The punk movement of the 1980s in the Basque Country has a lot of prestige. However, the mystification of these times has covered other passages of punk history. In this sense, the preamble makes clear what one of the objectives of the book is: “Without pretensions, we believe that we have to value our time, or at least dare to do so. It is enough to mystify the times.”

This is a book of the present. On these pages there's another generation, the current one. I wanted to draw people's attention, rather than what was done forty years ago. Perhaps the ones that appear in the book can also be references for some young people, why not. The punk groups that we so admired were also young people, some golfers, like us, with their illusions and others -- they never imagined what influence and what impact they were going to have. Maybe like those in this book. Who knows?

In your previous book, Mierda de Bizkaia and her Maqueteros punks groups (La caca de Bizkaia and its punk maqueteros groups) [DDT Banaketak, Ediciones Sin Gluten, 2017], you aimed to recover groups that, although they were part of the punk movement of the 1980s, were hidden. Can you say that one of your main motivations is to document the untold history of punk?

It's motivation, it makes me passionate about doing something. I lived my own musical explosion with the punk of the 1980s, that passion. However, we started to comment among friends that we did not know many groups, that we know the same that Euskal Herria knows a passionate punk from Cadiz. And that can't be. At that time, the punk explosion was such -- there had to be a lot more groups. I did research to find them. Very few people have written about it, and I found the information in the fanzines. The fanzines were the best or the best reflection of that time. When Mierda de Bizkaia ended, I started making this last book.

Do the two books go hand in hand?

You know, the timing of the layout is very long. I passed the material on to a friend, but the work of carabining would last for many months, and I couldn't do anything anymore. I was invaded by the need to do something. The Black Star was in danger of fading and I said to a number of colleagues: “Listen, we have to tell the story we have lived here.” Because I'm really sad to see how, by emptying a space, space and its history suddenly disappear. In a few weeks, after you do your manias, you forget everything. And I get rage. How many things were done in Kukutza? We don't know, right? I mean, we were there many times, but how do you explain to someone what was being done in Kukutza? I didn't want a space like the Black Star to stay there, in nowhere. Hence the book.

What prompted him to start the project?

That the people on these pages are authentic, authentic. What I lived in the Black Stars, the people that I found there, to me, were very authentic, they were real punkis. They occupied her outside, lived with that philosophy, and I believe in that way of leading her life. I mean, if I looked like plastic, I wouldn't have written it that way. I breathed all that; I have lived among the four walls of the Black Star, I have had fights, I have enjoyed, I have drunk myself, I have seen how people were, how concerts were, how groups were received from outside, I have participated in the anniversary that was made every year, I have seen the environment that was created, and I thought “it’s amazing!” This had to be somewhere. I made this book to pay tribute to them.

The title may suggest that it gathers the history of the Black Star’s test venues, but it’s actually the whole story of the Athenaeum. Why did you decide to tell?

For two reasons. On the one hand, because I thought I was a nice conductor to tell the story of space. In fact, several groups left these premises (41 in the time that the space lasted), most of them in the punk line, and that's why I thought it was a thread that was going to bring a lot of people together. On the other hand, because I was not a member of the assembly, and that's why I have another point of view; I was in some assemblies, but I wasn't in the assembly. Of the eleven years of Black Stars, I've spent seven at the rehearsal venues, and from there I've told the story.

In this sense, I have had an internal dispute: “Who am I to do this?” In the end, I asked the people who were part of the Black Star what the book seemed to do from the local trials. They thought it was OK, and I got to work.

These pages present the course of the years 2006-2017, which reflects the changes that have taken place in the Black Stars, both in the musical and political fields. What progress has been made?

I've divided the book into five or six chapters, through which you see the evolution of music and, in parallel, of the assembly. In fact, new people were coming in and those new people were also influencing music. At first the members were very young, they entered space at about twenty years old, and what was heard in those years was what is usually called a “Iberian punk,” which is what they played. As the older people approached them, the rhythm of the first topa-amd-tupa and the shit was replacing the former. And all of a sudden, we all played the garrotte. Then came some with the d-beat, and in the last few years more modern groups appeared, after bringing together new people from the fine arts in the assembly; keyboards, synthesizers -- introduced new air. Rock n roll has always been there. But that punk atmosphere has always been the backdrop.

At the beginning of all the chapters, a very brief account is taken of the situation of the assembly or the meeting at that particular time. Politically, when they entered space, they knew that they had to be an anarchist athenaeum. The political line was therefore very marked from the outset. Here most gaztetxes are nationalist, and well, as needed, they built the first anarchist Athenaeum in Bilbao. Since then, the assembly made a lot of self-criticism. In recent years, for example, it was decided to make it a drug-free space. They kicked the bar. “And now, how will we manage or self-manage our collective if there is no alcohol?” I remember the anger at the beginning, although over time some of us understood that this decision was a step forward, even if it fascinated us. Veganism has been another of the things that weighed on the Black Stars, where animal liberation collectives, the Anti-Specist Action of Bilbao (AIE) and others met. [This fact may be curious if one takes into account that the space before being a libertarian athenaeum, the meat of Meats Lecanda S.L. It was a big freezer."

The book talks about punk, and at the same time, it has a punk character. Hazizu is a work of philosophy, based on self-management and collaboration. What has the process been like?

The book started from the punk world, and it's followed that line to the end. I knew something about all these groups. A lot of some, less of others, I’ve been in some groups… More or less, but I’ve had to do with everyone, I’ve seen them all live, and when I went to them to explain what I wanted to do and ask them how they saw it, all people showed up willing to participate. The response of the people has facilitated the process from the very beginning. Then I interviewed the people who have gone through the Black Star Assembly to give me their point of view. Once the interviews began, Iñigo has been by my side to shape the work [points out to one of the two hooks that appear on the cover of the book], and with the corrections I have also been shocked by some friends. Cristina Irisarri made the layout. Once this work was done, we took the work to the printing press Tortuga self-managed by some friends to print.

It was clear that the book would be taken out by the DDT, but we were very tight. Still, we wanted it to be a mime book, to have a good cover and layout. We went to some groups to ask for help. As the book is also a way to promote occupation, we have been provided with financial assistance by Komantxe Konpartsak [The Okupa Movement Comparison of Bilbao] and Anna Campbell Gune Askeak; that space was also occupied by the people of Izar Beltz... those people who remain the same. The AfterPost group has also helped us financially, as well as Bilbo Vegan Edge. And among the collaborators is Ediciones Sin Gluten, my seal. Because I have also put the money, otherwise we were not there. It is not that I have no money in my pocket, but that I have put the money myself into publishing it. But I had to take out the book to say, “Look, this is for you.”

So, it also has a lot of gift.

Yes, absolutely. What's more, I didn't want money in return; it seemed to me that collecting for this job was having a thick crust. It's true that you spend a lot of hours, but then you see how well you're staying, and that's really motivating. In addition, if you do something because it comes from within, with that enthusiasm, without giving importance to the money… I think that positively influences the outcome. I was almost five years to do Mierda de Bizkaia, but time doesn't matter, what matters to me is that the work is done well, see in a few years and say: “That’s good!” This is my contribution, a tribute to the people of the Black Star.

The words of offering open the book and with them you would like to have remnants of hope “in those unstoppable and disobedient spirits that have never ceased to bother”.

Yes. And if the book is read by people who haven't known this space, I want to send you the following message: “You also do another Black Star, which we need.” It's important to kick a door and see what comes out next. The beginning of the Black Stars was an innocent kick among three friends, and all of a sudden, boom!, a life of eleven years.

Protect what protects you. Self-management has been the engine of the process, and at the same time you intend to direct the book's benefits to self-managed projects, right?

The money raised will be for DDT to get more books out. In addition, the benefits will go to brown occupations.

This book has come out at the right time: at a time when the media are campaigning against the occupation, at a time when gaztetxes are in danger; I find it terrible, taking advantage of the fact that we are all at home from a given hour, how they can evict any space à la carte. If it's a book, somehow, a way to get there: “I cheer people, hit one more corner, create another space.” The occupation only increases, there is nothing left. Okupas will never clear anyone, that's unlikely. Those who say okupas are bad are the ones who evict people: PNV, Police, banks, macro-initiatives in the city…

Eviction closes the story of the book, but you say the story isn't over there.

It's true that eviction caused a lot of pain, that grief was very big, and a lot of people left or got into other things. Anyway, I see the people of the Black Star out there. The seed of the Black Star has moved on, it has not disappeared.

In the fabric of the current popular movement is the influence of the Black Stars.

Yes, and I also see that a lot of people politicized there. That is reflected in the projects that have come from behind. The Housing Group of the Casco Viejo AZET or the Workers Self-Defense Network seems to me to be one of the most powerful groups created in recent times, and there too I see Izar Beltz in part.

Izar Beltz is a job he started writing before his emptying. What had the eviction entailed?

The eviction showed the support of Izar Beltz, messages that came not only from Euskal Herria, but also from the Spanish State and Europe and were very strong. Many groups in Bilbao took their arms and protested, which was a good result of the work and relations that have been going on for years. The Black Star had a lot of strength. On the other hand, the material of the groups that we were rehearsing there was captive at the site – like all the attentional material – and we were rehearsing and giving concerts with the instruments that our friends left us for a while.

And on a personal level?

Personally, I was furious. With eviction you realize the importance of the occupation, the value of the culture generated around this type of projects. To me – and probably to the majority – the conversations that have been held there, the speeches that have been heard, have given me a certain click; they have given us another point of view, which has allowed us to be perhaps more critical of what surrounds us and ourselves. Personally, I am very grateful that I have opened up much more. I am very grateful for the relationship he has given us, because we have learned a lot from each other. How can I not give you this book if it's been terrible for me!

Fernandez has also soundtrack this book as it contains a record that includes a song from all groups. It can help the reader to set up playlists. Can also be heard in [https://izarbeltzliburua.bandcamp.com]