“Living in Basque is to beat a wall at all times”
- Beñat Jusue (Tutera, 1998) is a member of the new generation who wants to join the Basque struggle. A few weeks ago the Euskara Aurrera was celebrated in Donostia! is also part of the Network of Euskaltzales Youth, which was one of the conveners of the demonstration. He speaks with satisfaction of this mobilization, in the belief that he “mixed the corners” and “extended the perspective of understanding the struggle for the Basque”. With this broader perspective, several projects have been launched in Tudela in recent years, considering Euskera as a tool to influence different areas.
In recent times, the tools for Euskera have multiplied in Tudela and Ribera.
We have tools, but we have enormous oppression. And we are not only legally suppressed, but also culturally: there is a very aggressive attitude towards Euskera that has emerged year after year. Faced with this, we can: & '97; The appearance and Errigora are a great tool, Hordago! the popular initiative and the work of the Basque industry in the Ribera. But the most effective tool for Euskaldunizar Tudela is the Euskaltzales of Tudela. And they're doing it, each from their field.
All these instruments show an attempt to move from the vindictive to the practical.
Yes. We want to create an Basque society, but born of Euskera. Union Tutera, Ageraldia, Hordago!, the youth movement... have a common element: they put Euskera in the center and create it around it, whether in the field of sport, food sovereignty, the dynamics of overcoming zoning or the struggle to politicize young people and overcome precariousness. But always understanding that the Basque country is there a fundamental tool and that it must be done from the Basque country.
And is there a conscious tendency not to link Basque with nationalism?
The nationalists in Tudela are not like the other Basque nationalists. And I don't want to homogenize them, but I think there's a very conscious choice to flee the flags and do that underlying job. I do not think it is a counter-nationalist practice, but it is a new nationalism that wants to flee the hegemonic image of nationalism. And I think it is the only way that exists at the moment to seek a solution to the Basque people. Maybe it moves away from identity, but it approaches transformative. We don't work in Euskera because it's Basque. It makes sense that goes further.
What is it today that a young man is Euskaltzale?
.jpg)
We are trying to define the figure of the young Euskaltzale. We believe that it has been lost and that it must be recovered or reformulated or created. It requires a character that is articulated around common values. And what's polluted, what's not a treasure trove of network members.
How are the new generations attracted to the struggle for Euskera?
For a majority to make the leap, the choice has to be easier than it is now, and the institutions must allow it. It also takes a level of politicisation for people to understand why we need Euskera. In my case, Euskera is not because I love it – and I want it – but because I see it as a tool for building a new society. And you have to change the entire linguistic ecosystem: consume in Basque, have contradictions in Basque, festive ambit, militancy and studies in Basque, enjoy in Basque...
Is there the leap from being a Basque to speaking Basque?
It is, in part, a personal matter, but for us the issue must be primarily collective. The decision that every young Euskaltzale wants to live in Euskera individually and jump to use is a path that is interrupted. Nowadays it is not possible to live in Euskera, especially where the correlation of forces plays against, that is, in most places in the Basque Country.
What is it for you to live in Basque?
Something impossible, you can do a few. From my perspective, something is exhausting, because I have always lived in Spanish, and I have used Euskera in very specific areas, militancy or studies. Very little on the street. It's expensive because we don't have the tools to live in Basque. But not just because we don't have the street language, but because we don't have rights either. Living in Basque is acting against a wall at all times. We want, but we cannot. It's a utopia.
Is the Basque industry in crisis?
The struggle for Euskera has been exhausted in some areas. Above all, because there has been disengagement in favor of the Basque country. He is not solely responsible for this, but he is one of those responsible. Hence our concern: new methods are needed to enshrine a new generation in the struggle for Euskera. Something cooler and with the ability to attach. That does not mean that all the work done by the Basque industry has to be abandoned and started by zero. I think there are still some historical struggles with potential. But new formulas are needed to connect with young people. We look.
Does taking a witness mean replacing the previous one?
We do not intend to retire [laughing]. We have used the motto "We are willing to take the witness", but we do not want witnesses. It is not good that nobody has the witness as such. The AEK will witness the struggle for adult euskaldunization and the Council will witness the victory in comprehensive linguistic policies. There's no witness, and we don't need anyone to take it. Today, witnesses, or pioneers, reject. People have to defend the Basque people.
Tudelan Tudela
“I am a young man from Tudela who lives in Pamplona and returns to Tudela. The birth in Tudela supposes a new understanding of vascuence. I could have been born in Oiartzun and be Euskaltzale in the same way. But in my case, the birth and residence in Tudela, and the beginning of the militancy in Tudela, has shaped my vasquism. Especially because Tudela doesn't exist, it's Tudela that exists. We want to create a Tudela around the Basque Country, understood in other values and otherwise. And that's what it does."
In recent months I have had to work in a number of institutes and, at some point, I have had to talk to the students about the possibilities offered by the labour market. The typology of the students is varied and in the same city varies a lot from one neighborhood to another,... [+]
Euskaraldia comes back. Apparently, it will be in the spring of next year. They have already presented it and the truth is that it has surprised me; not Euskaraldia himself, but his motto: We'll do it by moving around.
The first time I have read or heard it, the title of the... [+]
I do not know if you also have the same perception – I recognise this: here I have started to write in a scientific way. I am referring to the natural extension of the word laziness. I hear more and more in the corners of Hego Euskal Herria: Basque, Spanish and, of course,... [+]
The Basque country has a very large water flow in the shortage. Every local drop curls and revives our culture. Offer a sea of water to that thirst. Although the Basque Country has come from a deep and dark well, we have all drawn our sample of salt water and turned it into a... [+]
