BASQUE COUNTRY - FACT FINDING MISSION BY LEAGUE OFFICIALS

The Convenor and General Secretary (GS) of the Celtic League met with Basque linguists and political activists yesterday (30th April 2009) in the Basque city of Irunea/Pamplona.

The informal meetings, arranged as part of a general interest that the League has with the political and cultural struggles of the peoples of Europe, were arranged to find out more about the current political and linguistic situation in the Basque Country. The League regularly reports on events in the Basque Country through its Celtic news service and the League's Convenor, Cathal O Luain and GS, Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, wanted to find out from campaigners and activists how they thought the political and linguistic situations were progressing.

The first meeting was arranged with the Director of Services of the Navarran Government funded Euskarabidea, who informed the League of the linguistic situation specifically in the autonomous community of Navarra - one of the seven Basque provinces. The next meeting that was arranged was with the Director of Euskarakultur, a non governmental organisation that works for the promotion of the Basque language and culture throughout all the Basque provinces in the Spanish state. Then lastly a meeting was arranged with political activists from some of the Basque left wing nationalist political parties that had been previously banned by the Spanish courts over the last few years. The GS and the Convenor then visited a local bar where they talked to several people whose friends had recently been arrested by the police for their political activism.

More detailed information about the meetings will appear in the League's publication `Carn' over the coming months. The GS said:

«It is always useful to make personal contact with representatives of groups and individuals from `nations without state' in other parts of Europe, especially in terms of language, culture and politics, because of the similarity of experiences that are shared with the other Celtic countries. The meetings were useful for us to find out at first hand from the people who live and work in the Basque Country what the current climate is like, which in turn helps with the work of the League»

Cathal O Luain and another League member from the Irish Branch later made a brief tour of other cities in the Basque Country, including Donostia (San Sebastian), Gasteiz (Vitoria) and Bilbo (Bilbao).

Tomorrow the Convenor is planning to meet with the Director of the Basque Language Observatory in the city Bilbao, before flying back to Eire/Ireland.

Links:

www.euskarabidea.es www.euskarakultur

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

01/05/09