- As reported by Euskal Herrian Euskaraz, the ACT TV of the Eusko Label League wanted to force a rower who only wanted to speak in Basque to make statements in Spanish. It was on 25 July, at the end of the fighting in Lekeitio, that the first race was fought.
At the end of the race in Lekeitio at the Eusko Label League organized by the Association of Traineras Clubs on July 25, the workers of the ACT TV in charge of communication of the championship requested an interview with a rower from Donostiarra Arraun Elkartea. It is common that in each regatta several remers were interviewed to disseminate these declarations through social networks.
A rower has denounced that before doing the interview he was told that he had to make the statements in Basque and Spanish, when they put the microphone on him. “I told them that I just wanted to do it in Basque and I refused, claiming that they would help me do it in Spanish. I insisted that language literacy was not a problem, but a matter of principle, I wanted to make statements only in Basque, but they told me that we were in the ACT and that the principles had to be abandoned. I told them they could subtitle them if they wanted to, but I kept having to do it in Basque. The interviewer began to get angry and I took off the micro commitment to my language and left without the interview", the rower said.
"I wanted to make the statements only in Euskera, but I was told that we were on the ACT and that the principles had to be abandoned"
“We are in the Basque Country and our national language is the Basque. I have made a firm commitment to try to live in Basque, even in situations of oppression, and I will not give up this struggle,” he said later.
Euskal Herrian Euskaraz has denounced the facts. "It is unacceptable that Euskaldunes should be obliged to speak or not in Spanish. In addition to being a serious violation of the linguistic rights of Euskaldunes, they nourish the second-level situation of the Basque Country. Euskera remains an option, a complement that is not essential, while Spanish or French is imposed as an important and indispensable option for all activities. We absolutely reject these kinds of attitudes," they said.
The EHE urges those in charge of the League Act to reject this type of conduct that infringes language rights and to respect the choice of rowers by the Basque Country. It also requests a review of the League's linguistic practice, especially with regard to the use of language in communications and social networks, where the use of Euskera is totally marginal, symbolic. "The vain use that the Act League gives to Euskera in public communication is absolutely unacceptable," he added.
Lastly, Euskal Herrian Euskaraz wants to encourage all the people of the traineras' world, especially the remers, to maintain their commitment to the Basque country. "We want to encourage both public statements and any other use of the language to be made solely in Basque, as this is an undeniable right. We invite that Euskera also be normalized in the regatta and that Euskaldunes be able to live in Euskera in a strong Euskaltzale attitude".