The book accuses British forces of arriving secretly on the islands in the 18th century and taking it by force from the Spanish. Since then the British have refused offers to discuss the islands' sovereignty with Argentina, the book claims.The article seems to do a balanced job of putting the best case from both sides. Of course, as with many intractable disputes, the difficulty is that there are now people there who didn't cause the situation but are relatively innocent beneficiaries or otherwise of the situation where it would be manifestly unjust to oust them for a point of history. Same sort of difficulty with Gibraltar, Ceuta, Melilla, Palestine, and even to some extent Ulster...
It even rears its head in the thing about whether former slave-trader nations should apologise for their role of old. And if they do, what, if any, compensation should be offered? One suggestion is
material compensation could take the form of debt cancellation, development assistance or trust funds, or a number of other measures.and there is a question here about what is taught at schools, too.
it was necessary that society "be reconciled with its own history, that the truth concerning slavery and the slave trade be taught in all schools, publicly acknowledged and better understood".
Of course all of that bears on the issue of whether we can repent corporately. I think that these matters are at the heart of answering that question....
Filed in: EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools special reports | Argentinian pupils to learn how Britain 'colonised' Falklands:Argentina, Falklands, Malvinas, decolonisation, history, UN
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