Falkland Islanders' Future
by Fred Strebeigh
Originally published on the op-ed page of the New York Times, April 6, 1982.
(The Falklands were invaded by Argentina on April 2, 1982.)
(Please click here for the article I wrote on the Falklands in Smithsonian, September 1981.)
Originally published on the op-ed page of the New York Times, April 6, 1982.
(The Falklands were invaded by Argentina on April 2, 1982.)
(Please click here for the article I wrote on the Falklands in Smithsonian, September 1981.)
The sun has set, the cliche goes, on yet another corner of the British Empire, with Argentina's seizure of the Falkland islands, home to a community of hardworking Britishers for longer than Texas and California have been home to Americans. Of all the claims made by Argentina, none can be more cynical than its pledge to ''guarantee the individual rights'' of the Falklanders whose homeland it has invaded.
Already the Falklanders have tasted the loss of personal freedom to a military regime that has said it will throw them in jail for two weeks if they merely step outside their homes. Already they have heard their own radio station barking at them in Spanish, their new official language, which they can not understand. Already they have seen their currency - the Falkland pound, which is tied to the pound sterling and has provided them an economic stability unknown in Argentina - declared meaningless. For years, these pastoral people have dreaded the unknown and threatening land that now has stepped across the water to transform their way of life. How many Falklanders will stay to enjoy whatever Argentina decides their individual rights should be?
I receive many letters from the Falklands, the last from Simon Cass. Not long ago, I took pictures for his sister Jenny's wedding in Christ Church Cathedral in the island's capital, Stanley. Simon's letter shared good news. Jenny and her husband had just won the right - long withheld by absentee holders of Falkland land who live in Britain - to buy a farm.
Argentina in the past has said it would not take away the land of Falkland residents. But now, will Jenny and her husband stay? Jenny and Simon have trained for years with the Falkland militia, preparing for the invasion they hoped would never come. Both were probably fighting invaders in the streets. But then Simon, as he says, has never trusted Argentina. What of other Falklanders who may be less militant?
For 40 years, Matthew and Joan Dummett have tended sheep and kept to themselves in a remote and beautiful corner of the islands, never visiting the capital. Caring for the land of absentee owners as if it were their own, they epitomize the good stewards of the land that Falklanders have always wished to be. Will they stay on in the only home they have ever known?
Even when Matthew earned only $12 a month, he saved it up. What have he and Joan saved for, all their lives, in this little place? One day there, we talked about their fears. Matthew thought Argentina might try germ warfare. ''They'd do something bigger,'' Joan said, ''come in with planes.'' Quietly Matthew said,: ''I've put money by, so we can go where we want if we have to.''
And what will the new government do with Riley Griggs, the Falkland police chief?. Has he been locked in his own jail - 110 years old, walls 22 inches thick, heavy steel doors? Riley never locked those doors: ''We haven't got hardened criminals here,'' he used to say. When Riley had prisoners, he sent them off by day to cut peat, mow fields, paint roofs. When Riley went into a pub, former prisoners would buy him drinks. They would tell his wife they missed her cooking.
Will Riley stay? Or will the new government bring in a new security force, perhaps one that deals with troublemakers by pushing them out of airborne planes?
And what of Ian Harding, the financial secretary who runs an economy that has only modest inflation, no operating deficits, and no unemployment. With 130 percent inflation, a budget never balanced, and 12 percent unemployment, what can Argentina guarantee for him? Or Donald Everdine, managing the same 250,000 acre farm that his father and grandfather did, who says the Falklands are so safe that were it not for the fairy tales they read, his children wouldn't even be afraid of the dark. What can Argentina, where perhaps 11,000 people have ''disappeared'' in the past six years, promise his children?
But then few lands on earth can guarantee the right to untroubled childhood to a community where everyone works hard and no one goes hungry. Perhaps no one has the right to expect such a home. But the Falklanders built one, built it with little help from the Empire - its sun in fact long set beneath the waves - that settled them as pawns to keep its place. This is no coddled community living off subsidized tea and crumpets from the motherland. Taxes sent to Britain over the years have exceeded all support the Crown has given in return.
Still, the Falklanders have looked to Britain as their home. And now, with a choice between the life they have known and the ''rights'' they have been ''guaranteed,'' Falkland islanders again must find themselves looking over the South Atlantic to the Eastern horizon, waiting in hope that the sun will rise just once more.
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Fred Strebeigh lived three months in the Falkland Islands preparing an article for last September's issue of Smithsonian magazine. He has changed Falklanders' identities here to protect them.
Copyright 1982 The New York Times Company
Already the Falklanders have tasted the loss of personal freedom to a military regime that has said it will throw them in jail for two weeks if they merely step outside their homes. Already they have heard their own radio station barking at them in Spanish, their new official language, which they can not understand. Already they have seen their currency - the Falkland pound, which is tied to the pound sterling and has provided them an economic stability unknown in Argentina - declared meaningless. For years, these pastoral people have dreaded the unknown and threatening land that now has stepped across the water to transform their way of life. How many Falklanders will stay to enjoy whatever Argentina decides their individual rights should be?
I receive many letters from the Falklands, the last from Simon Cass. Not long ago, I took pictures for his sister Jenny's wedding in Christ Church Cathedral in the island's capital, Stanley. Simon's letter shared good news. Jenny and her husband had just won the right - long withheld by absentee holders of Falkland land who live in Britain - to buy a farm.
Argentina in the past has said it would not take away the land of Falkland residents. But now, will Jenny and her husband stay? Jenny and Simon have trained for years with the Falkland militia, preparing for the invasion they hoped would never come. Both were probably fighting invaders in the streets. But then Simon, as he says, has never trusted Argentina. What of other Falklanders who may be less militant?
For 40 years, Matthew and Joan Dummett have tended sheep and kept to themselves in a remote and beautiful corner of the islands, never visiting the capital. Caring for the land of absentee owners as if it were their own, they epitomize the good stewards of the land that Falklanders have always wished to be. Will they stay on in the only home they have ever known?
Even when Matthew earned only $12 a month, he saved it up. What have he and Joan saved for, all their lives, in this little place? One day there, we talked about their fears. Matthew thought Argentina might try germ warfare. ''They'd do something bigger,'' Joan said, ''come in with planes.'' Quietly Matthew said,: ''I've put money by, so we can go where we want if we have to.''
And what will the new government do with Riley Griggs, the Falkland police chief?. Has he been locked in his own jail - 110 years old, walls 22 inches thick, heavy steel doors? Riley never locked those doors: ''We haven't got hardened criminals here,'' he used to say. When Riley had prisoners, he sent them off by day to cut peat, mow fields, paint roofs. When Riley went into a pub, former prisoners would buy him drinks. They would tell his wife they missed her cooking.
Will Riley stay? Or will the new government bring in a new security force, perhaps one that deals with troublemakers by pushing them out of airborne planes?
And what of Ian Harding, the financial secretary who runs an economy that has only modest inflation, no operating deficits, and no unemployment. With 130 percent inflation, a budget never balanced, and 12 percent unemployment, what can Argentina guarantee for him? Or Donald Everdine, managing the same 250,000 acre farm that his father and grandfather did, who says the Falklands are so safe that were it not for the fairy tales they read, his children wouldn't even be afraid of the dark. What can Argentina, where perhaps 11,000 people have ''disappeared'' in the past six years, promise his children?
But then few lands on earth can guarantee the right to untroubled childhood to a community where everyone works hard and no one goes hungry. Perhaps no one has the right to expect such a home. But the Falklanders built one, built it with little help from the Empire - its sun in fact long set beneath the waves - that settled them as pawns to keep its place. This is no coddled community living off subsidized tea and crumpets from the motherland. Taxes sent to Britain over the years have exceeded all support the Crown has given in return.
Still, the Falklanders have looked to Britain as their home. And now, with a choice between the life they have known and the ''rights'' they have been ''guaranteed,'' Falkland islanders again must find themselves looking over the South Atlantic to the Eastern horizon, waiting in hope that the sun will rise just once more.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred Strebeigh lived three months in the Falkland Islands preparing an article for last September's issue of Smithsonian magazine. He has changed Falklanders' identities here to protect them.
Copyright 1982 The New York Times Company
Afterword by Fred Strebeigh:
Readers of my article in Smithsonian, September 1981, will recognize Matthew and Joan Dummett as Sue and Rosie Binnie. Falklanders will also recognize all the real people whose names I change above because their islands were under military occupation.
(Click here to go to index page for articles on Falklands.)
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(Click here to go to index page for articles on Falklands.)
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