| Sabino Arana |
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| 1865 births | |
| 1903 deaths | |
| basque politicians | |
| spanish politicians | |
| basque history | |
| people from bilbao | |
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He died in Sukarrieta at the age of 38 after falling ill with Addison's Disease during time spent in prison. He had been charged with treason for attempting to send a telegram to President Theodore Roosevelt , in which he praised America for helping Cuba Gain Independence From Spain . BACKGROUND The Third Carlist War had substituted the Ancient Regime system of Basque Fueros by a limited autonomy. The Basque Country and Navarre were integrated into the Spanish customs system. Basque industrialists profitted the Spanish Captive Market with the Iron Ore and the Bessemer Converter . Biscay became "the iron California". Non-Basque workers were attracted by the burgeoning industry. Arana was born in Abando , a neighbourhood that had been recently incorporated into Bilbao as the new extension for the growth of the industrial era. He claimed that he had a quasi-religious revelation on Whitsun Day , that he communicated to his brother Luis Arana . From them, he devoted himself to the cause of Biscay, later extended to the Basque Country. IDEOLOGY flag is a joint design of the Arana brothers.]] He was an early defender of the use of the Basque Language in all areas of society, to avoid its increasing marginalization in the face of the dominant, state sanctioned Spanish. He learnt the language as a young man, but was ready to contest for a professor position at the ''Instituto de Bilbao'', competing against Miguel De Unamuno and the winner, Resurrección María De Azkue , who became an erudite scholar of the language. He made a strong effort to establish an agreed orthography for the Basque language, and proposed several Neologism to replace words of Spanish origin. Some of this innovations like the characters '' ĺ '' and '' ŕ '' were not accepted for the standardization efforts of the 1970s. His first published work was "Bizkaya por su independencia", recalling earlier battles of the ancient people of Biscay. In 1894 he founded the first nationalist center of the new party ( Partido Nacionalista Vasco ) to provide a place for gathering and proselitizing. Sabino Arana, like many Europeans of his time, believed that the essence of a country was defined by its blood, and was disturbed that the immigration into Biscay of many workers from central Spain during the Industrial Revolution , into a small country with no political power, would result in the death of the local culture. He contrasted the Basque and the '' Maketo '' (people from the rest of Spain, ''Maketania''): "The Vizcayan walks confidently and in a manly fashion; the Spaniard does not know how to walk, or if he does, he is of feminine type." Bizkaitarra, no. 29. "It is necessary to isolate ourselves from the maketos. Otherwise, in this land we walk on, it is not possible to work toward the Glory of God." Bizkaitarra, no. 19. "We, the Basques, must avoid the mortal contagion, maintain firm our faith in our ancestors and the serious religiosity that distinguishes us, and purify our customs, before so healthy and exemplary, now so infected and at the point of corruption by the influence of those who have come from outside." La Patria, no. 39. "It is known that of course, from this cross of the maketo with the Vizcayan, all that blooms in our country is irreligiousity and immorality. The facts prove this and explain it perfectly." Bizkaitarra, no. 6 bis. "We have already indicated, on our part, that favoring the irruption of the maketos is fomenting immorality in our country, because if it is true that the customs of our People have degenerated notably in these times, it is without doubt due to the frightening invasion of the maketos, who bring with them blasphemy and immorality." Bizkaitarra, no. 10. "It terrifies them to hear that maketos should be driven out of towns with stones. Ah, those people who love peace! They are those who are worthy of the hate of patriots." Bizkaitarra, no. 21 "A great number of them seem to be undeniable testimony of Darwin's theory, since rather than men they resemble apes, rather less beastly than gorillas: do not search in their faces for the expression of human intelligence nor of any virtue; their eyes only reveal idiocy and brutishness." Bizcaitarra, no. 27. "Every Viscayan should be antiliberal and anti-Spanish." Bizkaitarra, no. 1 Another essential part of his ideology was devout Catholicism; he considered this to be an essential part of the Basque identity. However his national allegiance kept him away from Carlism . Despite his religious integrism, and his xenophobic and racist views, he is considered by many Basques to be the Gadfly that sparked the movement for the cultural revival of the Basques, and for the freedom of his people. The party he created has moved on from his most controversial ideas to an inclusive concept of the Basque essence, based not on bloodline, but rather on culture and convivence. He was a prolific writer, with over 600 journalism articles, most of them with a propaganda purpose. He liked to shock and provoke, in order to get attention from a society that he deemed unaware of its fate. There are three key aspects of Sabino Arana's political figure:
INFLUENCE The ideas of Sabino Arana can be considered to have spawned both the democratic nationalist movement that currently is supported by a big part (about 30%) of the Basques and the terrorist group ETA that has killed over 800 people and injured thousands over the latest thirty years. Today, he is viewed as a controversial figure by many opinion makers in Spain, who call him racist. The Partido Nacionalista Vasco, holders of the intellectual property of his works, has chosen not to reprint them since 1976, keeping only the more "moderate" part of his message in their charter. On the other hand, many Basques still revere him as the father of the nationalist movement, who managed to start the turnaround of the decay of the Basque language and culture. Many Basque cities name streets after him. The estate of his Abando home is now '' Sabin-Etxea '' ("Sabino-House"), the EAJ-PNV headquarters. |
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