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After the success of the human chain for the right to decide in 2014 that gathered more than 150,000 people, the popular movement Gure Esku Dago has now proposed a new project “Erabakia Ehuntzen – Time to Weave our Wills.”  Members of the Basque Diaspora in Argentina have already joined in and now Gure Esku Dago is also inviting Basques in the US and around the world to participate.  In San Francisco they have already started and soon they will do the same in New York and Boise.  If you want to participate, we’ll tell you how. 

Donostia-San Sebastian.   A sort of giant patchwork quilt made with thousands of squares where participants write their wishes, dreams and aspirations, regarding the right to decide and the future of the Basque Country.  This is the focus of the “Erabakia Ehuntzen” project that Gure Esku Dago is now carrying out. 

Organizers have stressed the importance of the Diaspora’s participation and they invite all Basques in the world to join in.  “The involvement of the Diaspora is not only welcome, but it is essential.  We can’t stress how important your participation is.  We need to do this together,” as explained in a letter to Basques around the world.

Scraps, wishes

The initiative has two key dates:

-On the one hand, April 25, Joste Eguna (Sewing day), is when groups organized in every town and Basque club will sew their squares into one large work.  Gure Esku Dago has already started sending squares, so that each person can write his/her wishes on them.

-June 21 Ehuntze Eguna (Sewing day), participants will gather in stadiums or sport fields in the four main Basque cities: Bilbao, Donostia, Gasteiz and Iruñea, as well as in a Labourdin city, maybe Baiona-Bayonne, where they will sew the squares together and the wishes will form giant urns, as a symbol of the right to decide.

Argentina and San Francisco, already started

In Argentina, several Basque clubs have already joined in the project (see Gure Esku Dago on Facebook) and in the US activities are already planned in San Francisco, New York and Boise.  In San francisco, for example, they already started by showing the film Jostunak at the Basque Cultural Center, where the project was explained.

Gure Esku Dago will provide the documentary to clubs wishing to show it, in order to organize your own Sewing Day and write and sew your squares together.  Afterwards, all the squares will be sent to the Basque Country and will be part of the thousands of wishes and wills united in these gigantic urns for the right to decide.

How to participate. 

-Contact organizers via email here
-More information on Gure Esku Dago’s website

Explanatory video on the initiative: