- The patience of the Basques of Irun has been overwhelmed; they are angry and on this occasion they are not going to "shut up". The fact that the act of lighting the Christmas lights was carried out in full in Spanish has led 35 associations of the city to denounce the linguistic policy of the City Council, which will have few precedents in Irun. After that, the City Council has apologized and called on the associations to participate in the meeting.
And the day after Basque Day, in the article of Christmas, we realized the act in Spanish and monolingual. The theme has been bustling this weekend in Irun, and the feeling they had is shared by many: "Once again, the City of Irun has turned a blind eye to the Basques." This is evident from the letter that was published this Sunday in the Official State Gazette. A total of 35 associations in the world of Irun’s society, culture and sport have joined the call, including neighborhood associations and associations of parents from schools.
Angry about “making the Basque invisible”, “those of us who signed this message have decided to publicly denounce the City of Irun that it is enough and that from now on we will not remain silent so that we stop giving up the Basques once and for all. In Irun we also want to live in Basque!” They have demanded that the City Hall guarantee the linguistic rights of all the Irundarians.
Among the signatories are seven associations of mothers and fathers (Txingudi, Toki Alai, Dunboa, Elatzeta, Hirubide, Eguzkitza, Lekaenea), AEK del Bidasoa, Betti Gotti, Euskal Jira, the music group Txorimaloak, the association of the Basque Aitza
Irun's neighbours have transferred their complaints to the City Hall's citizen petition collection platform. In all of them the same complaint is repeated: the abandonment of the Basque, the Basque and the Basque culture.
Another initiative that has been extended this weekend has been to transfer the complaints to the platform for the collection of citizen requests from the City Council. The same complaint is repeated in all of them: The abandonment of the Basque, Basque and Basque culture at the opening of Christmas. They accuse the mayor, Cristina Laborda, of "contempt for the Basque country" and of "feeling strange to everyone in their own house". “The Basque and the citizens have asked him to give the treatment we once and for all deserve.”
Response from the City Hall
The movement that has gained strength is not small, and the municipal government of the PSOE, stimulated by pressure, has been forced to give an answer. In fact, he has called the 35 signatories for next Wednesday afternoon at the town hall. Regarding the "Christmas Ignition", he has called all the attendees to the meeting for 11 December, without giving any further explanation. It will be necessary to see what the city council has and how the agents will take the opportunity to ask for real and effective commitments and measures to the City Hall on behalf of the Euskaltzale movement that has risen.
Because of the impact it has had, the Centre for Linguistic Rights, for example, has found unacceptable what happened at Irun.
Meanwhile, EH Bildu, in opposition to the City Hall, has criticized “the lack of commitment of the municipal government to the Basque Country”. In the words of the political formation, “in the initiatives that are organized from the town hall the minimal care of the Basque people is not done, and the Basques, once again, have to feel second-class citizens in our house. Embarrassing and intolerable.” The PNV has also lodged a formal complaint.