Who was going to tell some of those families that they came to work in the 1960s from the Spanish state to Vitoria-Gasteiz that they should live in such precarious conditions? They lived in houses that had little basic services, close to their workplaces, but so far away from the center of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Also then the dogs were barefoot in the Basque Country and in the Vitorian district of Un Mundo Better, that is, Errekaleor, its inhabitants gave it, enriched and improved in auzolan. Who would tell those working-class families in Extremadura and Castile who spoke in Spanish that in their neighborhood mass expropriations would take place in the name of speculation and that then young people who spoke in Euskera would occupy Errekaleor to put a better world into practice?

Some thirty people have met in Errekaleor’s gaztetxe to discuss anti-specialism. The debate is in Basque and along with those who do not know Basque, some neighbours have sat to translate it into Spanish. This is the Free District of Errekaleor, the inspiration center of the Basque Country of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Respiratory space not generated by family transmission

Manex Agirre warned in the article Errekaleor: linguistic impact written in May 2017 in the Official Bulletin of Álava on the linguistic impact that the destruction of the Errekaleor respiratory zone would have and gave a (potolo) more reason to support this oasis in which the alternative life model is possible. According to his own words, Errekaleor is a respiratory zone different from that of the municipalities of UEMA, and that meet the conditions to be in it. In fact, it is a newly created respiratory space that emerges from an explicit decision and not from family transmission. Errekaleor and his Euskaldunes, in the words of Agirre, have demonstrated that the Basque Country can live in an open and self-managed social environment, without the need for institutions and based on a personal option of the speakers.

Indeed, Errekaleor is a breathing center, as most of those who live there have the ability to speak in Basque and speak many times in Basque. However, just as UEMA classifies the respiratory areas at different levels, Errekaleor is also a special respiratory zone, with its strengths, similarities and nuances.

Most come from Euskaldunes contexts

We will start with the strengths of the neighborhood: the Euskaldun neighborhood is undoubtedly and most of those who make up the Free Neighborhood of Errekaleor are young people who come from (very) Euskaldunes contexts. These are young Euskaldunes who have gone to study in Vitoria-Gasteiz and stayed in the neighborhood at the end of their studies. For them speaking in Basque is a practice that is born naturally, because it is customary and because they speak more comfortably. This ensures that the use of Euskera is high, ensuring that a Madrilenian and a Chilean who does not know Euskera study the language there. But above that, this majority group of Euskaldunes in Errekaleor allows the importance of the Basque Country, since they have decided that the Basque language is the main language in what the neighbors call ‘formal framework’, that is, that the Basque language is the “official language” of Errekaleor (assemblies, debates, etc.). ).

However, as in other respiratory areas of the Basque Country, there are some spaces in which the Basque Country wins. First, the neighborhood and the visitor will realize that there are many informal conversations in Spanish, as there are not few that do better in Spanish than in Euskera, especially those that come from less Euskaldunes contexts, especially from Vitoria-Gasteiz. Due to the attractiveness of the project, many non-Euskaldunes have arrived in the neighborhood, so many of the Euskaldunes of origin are passing to Spanish. Therefore, just as the Basque language is the main language in the formal sphere, from there the Spanish becomes more important. It is common, for example, for some of the meetings of the small working groups to be in Spanish, until some say “e, the whole meeting we have done it in Spanish!”

The Errekaleortarras are immersed in several working groups, such as ‘Ongi Etorri’ or ‘Izan baratzea’, and the neighbors who have taken time to work for the Basque are not many and have had to bear the full burden. The activists in favour of the Basque country are respected and the neighbours speak in Basque with them to the extent that their linguistic competence allows it, but when the Basque people are not in the dialogue, the changing logic of the linguistic option is again translated. The same applies to Euskaldunes who do not perform well in Spanish or who have a second French language. When they walk around, the use of Euskera increases considerably, the Errekaleortarras try to speak with them in Basque.

However, Errekaleor is Euskaldun: they have organized Basque classes so that those who do not know can learn, last summer they have organized the ‘Asketegia’ so that they can speak in Euskera, the Basque language is the main language in the neighborhood and the voice of Errekaleor is the one that was built from the Basque language.

What happens, however, so that there is no more Basque speaking in Errekaleor? To begin with, and to underline this is important, the future of the neighborhood is wobbling, and that's the priority of a long time ago. There is no environment to organize deep debates around the Basque country and make adaptations in the ideology and linguistic practices of the neighborhood. To the extent that several ‘fronts’ are open, the Basque is sometimes left out, and for example, when a new neighbor enters, this is not always Basque.

Act in the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca in Euskera

On September 14, the meeting of the Ensanche 21, in charge of the urbanization of Vitoria-Gasteiz, was held and the Errekaleor Bizirik movement organized an open assembly to strengthen the support of the neighborhood in the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca de Vitoria-Gasteiz. This meeting provided an impeccable picture of the linguistic situation of the Errekaleor neighborhood: an event mostly in Basque, for those who do not know the simultaneous translation in Basque and for those who were in the assembly, in Basque and Spanish, depending on the characteristics of the people and groups.

The next few weeks will be fundamental for the survival of Errekaleor, as the City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz has launched the process of dismantling the neighborhood, ordering BIM Survey to open the procedure. The Free District of Errekaleor has been canceled by those who are not comfortable with the project, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of this revolutionary project that has led to the occupation. Food sovereignty, the transition to clean energy, feminism, etc. are at stake. Euskera is also played a lot, as the main core (or one of the main) of the Basque Country of Vitoria-Gasteiz can be strengthened every day Errekaleor remains alive. Nothing to say for every passing year.