Neither drowning, nor belarriprest, have I participated in this year’s Euskaraldia. We are Euskaldunes because at home we have grown in Euskera in a Castilian environment. We didn't choose it, the parents were euskaldunified and it touched us. The Basque Country has given us a lot, personality, culture and its own vision to understand things. However, this has had its consequences: we have spoken in Basque whenever we have been able and have suffered the shocks on our skin since we were young.

As a result of the expansion of knowledge, the possibilities of doing so in Basque have been expanded and the latest language campaigns have emphasized its use. We understand that Euskaldunes have a responsibility to use Euskera. But things aren't that easy.

Anyone who is in Euskera outside his usual circuit will experience the difficulties to fulfill his day to day and the unpleasant situations that have arisen involuntarily. The Castilian speakers will regularly lead him to his traumas, that of the oppositions, that of the one who says he lives in the Goierri, etc.

But who listens to ours? At the beginning of the pandemic, the neighbor who was with me in the support network of the neighbors, told me without shame that for him the Basque country does not exist here. How is it possible to live side by side and not to see ourselves?

Perhaps because we have directed our campaigns to fascinate the Castilian speakers we silence our pains and we always want to be kind. Those who do not know what it is to live in a minority language, however, will hardly understand our feelings and needs. It is curious that at a time when feminism, LGTBI, the Black Lives Matter and other oppression are becoming visible and entering society, we Basques are aware of how mute we are.

There is no one here who opposes the Basque language, because the Basque language is the old language and I do not know where. We do campaigns and fill the streets when Korrika comes, but the Basque does not have any use in our reality. There is no linguistic approach to the administration throughout the region. Although we teach young people verbal and grammar tables at school, we do not give them the tools to learn about territory, culture and community.

I know that Euskaraldia serves to strengthen the Basque people and I am delighted about that. But I am tired of claiming Euskera, even though I know that we cannot live entirely in Euskera, I would only like them to be accepted as we are.