The portal Aiaraldea.com is the most powerful tool of the association, and one of the first steps of the association was its creation. Subsequently, radio was launched on the Internet, and in October the journal, the fortnightly one, has been launched. It is a project that goes beyond the media but has the Communication Window Aiaraldea. They work with communication in its broadest sense, in a network of about 50 volunteers. Aiaraldea is one of the Alavese gangs that groups together the following municipalities: Amurrio, Artziniega, Ayala, Llodio and Okondo.

The idea was born four years ago. As explained by Irati Mendiguren, a member of the association, the initial idea was to create a website: “We wanted to give a place to the activities of the associations and the current situation of the region.” They looked for people for the project. The "masons" to create the web, the citizens who were willing to write news, the fans of photography, the amateur videos... With the excuse of the web, various motivations arose for young people to immerse themselves in the normalization of the Basque country. Radio was born later, and there young people's crews and music loving citizenship saw how to participate in it. Today, about twenty people work on the radio performing the program.

Multimedia workshops are organised every autumn for the training of members of the association and open to the public. In addition, the association has also organized cultural shows, multimedia rallys are held with schools… To carry out these initiatives they have a wide social network. “Everyone works from what they know, dedicating their time. There is, in my opinion, the charm of the association and the reason why it advances.”

The project has been growing and two years ago, in addition to the work of the volunteers, they began to create jobs for the most dedicated jobs they needed. The Association currently has four workers. One of them is responsible for the coordination and funding of volunteers. In the writing there are two employees, one in charge of the website and the other of the magazine. A fourth person takes care of the technical and commercial area.

Skip to paper

The first issue of the fortnight Aiaraldea was released last October. It's free. “At the moment, no free newspapers are distributed in Spanish. It’s a field that has been amazing to welcome the Basque.” In the words of Irati Mendiguren, the reception by the citizens has been good. Distribute bakeries, kiosks, schools, bars, euskaltegis, bus stops... “Some businesses have also asked for more specimens to be left.” At the moment, 10,000 copies are distributed, and it is being checked in the first numbers if the cast is the right one for the occasion.

More quickly, with aiaraldea.com, the partnership reached mostly young people. With the paper jump, they reach an audience of another age. In addition, according to Mendiguren, they have come to a portal in Basque with people who would never arrive on their own: “We’ve aroused the curiosity of people who perhaps so far did not attach special importance to Euskera, and it’s only for that reason that it is worth it.” Mendiguren receives the magazine at home and imagines citizens asking their children: What do you put here? I know that person, but I don't know what he says. “With the account of the journal, I believe that some limits between languages will gradually be broken.”

Appealing Basque

The members of the association are also working on the compilation of the historical memory of the region. This year, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Laudio floods in 1983, they have prepared a documentary. On the day of function people asked, "What is it, just in Basque? Gradually, the association wants to improve quality and produce more products: “We want to show people that you can do attractive things in Basque, that living in Basque can be, in short, attractive.”

In Aiaraldea, one in three citizens is able to speak in Basque, and its use is quite low. The objective of the association is to influence this use with attractive activities and products. The association works in Basque naturally: “As we talked about in Euskera before, it’s easier for that relationship to remain in Euskera.”

Popular journalism

In Aiaraldea there have so far been no regional means: “There are two radios that do not satisfy us: Radio Llodio and Radio Ayala”. According to Mendiguren, both media mainly work on institutional information. “We’ve called popular journalism to our project,” he says. “We are not professional journalists and we still have much to improve in quality, but in communication we have another fundamental thing: closeness to citizenship.”

Now, the challenge, of course, is the fortnightly one. “Have many of us been told, the free magazine, at this time, about the crisis?” It has subsidies from the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Álava. They have recently reached agreements with the municipalities of the region. They also have partners and, with the creation of the journal, have begun to offer advertising. In the words of Irati Mendiguren, if there is desire and involvement, the project advances: “We believe a lot in this and that’s what makes it work.”