The undersigned - social players, performers of the arts, festival organisers, amongst other members of the public - wish to declare that:

1.

In the Basque Country (Euskal Herria), despite the evident cutting back of civil liberties, the spirit of the fiesta continues to burn boldly and aficionados from all walks of life and all ages continue to hold high its flame. Ancient rites and celebrations, the kernel of culture in our country, are still the heartbeat of the fiesta. From Carnival, taking in Sanfermines in Pamplona, to the Aste Nagusia in August, the fiesta - celebration, festivals, having a good time, letting your hair down - is going to be around for a long time yet!

2.

The fundamental role of performers, musicians, writers, street bands, groups of friends organised for the fiestas, the festival committees and all the rest of the people involved in popular cultural events is to keep alive the overall meaning f fiestas (ritual, initiation, joy, freedom, solidarity, irony, humour, criticism, heterodoxy, orgy, catharsis, and so on). Not with the idea of being bossy bigheads or control freaks, but as a consequence of the sense of participation in and of responsibility for the fiesta, seizing for oneself the right to unfettered creation and free expression in fiestas and in culture in general.

3.

The system-time that we have had to live in and under is not the ideal one for preserving or developing fiestas and cultural events in general. The threats hanging over them are well-known and unfortunately constant: political censorship (of musicians, writers, artists, local organisation of fiestas usurped by political party control, etc.), commercialisation, spectacle to the detriment of participation, and so on. This is why we emphasise once more the importance of the irreplaceable popular, local participation in fiestas and in cultural events in general; and also in this context, the need to work as a team and share organisational responsibilities with institution.

4.

Despite the presence of diverse ideologies and approaches - or maybe because of them - functioning outside the codes and control of party politics and institutions provides us with a perspective that is free of any kind of pressure. To this end, we feel a commitment to maintain and develop fiestas in their integrity, avoiding and fighting all those activities which might erode or restrict them.

5.

We call upon the public to participate in the organisation, the management and (it goes without saying) the enjoyment of the fiestas. It behoves everybody to preserve and develop them and avoid, at all costs, their deterioration and/or loss, thus guaranteeing that all manifestations of popular culture be respected.

6.

Finally, and in order to be coherent with the above, while taking the fiesta as our starting point but extrapolating it to any other aspect of culture, we frontally reject everything and anything that attacks freedom of speech, the persecution and the judicial vetting of the fiesta - and by extension, of culture as a whole. Those who are carrying out these attacks are not worthy of holding posts and positions of responsibility - neither in fiestas nor in society.

www.manifestua.org Bilboko Konpartsak. Barrenkale Barrena, 9. 48005 BILBO. Fax / Tel: 94 415 71 90