On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the return to the world of Elkano-Magellan next year, various entities are carrying out various activities to extol this return to the world. But there are neighbors of Lekeitio who do not join the official discourse and with the objective of making known what that expedition was Elkano Hankaz Gora! The initiative has been launched, and has joined the Elkanori manifesto, an initiative supported by over 40 actors.

At the moment, three talks have been organised, and the first will be on Thursday, 28 October, at 18:30 a.m., at the Lekeitio House of Culture. This first talk will be given by the journalist of Argia Axier López, and it is titled Ez naiz colonialist but…

The proponents of the initiative affirm that history is written and told according to the interests of the dominators; whoever is in power writes history. “A clear example of this is the official account of the return to the world of Elkano-Magellan (1519-1522). On the occasion of this anniversary, in 2018 the campaign of tribute and exaltation to the figure of Elcano and the ‘unparalleled courage’ of the Government and the Spanish Army was launched. Among us they have also created the Elkano 500 foundation, and among other things, the City of Lekeitio has created an agreement called the Lekeitio Pact to promote the activities organized on the occasion of this anniversary and to highlight the participation of the Basques in that expedition of the Spanish Empire”. They have said that they are not against remembering some historical times, but they have added that it is up to them to “recover and tell the memory of the oppressed. That is, to question the official narrative.”

In addition to telling us how the world was turned around and what that meant, they must say that it was “an expedition to colonization and conquest.” “They will tell us that Elkano was a hero, a brave adventurer, a Basque ambassador… But they will tell us that in most of the ‘new’ places of that expedition, besides committing robberies, murders, rapes… the first stone was laid to colonize the Filipino countries and their consequences?” You have added that what happened 500 years ago is also a present. “Colonization, genocide and plundering of the time were the essential drivers of today’s capitalism”

The second of the conferences will take place on 24 November and the rapporteur will be Iñaki Gil de San Vicente. The third and final conference will be held on 16 December by Idoia Arrieta.