We celebrated the 25th anniversary of Euskalerria Irratia by filling up to the neck the elegant house of culture of Villava. The act in which the word, music and announcements were interspersed by the radio also served to reclaim a license which the Government has repeatedly denied it.

By chance, before I left for Villava I was checking the papers of yesteryear, collecting the stories of the oldest house in Pamplona in which I have work. I am referring to the seat of the Chamber of Comptes on Antsoleaga Street, a silent witness throughout the history of various cultural initiatives, some of them linked to the Basque country.

Campion, Iturralde and Suit, Altadill and other 19th-century Navarros intellectuals created the Commission of Monuments with the objective of protecting churches, monasteries, palaces and houses of great value in the territory. As it is known, at that time it was believed that the Basque who was being lost in the center of Navarre was the most valuable treasure, this group and in the same house set up in 1877 the College of Euskera to promote and strengthen the language.

However, very few people know that there the Provincial Council of Navarra created the first post-war public Euskaltegi, when and in 1949, in the darkest era of Franco. The rest of the members agreed with the proposal of José Ángel Zubiaurre, “taking into account what is and has meant in Navarra the Basque Language, within the most fervent Spanish conception..”. Governor Valero Bermejo became angry at the fact that the Basque language academy was to be set up in Pamplona, and he began to threaten the Member. Zubiaur did not shrink. Against threats, he hired Francisco Tirapu as a professor for the Basque classes of the Chamber of Comptes to begin in January 1950. Thirty years later, this Member was one of the founders of UPN. Does any regionalist today know the story?

All this led me to the celebration of Euskalerria Irratia. As I enjoyed the music of Kerobia, Berri Txarrak and Ordorika, I couldn’t take from my head what the late José María Satrustegi often said: The Navarros deputies of the time of Franco were more Basque than the present. In my opinion, Euskalerria Irratia summarises very well the mistreatment he has suffered over the past twenty-five years, the shy and shameful conduct that also leaves these Members in good shape.