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| Port of Call-Bilbao-Spain,June 14th |
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| Entrance to the port city of Bilbao |
On April 26, 1937 the city of Gernika-Lumo in the Spanish Basque country was bombed by German fighters in what became known as a rehearsal for the air wars of WWII. The group of survivors of the attack that we listened to, who at the time were at most young teenagers, remembered panic, confusion, thinking that the end had come and amazement at the flames. In front of about 40 Peace Boat participants the survivors related the 1937 attack to the bombing of Hiroshima and the bombing of Afghanistan now. Something in the nature of all three shows that the intended targets, markets or whole populations, are much more than just military, but to punish the people as well. Yet this was neither the beginning nor the end of the problems the Basque people faced in fighting for the right to their own identity. |
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| The large Figure in a Shelter sculpture, by
Henry Moore |
To hear the survivors stories, see the town that was one of the first targets of that ever-more preferred means of military attack, from the air, and learn how the conflict between the Basque people and the Spanish Government has been dragging on was the goal of a one-day study-tour by Peace Boat participants traveling from the port city of Bilbao to Gernika in the north of Spain. Our first impression of Spain was a good one, made by the beautiful green, forested rolling hills with small farms and gardens circling the occasional house tucked into the hillsides. It was a welcome change from the desert climes of Libya which had cooked us all five days before, and would only get better with the warm hospitality, vibrant life, picturesque town, tasty local food and education we would experience during the rest of the day. |
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| Three of the survivors of the bombing of Gernika, presented with Japanese peace kites with the words love,friendship,and peace,in the Japanese and Basque languages |
After a welcome by the town mayor, our first stop was a local community center where over much welcome coffee and cookies we listened to emotional, halting recounts of the day, as one elderly woman explained, the great cross-shaped planes slowly, almost still in the sky, lumbered over the city of 5,000 to unload a cargo from hell, taking the lives of 1,000. Maybe only as a young child was she able to be fascinated by the sea of flames rising around her. Another gentleman among the six survivors told of fighters using machine guns on the people below, experimenting with technique used heavily in the following war. Responding to questions by participants, the group explained how one of the most painful parts of this history was how the event was not even acknowledged to have happened until 1975 when the Franco dictatorship fell, and how the Spanish Government even now refuses to acknowledge its role in the bombing, which it much welcomed and encouraged as a way to inflict pain on the independence-minded Basque people. |
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| A portion of Gernika,painted by Pablo Picasso |
As the pleasant day turned hot and pollinated in
the mid-day, much to the despair of allergy sufferers, we followed
the survivors stories with a walking tour of monuments in the town,
set among the hilly streets and nature in full spring bloom. The first
stop was a reproduction of the famous Picasso painting of Guernica
created soon after the bombing, representing the devastating effects
of war on life. Other stops were the Park of the Peoples of Europe,
in which is located the large and abstract sculptures Gure Aitaren
Etxea (1988) by Eduardo Chillida and Larger Figure in a Shelter (1986)
by Henry Moore relating to the destruction and experience of Gernika
and war among people. After a few more historical stops, the wise
decision was made to oblige our stomachs calls for nutrition and we
stopped for delicious bread, salad, a main dish of fish, desert and
wine, all in the local style. |
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| The panel of young NGO workers during presentation |
We later returned to the community center to listen
to three NGO's talk about their work concerning the conflict between
the Basque people and the Spanish government, how it has affected
society and what might bring a solution in the future. The problem
as they explained is deep rooted in the torn social fabric between
Spanish and Basque people, as well as within the Basque themselves.
Choosing identity as either Spanish or Basque is a deep issue that
carries much weight; as it goes, if one is Spanish they automatically
do not like Basque people, and vise-versa. The conflict, concerning
the relationship of the Basque region and people to the Spanish Government
and whether to become independent or remain an autonomous region within
Spain, has been plagued by sporadic violence, terrorism, kidnappings
and questionable treatment of the Basque people by the Spanish Government.
The current state of society is highly polarized, with little initiative
on either side to meet the other in the middle. To address this conflict,
the NGO's take a basic approach of stopping the violence and building
foundations for future dialogue between the conflicting groups, whether
governmental, rebel or the people on either side themselves. On the
Web, these NGO's can be found at www.elkarri.org, www.gernikagogoratuz.org,
and www.ekg.org. |
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| One side of the amazing Guggenheim Museum |
We departed Gernika in the sun to return to a foggy
and overcast Bilbao for a quick look at the famous Guggenheim Museum
and new-fangled architecture blending with the old-style charm of
European cities with many hundreds of years history. We'd learned much
about the history of a city used by the German military for live testing
and training in bombing techniques that would change the way the world
fights wars for the rest of the century, and we were able to meet
a large group of young people committed to and passionate about resolving
the conflict between the Basque people and Spain, and very importantly,
how they worked towards this goal. Hopefully one day the conflict
will be resolved for both old and young, with resolution of the current
conflict allowing for the Spanish Government to admit to its role
in inciting the bombing of the Basque country 65 years ago. That the
connection between the idea of a government owning up to its past
as part of repairing relations with neighboring peoples also applies
to the Japanese Government in its relations with neighboring countries
and minorities within its borders, and that youth-led NGO's are a
driving force behind this movement was not lost on Peace Boat participants.
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| Peace Boat's
37th Voyage |
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PEACE BOAT is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. |
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