there was a girl, there was a society

There was a girl, a young girl, and her name was Urtza, from Ondarru in Basqueland, and she happened to be politically active.

One day the government decided she was a terrorist and sent the police to arrest her and prove that she was, in a part of the world where, as Amnesty International reports year in year out, torture is not only not prosecuted but encouraged. No wonder she confessed she was a terrorist! Later on she said she said so because she was tortured. Too late, she had already confessed, she had to go to jail for 5 years.

There was a society which decided it would take situations like this no more. And they gathered around Urtza to protect her from the police, with nothing to gain but dignity and a great deal to lose. And today, I thought I'd let you know, is the 5th day in which anonymous people are protecting this girl by standing or sitting next to each other and around her while she is in the middle of this bridge, waiting for the police to come.

Photo from http://badubadastm.talaios.net

perurena viral

Viral bihurtzen ari den bideo bat gaur. Ziur ikusia duzuela. Bestela ere, on egin.

 

  Argi eta garbi by Iñaki Perurena Jauna
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aizpearen lapsusa

Justy (El Mundo)

berria 2010.10.29: Etxepare Institutua "euskararen eta euskal kulturaren etxea" izango dela adierazi du Aizpea Goenaga Etxepare Institutuko zuzendariak; "euskal ekoizpen kultural guztiak du tokia etxe honetan: euskaraz egiten denak, gaztelaniaz egiten denak eta hizkuntzarik ez duenak".

Etxeparek 'Euskara, jalgi hadi mundura' esan zuen, ez 'Euskara, jalgi hadi mundura gazteleraren eskutik'. Eta zer esan nahi du 'hizkuntzarik ez duenak'? Zer da hizkuntza eza, Aizpea? Handia diglosia!

united colors of torture

I found this picture from long ago today. Putting it on here or not, I gave it much a thought. Basqueland's street walls appeared covered with images of Unai Romano's face one morning back then, and so they remained for many months, but I had the feeling nothing happened on anyone's minds, that people weren't moved by it, as if we Basques were immune to such things because they happen all the time, as if it were just another commercial campaign pretending to be shocking. So I pasted the logo of a company very well known for that kind of campaigns on the picture.

 

"Unai Romano was arrested in September 1999, and alleged that while he was held in the Civil Guard headquarters he was subjected to electric shocks to his ear-lobes and his testicles.

According to the conclusions in the forensic report, the injuries sustained by Romano "are multiple low-intensity blows to various parts of the head and cannot be justified by a single traumatism, which would have had to be extremely intense". Therefore, a Legal and Forensic Medicine expert ratifies Unai's version of events, whereby he told how he had suffered repeated blows to his head, with varying intensity and from behind.

This medical explanation and the latter statement to the court in order to ratify the contents of his report says: "it is highly unlikely that a voluntary frontal traumatism against a smooth wall, with no soft materials in between may produce a generalised oedema of the whole neurocraneum". The report concludes that "the blows sustained by Unai Romano were dealt from behind, on the sides and upper part of the skull and not on the frontal region".

Copy&pasted from amesty.org (before and after pictures too)

'gehiengo berria'

Iturgaiz aboga por cambiar de himno y modificar el escudo del País Vasco

Carlos Iturgaiz cree que es la hora de que Patxi López se comprometa a cambios concretos. Lo primero, según dice, es que "El Árbol de Guernica" se convierta en el himno oficial del País Vasco. También aboga por modificar el escudo para suprimir el cuartel navarro.


(copy&paste de libertaddigital.com)

eusko jaurlatxirla

Bakezaleak, alderdien lege eta epaile-superstarraren kontrakoak... kolirio malkoak, aurpegi gogorrak. Laqua, Lehendakatxirlaren argazkia uzten dizuet. Atzo Bilbon egon zinetenontzat, posta.

artista eta gaztea

artista eta gaztea
(Scroll down for English version)

Euskal Irrati Telebistak (EITB) eta Euskal Herriko Unibertsitateak (EHU) gazte sortzaileei zuzendutako lehiaketa deialdi bat luzatu zuten 2006an. Ikusentzunezko sormena lehiaketa honen saria EITB Kultura saioan irabazlearen lana erakustea zen. Komunikabide batek inolako ordainketarik gabe ez dagokion ikusentzunezko materiala erakusteak ez digu batere harritzen, egunero ikusten bait da, nahiz eta komunikabide hau publikoa izan. EHUren jarrera ordea, salagarriagoa da. Zer sortu nahi du EHUk Leioako Campuseko Arte Eder Fakultatean dituen gazteekin? Artistak? Sortzaileak? Zer sustapen mota bultzatzen du hau lortzeko? Artista gaztearen lana telebista kate batean erakustea publizitatearen artean agertzen diren saioetan. Artista edo sortzailea izatea musutruk lan egitearen sinonimoa al da?

Nork irabazten du benetan harreman honetan? EHUk prestigioaren aldetik, eurek ekoiztutako artista gazteak promozionatzen dituela ikustarazten, eta EITBk, EITB Kultura saioren edukina inolako ordainketa ekonomikorik gabe lodituaz. Diruaz hitzegitea ez omen da dotore geratzen, artistok baina, ezagun eta konsagratuek zein gazteek ere, elikatu beharrean gaude. Inork ez du musutruk lanik egiten, baina istituzioetatik artista gazteak debalde lan egin behar duenaren irudia zabaltzen da, eta ez bakarrik irudia, praktikan ere horrela da eta.

Bideo sorta honen bitartez arestian aipatutako guztiaren kritika egin nahi izan dut. Ez da bideo hauetan euskal artista gazterik agertzen (edo agian bai), baizik eta Tokio hiriko kaleetan darabilen etxerik gabeko jendea. Eusko Jaurlaritzatik, EHU eta EITBtik eskeini zuten lehiaketan ez zelako ez artea, ez artistak, ez artista gazteak, ez eta euskal artea sustatzen, baizik eta erakunde hauen aurpegi garbiketa eta bide batez telebistan agertzea sari nahiko denaren argudioa. Izen euskaldunak, Euskal Herriko leku eta egoerak azaltzen dira, Japoniako aurpegi, leku eta egoerak agertzen diren bitartean.

Guggenheim izena eraman behar al dugu? Dirudienez geure politikariek hola uste dute: Bilboko alkate jaunaren hitzetan etorkizuneko Zorrotzaurre irlan Pompidu, Prado... sukurtsal bat altxatu nahi dute. Eskerrik asko Azkuna jauna eta gainontzeko instituzioei euskal artista eta artearengan erakusten duten konfidantza eta begirune ezagatik. Eta telebistan minutu erdiko tarteagatik ere, esker aunitz.

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young and artist

Basque Public Radio Television (EITB) and the University of Basque Country (EHU) launched a contest aimed at young creators back in 2006. The prize for this audiovisual competition was that the work of the winning artist would be broadcast on EITBKultura, a contemporary arts TV program. It’s no surprise a mass media showing audiovisual material they don’t own and making no payment for it, we can see it everyday, even, as it is the case, if this media is a public one. EHU’s position though is more criticizeable. What does this university want to make of the young people studying at its Fine Arts Faculty in Leioa? Artists? Creators? What kind of promoting means do they undertake to achieve it? A free exhibit of a young artist’s work on television, with advertisements, of course. Is it that being a young artist means you are to work for free?

Who is winning in this relationship? EHU in prestige, showing they really are promoting their otherwise useless products (read ex-students), and EITB inflating its EITBKultura program contents with no economic payment to the authors at all. It be no elegant to talk about money but artists, well established ones as well as young ones, do need to eat. Nobody works for free, but the notion that young artists have to do so is being spread from institutions such as these and others. It is not only a notion but a reality.

With this video series I want to critisize all the above explained. There’s no Basque young artist on them (or maybe there is), but homeless people from Tokyo. Because there was no promotion of Basque art or young artists in the competition launched by the Basque Government, EHU and EITB, but an image laundering of these. And by the way spreading the message that being on telly is enough prize for a young artist. There are Basque names of people, places and situations, but showing Japanese faces, places and situations.

Does Guggenheim need to be our name? It seems like our politicians think so: Bilbao’s mayor has announced the construction of a maybe Pompidu, maybe Prado branch on Zorrotzaurre island. Thank you Mr Azkuna and institutions alike for the lack of respect and confidence towards local artists and art. Oh, and thanks a lot for those 30 seconds on your television!