Spain's Basque Region: Dirty War, Clean Hands

Tuesday, October 28
From Ireland: Paddy Woodworth
6:00PM - 7:30PM~ Spiro Hall 2

The Basque country is a land of fascinating paradoxes and enigmas. Home to one of Europe's oldest peoples and most mysterious languages, it also boasts a dynamic post-modern energy with the reinvention of the city of Bilbao, creating a model for the twenty-first-century city of cultural services and information technologies. Hugging the elbow of the Bay of Biscay on both the French and Spanish sides of the Pyrenees, the idyllic scenery of the Basque territory is also the stage of fierce political passions. Almost every aspect of the Basque Country generates passionate disagreement, even its precise location. Most recently and notoriously, ETA, a terrorist group with deep popular support, has engaged in a bloody 45-year conflict. But many Basques consider themselves full French of Spanish citizens and fear political and linguistic exclusion under Basque nationalistic rule.

For additional information please contact Dr. Katica Urbanc at ext. 3368 or kurbanc@wagner.edu

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