Freedomain Radio

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I have been living, studying and working in The Basque Country (Spain) for nearly 2 years. I have made some observations and I was hoping to run them over with everyone and see if I’m on the right track with my thinking and arguments.

First and foremost a little splash of history and geography. The Basque country is a small geographic area in Northern Spain which also overflows into South Western France. It’s probably no more than 100 km by 50 km and I suppose the population is a few million. It has a curious history and has always been some what separate to Spain. It actually encompasses the well-known town “Gernica” which was bombed by the Nazis at Franco´s request and then famously laid down on canvas by Picasso.

So, “The Basque Country” has a separate history, culture and most importantly language to the rest of Spain. They say the Basque language is one of the oldest and most curious languages in Europe, I can’t really speak a word of it but that’s what all the experts tell me.

Now, here is where the problems begin. The Basque Country is still actually a part of Spain. Throughout Spanish history the Basques were usually treated quite well by the Spanish nobility and they always interacted and traded with the rest of Spain and they always had the richest and most productive part of the Spanish economy. During the years of Franco´s rule (1939-1978) the Basques were brutally oppressed and their culture and more importantly language was strongly opressed. During the latter part of this rule a strong terrorist group developed called “ETA” and now it is one of the only terrorist groups still left operating in Europe. Basically “ETA” wanted  and still wants the Basque Country to have autonomy from the Spanish government. Now there main operations are extortion of money from Spanish Companies operating in the area, kidnap and ransom, and last but not least killing people, usually Spanish Police. (Don’t worry there is a point to all this). ETA fought and still fight for more autonomy to manage their own taxes, hospitals, roads, universities schools etc. I suppose something similar to Ireland with the IRA.

Now my point and question.

Basically they have achieved a reasonable amount of autonomy from the Spanish government. The taxes paid here in The Basque Country mostly stay here and The Basque Government administers health, roads, some policing and most importantly education. The only amount of money that goes down to Madrid is to pay for the military and foreign affairs.

Now the problem. I’m an English teacher here in a private academy. The biggest problem in The Basque Country is the issue of the teaching of the Basque Language. (By the way the Basque language is as different to Spanish as Russian to English). So basically The Basque government is constantly trying to mandate all the schools (public and private) to teach all their classes in Basque. This causes great problems because essentially it was a dead language and it’s difficult to revive. You might think why would anyone bother to learn it, but here is the catch. It is extremely beneficial to learn  because all the jobs in The Basque Government, probably 30% of jobs, require you to speak Basque fluently even though you will probably never need to use it day-to-day.

So there is constant fighting between the Government and the people because the government always forces more and more people to learn the language.

 An aside, I actually think that this is a strategy to strengthen the Basque government’s power. You think about it, if you study in a school, a language (Basque), (which is absolutely and completely useless everywhere else in the world) 20 hours a week in a public school from 5 to 20 years old you have made an enormous investment of time and money. So in affect, psychologically the government has fenced you off into their tax paying zone. This is because you will think you have made an investment in this language attainment and need to stay there to take advantage of this fact. And it is an advantage because anyone else coming in from the rest of Spain or Europe has to speak Basque and Spanish. And because I’m working with kids I can also see the cultural indoctrination which is brutal.

Anyway, the people are always complaining because there is always more and more requirement enforced by the government to learn Basque. So The Basque Government, with that bloody, smoking gun (which is always government) is always mandating more and more regulations to acquire the language.

Now back to the terrorists. Really they don’t have much, a few guns, a few bombs, a limited amount of funds, safe houses and a limited number of members. Whereas, on the other hand the Spanish Government has all the prisons (rape rooms) police, riot police, armies, intelligence services etc. So in my opinion the ETA group is really only trying to wrestle that bloody, smoking gun from the Spanish Government into their own hands. I mean they can see how beneficial all these powers would be. So ETA isn’t stupid, they can see the power of a government and it’s endless abilities to tax, incarcerate and importantly educate the people.

See what I’m getting at. Strangely from this seemingly violent situation of terrorist groups and conflicting governments, I try to make the argument FOR ANARCHY. If the parents could decide what schools and what curriculum they wanted the market would sort it out. The parents who wanted their kids to learn Basque could send them to a Basque school, the ones who wanted Spanish education would get it and the people who wanted a Swahili education (joke) would be provided also by the “free market”. Most importantly because it would be an anarchic society and ipso facto no government or government jobs, the market would dictate what languages were necessary and would probably settle on English and Spanish.

So in the situation of cultural and linguistic clashes the “anarchic free market” would provide bloodless situations.

What do you think? When I try this argument and some of yours, I’m confronted with such hostility by the local population I have given up. I’m I on a good argument?

Okay try this one on for size, I might have subconsciously stolen it from you because I have listened to so many “podcasts” of yours, sometimes I not sure if it’s me thinking or you operating my brain.

I think that the English language is a perfect argument for the “pure libertarian free market”. Knowing a little bit about English and a little bit about foreign languages I have made an important observation. The English language is in a sense the most “free”. Take for example, Spanish. Throughout the Hispanic world they have all these “Royal Academies of Spanish Language”, one in Spain, Mexico, Argentina etc. These academies are government run and they dictate what words can or can’t enter into their dictionaries. So because they are always scared that English is taking over their language the never let too many foreign words enter into their dictionaries even though they may be extensively used by the average Spaniard or Mexican. Therefore the government in affect has controlled the “free market” of words. I would give the analogy of a government department telling the computer industry that they can sell desktops but not laptops. I mean the people are already using the laptops in their daily life so to tell them they can’t is kind of stupid.

On the other hand look at the English language. There is no governing body deciding what words can or can’t be included in dictionaries. If the Oxford dictionary want to include the verb “to Google” they can but if the Cambridge don’t want to they don’t have to. This greatly improves the richness and flexibility of the language and creates and maintains its dominance.

I know there are many economic and historical reasons why the English language is the world language but I think we could also make the argument that some of its success lies in the fact that it has always operated in the “freest market”.

Do you think this a good argument for the incredible power of the free unregulated market?  

Anyway, love the work and I want you to know that you have set me on a path towards more and better thought and I look forward to your continued directions down this path to self discovery and happiness.

Thanks

I can see where you're coming from with the language thing in terms of that english dictionaries do include words in common usage. I would think that this is more an argument against government vs. for free market. It's more of an attempt to regulate the verbal usage of words I would think. It is unfortunate that the government does control what these publishing companies can include in their own book, especially since the words are in common usage. The only thing I can really say is thankfully they're not trying to limit the rights of the citizens to use the words. As long as they have that right, then it really doesn't matter rather or not it's in a dictionary, although if the publishing companies wanted to include them they should have every right to include them. The only things I of course know about this situation are what you've included in your post. And perhaps it is a good argument for free market, but as I said before, I see it as a better argument against government. I mean how petty do you have to be to say that you can't include this word in your dictionary? It seems to me as if there may be more at play than just something as simple as the english language growing so rapidly. It seems like some sort of exertion of power to compensate for something else.