The Calandreta and Seaska federations are the indicators of two minority languages in the French State. Teaching is their area. The first one is developed in bearnés, a variant of occitan. Bearnesa is the voice of the gas heels, also called the gas heels. It is the fourth language of the Basque Country, although this data is unknown. In the past, the gas field has spoken in several localities bordering Ipar Euskal Herria, but today it is in danger of extinction. Gascones and vascones appear as siblings in the history. However, the 1963 song Gazteria berria by Mixel Labéguerie says “Kaskoin or maketo ez ez dugu etsaia”. In other words, they have also been hostile to each other. Nowadays, Euskera and the gas station could occupy a single center in the Bokale Labortana town.

Historic and new project

A historic project is being carried out in this town, together with the capital of Baiona. Bokale has about 8,000 inhabitants. In Ipar Euskal Herria there are ikastola in all the towns of over 5,000 inhabitants. The project was born three years ago. “There we don’t have ikastola, but from Bokale-Nos about 30 students (from 15 families) come every day to the ikastolas of Angelu, Baiona or Biarritz,” KA President Paxkseasal Indo told us. Although they live quite far away, several families on the other side of the Aturri River take their children to the ikastolas. Thus, the Seaska office, driven by the desire of several local families, has seen the need to organize the ikastola: “There are those who say that Bokale is not Basque, it is gas. I value it, but I don't understand territory as history. Just as for me, the territory has passed, so has the future. We decided how to make the future,” added Paxkal Indo.

In any case, it is not the first ikastola built between the bearneses. Twenty years ago there were ikastolas of SEASKA in the city of Pau and in the village of Oloroe-Donamaria. The relationship between the Basques and the bearneses has also existed in the pasado.El President of Calandreta of the Department of Atlantic Pyrenees, Midou Curmer, told us about this project: “First, building a school can help to work a joint vision and reflection on the world. There is no enmity between the Basques and the bearneses, there is no mutual invisibility that has sometimes been wanted to share. What is more, it is not a question of seeing what each of us does, whether it be Basque or Bearnese, but of seeing what the other does. Surely this initiative will attract people’s attention.”

Bokale is a municipality in the Basque Country, but it does not limit Bearne, but borders with the department of Landas, within walking distance of Bearnau. In the Landes there is no school in Calandreta. The nearest calandreta is in Orthez: “Being away can bring difficulties, but it’s not an obstacle. In Bokale there is a strong feeling for the gas culture,” says Midou Curmer.

The ACI Gasconha is the league or association that works in favour of the Gascon culture. This is written on your website: “Ligam gascon Baish Ador Baiona Anglet Biàrritz Bocau”. (Bayonne–Anglés-Biarritz-Bokale-Aturri Gas Association).

According to the president of Calandreta, the ACI Gasconha Association is in favour of setting up the Calandreta/Seaska school: “It’s a Bocana Gascona, but the population is mostly Euskaldun. This requires the construction of two schools, and if we build together, so much better. There's a lot of it. The mayor and the People’s Assembly agree with the project, the local neighbors have realized that they feel, above all, Euskaldunes”.

SEASKA wants to help channel the will of many Bokale neighbours and has therefore decided to work the educational project with the Federation Calandreta. The schools in Calandreta are distributed throughout the Atlantic Pyrenees, as well as throughout Occitania. They have long collaborated with them. It is 20 years since the Calandreta and Seaska federations set up a joint training centre. They are not the only relations he has with other French schools: They also share needs with La Bressola of Catalonia, Diwan of Brittany, Alsace, Abcm-zweisprachigkeit. All these federations know, among other things, the nature of their employment contracts with the State.

Dynamics of parents

Mailiz Hiriart is the father and mother of SEASKA. Originating in Ortzaitz, Baja Navarra: “For work reasons we come to the coast. Then we went to live in Bokale, because in Baiona the housing situation was complicated. The truth is, we went into grief, but we really had a very nice surprise, we felt solidarity. We have learned to love the people, it is popular, there are diverse, simple collectives. We live in a neighborhood, it's working people."

As Hiriarte told us, the Basque is slowly heard in Bokale. It's also the gas, but less so than the Basque. A lot of people feel like Gascona or Occitana, but the language is not heard: “The people of Tokyo do not have the Basque as something strange, there are many Basques in Bolak. Especially in the church environment. One of our objectives is to awaken the pride of the old, to make visible the oppression that both cultures have suffered. We want to culturally unite past and present generations.”

In 2017 they want to start the school between Seaska and Calandreta, first opening the Ama school from 2 to 4 years: “We need it and it’s workable,” the two SEASKA participants told us. The association between the two federations that teach is constituted and have begun to reflect on the project. So far, numerous meetings and public events have been held in the Biscay capital. The project has been presented on the occasion of the annual Festival of Peoples and Cultures in Bokale, which this year marks its fifth edition, on 5 October. Next December, Occitan music group Nadau and singer Benito Lertxundi will be in charge of gathering at a special concert in Bokale.

SEASKA currently manages the structure of 3,600 students. It is already working with the Ministry of Growth and public administrations on this matter. According to the interlocutors, “to build the school you need the dynamics of the parents, you cannot think about doing anything without the desire of the parents. Six families are working, but it is not precisely those families that bring their children to school, it can be these or others.” At the moment, the SEASKA office aims to help these families who want to build the new college in Bokale. On the part of Calandreta there is one family interested and they expect others to join. According to Paxkal Indo, “parents and citizens must be released, some will approach and others will not, these energies cannot be channeled to the limit, they must be released”.

In any case, for many people, without the struggle of the Basques today’s project would not be in diligence, nor, for example, that the urban and road signs of Baiona are written in three languages – French, Euskera and Gascon – “I totally agree with that view. In some cases, some have used the gas tank to attack us. Likewise, some bulbs have reproached us that ‘the Basques have everything and we have nothing’. We ‘are not true. We fight with us, we go together’ we tell them. Many of them say ‘We are not Basque, we are gascones’. Well, be gascon, as we are Basques.”

Basically, the two languages have the same problems, the legal attacks that the languages receive are the same, due to the lack of protection of the law. Both languages aim to standardize their educational projects. Midou Curmer finally told us: “The project has a real fund. People must be told that this project is a school to educate children, that it can be taught in minority languages.”