I remember when I was 16 years old, the Ertzaintza first identified me in a concentration in favor of the Basque Country before the Bergara courts. We believed that in Euskal Herria it was legitimate to cry for the Euskaldunization of the courts, but then there would also be a lack of permission, we would be a few meters beyond the legal or, let us say, those in power would not be the best friends of those who defended the rights of the Basques. Although at first I worried about being told something at home, my parents already had more concerns than that and, unfortunately, they were already accustomed to the daily life of Euskal Herria.

The truth is that in those teenage years I realized that the measures that a minority language needs to move forward are not in favour of adult life, but that there is a great enmity.

Years have passed and, today, we continue to receive judicial rulings against the Basque Country. At the same time, however, we Basques have to hear that we want to impose Euskera, we are told that the normalisation policies of Euskera have gone too far, that the Basques live well and, please, with our “small problems”, are solving the things that truly concern society. Am I a strange person who is convinced that the strengthening of his language and culture is a must of first order?

We have seen that the enormous speed the world has taken and the brutal globalisation can make small peoples and languages disappear. In the age of information, the giant languages such as Spanish, French or English enter the kitchen of the house through screens, songs, media… The depopulation of small towns, for the benefit of urban centers, is not a factor in favor of the Basque. The respiratory areas are no longer the same respiratory zone. The trend towards individualization is also a threat to smaller groups like us. Faced with these opposing forces, we cannot remain silent and we have to build an alternative.

A joint diagnosis is being imposed on the current situation of the Basque Country: we are in an emergency situation. As an optimistic person, I do not want to look at this situation from despair, but to stress the need to change this unstable situation and join forces. If the Basque Country has been able to make progress in the hard times it has experienced throughout history, will it also be right now (we)?

We are small and even if some want to make us even smaller, we have to be clear that we are small, but worthy; we are small, but capable of facing the future; we are small, but capable of enriching the world from our gaze and our way of being; we are small and, without wanting to be more than anyone, we want to be someone; as Txiki said, we are “the wind of freedom” and we build a free people with Basque citizenship and here. It's time to jump from smallness to greatness!

In order to achieve this, we must throw away the different spaces, make strength in all areas; in that, the street is of vital importance. We have to influence the public square and win the streets again: work in Euskera on the street, decorate the streets in Euskera and, of course, take the demands out loud to the street. A unique opportunity to do so on 7 December in Durango, in the framework of one of the most important annual citations of Basque culture, the Basque Country Herrian Euskaraz, a demonstration that will start at 18:00 from Landako Gunea.

Because we need a Republic of the Basque Country to live in Basque!

Ibon Leibar Belastegi, member of the Basque Country Herrian Euskaraz