We have lived in the Basque oasis in recent years. Comparing with the territories of the Spanish State (always seen from the south), we lived here in paradise. The authorities of the Basque territories managed the institutions from the most advanced governance models, we had the widest self-government that was unparalleled in the world, the local economy was healthy and competitive, we had state-of-the-art services (health services were crown jewels), we had sustainable development based on respect for nature... But the Basque oasis, which was a paradise, suddenly began to fall down the slopes of Zaldibar, in the form of tons, between the rubble (the disappearance of two workers who have not yet appeared).

The Basque oasis, of petrified cardboard and of weak suture, started to scratch at Zaldibar (the truth is that it was already torn apart) and the coronavirus crisis has completely undressed it, as these seams have suddenly broken and the decor has begun to fall. Thus, we have seen that one afternoon and with a simple decree the State completely limited our self-government without parangling (in Iparralde they have not needed it either). When in the twenty-first century the borders between the states were fading, they have reminded us militarily through the iron verges located on the border on which side we are “French” the Basques and to which part we are “Spanish”. When the time has come to respond to the needs of the crisis, the serious weaknesses of the leading public services have become apparent. Or we have been able to see where the concerns and needs of institutional decision-makers really are when they have allocated hundreds of millions to the construction of the TAV, while bodybuilders or social services have been given small amounts of money.

Well, this shock has also highlighted the vulnerability of the oasis of Euskera. Thus, we have realized that the relationship with the Basque country of thousands of students only occurs in the regulated hours of the educational centers, and that the life boat leaves and is immersed in the sea erda; and once again, from the popular initiative, this situation has had to be addressed through the surveillance networks. In order to bring Euskera closer to the Castilian "Opardizing", EITB emerged for the normalization of Euskera, which resulted in the incorporation of sections in Spanish, more than ever we have been shown that it is really a tool to integrate Basque citizenship in Spanish culture through television and radio in Spanish. They have also condemned ETB 1 to become a subaltern chain and have turned Castilian into a window to go further into the houses of the Basques, issuing statements of emergency live in the chain in Euskera.

It is not a new phenomenon, far from it, but in recent weeks the lack of respect on the part of the Basque centre for institutional and political decision-makers has become more evident than ever. Uttering whole interventions in Spanish, some at most “hello” and “goodbye” at the beginning and at the end “giving away”, others in Basque, showing the attitude of those who favor us Euskaldunes for putting a few phrases in Basque. At a time when the Basque people are demanding more, more and more Basque, the institutions respond “a little is a lot”. The “new normality” brings us the old violations of linguistic rights.

We could complete a long list of examples by following the thread. With these initiatives, all the prestige that has been given to the Basque Country in recent decades is being thrown out of the window. The need for an erda to explain the important issues is being conveyed, limiting the Basque to being complementary. Then don’t ask why Euskaldunes don’t use Euskera if knowledge has increased. And much less they take responsibility for it.

EHE has long advocated the need to make a qualitative and quantitative leap in the normalization process of the Basque Country. This leap will come from giving the Basque country its rightful place in the reconstruction in which all the agents are present; it will only come from the fact that the Basque country is at the center of the plans of these agents and in the daily linguistic practices. So that the Basque country is not a decorated cardboard stone that approaches completely in the next shake, trusting that we live in the fascination of the oasis of the Basque country.