Going their separatist ways
Irish author Paddy Woodworth has written the definitive tome on one of Europe’s most complex and at times contradictory regions.
Craig Fitzsimons, 03 Oct 2007
A mystery wrapped in an enigma inside a riddle, the labyrinthine ethnic, political and social complexities of the Basque Country continue to confound outside observers. Encompassing a sizeable stretch of northern Spain and southern France (though even its precise geographical boundaries are a topic of endless debate) the region (or, if you prefer, the nation) only tends to command external attention when the separatist movement ETA springs into action, as it has done periodically over the last five decades.
There is, of course, far more to the region than its fierce political passions, but it hasn’t been adequately chronicled until now. Irish Times journalist Paddy Woodworth’s bullet-stopping The Basque Country: A Cultural History is a spectacular achievement by any standards. Definitive in scope and lyrical in style, Woodworth’s tome is fit to set alongside any of the finest travel writing of recent decades, shedding light not only on the linguistic and political peculiarities of the Basque country, but also on its cuisine and wines, its sporting life, its music, its sexual politics.
Woodworth was initially daunted by the scale of the task he’d set himself: “It takes one half a lifetime to gain a proper understanding of the place, and even then, you’re always learning. Without doubt, it’s more difficult to get an overall fix on than most societies are, because there are so many aspects to it. As with the Irish, one Basque’s view of the place may be utterly contradictory to another’s. So you need to take into account as many different points of view as you can.”
Many parallels have been drawn between the Basque and Irish situations, and one can trace a phenomenon whereby, as Woodworth puts it, “There were echoes of what we saw here, whereby people who were in the Official Republican movement switched over to an anti-nationalist, almost pro-unionist position – this has also happened in the Basque country.”
Is it fair to say many Basques are completely ambiguous and confused about their preferred solution?
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