To Basque Amerika

The North American Basque Organizations, Inc. (NABO), the federation of Basque institutions for the promotion of Basque culture in North America (38 organizations in the U.S. and 1 in Canada), passed a declaration in favor of the homeland-October 25th plebiscite (see related post) during its last convention (Chino, California; August 29-September 1, 2008). The declaration had previously been approved by NABO’s counterpart in Argentina, the Federation of Basque-Argentinean Entities (FEVA).

The Ant’s Meat team would like to congratulate NABO for its increasing awareness of homeland (political) affairs. We believe that it’s a step forward in the normalization of our relationship with the Basque Country and its public institutions. However, we are extremely concerned about NABO’s political participation in this particular campaign supporting the right for a plebiscite. NABO should know by now the difference between political activities and legislative activities. Since the 1990s, NABO has become extremely closed to the political postulates of the main governing party of the Basque Autonomous Community, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV-EAJ).

Representatives of the Basque government as well as of the PNV participated in NABO’s meeting where the declaration was (though not unanimously) passed, which by all means coerced the freedom of expression of some of the delegates. Miren Artiach and Gloria Totoricagüena, the delegates of the Cenarrusa Foundation for Basque Culture (Boise, Idaho), fiercely defended the declaration. Two years ago, Totoricagüena shared her "disgust" with NABO’s delegates for their lack of political commitment towards the homeland and their ignorance on homeland affairs. Sadly, on the hands of self-proclaimed experts on the Basque diaspora, the Cenarrusa Foundation has become a pro-PNV group, a lobby group within NABO, which is not looking after NABO’s interests whatsoever. Pete Cenarrusa, former Secretary of State of Idaho, must regain control of his own foundation before it is too late.

As soon as we get rid of people whose maximum goal is self-preservation and self-promotion the better for all of us who still believe in NABO as the federation of all for all. We cannot afford to have a self-interest group within NABO.

If NABO’s role if going to be political from now on, we cannot reduce our perspective to only one side of the spectrum. So, when is NABO going to sign a declaration in favor of the repatriation of Basque political prisoners and exiles? When is NABO going to sign a declaration against banning Basque political parties? When is NABO going to sign a declaration against the practice of torture in Spain?

As usual, we would love to hear your voices on the matter.

The Original Mavericks: Nationalizing Wall Street

The action of GOP’s new movie, The Original Mavericks: Nationalizing Wall Street, takes place in a near-future Amerika. Aspiring actress Sarah Palin (Pit-bull-lipstick-soccer-mommy) and veteran actor John McCain (The Deregulator) team together in this "science-fiction" movie to save Planet Amerika threaten by liberals and celebrities under the leadership of Big Spender (played by Barack Obama). The Original Mavericks (McCain-Palin) will summon lobbyists and special-interest groups to defeat The Liberals in their evil-campaign to socialize medicine and cut taxes for the working people. The only solution left for the Mavericks is to nationalize Wall Street and save the day for the super-rich-class of the country. The best sequence of the movie takes place in the Oval Office: CEOs, lobbyists and The Original Mavericks and alike hold hands and sing “Oh Government won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?...Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends…”
For those who love happy ends, well, Pit-bull-lipstick-soccer-mommy and The Deregulator did not get married…or did they?

“I bet you $1.1 trillion of our tax money that the GOP producers are working on a second part; I hear something about The Original Mavericks: Drilling Alaska...” one of the GOP studios’ janitors commented. However, our source believes that the sequel will be only for adults…That's a shame.

Sleeping pills for a Republican nightmare

Sorry for not being able to post any message since we went to Black Rock City. We needed to rest...It is hard to come back to "reality."

We would like to say a couple of things:

1. Governor Sarah Palin is not going to distract us from the nightmare that we are all suffering thanks to a horrible Republican administration. She is the new Republican sedative ready to be prescribed by the Republicans and right-wing extremists alike if McCain gets elected. Palin might well be the remedy for McCain's presidential campaing, but Our Amerika cannot afford another four years of plain bullshit and sedatives. We don't need sleeping pills.

2. We need Obama and Biden. We need people like them to awake us from the long eigth-year Republican nightmare. Please say NO to more sedatives; say NO to McCain-Palin...

Embrace life, wake up people!!! if you want to keep dreaming the American Dream, wake up to reality...

Love,

Ants' Meat Team (thanks for the photo Jeff)

Burning Man!!!

Dear Ants' Meat friends,
Our team is leaving this planet as we know it for the Playa. Please keep in touch and love your neighbour, even she is a hardcore Republican...

We'll be posting from Black Rock Desert (hope...if we remember...if we don't forget...)

Love

\^/
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Freedom for Ossetia, NOW

As of today, Russia and Georgia have signed a cease-fire. Good news for everybody!

However—well, yeah! there is always a “however”—the Ants’ Team would like to address the understanding of democracy by the different parties involved in this conflict: Georgians, Russians and Ossetians.
As you know by now, none of the big “world leaders” have expressed their support for the independence of South Ossetia. I guess that the self-determination of the Ossetians (at least of those from South Ossetia) is not a democratic right!

Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili has not stopped talking about the right of Georgians to be freed from any foreign power (i.e., Russia) and how democratic they are…But President Saakashvili has never referred even once about the right of South Ossetians (and Abkhazia) to be freed of them if that’s their desire. What is Georgia afraid of?

So, it’s OK for the democratically elected government of Georgia to invade their neighbors. Hitler was also elected democratically, just in case we forgot.

Why the U.S. doesn’t encourage the growth of democracy in the region by allowing those minorities to express their desire for self-determination?

The Bush administration cannot ignore the fact that by defending Georgia is intrinsically negating the future for Ossetians or Abkhazians. The Bush administration has publicly condemned the Russians for invading Georgia, but it has kept silent about Georgia’s invasion of South Ossetia. Are the South Ossetians less human than the Georgians? Don’t they all deserve to be treated equally? Doesn’t the Bush administration understand that the whole world is learning what hypocrisy is all about by just looking at them?
Now, Bush can rest assure that the world is safe again…and will resume his most-well deserved vacations in Texas…In the mean time, the South Ossetians will buried their love ones and began reconstructing their homes.