As I indicated in my last article in The Anguillian of the 6th January 2012 that I would deal with the proposed White Paper, developed by the United Kingdom Government for theOverseasTerritories, I beg first to go back as far as 1969 when the British Government invaded THE ROCK. There was a merchant ship anchored just outside – what was called sixty odd – stationed there for weeks on end. You see, fellow Anguillians, this is an extension of the BRONSON DEEP which passes just outside Little Scrub down to the north of Puerto Rico, and is the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean. It reaches to a depth of over twenty eight thousand feet (28,000 ft) almost as deep as Mt. Everest is high (29,000 ft).
I am sure that many of us especially those who live in the eastern portion of the island can recall, and particularly the fishermen ofIslandHarbour, that whatever the sailors were doing they would halt their activities and apparently began to paint. Similarly on the fishermen’s return from their fish traps the sailors on the merchant ship again began to paint.
By this attitude one can only conjecture that the real reason was financial exploration or prospecting forAnguilla’s mineral wealth whatever source that may be. Secondly, the officer in the British Government, Mr Billingham, who is responsible for theBritishOverseasTerritories, as recently as last year (2011) intimated that about ninety percent ofBritain’s biodiversity is found in theBritishOverseasTerritories. It is alleged that there will be no other advanced constitutions for those territories unless these territories move to political independence from their present constitutions.
As of the article of 6th January 2012, concerning the White Paper by the British for the Overseas Territories which, to my understanding, has been prepared specifically by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office without any input by the Overseas Territories for whom it is intended. To my mind, fellow Anguillians, this approach is entirely dictatorial and totally political slavery in any age and particularly in the twenty first century. Former WHITE PAPERS which spoke of partnerships for prosperity continue to be partnerships in name only.
If one is in a partnership,“It means that he/she/they are equals partners with each other in some activity, especially one of the owners of a business shares equally with the others of the said partnership in equal amounts of profit in accordance to their shares in the outlay of the business or undertaking”. That is according to the “Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English” written by A.S Hornby, E. V Gatenby and H. Wakefield – the Second Edition, 1963, and published by the London University Press. That to my mind are what a PARTNERSHIPS are.
Fellow Anguillians, we must be informed of the British Government’s intention apart fromAnguilla’s biodiversity. The British Government has its eyes on our rich fishing grounds in the northwest, north and east of the Rock. The British is looking seriously and purposefully at these natural resources of ours. For example, the DOGGER BANKS of theNorth Seado not produce the fish it once had. In fact, the fishermen have to comply with quotas’ as to how much fish they can take. Similarly, the Newfound Banks offNewfoundland. The Europeans have to licences to fish.
It is ideally apparent that Anguilla’s natural resources, minerals as well as our vast fishing grounds, are looked at by the British asBritain’s economic future. To my mind, this is why the British Government is monitoringAnguillaso closely. If the British Government is so concerned with our biodiversity, why doesn’t it share with Anguillians in developing our fishing industry with technical and financial support – in giving Anguilla a modern fishing fleet with a canning industry so that Anguillians and the British Government share in the prosperity derived from this endeavour. But the British Government wants all for itself or none at all. Again, we need to protect our fishing grounds from people and countries that rape them. The British Government has the means and the technical know-how to accomplish this also.
Here again, may I remind Her Majesty’s Government that in 1941, the President of the United States of America, the late Franklyn Delano Roosevelt, and the late Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill of Great Britain and Northern Island, drafted the United Nations charter at Placenta Bay off Newfoundland. Britainshould therefore, with all honesty and integrity, assist its remainingOverseasTerritoriesto attain this inalienable right, if nothing else, to ensure that its remaining colonies – I cannot call them anything else – among the clauses of the United Nations have the right of all peoples to self determination irrespective of their sizes or populations. Since Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was one of the original signatories to this important document, the British Government should honour one of the illustrious sons of the twentieth century.
Fellow Anguillians, our ultimate aim should be decided by the entire electorate of the Rock when Anguillians feel that the time is ripe for such an undertaking. As far as the British White Paper of 2012 is concerned the Government of Anguilla should ensure that, before agreeing to its contents, the island’s electorate is fully informed of its pros and cons; and that a committee of Anguillians of all political persuasions discuss this document fully and come to a mutual conclusion.
Finally, fellow Anguillians, I hereby reiterate my former statement that this document, which was drawn up solely by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is wholly and absolutely dictatorial and smacks coming from the “MOTHER OF DEMOCRACY”. It is therefore time for the British Government to treat us Anguillians as equal partners in our future relationships between both Governments, and Anguillians should not be afraid to speak out against any atrocities that may arise again and so should the British Government. However, in speaking out there must be mutual respect from both sides of the equation.
