🚀 go-pugleaf

Hello again!

Although late, I want to add my comments to those of Mikel regarding
Kurlansky's article in Newsday.

On March 16, Mikel Susperregi wrote:

>I quite enjoyed reading Mark Kurlansky's LETTER FROM EUSKADI (Newsday,
>March 13, p.34, N.Y.) posted by Marta here. Wouldn't you say however that
>it gives a bit of a rosy picture of the actual facts..

Yes, indeed.

>whilst Kurlansky
>elaborates on the wonders of red berets, good wine and fish, road signs
>in Basque etc, he is not quite incisive as to  the reality of Basque economy.
>I quote:

>   Euskadi, the Euskera name for the traditional Basque homeland is
>composed of four Spanish and three French regions.  While the Basque
>provinces are among the poorest parts of France, the Basque provinces
>of Spain - Navarra, Guipuzcoa, Vizcaya and Alava - have long been
>among that country's richest.  The capital of Guipuzcoa, San Sebastian,
>is an elegant resort town with a crescent of beach in front of stately
>Belle Epoque architecture.  The Vizcayan capital of Bilbao is a center
>of banking and industry.

>Well, on the one hand it is untrue that Iparraldea is among the poorest
>regions in France -- their standard of living is fairly good, and although
>pretty rural and over-dependent on tourism it is far more prosperous than
>many industrial regions in France where unemployment is a major issue.

Prosperous?  Hmm...
Not long ago, an article published in one of Iparralde's local newspapers
reported that by the end of last year, the total number of unemployed people
in Iparralde had gone up to 12.5% (44,817 people), a percentage rather high
by both state and regional standards.  The article also mentioned the
Lapurdi coast - with the greatest concentration of economic activity
in that area - as being badly affected by the economic crisis.  Herrikoa,
a company that provides financial assistance to new industries,
reported a loss of 2.5 million francs in 1993.  SEI, the enterprise that
leads the cooperative movement in Iparralde, also closed a catastrophic
year losing hundreds of jobs.  In Maule, one factory closed and moved to
Morocco where labor is cheaper.

>On the other hand, Hegoaldea (the Basque autonomous community and Navarre--
>under Spanish administration) is *not* presently a rich region in the
>context of the rest of Spain as it used to be in the past. Unemployment
>figures are by far the largest in Spain (over 20% & still rising),
>foreign investors are deterred by terrorist extortion, strikes, bombs
>and whatnot, local entrepreneurs and businesses have to cope with extortion

Certainly, ETA's actions have not exactly encouraged foreign investment or
promoted tourism in the Basque Country.  Neither has the State's
policy in dealing with the Basque political problem.  A policy that has
done nothing to prevent the brutality of the Spanish police and security
forces against members of the nationalist community.

True, under pressure of ETA's revolutionary taxation many industrialists
have left the Basque Country. However, by 1978, only two years after the
dictator died, the Basque economy was already showing signs of impending
collapse.  The iron, steel and ship-building sectors, the very
foundation of Basque industry, were facing bankruptcy and many smaller
family-owned industries were closing.  The collapse of the Basque heavy
industry can not be blamed on ETA but to the lack of advanced technologies
and productive efficiencies in a country whose industry relied on selective
protectionist barriers as well as cheap and compliant labor. Moreover,
under the regime's 'Plans' of the sixties, all new industries were
created outside the Basque Country and levels of public investment in the     .
Basque Country were relatively low.

>, traditional fishing small businesses have been badly hit by EU quotas,
>& so on so forth. Certainly the prosperous Euskadi of the golden days of
>heavy industry,

Golden days* but at extremely high social costs.  Bilbao, the center
of Basque industrialization, was faced with urban congestion and shanty
towns, inflation, crime, lack of adequate public services, polluting
factories, and lethal epidemics. Add to this, the working and living
conditions of the miners: lack of basic hygiene, widespread malnutrition
and overwork combined with Bilbao's climate made disease among workers
reach alarming proportions.  Miners had to buy foodstuffs at incredibly
high prices and to live in dirty barracks in which one bed was often shared
by four sleeping in shifts.  After deducting rent, food bills, time lost due
to rain, workers ended the month with practically no money and often
in debt.

Small Basque producers got their share too. The monopolistic tendencies
of the "Big Five" - Ybarra, Sota y Llano, Martinez de las Rivas, Chavarri,
and the Gandarias - and the protectionist policies allowed major steel
concerns to control part of the national market but this was detrimental
to the interests of small producers.  For example, through monopoly
pricing practices, the price of iron doubled and many small producers went
bankrupt.  In Bilbao, many independent skilled workers were forced into the
industrial class.

As for strikes, those very golden days of Euskadi gave birth to them.
Periodic violent strikes resulted many times in the imposition of
martial law and also deepened social tensions.  As a matter of fact,
social tensions in the Basque Country forced the PNV to broaden its base
and extend into the Basque working class through SOV, the nationalist labor
union.

>big railways contracts, successful banking & so on are
>definitely gone and Basque economy is going through a very deep recession
>indeed. To many people, still the living stardards are fairly good, but
>the lack of investment in manufacturing industry and financial services
>is alarming and raises serious worries for a long term recovery.

The Basque government has been incapable of formulating coherent policies
to deal with the urgent economic and social problems affecting the Basque
Country.  The typical response from Vitoria's politicians is to blame Madrid
for not transferring enough funds that would allow to take effective measures.
On the other hand, Madrid's socialist politicians mistrust Basque nationalists
and have attempted to limit the powers of self-government. In the meantime,
unemployment keeps growing and is one of the greatest problems the Basque
Country faces today and which particularly affects the younger population.
Young people respond to this situation in many ways. Most remain
passive and show little or no interest in politics or education. Many
quit school and leave their hometowns. And yes, some have come to believe
that only violence will bring about change. I mean, radical change.

In an economic situation in which the future for unskilled or semi-skilled
youth is bleak indeed, strong initiatives to retrain workers for alternative
careers in other sectors and to create high skilled jobs in research and
development are essential.  But more often than not, the Basque government
has misplaced priorities.  One example is the controversial project for
an international modern art museum in Bilbao.

million cash contribution to the Guggenheim,
authorized New York to buy an art collection for Bilbao, and allotted $100
million for the building.  The museum, to open in 1997, is the first example
(and so far the only one, since no deals came through with Tokyo, Salzburg or
Varese) of Guggenheim director Thomas Krens's scheme for the new international
Guggenheim in action: armed with its greatest asset, its permanent collection,
the Guggenheim persuaded Bilbao to pay tens of millions of dollars for the
privilege of BORROWING parts of that collection.   In turn, the
Guggenheim gets more space to expand its collection and exhibition program,
and presumably more power to attract donors. It is noteworthy that Krens's
idea of adding branches has suggested a willingness to put works from the
Guggenheim collection at risk (particularly, in a politically troubled
environment such as Bilbao's) by circulating them around the world. Most
important, the Guggeheim must prove that it can pay off an unconventional
$55 million bond issue.  Bonds issued to pay for museum expansions elsewhere
(e.g. Guggenheim's new branch in NYC's SoHo district) are usually secured
by funds from endowments or other sources set aside as collateral, so
that the collection is never in jeopardy.  But with an endowment of only
$31 million, which is smaller than the bond issue, the Guggenheim has
left open the possibility that in an emergency, its art could be used to
cover the payments.  New Yorkers well remember the sale and auction two
years ago of three paintings, by Modigliani, Kandinsky and Chagall, to pay
for more than 200 works from the Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo -a move that,
because of the significance of the paintings and the dubiousness of trading
one kind of art for another, contributed to the worries about the Guggenheim's
integrity.  So far - after the opening of the SoHo branch - the museum had to
lay-off a substantial number of employees.

Back to the Basque Country. It is far too early to reach a final verdict about
whether or not this is a good deal for Bilbao but the troubling question
persists:  What are the consequences to a country whose own culture is on
the threat of extinction, of the support and promotion of foreign art?
Besides, wouldn't you agree that, with KNOWLEDGE central to the
functioning of the emerging economy which is led by science-based
and high-tech industry, converting the Basque university into a MAJOR
university (and not into the balkanized institution that it is) and,
creating, let's say, an excellent graduate engineering program
is more important to the future of the Basque Country's economy than
a foreign art museum?

Certainly, frustration grows.  Many Basques thought that the answer to the
Basque Country's problems were self-government, conciertos economicos, the
restoration of the Basque culture, a Basque university --and, of course,
a television channel that would broadcast in euskera...!
What happened then?  What was missed out?
                                                Marta

* Mikel: I suppose you are referring to the first industrial expansion
         in the BC.

>This is the Euskadi I know and it's very different from the recollections
>of my grandfather, when good money poured in from abroad. It's nonsense
>to re-tell fairy tales that belong to the past.

Mikel.