euskalkultura.eus

Over the last few days Facebook has been the site of a large campaign from the community in Quilmes promoting and soliciting support for the Basque club to reopen there. Basque and Argentine personalities from the worlds of culture and various institutions have joined in with their support and have responded with dozens of messages of encouragement. 

Quilmes, Argentina.  A century after its foundation, and after thirty years of little or no activity, this group of “Basques, sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren” that were historically part of the Quilmes Basque club has reunited hoping to “fight to regain that place that moves us through History, through memories, and because it completes our identity.”

With this goal in mind, and completing excited by the possibility of resolving the situation that affects the clubhouse, the Basque community in Quilmes has publicized its situation and is seeking Basque community support, in its entirety, through a campaign as well as the commitment of institutions and their members to the revitalization of this entity.

Campaign details

The campaign was launched on Facebook and received an immediate response from the virtual community with thousands of likes and words of encouragement and photos that gives a face to those who are involved in this new initiative.  This campaign isn’t however, the only effort by the group to promote its reopening.  The initiative is also accompanied by a video presentation of Basque Stories from the South, where a group of youth worked compiling testimonies of people involved in the Basque Club and the Basque community in general including club vice-president, Armando Velasco and historian, Chalo Agnelli Bazterrica.

As explained to EuskalKultura.com by one of its supporters, Pablo Landaburu, “a club is its members, its cultural activity and its participation in festivals and meetings…This campaign targets our next step so that we can return to a space where we can develop and grow.”

The Quilmes Basque Club was founded in 1901 and in the last information regarding its activity in the city of La Plata dates back to 1981. Since then, and since the beginning of this century, the Basque community in Quilmes has been quiet until recent years when a group of interested people got together to organize meetings and talks, like the one that took place last year with the participation of Mike Ezkerro, among others.  To lend your support to the Quilmes Basque Club like the photos on its Facebook page (Basques in Quilmes) or post photos or messages.