English subtitles for clip: File:Ikusgela-Euskararen debekua.webm

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Hello!

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Do you think it's normal to hear
Basque being spoken here in all calm?

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OK! I was just check that
we're still in the 21st century!

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Nowadays it seems normal to
listen to this video in Basque,

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but in other times

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this video would have been an
underground and forbidden act.

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As linguist Koldo
Mitxelena put it,

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“the greatest mystery of Basque
is not its origin, but its survival”.

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Our language has suffered
all kinds of persecutions

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and bans throughout history,

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of all kinds!

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And today we will
take a glimpse at them.

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It is essential for speakers to be
aware of the forms of persecution,

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so that these measures do
not further weaken the language.

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It is important to
be well informed!

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And, to do so, we will also
answer several questions:

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Why do we say that Basque
is a minority language?

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Who has attempted to turn
it into a minority language?

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How? Why?

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Let us begin with the times
of the Kingdom of Navarre.

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Most of the people were Basque,
monolingual, they spoke nothing else.

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Those in power used Latin and
Romance languages among themselves,

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which were the status languages.

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However, Basque was not banned.

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This situation changed with the conquest
pursued by Castile from 1529 onwards.

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After the conquest of Navarre, the elites
began a process of Castilian expansion

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in linguistic terms, that
stigmatised Basque.

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S-tig-ma-ti-ti-za-tion!

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They called Basque
"shameful" or "offensive".

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Why that?

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As the linguist and philosopher
Noam Chomsky stated,

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"linguistic questions
are questions of power".

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So what does a community
do when it rises to power?

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"It imposes its vision, its
narrative and, of course,

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its own language on others".

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At that time, while national languages
were developing throughout Europe,

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Basque was robbed of the
opportunity to develop and progress.

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Where would Basque be
if that had not happened?

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Who knows, but we
can get a rough idea.

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The expansion of Castilian
(Spanish) that began

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in the 16th century
intensified over the years.

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The French push for "one nation,
one language", on the one hand,

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and the centralist drive of the
Spanish administration, on the other,

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succeeded in progressively
weakening the Basque language.

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How did they do it?

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By banning the use of
Basque in schools, for example.

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Many people think that this only
happened during Franco's regime,

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but they are not totally right!

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Before that, speaking Basque
had already been forbidden.

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The oldest recorded evidence dates
back to 1730, at a school in Beasain.

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Basque pupils suffered
all kinds of punishments

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for using their own language,

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including the
punishment of the ring.

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Pupils were given
a tell-tale ring

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if they spoke in Basque,

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and they became
tell-tales themselves.

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At the end of the day, whoever
had the ring was left without rest,

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was teased by the
teacher and, as if that

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were not enough, also
physically punished.

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In this way, the teachers tried to
make the pupils internalise Castilian,

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and make them think that Basque
was a language to be excluded.

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A similar pattern was followed in the
Basque Country to the north of the Pyrenees

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in order to impose French.

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In the same way, the questioning of
their proper names was an instrument

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to cast doubt on the
character of the people.

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In France, the law regulating people's
names was established in 1803.

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According to the law, the
acceptance or refusal of a name

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was in the hands
of the registrar.

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This situation has
subsequently changed.

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In 1966, a list including Basque
and Breton names was approved,

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and since 1993 parents have
been free to give the name they want,

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while the spelling
still remained an issue.

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In Spain, regulations over
proper names were also imposed.

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In 1871, the Spanish Civil
Registry Law was implemented.

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This law prohibited Basque names

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and established that
surnames of Basque origin

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should also be written
with Castilian spelling.

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Later, Sabino Arana and Luis Eleizalde
put together a Basque name index,

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but these new names were also
immediately banned by the Catholic Church.

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Yes, the Church was also
entitled to ban as it wished.

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At the time of the
Second Spanish Republic,

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early ikastolas (Basque
language schools)

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began teaching in Basque to
the south of the Pyrenees,

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but they did not last long,

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because with the outbreak of
the Spanish Civil War in 1936,

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Franco’s triumphant dictatorial regime,
persecuted the Basque language and culture.

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Franco’s regime was precisely

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the hardest period for the
survival of Basque language.

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From the very first moment, the
persecution of Basque language began and,

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at that time, hundreds of
testimonies bear witness to these bans.

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In 1936, a military
authority even forbade

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saying "agur" (‘bye
bye’) in Estella-Lizarra.

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Measures were taken to
eliminate Basque from all registers.

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Such Basque spellings
as "k", "tx", or "b",

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were removed from signs,

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magazines, tombstones
or telephone listings.

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Even the smallest letters
became big symbols!

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In 1940, it was forbidden to make
films in any language other than Spanish.

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What happened in 1965 with
Radio Loyola is significant.

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The radio station was
ordered to close down

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because it had too many
programmes in Basque.

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So it had actually permission

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to make a few programmes
in Basque, right?

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Yes, the Spanish Director
General of Broadcasting

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agreed to the use
the Basque language

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if it was to talk about
"timeless" (religious) subjects,

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and only about those subjects.

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Current affairs and announcements
were always to be in Spanish.

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The message was clear:
Basque was a thing of the past.

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Now this harassment seems to
be a thing of the past, doesn't it?

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Well, not exactly so.

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Nowadays, in many areas
in the Basque Country,

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it is not possible to study in
Basque in public education.

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In Iparralde (or Northern/French Basque
Country) and in the enclave of Treviño,

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it is impossible to receive a
public education entirely in Basque.

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And in Navarre in the areas
categorized as non-Basque speaking

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it was not allowed to
study in the D or B networks.

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In Navarre, there
have been attempts

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to punish in some way
the knowledge of Basque.

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In 2003, the Government regulated
that Basque speakers could only take part

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in calls for public posts in
which Basque was compulsory.

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Subsequently, the High Court
of Justice of Navarre overturned

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the rule, but there
are still limitations.

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There are, for
example, public calls

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for applications that do not
assess knowledge of Basque,

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although knowledge of several
foreign languages is considered.

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In the Spanish
Congress of Deputies,

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speaking Basque was
also forbidden not long ago.

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When do you think
that ban was lifted?

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Well, in September 2023.

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Almost yesterday!

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As you have seen, many bans have been
imposed on Basque and Basque speakers.

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Now, it is just as true that
Basque speakers of all times

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have organised themselves to fend
these bans off, however possible,

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so that their language
remains alive and kicking.

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Please keep feeling alive!