- Email: [email protected]
Falklands or Malvinas?
260
Book reviews / Political Geography 20 (2001) 257–270
the poor are both “victims and agents” or population growth and environmental destruction, as the World Bank claims, in a case study of Tanzania. Here analyses, showing poverty engendered by SAPs and the privatization of public services, as the root cause of environmental destruction, highlights the need for further, similar case studies across the developing world. The overall significance of the CWPEs alternative feminist perspectives, lies in its contribution to the urgent task of providing a more comprehensive understanding, of the currently opaque dimensions of the political economy of the new world order and the socio-political frameworks of emerging national and international politics. Their focus on some of the critical changes taking place in institutions and social structures helps make more transparent the way power is being wielded in newly defined arenas and through new alignments. The collection indicates the need for further research, especially in developing regions, in order that renewed political pressure for sustainable development can be directed more effectively in the current global crisis. S. Biggs University of East London, Department of Cultural Studies, 4/6 University Way, off Royal Albert Way, London E16 2RD, UK E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 9 6 2 - 6 2 9 8 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 5 7 - 3
Falklands or Malvinas? Conrado Etchebarne Bullrich; Buenos Aires, Nuevohacer Grupo Editor Latinamericano, 2000, 295pp., ISBN 950-694-614-0 (pbk). In April 1982, global diplomacy failed to prevent a war from unfolding in the South Atlantic. The subsequent conflict between Britain and Argentina over the sparsely populated islands of the Falklands (Malvinas in the Spanish-speaking world) invited widespread ridicule as a deeply unpopular British Prime Minister and a repugnant Argentine military regime fought it out in the hills and valleys surrounding Port Stanley. The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges described the war as being akin to two bald men fighting over a comb. The implication was clear as the Falklands Islands were not worth fighting over and Anglo-Argentine relations should not be held in animated suspension because of a small population living on a remote series of islands. 1,000 people lost their lives defending the rights of a 2,000 strong community who wished to remain British citizens and were unwilling to contemplate a
* Tel.: +44 1784 443580; fax: +44 1784 472836.
Book reviews / Political Geography 20 (2001) 257–270
261
post-colonial future. Twenty years later, this wool-dependent community has been transformed by a sustained injection of money from fishing licensing and bolstered by the presence of a British military base in the Islands. It is now one of the wealthiest communities in the American hemisphere. Despite the much-heralded rapprochement between Britain and Argentina in the 1990s, the dispute over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) remains a significant factor in bilateral relations. As such it provides evidence of the enduring symbolic and geopolitical power of these Islands. Conrado Etchebarne Bullrich’s Falklands or Malvinas? is the latest attempt by an Argentine writer to review the history behind the conflict and the contemporary condition of this long running dispute. It is a highly readable analysis of the dispute which is designed for a public rather than academic audience in Argentina and elsewhere. The book is distinctive in the sense that Bullrich has visited the Falklands on a number of occasions often entering the Islands on a second passport. Between 1982 and 1999, no Argentine passport holder was allowed to enter the Falklands and this restriction proved to be a major irritant to Argentina. However, it did illustrate the growing confidence of the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) to assert its determination to restrict the entry of unwanted visitors. The exception to this rule was the visits of the Argentine next of kin which occurred on a regular basis since 1991. With the new 14th July Agreement in 1999, the FIG agreed to drop this restriction in return for the renewal of flights from South America (which had been terminated by the Chilean government in response to the arrest of General Pinochet in October 1998). His analysis is combined with considerable narrative relating the everyday life on the Falkland Islands with the post-colonial history of Latin America. Given his nationality, his field research in the Islands has largely been derived from observation rather than in-depth interviews with the local community and as a consequence his visual and written sources occasionally let him down. Some of the material relating to wildlife, domestic animals, disease and social and cultural life of the community is clearly incorrect. However, in other areas Bullrich performs a useful service for Argentine readers who even to this day can express surprise that the Falklands is populated by an English-speaking community who have no wish to be associated with Argentina. To be fair to Bullrich, he is also attentive to the fact that the Anglophone community have (whether they like or not) been shaped and in some cases transformed by interaction with the South American mainland. Ideas, people and money travel and no culture even the Falkland community is hermetically sealed. Indeed the Falkland Islands community provides a fascinating example of what Michael Billig would call ‘banal nationalism’. Union Jack flags and other signifiers of British identity are important elements in everyday life in a manner which is reminiscent of the Northern Ireland Unionist/Loyalist population. The final part of the book is concerns with a proposal that Bullrich and Alastair Forsyth have made concerning the ending of the dispute over the Falklands. In one sense, this is a long time in coming as Bullrich warns the reader in the opening pages that the last vestiges of colonialism must be removed from South America. As with the former Argentine Foreign Minister, Guido Di Tella, it is recognised that full sovereignty is unlikely to be passed to Argentina. The 1982 conflict has seem-
262
Book reviews / Political Geography 20 (2001) 257–270
ingly nullified that option. Rather Bullrich and Forsyth suggest that the Falklands should be placed under joint Anglo-Argentine sovereignty with considerable allowance made for the local community and their interests subject to a referendum in Argentina and the Falkland Islands (the UK populace is excluded from formal consultation). This is not a radical proposal in the sense that countless options have been discussed before but it is noteworthy that the position of unequivocal sovereignty has (in public terms) altered in favour of a negotiated settlement based on joint sovereignty. This is a major shift from the policy of non-negotiation favoured by President Raul Alfonsin (1983–1989). Falkland Islanders, of course, would pour scorn on such a suggestion, even if that community is more divided then ever before on how to respond to Argentina and the South American mainland. If there is a major absence in this book it concerns a lack of consideration of Argentine territorial nationalism. In contrast to the work of Carlos Escude´, Bullrich does not question the persistent significance of the Falklands/Malvinas to the geopolitical imagination of Argentina. The symbolic power of the Islands is simply explained away as a relic of colonialism rather than exploring how Argentina’s territorial obsession with spaces such as the Beagle Channel, Antarctica and South Georgia led to near war with Chile in 1978 and widespread international condemnation. Territorial integrity is a theme which features strongly in Argentine public education and children are taught from a young age that ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinos’. This is not to imply that Argentina does not have a reasonable grievance, the British did annex the Falklands in 1833 in a manner which was repeated all over the world. Defending the principle of self-determination may be a worthy objective but the British have never been terribly consistent as the expelled residents of Diego Garcia could testify. And Argentina’s obsession with events leading up to 1833 is understandable given the crude power politics of the situation. The United States wanted Diego Garcia for a Cold War base and the Falklands Islands is a white community which is counter claimed by a so-called Third World state. Any solution to this remarkable dispute will require all the interested parties examining carefully their expressions of banal nationalism. Selective memory recall in combination with unreconstructed territorial nationalism deserves further critical reflection. While Falklands or Malvinas? contributes to these issues, it is not a definitive statement.
*
Klaus Dodds University of London, Royal Holloway, Department of Geography, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK E-mail address: [email protected]
PII: S 0 9 6 2 - 6 2 9 8 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 5 9 - 7
Book reviews / Political Geography 20 (2001) 257–270
the poor are both “victims and agents” or population growth and environmental destruction, as the World Bank claims, in a case study of Tanzania. Here analyses, showing poverty engendered by SAPs and the privatization of public services, as the root cause of environmental destruction, highlights the need for further, similar case studies across the developing world. The overall significance of the CWPEs alternative feminist perspectives, lies in its contribution to the urgent task of providing a more comprehensive understanding, of the currently opaque dimensions of the political economy of the new world order and the socio-political frameworks of emerging national and international politics. Their focus on some of the critical changes taking place in institutions and social structures helps make more transparent the way power is being wielded in newly defined arenas and through new alignments. The collection indicates the need for further research, especially in developing regions, in order that renewed political pressure for sustainable development can be directed more effectively in the current global crisis. S. Biggs University of East London, Department of Cultural Studies, 4/6 University Way, off Royal Albert Way, London E16 2RD, UK E-mail address: [email protected] PII: S 0 9 6 2 - 6 2 9 8 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 5 7 - 3
Falklands or Malvinas? Conrado Etchebarne Bullrich; Buenos Aires, Nuevohacer Grupo Editor Latinamericano, 2000, 295pp., ISBN 950-694-614-0 (pbk). In April 1982, global diplomacy failed to prevent a war from unfolding in the South Atlantic. The subsequent conflict between Britain and Argentina over the sparsely populated islands of the Falklands (Malvinas in the Spanish-speaking world) invited widespread ridicule as a deeply unpopular British Prime Minister and a repugnant Argentine military regime fought it out in the hills and valleys surrounding Port Stanley. The Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges described the war as being akin to two bald men fighting over a comb. The implication was clear as the Falklands Islands were not worth fighting over and Anglo-Argentine relations should not be held in animated suspension because of a small population living on a remote series of islands. 1,000 people lost their lives defending the rights of a 2,000 strong community who wished to remain British citizens and were unwilling to contemplate a
* Tel.: +44 1784 443580; fax: +44 1784 472836.
Book reviews / Political Geography 20 (2001) 257–270
261
post-colonial future. Twenty years later, this wool-dependent community has been transformed by a sustained injection of money from fishing licensing and bolstered by the presence of a British military base in the Islands. It is now one of the wealthiest communities in the American hemisphere. Despite the much-heralded rapprochement between Britain and Argentina in the 1990s, the dispute over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) remains a significant factor in bilateral relations. As such it provides evidence of the enduring symbolic and geopolitical power of these Islands. Conrado Etchebarne Bullrich’s Falklands or Malvinas? is the latest attempt by an Argentine writer to review the history behind the conflict and the contemporary condition of this long running dispute. It is a highly readable analysis of the dispute which is designed for a public rather than academic audience in Argentina and elsewhere. The book is distinctive in the sense that Bullrich has visited the Falklands on a number of occasions often entering the Islands on a second passport. Between 1982 and 1999, no Argentine passport holder was allowed to enter the Falklands and this restriction proved to be a major irritant to Argentina. However, it did illustrate the growing confidence of the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) to assert its determination to restrict the entry of unwanted visitors. The exception to this rule was the visits of the Argentine next of kin which occurred on a regular basis since 1991. With the new 14th July Agreement in 1999, the FIG agreed to drop this restriction in return for the renewal of flights from South America (which had been terminated by the Chilean government in response to the arrest of General Pinochet in October 1998). His analysis is combined with considerable narrative relating the everyday life on the Falkland Islands with the post-colonial history of Latin America. Given his nationality, his field research in the Islands has largely been derived from observation rather than in-depth interviews with the local community and as a consequence his visual and written sources occasionally let him down. Some of the material relating to wildlife, domestic animals, disease and social and cultural life of the community is clearly incorrect. However, in other areas Bullrich performs a useful service for Argentine readers who even to this day can express surprise that the Falklands is populated by an English-speaking community who have no wish to be associated with Argentina. To be fair to Bullrich, he is also attentive to the fact that the Anglophone community have (whether they like or not) been shaped and in some cases transformed by interaction with the South American mainland. Ideas, people and money travel and no culture even the Falkland community is hermetically sealed. Indeed the Falkland Islands community provides a fascinating example of what Michael Billig would call ‘banal nationalism’. Union Jack flags and other signifiers of British identity are important elements in everyday life in a manner which is reminiscent of the Northern Ireland Unionist/Loyalist population. The final part of the book is concerns with a proposal that Bullrich and Alastair Forsyth have made concerning the ending of the dispute over the Falklands. In one sense, this is a long time in coming as Bullrich warns the reader in the opening pages that the last vestiges of colonialism must be removed from South America. As with the former Argentine Foreign Minister, Guido Di Tella, it is recognised that full sovereignty is unlikely to be passed to Argentina. The 1982 conflict has seem-
262
Book reviews / Political Geography 20 (2001) 257–270
ingly nullified that option. Rather Bullrich and Forsyth suggest that the Falklands should be placed under joint Anglo-Argentine sovereignty with considerable allowance made for the local community and their interests subject to a referendum in Argentina and the Falkland Islands (the UK populace is excluded from formal consultation). This is not a radical proposal in the sense that countless options have been discussed before but it is noteworthy that the position of unequivocal sovereignty has (in public terms) altered in favour of a negotiated settlement based on joint sovereignty. This is a major shift from the policy of non-negotiation favoured by President Raul Alfonsin (1983–1989). Falkland Islanders, of course, would pour scorn on such a suggestion, even if that community is more divided then ever before on how to respond to Argentina and the South American mainland. If there is a major absence in this book it concerns a lack of consideration of Argentine territorial nationalism. In contrast to the work of Carlos Escude´, Bullrich does not question the persistent significance of the Falklands/Malvinas to the geopolitical imagination of Argentina. The symbolic power of the Islands is simply explained away as a relic of colonialism rather than exploring how Argentina’s territorial obsession with spaces such as the Beagle Channel, Antarctica and South Georgia led to near war with Chile in 1978 and widespread international condemnation. Territorial integrity is a theme which features strongly in Argentine public education and children are taught from a young age that ‘Las Malvinas son Argentinos’. This is not to imply that Argentina does not have a reasonable grievance, the British did annex the Falklands in 1833 in a manner which was repeated all over the world. Defending the principle of self-determination may be a worthy objective but the British have never been terribly consistent as the expelled residents of Diego Garcia could testify. And Argentina’s obsession with events leading up to 1833 is understandable given the crude power politics of the situation. The United States wanted Diego Garcia for a Cold War base and the Falklands Islands is a white community which is counter claimed by a so-called Third World state. Any solution to this remarkable dispute will require all the interested parties examining carefully their expressions of banal nationalism. Selective memory recall in combination with unreconstructed territorial nationalism deserves further critical reflection. While Falklands or Malvinas? contributes to these issues, it is not a definitive statement.
*
Klaus Dodds University of London, Royal Holloway, Department of Geography, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK E-mail address: [email protected]
PII: S 0 9 6 2 - 6 2 9 8 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 5 9 - 7