If the common places that compact a society are usually the heritage of past generations, traditionally accepted ideas are usually the meeting point of the people, and as a result, both of us, the common places and the idées reçues, are irresistible in any human group. Both help us to pave the way and advance, because not having to think about them makes it possible for us to focus our attention on the concerns of others, just as fish move in the sea but do not think about the sea. If we accept what has been said so far, it would seem that, in the event of a change in a society, the first step should be to examine and question its common places, its ideas received.

In its short history, the ideology that dominates Navarre today, that is, Navarre, has had three great victories. The first has been to make Basque patriotism visible as an external force: reading the press, this is the main image in Spain, but this is the point of view that has been and still is quite widespread in Navarre itself. In the 1920s, Navarrese patriots were ordered from offices in Bilbao (according to the Navarrese politician Víctor Pradera), and since the Transition buses full of demonstrators have come from Gipuzkoa (according to the Diario de Navarra).

The definition of Basque patriotism, Spanish, has been the second triumph of Navarrism. That is to say, one can imagine – or at least I can imagine in my xalo – a tolerant Spanish that is capable of respecting the enemy. In our country, however, in addition to promoting the most intolerant Spanish, navarrism has managed to make this the only legitimate form of Spanish. Anyone who moves from there will be immediately accused of trying to join the “outside” forces.

The third victory was the transformation of these last two points into a common place for multiple Navarreses, since the Diario de Navarra has not spent a hundred years in vain. So the trap is done. On the one hand, Basque nationalism is an evil that comes to us from the West and, on the other hand, the ideology that the UPN defends against it is the only legitimate answer. Moreover, this ideology is not ideology, since it is the expression of the character of the good Navarrese. Ollarra, the former director of Diario de Navarra, once said: “I am not a Navarrese, but a Navarrese.” Navarrism, therefore, has become our idée reçue, our particular sea, without being the object of thought –because it does not exist– the unpolluted water that allows our movements.

As the residual elections have made quite clear, it is now necessary to invent a different kind of Spanish in Navarre, one that knows how to respect the diversity of Navarre and, if it is possible to paradox it, is less linked to Spain. What is not so clear is whether those who have to do it are willing to do the work of reinventing themselves. You'll have to see it.