Falklands : FIRS GOES ONE TO ONE WITH DICK SAWLE 06/27/11
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 30.06.2011 (Article Archived on 14.07.2011)
Councillor Dick Sawle (DS)was part of the Falklands delegation that attended and spoke at the C-24 Decolonisation Committee in New York and today I will be finding out how he thought it went. Councillor Sawle speaking to me on Friday felt that the Falklands delegation were able to put across their key message as well.
FIRS GOES ONE TO ONE WITH DICK SAWLE 06/27/11
A Report for FIRS by Stacey Bragger (SB) 06/27/11
Councillor Dick Sawle (DS)was part of the Falklands delegation that attended and spoke at the C-24 Decolonisation Committee in New York and today I will be finding out how he thought it went. Councillor Sawle speaking to me on Friday felt that the Falklands delegation were able to put across their key message as well.
DS: it’s a very interesting one because the C-24 as I think I said to a number of people by e-mail is like trying to push an elephant up the stairs. I mean there literally people whose minds you can’t change with an axe. I think the C-24 is composed of that type of person. Obviously Argentina has massive support from the rest of South America. We were always going to be a minority voice and it’s very difficult but I think that the way to tackle that is to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And at some stage one can only hope that someone will listen to the facts of the case and if the UN has any principles then it’s got to start hearing what the Falkland Islanders actually want.
SB Did you get any positive feedback from other people attending the meeting?
DS: We had some very strong support from one of the speakers there and that’s an annual occurrence for which we are very grateful. But quite frankly I did not expect a great deal of support from the floor. What did surprise me though was that Argentina, a country of 40Million people versus a country of 3,000 people – Argentina with its massive natural resources and wealth versus the Falklands – the little guy – it did surprise me that when the resolution of course was carried which it always is every year, it did surprise me that hector Timmerman turned around and shook hands and slapped backs and it was like the end of some sort of kids’ football match, which I thought was quite surprising for what I would hope would be a more mature democratic government.
SB: Any surprises from the Argentine delegation’s speaches or was it the usual routine.
DS: To be quite honest, Stacey, I think the only surprise is that they keep putting forward the same old arguments year after year which we all know and can prove are total dribble, for example this expulsion myth that we expelled a native population in 1833. And we all know that’s simply not true. There was a population of about 30 people on the Islands at the time. Two of the guys decided to leave of their own free will and the rest were persuaded to stay by the British Captain Onslowe and two guys left with their wives so it was hardly an expulsion and in total four people left of their own accord.
SB: I believe that the Jamie Peck Issue was raised as well at the meeting.
DS: That’s right. There were a few comments about Jamie Peck’s actions and the fact that he apparently received death threats. My view of this is I don’t know if he has or he hasn’t. It was not something I was prepared to comment on for the press at the time because he can move out of the Falklands to Argentina if he wishes. That’s entirely up to him. I noticed also hector Timmerman in his speech said that Argentines aren’t allowed to return to the Islands. That’s simply not true – just another case of falsehoods being propagated by the Argentine Government.
SB: I guess there’s nothing unexpected coming out of this meeting but that you feel it’s important that the Falklands keep chipping away at this?
DS: I think it’s very important that we do keep chipping away at it and I also think it wasn’t just the C-24. The C-24 was a massive opportunity for Falkland Islanders to speak on behalf of the Falkland Islands which is very important. It’s very important that people do gradually understand that the Falkland Islanders’ wishes are paramount and that the UK Government will support us in whatever we decide to do. But the UK is very much secondary and it’s time that people in the wider political community realise that they can’t just call this a spat between the UK Government and the Argentine Government. It is not. It’s a question of Falkland Islanders’ wishes and a question of what we want to do and it is a question of our self-determination. And I think that did come across quite strongly.
It is also the case that after the C-24 we had a group of journalists to a lunch we had invited them to which gave us a good chance to go over all the main points that we are making in both of our speeches and the press coming out of that has really been quite positive. Our basic messages are 1765 Britain claim the Islands. There was no indigenous population at the time. The 1833 episode where the lie that we expelled the population was a load of tosh and nonsense, the 1999 joint statement that was made to the UN – that has been broken by Argentina just about in all cases, the fact that since then Argentina has taken out a number of unilateral actions we are all very familiar with which resulted in an economic blockade of the Islands. I find it quite staggering that some of the comments raised in the C-24 by Mercosur and Unasur for example were stating the fact that it is an economic blockade, Decree 256 which denies vessels and passengers passing through Argentine Territorial waters and of course a fundamental issue is that there is an attempt on our right to self-determination and our economic freedoms. And those messages we gave to the journalists and some of the articles which I have seen which are all in Spanish for it was for the Spanish American press, I think are quite useful and good for us.
SB: Roger Edwards publically invited the Chairman of the Committee to the Falklands. Do you think we might be seeing him sometime soon?
DS: Whether or not we see him I have no idea. We certainly invited him. I think it was a very good idea to invite him because it’s time people realised there is a side to the story – entirely a Falkland Islands side. I rather hope that he visits and it would be very good if he did. I believe the Chair of the Committee is a very fair man and a very professional guy and it would be good for him to see first-hand what the Falkland Islands are like and know what the people think.
SB: I believe that you and Roger Edwards were due to have some meetings in Washington. Did you have those meetings?
DS: We did. We travelled from New York on the train to Washington, which I have to say was very hot and very humid. We had a very good day there with a variety of people. We saw people from the UK Foreign Office in Washington and we also met with a number of officials from the USA Government and it was very, very useful to be able to educate them first-hand about what the Falklands’ arguments if you like are all about and to be able to put those same views that I mentioned earlier on. And I think we had a very good and very friendly reception. It was well worthwhile.
SB: Did you raise the matter of the US signing up to the OAS statement recently supporting Argentina?
DS: We did. The fact is that that OAS statement, as I understand it hasn’t changed from previous years. And their position on the Falkland Islands has been about the same since 1940. Whilst it might be dressed up a bit in the press, I don’t think there is any great change there.
SB: Councillor Edwards was also due to go to Canada to have discussions with parliamentarians there. Did that happen in the end?
DS: It did. We parted company in Washington and Roger headed up to Canada for some meetings in Ottawa which I gather from e-mails he sent tonight went very well indeed. As he put it in one of his e-mails, conversation of half an hour is worth 1,000 e-mails. That went quite well. I had to catch a flight to go back to the UK to make it for the Island Games and Roger, I think, is heading back via Chile.
(100X Transcription Service)
|
