The oldest social exercise in favor of Basque already has a date. The third edition of Euskaraldia will be held next year, between November 28 and December 2, with the aim of being the most participatory history, as the organizers have explained in the presentation held this Saturday in Pamplona. “2022 must be the year of the Basque Country” they have claimed. And the thing is that next year there will be two of the most massive events that take place around the Basque language: the 22nd edition of Korrika and Euskaraldia.
“It will be an important year to continue organizing and strengthening the Basque Country networks organized people by people. 2022 should be the year of the Basque Country, a year to reactivate the word and, through the different initiatives, to create a strong social environment in favor of the Basque language and to carry out a powerful transformative social exercise “the promoters have defended. The word is, precisely, the key to the slogan of the next edition:”It’s time to dump her and move on“(time to act with the word).
Arrate Illaro, Euskaraldia coordinator recalled the importance of strengthening and expanding the use of Basque in the daily activities of citizens: “Recovering the street is necessary for the Basque language and for the Euskaldunes. The aim is for the next Euskaraldia to be a milestone: on the one hand, so that the social environment in favor of Basque increases its influence on the street and, on the other, so that conversations in Basque will once again fill the squares and streets of the peoples of the entire territory of the Basque language “.
Effective tools to achieve changes in communication habits
This year we want to give the roles of belarriprest y ahobizi from new tools so that they can carry out the exercise of changing communication habits with the environment of a easier and more prepared way. Until now, Euskaraldia has wanted to influence the social norms that hinder the use of Basque, proposing new linguistic habits and behaviors. The priority for the next edition will be that citizens have more effective tools to change these linguistic habits.
“Euskaraldia helps to break inertia and create new dynamics and the arigune are a protected area for this”
This edition will also be that of the consolidation of the arigune. For this reason, the Minister of Culture and Language Policy of the Basque Government, Bingen Zupiria, has called on entities to create and / or increase these spaces: “The arigune are spaces for the natural use of Basque, comfortable spaces for Basque, protected, which favor the performance of the exercise by consensus of the group and allow greater possibilities of using Basque in the days after Euskaraldia. With the badges we identify our Basque speakers. The Ariguns facilitate the practices in Basque with these people and in the usual groups. Euskaraldia helps to break inertia and create new dynamics and the arigune are a protected area for this. Thus, I want to call on entities to join Euskaraldia ahead of the third edition that we will celebrate in 2022 “.
Antton Curutcharry, President of Euskararen Erakunde Publikoa and Vice President of Language Policy of Euskal Hirigune Elkargoa, recalled how important these spaces were in the last edition: “About 500 entities created arigunes during Euskaraldia 2020 in Iparralde , and thanks to them, almost 1,000 ariguns were created, 1,000 specific points for Basque. An interesting map was created, offering opportunities to use Basque. It was a difficult time for relationships between people – referring to the pandemic – but thanks to Euskaraldia we have shown that Basque unites us. The Arigune open up new opportunities for us to speak Basque beyond our closest network of friends. “
Almost 180,000 people participated in the second edition of Euskaraldia
A total of 179 780 people participated in the second edition of Euskaraldia, 77% of them as ahobizi and 23% as belarriprest.
The volunteer networks created in each municipality were in charge of promoting the initiative and achieving the largest number of participants and in this third edition that network of local commissions will also be the heart of the initiative. Many municipalities have already started rearrange your groups and the rest will be added in the next few days. Once again, the coordination table will encourage the collaboration between institutions and social agents for the organization of the Euskaraldia it serves as a model for the local commissions.
Ana Ollo, Minister of Citizen Relations of the Government of Navarra, has praised the 2020 financial year and recalled that there is still much to do: “Changing language habits continues to require in-depth work; there is still a long way to go, but we have already begun to achieve significant achievements Many of the Euskaraldia participants have experienced important advances in relationships and in the use of Basque in their environment “.
For its part, Kike Amonarriz, President of Euskaltzaleen Topagunea has defended that it is time to take a qualitative and quantitative leap: “It is time to activate the use of Basque by citizens. More and more children and young people understand Basque; who have learned Basque in families, schools or in the Euskaltegi; the majority are in a position favorable to Basque. However, ours is a serious situation, which requires care and sustained and strong impulses to reinforce attitudes in favor of Basque, universalize knowledge and increase its use. “
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
