Nov. 12, 2003

Yale softball player Rachel Kelley is spending the 2003-04 school year studying in Spain. Periodically during the year she will provide updates on her activities.

One of the political science classes that I am taking this semester is called the Government and Politics of Spain. Not only are we studying the structure of the Spanish government, but we are also learning about different problems that plague Spanish society. For example, the Basque region and ETA. ETA is Spain's IRA terrorist group, who are fighting to achieve Basque independence from Spain. ETA translated into English means Euskadi (the Basque country) and Liberty.

This organization believes that they can better preserve their culture, language and traditions by having complete autonomy from Spain. The Basques even have their own language called Euskera, and it has absolutely no relation to any of the other Indo-European languages. In 1958 a group of young adults created ETA in reaction to the violent repression of their customs by Franco. Now they feel that they can obtain their goal of independence faster through the use of violence than they can through political means.

The really fun part about this class is that our professors organize a trip to Pais Vasco every semester for a weekend. In Spain, Pais Vasco is divided into three regions or provinces - Álava, Vizcaya, and Guipúzcoa. And we visited each of the capitals of the three provinces - Victoria, Bilbao, and San Sebastián, respectively. So on Friday, in Victoria, we went to the Basque Parliament and listened to two guest speakers from two different parties. One politician is a member of the PP (Partido Popular), which in the States could be compared to our Republican Party; they also have the absolute majority in the national government right now. And the other is part of the PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español), which can be compared to our Democrat Party; and it is Spain's socialist party. We also listened to a member of a social movement organization called Elkarri. Founded in 1992, this group emphasizes dialog as a tool to solve this problem.

After these talks, we went on a tour of La Catedral de Santa Mar'a de Victoria - otherwise known as the Old Cathedral. Built in the thirteenth century, it is now under construction until 2010. This meant that we had the privilege of wearing really cool white hard hats during our tour. Since starting the renovation, archaeologists have found around 600 skeletal remains in the crypt of the cathedral. This has been detrimental to the foundation of the building because once the bodies decay, their remains turn into silt, which is not a very reliable base for buildings. Pretty interesting.

When we arrived in Bilbao, we visited the Guggenheim Museum. The architecture of the building in and of itself was fantastic; the outside shape can be described as a giant metallic golden flower. Its three levels of galleries house several exhibitions of contemporary art. Personally, I am not a fan of contemporary art - painting a canvas completely black and then calling it art just does not make sense to me. Nevertheless, it was still pretty remarkable.

Here, we also had the opportunity to listen to two more politicians. One is a politician from the PNV (Partido Nacionalista Vasco), which is a regional Basque party. And the other person is a college professor who sympathizes with ETA and its terrorist actions. As much as I dislike saying this, this professor gave the best talk of all of the speakers. His points were presented in a very clear manner - we knew exactly where he stood on the issue whereas the other speakers skirted around how they and their parties are planning to deal with the Basques. Hearing from all of the different sides of this sensitive subject was definitely very key in helping me form my own opinion.

On our way to San Sebastián, we stopped in Gernika. Gernika had been the official meeting place for the Basques' government since before the 1400s. There, officials would meet underneath this one specific tree. Unfortunately, during World War II, Franco in an attempt to quiet the rebellious nature of the Basques allowed Hitler to bomb the city, which destroyed it entirely. The Basques were able to salvage parts of this famous tree and created a monument in remembrance of the tragedy.

Our last destination was San Sebestián. It is a fabulous city - right on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Not only was it completely breathtaking, but the weather was perfect. We had lots of free time to walk around and explore the city, but basically we just sat on the beach all afternoon long.

At the end, we did have a lot to digest and mull over, but walking around different neighborhoods in the different cities allowed you to really feel the tension in the air. On one street, there would be signs saying 'ETA NO!' And then on another street, there would be signs supporting the actions of the terrorists. Overall though it was pretty remarkable experience.