The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

Basque insights on the possibilities of significant change

The Basque Country in northern Spain used to be a byword for chaos, violence, poverty and failure. Now it’s a byword for transformation instead. The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is a totem of that change, a symbol but not a cause. The change over recent decades was the subject of a compelling talk by Gorka Espiau, as the friend and guest of Cllr Simon Willis. Bernard McGinley reports (but not on a verbatim basis).

In General Franco’s time, the Basque Country was designated as among the ‘Traitor Provinces’ by the Spanish government. After his death there was considerable and sustained guerilla violence there. Gorka Espiau served as spokesperson for Elkarri (now known as Lokarri), the movement for dialogue in the Basque region. He was a cofounder of the peace movement and adviser to the Basque President for many years. He was key in brokering the ceasefire (that eventually became a formal cessation of armed activity). Now the Basque Country is not only more prosperous, it is more equal than before. This history is highly unusual.

On 25 November at the White Rock Theatre, Gorka Espiau explained his perspectives on the realisation of change. Councillors, planners and politicos were among the attenders at a memorable event.

Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum (above) is the poster child of the new Basque Country, but that didn’t just happen: who’d want a major art gallery in a beaten-up old industrial town and port on the Bay of Biscay? Preferred locations declined to be involved, until the Basques agreed to it. The new Guggenheim opened in 1997.

Now the Bilbao Effect is a cliché of regeneration — everywhere except the Basque Country. Note that the effect is remarkably difficult to recreate. Impressive architecture is fine but more important is local will, to get away from (say) a drugs scene and unemployment to something much better.

Gorka makes a point

Can Hastings learn from this? 

These days Gorka is an unassuming international academic in conflict resolution (in Montreal and New York for instance) and director of a renowned Basque innovation institute. He didn’t presume to speak for anywhere else, but following a tour of the borough (including Hollington, the Old Town and St Leonards), he outlined what had happened in his homeland, and how transformation was a matter of more than one person or initiative.

Change – that is, possible change – in Hastings was not obvious. Data could be subjected to quantitative analysis but that was not necessarily conducive to systemic transformation. The drivers of change could be primarily people with optimism and application.

Change was a narrative that people engaged with: is it possible? Is inequality inevitable? He identified several phases, such as a capacity to evaluate and to visualise. Some data were needlessly overlooked. There was a capacity to listen, in many conversations. There was the possibility of making collective sense. There was the ability to make interconnexions.  Experimentation could be beneficial, were it allowed.

Would Hastings be allowed these opportunities, including the opportunity to fail? Probably not (in those terms), but creative solutions were possible. Where innovation met bureaucracy there would be resistance. There would be mistakes, but risk could be managed, as the private sector did, Gorka suggested.

Change takes many forms

The Mondragon Corporation (a federation of worker co-operatives) from shaky beginnings in the Basque Country had gone on to be a major presence. Change was possible, in many forms — in repurposing manufacturing equipment for instance, or different forms of property ownership.

It was explained how from lowly beginnings and no tradition of fine dining, Basque chefs had gone on to dominate European cuisine and top restaurants, with many Michelin awards. Chefs sharing recipes, not hiding them from one another, was a successful strategy.

There is no model, takeable from the Basque Country and applicable to other places. That’s not how change works. Discussion leads to change, or can do.

After a lively Q&A, on transferability towards transformation, on powers and capacity, on change and reaction — essentially on redefinition of problems and opportunities, using local energy. Issues including social housing, gentrification, and Airbnb were raised. Then the meeting adjourned to the White Rock Hotel next door for further uplifting discussion on possible transformation and on what Hastings believes in.

Also in: Point of View