ETA, Euskera

All about ETA, the Basque separatist group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA

Why is there a separatist movement in Spain among the Basques? Don´t they speak Spanish (castellano)? Well, yes, BUT...castellano was imposed on them. They speak euskera, the Basque language. Isn´t euskera just another Romance language? No. Euskera is a linguistic anomaly. That is, there are NO OTHER LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD related to it. Here is a good presentation about euskera: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language

For example, what do the Romance languages use for the English word for bread? In French, pain; in Italian, pane; in Portuguese, pan; and in Spanish, as you know, pan. But what is it in eurkera? ogi. How about the word for yes? In French, oui; in Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, sí. But in Basque, it´s bai. No connection. Not even close.

So, if a language is emblemic of the people who speak it, then the Basque people are not related culturally to the rest of the inhabitants of Iberia. What´s more, there are Basques in France, another governmental entity. So here they are, a people with two major European governments ruling them, and their culture is not represented, much less understood.

Where else are there Basques? Well, guess what! In the US. And in Atlanta, too. In fact, the greatest contributor to SPSU´s endowment is of Basque origin. He is the late Roberto, Goizueta, the former Cuban-American CEO of Coca Cola. Here is a good overview of Basques in the US:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque-American