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“We would like nothing better than peaceful coexistence with Argentina”

Thursday, June 24th 2010 - 21:55 UTC
Full article 59 comments
Gavin Short MLA Gavin Short MLA

“We would like nothing better than to have a peaceful coexistence with Argentina”, said Falkland Islands Member of the Legislative Assembly Gavin Short addressing the UN Decolonization Committee.

“But as often happens in Argentina, pragmatism and peaceful coexistence is flung aside and the aggressive posture returns”, added MLA Short enumerating a long list of unilateral actions taken by Argentina against the Falklands’ economy the latest of which are almost “an attempt to blockade the Islands”.

MLA Short recalled that he is a sixth generation Islander and when his family first  arrived (1842) there was no indigenous population and in any case several sovereigntyclaims: France, Spain, Britain, Argentina.

Speaking as a simple Islander, Short ‘humbly’ called on the Committee to respect the Falklands’ people’s rights to self determination and freedom of choice.

But he also underlined that the Islands the Committee is talking about, “is the place where I happen to live and work, they are my home, my children’s’ home, my country  –I am a Falkland Islander; we have a right to exist”.

He admitted some Islanders have dreamt of the day when “we might become independent but alas the dream always fades, as whilst we are being targeted by an aggressive and bullying neighbour (Argentina) we will always require some benevolent country to guarantee our safety and freedom and it is a sad certainty that were we to choose independence it would probably only last as long as it took our protecting power to leave and Argentina to arrive”.

Finally MLA Short congratulated the newly appointed Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman “a passionate champion of human rights”, and “I sincerely hope that he will just as enthusiastically champion the human rights of the Falkland Islands people as he has done others”.

Follows speech MLA Gavin Short:  http://mercopress.com/data/docs/c24-speech-2010-gavin-short-mla.pdf

 

Categories: Politics, Falkland Islands.

Top Comments

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  • Marco

    ”when his family first arrived (1842) there was no indigenous population“ Of course they were expelled to mainland Argentina 9 years earlier. I guess he can say the same thing about the Chagossians.

    The book The last Colonies by Robert Aldrich and John Connell page 200

    1833 ' The Brithish commander raise the Union Jack, claimed possession of the islands and expelled the Argentinians.
    The Falklands officially became a Crown colony in 1840, a governor and a few Scotsmen arrived to establish a Brithish pastoral settlement. Argentina hotly disputed the Brithish takeover, and Buenos Aires made continual diplomatic representations over the next 150 years to recover the islands”

    Jun 24th, 2010 - 10:27 pm 0
  • Beef

    An emotive and heart warming speech. It is time that the Argentine leadership indicated whether they believe in democracy or not. Given they appear to woo regional dictators and blatant abusers of human rights then their objection to the islanders democratic rights (enshrined by the UN) is hardly surprising.

    They appear to want to ethnically cleanse the Islands and thankfully the Islanders are protected by the Brtish garrison.

    Jun 24th, 2010 - 10:37 pm 0
  • NicoDin

    Lies and more lies wrote by their master in UK.
    Your only independence is to go back to UK after all you want to be British.

    Britain is a good place to start with. Tickets with promo code in www.despegar.com

    Jun 24th, 2010 - 10:39 pm 0
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