Thoughts on...Nations, Minority Cultures, and Countries

Poster in downtown Sa

The Basque Country is an enigma.  After being here for a month I am still no closer to defining it - is it a country or a nation?  


We usually use the words interchangeably, but there is an important difference.  A nation is a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.  

A country is the next step -  a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory.  The Basques are a nation of three million people, but they have no country of their own.  So perhaps the Basque Country may be better defined as the Basque Nation. 

The Basque Country forces me to reconsider my previous understandings of nations, countries, tribes, and races.  It forces me to look backwards to pre-historic times to see how the tribes of Europe transformed into modern nations.  I look at Iberia, the peninsula that contains Spain and Portugal, and wonder how much different the map could look if things had been different. 


In short, the map of Iberia is a reflection of the geo-political status of Iberian kingdoms in the 15th century, while the Christians were pushing the last of the Muslim Moors back to Morocco.  


By that time, the pre-modern tribes of Europe had evolved into kingdoms, largely along ethnic lines. Some, like the Basque kingdom of Navarra, were weak at the time.  Others, like the kingdom of Castile or Aragón, were more powerful and they led the fight against the Moors.  To do this, they united all the separate kingdoms to fight a common enemy. 

Many different languages were spoken at that time and no single tongue was universally accepted as modern Spanish is today.  But the kingdom of Castile was unarguably the most dominant power and their language, castellano, is the language we now know as 'Spanish.'  


Over the centuries, the Castilians centralized and consolidated power to form the basis of the modern Spanish state.  All of the smaller kingdoms, including Portugal and the Basques, were eventually absorbed into the growing Spanish Empire.  

Portugal eventually won its independence, but the rest did not.  The Basques, the Catalans, the Gallegos, and the Valencians transformed from independent kingdoms into mere provinces of a Castilian-dominated country called "Spain".  Today they function as semi-autonomous regions, with the Basques and the Catalans exercising the most independence.  Many people in both regions want more than this - many want full independence.  


The essential conflict is that the geographical map of modern Spain does not reflect all the changes that have occurred in the last 500 years.  Castile (where I lived last year) may be considered the most 'Spanish' region, but today this agricultural region is one of the least-developed parts of Spain.  

By contrast, the Basque Country and Catalonia, arguably the 'least Spanish' regions, are the richest, most developed and cosmopolitan parts of Iberia.  This, of course, means they contribute a disproportionate amount of taxes compared to the rest of Spain.  



So I look at the map of Spain and wonder how things could have been different.  What if the Castilians had not been powerful enough to hold together all the separate kingdoms?  What if the Basques had gained independence instead of the Portuguese? 

The point is that these geographical and political demarcations are largely arbitrary.  If we assume that language is the basis of culture, which is the basis of nations thus countries, then the map of Spain must be re-written.  

For example, Gallego, the language of Spanish-owned Galicia, is much closer to Portugese than Spanish - should it be moved into Portugal, or be independent?  And Basque has nothing to do with any other language, so it should be off on its own, no?  Perhaps it is better scrap nations altogether, unite Portugal and Spain and rename the whole place 'Iberia.'  


The question that puzzles me is this - in the age of globalization, are we not moving irrevocably towards larger integration?  Take the European Union, for example - are countries not trading sovereignty for greater political integration?  Surely separation and nationalism is a thing of the past.  


Perhaps that is the case for those of us who are content with the way the borders currently lie, but not for everyone.  Regardless of where the country's borders lie, there are nations of people that know no political boundaries.  This one, the Basque Country, spreads across both sides of the Pyrenees as it has since the dawn of man.  Nothing is going to make it disappear.  

So I continue to walk the streets of Donosti, trying to piece together all the conflicting opinions and perspectives to forge my own understanding of this complex question.  This subject is incredibly controversial and it can be hard to get straight answers to my questions from anyone.  So for now I will keep thinking, keep trying to make sense of it all and report back to you what I can.

Wish me luck.  

The Basque Language – Euskera

The Basque Country is not demarcated by geography as much as linguistic and cultural lines.  Above all else, Basques are united by their ancient language, Euskera.  Euskera is related to no other lanuage on earth and is  believed to be the oldest language in Europe.   But the origin of Euskera is as unknown as the origins of the Basques themselves and for now remains a mystery

Over the years it has been influenced by the dominance of Spanish and French, but Euskera has survived.  Recently, when Spain was ruled by the fascist dictator Generalismo Franco (1939-1975), it was prohibited to speak Euskera or any other minority language of Spain.  But Euskera survived in exile, and has thrived in the post-Franco renaissance. 

What explains the existence of a language so entirely different from the rest of Europe?  Many people believe that ancient Europe was populated by cultures quite similar to the Basques, all of which were overrun when the Indo-Europeans invaded from Asia minor in the early Bronze Age.  Their invasion introduced new cultural and linguistic forces that dominated all of Europe except the isolated hills of the Basque Country.  That is, Basque could be the only surviving pre-Indo-European language and the Basques the ‘aborigines of Europe.’

Furthermore they resisted the Romans.  Though the Roman Empire brought linguistic, cultural and societal influence with their legions, the Basques protected their culture and language from their powerful influence.  Most other languages in Western Europe are direct descendents of the ‘vulgar Latin’ spoken by Roman soldiers, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, Catalan and Galician – but not Euskera. 

By this point you might be smiling at my fascination at the Basques.  Sure, there are other minority cultures in Europe, small pockets of overlooked traditions and languages overshadowed by more dominant nation-states.  In England, the Welsh, the Scots.  In France, the Bretons, the Corsicans.  Indeed, Spain could be defined as a collection of minority cultures – the Catalans, Galicians, and Valencians all join the Basques in their resistance to the dominance of Castilian culture. 

So what makes the Basques so special to me?  To start, there’s the inherent mystery of their esoteric traditions and the continuous discovery that accompanies living amongst such an ancient and rare culture. 

But furthermore I see them as a cultural and linguistic anomaly in the homogenizing age of Globalization.  While most other cultures are sacrificing their particular traditions, languages or beliefs in favor of more ‘universal’ equivalents, the Basque culture indeed seems to be growing stronger. 

The Basques give me hope in the future of the world’s minority cultures.  If a small population with a peculiar language can survive for thousands of years in the face of invasion, persecution and external dominance, perhaps there is hope that other cultures won’t vanish in the face of an overpowering culture of the lowest common denominator. 

If the other minority cultures on earth are as interesting as the Basques, that is a very good thing indeed. 

FAQ: What is the Basque Country

***Note: To find Mark's Guidebook to the Basque Country, click here***

I’ve been talking about the ‘Basque Country’ in familiar terms so far, assuming that everyone knows exactly what it is.  Let me back up and better explain my subject of interest – the Basque Country and the Basque People.  

Welcome to Basqueland

The Basque Country is essentially an unrecognized country within a country. It is a collection of seven provinces wedged between France, Spain, the Pyrenees and the North Atlantic.  Four provinces are in Spain, three provinces are in France, but no single nation unites all seven.

The Basque Country is one of many sub-cultures within modern Spain, minority cultures that have gradually been dwarfed by the cultural dominance of their larger, more powerful neighbors - in this case, Spain.  Foreigners might not know much about the Basque Country, but the culture here is alive and strong.  

The Basques have a flag, a common language, and a extensive set of traditions distinct from the Spanish and French, but they have not been fully independent for over five hundred years.  Surrounded by the dominant powers of France and Iberia, the Basques have spent most of their history as self-governing subjects of greater powers.  

The Basque Country has always been difficult to define.  It has been described as a no-man's land between France and Spain and each language calls it something different.  The Spanish call it El País Vasco, and the French, Le Pays Basque, from which we get the English name, The Basque Country, or Basqueland.  Many Basques call it Euskadi, but the most accurate term is Euskal Herria - literally, The Land of the Basque Speakers.  

 

Euskera, the Basque language, unites all seven provinces on both sides of the Pyrenees.  I live in the province of Gipuzkoa (Guipúzcoa in Spanish), the coastal province squeezed between France and the westernmost province, Bizkaia (Vizcaya).  To my south are the interior provinces of Araba (Alava) and Nafarroa  (Navarra).

On the French coast we find Lapurdi (French: Labourd), home of Biarritz.  Following the Pyrennes inland we come across Benafarroa (Basse Navarre), and Zuberoa (Soule).  In total, seven provinces split into two countries, totaling only 8218 square miles.  

It extends from its upper limit at the Ardour River at Bayonne, France up over the Pyrenees to its natural southern boundary at the Ebro River in the dry Spanish wine region of La Rioja.   Unlike most of Spain, it is verdant, hilly, and wet, a land inextricably linked to both the secluded valleys of the hinterland and the open expanse of the North Atlantic.  

There you have the geographical description of the Basque Country, but a simple geographical definition does not do it justice.  For that, we must move to language.

***Click to read more about Mark's gastronomical guidebook to the Basque Country  ***

Movie Review # 7 - Exit Through the Gift Shop (USA)

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Banksy
Starring: Banksy, Shepard_Fairey, Space Invader, Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash)

[Warning: Spoiler ahead]
My favorite film by far. 
 
This movie is as mysterious as it's director, the world's most notorious anoynmous vandal - Banksy.  It's hard to comment this film - no one knows if it's a real documentary or just another one of Banky's hoaxes.   

Banksy's directorial debut has left viewers and professional critics equally confused about the veracity of this documentary, but all seem certain that it is damn good.  I left it feeling as stupid as the 'art-lovers' Banksy mocks in the film - giving value to what we are told is art, but quite unsure of what exactly we are looking at.  It's hard not to think we've all been mass-pranked by Banksy and easy to imagine him laughing at us all. 

Perhaps that is precisely what Banksy is trying to prove by this documentary on the origins, popularization, and subsequent commercialization of the street art movement.

Fairey's Latest - Street Art meets Politics

The movie begins in the early 1990s by telling us the story of Thierry Guetta a likeable, eccentric Frenchman living in LA who has a bizarre habit - he films absolutely everything he sees.  Through his cousin, Space Invader, Guetta is introduced to the blossoming street art movement and brings his camera along on clandestine midnight vandalism sessions across LA.

Through Space Invader Guetta meets Shepard_Fairey, founder of Obey, originator of the Andre Has a Posse posters and, more recently, the Hope campaign for Obama.  Guetta soon becomes the trusted documentarist for the entire street art movement - for everyone, that is, except for his idol, Banksy.

Bansky. man of mystery

Banksy was not easy to get a hold of.  The anonymous artist is an enigma  - part artist, part social provoceteur, part prankster.  His artwork has spread from the streets of Bristol as far as the States and  on the wall dividing the West Bank and Israel.  He has 'murdered' telephone boxes in England, decorated countless city walls worldwide, and put up his own, satirical artwork in the Brooklyn Museum. 


Guetta finally meets his idol and starts filming Banksy's stunts, including placing a Guantánamo Bay detainee in Disneyland.  As street art's rising fame brings Banksy's work to the attention of the professional world, Banksy asks Guetta to use his tapes to make the definitive documentary on the origins of street art - a movement spawned in reaction to the commerical art world that was now embracing it.

Banky's work on The Wall in the West Bank, Palestine

The only problem?  Guetta turned out to be all talk - he had a camera, but he was a worthless filmmaker.  Banksy takes the tapes into his own hands and tells Guetta to try his hand at making his own art.  Before long, Guetta has created his own alter-ego, Mr. Brainwash, and is preparing to make his own artistic debut in LA. 

At this point the whole nature of the film changes.  The first half of the film focused on Guetta's documenting the street artists' rise to popularity, and the second half  refocuses on Guetta as the embodiment of the comercialization of the same movement.

Thierry Guetta - aka "Mr Brainwash"

Guetta has little talent - yet he receives more commercial success in shorter time than any other 'street artist.'  Banksy playfull mocks Guetta's attempt at creativity, which is essentially copying Banksy's and Fairey's style and applying it to pop-art images.  Guetta happily explains to the camera the genius behind his 'art' as we watch him hype up his debut show, showing just how subjective our values of art can be.

The conclusion?  Guetta - or "Mr. Brainwash" - sells $1,000,000 of art at this two-week art show in LA, while Banksy and Fairey watch on bemusedly.  As Banksy says apropos his pseudo-protege, "I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that anymore," and “Andy Warhol was replicating images to show they were meaningless.  And now, thanks to Mr Brainwash, they’re definitely meaningless.”


We all laugh along with Banksy at this talentless sap until we exit the theater (through the gift shop?) and hear the rumor - Guetta/Mr. Brainwash might be a fake, just a fictional creation of Banksy used to  show the art world how gullible it really is.  It would be the perfect Banksy move - a satirical slap in the face to all the people who have spent fortunes collecting Mr. Brainwash's 'art.' 

Real or not, the buzz has made him real.  His paintings have sold and he was even asked by Madonna to make the cover of her new album.  The art world has picked him up, while the film's viewer is left scratching his head, questioning our very definition of art.

One last thing: on the night of the premiere, a graffiti work appeared in the Parte Vieja of San Sebastian, supposedly by Banksy himself.

The choice of subject?  None other than us, the public and the art world, represented by a man admiring a framed picture of nothing at all.

Banksy comes to San Sebastian


Trailer here

Movie Review #6 - Celda 211 (Spain)

Celda 211
Country of Origin: Spain
Directed by: Daniel Monzón
Starring: Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann

This excellent movie comes right behind Exit Through the Gift Shop for my second favorite of the week. 

By no means my own discovery, Celda 211 (Cell 211) was one of the most popular Spanish movies of 2010, and a recipient of no less than 8 Goya Awards (Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Breakthrough Actor, and Best Director, Editing, Picture, Screenplay, and Sound).  Damn.  Celda 211 is also one of the three films representing Spain at the Oscars, all of which star Spain’s up-and-coming actor from Galicia, Luis Tosar.  Tosar is a Spanish actor to watch out for, and this movie is a great introduction to Spanish cinema of 2010. 

Celda 211 is the story of a Juan (Alberto Ammann), a newly recruited prison guard who gets caught up in a riot on his first day at work.  Thinking quickly, he changes his clothes and pretends to be an inmate to survive the chaos. 

The circumstances push him to the leader of the riot, a notoriously vicious prisoner named ‘Malamadre’ (Luis Tosar).  For better or worse, Juan and Malamadre are both neck deep in the riot while the police try to find a way to quell the riot and rescue their newest co-worker from the chaos.  The plot thickens as Malamadre takes hostage three Basque prisoners from ETA, thereby raising the stakes and complicating any easy resolution. 

In my opinion this film succeeded for the precise reasons Chicogrande failed.  Whereas Chicogrande portrayed the protagonists as infallible heroes and the antagonists as purely evil, Celda 211 tells a more accurate tale of justice – the cops and prison guards have just as much evil in their hearts as the prisoners have good, if not more. 

Justice as administered by our fellow man is never straightforward, as demonstrated by the extremely well-crafted characters of Celda 211.  I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.  The plot took so many unsuspected turns that Juan’s joining the riot proved to be only the initial twist. 

I highly recommend this film to anyone keen for a gripping drama with an insightful look into the concepts justice and Spanish society.  Check out the trailer here

Movie Review #5 - El Gran Vázquez (Spain)

El Gran Vázquez
Country of Origin: Spain
Directed by: Óscar Aibar
Starring: Santiago Segura

El Gran Vazquez (The Great Vazquez) tells the true story of the Vazquez, the best comic book artist in Barcelona during the 1960s, womanizer, troublemaker, and a self-centered scam-artist through and through. 


This movie was hilarious – even more so because it’s a true story. 

Vazquez, played by Spanish actor Santiago Segura, takes us through the streets of Barcelona as he cons one unsuspecting person after the other. 

The viewer can’t help but laugh at the clever tricks Vazquez employs to parlay his artistic talent and endless charm into the temporary solace of money, women, and a short escape from his growing army of enemies.

Billboard outside San Sebastian Film Festival

All is going well until Vazquez reaches a point when his girlfriend, wives, kids, and co-workers are pushed too far. 

Vazquez’s tale takes us to the limits of how far one clever man can play the system before it comes back to bite him – hard. 

It’s well written, funny, and Santiago Segura’s acting does justice to the real Great Vazquez. 

Highly recommended to anyone wanting to exercise their Spanish and laugh at the same time.  

Trailer - Here  

Movie Review #4 - The Oath (USA)

The Oath
Country of Origin: USA
Directed by: Laura Poitras

Any trip to a European film festival would be incomplete without the mandatory anti-Bush documentary, and I was lucky to discover that The Oath took up that charge even two years since W. went back to Texas. 

But The Oath was not what I expected it to be – that is, a film intent on proving a point instead of searching for truth and accuracy.  It was distributed by Zeitgeist films (makers of Loose Change), but instead of finding a film laden with conspiracy theories, I was pleasantly suprised by this well-made film by American director Laura Poitras. 

Poitras critiques the War on Terror by juxtaposing the contrasting tales of brothers-in-law, Salim Hamdam and Abu Jindal, Bin Laden's personal driver and his body guard, respectively. 

Bin Laden's driver, Hamdam, was captured in Afghanistan and sent to Guantanamo Bay while Abu Jindal, a man suposedly more valuable than anyone in Guantanamo, is a free man in Yemen. 


While Hamdam waits out his sentence in Guantanamo, we spend most of our time with Abu Jandal, who is now a taxi driver in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a where he runs a support organization for former al-Qaeda operatives.  We drive with him through the streets of Sana’a as he explains why and how he got involved with Al-Qaeda, why he so respected ‘Sheik bin Laden,’ and countless insights into how the organization is run.

The film's strength lies not by dropping controversy-provoking conspiracy theories in your lap, but by taking us into the homes and minds of our self-proclaimed enemies. 

I was suprised by Jindal's testimony - we hear not the zealistic dogma of a die-hard killer, but personal anecdotes from a conflicted and humbled solider.  Jindal discusses his transformation from the inner ring of Al-Qaeda to a 'reformed' terrorist working as a cab driver, begging the question - given all that's happened since 9/11, does his oath of allegience still bind him? 

Jindal's personal testimony reminds us that the bogeymen of the Middle East are not so different than ourselves.  Through Poitras’ lens, we are invited into Yemeni homes, we watch Yemeni youth groups talk to Jindal about the fight against America, and we are even shown young boys explaining why they want to grow up to be terrorists (because ‘the Americans put Uncle Hamdam in jail in Cuba.’)

The camera also moves to the military tribunals of Guantanamo Bay and gives us valuable perspective into the nature of justice being served to suspected terrorists.  I was particularly moved by seeing how little faith Hamdam’s appointed military lawyer had in the very court he was serving.  Charged by the military with defending someone doomed to conviction, his barely-veiled disillusionment spoke volumes about how far tribunals have drifted from true justice. 

This film is stripped of the usual intellectual talking heads expounding upon their own theories.  Instead it takes us deep into the lives of two men and brings the debate back down to the ground level – how people feel when their family is directly affected by international politics. 

Anyone with an interest in American foreign policy should watch this film, if only to remind us that the War on Terror is ultimately not a war of abstract theories, but one that touches people and families not so different than our own.

Trailer - Here