Thousands and thousands of people took to the streets this Saturday in Gernika against the planned new Guggenheim museum in Urdaibai, the only biosphere reserve in Euskadi. This is a plan with double headquarters, in the Murueta shipyards and in the old Cuiertos Dalia factory in Gernika itself. The Bizkaia Provincial Council has contributed 40 million euros – Imanol Pradales himself did so when he was a provincial deputy – and the PNV encouraged the State to provide another 40 million. The protest coincided with the twenty-seventh anniversary of the opening of the Guggenheim in Bilbao in 1997.
“It is something that has been imposed on us and that does not respond at all to the needs of the region. For this reason, all of us who love Urdaibai will give a resounding ‘no’ to this plan,” said Eider Gotxi, spokesperson for the organizers, according to statements collected by EiTB. They also maintain that current regulations do not allow the project. The motto chosen and that could be read on the banner was very simple: “Guggenheim Urdaibai Stop.” The slogan “Urdaibai ez dago salei” has also been used, meaning that the region “is not for sale.” The call had been made with dozens of small fish that, together, could confront the big fish.
The march has been supported by different organizations and well-known people. On the political level, parties such as EH Bildu, IU, Sumar and Podemos have participated. Also unions such as ELA, LAB or CCOO or faces from the world of culture and universities, as well as local or international environmental platforms, such as Greenpeace. Sparklers, txalaparta and even the bertsolaritza have spiced up the afternoon. The promoters were delighted that opposition to the new Guggenheim had been echoed in Britain’s ‘The Guardian’.
In November 2022, as a Biscayan deputy, the now Lehendakari Imanol Pradales “shielded” 40 million euros for the works. One of the slogans that have been used in the area these years is “Less Pradales and more wetlands.” The PNV also extracted another 40 million from the State – in whose Government some of the groups that now oppose it participate – for the same objective. The Basque Government of Iñigo Urkullu never came to defend the plan or provide it with a budget, but the new Executive does have it on his agenda. The novelty, verbalized last week by the Vice President and Minister of Culture, Ibone Bengoetxea, is that it is understood that the time has come to “contrast” the scope of the plan with the citizens of the area.
Bengoetxea expressly asked to “pause” the “confrontation” and tried to make it clear that the Guggenheim is only one leg of the revitalization of the Busturialdea area. The region has important sanitation and water supply problems. Technically, another second Guggenheim was proposed three decades ago, although the PNV stepped on the brakes. On that occasion the location chosen was the Sukarrieta colonies. Local groups have filed judicial appeals to try to stop movements such as the ‘ad hoc’ modification of the Coastal Law.
#Outcry #thousands #people #streets #Gernika #Guggenheim #projected #Urdaibai
