🚀 go-pugleaf

On Tue, 6 Oct 1998, Mikel Morris > ** wrote:

> >Jose Mallea Olaetxe >> wrote:
> >
> > nowadays it is becoming harder and harder to be Basque.

> ** Indeed, it is becoming harder and harder to be anything.

I think the point of this matter is that there are many ways in which one
can be "Basque" (e.g., native language, secondary language, culture,
political involvement, blood-line, surname, geographical location,
self-identification, etc.)  The radicals would no doubt say that one must
have all these pieces in place to truly be Basque (i.e., have Basque as
their mother tongue [not that artificial Batua stuff!], have a Basque
surname and a mother who is Basque, continue speaking Basque, live in the
Euskalherria, call oneself a Basque, and involve oneself politically in
Euskalherria.)  Some might even go so far as to say that only those
involved in Herri Batasuna are truly Basque.

> Somehow you have to proof you are one,
> > while other larger cultures don't have to pass the same test.

> ** It depends on the larger culture. I don't think people from
> Tartarstan or Dagestan will ever be considered Russian by anyone,
> especially by Russians, even they are, for now, a part of Russian.
> The larger cultures you have in mind are the new world cultures in which
> American, Mexican, Canadian, Ecuadorean, Peruvian, etc. "cultures" are
> either non-existent or simply commerical labels. (Peruvian culture a la
> Fujimori or Vargas Llosa should not be confused with the age-old Quechua
> culture which they ignore and/or despise)

I think this really depends on the one to whom one is talking (i.e. the
self-appointed judge of what true Basqueness or Russian-ness is...)
Unfortunately (????), there, as yet, is no official body appointed to
determine whether or not one is truly Basque, although some of the Basque
clubs here in the U.S. seem to have appointed themselves to function in
this capacity.  With respect to the "age-old" nature of Basque, the fact
is that much less remains of the ancient Basque culture than what remains
of the Quechua culture.  Fortunately (????), the Quechua people have
managed to remain more isolated and less influenced by the technological
age.  I think that in some respects we might say that the Quechua have
managed to remain more Quechua than the Basques have remained Basque (at
least, looking at it from your point of view.)  As far as these
"non-existent or simply commercial cultures" which you speak of, you seem
to think that these modern cultures which are currently in the process of
developing and self-realization are somehow more artificial than those
"age-old" cultures which have become static, frozen, and on the edge of
passing away.

>
> > For example, few people dispute today the reality of "American"
> > culture, though the U.S. is one of the least homogeneous countries in
> > the world.
> ** Look, the only requirement for a foreigner to become an American is
> to have a U.S. passport (or at least the right to have one) and often
> declare "I just love America" all misty-eyed and cheer on the U.S. teams
> in the Olympics. That's how shallow being an American is. What does
> unite the U.S. of A is the almighty dollar, the education system, such
> as it is, and television, and English (for now until the Mexican and
> Chinese take over :-) . Take away these factors and the U.S. is nothing
> but a bunch of suburbs, housing developments (and nasty ghettos), fast
> food joints, and shopping centers held together by the economy and the
> likes of Oprah Winfrey. That is very shallow identity to my way of
> seeing things.
>
> (in passing, I also think that the equally tenuous Canadian identity is
> based primarily on the dubious premise of not being American, and quite
> understandably so, the Canadians at least have a health care system for
> all)

Of course, the same things could be said of those in the Basque country.
If Euskalherria ever becomes independent, the meaning of Basqueness will
be reduced, on one level, to the right to carry an Euskalherrian passport.
Ignoring regional variations of the South, the Northeast, the Midwest, and
the West, one could generalize and say that a first-generation Chinese
American living in Chinatown in San Francisco is just as American as a
ninth-generation Southerner living in Podunck, Mississippi. But it could
also be argued that they are really not American in the same ways, and, in
fact, it might even be said that the Southerner is more American than the
first generation Chinese, depending on your point of view.  Likewise, the
14-year old, 10th-generation, monolingual Spanish-speaking Alaves, living
in Vitoria, learning English, wearing Levis, feasting on cheeseburgers,
and damaging his auditory nerves with his walkman and the latest American
Rock Band, is just as Basque as the 2nd-generation Basque American living
in Buffalo, Wyoming, speaking Euskera, and eating his mother's Basque
cooking that she learned on her Baserri in Vizcaya.

> > For years I have been documenting the tree carvings left by Basque
> > artzainak in the mountains. Few people would question the Basqueness of
> > these artzainak, most of whom were baserritarrak. Yet, the other day, one
> > scholar, looked at the data, and said: "What is so Basque about it"?
> >
> > Basque writers have drummed up the Basque "difference" and
> > their "uniqueness" so much, that now it seems, people are not impressed
> > unless they see the word EUSKALDUNA tattooed all over their foot-long
> > noses.
> ** In a country where their very nationality has been denied, is being
> denied, and undoubtedly will be denied until something like
> self-determination is achieved, that is not very surprising.

Look at the flow of history.  Look at all the people groups which no
longer exist or which, even now are struggling to retain their
"identity."  Look at the strong current of globalization and the
inevitable absorption of small cultures into the more predominant.  Many
Basques are struggling to do the impossible although they may certainly
delay the utter disappearance of the Basque ethos.  The fact of the matter
is, times change, cultures change, people change, language changes.  What
it means to be Basque today will not be the same tomorrow.  We can
all try to be better Basques (whatever that means), but with each Basque
that dies and with the birth of another Basque, the Basqueness of
tomorrow will not be that of today.  Which is better? I don't know.
Tomorrow isn't here yet.

Brett