FALKLAND ISLANDS: SELF-DETERMINATION
able to play the populist card when times were tough. Attention would necessarily focus on domestic issues. In the Falklands they would have a very big problem to deal with – 99.8 per cent of the population would not want Argentine rule.
of Tierra del Fuego – an area that did not form part of Argentina until two generations of Islanders had been born and raised here.
Argentina also conveniently ignores the Convention of Settlement of 1850 in which Britain and Argentina agreed to restore perfect friendship, settling all outstanding disputes.
However, since 1833 Argentina has never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and the constant repetition of the myths gained traction and credence in the international arena, and gave rise to UN Resolution 2065 in 1965. The United Nations was, we contend, misled. We have been dismissed as villagers objecting to a high-speed rail link. If the village has a constitution which allows it to form a democratic government, raise taxes, manage its budget, write legislation and have full right to all natural resources, then of course it could stop a high-speed rail link.
Another pro-Argentine argument is that the Falklands should belong to Argentina simply because we are 300 miles from Argentina and 8,000 miles from Great Britain. No big country has the right to take over any smaller country simply based on proximity. Can it be right that a country of over 40 million people such
as Argentina has the right to bully a territory of 3,000 into submission? These arguments are sadly reflected in current Argentine propaganda. The levels of absurdity seem to increase on an almost daily basis, culminating in the latest from Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman who has said that Falkland Islanders do not exist, or that it is not the people but the territory that is in dispute.
Territories do not have rights – people do. That is why they are called human rights. Who has ever asked a mountain if it would rather be British or Argentine? We asked our people and their response was clear.
Diverting the attention of Argentinians
But, because the history is so clear and their claim so patently ludicrous, one has to wonder why the government of Argentina wishes to pursue this course of action. The answer in our view is sadly not about logic or reason or history or belief. It is simply a populist and nationalist card which was pulled out in 1982 by a desperately unpopular military dictatorship and a card which has, for many years, been played to its full extent by the current government. Argentina is chasing a dream but living a nightmare. The dream is
based on a false version of history. The dream is taught to children in schools in Argentina – a process of indoctrination from an early stage and it is a dream that is now so closely related to national pride that it is without solution.
Argentina’s domestic situation is dire. Inflation is rampant, their economy is spiralling downwards, credit cards are controlled, the media is under pressure to publish government propaganda and “pesification” has produced a flourishing black market economy in dollars.
There is no credible opposition to their current elected leader who pays lip service to democratic principles and so the Falklands is raised yet again as a unifying, populist and nationalist issue.
So what is the end game in this new attack on the Falklands and its people? Does Argentina actually wish to win this new war it is waging upon a peaceful community of less than 3000 people?
Making the world take notice Just reflect for a moment on what it would mean if Argentina did somehow wrest sovereignty from a people that have no wish to be subjugated by Argentina. Argentina would no longer be
There is nothing to indicate that the three people who voted no want Argentine rule either. They could equally be seeking immediate independence from Great Britain. The United Nations would have to stand by and watch while Argentina colonized a people that have clearly expressed their wishes to remain under British sovereignty. The United Nations would have to ignore our wishes, which have now been so categorically stated. Argentina would have little option but to cleanse the Falklands of its people, who would have to stand by and watch as our home and our natural resources were plundered by a colonial power. Is that right? Does anyone seriously expect that to happen and for the UN to stand by and watch? Then British Prime Minister Rt Hon. Margaret Thatcher was a strong leader who believed in the politics of conviction rather that the politics of spin and half truths. When Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982, she recognized the rights of Falkland Islanders to determine their own future. She will forever be remembered here in the Falklands with great affection and admiration. Academics may write copious detailed accounts over potential “solutions” based on papers, precedent and resolutions; but these lack that clarity of vision, that conviction and that moral certitude with which she led Great Britain’s response to the invasion. She stood firmly behind the rights of a few thousand against an invasion force led by a dictator. Backed by the task force, she and they gave us back our freedom, and we will not lose it again. Our people have spoken and they have rights. Those rights cannot and will not be ignored. The referendum has placed a clear, decisive and incontestable marker on the table that the world cannot ignore: 99.8 per cent
The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue Two | 125
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