Gibraltar shows its colours on National Day

A sea of Gibraltarians dressed in the red and white of their flag booed Tony Blair yesterday during a demonstration against the Government’s willingness to share sovereignty over the colony with Spain. Most of Gibraltar’s 30,000 subjects attended a National Day rally to show their opposition to any dilution of their Britishness. It was the most festive “no” ever seen in the colony as people blew whistles, danced, sang and vied with one another for the most innovative costume in which to proclaim their national identity.

Even dogs were making a statement: a dalmatian had its spots changed from black to red for the day, while other dogs had been dressed in red and white bandanas. Ten days ago Spanish authorities refused permission for some of their country’s leading canine experts to judge Gibraltar’s annual international dog show, a move that politicians in Gibraltar said shows Spain’s unchanging belligerence towards the Rock.

The crowd listened to speeches from Peter Caruana, the Chief Minister, and others including Michael Howard, the Shadow Chancellor.

With a giant Gibraltar flag portraying the Rock’s symbols of a fortress and a key and beneath the slogan “Self-Determination is Democracy”, Mr Caruana told his audience that democrats would ignore a referendum called for November “at their peril”.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, told the Commons in July that the Government was prepared to share sovereignty with Spain over Gibraltar as part of a deal to end centuries of rancour and conflict between the two countries. Although the proposals are not finalised, Mr Caruana has decided to hold a referendum on November 7, when the majority of Gibraltarians are certain to reject the proposal.

The British Government, which has promised to convene its own poll in the colony on an Anglo-Spanish agreement but refuses to say when, says that it will ignore the November result.

Mr Caruana said that joint sovereignty was “a politically and legally misconceived, dangerous and untried concept that would condemn future generations to colonial or near-colonial status”.

Mr Howard said that the Government’s negotiations with Madrid were a betrayal and that the Conservative Party stood “shoulder to shoulder” with the people of Gibraltar.

“When we return to office, we will not be bound in any way, shape or form to any agreement that may be reached by the present Government with the Government of Spain on the future of Gibraltar,” he assured the rally.

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, urged Gibraltarians to “please make sure every vote is cast” in the referendum.

The National Day is a recent development in the nearly 300 years of British rule in Gibraltar. It was initiated in 1991 by Joe Bossano, then the Chief Minister, and September 10 was chosen because that was the day in 1967 that Gibraltar last held a referendum on its future. Only 44 people voted to throw in their lot with General Franco, the Spanish dictator.

Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, but has been trying to recover it ever since.

After the rally, over a lunch accompanied by Pesquera, the favourite red wine of José María Aznar, the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Caruana seemed inclined to entertain a future romance with his Spanish neighbours, for whom Gibraltar is a sore on national pride. “Embrace us, but don’t smother us,” was his advice to Madrid, if the Spanish Government held out any hope of a new relationship with the “Llanitos” — as the people of the Rock call themselves.

“Gibraltarians we are, British we stay” and “We will never surrender” were among the popular statements printed on T-shirts.

Rene Santos, 28, a former soldier who was accompanied by his wife, Louise, and their two children, said: “Even if there was an agreement, the Spanish will just keep on pushing until they get everything. They’ll never be satisfied until then.”

Louise, also 28 and originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, said: “I have nothing against Spain personally, it’s a lovely country, but this is a part of Britain in the Mediterranean. It’s our home and if we were Spanish it would spoil the place. This is how we want to stay.”

Abandoning Gibraltar is just another step in England's long retreat from greatness.

They "granted" independence to all of their colonies in Africa. And see what happened there.

They surrendered Hong Kong to the Communist Chinese, a cowardly act. (No. Only the "New Territories" were leased. Hong Kong proper was ceded to Britian in perpetuity.)

They totally disarmed their citizens and denied them any right of self-defense.

They embraced EU socialism.

And who are "they"? The English politicians. Those gutless wonders who have not fought their country's battles. Those cowardly culls who have ducked out of three generations of war where the manhood of England was destroyed (Watch closely America, and tremble.)

The last gasp of England's glory was defending the Falklands. It is very revealing that a woman, Dame Thatcher, was the only one "man enough" in English government to do the right thing.

Gibraltar being abandoned? Count on it. The sun has set on the British Lion.

Warning! Bitter, Bitter Newfoundlander alert.:)

The British (usually but not always labour) have sold out everyone who ever counted on them. Let's see now, Newfoundland? Sold out after nearly bankrupting themselves helping the brits during the first war. If the money and men that were lost in France weren't taken, or were somehow compensated for, there would be a wealthy little martime nation north of New York today. Instead, the British ran a crooked little process by which we were esentially abandoned after the war. The story of how we were moved from being an independent state to Canada's welfare case is a long, disgusting story. We were among the first, but we weren't and won't be the last.

Rhodesia? Sold out to a pack of Maoists in 1980. They provided the space and facilities for all kinds of Air Training plans in the second war,as well as all kinds of men and other material, and possessed with a fanatical sense of identification with being "British". Evidently not good enough. "Toodles old boy, I hope Chairman Maugbe isn't as bad as they say he is." Nobody thinks that Ian Smith's government was right or viable, but London's cut and run there was shameful and we're seeing its fallout today.

The Falkland Islands? Labour was in the process of selling their as*es down the river when Thatcher was elected. They lucked out. Sitting on a vast oil reserve and commanding a major sea lane tends to do that for you.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that if the trends of British foriegn policy holds, the citizens of Gibraltar had better take some Spanish lessons. Because being a little expensive, or standing in the way of London's goal du jour is a good way to get abandoned to your worst enemies. Further, what you believe about your relationship to that culture,what you've done for them in the past, et cetra, et cetra, is going to turn out to mean exactly squat. I love the English people and their culture, but their gov't is not to be trusted. Ever.

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