The most interesting interview I have read lately about the status of the Basques is that conducted in Larrun 283 by Asier Basurto and Lander Arbelaitz to the sociologist Iñaki Iurrebaso. By the way, the court has qualified Iurrebaso's thesis as Outstanding cum laude.

After crossing the era of substitution until 1970 – II in Spain. The Republican Renaissance has to be partly exempted – for about 25 years we have been in recovery (1971-1996) and since then we have been in the era of inaction. I am convinced that it coincides with the perception of most conscious Basques!

The vision that prevails in public opinion is that we are gradually increasing in competition, but that we are in slow or backward use, always in relation to competition in Basque. This sociologist has acted differently: instead of looking at who knows Euskera and who doesn't know it, he has opted for another approach: who does better in Basque, who does better in Spanish/French, and each in a similar way. And, guided by this perspective, the speaker has grouped them into seven competence groups, and so he has come to the conclusion that the main vision we have mentioned above, which is the one that remains immobile or retrospective in capability and use, is a wrong vision.

Reflecting on the data of these seven groups, at one end the Euskaldunes (1%), at the other the Castellanoparlantes (63.9%), and the five very heterogeneous sets of Euskaldunes, it is clear that our main weakness lies in the capacity of many bilingual people, and not in their use, as we have heard so far from the conservative, linguistic mantra that denies the needs of new policies. In use we do have the problem, of course, but the reason is that few and few know Basque, that do not want to do it, because they are better in Spanish, but those who strive in Basque feel Euskaldunes.

Summarizing the data and translating the classification of the speakers into three groups: 195,000 speakers are best performing in Basque (7%), while 222,000 (8%) are similar in both languages, and 2,230,000 more are best performing in Spanish (85%), although many of them also know Basque. Iurrebaso stresses that the imbalance is enormous, as almost all those who develop more easily in Basque know the other language, but most speakers who speak Spanish do not know Basque at that level.

Those of us who want to speak in Basque in Basque Country, how many times can we speak in Basque? After analyzing the composition of the relationship networks, Iurrebaso has estimated that currently about 82% of the interviews are in Spanish, as most of the population only knows Spanish. Usage data cannot exceed 18%. Using the same calculation source, it is observed that the use of the Basque Country is around 15%, much closer to the maximum possible than to the minimum possible.

The first conclusion is clear: if we do not increase that 7% and that 8% in the capacity of the Basque Country, we will be in use around 10-15%, as we are currently doing.

In addition to asking for what belongs to the institutions and political parties – new and better linguistic policies and a new awareness of gravity – what can we do for those who want to live in Basque? We need a sense of community. And in the individualistic consumer society we live in, it's not easy, but it's necessary.

Thinking about the sustainability of the Basques, I remember the Jews. Not the current militarized Israelis, but the Jewish communities that, as dispersed, kept Jewish consciousness after the massacre of their main temple and holy city. And in the mirror of the Jew of Joxe Azurmendi you see a Basque.

As you know, in the centre of Nafarroa Garaia and in Ribera, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Balmaseda, and after their expulsion by order of the Spanish Catholic kings in Baiona, in Euskal Herria we have had many Jews. Only in Navarre about 50, in the Middle Ages, and in Baiona until today. Protected by the Navarros kings, especially by Charles III the noble, and except the famous Estella pogrom of 1328 – six thousand dead, joyful, as Menahem Ben Zerah (1308-1385) lived and counted on their skin: in Estella, Andosilla, Viana, Funes, Gares and San Adrián, lived better until the end of the 15th century.

What united them? Of course, religions. For the social class, there were bank lenders of money enriched in court, but there were also carpenters, leather trainers and small merchants. What about languages? Aside from the history of two thousand years, in the twentieth century, in general, there was talk of the language of the state that inhabited Europe (many of the Jewish intellectuals have been the least Jews and Germans, like Marx! ), and perhaps only in the liturgy was the use of clean and sacred Hebrew. Therefore, in history, completely considered, one can say that religion remained more than language. However, when the State was created, the Hebrew was put at the centre and we all know how it has risen.

Like us, the Jews have also had the toughest clash with the modern national state. The modern national state proclaims before the law that we are all equal. But if we're all the same, we can't be different. And in Spain you have to be Spanish and speak Spanish, and in French, French and French! And we are assimilated and assimilated. The Jews have now been saved, creating the State of Israel and giving rise to Hebrew, among other places. Can we ever be politically independent and put the Basque in the centre? Without increasing that 15%, and without community awareness or practices, as a Basque we can hardly have sustainability.

Pako Sudupe