The Basque People

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What if your people were oppressed, jailed and killed just for being who they are in their search for economic, cultural and political sovereignty? The Basque people are an ethnic group in Northern Spain and Southeastern France. They have long sought to achieve political, cultural and economic freedom from their colonialist oppressors, currently being France and, especially, Spain. Presently, their attempts to become separate have failed. The Basque people have long had separate and unrepresented political beliefs, a very different culture and a financially separate and successful economy from Spain. The Basque people should have the right to determine their own future, as a separate country from Spain and France or otherwise.
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“Guernica”, a painting by Pablo Picasso pictures the bombing and slaughter of the Basque people by the Nazi Luftwaffe. These bombings were upheld by the fascist dictator Franco to help suppress left wing believers in the Basque country. Also, the Basques live in a unique geographical area. “We are disconnected from the Spanish” (Frayer). The Basque region, known as Euskal Herria, stretches from the Bay of Biscay to western spain to the Pyrenees (O’Toole). The Basque people also have a unique localized language known as Euskara which is not an indo-european based language. They have also lived in this localized area for over 35 millennia, and because of this are called Europe’s ‘indians’. Finally, the Basque people have a very unique and different culture from that of Spain or France. As was already mentioned, they have their own land and language. But in addition to that they have deep roots in sheepherding and crafts related to that. They also have ancestral family burial chambers, stone gathering circles, and Pyrenean cave paintings. Their society has remained intact under different regimes such as the french revolution, Napoleonic wars and other strife. And through all this they held onto autonomy, for example,

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