which will include a question-and-answer session, is touted on the University Web site as an opportunity for Ibarretxe to discuss his “Road Map to bring an end to the Basque Conflict.”

Since Spain will have a general election approximately three weeks after Ibarretxe comes to Stanford, it has been suggested by the organizers of the petition that the lecture could potentially impact the results by giving the force of Stanford’s name to the ideas that the Basque leader is expected to advocate.

Debra Zumwalt, the University’s general counsel, said that it does not violate University policy on political activities to have speakers on campus talk about their policies and beliefs, even if the speakers are politicians and even if they have controversial views.

“We have had many world leaders and candidates for political office speak at Stanford,” she said, “some of them with very controversial positions.”

Just as Columbia University went ahead with plans to host Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad in September, even after top administrators came under fire, it seems highly unlikely that Stanford organizers will step down.

“The intensity and scope of the unsupported accusations against President Ibarretxe are among the ugliest things I have seen in my long academic life,” Resina said. “The organizers of the protest have chosen the path of confrontation rather than the democratic one of discussion with the speaker, according to academic protocol.”

Pepito on 1/25/08 at 12pm

Welcome Mr. Ibarretxe to the U.S., and I certainly hope you will come more often to visit us.

I would like to make some comments about the comments of some of the Spanish fascists that write on here and in some other forums:

1st. Batasuna is NOT listed as a terrorist organization in the USA, you can check it at

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/37191.htm Furthermore, Batasuna is a legal POLITICAL PARTY in France.

2nd Mr. Ibarretxe was democratically elected President of the Basque Country.

3rd Mr. Ibarretxe has always refused violence, and condemns it constantly.

4th Prommeteo says that "Half of the Basque population is the target of a terrorist group..." This is clearly FALSE. ETA has, in numerous ocassions, said who their targets are: Spanish police forces, Spanish military, and some Spanish politicians. This is less than 0.1% of the Basque population, certainly NOT half of the Basque population.

5th Some Spanish journalists close to the Spanish conservative Popular Party (PP) have pretty much excused ETA when it targeted politicians of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSE-PSOE.) If we really want to talk about who really supports ETA...

6th The Spanish Government created an illegal terrorist organization called GAL, responsible for many deaths of innocent people, many of them in the Basque Country. These deaths were celebrated by the Spanish, Popular Party (PP), and Socialist party (PSOE) and never condemend by them.