A Gibraltarian View of Spanish Oppression

Before I get into the subject of politics, I would like to state a couple of facts about myself.

Firstly, I am a Gibraltarian. I was born and bred in Gibraltar and have lived here my entire life (except for three years where I resided in the UK during my university studies).

Secondly, I love almost everything about Spain. I love most of its culture, its people, its natural landscapes, its opportunities. If it wasn’t for certain Spanish individuals who I have felt so privileged to meet given their kind nature, I would never have accomplished most of my lifelong ambitions. I have them and the Spanish culture and opportunities to thank for this. What’s more, fiercely against the views of the general population in Gibraltar, I supported the Spanish national football team in the World Cup 2010. I enjoyed their football style and that mattered more to me than politics, even if the RFEF was hell bent on using politics as a means to keep the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) out of UEFA.

Now properly moving into politics, where in today’s climate, the Spanish Government has deliberately sought to exert pressure on the people of Gibraltar for merely dropping blocks of artificial reefs into our waters. This is being carrying out by creating excessive and highly unnecessary border queues. Since July when the artificial reef blocks were dropped, queues to both enter and leave Gibraltar have grown on average of up to four hours of waiting time to cross either way. This is because the Guardia Civil have been conducting very thorough searches of each and every vehicle in the queue in search of smuggling attempts…. Or so Madrid says. The facts are that Spain has always created queues in the border at a time when Gibraltar exercises its rights as a self-determined territory. It happened when the UK’s Prince Edward and Princess Sophie visited Gibraltar between June 11th and 13th 2012 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee. Spain was the only kingdom to react negatively by rejecting an invitation to the celebrations in London. Dumping blocks of artificial reefs into our waters in the hopes of a prosperous marine environment seems to have upset Mr. Rajoy and Mr. Margallo even more than the royal visit. Excessive border queues and multiple other serious threats to Gibraltar’s peace and freedom has given even today’s young generation of Gibraltarians (myself included) a taste of what it felt like by older generations to have to live under General Franco’s aggressive tactics. It is appalling that in this century, the Partido Popular of Spain have hardly seemed to have shown a change in political stance. A recent threat since the artificial reef has included an introduction of a 50 Euro fee every time a Gibraltarian/tourist vehicle enters or leaves Gibraltar via Spain, even though such an act is a violation of EU law. Further threats include the blockade of Gibraltar’s bunkering and the closure of Spanish airspace to any flight taking off or landing in Gibraltar. The list of threats over the decades is endless. Is this Democracy? Is this dialogue?

On September 10th, Gibraltar will once again celebrate their National Day, this year with a much stronger passion given the circumstances suffered by us, and also by 10,000 Spanish workers in Gibraltar might I add. There are a few of us here who feel a strong sense of solidarity between Catalunya and Gibraltar. I am one of them. Our aim is to show Gibraltar that Catalunya is a friend of ours and not just some region in Spain. Slowly but surely, Gibraltarians are starting to understand that. Our message to you is to keep fighting for your rights to determine your future! God bless Catalunya, and God bless the REAL good people of Spain!

Jared Baglietto