Recently published Open Letter from and for the End of the World


Extropy

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I recently, amost on a whim after reading more about the minefields left in the Falkland Islands, wrote an open letter to the Falkland Islanders directed to the Government House as I had no private contacts there at the time. To my surprise it was recently published on August 8 2014 in the "Penguin News". It's not much but it constitutes a political statement against Nationalism. I think there is one typo corrected but otherwise the printed edition linked is verbatim:

Dear Representatives of the British Subjects of the Falkland Islands,

Dear people of the Falkland Islands,
I am citizen of the Argentine Republic and I outright sympathise with the British and indeed Falkland Islander position on the supposed "conflict". Not only was I raised this way but I have always thought the matter as a simple case of sense of justice: individuals should not be forced in general; but also in particular they should not be coerced to live under a foreign and particularly undesirable government!
Firstly I would like to apologise in the name of all reasonably-minded Argentines for the continued, sustained, relentless harassment that our government is every year inflicting on your individual sovereignty, and by that I obviously mean on the individual rights of every islander who would like to remain British unmolested. The fact that these literally outlandish claims are backed by the United Nations and a sizeable portion of the Argentine population only makes the situation more despicable. I do hope you don't take Argentine claims seriously, despite what has happened in the past.
Then I'd like to thank the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom, the British Government, and especially the late Baroness Thatcher for her determination and the soldiers who shed their blood for a just cause that incidentally allowed me to be born under a democratic government. For it was the folly of the war and the prompt British reaction that contributed greatly to the stepping down of the Fascistic dictatorial military junta that controlled, and bled Argentina at that time. How a country that had temporarily suspended habeas corpus deemed it morally justifiable to invade a portion of the country that invented the concept of habeas corpus is beyond rational or even humane understanding. It was indeed an affront to human dignity.
Finally I would like to offer the concept that reparations are due. The invasion was utterly unjustified and obviously unprovoked, and many Argentines know this. The invasion left the Falklands, once one of the most peaceful territories on Earth, tainted by minefields. This constitutes an ongoing imposition from the Argentine Government upon the Islands, as you now have pieces of land locked to development or whatever use you would want to give them. It might not be good diplomacy to demand reparations, I know for a fact that the United Kingdom seeks good relations with Argentina to a fault, but my sense of fairness tells me that the Argentine taxpayer should be fiscally responsible for the however costly removal of all land mines and unexploded shells left during those disgraceful months in 1982. I have to pay a 21% VAT each time I purchase any product or service and I am certain that the money is not being responsible spent. If at least some of that capital went to help repair a historic injustice I would be more than glad to pay for it, and so would many Argentines, perhaps more than you would imagine (as we can't be to vocal about our stance given the mob mentality that pervades Argentina).
I would like to leave you with just one curious note: Most of the Earth's landmass had been already inhabited by humans before the Age of Discovery. Most but not all: the Falkland Islands are such an exception. Unlike Argentina; which had a native american population that was invaded and colonised by the Incans, Spaniards, and then internally by the Argentine Federal Government and European settlers; the Falkland Islands had never been reached, even less settled, by any population group before various Western Europeans sighted them and the British settled them. If there was one territory on Earth that posed no question whatsoever as of who are the original, "native", population that would be the Falkland Islands.
This letter is written to all Falkland Islanders and I give permission to reproduce it entirely or partially in any either governmental or private English language publication.
Most kind regards from your neighbour to the West,
(my signature below)
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