Elixabete Garmendia, playing radio shows when she was young, discovered that this was called journalism and that she wanted to be a means of life. After going to Pamplona and studying journalism, he has worked in various media in Euskal Herria: Zeruko Argian (currently Argia) and EITB. One summer morning we met in the living room of his house in Donostia and we approached until lunchtime, between infusions and cafes, surrounded by his favorite books and with a lot of humor. Among other things, we have talked about the references we have had, the opportunities it has created to write in Basque, the challenges it has posed to us and the Basque journalism.

In several interviews you said that you did little radio programs by reading newspapers. What were your referents?

There was no television in our house. My main game models were the Radio Nacional de España informations – parts, names of the time of the war – and the albums of Segura Irratia. But he also had other references: Radio Paris, Radio Pirenaica and Radio Euskadi, dedicated to Venezuelan exile, were heard in our house, at night, clandestinely, and that had its charm. The press followed the authors of La Voz de España and El Diario Vasco. I liked the articles by José de Arteche and Antonio Valverde, because they talked about issues here, Basque identity. In these newspapers, totally Spanish and foreign, you find a connection to be Basque. There were two women: Marichu Mayor Lizarbe, first female journalist, entitled at Gipuzkoa, and Cecilia G. de Guilarte. Later I learned of Guilarte’s trajectory: he was from the left, after the war he exiled himself to Mexico, he also cultivated literature… A very interesting woman. Playing, I realized that the radio shows that I was doing were journalism, well, what we then called journalism. I was very clear that at 6, 7, 8 years at most, I wanted to be a journalist. If I hadn't studied journalism, I wouldn't have felt strong enough to be a journalist.

You worked for many years in the Clear Sky. From 1977 onwards, bilingual media Deia and Egin were created and many collaborators of Zeruko Argia attended the meeting. On more than one occasion we have heard you say that it was very important for you to keep journalism in full in Basque. Why?

I do not know if we were still familiar with the concept of diglosia, but from the beginning it was clear that in those two newspapers —Deian and Egin—, despite being bilingual, Castilian prevailed and the Basque was a slave. Martin Ugalde invited me to come to Deia and I thanked him, but I refused. We saw that journalism in Euskera needed its own space if it was developed; ours was not a scientific analysis, but instinct told us and we checked it later. I have always written in Basque, in our house the original language was Basque, it was said “in Spanish or in joke”, but then it had to be done in Spanish, in school everything was in Spanish.

What roads have you opened to write in Basque and what obstacles have you found along the way?

I have never felt it a loss; on the contrary, I have lived it – and I have lived it – as an opportunity and a challenge to work and develop journalism in Basque. Yes, I suffered a diglosic situation in the Basque Country: both when I spoke in Basque — as in the Gertu programme — and when I worked in both languages, in the news. The sessions in Spanish always had priority and more resources. And now, as a spectator, I do the same assessment, unfortunately. I remember, for example, the attack on the Twin Towers. It was noon and a colleague told us: “Something terrible has happened in New York!” From there, EITB2 immediately put the team and the means to deal with this news, and then began to broadcast on it. At the time of ETB1 retransmission. In these cases, the diglosic situation is clearly observed and supported: who is important and which is completely secondary.

“I have never felt it as a loss; on the contrary, I have lived it – and I have lived it – as an opportunity and a challenge to work and develop journalism in Basque. Yes, I suffered a diglosic situation in the Basque Country: both when I spoke in Basque — as in the Gertu programme — and when I worked in both languages, in the news”

 

After in the 1970s her colleague Pilar Iparragirre wrote a report on female sexuality, Argia lost her partners. How did you live that?

Pilar Iparragirre produced a report on the ‘Hite’ report that had just been published at the time. Shere Hitek’s report on women’s sexuality was very popular at the time. We got a chaparron for that report, and we lost a lot of subscribers. But this trend, which had already come from before, continued later: the traditional subscribers, not to mention bullets, left Zeruko Argia for the progressive line the magazine took. This coincided with the creation of Deia and Egin, many of those traditional inconveniences that went to Deia. Sexuality itself was taboo, and more so if it related to Euskera. The Basque was pure, pure. Things about sexuality could not be expressed or published, let alone in Basque. This terrible repression of sexuality was related to the possible purity of Euskera. From the point of view of the traditional, the Basque and the Basque world should be celestial: apostolic Catholics, chinchos, submissive… and we, from heaven, only had a name. They protested mainly about sexuality issues, because sexual things in Basque could not be mentioned, because the language was getting dirty. I would bet that more than one of them would review pornographic magazines… in Spanish or in French, of course. What keeps our sweet, clean, holy Basque is to reduce it and completely impoverish it, does not allow it to develop it, does not allow it to reach everyone, condemns it to work with an absolutely obtuse tool, a tool that does not work.

“Pilar Iparragirre made a report on the ‘Hite’ report. Shere Hitek’s report on women’s sexuality was very popular at the time. We got a chaparron over that report and we lost a lot of subscribers.”

 

In the documentary “100 years of dating” the workers of Argia explained that the choice of free content offering has given them a great referentiality. The Pikara Magazine team also opted for this option. What do you think of the ways of offering content?

I think that the work that has been done must be paid for, but there are many ways to achieve it. Those of Argia today don't know where they have the machine to do miracles, but it works for them. I left Argia in the late 1980s, when we stopped paying the salary, because I needed my livelihood to be independent. The magazine, which is now 104 years old, is alive, it also offers free content and it does well. I know that young people have tied to the Light along that path, so they're inventing. As far as pika is concerned, it is a medium that I very much liked from the outset. For me, even though I haven't been much involved in feminist groups, it's fundamental that there are feminist groups and press in Euskal Herria. In addition, seen from journalism, I find it very attractive, it seems very good: made from journalistic parameters and militant at the same time

What did you take into account when selecting the people interviewed during the tour?

A long time ago, as a young man, I interviewed older people quite a bit; now, on the other hand, I have to interview younger people than I do. On one occasion, when we were doing the ETB-1 post-data program (2002-2009), it played a lot in Iparralde, far away. Also in the Zuzenean program I had the opportunity to choose the themes and choose the interviews. The main criterion for me has always been to strengthen the communication of the Basque world (the world that lives and works in Euskera), to bring people who had much to say and to foster dialogue with the people who would be at home. I preferred to go to people who normally don't have room in the media. At that time, the number of women was very small in public appearances, and when I worked on the Ados con Maddalen Iriarte program, we looked at the ratio a lot, we worked a lot for women to show up on the plate.

He was director of the Gertu Zuzenean program. What do you think is the key to the success of this program in Basque?

I worked in the Bertan magazine from 1995 to 2002, initially coordinated by Steppes an Aldamiz-Etxebarria and subsequently led. At that time we were Andoni Aizpuru, Joxe Mari Gabiria and I, the three of the Goierritarra band. The ETB leaders literally told us “do as much as you can,” and there was the secret, they left our hands free. The feedback we received was terrible; people called us by phone or sent us by fax the calls: we are going to make this party in our village, we have organized an exhibition, or there is a man who is much older than counting… I think that direct relationship was the secret of success, to give the word to the people. The programme was largely fed by viewers and spectators. In addition, at that time the conflict was hard in this people, and we decided to give joy to the Basque world, we tried to bring the Basque world together or find common themes. There was a great deal of suffering and we set ourselves in motion, on a positive note, emphasising the positive aspects.

Anthropology was studied after its removal. What led you to make this decision?

A few years ago, in the 1990s, I realized that if I hadn't been a journalist, I had to be an anthropologist. The books of Joseba Zulaika —especially his theses, Basque violence. Metaphor and Sacrament (1988) — I was led to think that. When I entered pre-retirement, I did a master's degree in anthropology at the Faculty of Anthropology at the UPV/EHU. Pure guzzling. The final work was as follows: Married women in factories: from strangers to people. Keys to the passage through Ormaiztegi workshops in the 1970s (September 2017). Until then, when they got married, they picked up the dowry from the factory and retired home, and the only ones who continued to work were single. The women of my age, my friends, were the first to continue working at the factory after getting married. This phenomenon also occurred in our generation at the state level. I was pleased that the protagonists of this fact are close and that they can be interviewed.

“When someone uses the possessive one, they place themselves above the other, in this case the elderly are placed in a lower position, as poor and sick”

 

In the Berria newspaper, in an interview with Mari Luz Esteban during the pandemic, you said that in the media they use “Our Elders” or “Our Grandparents”. What is behind these expressions?

That of “us” is being used tremendously in the ETB news. When they say “our grandparents and grandmothers,” I feel an electric shock, it makes me angry. That “our” is also used in the expression “our baserritars”, but “our workers” will never say it, they always use it when they talk about a supposedly outdated world. When someone uses the possessive, they are placed above the other, in this case the elderly are placed in a lower position, as poor and sick. I hope someone will do such an analysis in the Basque Country. Doesn't your ears hurt? To me, who I am terrible, and to my age, do not treat me that way in any way. It is necessary to listen and read what the anthropologist Mari Luz Esteban says or the writer Mariasun Landa, or what Arantxa Urretabizkaia says in Azken etxea (2022) to discover how today’s women can live old age. I am very glad to see them and feel them on this plane, and I think we are going to invent it. Older women are rehearsing, doing, another life, and that will seem normal to the next generations, fortunately.

And now it's still in journalism?

I collaborate with the opinion articles in the newspaper Berria and in the journal Goiberri and in the book recently published about the journalist Mariano Ferrer – Mariano Ferrer, reflexive journalism. I have worked in the coordination of journalism and engagement (Erein, 2023). Since I retired I have written two books on order: Carlos Garaikoetxea, a leader (Aleka, 2018) and, nanoGUNE, the charm of the small (2021), over the nanoscience research center. More local things also emerge, such as invigorating the round table just celebrated for the 40th anniversary of the Zerain Eskola Txikiak. I am still in the circuit of activities that take place in Basque and in the Basque world, at ease.