Nationalism

Even the Romans were afraid of the Basque culture and language. They know that it would be impossible to assimilate them into their empire, so they gave up. This was centuries ago, before Julius Caesar; which means that the Basque culture has been chiseled into the land and people here for many many years. I have had mixed feelings about choosing Bilbao as my Spanish city, simply because of the Basque influence (which is impossible to escape). Yet, I realized that nearly every other city that I would visit has an international culture, as they are much more integrated than the Basque cities whose citizens are primarily Basque nationalists. And no, nationalist does not mean terrorists, as many tourists commonly believe. It simply is a very strong allegiance to their nation, which is Pais Vasco first, and Spain second.

One of the courses that I am taking here is called nationalism and regionalism in Spain. Before we learn about the separate regions within Spain, we have been attempting to grasp the concept of, “what is a nation”? Through many of the definitions, there is no reason why Pais Vasco (which is the Spanish name for the Basque country) should want to succeed. Other definitions that we—the class—has formed, cover nations as a people, much like one that could be applied to the Kurds. The concept is quite an interesting one.

Today was one of the best days that I’ve had since I arrived in Spain: I went to Gernika. This was the last American excursion, and it was incredible. For those of you who don’t know what Gernika is, it is the location of a WWII bombing, made famous by Picasso who began his work, entitled “Guernica” the day after the bombing. I saw this painting in person, when I visited the Reigna Sofia in Madrid, but it has much more meaning now that I know the story behind it.

Side note: Guernica and Gernika are the same thing, different languages.

We visited two buildings in Gernika: La Casa de Juntas de Gernika and La Fundación Museo de la Paz de Gernika. The first is where the infamous tree of Gernika stands. A new tree was required in 2005 when the old tree needed to be refreshed as they put it. The assembly house (which is in the shade of the tree) and the tree both symbolize the history of the Basque people. Meetings were held by representatives of the territory to discuss issues and problems of the province. Though the meetings were abolished for over a century, they began again in 1979, right around the same time ETA, the nationalist terrorist group was formed. Though there is no direct connection, I find it rather coincidental.

After la Casa de Juntas de Gernika, we headed off to the Museum of Peace. Each section of the museum posed a different question that related both to Pais Vasco itself, and its place in the world. The first themed question is “what is peace?” It addressed the concepts of peace, conflict, and resolution by providing different views and aspects of the topic. The next section is “what is the legacy of the bombing of Gernika?” This section was mainly an oral recording, which I struggled a bit with, as a great deal of the speeches were in Basque, a language I that entirely befuddles me. It however, addressed the bombing itself as well as the reconciliation between the survivors and their attackers. The last topic “what about peace in the world today?” was interesting as you literally looked through Picasso’s “Guernica” and are faced with attributes that contribute or detract from peace in the world today. Fantastic exhibit. I would highly recommend this to anyone who speaks Spanish. Though they have English tour guides available (so I was told) all of the writing is in first Basque, followed by Spanish. Therefore it would be rather hard to appreciate the museum without knowing the language.

It was certainly a day well spent as not only was Gernika itself gorgeous, but a little culture exposure is always a nice touch. Plus, the CIDE program offers great meals if you like good food. We had a cream of potato soup containing tuna, and a choice of octopus or cod fish for the entrée—both common, though expensive, Basque dishes.