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San Francisco, CA.  The commemorative event which took place on April 20 at the Basque Cultural Center brought together nearly 50 people to watch the documentary The Bombing of Gernika.  The event was very emotional because among the attendees were Basque who were forced into exile in 1937.  Before showing the documentary Daisy Cutter, a short silent film denouncing the current wars was shown.

Following, Iñaki Lopez de Luzuriaga, Basque language and culture lecturer at Stanford gave a talk on the Foruak (old Basque traditional laws), the Tree of Gernika and attempts for autonomy prior to the war.  Finally the documentary The Bombing of Gernika was shown, analysing the facts of the bombing from several points of view, among which are testimonies of survivors of the attack.

[Iñaki Lopez Luzuriaga gave a talk about Gernika and Basque History at the Basque Cultural Center (foto SFBCC)]

Kirmen Uribe in Stanford

Additionally, on April 24, Basque writer Kirmen Uribe received a warm welcome at Stanford University where he gave a talk on his work, Iñaki Lopez de Luzuriaga reports.  Uribe was invited by the Department of Iberian Studies and presented his latest work, already translated and published in English, the novel Bilbao-New York-Bilbao to those present.  Uribe referred to his narrative technique, highlighting the auto-narration that this book is based on.  Uribe also remembered Gernika, and took advantage of his own family’s story to provide a firsthand testimony of the events that took place on April 26, 1937 when the Basque village was bombed by Nazi aviators. 

The Basque writer/poet also read passages from his work and answered audience questions.  Uribe wanted to make it clear that he is a writer in the Basque language, having been translated into a great number of languages and available in different countries.  Uribe’s talk at Stanford ended his two-month stay in San Francisco, time that he dedicated to his latest work.