Ukrainian writer Irene Nemirovsky spent more than a summer in the Basque Country. He met Biarritz and San Juan de Luz and passed through the streets of Hendaia what would be his last holiday season, 80 years ago, in 1939. It is not surprising, therefore, that in his first novel, The Misunderstanding of 1923, published two years ago by Alberdania in Euskera, the people of Lapurdi appeared, nor that the protagonists of the book saw the passage to the other bank of the bay, to Hondarribia. The Alarde of September 8 was described in this book as follows: “Guns were heard, rifle shots; it was all dust, noise and music; groups of boys, with the cap in their ears, held by the waist, sang and shouted in the narrow streets. (...) approached the railing to see the procession pass, infinite: flags, old bursting guns, drunken men, with their rifles in the claws, giving hints. And finally, the priests, with their own blurred masses, before them an image of the Virgin, surrounded by lit candles; the people were kneeling as they passed through her and, in that silence, the shaky bells were heard even stronger and it seemed that the old black walls of the church were shaking.”

We do not know how this year’s Alarde would describe Nemirovsky, one of the thousands of victims of the machinery of Nazi death. Therefore, it cannot be imagined whether the author of the French Suite was as optimistic as what was seen last Sunday in the Gran Vía de Hondarribia: Jaizkibel has shown less tension than last year, which has also generated joy at parties between those who want equality between men and women. But after the euphoria of the day, it's time to start thinking about next year.

A year thinking about Calle Mayor

The question that will be left to many people who do not live in Hondarribia is why this matter is dragging on for so long. Whoever wants to know the threads of this knot has at his disposal a good bibliography, books and studies have been written on the most intimate pulsions mobilized by the Alarde; the topic has been analyzed from an anthropological, sociological or political point of view always present, among others. But, without ruling out these contributions, there is a very important factor for the duration of the conflict, which is often left out of the media focus: The protests against Jaizkibel are not spontaneous. In other words, it has not been a spontaneous behaviour of some men and women in the people when Alarde Day arrives. It's organized. That there are groups mobilized against the rights of the women of Hondarribia. And they affect the decisions of politicians.

For some, the Alarde is a game day, like an end. And as it is the end, with that strategy they have gone out into the field.

Since 24 hours before companies start the parade, several young people are settling on the sidewalks of the Gran Vía de Hondarribia. It's the trend of the last few years: putting yourself before anyone, making shifts between people who spend hours and hours, and being on the front line on the morning of September 8 to fight the Jaizkibel Parade, behind the plastic. This year, as soon as you get to the street, you've seen the change: instead of the plastic fence covering the two sidewalks, the people who were on the sidewalks wore black garbage bags. Less noise, more people in favor of Jaizkibel. And new developments in institutional representation: The president of the General Boards of Gipuzkoa, Xabier Ezeizabarrena (PNV), is located in the supports of the City Hall – the mayor of Hondarribia, Txomin Sagarzazu, also of the PNV; not in the porticos, nor in the place traditionally occupied by the local elects in front of the church.

After many years of looking like the movie The Day of the Marmote, starring Bill Murray, is this new climate a sign that things are starting to move? Or is the only thing that has changed this year’s approach to those in favour of the discriminatory parade? “It hasn’t been 20 years for them: this is done once a year, it’s been 20 days for them,” a member of the company Jaizkibel told me at the end of Alarde Day 2016. This year is 23 years since women tried to parade. Have it only been 23 days for those of forever?

It doesn't seem to be that much. There is nothing more than looking at the Facebook page of the Hondarribiko Emakumeak group, which organizes the protest of black plastics, to see that in a conflict that has become a war of wear, they have to make a great effort if they do not want to lose positions. Since January they are convening meetings: in nine months there have been five general meetings, at least one per month in the last three months; every weekend of February a table was set up in San Pedro Street to collect signatures in favor of the exclusionary Alarde and distribute information reports; a dinner was organized in relation to March 8 and a note was published against the collectives of the region, denouncing that in the Women's Day

And as if it were not enough, an emblematic figure of this group appeared on the front line in July, when the Alardearen Bat initiative was introduced. In favor of the ikastolas is something similar to the festivities that are organized throughout the Basque Country: spaces in different points of the village, animations of all kinds, a popular food... a plan that can be made with the family. With the difference that the money is raised by the Alarde Foundation, an entity that privatized the great holiday show of the town in order not to allow women to participate and that breaches the Basque law for the equality of women and men, so they had to register in Navarra. The third edition of the Alarde Bat was held on 28 July.

To know all these things, we have to read the press of the region, since from 8 September in the rest of the media it is not usual to report on the initiatives that are essential to maintain the Alarde conflict. And in the case of the local media, especially when they are published in Spanish, we are so often informed of everything that is organized throughout the year against the participation of women in the Alarde as of a sports club or a gastronomic society of Hondarribia.

Cracks on the black wall

Nemirovsky continues to describe the Alarde environment: “All Biarritz, all Donostia and all the population of the Spanish province, from Irún to Pamplona, were there. Some humor enthusiasts fought and insulted each other in an incomprehensible jargon that mixed words in Basque and Spanish. Beautiful girls walked with their head uncovered, with the handkerchief embroidered on their shoulder. (...) Some older women had their head covered with black mantelline.”

Almost a century later, among the people applauding the passage of Jaizkibel, in addition to the people's neighbors, there are also people coming from outside. It looks like a habit as old as that of the party. The tendency to wear colored scarves on the shoulder is also still in force, now it has become a symbol of women’s participation and this component is seen in the clothing of many of those who have joined in response to the call of the Feminist Movement of Euskal Herria.

The black mantelins that Nemirovsky was talking about have become plastic. But they're not eternal if you look at the last movements of the year. During the 2018 Alarde, many people reported aggression and insults, as well as journalists, which has led many citizens to a turning point. Also to put the Alarde Foundation to talk about a process of dialogue with many nuances, yes.

The “dialogue” has been one of the most heard words in relation to the Alarde throughout 2019. There is no agreement between who and what to talk about. The Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa intervened last year a mediator for the case, but in June of this year it was known that work is no longer being done on it, because it did not gain the “confidence” of the members of the Alarde Foundation. Apart from this initiative, the association in favour of the discriminatory Alarde bet in February on a model of its own dialogue, with no other objective than to “reduce the tension” experienced last year. He proposed that the people's agents sit alone and that the mayor of Hondarribia be the moderator. In April, Sagarzazu gave his "yes" to this approach. The Jaizkibel company also accepted the invitation to speak, with two conditions: that the mediator be someone recognised by both sides, that is, a neutral figure – Mayor Sagarzazu participates in the exclusionary Alarde and Jaizkibel publicly defends that he should change the timetable – and that the aim of the talks is to achieve a “consensual solution”. In August, Jenny Pierce, a mediator appointed by the Hondarribia City Hall for dialogue, suspended the meeting to be held between the parties, claiming that more time was needed for the meeting to be calm. September comes wrapped up in an interview about dialogue.

Further progress has been made in other areas: Tests prior to the holding of the Alarde of the Jaizkibel company have shown that this year would be more multitudinous than ever, even as regards the number of people supporting them. The parade, which has reached the figure of 1,000 people, has taken place during the big day of the town. There's no company in the Alarde that can match that number of people. And although in absolute numbers the exclusionary Alarde continues to dominate, the balance of legitimacy is shifting towards the mixed parade.

There are no problems of coexistence, but there is a lack of equality.

It is also convenient to do another exercise to see that things are changing: Most of the images that appear in the media by Alarde are from Calle Mayor. It is logical, on the one hand, because that is where the moments of greatest tension occur. But, on the other hand, it gives more weight to those who oppose Jaizkibel than to the people, because it seems that the climate of opinion about women’s participation is measured by what happens in that street. And that's not very true to a more complex reality.

If you place the cameras at other points, those interested in learning about the subject would have many very different scenes: minutes are short for 8:00 hours and Jaizkibel has gone through the Tree of Gernika stroll. He made a stop before going up the Gran Vía. You notice some nervousness among the members, the desire to know what they're going to find this year, but other things are happening as well: there's a bar nearby and the men of the marginalizing companies, taking a drink. But there's no fight with them. Members of Jaizkibel and other companies are naturally greeted, especially young people. They're neighbors or family members or classmates or the same crew, talking, one passing a cigarette to another, some joke, a selfie -- a normal holiday. Hours later, in the afternoon, Jaizkibel is marching down San Pedro Street and most Hondarribitarras look at him like any other company. Some may still find it difficult to applaud, but on this street, among the fishermen's houses that structure the social life of the town, the environment is not that of Calle Mayor. Because it is the last bastion of the discriminatory Alarde. Leaving there, the people look different. The other image breaks the story of those who want to raise this problem as a problem of coexistence among citizens.

A politician from the time of the Transition stated that what is normal on the street should also be normal in the institutions. The institutions of Hondarribia, Gipuzkoa and the CAPV can also apply this principle to themselves in this matter: for years they have shown their mutism towards the egalitarian company – the only exception was at the time of Bildu at the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa – which has given wings to the exclusionary Alarde. Even the approach to this issue as a “problem of coexistence”, as the Council of Gipuzkoa does, is becoming increasingly clear that the fundamental problem is to converge with people who want to take advantage of themselves.

It will be 8 September and there will be 365 days for organizations to change their perspective on this issue. A year in which the supporters of the Egalitarian Alarde live the party with less tension does not change everything else: one company continues to parade apart from the others, because women also participate. And if this is considered normal, what precedent is set not only in Hondarribia, but also in the rest of the places where the institutions govern?