tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/gibraltar-6640/articlesGibraltar – The Conversation2023-05-23T16:02:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2062232023-05-23T16:02:49Z2023-05-23T16:02:49ZWhy are killer whales attacking boats? Expert Q&A<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527778/original/file-20230523-19-z9jh60.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5646%2C3769&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A killer whale in the Strait of Gibraltar.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/killer-whale-strait-gibraltar-moroccan-fishing-1705505377">Nacho Goytre/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Orcas living off Europe’s Iberian coast recently <a href="https://www.livescience.com/animals/orcas/orcas-have-sunk-3-boats-in-europe-and-appear-to-be-teaching-others-to-do-the-same-but-why">struck and sunk</a> a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar. Scientists suspect that this is the third vessel this subpopulation of killer whales has capsized since May 2020, when a female orca believed to be the originator of this behaviour suffered a traumatic encounter with a boat.</em></p>
<p><em>In most reported cases, orcas are biting, bending and breaking off the rudders of sailboats. So how did they learn to imitate this behaviour – and why? We asked Dr Luke Rendell, who researches learning, behaviour and communication among marine mammals at the University of St Andrews.</em></p>
<p><strong>Why do you think orcas appear to be attacking boats off the Iberian coast?</strong></p>
<p>Any answer that I (or anyone else, really) give to this question is speculation – we just don’t know enough about killer whale motivations to be certain. The puzzle for biologists is to understand how this behaviour developed. </p>
<p>The lack of obvious fitness-enhancing rewards (like food, for example) means this is unlikely to have evolved because it enabled the whales to better survive in their environment. That is what we would call an adaptive trait: it confers a direct evolutionary benefit by helping the animal find food, mate, or successfully raise offspring. </p>
<p>But I can say what this behaviour looks like. There are multiple accounts of single and groups of orcas developing idiosyncratic and not obviously adaptive habits. These range from one group engaging in what seemed like a short-term fad of carrying dead salmon on their heads, to another vocally mimicking sea lions (there may be an adaptive outcome to convincing sea lions that you are a sea lion too, not a voracious predator, but there’s no evidence of this occurring).</p>
<p>There are other kinds of behaviour that do appear to bring rewards – for example, captive orcas learning to regurgitate fish to use as bait for gulls, which they apparently prefer to eat over the fish. But the origin and spread of these boat attacks currently fits very well with the characterisation of a temporary fad, and it remains to be seen how long it persists.</p>
<p>If instead there is an adaptive explanation, my hunch is it has to do with curiosity sometimes leading to important innovations around food sources, which can then be shared.</p>
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<p><strong>How do you suspect this behaviour is being transmitted among killer whales in the region?</strong></p>
<p>This behaviour probably started with individual orcas, but would appear to spread through social learning. We recently published a <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0314">paper</a> on a similar fad-like behaviour in bottlenose dolphins, where we identified the dolphin that promoted a tail-walking behaviour it had acquired during a temporary period of captivity. </p>
<p>This is pretty similar to the account of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mms.12947">an academic journal</a> on the recent yacht sinking, in that a specific individual was identified as the potential source. This orca was prompted to engage in the behaviour due to a past trauma – perhaps being struck by a boat rudder, according to the account. </p>
<p>The precise reason is very hard to know for sure, but we do know the behaviour has spread through her group. And it’s difficult to explain that dynamic without involving some kind of social learning – the spread of information.</p>
<p><strong>Is there evidence of killer whales behaving this way in the past?</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/_lrendell/status/1110551489569787904">I have experienced</a> orcas swimming very close to our boat in the waters near St Vincent, in the eastern Caribbean, during a research survey. Our vessel, like those involved in these interactions, was about the size of a large whale (a humpback, for instance). Maybe they were investigating us, but it never escalated to any kind of physical interaction. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527765/original/file-20230523-21-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black-and-white illustration of a sperm whale crunching a whaling boat in its jaws." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527765/original/file-20230523-21-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527765/original/file-20230523-21-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527765/original/file-20230523-21-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527765/original/file-20230523-21-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=941&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527765/original/file-20230523-21-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527765/original/file-20230523-21-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527765/original/file-20230523-21-6opxah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration from an early edition of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#/media/File:Moby_Dick_p510_illustration.jpg">Augustus Burnham Shute</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>My impression was that they were interested in the boat’s propeller, and the currents it created – they came so close on one occasion that we had to take the engine out of gear to prevent an injury. So, approaching boats is not novel. Damaging them in such a determined way is, however, not something I have ever heard orcas do before.</p>
<p>It is, of course, known to happen in other species – notably sperm whales, giving rise to the story of Moby Dick: a combination of accounts of a white whale off the South American coast dubbed “Mocha Dick”, and the account of the whaler Essex, sunk by a large sperm whale in equatorial waters.</p>
<p><strong>The subpopulation of orcas responsible for these attacks is critically endangered. Do you think the group’s conservation status is relevant in some way?</strong></p>
<p>I don’t think it’s particularly relevant to the origin and spread of the behaviour, but it is highly relevant to how we should manage this population. </p>
<p>If these killer whales continue attacking boats, it will make protecting them harder. Not only does interacting with revolving propellers increase the risk of injury to these animals, it also threatens people – from the injuring of crews to the sinking of vessels – which will create political pressure for something to be done.</p>
<p>Of course, small vessel operators do not need to navigate the areas along the Atlantic coasts of Spain and Portugal where these interactions with orcas have been happening. Preventing them from doing so would solve the problem – but for many boat operators and owners, this is their shortest route, while heading offshore makes for riskier passages. A loss of tourism revenue if these vessels stop will add to pressure for a permanent solution.</p>
<p>It is possible that some will call for these orcas to be controlled, up to and including having them killed if they continue to threaten human life and livelihoods. This poses significant ethical questions about our relationship with these animals.</p>
<p>Should we, as the species that ultimately holds the greatest power, vacate small, vulnerable vessels from the orcas’ habitat as part of a shifting relationship to the sea, which we know is <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-hot-water-heres-why-ocean-temperatures-are-the-hottest-on-record-204534">deteriorating</a> as a result of our actions? Or should we confer on ourselves the right to navigate as we please and control any nonhuman animals that impede it, up to and including culling them? </p>
<p>Historically, the latter view would almost certainly have prevailed, and perhaps it will here. But it is a question which society, rather than scientists, must answer, and it will be telling which way the relevant authorities ultimately turn.</p>
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<img alt="A pod of killer whales swimming side by side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527782/original/file-20230523-15600-kktgwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527782/original/file-20230523-15600-kktgwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527782/original/file-20230523-15600-kktgwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527782/original/file-20230523-15600-kktgwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527782/original/file-20230523-15600-kktgwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527782/original/file-20230523-15600-kktgwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527782/original/file-20230523-15600-kktgwf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Boat collisions are a significant cause of death among cetaceans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/killer-whale-orcinus-orca-408278515">Tory Kallman/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p><strong>Reports indicate a ‘traumatised’ victim of a boat collision initiated the behaviour. Are notions of solidarity and self-defence among killer whales outlandish?</strong></p>
<p>I regard this as plausible speculation. The authors of the recent paper cast it as one of a number of assumptions about how the behaviour might have developed, with generally increased pressure on their habitat and the idea of natural curiosity as other options (the latter is what I think is most likely). </p>
<p>Notions of collective self-defence in cetaceans (aquatic mammals including whales, dolphins and porpoises) are far from outlandish. We have accounts of sperm whales rising to each other’s defence when orcas attack, for example. Solidarity is a more subjective issue, and we don’t have access to the internal mental states of these animals to really understand whether this is going on.</p>
<p>I can, however, point to a different cetacean: humpback whales apparently aid other species, notably seals, that are under attack from orcas. The scientist who led the description of this behaviour, <a href="https://mmi.oregonstate.edu/people/robert-pitman">Robert Pitman</a>, said he regards it as “inadvertent altruism” based on <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/why-did-humpback-whale-just-save-seals-life">a simple rule of thumb</a>: “When you hear a killer whale attack, go break it up.”</p>
<p>These accounts raise interesting questions about the motivations behind orcas attacking boats that we cannot yet answer. It is not impossible that these orcas perceive their own common aggressor in us – but it is also entirely possible they have no such concept.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206223/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Rendell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Orcas appear to be imitating the behaviour of one in particular by damaging sailboat rudders.Luke Rendell, Reader in Biology, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1634472021-06-29T10:08:07Z2021-06-29T10:08:07ZGibraltar reform is a small – but important – step for abortion rights in Europe<p>Gibraltar has voted to change the territory’s strict abortion ban, which held that abortion was punishable by “imprisonment for life” for the pregnant person and anyone who helped them get an abortion.</p>
<p>Just over half of Gibraltar’s 23,343 eligible voters took part in the referendum on June 24, with 62% <a href="https://www.parliament.gi/referendum/results/">voting in favour</a> of reforms to make abortion legally available. The success of the referendum will mean important changes for people in Gibraltar who urgently need access to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/101130911320938/posts/527372748696750/?d=n">safe, legal and local abortion</a>.</p>
<p>Originally <a href="https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/press-releases/hm-government-of-gibraltar-announces-a-referendum-on-whether-to-commence-the-bill-to-amend-the-law-relating-to-termination-of-pregnancies-5282019-5118">planned for March 2020</a>, the vote was delayed by the pandemic until June 2021. The referendum asked voters whether to approve a <a href="https://www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/legislations/crimes-amendment-act-2019-4693">set of reforms</a> to Gibraltar’s Crimes Act, to allow abortion in the following circumstances:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>where termination is needed to prevent “grave permanent” injury to mental or physical health</p></li>
<li><p>where there is a substantial risk of fatal foetal abnormality</p></li>
<li><p>where the pregnancy would risk the life of the pregnant person</p></li>
<li><p>and where the pregnancy involves risk to the mental or physical health of the person, greater than the risk if the pregnancy were terminated (no later than 12 weeks into the pregnancy).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Permitting abortion in the case of risk to health, risk to life, and fatal foetal abnormality are relatively common abortion allowances. The last requires more explanation: it permits abortion, up to 12 weeks, based on doctors’ assessment of the relative risk of ending or continuing the pregnancy. </p>
<p>This is the same test established in <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/87/contents">the Abortion Act of 1967</a> that regulates abortion in England, Scotland and Wales. That law permits abortion where two doctors certify that “the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman” up to 24 weeks. </p>
<p>In practice, doctors in Britain interpret this provision broadly and use it to permit abortion on request, because carrying pregnancy to full term is almost always more medically risky than ending it. In 2019, 98% of abortions in England and Wales were <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/891405/abortion-statistics-commentary-2019.pdf">performed on this ground</a>.</p>
<p>An important note: this is not the same as permitting abortion on request, because it requires abortion seekers to give reasons that comport with the existing legal reasons to end a pregnancy. It also <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Beyond_Control.html?id=sYYhAQAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">gives doctors the authority</a> to refuse if they judge that the reasons do not satisfy the legal test. </p>
<p>By contrast, Ireland’s <a href="http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2018/act/31">new abortion law,</a> passed in 2018, allows abortion on request up to 12 weeks, without the requirement that the abortion seeker provides reasons to explain their decision. As lawyers Fiona de Londras and Mairead Enright <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-artslaw/law/news/commentary-on-gibraltar-command-paper.pdf">have noted</a>, Gibraltar’s new regulations maintain some of the shortcomings of the outdated 1967 Abortion Act.</p>
<h2>Abortion travel</h2>
<p>Gibraltar’s unique political geography has made travel to access abortion especially complicated for residents, but the new law will make safe services available locally for many people. Historically, some have travelled by car or bus to Spain, where abortion is legal up to 14 weeks, while others have gone to England where abortion is legal to 24 weeks, but only if they had the money and documentation to make the long journey. The COVID-19 pandemic, of course, made this infinitely more difficult.</p>
<p>The number of abortion travellers is notoriously difficult to estimate, because anti-abortion stigma means people may conceal their identity or nationality. Nonetheless, based on <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/abortion-statistics-for-england-and-wales">UK government data</a>, over the last ten years, the number of people from Gibraltar who obtained abortions in England or Wales has varied between zero and six annually. Similar national-level data on Gibraltarian abortion seekers in Spain is <a href="https://www.mscbs.gob.es/profesionales/saludPublica/prevPromocion/embarazo/tablas_figuras.htm#Tabla7">not available</a> but a Spanish clinic very close to the border with Gibraltar reported 21 Gibraltar <a href="https://www.gbc.gi/news/no-more-shame-says-29-requests-abortion-pills-have-been-sent-gibraltar-between-january-and-june-year">residents sought treatment</a> there in 2019. </p>
<p>As happens elsewhere in Europe, people in Gibraltar who cannot or do not want to travel for abortion obtain safe but illegal medication online. A <a href="https://www.gbc.gi/news/no-more-shame-says-29-requests-abortion-pills-have-been-sent-gibraltar-between-january-and-june-year">Gibraltarian pro-choice campaign group</a> reported 29 pill requests in the first half of 2020, when abortion travel was especially impacted by the pandemic.</p>
<p>Abortion has been highly stigmatised among Gibraltar’s small community of 33,000, according to <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2021/06/23/us-gibraltar-abortion-vote">Mara Clarke from the Abortion Support Network</a>, a charity that supports people from Gibraltar (and other countries) travelling for abortion. Some of the network’s clients reported that they feared even being seen buying a pregnancy test in a pharmacy because word might get back to their friends and family. Clarke says being able to “speak openly and publicly” to healthcare providers about abortion in Gibraltar will be transformative.</p>
<h2>Looking forward</h2>
<p>Gibraltar joins Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the Isle of Man among the European states and territories that have recently liberalised their abortion laws. Reforms in these places are a significant improvement for the reproductive health and rights of people living there. </p>
<p>Nonetheless, some of the limitations of Gibraltar’s reforms illustrate the familiar pattern of “two steps forward and one step back” on abortion rights. For Gibraltarians who need an abortion after 12 weeks, and do not fall into the very narrow circumstances outlined in the law, they will continue to be forced to travel abroad.</p>
<p>After this long-overdue reform in Gibraltar, abortion rights advocates will continue to push for liberalisation in Malta, which <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/11/like-ireland-on-steroids-maltas-abortion-taboo-leaves-women-in-despair">maintains a total abortion ban</a>, and Poland, which <a href="https://theconversation.com/polands-abortion-ruling-amounts-to-a-ban-but-it-will-not-end-access-148819">recently tightened</a> its already highly restrictive law.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163447/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sydney Calkin receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust. She is a volunteer with the Abortion Support Network.</span></em></p>The success of a referendum to relax Gibraltar’s strict abortion ban will mean safer access for many people.Sydney Calkin, Lecturer in Political Geography, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1204372019-07-18T09:54:12Z2019-07-18T09:54:12ZEU silence over British seizure of Iranian tanker is a telling glimpse of post-Brexit future<p>It’s rare to experience silence in this age of political anger and loudness, of bombastic tweets, insulting truths and incredible lies. It’s so unfashionable for a politician to not immediately respond to an event with lightening praise or withering cynicism, that when we hear nothing, it seems as though something technical has gone wrong. To be silent, we are told, is to be apolitical; to not have an opinion, to be neutral or perhaps simply to be oblivious.</p>
<p>But when it comes to diplomacy, perhaps we underestimate the impact of silence. A case in point was the lack of response from the EU over the UK’s strange role in the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48865030">arrest of an Iranian supertanker</a> in the Mediterranean Sea in early July. As the action was taken to uphold EU sanctions, the silence was all the more remarkable. And it offers a stark forewarning of the foreign policy tensions the UK will face after it leaves the EU. </p>
<p>Acting upon intelligence that Iranian oil was being shipped to Syria, the chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, requested help from the Royal Marines to seize the tanker. Picardo explained that Gibraltar was simply upholding <a href="https://www.europeansanctions.com/region/syria/">sanctions</a> laid down by the EU against the Syrian government by preventing a shipment of 2.1m barrels of light crude oil to one of its refineries. According to the British, once refined, it could have fuelled the regime’s tanks, armoured cars and troop carriers that operate alongside Russian forces currently waging havoc in <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/dozens-killed-heavy-fighting-northwest-syria-190620090211878.html">Syria’s Hama region</a>. </p>
<p>Despite this, there was no statement from the <a href="https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage_en">office of the European External Action Service</a>, the EU body responsible for conducting the bloc’s foreign and security policy. Not a word of gratitude. Not even a nod. This was a deliberate and strategic use of silence. </p>
<h2>A noisy affair</h2>
<p>The Royal Marines operation on the morning of July 4 to seize the Grace I, which is owned by Iran but registered in Panama, was itself a fairly noisy affair. According <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48865030">to the BBC</a>, 30 Royal Marines were deployed together with local customs and port authority personnel to board the vessel, which at the time was stuck in heavy maritime traffic in Gibraltar’s territorial waters.</p>
<p>They descended from helicopter gunships onto the civilian tanker and arrested four shocked Indian crewmen aboard. Details are scant and it’s not clear if the Gibraltar Port Authority, as per protocol, requested but was denied permission to board the ship. Predictably enough, the Iranians were apoplectic and called it <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/iran-condemns-uk-seizure-oil-tanker-threatening-act-190708064328708.html">an act of piracy</a>, threatening retaliation. </p>
<p>The tanker remains impounded in Gibraltar, its crew released on bail. On July 14, the UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, indicated that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/13/uk-may-help-release-iranian-oil-tanker-if-it-gets-syria-guarantee">he would facilitate its release</a> if given assurances by Iran that the oil would not go to Syria. </p>
<p>There was one tiny chink in the wall of EU silence that greeted news that the tanker had been seized. The European Council candidate to become the EU’s next foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, is an outspoken and often truculent Spanish politician. Unhappy in the first instance about the insensitive use of Gibraltar’s territorial waters, which Spain does not recognise, Borrell’s other preoccupation is European relations with Iran. In his role as Spain’s foreign minister <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/04/world/middleeast/oil-tanker-gibraltar-syria-iran.html">he told media</a> that the tanker had been seized following “a request from the United States to the United Kingdom”. He insinuated that the Americans had first offered the intelligence to Spain. </p>
<h2>Choices ahead</h2>
<p>In the wake of the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and in the light of the Trump administration’s aggressive sanctions and belligerent language towards Tehran, the seizure of a supertanker by an EU member state clearly <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-nuclear-deal-oil-tanker-uk-seized-gibraltar-tensions-middle-east-a8997316.html">subverted European efforts</a> to negotiate with the Iranians. In the meantime, US national security advisor, John Bolton, brashly tweeted his delight.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1146877026751647756"}"></div></p>
<p>Another glaring silence followed from the EU a few days later when the Iranians, quite theatrically, dispatched around 30 of its elite forces to harass an Isle of Man-registered <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48946051?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cmjpj223708t/oil&link_location=live-reporting-story">BP supertanker in the Straits of Hormuz</a>, The British were compelled to send a warship to the region to protect their commercial fleet, implicitly joining the American’s motley <a href="https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/us-builds-global-coalition-protect-gulf-shipping">maritime coalition</a> in the Persian Gulf against Iranian threats to the shipping corridor. </p>
<p>Once again, other than passing a cursory warning about the situation, the EU’s foreign and security body did not comment. The silence conveyed its dissatisfaction to the US at the way it was manipulating EU sanctions to its own ends. More pointedly, the silence was trained upon Britian’s cumbersome attempt to court US military objectives while claiming to support the delicate diplomacy favoured by the EU towards Iran. </p>
<p>The purpose of the silence was to soak up the metallic clatter of militarism. It said to Britain that the time has come to decide between a hard and a soft path to peace in the Middle East. The lesson is clear: if post Brexit Britain continues to support a hawkish US administration, then there is a good chance that Europe’s silence will solidify. This will isolate Britain further from its neighbours. </p>
<p><em>A mention in this article of the Gulf of Arabia was corrected to the Persian Gulf.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120437/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Ryan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>After Brexit, the UK will need to decide whether it supports EU diplomacy or US militarism.Barry Ryan, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1115812019-02-28T10:37:30Z2019-02-28T10:37:30ZGibraltar after Brexit: why Spain, not Ireland will decide the UK’s fate<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/258280/original/file-20190211-174857-1jlrar7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C47%2C3500%2C1750&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the date of Britain’s departure from the European Union draws near, you might be forgiven for thinking that the future of UK-EU relations after Brexit hangs on only one thing: resolving the question of what to do with the Irish border. Yet just over the horizon lies a much more serious threat, one that has the potential to cause far greater and more lasting damage.</p>
<p>This is the question of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/gibraltar-6640">Gibraltar</a>, which encapsulates many of the concerns that will haunt UK-EU relations once Brexit has taken place. It is one of the rare examples of a land border between Britain and the EU, and a site of extensive cross-border movement. Every day, roughly 10,000 Spanish workers travel to Gibraltar (population 33,000) to work, mainly from the Spanish town of La Línea de la Concepción.</p>
<p>Gibraltar is also an example of how tightly interdependent Britain is with certain EU countries. Britain is one of Spain’s largest economic partners. Gibraltar is a hub for the finance and insurance industries, online gambling and gaming.</p>
<p>At the same time, Gibraltar offers a glimpse of the pressure points in future UK-EU relations. Since Gibraltar opted out of the <a href="http://chronicle.gi/2018/06/gibraltar-in-the-european-union-in-and-out/">EU customs union</a> in 1972, it has set much lower taxes than its European neighbour. It has, for example, a corporate tax rate of 10%, compared to Spain’s 25%. As a result, Spain has long regarded Gibraltar as a de facto tax haven, resenting its parasitical existence on its southern border. Gibraltar is, nevertheless, part of the European single market.</p>
<h2>Where’s the Gibraltar backstop?</h2>
<p>Above all, Gibraltar shows the problems that will arise if Britain leaves the EU on terms that include a hard UK-EU border. The local Spanish province of Cádiz evidently benefits from cross-border trade and traffic, even under the current controlled conditions. Meanwhile, Gibraltar itself relies on Spanish workers, money, goods, and services through eased access to the single market. Imposing a hard border would certainly hurt Spain, but Gibraltar’s economy would suffer unimaginable, irreparable damage.</p>
<p>From the start of the Brexit negotiations, the Gibraltar question has always remained separate from the main UK-EU discussions. Instead, it has been addressed through bilateral negotiations between Britain and Spain – excluding the government of Gibraltar at Spain’s insistence. When it comes to deciding what happens to Gibraltar, these bilateral negotiations take absolute precedence over the main UK-EU negotiations. In the <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2017/04/29/euco-brexit-guidelines/">European Council’s guidelines for the conduct of Brexit negotiations</a>, one of the core principles recognised that both the UK and Spain would have to agree on applying any future UK-EU arrangements to Gibraltar as well.</p>
<p>To reflect Gibraltar’s special status, it has been made the subject of its own protocol in the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/withdrawal-agreement-and-political-declaration">Brexit withdrawal agreement</a>. But unlike the equivalent protocol on Northern Ireland, which outlines in detail which laws and provisions will apply there after Brexit, the protocol on Gibraltar is relatively sparse. It simply acknowledges the economic benefits free movement of people has brought to Gibraltar and Spain, and provides for a joint UK-Spanish coordinating committee to discuss some key issues for Gibraltar’s future. These include employment conditions, air transport law, tax and fraud, smuggling and money laundering, waste management, scientific research, fishing and policing.</p>
<p>And unlike the Northern Ireland protocol, which will largely only come into effect after the two-year Brexit transition period ends, the protocol on Gibraltar is only designed to last until that point. That means the future UK-Spain-Gibraltar relationship is still entirely unsettled. It will therefore have to form a prominent part of the next stage of negotiations.</p>
<h2>The view from Spain</h2>
<p>On the Gibraltar question, the Spanish position has remained unchanged since before the referendum. For Gibraltar to have access to the European single market, Spain must be given co-sovereignty, at least for a transitional period. The British position is that the whole UK, including Gibraltar, must exit the EU, without any encroachments on British sovereignty. That said, while the government currently opposes staying in the single market, this could hardly be described as a settled position given the current state of the debate in the UK.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Gibraltarian view is complex. Its population overwhelmingly voted Remain in 2016, but has also supported continued attachment to Britain, voting to reject complete or partial Spanish sovereignty in 1967 and 2002. At the same time, the government of Gibraltar is empowered under the territory’s <a href="https://www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/constitution/Gibraltar_Constitution_Order_2006.pdf">2006 Constitution</a> to veto any changes in its sovereignty. That might seem like an extreme move but it is not an unlikely outcome, given that the government of Gibraltar may conclude that this is the only leverage it has over the UK-Spanish negotiations.</p>
<p>As things stand, Spain is due to reap vast strategic benefits from Brexit on the Gibraltar question – benefits that will take effect as soon as the UK formally leaves the EU on March 29. Up to now, since both Britain and Spain were members of the EU, the EU was forced to be a neutral arbiter whenever Spain escalated tensions over Gibraltar, such as by increasing border checks and queues. After Brexit, however, this restriction (and the UK’s leverage) will disappear, and the EU will be obliged to take the Spanish side. It is hard to see this having any other result than emboldening Spain to entrench around its red lines. In this light, the recent furore over <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47087439">Spain’s attempt to redesignate Gibraltar as a “colony”</a> in EU legislation on visa-free travel after Brexit was merely the first shot across Britain’s bow.</p>
<p>In light of the diametrically opposed positions of Britain, Spain, and Gibraltar, the best arrangement would be to make the current UK-Spanish coordination committee a permanent fixture. This would enable the two sides to find a path towards strategic harmonisation (which Spain desires) without the UK having to offer Spain co-sovereignty (which Gibraltar opposes).</p>
<p>Gibraltar could be given unique privileged access to the EU customs union and single market (which it needs) via a special protocol, in exchange for changes in its tax arrangements that partly eliminate its extreme tax haven status (which Spain demands). From the British perspective, this would in effect turn Gibraltar into a de facto British toehold within the single market. This could potentially offer a neat solution that allows the main body of the UK to achieve a meaningful Brexit, while allowing British businesses to maintain European access and benefits essentially equivalent to continued EU membership.</p>
<p>In the Brexit negotiations so far, the future of Gibraltar has remained essentially a quiet unknown. That will change when the UK leaves and the negotiating stage begins. Ultimately, it may not be the <a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-backstop-refresh-why-the-uk-and-eu-cant-agree-on-northern-ireland-105080">Irish border problem</a> that proves thorniest for Brexit. Instead, it is Gibraltar, and the questions hanging over its future border with either its British sovereign or its Spanish neighbour, that holds the key to Britain’s future outside the EU.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111581/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marius S. Ostrowski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Plans for the Irish border come in to force after Brexit. But there is no plan for the rock after that date.Marius S. Ostrowski, Examination Fellow in Politics, All Souls College, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1076562018-11-30T14:34:23Z2018-11-30T14:34:23ZGibraltar: how Brexit could change its sense of British identity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247928/original/file-20181129-170250-1eb2hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gibraltar has its own kind of Britishness. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1206050233?src=9H4uIddkf17xlSS9awWKhg-1-72&size=medium_jpg">Ben Gingell/Shutterstock </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The people of Gibraltar are famously proud to be British and still display strong loyalty to the crown and the UK. Yet Gibraltarian identity has long rested on two pillars of economic and political security the territory enjoys from its association with the UK. Brexit now threatens both of these pillars. If they are shaken, or crumble, so too may Gibraltarians’ attachment to Britain. </p>
<p>On November 24 the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/11/26/inenglish/1543222571_685671.html">touted</a> a last-minute concession from EU leaders and British prime minister Theresa May over the future of Gibraltar ahead of final agreement on the Brexit deal. The most obvious – although contested – interpretation of what happened is that the EU recognised Spain’s interest in Gibraltar and that no future deal between the UK and the EU will cover Gibraltar without Spain’s prior consent. </p>
<p>Yet, despite <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-theresa-may-gibraltar-spain-summit-brussels-withdrawal-agreement-a8650346.html">claims</a> that May “caved in” to Spain over Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar’s chief minister, responded with passion and conviction in a televised <a href="https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/new/sites/default/files/press/2018/Press%20Releases/720-2018.pdf">address</a> in Gibraltar the same evening. He stated that: “The United Kingdom has not let us down,” adding that Gibraltar enjoys “an entirely British future that will suffer no dilution”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1066450063646429185"}"></div></p>
<p>Underpinning Picardo´s address are three longstanding elements of UK-Gibraltar relations. First, that in times of crisis Gibraltar sticks ever closer to the UK. Second, that unwavering loyalty to the UK will be returned. And third, that the UK has the political and economic power to protect Gibraltar. As historian <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03086530500411266">Stephen Constantine</a> has shown, pledging loyalty to the crown in order to finesse an economic or political advantage has been a strategy of Gibraltar’s since at least the 19th century. Brexit now puts all of these three assumptions in doubt.</p>
<h2>Less Spanish than ever</h2>
<p>As a group of researchers <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319993096">demonstrate</a> in a forthcoming book I’ve edited, there is clearly a deep attachment to Britain and British culture in Gibraltar, even as there is a growing sense of a specifically Gibraltarian British identity. There is no question these feelings are sincerely held but our research shows there there is also a pragmatism to this loyalty. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247930/original/file-20181129-170253-1x4unge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247930/original/file-20181129-170253-1x4unge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247930/original/file-20181129-170253-1x4unge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247930/original/file-20181129-170253-1x4unge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247930/original/file-20181129-170253-1x4unge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247930/original/file-20181129-170253-1x4unge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/247930/original/file-20181129-170253-1x4unge.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Gibraltar: a small territory, at the centre of Brexit negotations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1206050269?src=SlJc9RW-UPNKYyt5MrxMxA-1-2&size=medium_jpg">Ben Gingell/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, Gibraltar is certainly more anglophone than it ever has been in its history – as my colleague Dr Edward Picardo argues in our book. Although Gibraltarians’ outlooks are not necessarily unambiguously British, they are certainly less Spanish than ever. The implacable resolve of many Gibraltarians against Spanish sovereignty is illustrated by the words of a young Gibraltarian woman I spoke to shortly before watching Picardo’s speech:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We may be a small country and connected to Spain but they still have nothing to do with us. So we voted 96% Remain to be sold off to Spain? Over my and 30,000 other dead bodies. They can try … there would be riots and I think we would actually start a war and physically fight against Spain’s politicians it if came to it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Gibraltar is a place that brings back the Britain of yesteryear. It receives a steady stream of MPs (often invited by the Gibraltar government) and others who visit to warm themselves on the faint glow of the <a href="http://embersofempire.ku.dk/">embers of Empire</a>. MPs such as Jack Lopresti, the chair of the all-party group on Gibraltar, are fervent defenders of Gibraltar’s interests but, at the same time, passionate advocates of Britain leaving the EU.</p>
<p>Given that Gibraltar voted 96% to Remain in the EU this would seem as something of an irony. Yet because part of the Brexit momentum was fuelled by an <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/brexit-britain-may-johnson-eu/542079/">imperial nostalgia</a>, which included a vision by some in Whitehall for an “<a href="https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/775399/empire-2-uk-improve-trade-links-african-commonwealth-nations-after-brexit-theresa-may">Empire 2.0</a>”, then Gibraltar emerges as an obvious icon of Brexit Britishness. Yet, ironically, Brexit threatens Gibraltar´s attachment to the UK.</p>
<h2>Anxiety for the future</h2>
<p><a href="http://borderingonbritishness.net/">Research</a> my colleagues and I have carried out shows that in the second half of the 20th century, Gibraltarian went from from being Spanish-speaking colonial subjects to identifying themselves as equal British citizens. This does not, however, mean that the “British forever” mentality is written in stone. Today some Gibraltarians are worried that loyalty to the crown will not be enough to protect them from Spanish claims. In recent days, a number of Gibraltarians have expressed the anxiety about being “sold out” or, as someone put it, that the UK is willing “to sacrifice the few (Gibraltar) for the many”.</p>
<p>Even as one retired teacher said to me recently: “Britain is our parent and we are the children” there are many others – not perhaps so vocal or as public – who are anxious about Picardo’s “jingoism”. One member of a labour union expressed his concern to me that Picardo’s uncompromising rhetoric gets in the way of constructive relations with Spain and reminded me that “the whole economy collapses if the Spanish worker doesn’t work here”. Others ruefully pointed out that it is a little odd to see the Gibraltarian government claiming the virtues of May’s Brexit deal when no one in the UK seems to agree with her. While others still express a concern that this closeness to the UK will “threaten” Gibraltar’s economy if it leads to “Spanish and other cross-frontier workers not being able to work here.”</p>
<p>Despite the chief minister’s assertion that the UK government is standing by Gibraltar, there is growing anxiety that Britain can not be guaranteed to do so and people point to Northern Ireland as an example of how trust in the UK Government can be misplaced. “If they do that to the Irish, what will they do to us?” as I was told. And opposition leader, Keith Azopardi, <a href="http://chronicle.gi/2018/11/azopardi-questions-euphoric-reaction-brexit-deal/">pointed out</a>: “"We must… be conscious as a community that the UK’s national interests are different to ours.” </p>
<p>This divergence of interests is one issue that is causing tremors in the Rock but much more important is surely the fact that the UK will no longer be in the EU to defend Gibraltar against Spain which was obliged to recognise British Gibraltar (and open the border Spain shut in 1969) when it joined the EEC in 1986. Brexit inverts this situation. Now it is the UK that is obliged to recognise Spain’s interest over Gibraltar, an historical irony <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/11/24/opinion/1543083223_152768.html">not lost on Spanish commentators</a>. Not only does Spain have a veto over any future trade relationship with Gibraltar after Brexit, it will also have a veto should the UK ever consider rejoining the EU. In this context, it seems likely that Spain would use its position to leverage more control over Gibraltar. </p>
<p>If it is indeed the case that Brexit means the UK is not only unwilling but unable to protect Gibraltar politically and economically, then this points to an existential crisis for Gibraltarian Britishness. Few in Gibraltar today are willing to consider ceding sovereignty to Spain. Under the Brexit scenario, however, it seems reasonable to wonder if Gibraltarian pledges of loyalty to the UK will become historical footnotes as Gibraltar is forced to seek a more pragmatic relationship with its increasingly powerful neighbour. Only time will tell whether the cry of “British Forever” will be reduced to an echo of the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107656/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Canessa received funding from the ESRC for part of the research presented here. He is a member of the Green Party. </span></em></p>Gibraltarians are famously proud to be British. But amid the uncertainty of Brexit, some are having an existential identity crisis.Andrew Canessa, Professor, Department of Sociology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1019282018-09-07T09:19:48Z2018-09-07T09:19:48ZGibraltar’s decision to strip flag from Aquarius rescue ship undermines ancient seafaring principle of solidarity<p>Gibraltar’s decision in late August to terminate permission for the Aquarius to operate as a rescue vessel in the Mediterranean is just the latest example of governments politicising and undermining search and rescue at sea. The fatal consequences of such moves are becoming alarmingly evident, with the UNHCR reporting that the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/08/eu-policies-to-blame-deaths-at-sea-mediterranean-amnesty-international-report?utm_source=POLITICO.EU&utm_campaign=36d9c66213-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_08_09_04_29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_10959edeb5-36d9c66213-19">death rate in the Mediterranean has soared</a>, particularly on the Central Mediterranean route where the Aquarius has been conducting rescue operations under the Gibraltar flag. </p>
<p>SOS Méditerranée, which runs the Aquarius, <a href="https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20180828/local/migrant-rescue-ship-aquarius-getting-panama-flag.687824">has now applied</a> for registration under the flag of Panama. Both Panama and Gibraltar are known as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-track-of-ships-that-get-up-to-no-good-38323">“flag states”</a>, and are responsible for ensuring that the vessels on their registry <a href="http://dev.ulb.ac.be/ceese/ABC_Impacts/glossary/flag.php">comply with international rules and standards</a>.</p>
<p>The Gibraltar government <a href="https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/new/sites/default/files/press/2018/Press%20Releases/469-2018.pdf">stated</a> that the decision to strip the Aquarius of her flag was taken independently by the Maritime Administrator on the basis of a “proper interpretation of all the applicable rules” and that it “was a totally non-political decision”. But my conversations suggest otherwise.</p>
<p>The decision appeared to follow the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/aquarius-charity-rescue-boat-italy-uk-libya-m-decins-sans-fronti-res-gibraltar-a8489671.html">Italian government’s demand</a> that the UK accept the 141 people rescued by the Aquarius on August 10, because the ship was operating under the Gibraltar flag. Gibraltar is an overseas territory of the UK, a status <a href="http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Portal/en/PoliticaExteriorCooperacion/Gibraltar/Paginas/Historia.aspx">contested</a> by Spain. </p>
<p>The Italian government’s claim that the UK, as the “flag state”, should accept the people rescued by the Aquarius is not without precedent. Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher reluctantly accepted people <a href="http://refugeehistory.org/blog/2018/6/22/the-aquarius-and-its-historic-precedents-rescue-at-sea-and-the-politics-of-disembarkation">rescued by ships flying the UK flag</a> during the Indochina Refugee Crisis.</p>
<p>When I asked the Maritime Administrator to explain its “interpretation” of “all the applicable rules”, I was referred to the Gibraltar government. This was despite the fact that in its <a href="https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/new/sites/default/files/press/2018/Press%20Releases/469-2018.pdf">press release</a>, the government described the decision as an “administrative process … in which the government has or has had no involvement”. When asked to clarify, the government said the Aquarius’s permission to operate under the Gibraltar flag had been terminated and advised that it had no further comment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235206/original/file-20180906-190668-64g2z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/235206/original/file-20180906-190668-64g2z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235206/original/file-20180906-190668-64g2z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235206/original/file-20180906-190668-64g2z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235206/original/file-20180906-190668-64g2z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235206/original/file-20180906-190668-64g2z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/235206/original/file-20180906-190668-64g2z7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The harbour at Gibraltar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTUzNjI1OTIwMiwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTE2OTc0NzE5NCIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMTY5NzQ3MTk0L21lZGl1bS5qcGciLCJtIjoxLCJkIjoic2h1dHRlcnN0b2NrLW1lZGlhIn0sIk5OUSsxQWZCcWhBY3hMejZMbElEKzhVOHI2VSJd%2Fshutterstock_1169747194.jpg&pi=33421636&m=1169747194&src=om-DoiJ-jFtWmktyshb1Sw-1-6">Petr Pavlica/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Without any further explanation, it’s difficult to imagine how any interpretation of all the applicable rules could lead to the decision to terminate the Aquarius’s permission to conduct rescue operations. </p>
<p>An expert with years of experience negotiating and interpreting the “applicable rules”, who asked to remain anonymous, told me that the decision seems absurd. They said interfering with rescue at sea for political reasons ashore is a disgrace.</p>
<h2>Help for those in distress</h2>
<p>In fact, the rules are quite simple. The overriding legal obligation placed on all – including coastal and flag states, and vessels of all kinds – is the duty to provide assistance to those in distress at sea. There is nothing in the suite of international conventions that provide the framework for the international law of the sea that appears to justify Gibraltar’s decision. What other rules the Gibraltar government might be referring to remain a mystery. </p>
<p>But the move comes as states such as Italy and Malta at the EU’s Mediterranean border are increasingly closing their ports to vessels that have rescued people at sea, until other member states agree to receive and process asylum requests from the people onboard. </p>
<p>This is <a href="http://refugeehistory.org/blog/2018/6/22/the-aquarius-and-its-historic-precedents-rescue-at-sea-and-the-politics-of-disembarkation">not a new phenomenon</a>. In the 1970s, coastal states such as Hong Kong (then under British colonial control) refused entry to commercial ships that rescued people escaping Vietnam in the aftermath of the failed US intervention. More recently, in 2001, Australia <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/australia-turns-away-rescue-ship-carrying-asylum-seekers-667207.html">refused entry</a> to a commercial ship after directing her captain to rescue 433 people in the international waters around Christmas Island, even sending an SAS team to prevent her from entering Australian territorial waters. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ngos-under-attack-for-saving-too-many-lives-in-the-mediterranean-75086">NGOs under attack for saving too many lives in the Mediterranean</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Solidarity at stake</h2>
<p>Today, NGOs are essential to the provision of search and rescue in the central Mediterranean, because of the tragically inadequate search and rescue provision from EU member states and agencies. While these NGOs initially managed to forge a cooperative, if sometimes uneasy, relationship with coastal states’ search and rescue authorities, recent developments have seen their operations being <a href="https://theconversation.com/crew-of-ngo-ship-grounded-in-malta-sound-alarm-as-search-and-rescue-co-operation-founders-in-mediterranean-99308">increasingly undermined</a> by national, and nationalist, politics. This comes at a time of increasing intolerance of those who express <a href="https://helprefugees.org/volunteer-blog/the-crime-of-solidarity/">solidarity for refugees in Europe</a>.</p>
<p>Gibraltar’s decision shows how the integrity of the ancient seafaring principle of solidarity (first codified in the <a href="http://www.admiraltylawguide.com/conven/salvage1910.html">1910 Brussels Convention on Salvage</a>, and reflected in all conventions on safety and rescue at sea since) “to render assistance to everybody, even though an enemy, found at sea in danger of being lost”, is being severely undermined by European policies on migration and asylum. Such moves expose how the EU, and Europe’s, commitment to international law, rescue and refuge are being sidelined in the context of a politics that increasingly defines “the migrant” or “asylum-seeker” as an enemy not worthy of rescue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katy Budge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gibraltar’s decision to terminate permission for the Aquarius to conduct operations in the Mediterranean is the latest example of national politics undermining rescue at sea.Katy Budge, Doctoral Researcher, Department of Politics, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/880612017-11-27T12:06:43Z2017-11-27T12:06:43ZEight surprising things it’s time you knew about Gulliver’s Travels<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196221/original/file-20171123-17988-1vwsyta.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gotcha!</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Happy 350th birthday, Jonathan Swift. Widely recognised as the leading satirist in the history of the English language, Swift found his way into the world 350 years ago on November 30, 1667. Celebrations of his life and legacy have been underway across the globe – not only in his home city of <a href="https://jonathanswiftfestival.ie">Dublin</a> but also <a href="http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/swift_papers.html">Philadelphia</a>, <a href="http://www.uni-muenster.de/Anglistik/Swift/Library/Events/7th_Symposium.html">Münster</a>, <a href="http://www.city.yokosuka.kanagawa.jp.e.rb.hp.transer.com/2490/event/15kannnonnzakifes.html">Yokosuka City</a>, <a href="https://beinghumanfestival.org/events/series/jonathan-swift-350-lost-found/">Dundee</a> and beyond.</p>
<p>Gulliver’s Travels is Swift’s most famous work. Since it first appeared in 1726, it has captivated readers, authors and artists alike. But many people’s engagement with this astonishing book tends to get lost in fantastical images of scampish little people and baffled giants. So here is your cut-out-and-keep guide to all things Gulliver. </p>
<h2>1. Not really a children’s book</h2>
<p>Most readers will fondly remember Gulliver as a children’s book, but the <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/classics//catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780679405450">unexpurgated version</a> is full of brutality. The ruthlessly logical Houyhnhnms – highly intelligent horse-like creatures – plan to wipe out the bestial humanoid Yahoos by castrating them all. This plan is inadvertently inspired by Gulliver’s description of how horses are treated in England.</p>
<p>There is a particularly unsavoury scene in the Lilliput voyage where Gulliver urinates on the queen’s home to quench a devastating fire. This is routinely included in the children’s edition, albeit in sanitised form. And then there’s the scene in one of Gulliver’s final adventures where our hero has to fend off a highly libidinous female Yahoo who appears intent on raping him. </p>
<h2>2. Coining new words</h2>
<p>Gulliver’s Travels has given the English language a number of notable words, not least Houyhnhnm (move your lips like a horse when saying it). There’s also Yahoo, an uneducated ruffian; brobdingnagian, meaning huge, after the giants in the second voyage; and lilliputian, meaning small, after the miniature humans of the first voyage. </p>
<p>Swift also loved puns. Lindalino, a most unusual place, is another name for Dublin (double “lin”). The flying city of Laputa is a harsh allegory of England and its colonial dominion over Ireland – the name means “the whore” in Spanish (la puta). As for the kingdom of Tribnia, it is an anagram of Britain. Its residents call it Langden, an anagram of England. </p>
<h2>3. Roman à clef</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196222/original/file-20171123-17982-6d64gn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196222/original/file-20171123-17982-6d64gn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196222/original/file-20171123-17982-6d64gn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196222/original/file-20171123-17982-6d64gn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196222/original/file-20171123-17982-6d64gn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=775&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196222/original/file-20171123-17982-6d64gn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=975&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196222/original/file-20171123-17982-6d64gn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=975&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196222/original/file-20171123-17982-6d64gn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=975&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Robert Walpole.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Walpole">Wikimedia</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Like any successful satirist, Swift had many enemies. Britain’s first prime minister, Robert Walpole, is recreated as Flimnap, who as the pompous Lord High Treasurer of Lilliput has an equivalent role in their society. Either the Duke of Marlborough or Earl of Nottingham is the inspiration for his war-hungry governmental counterpart Skyresh Bolgolam, the Lord High Admiral of Lilliput. </p>
<p>Other authority figures are roundly mocked throughout the book. The pettiness of politicians – Whigs and Tories alike – is compellingly conveyed by rendering them small. That moment where Gulliver urinates on the palace is <a href="https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/g/gullivers-travels/summary-and-analysis/part-i-chapter-5">sometimes interpreted</a> as a reference to the <a href="http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/History-of-Gibraltar/">Treaty of Utrecht</a> of 1713, which ceded Gibraltar to the UK – and by which the Tories put out the fire of the War of Spanish Succession with some very ungentlemanly conduct.</p>
<h2>4. Big in Japan</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g298174-d1238912-Reviews-Kannonzaki_Park-Yokosuka_Kanagawa_Prefecture_Kanto.html">Konnonzaki</a> in Japan, just south of Tokyo, is a tourist delight. In addition to stunning mountains and beautiful beaches, it is thought to be where Gulliver first set foot in Japan – represented as the port of Xamoschi. </p>
<p>Local tourist associations in neighbouring Yokosuka City hold a Gulliver-Kannonzaki Festival every November. American sailors from the Yokosuka Naval Base dress up as Gulliver and parade around the district. In the first Godzilla movie, the monster also lands at Kannonzaki, then heads toward Tokyo – just like Gulliver. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196224/original/file-20171123-17988-1qk8jmi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196224/original/file-20171123-17988-1qk8jmi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196224/original/file-20171123-17988-1qk8jmi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196224/original/file-20171123-17988-1qk8jmi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196224/original/file-20171123-17988-1qk8jmi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196224/original/file-20171123-17988-1qk8jmi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196224/original/file-20171123-17988-1qk8jmi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196224/original/file-20171123-17988-1qk8jmi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">He gets around.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>5. Gulliver goes Martian</h2>
<p>The book jokingly mentions the presence of moons around Mars. After Phobos and Deimos were discovered by astronomers in 1872, <a href="http://www.irishphilosophy.com/2015/08/17/swifts-crater/">Swift crater</a> on Deimos was named in the Irishman’s honour. </p>
<h2>6. Swifter things</h2>
<p>Before the advent of film, Gulliver appeared in stage adaptations, musical rearrangements, visual caricatures – and on fans, pots and various other knick-knacks. Pioneering French illusionist Georges Méliès directed and starred in the first cinematic adaptation in 1902, the spectacular Le Voyage de Gulliver à Lilliput et Chez les Géants. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dGg9j0BdyEM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Yet it’s the <a href="https://youtu.be/nzdon9kK5-k">live-action version</a> from 1977 with its Disneyfied Lilliputians that tends to stick in our minds. That film features an ebullient Richard Harris as Gulliver, but many other actors have portrayed him – including <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1320261/">Jack Black</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115195/">Ted Danson</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026793/">Vladimir Konstantinov</a>. Gulliver even appeared in a 1968 Doctor Who serial (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/mindrobber/detail.shtml">The Mind Robber</a>) and in the first volume of Alan Moore’s comic <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-volume-1-alan-moore/1102302221">The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen</a> (1999-2000).</p>
<h2>7. Inspiring other writers</h2>
<p>Writers expressly influenced by Gulliver’s Travels include HG Wells (most obviously in The Island of Dr Moreau and The First Men in the Moon) and George Orwell (Animal Farm). Margaret Atwood’s adventure romance Oryx and Crake takes a quotation from Swift for an epigraph. Atwood has also written an <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10356713-in-other-worlds">important essay</a> on the mad scientists depicted in Gulliver’s third voyage. </p>
<p>In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, the main character, Guy Montag, alludes to the Big Endian-Little Endian controversy about the proper way to break a boiled egg (“It is computed that 11,000 persons have at several times suffered death rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end”).</p>
<h2>8. Gulliver’s encores</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196225/original/file-20171123-17982-1kj5hq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196225/original/file-20171123-17982-1kj5hq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196225/original/file-20171123-17982-1kj5hq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196225/original/file-20171123-17982-1kj5hq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196225/original/file-20171123-17982-1kj5hq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196225/original/file-20171123-17982-1kj5hq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196225/original/file-20171123-17982-1kj5hq2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our notional hero’s life ends unhappily – by his own account – when he returns home to a wife and children he has come to loathe. Nevertheless, scores of secondary authors keep taking Gulliver on yet more journeys, typically beyond the world Swift created for him, but sometimes back to where it all began.</p>
<p>The earliest of these was the anonymously authored <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Memoirs_of_the_Court_of_Lilliput.html?id=IZTRAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">Memoirs of the Court of Lilliput</a>, published less than a year after Gulliver took his first bow. More recently, a 1965 Japanese <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059212/">animated film</a> (right) took an elderly Gulliver to the moon – along with a new crew comprising a boy, a crow, a dog and a talking toy soldier. New countries, new planets, new companions, new adventures: Gulliver has had a busy afterlife.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88061/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Cook has received funds from the British Academy, the Levehulme Trust and the AHRC.</span></em></p>Even now, 350 years after his birth, the great Irish satirist Jonathan Swift remains as sharp and relevant as ever.Daniel Cook, Senior Lecturer in English, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/846472017-10-02T14:49:39Z2017-10-02T14:49:39ZBrexit will hit Britain’s overseas territories hard – why is no one talking about it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188350/original/file-20171002-12168-1fiebhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Turtle Cove on the Turks and Caicos Islands.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sackton/5763925664/in/photolist-9MkChG-9jJrxx-9jJrF6-9jMziw-9jJrPT-9jJqEt-9jJup2-9jJuea-9jJqeT-9MmgnS-9MkQko-4zkBG1-9Mmf3S-9MkPks-9Mm9p7-9MmdMm-9Mm7KJ-9MkR1y-9Mm8rf-9Mmcfu-9Mirh4-dLfHfX-dLm6nN-9jJpbR-9jMw4C-9jMubL-dLm9QC-9MmaJC-9Miwne-9MmhWu-9MivyR-9Miud8-4zkG9d-dLm7Ew-dLfymX-dLmeG3-dLmhq5-dLmaDA-dLfBP8-dLm64E-dLm3Du-dLfxrB-dLfJKD-8CMQaM-8CQVyG-8CQVwQ-9Uf5XJ-9UcgKc-muDBzj-e4KDhs">Tim Sackton</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/eu_referendum/results">Brexit referendum result</a> was announced last June, I was working on the Turks and Caicos Islands, one of the UK’s overseas territories in the Caribbean. A collection of about 40 tropical islands, of which eight are inhabited, people there were shocked at the result. They were annoyed they hadn’t had a chance to vote, and concerned about their future. </p>
<p>It was all too apparent that neither side in the campaign had given serious thought to the implications for territories like this one, and the situation has not improved since then. There are genuine and serious concerns that need to move up the agenda. </p>
<p>The 14 British Overseas Territories (OTs) are remnants of empire, mainly scattered through the tropics. An exception is Gibraltar, the only territory that is also part of the EU. It <a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-causes-anguish-on-gibraltar-74426">is facing</a> well documented issues such as a possible closed border with neighbouring Spain and losing the right to provide services such as finance and online gambling to the rest of the EU. </p>
<p>The remainder of the territories are mostly further afield and receive much less attention in the UK media. Besides the three without civilian populations – British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands – the rest have varying reasons to be nervous. </p>
<p>In the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands both do well from specialist financial and business services – as does Bermuda to the north. They are therefore most likely to be affected if Brexit reduces the UK’s influence in determining the prevailing international rules and regulations that govern these activities – with the EU one of the key players here, this is a distinct possibility. </p>
<h2>Fund management</h2>
<p>Of the three other Caribbean territories, Anguilla and the Turks and Caicos Islands have successful tourism sectors, while Montserrat is still struggling to recover from major volcanic eruptions two decades ago. Yet each relies to a greater or lesser extent on <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/regions/african-caribbean-and-pacific-acp-region/main-programmes-eu-development-assistance-african_en">EU aid programmes</a> that provide support to all but the richest of the OTs of EU member states. (Strictly speaking the funding is outwith the main EU budget, but the EU manages the money through its <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/general_en">International Development and Cooperation Directorate</a>.)</p>
<p>Brexit implies that the current aid programmes will probably be the last for these and the other OTs – they will not be eligible when the next round of contracts comes on stream from 2021. This comes at a time when <a href="http://www.caribbeanandco.com/surviving-hurricane-irma-in-anguilla/">Anguilla</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/23/hurricane-maria-irma-turks-and-caicos">Turks and Caicos Islands</a> and also the <a href="https://www.thenews.com.pk/magazine/money-matters/232248-A-marshall-plan-for-the-British-Virgin-Islands">British Virgin Islands</a> all <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/eu-select-committee-/news-parliament-2017/overseas-territories-letter-published/">need</a> “significant reconstruction funds” to make up for recent devastation from Hurricane Irma. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, losing EU funding will hit some and not others. Bermuda is rich enough not to get EU money, but they do have similar concerns to the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands about banking and financial market regulation. </p>
<p>The Falklands, on the other hand, look like being among the losers. They can probably just about manage – depending on what happens to the fishing licences they currently sell. These mostly go to Spanish ships, who are partly attracted by the Falklands’ current tariff-free trade with the EU. This situation might depend on the post-Brexit fisheries regime.</p>
<p>Funding looks precarious for the islands of St Helena and Ascension, off the coast of Angola. St Helena <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/sep/21/st-helena-islanders-compensation-285m-airport">is already</a> experiencing unwelcome publicity over the recent completion by the UK of an airport in a place too windy for planes to land, though at least they may now be making it viable. Also threatened is the tiny island of Pitcairn, home to the <a href="https://www.infoplease.com/bounty-pitcairn-island-and-fletcher-christians-descendants">Bounty mutineers</a> in the south Pacific. With barely 50 inhabitants, funding cuts could put pressure on the islanders to leave. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188357/original/file-20171002-12149-15u8woj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188357/original/file-20171002-12149-15u8woj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188357/original/file-20171002-12149-15u8woj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=188&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188357/original/file-20171002-12149-15u8woj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=188&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188357/original/file-20171002-12149-15u8woj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=188&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188357/original/file-20171002-12149-15u8woj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=236&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188357/original/file-20171002-12149-15u8woj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=236&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188357/original/file-20171002-12149-15u8woj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=236&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All money figures are €m; EU funding covers 2014-2020.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Earlier this month, the House of Lords EU Committee <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/eu-select-committee-/news-parliament-2017/overseas-territories-letter-published/">wrote to</a> the Brexit secretary, David Davis, seeking assurances that it might replace any of this “lost” EU funding, but so far none have been forthcoming. With <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/22/britains-credit-rating-downgraded-over-brexit-and-state-of-public-finances">continuing pressure</a> on the UK public finances, and some <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e91c51d2-f20f-11e6-95ee-f14e55513608">critical media commentary</a> about the UK’s international development aid programmes, it is hard to be confident that new funding will emerge. </p>
<h2>Trade troubles</h2>
<p>The Caribbean territories in particular could also face trading issues, since there is an EU frontier in the region. This arises because several French Caribbean territories including Guadeloupe and Martinique are legally part of France proper and not self-governing, and are therefore part of the EU. </p>
<p>The extent to which this will cause problems in practice varies. For Monsterrat, its exports to Guadeloupe should be unaffected, for example, since Monsterrat is a full member of Caribbean trading bloc CARICOM and a party to the EU-CARICOM trade partnership. Anguilla, on the other hand, is potentially more complicated. Anguilla is not a party to EU-CARICOM and it is not clear how its future trade with French overseas territories will be managed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188353/original/file-20171002-12132-25fpcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188353/original/file-20171002-12132-25fpcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188353/original/file-20171002-12132-25fpcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188353/original/file-20171002-12132-25fpcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188353/original/file-20171002-12132-25fpcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188353/original/file-20171002-12132-25fpcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188353/original/file-20171002-12132-25fpcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188353/original/file-20171002-12132-25fpcw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Border control, Anguilla-style.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vuis/861181625/in/photolist-2j6Mi4-3YLk5V-25Whbw-38afkA-goVr1-hKLvex-hKN8HF-eQ447f-25Trjk-eQ42U7-AtVMC-2j7dg2-atY7A-hKLrt6-25Tpck-25TrxD-hKMz5e-hKLVqE-hKLRhQ-NEaYj-ePRPwv-ACAgt-26dnqB-yS372-goT3d-bprzGA-8FNfsj-3aj3WN-hKMs8w-3YQdBf-eNv1j4-25Tp4X-4fWrxG-gt2Fm-hKLRjo-B5i9m-dMMcCz-hKMenj-hKMM4W-hKMpbj-ePjbv5-B5wpe-grSTA-hKLXcW-hKMoih-hKN7eD-gsYUp-B5px7-25Uuqg-FS3RB">Nam Linda</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The issues are a bit like <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-along-the-irish-border-on-north-south-relations-after-brexit-82297">those affecting</a> Northern Ireland and its future relations with the Republic of Ireland. Hopefully, solutions can be found that facilitate normal trade and commercial links without erecting new barriers. More generally, the OTs currently enjoy tariff-free trade with the EU – depending on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, this too could come to an end. </p>
<p>The overseas territories are diverse places that are proud of their British heritage and sense of identity. They have been remarkably loyal to the UK and are keen to keep up their links, but also expect to be looked after as if they were part of the UK proper. </p>
<p>This might be too much to expect, but the UK undoubtedly has responsibilities towards them. In the Brexit discussions, officials must think about how these territories’ future aid and trade should be managed. Otherwise the financial viability of certain territories is likely to be in jeopardy – with potentially destabilising results. More thought and consideration at this stage could avert some unnecessary crises further down the line.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84647/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Hare has received extensive EU funding into research about British Overseas Territories in the past, and has acted as an economic development consultant to the likes of Turks and Caicos, the Falklands and Monsterrat. His only live consultancy/EU funding relates to Monsterrat, and has included advice on the current EU aid programme. </span></em></p>It’s not all money laundering and snorkels: by ignoring these remnants of empire, UK is shoring up trouble down the line.Paul Hare, Professor Emeritus, Heriot-Watt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/757532017-04-05T12:24:02Z2017-04-05T12:24:02ZGibraltar: a history of ill will over the Rock<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164061/original/image-20170405-14591-25pilr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/49104864@N02/8134225331/in/photolist-doN2Nk-cetWGs-q2Xi7b-757PQL-qWEpCf-6sQJRQ-7ert7E-69qyek-mjZfVx-GojZq-6sFJZw-5sYDrE-7es68y-6sQSfu-6sBEXT-pWUPqa-5ZZAKQ-79Z3SJ-iHpkiA-3TRy-o2Bury-69Jvi7-6sNmH2-cetVsY-6sBG48-9WnTq7-5NDHVL-cFU4uu-6sNppx-6sLGwe-7eo9sv-5HMxpR-6sQNQj-qWErjw-5sUfMe-q3aKCH-6sQVH5-doNaRL-q3aL2t-bX7zpn-6sFMSN-8jmwLj-mk1zbj-j9x7zx-mjNZKy-bzUWs8-6sQHBm-6sNnXg-kjeLVF-6sQMVd">Daniel Doyle</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a 6.5 square kilometre lump of rock famed as a home for monkeys on the southern most tip of the Iberian peninsula. Yet Gibraltar has suddenly become a pressure point in the opening weeks of the process that will see Britain exit the European Union. The spat even saw one former leader of the UK Conservative party <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-gibraltar-falklands-war-senior-conservatives-fallon-howard-a7662656.html">imply that</a> Britain could go to war over the status of the territory.</p>
<p>These are now two Nato allies, but the UK and Spain have been at odds for centuries about what to do with “the Rock”.</p>
<p>Spain ceded Gibraltar to the UK in the wake of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/War-of-the-Spanish-Succession">War of Spanish Succession</a> in the early 18th century, formally handing it over in 1713 under <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Peace_and_Friendship_Treaty_of_Utrecht_between_Spain_and_Great_Britain#ARTICLE_X">the Treaty of Utrecht</a>. According to this treaty – still valid today – Spain handed over Gibraltar’s fortress town and harbour, but without granting the UK territorial jurisdiction. The treaty also established that Gibraltar would have no direct communication with Spain, “the country round about”, and that if the UK were to sell Gibraltar or give it away, it should be offered to Spain first.</p>
<p>But even though the treaty is very precise about what was ceded, it has proven open to two very different interpretations.</p>
<p>To this day, the Spanish government understands that it ceded only what was explicitly mentioned in the treaty, and nothing else. In other words, in its view, the mountain that surrounds the town on Gibraltar was never ceded to the UK, and nor were the waters around the rock or the isthmus – the strip of land that connects it to the mainland. </p>
<p>The British government, meanwhile, argues that because the cession was intended to be permanent, Gibraltar does in fact have territorial waters. The only reason this isn’t recorded in the treaty is because waters were never explicitly mentioned or regulated by treaties at the time.</p>
<p>These incompatible interpretations have never been reconciled. When Spain signed and ratified the <a href="http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm">UN Convention on the Law of the Sea</a> in 1982, it declared that it did not consider Gibraltar to be covered by the convention’s provisions. The UK conversely issued a statement of its own, and maintains that Gibraltar is surrounded by <a href="http://www.panorama.gi/localnews/headlines.php?action=view_article&article=663">three nautical miles</a> of British territorial waters.</p>
<h2>Fences and fishermen</h2>
<p>As early as 1908-1909, the UK had unilaterally established a border by placing a fence between Gibraltar and the mainland. In 1964, the UN declared Gibraltar a non-autonomous territory pending decolonisation. Spain and the UK were supposed to negotiate this path together, keeping the interests of the people of Gibraltar at the centre of their talks.</p>
<p>Both countries committed to resolving all their disagreements over Gibraltar in <a href="https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmfaff/461/46106.htm">1984</a>, initiating what became known as the Brussels process. By 2002, these negotiations had ground to a halt. That same year, the government of Gibraltar called for a referendum to ask locals if they would accept shared sovereignty between the UK and Spain. Over 98% of voters <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/nov/08/uk.gibraltar">said no</a>.</p>
<p>Another point of tension is Gibraltar’s airport, which is on the disputed Isthmus. It was built by the British during World War II but in 2006, the two countries agreed to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6198314.stm">share the facility</a>. Nevertheless, squabbling hasn’t ceased. In 2014, the Spanish government managed to exclude Gibraltar from the <a href="http://www.eurocontrol.int/dossiers/single-european-sky">Single European Sky</a> initiative, through which European countries cooperate on aviation, saying it would not recognise the territory as a partner until the sovereignty question was settled.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164076/original/image-20170405-14603-1omv0cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164076/original/image-20170405-14603-1omv0cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164076/original/image-20170405-14603-1omv0cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164076/original/image-20170405-14603-1omv0cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164076/original/image-20170405-14603-1omv0cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164076/original/image-20170405-14603-1omv0cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164076/original/image-20170405-14603-1omv0cu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An air raid exercise on Gibraltar during World War II.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikipedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In August 2012, Spanish fishermen and the government of Gibraltar reached an agreement that allowed fishermen to fish in the waters surrounding Gibraltar for a while. However, tensions between the UK and Spain escalated when the Gibraltar government decided in July 2013 to throw <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-23576039">72 cement blocks</a> into the waters surrounding the rock to create an artificial reef. This unilateral action provoked the protests of the Spanish fishermen, who argued that the Gibraltar government was simply trying to prevent them from fishing in the waters. </p>
<p>In retaliation, the Spanish government increased controls at the border and began expressing concern about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/11/eu-crackdown-tobacco-smuggling-spain-gibraltar">cigarettes</a> being smuggled from the Rock (where they are cheaper) into Spain. There was also talk of tax evasion, with companies operating from Gibraltar but doing business in Spain.</p>
<p>Neither of these matters have been entirely resolved. The less than diplomatic rhetoric coming from Fabian Picardo, the chief minister of Gibraltar, has only added to tensions. During the artificial reef dispute, Picardo said <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-23738651">“hell would freeze over”</a> before he would remove the concrete blocks from the water and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/10223926/Gibraltar-minister-Spanish-threats-reminiscent-of-North-Korea-rantings.html">compared Spain to North Korea</a>. That’s not to say that the rhetoric coming from the Spanish government at the time helped much either.</p>
<h2>Then came Brexit</h2>
<p>Yet another issue has been the independence referendum held in Scotland in 2014. For Spain, the decision to allow part of the UK to vote on whether it should secede raised awkward questions about Catalonia, a region that has long called for the right to do the same. Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, began warning that if it did break away from the UK, Scotland could not automatically assume it could remain a member of the EU. It would, he said, have to reapply as an independent nation.</p>
<p>Brexit has added a new chapter to this history. There are particular tensions about whether Gibraltar should be allowed access to the single market during the transition period before Brexit. </p>
<p>Right after the Brexit referendum, José Manuel García Margallo and Fabian Picardo exchanged heated and not very diplomatic remarks about the <a href="http://elpais.com/elpais/2016/10/06/inenglish/1475762366_981489.html">future of the Rock</a>. More recently, Alfonso Dastis, Spanish minister for foreign affairs, has declared that Spain would not veto an independent Scotland from entering the EU, which has naturally not gone down well in London – although he made it clear that it would still have to apply for membership.</p>
<p>And while Spain would prefer a soft to a hard Brexit, the matter of migration between Spain and the UK lingers in the air. The Spanish government is keen to protect the rights of Spanish citizens currently working in the UK but must itself work out what to do about the hundreds of thousands of Britons living within its own borders. Unfortunately, and not for the first time, inflammatory declarations are clouding the real questions that need to be answered about the Rock.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75753/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mercedes Peñalba-Sotorrío has received funding from the Irish Research Council, the Royal Irish Academy and the Government of Navarre. </span></em></p>The UK has flared tensions with Spain over what happens to the territory after Brexit. But this war of words has been going on for centuries.Mercedes Peñalba-Sotorrío, Lecturer, Department of History, Politics & Philosophy, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/757142017-04-04T14:32:53Z2017-04-04T14:32:53ZHow the people of Gibraltar came to feel British<p>With red phone and letter boxes and Bobbies on the streets, Gibraltar offers a glimpse of a bygone age when Britishness was confidently exported. Now, amid renewed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/apr/02/britain-and-eu-worse-off-without-brexit-deal-says-michael-fallon">controversy</a> over the status of the territory, the phrase <a href="http://www.westmonster.com/gibraltar-will-be-british-forever/">“British forever”</a> has been heard once again in Gibraltar. </p>
<p>In the recent <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-03/gibraltar-dust-up-puts-brexit-tensions-on-display-quicktake-q-a?cmpid=BBBXT040417">debate</a> about Gibraltar and its future after Brexit, British and Gibraltarian ministers alike have stressed the very British nature of Gibraltarians. When asked by the BBC what would be so bad about joint sovereignty, Gibraltar’s chief minister, Fabian Picardo, replied: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08ltrzw/the-andrew-marr-show-02042017">“It would strip us of who we are.”</a> </p>
<p>In research my colleagues and I have been conducting for the last four years in the <a href="http://borderingonbritishness.net/">Bordering on Britishness</a> project, we have found that the contemporary sense of Britishness of Gibraltarians is much more recent than the Rock’s 300-year history as a British territory might suggest. </p>
<h2>Being Gibraltarian</h2>
<p>Most Gibraltarians do not have their origins in the UK but are, rather, a mixture of Genoese, Maltese, Spanish, Moroccan Jewish and other peoples. Gibraltarian nationalism is still, however, tied to Britishness. As a Gibraltarian in his 70s told me (speaking in Spanish):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yes, I speak English with an accent, but so does someone from Scotland or Wales. We are British in the same way they are. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Gibraltar has a local identity with its own flag and anthem, but this identity is bound with the UK. Not all Gibraltarians, however, are comfortable with this sense of Britishness. As a man in his 50s put it: “What’s happened now is that we imagine ourselves to be blue-eyed, blond Brits; and we are not!” </p>
<p>There are few Gibraltarians today who imagine a future independent from the UK – although <a href="https://theconversation.com/brexit-causes-anguish-on-gibraltar-74426">Brexit</a> has certainly focused the minds of some on this matter.</p>
<p>The overwhelming majority of people we have interviewed see themselves as British Gibraltarians – with a varying emphasis on each of those terms. Although the journey from colonial subject to citizen took time, since 1981 there has been no legal difference between UK British citizens and Gibraltarian ones. Today, many Gibraltarians imagine themselves as having the same status as people in Wales vis-a-vis the UK: certainly not English but British nevertheless. </p>
<p>Yet, there is a collective amnesia at play about what this identity meant in the past. When prompted, many Gibraltarians can recall what it was like to be second class citizens in Gibraltar. Until the 1960s, the Royal Naval Dockyard had separate toilets for British (of UK origin), Gibraltarians and Spaniards – as did the offices of Cable and Wireless. Gibraltarian’ wages were different from other British people based on the rock well into the 1970s. Many people we interviewed remember when “English” people were always served ahead of Gibraltarians in shops. They recalled feeling that they were not regarded as “one of us” by other British peoplee. </p>
<h2>Forging Britishness</h2>
<p>Going back further in time, for much of the 20th century Gibraltar’s civilian population was <a href="http://borderingonbritishness.net/humbert-hernandez-gibraltarian-became-british-britons/">overwhelmingly Spanish speaking.</a> There was not much difference between working class Gibraltarians and their neighbours immediately across the border: no difference in language, the music they listened to or the religion they practised. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163819/original/image-20170404-5713-1d0lemg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163819/original/image-20170404-5713-1d0lemg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163819/original/image-20170404-5713-1d0lemg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163819/original/image-20170404-5713-1d0lemg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163819/original/image-20170404-5713-1d0lemg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163819/original/image-20170404-5713-1d0lemg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163819/original/image-20170404-5713-1d0lemg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">All roads lead to Spain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">betta design/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When pressed to identify differences in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, our older interviewees said that Spaniards wore inferior footwear or “smoked different cigarettes” – essentially economic differences. When this generation was asked who were the Spanish people when they were young, they talked about the fishmonger, the hawker, the grocer, the barber and so on. But no one mentioned mothers, aunts, grandmothers who were born in Spain – almost a third of marriages before the war were between Gibraltarian men and Spanish women. </p>
<p>Today’s sense of Gibraltarian Britishness was primarily created by a Spanish campaign to “take back” Gibraltar which began in 1940. This developed with increasing intensity until the death in 1975 of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s. It saw the <a href="http://borderingonbritishness.net/category/border/">closure of the border between 1969 and 1985</a>. Much of contemporary anti-Spanishness in Gibraltar has its roots in this period. There continues to be a profound mistrust of the Spanish political class with the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/10222461/Gibraltar-minister-Spain-acting-like-North-Korea.html">chief minister likening Spain to North Korea</a>.</p>
<p>In Gibraltar, the argument is often made that Gibraltarians became a specifically British people through the experiences of wartime evacuation of most of <a href="http://borderingonbritishness.net/category/evacuation/">Gibraltar’s women and children</a> to the UK. There were, however, important continuities before and after the war, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43F_1KjUUfg">during which</a> most men stayed on the Rock and women and children lived in Spanish speaking communities, first in London and later in camps in Northern Ireland. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/43F_1KjUUfg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>It was during the war that the UK government decided Gibraltarians needed to be made more British and a plan was developed to promote the learning of English in Gibraltar and strengthen the “imperial connection” with the UK. Since then, Gibraltarians have studied the UK curriculum in English and currently all 18-year-olds have access to free university education in the UK, meaning the Gibraltar government covers fees, subsistence, and flights home. </p>
<h2>Spanish speaking falling away</h2>
<p>The result is a much greater familiarity with British than Spanish culture. Gibraltarians are becoming increasingly English speaking and whereas in the recent past they shared a language with their Spanish neighbours, for young Gibraltarians this is now a social barrier. One woman in her 70s told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My grandparents could … only speak Spanish … Even though my father spoke English, at home we spoke Spanish as my mother was Spanish … When I went to school I did not know any English, but luckily I learnt it … Now … everyone speaks in English … When we go to Spain to visit the parents of my son-in-law, they cannot understand a word of what my niece says … Today most children do not learn Spanish anymore.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Brexit threatens Gibraltarians’ sense of Britishness. Gibraltar’s economy requires membership of the EU to ensure the border remains open for people and goods and its financial and gambling sectors also depend on access to the EU. Despite some of the recent jingoistic posturing, Gibraltarians are concerned that the UK is neither willing nor able to defend Gibraltar’s political interests if it is outside the EU. Britishness itself is radically changing and there <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-british-medias-progressives-are-coming-round-to-scottish-independence-75412">may not even be a United Kingdom in a few years</a>. This suggests an existential crisis is brewing for Gibraltarian Britishness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75714/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Canessa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gibraltarians have their own unique sense of Britishness, but in many ways it’s a recent development.Andrew Canessa, Professor, Department of Sociology , University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/744262017-03-14T13:45:01Z2017-03-14T13:45:01ZBrexit causes anguish on Gibraltar<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160392/original/image-20170311-19226-m99t5o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jiangkeren/8203297965/">Karan Jain</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gibraltar was the first to declare <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-results-live-gibraltar-result-latest-remain-brexit-turnout-a7098626.html">its vote in June’s EU Referendum</a>, returning a 96% vote in favour of Remain. But rather than set a trend for the night, Gibraltarians watched with nothing short of horror as the UK voted to Leave.</p>
<p>Gibraltar joined the European Economic Area with the UK in 1973 and will leave the EU with it. At a little over six square miles, this small territory is utterly dependent on the flow of goods and people across the border with Spain, not only for its prosperity, but for its survival. So Brexit is causing no small amount of concern among residents of what is colloquially known as the Rock. </p>
<p>We have been <a href="http://borderingonbritishness.net/">collecting the life stories</a> of people on both sides of the border for several years in order to trace how a Spanish speaking population with strong kinship and cultural ties to Spain became so identified with Britain and its culture.</p>
<p>We have, to date, interviewed almost 400 people between the ages of 16 to 101 and from all religious, ethnic and economic backgrounds – including a sample from La Línea de la Concepción, the Spanish town on the “other side”.</p>
<p>With the referendum three years into our project, we are in prime position to gauge the reaction.</p>
<h2>Shifting identity</h2>
<p>The border played a major role in the shift towards <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVVxFPcUvsI">Britishness on Gibraltar</a> that created the conditions for economic prosperity as well as providing a safety barrier from Spain which, for much of the 20th century, was politically repressive, if not violent and chaotic.</p>
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<p>At the same time, the border is a bridge as much as a barrier. Many people sought refuge across the border; many others, mostly women, married Gibraltarian men with preferential access to employment in the colony (as well as higher salaries) in order to seek a better life. In more recent decades the border has represented the possibility of escaping the physical and social confines of Gibraltar, as well an economic life line.</p>
<p>With Brexit comes the possibility of this border being closed. It’s difficult to exaggerate the depth of feeling this has provoked in Gibraltarians. As one young woman put it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It was a massive shock. I was really upset and I started crying. My friend was like: ‘What’s wrong?’ I [replied]: ‘You don’t understand what this means for my people.‘ My little Gibraltar is about to be shafted by Spain. More so than usual. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Their fears appeared to be confirmed on the very morning of the Brexit result when José Manuel García-Margallo, the Spanish foreign minister, said he hoped Brexit would lead to co-sovereignty and that the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/24/spain-proposes-shared-sovereignty-over-gibraltar-after-brexit-vo/">Spanish flag</a> would soon fly over Gibraltar again. </p>
<h2>An opportunity for Spain</h2>
<p>There is no question that Spain sees Brexit as its best chance in half a century for gaining sovereignty over Gibraltar and some Gibraltarians are clearly anxious it might very well succeed. As one 20-year-old man put it: “With the whole Brexit thing, it’s kind of like ‘oh! We’re going to be Spanish. We’re going to be Spanish!’”. Our project has traced the way Gibraltarians have become increasingly distanced from Spanish language and culture and very wary of Spain’s political manoeuvrings – so the prospect of <a href="https://youtu.be/019W0YMmSp8%22%3EBordering%20on%20Britishness%3C/movie">“becoming Spanish”</a> is something of an anathema.</p>
<p>In 1969 Spain shut the border to pressure Gibraltarians to accept Spanish sovereignty but the effort backfired. Gibraltarians lost daily contact with Spain and became much closer to Britain and British culture. The border was opened in 1982 as part of the negotiations of Spain’s accession to the EEC but has remained a matter of contention between the UK and Spain.</p>
<p>In 2014, Spain imposed lengthy border queues <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/gibraltar/10991612/EU-dismisses-Spanish-claims-over-Gibraltar-reef.html">in protest at an artificial reef</a> created in what Gibraltar sees as its waters. It is widely understood that it was membership of the EU that prevented Spain from closing the border definitively and so the fears of the border closing again are very real. Membership of the EU, after all, is incompatible with closed borders. </p>
<p>Today, Gibraltar’s economy is mainly based on offering financial services to the rest of the EU, which depends on having <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36630606">passporting rights</a>. There is no doubt that Gibraltar is a very wealthy community; there is equally do doubt that this wealth is highly dependent on <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/66ecc22a-82a3-3695-a1e8-38d6cfde9fd3">its association with the UK and the EU</a> for its financial sector and online gambling industry. It is also heavily dependent on labour crossing the border: up to 12,000 workers cross every day from Spain to work in the enclave. Gibraltar’s politicians are rather bullish in saying that Gibraltar can make a success of Brexit but there are huge questions that remain unanswered.</p>
<p>Whereas older Gibraltarians may express a grim sense of resolve at the border closing again, having gone through it once, the younger generation is much less sanguine. A border closure or restrictions today would have a much more dramatic effect and it’s worth noting that young Gibraltarians today have a more cosmopolitan view of the world than their parents. It is perhaps then not surprising that, in a survey of 16 to 18-year-olds conducted in February 2017, three quarters of them said they would consider leaving Gibraltar if the border were shut or difficult to cross.</p>
<p>Gibraltarians are very aware that they are a long way down the British government’s list of concerns when it comes to Brexit negotiations. Spain has said it would veto any <a href="http://chronicle.gi/2016/12/david-davis-loath-to-negotiate-special-brexit-deal-for-gibraltar/">special deal</a> for Gibraltar. It is hardly surprising, then, that the Rock’s populace is deeply worried at the consequences of Brexit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74426/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Canessa receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. He is currently an active member of the Green Party. </span></em></p>With Spain spying an opportunity and major questions about economic stability, Brexit is causing sleepless nights on the Rock.Andrew Canessa, Professor, Department of Sociology , University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/625042016-07-14T16:44:21Z2016-07-14T16:44:21ZWhy Theresa May will be tough for Nicola Sturgeon to deal with<p>On the day Theresa May took up residence at 10 Downing Street, the Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon <a href="https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon">had a message</a> for her: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The incoming PM has said to her party that ‘Brexit means Brexit’ – but she must not forget that Scotland voted to stay in the EU, and so for us remain means remain. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>It was an early reminder, in case the new British prime minister was in any doubt, that Scotland will be high in her in-tray. But what does May’s arrival mean for the Scottish independence movement? Will she have a different approach to David Cameron? Would it be different if another Tory leadership candidate had won?</p>
<p>Superficially, Sturgeon and May share common ground on Brexit. They both campaigned for Remain <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-32810887">on June 23</a>. Both emerged as sober, reassuring voices in the turmoil after Leave won narrowly at UK level but Remain won in Scotland (and in Northern Ireland, London and Gibraltar). </p>
<p>Both women command the respect, if not always the warmth, of their peers. They have strong reputations for being pragmatic and thoughtful on policy and political strategy as well as tough negotiators in their respective parliaments. </p>
<p>May vs Sturgeon will therefore be fascinating. Scotland’s Remain vote has of course put independence back on the table, less than <a href="http://www.scotreferendum.com">two years after</a> 55% of voters chose the union on a high turnout of 85%. Sturgeon <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-scotland-32222806">long said</a> a UK Leave/Scottish Remain vote would justify a second referendum, and she now thinks this “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36621030">highly likely</a>”. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130569/original/image-20160714-23336-11he47h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130569/original/image-20160714-23336-11he47h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130569/original/image-20160714-23336-11he47h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130569/original/image-20160714-23336-11he47h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130569/original/image-20160714-23336-11he47h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130569/original/image-20160714-23336-11he47h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130569/original/image-20160714-23336-11he47h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130569/original/image-20160714-23336-11he47h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Eyelids a-fluttering.</span>
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<p>The SNP’s problem is that they <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/snp-60-support-needed-before-next-independence-referendum-1-3920508">don’t want</a> to push for another referendum until independence support <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sturgeon-is-cautious-about-second-independence-poll-3tzfl2fbk">is in</a> the 60% bracket, still a few points higher than most <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/support-for-scottish-independence-up-to-53-post-brexit-1-4164772">recent polls</a>. This necessitates a long game. </p>
<p>Meantime, Sturgeon is seeking a deal with EU leaders that would allow Scotland to remain in the EU while the rest of the UK leaves. She has also held meetings with London mayor Sadiq Khan and the chief minister of Gibraltar, Fabian Picardo with a view to building a strong alliance for future Brexit negotiations. </p>
<p>But should the EU effort fail, Westminster SNP leader Angus Robertson <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/angus-robertson-indyref2-will-be-held-if-brexit-talks-fail-1-4173933">said recently</a> that a second independence referendum would follow. Philip Hammond, May’s new chancellor, has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36791851">since signalled</a> that Sturgeon’s EU initiative is unlikely to be workable. A collision therefore looks very likely. </p>
<h2>May well not</h2>
<p>May mentioned the importance of the union in her <a href="https://youtu.be/ImwWM-1UdgQ">maiden speech</a> as prime minister, reminding her audience that she represents the Conservative <em>and Unionist</em> Party. She previously <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/10/theresa-may-pledges-to-save-union-as-nicola-sturgeon-promises-sc/">said</a> she would “always stand up for Scotland’s place in the union”, <a href="http://www.conservativehome.com/parliament/2016/06/theresa-mays-launch-statement-full-text.html">and cited</a> fears about Scotland as one reason for backing Remain. </p>
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<p>She will keep a cooler head than defeated rivals Andrea Leadsom or Michael Gove. They are both volatile and outspoken and have displayed poor political judgement that would have haunted them over Scotland had either become prime minister. </p>
<p>Leadsom had previously <a href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/maggie-mark-ii-would-pm-8382453">complained about</a> Scotland receiving too much taxpayers’ money, while Gove <a href="http://www.thenational.scot/news/gove-will-ditch-barnett-formula-and-scotlands-new-fiscal-deal-claim-snp.19528">was accused</a> of planning to scrap the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/1580787/How-the-Barnett-formula-works.html">Barnett formula</a> that is used to distribute funds to UK regions according to need. May <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11579473/Theresa-May-Dont-let-Sturgeon-call-the-shots.html">did add</a> her voice to the Tory <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results">2015 UK election</a> message that voting Labour meant getting the SNP through a back-door coalition, but she still looks to have the least Scottish political baggage of the three. </p>
<p>May is probably also shrewd enough to be more careful than her blasé predecessor. She will want to learn from David Cameron’s promise to hold an EU referendum, which now looks a reckless gamble. This will likely make her reluctant to give the legal consent for a second Scottish referendum. </p>
<p>She will be acutely aware of the SNP’s 60% problem and will seek to keep separatist sentiment at bay through all means possible. Reminding the Scots of the power of the union looks like one strategy. We can also expect to hear her selling the value of being both in the UK and with favourable access to the European single market, assuming she achieves <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/philip-hammond-brexit-single-market-eu-referendum-theresa-may-cabinet-chancellor-a7136101.html">that kind of deal</a> in the Brexit negotiations. </p>
<h2>Relying on Ruth</h2>
<p>Backed by only one Westminster MP in Scotland and with no mandate from a general election, however, May does lack legitimacy north of the border. Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson will therefore surely be a key lieutenant in selling the union, and has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36770277">already been in London</a> to confer with the new prime minister. As a popular politician with strong debating skills and a mischievous wit, she has brought the Tories back from the dead in Scotland <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2016/scotland">to become</a> the largest opposition party. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/07/ruth-davidson-to-back-theresa-may-for-tory-leadership/">Davidson switched</a> to supporting May for the leadership after Stephen Crabb pulled out, but will now have the chance to enhance her reputation north and south of the border. Her growing esteem in London is already clear from her <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36790310">recent appointment</a> to the Privy Council. </p>
<p>Davidson <a href="http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14595310.Second_Scottish_independence_referendum_should_not_be_blocked__according_to_Ruth_Davidson/">did say</a> prior to May’s arrival that the UK should not block another independence referendum (Scottish secretary David Mundell <a href="https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/politics/scottish-politics/213848/second-independence-vote-is-publics-choice-mundell/">said similar</a>). But that is not incompatible with a strategy to keep independence support below the level where the SNP would seek a vote. </p>
<p>The Scottish Tory leader has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36770277">also urged</a> May to seek “positive engagement” with the Scottish government, while saying a second independence referendum <a href="https://next.ft.com/content/501c3aab-1822-398d-b677-435cd83ed2da">would be</a> “irresponsible” <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36613544">and not</a> “in the best interests of Scotland”. </p>
<p>For her part, Nicola Sturgeon will be watching those opinion polls closely and seeking to exploit all opportunities to make them shift. First up will probably be the Westminster vote on whether the UK should renew its Trident nuclear deterrent, based near Glasgow, to which the Scottish nationalists are passionately opposed. Expect them to make a case that May is out of touch with voters north of the border, and for this to be a running theme. </p>
<p>To be clear, it will be no small achievement if May manages to keep Scotland in the union in the coming years. But among the leadership hopefuls and compared to David Cameron, the Conservatives have almost certainly chosen the best person for the job.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62504/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Smith has received research funding from the British Academy, ESRC and the Leverhulme Trust.</span></em></p>The two women at the top of UK politics could be heading for a disagreement.Alexander Smith, Senior Leverhulme Research Fellow and Assistant Professor in Sociology, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/616152016-06-24T16:22:15Z2016-06-24T16:22:15ZGibraltar voted to remain in the EU, so where next for the Rock?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128092/original/image-20160624-28373-194y264.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/xiquinho/16060916420/in/photolist-qtfoU5-qteBE5-qtoh4x-qteBoJ-qtmPpz-956V5P-dbfE63-pYcSA9-fzCUq1-dguwnE-q7EFYD-f3pMaA-dguyBZ-iT1Pgs-6u6M9n-fzotaX-o76Qux-o77Tdz-hyEN5c-4QbCaB-62qvkR-dguB3f-dguxs3-dguCwo-dguxZ8-dguBmZ-4yyABm-fDWf7X-dguzQX-dguADX-dguzKL-nkvuHG-XcRJb-4V8ua3-oBgH7G-9n4xF-FYQWxe-9RVJau-dBGxMH-eUVSAP-ajSPWr-hyD4nU-5B2CRC-mSRtk6-oqcbyA-2QqKd8-oqmmTM-o76EZm-9DsSRk-grkraK">Xiquinho Silva</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>José Manuel García-Margallo, the acting Spanish foreign minister, has once again <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36618796">called for joint British-Spanish sovereignty of Gibraltar</a> in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the EU. </p>
<p>David Lidington, UK’s Europe minister (whose department also has responsibility for Gibraltar), <a href="http://chronicle.gi/2016/06/britain-reaffirms-sovereignty-commitment-after-vote/">moved to reassure Gibraltarians of Britain’s commitment</a> to their right to determine their own sovereignty. Nevertheless, Gibraltarians are entertaining severe doubts about their future relationship with the UK.</p>
<p>When the UK leaves the European Union so too, by default, will Gibraltar. But the Rock’s economy <a href="http://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/management/2013/12/18/gibraltars-economic-problems-and-the-uks-role-in-solving-them/">relies upon</a> labour and supplies from the surrounding Spanish hinterland and upon its ability to trade within the European common market. Even if Britain can negotiate to retain access to European markets, it will certainly stand outside of Europe’s borders, making the frontier between Gibraltar and Spain an external border.</p>
<p>As a condition of its accession to what was the EEC in 1986, Spain was forced by Britain (at the threat of a veto) to reopen the Gibraltar-Spain frontier, which had been closed by General Franco in 1969. With Britain’s exit from the European Union looming, Spain has threatened to escalate its economic blockade of Gibraltar. <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-300-years-more-monkey-business-on-rock-of-gibraltar-16745">Interference at the frontier in 2013</a> was only alleviated by the intervention of the European Union. Such aid will not be forthcoming in future.</p>
<p>Spain’s point is that if Gibraltar opted for joint sovereignty, its frontier would not be an external border with Europe. It would simply be a part of the territorial integrity of Spain. That would allow it to continue accessing European markets and guarantee free movement of goods and labour over the frontier.</p>
<p>But this logic will not find any credence on the Rock. Beyond the fact that Spanish sovereignty, even joint sovereignty, will be <a href="http://www.panorama.gi/localnews/headlines.php?action=view_article&article=6806">politically unacceptable</a> to Gibraltarians, <a href="https://theconversation.com/rock-in-a-hard-place-what-the-eu-referendum-means-for-gibraltar-59763">the local economy</a> depends upon its institutional separateness to Spain. Moreover, joint sovereignty would be perceived by Gibraltarians as a starting point to an inevitable, if forced, repudiation of British sovereignty. In this sense, the referendum changes nothing in regards to the sovereignty dispute – any form of concession to Spanish sovereignty is as unacceptable to Gibraltarians now as it was before the referendum.</p>
<p>So where are we now? As <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/clas/people/gareth.stockey">Gareth Stockey</a> and I <a href="https://www.academia.edu/1583621/Gibraltar_A_Modern_History">have argued</a>, Gibraltarian identity coalesced at the turn of the century into a sense of nationalism. Many Gibraltarians would concede that their past owes much to a sense of Britishness, but would also argue that Gibraltarian identity – and economic and political interest – is no longer aligned to the UK.</p>
<p>And the result of the EU referendum does much to confirm this – in Gibraltar, <a href="http://gibraltarpanorama.gi/15209/210783/a/gibraltar-stunned-as-britain-votes-to-leave-the-eu">96% of the electorate voted remain on an 84% turnout</a>. Far from Gibraltarians seeing their future as being caught between Britain and Spain, there are now likely to be substantial calls for Gibraltar to become independent and to negotiate separate entry into the EU. The model that will be looked to will surely be Scotland, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36621030">whose leaders are also likely to call for independence</a> with the EU.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61615/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Grocott's PhD thesis on the history of Gibraltar was funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) between 2002-2005.</span></em></p>Spain is already calling for joint sovereignty but Gibraltarians are unlikely to stand for that.Chris Grocott, Lecturer in Management and Economic History, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/597632016-05-26T07:49:04Z2016-05-26T07:49:04ZRock in a hard place: what the EU referendum means for Gibraltar<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/123368/original/image-20160520-4484-1l2w0px.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisgold/14712006794/">Chris Goldberg</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gibraltar is not an island – yet. But if the UK votes to leave the European Union in June, the rock may well, in many senses, become one. The debate may be raging in mainland Britain but in Gibraltar there is a <a href="http://chronicle.gi/2016/04/gibraltar-will-vote-to-remain-in-eu-poll/">strong consensus</a>. Leaving the EU would be disastrous for the local economy and way of life. </p>
<p>In 1969, Spanish dictator General Franco tried to ruin Gibraltar’s economy by imposing an economic blockade. He closed the land frontier from Gibraltar to Spain and prohibited direct sea and air transit from the Rock to the mainland in the hope that Gibraltar could be pressured into ceding sovereignty to Spain. The attempt was dogged and determined. And the blockade continued after Franco’s death, when Spain transitioned to a democracy.</p>
<p>Only in 1985 were links between Gibraltar and Spain fully restored – but not because Spain relinquished its claim to Gibraltar – rather, the UK was using its political leverage to block Spain from joining the European Economic Community until it dropped the embargo.</p>
<p>When the UK joined the EU, Gibraltar came with it. Gibraltarians vote in European elections as part of the south-west England European constituency. And 23,000 Gibraltarians will vote in the June referendum which will decide on the UK’s continued EU membership.</p>
<p>While the UK is a member of the European Union, Spain is forced to concede an open and functioning frontier with Gibraltar. But if the UK left the EU, it would not necessarily continue to do so. In fact, Spanish politicians have already <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article4723350.ece">raised the possibility</a> that the frontier could be closed once more. Without membership of the EU, there would be very little that Britain could do about it. </p>
<h2>Economic fears</h2>
<p>Severing communications with Spain once more would be disastrous for the Gibraltar economy and, for that matter, for the surrounding Spanish hinterland. The Rock is visited daily by 7,000 migrant workers who live in the Campo de Gibraltar in Spain and commute over the frontier to work. Supplies of food come to Gibraltar from Spain and, likewise, Gibraltarians visit Spain to buy things that would be more expensive at home.</p>
<p>Tourism and shipping represent around 30% of Gibraltar’s economy. Much of the workforce in these industries commutes in from Spain; closure of the frontier would severely disrupt this essential industry. Likewise, off-shore gaming and financial services companies contribute significantly to the Gibraltar economy and, just as there are fears as to the effect of a Brexit upon the City of London, Gibraltar’s economy could be severely affected by the arduous process of the UK having to bilaterally agree new trade agreements with key markets.</p>
<p>If the UK leaves the EU, it will probably have to start propping up the Gibraltar economy with grants. This is what happened when the frontier was closed. Between 1970 and 1973, the British government gave Gibraltar £4m. Between 1978 and 1981, that total rose to £14m.</p>
<p>Today, money might solve some problems but it could not hope to solve a crisis of labour shortage. In the 1970s, many women in Gibraltar did not work, providing a reserve pool of labour. But today employment rates among women are high and overall there is very little unemployment. And in any case, Gibraltarians do not want to survive on handouts from the UK government.</p>
<h2>Political strategy</h2>
<p>All three of the Rock’s political parties have joined together in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GibStrongerIN/">Gibraltar Stronger in Europe</a> campaign. The main trade unions and representatives of business on the Rock, such as the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce, have also come out in support of remaining. </p>
<p>Whether the united front in Gibraltar can make a difference to the overall decision on referendum day is anyone’s guess, but with polls currently very close, 23,000 votes aren’t to be sniffed at.</p>
<p>Naturally, the government of Gibraltar has found friends within the UK government who are willing to add weight to the pro-European stance of Gibraltarians. The foreign secretary, Phillip Hammond, made a recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretary-visits-gibraltar">surprise visit</a> to remind voters of the historic ties between Gibraltar and the Conservative Party.</p>
<p>Traditionally, Gibraltarians have looked to the Conservative Party to safeguard their interests against Spanish claims over sovereignty. Upon discovering that Hammond’s private jet was en route from London to Gibraltar, for example, the Spanish government forced his plane to take a route over Portugal, <a href="http://www.gibraltarolivepress.com/2016/05/16/spain-insists-philip-hammonds-gibraltar-jet-diversion-was-routine/">bypassing Spanish airspace</a> (although it says this is a routine procedure).</p>
<p>The trouble is, many of Gibraltar’s traditional allies within the Conservative Party are pro-Brexit.</p>
<p>Andrew Rosindell, a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gibraltar has been trying to square Gibraltar’s interests with the Brexit campaign, arguing that political integration with Britain and a Gibraltar MP in Westminster would compensate for lack of representation within the EU. But there have been confrontations between the government of Gibraltar and pro-Brexit members of the Conservative Party. There were dramatic scenes when Fabian Picardo, the chief minister of Gibraltar, offended the pro-Brexit chair of the parliamentary group <a href="http://gibraltarpanorama.gi/mobile/displayarticle.aspx?smid=15209&aid=185291">by declaring</a> that true friends of Gibraltar would be campaigning to remain in the EU.</p>
<p>If Britain votes to remain, Gibraltar’s politicians will be very relieved, but they may have some relationships to repair. Some key allies in London are both pro-Gibraltar and pro-Brexit and they may feel rather alienated by the strident Stronger in Europe campaign. </p>
<p>If the UK does leave the European Union, on the other hand, one can imagine a new Conservative Party leader in Boris Johnson making Churchillian speeches in defence of Gibraltar. But I cannot help but feel that Gibraltar, like Scotland, may look to redefine its constitutional relationship with the UK in the event of Brexit.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59763/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Grocott's doctoral thesis on the history of Gibraltar was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council between 2002-05.</span></em></p>If Britain votes to leave, residents of the Rock won’t come along quietly.Chris Grocott, Lecturer in Management and Economic History, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/460602015-08-13T14:52:07Z2015-08-13T14:52:07ZGibraltar’s contested waters: it’s time to settle this unedifying spat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91798/original/image-20150813-21393-i4eqo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Testing the boundaries of civility. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/defenceimages/8634313531/">UK Ministry of Defence</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Spain and the UK are at loggerheads once again over who owns the waters around the disputed territory of Gibraltar. Spanish boats have been spotted off the shore in an incident that has left British diplomats bristling.</p>
<p>The latest argument rests on whether the Spanish police’s drugs and money laundering squad broke the law by chasing a suspect into Gibraltarian waters. The British Foreign office made an official complaint on August 9 about maritime and aerial <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33842868">trespass</a>, while Spain of course insists it acted within its rights.</p>
<p>This is but the latest flare-up in a tiff between two apparently grown-up nations that now requires international intervention.</p>
<h2>The right of hot pursuit</h2>
<p>Coastal states do have the <a href="http://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf">undeniable right</a> to follow and arrest ships escaping their territory for the high seas if they are carrying and dumping narcotics.</p>
<p>In this specific case, the Spanish authorities could defend themselves by falling back on this doctrine of “<a href="http://www.law.washington.edu/Directory/docs/Allen/Publications/Article_1989_DoctrineOfHotPursuitpp309-341.PDF">hot pursuit</a>”. But the doctrine is subject to certain conditions that could make a claim tricky. In the first place, pursuit must be continuous and unbroken. This is to be sure that the true offender is apprehended.</p>
<p>Hot pursuit must also cease once the chased vessel enters into the maritime spaces of other sovereign nations. Spain could pursue the suspect vessels to the very ends of the earth in international waters but it ought to have stopped once they entered British or any other sovereign nation’s territorial water space – that is, within 12 nautical miles of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=s6apAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR3&lpg=PR3&dq=gbenga+oduntan+sovereignty+jurisdiction+and&source=bl&ots=VR2hHLSoie&sig=ldIx6jjpaJOBdLFJLy-XqcYTDtk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBmoVChMIzv3XleujxwIVBo3bCh29cwCG">all sovereign coasts</a>.</p>
<p>The problem, however, is that there are significant issues of sovereignty, jurisdiction and control over Gibraltar, pitting Spain and the UK against each other. Spain contests the UK’s sovereignty over the entire Gibraltarian territory so rejects any suggestion that Gibraltar has a right to any territorial waters at all. As a result Spanish fishing vessels frequently enter the area. So what may appear to be a game of cat and mouse is in a sense actually a necessary dance in international relations.</p>
<p>The disputed territory is a <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wrJmCvFY6ocC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=war+of+spanish+succession&ots=27vQA-rIXo&sig=-wo2eyC0H8tmZL1zO4phgAivPF0">prize of war</a> that has been ruled by Britain since 1713. It continues to robustly resist Spanish attempts to undermine the validity of British jurisdiction in Gibraltar waters. In this high stakes game, prompt diplomatic protests and mild forms of gunboat diplomacy feature prominently.</p>
<p>Vigilance is key to the ultimate success of the claims of all parties involved. Hence within 48 hours of the last trespass allegations, the Spanish ambassador was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26856277">unceremoniously summoned</a> to the Foreign Office. In February 2015 a “formal protest” was issued after a Spanish warship entered British-controlled waters around Gibraltar and disrupted <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26262439">a Royal Navy training exercise</a>.</p>
<p>When the Gibraltar authorities dropped 74 concrete blocks into the disputed waters just off the island’s coast, ostensibly to create an artificial reef and encourage sea-life to flourish, Spain imposed stricter checks at their common border, causing long delays for people trying to get on and off.</p>
<p>Britain and Gibraltar cried foul, arguing that the checks were politically motivated, but the European Commission took the opposite view and ruled that the checks had not broken European law.</p>
<h2>Not the only hard place</h2>
<p>Ironically if Spain wants justice in this matter it must do justice over the other territories it holds dear but which apparently belonged to African nations as well. <a href="https://theconversation.com/africas-border-disputes-are-set-to-rise-but-there-are-ways-to-stop-them-44264">Border shenanigans</a> take place in Africa on a relatively frequent basis. </p>
<p>Any lasting resolution to the Spanish and UK sovereignty dispute must take cognisance of another dispute between Spain and Morocco over <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=z7MBCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=gbenga+oduntan+international+boundaries&ots=JceLPierzU&sig=WcN7rvc6-HHkuUC-0BkKA3_gd64">Ceuta, Melilla, Penon de Velez de la Gomera, Alhucemas and the Chafarinas Islands</a>.</p>
<p>The number of incidents, stand-offs and near military engagements in the Gibrlatar tiff is accelerating, making it ripe for <a href="http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/">intervention under the rules of the UN</a>. To save Europe from a shameful face-off between respectable nations, something ought to be done – and quickly. The imperatives are clear.</p>
<p>Genuine good faith negotiations (probably assisted by the European Union) should be started over the Gibraltar question with an aim to resolve it completely within an appropriate period.</p>
<p>Failing that, an <a href="http://www.icj-cij.org/homepage/">international court</a> or <a href="http://www.icj-cij.org/pcij/?p1=9">arbitral body</a> should be urgently seised of the matter.</p>
<p>A third option exists, but is too horrible to contemplate: the recourse to repeated gunboat diplomacy, skirmishes and <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/597746/russia-nato-war-michael-fallon-ukraine">armed conflict</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46060/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gbenga Oduntan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The UK is angry at Spain for chasing boats into its territory. Enough already.Gbenga Oduntan, Senior Lecturer in International Commercial Law, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/404502015-04-23T05:27:45Z2015-04-23T05:27:45ZGibraltar is keeping a close eye on the British election – but it doesn’t get a vote<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/78528/original/image-20150419-3249-26adog.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What do you make of this Farage then?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cenz/98865381">cenz</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Given that the current government of Gibraltar is a coalition between the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party and the Liberal Party of Gibraltar, you might be forgiven for thinking that the people of this British overseas territory might express sympathy with the politics of the UK Labour party as the election approaches. </p>
<p>Even though Gibraltar is located just off the coast of Spain, it remains part of the UK. This is a point of continued tension between the two countries, even though Gibraltarians voted overwhelmingly to maintain the status quo in a referendums in 1967 and 2002.</p>
<p>Gibraltarians can’t vote in the UK election, although they do vote in European elections (as part of the South-West England constituency). And make no mistake, what happens on May 7 will have serious consequences for them.</p>
<p>What Gibraltarians want out of a UK government and what they look for in their domestic politics are two very separate things. In essence, Gibraltarians want a UK government that looks unlikely to do a secret sovereignty deal with Spain.</p>
<p>This nearly happened in 2002 when the then Home Secretary, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1965546.stm">Jack Straw</a>, floated the idea of an <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2090845/Tony-Blair-signed-secret-deal-Gibraltar-Spain.html">“Andorra solution”</a> to resolve the long running dispute over the future of Gibraltar. The deal would have seen sovereignty over the territory shared jointly between Britain and Spain.</p>
<p>When people in Gibraltar discovered the content of these negotiations, they were shocked. To many, joint sovereignty looked suspiciously like a first step to complete Spanish sovereignty. The hastily organised referendum on the proposal, organised by the government of Gibraltar, rejected the plan by 17,900 votes to 187.</p>
<p>In Gibraltar, the legacy of the failed Andorra solution proposal has been negative feeling towards the UK Labour party. Nevertheless, in a recent article with the <a href="http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=35706">Gibraltar Chronicle</a>, Len McCluskey, leader of the Unite union, said the people of Gibraltar could “sleep easy” in the knowledge that he would work to ensure that a Labour led government would respect their wishes when it came to negotiations with Spain. However, the Labour Party makes no reference to Gibraltar whatsoever in its <a href="https://theconversation.com/manifesto-check-labours-top-policies-40108">manifesto</a>.</p>
<p>The Conservative Party has, by contrast, always enjoyed more favour. The 1982 defence of the Falklands Islands is held in Gibraltar to be a robust defence of UK overseas territories. In its own 2015 manifesto, the Conservative Party makes an explicit pledge to “protect the democratic rights” of both Gibraltar and the Falklands and allow them to remain British “for as long as that is their wish”.</p>
<p>With Argentina once more pressing on the issue of Falklands sovereignty, and Spain <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-300-years-more-monkey-business-on-rock-of-gibraltar-16745">putting pressure</a> on the free flow of traffic over the Gibraltar frontier, Gibraltarians would normally welcome a Conservative government.</p>
<p>But here’s the rub: with the Conservatives committed to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-renegotiating-the-uks-position-in-the-eu-14374">referendum on the European Union</a>, a Conservative victory might well spell the end of UK membership. And that could have disastrous consequences for Gibraltar.</p>
<p>Gibraltar joined the European with Britain in 1973, but it is not a separate member. In other words, if the UK leaves the EU then Gibraltar leaves too.</p>
<p>A decent amount of Gibraltar’s trade is still done with Britain, but a substantial amount is done within Europe. Without access to the European free market, the Gibraltar economy would be severely damaged.</p>
<p>Gibraltar has always seen its interests as being firmly linked to those of the UK but it would certainly want to find a way to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/gibraltar/11534580/Gibraltar-suggests-it-wants-to-stay-in-EU-in-the-event-of-Brexit.html">stay in the EU</a> if a Brexit were on the cards. Whether or not this could be done is uncertain, perhaps even doubtful. But it would certainly want to try, and it may well make common cause with Scotland and Catalonia who are both potentially looked for individual membership of the EU separate to their present metropolitan governments.</p>
<p>So while many people of Gibraltar may, on one level, favour a Conservative government as the outcome of the 2015 election, the doubts about the EU that such a victory would bring could change all that. In the circumstances, it would appear that a Labour victory, for all of Labour’s baggage, would be a good outcome for Gibraltarians.</p>
<p>To go one step further, given the regional and national devolution issues involved, perhaps the best outcome would in fact be a Labour-Scottish National Party coalition.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40450/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Grocott's doctoral research was funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council project entitled 'Community and Identity in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Gibraltar'. The project ran from 2002-2006. This article does not reflect the views of the research councils.</span></em></p>Lasting rancour towards Labour and fear of an EU exit leave the overseas territory caught between a rock and a hard place.Chris Grocott, Lecturer in Management and Economic History, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/312382014-09-17T03:39:38Z2014-09-17T03:39:38ZIs that rock hashtag really the first evidence of Neanderthal art?<p>There has been much excitement over <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/02/neanderthal-abstract-art-found-gibraltar-cave">recent reports</a> that something found in a cave in Gibraltar is the first known example of Neanderthal art. But what exactly has been found, can it be believed and, if so, why is it important?</p>
<p>The creation of any form of cave art has traditionally been attributed to the arrival of early modern humans. So any claim that <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/neanderthals">Neanderthals</a> had the cognitive ability to also scratch out some art certainly deserves further investigation. </p>
<p>The discovery consists of 13 marks carved into the bedrock of <a href="http://www.gibmuseum.gi/Gorhams_History.html">Gorham’s Cave</a>, Gibraltar. They are of uneven depth and their appearance is similar to that of the hashtag mark (#) familiar to Twitter users.</p>
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<p>Careful analysis appears to have shown that the marks were made by repeatedly cutting into the bedrock with pointed stone tools, according to the research published this month in the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/08/27/1411529111">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>. The research team’s experiments show that there was considerable difficulty in reproducing marks as wide and as deep as the prehistoric ones, supporting the interpretation that these marks were made deliberately.</p>
<p>This is important because it is well known that bears and other animals marked the walls of caves when the rock was soft enough. Bear bones have been found in previous excavations at this site.</p>
<p>Such bear scratches have been reported underlying the paintings at <a href="http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/">Chauvet Cave</a> in France which are among the oldest in Europe.</p>
<p>Other claims for Neanderthal art – that a red dot painted in Castillo Cave in northern Spain was made at a time when Neanderthals still lived in Spain – have been made before and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-art-of-loving-neandertals-theyre-like-us-but-different-7741">discussed by me</a>. </p>
<h2>So can the new discovery be believed?</h2>
<p>The dating of the new find depends on the fact that it was covered by sediments in the cave. The study’s authors say they were deposited more than 39,000 years ago, and contain the sorts of stone tools, called Mousterian, that were once said to define Neanderthals.</p>
<p>But this claim is problematic. First, the radiocarbon dates obtained from the layer above the marks are rather mixed, with younger dates found below older dates, even in an area claimed to have been a hearth.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58842/original/58gkjcww-1410495791.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58842/original/58gkjcww-1410495791.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58842/original/58gkjcww-1410495791.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58842/original/58gkjcww-1410495791.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58842/original/58gkjcww-1410495791.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58842/original/58gkjcww-1410495791.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58842/original/58gkjcww-1410495791.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58842/original/58gkjcww-1410495791.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gorham’s cave (bottom right) on Gibraltar where the hashtag marks were found.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/c-j-b/270093188">Flickr/Chris Steve</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>This means that it would be possible to argue that the sediments were redeposited some time after the latest date (about 29,000 years ago).</p>
<p>The second question is about the attribution of the stone tools in the layer to the Mousterian industry. The numbers of stone tools are quite small and there are very few diagnostic pieces. It is certainly the simplest hypothesis to attribute them to this industry, but it is by no means clear-cut.</p>
<p>Moreover, it continues to be a problem that in the east Mediterranean clearly Mousterian industries were associated with modern humans some time around 100,000 years ago.</p>
<p>Two recent papers established a date for the last <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/110/8/2781">Neanderthals in Spain</a> or other <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7514/full/nature13621.html">parts of Europe</a> between 41,000 and 39,000 years ago. In reality, these are dates for the last Mousterian industries in Europe.</p>
<p>Attempts to resolve the dating of Gorham’s Cave during this project showed that the samples were difficult to analyse.</p>
<p>At least, these caveats suggest that the attribution of the marks to Neanderthals is not quite as straightforward as it has been presented. As with the previous claim for Neanderthal art, it would seem that some people are willing scientists to show the similarities between us and our last European relatives.</p>
<p>The third point is that we cannot just assert a belief that Neanderthals had all the abilities of modern humans – it is something that needs to be demonstrated.</p>
<p>At the moment, then, it would be premature to state positively that the etched marks in Gorham’s Cave were made by Neanderthals.</p>
<h2>But is it really art?</h2>
<p>The question “what is art?” is always open to challenge because meanings are context-dependent. It is clear that these marks are not representational of any stick figures in any simple sense, so the question of whether they could have had a symbolic intent depends on understanding how such symbolism might have been understood.</p>
<p>The first issue is about repetition. Some have suggested that there is a link to the similarly <a href="http://www.academia.edu/6042891/Engraved_ochres_from_the_Middle_Stone_Age_levels_at_Blombos_Cave_South_Africa">cross-hatched rocks</a> from Blombos Cave overlooking the Antarctic Ocean in South Africa.</p>
<p>In this case, there is more than one example, and similar markings have been found at other sites that date at least 75,000 years ago.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58843/original/qkbvznht-1410495968.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58843/original/qkbvznht-1410495968.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58843/original/qkbvznht-1410495968.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58843/original/qkbvznht-1410495968.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58843/original/qkbvznht-1410495968.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58843/original/qkbvznht-1410495968.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58843/original/qkbvznht-1410495968.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58843/original/qkbvznht-1410495968.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The view from Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_from_Gorham%27s_Cave,_Gibraltar.JPG">Wikimedia/John Cummings</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The second issue is about how the makers of the marks (if they were not bears) might have persuaded their companions about their intent. This might have been possible through ritual, but it is not straightforward to identify that in the <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10816-006-9021-1">archaeological record</a>. It would be easier to be convinced if there were other similar marks that might be the result of the repetitive aspects of ritual.</p>
<p>A third point is a claim in the Gibraltar research that such marks indicate “abstract thought and expression”. Most people who talk about such things do not define what they mean by “abstract”.</p>
<p>Most probably the use of the word derives informally from an argument of the form that art in our world is either representational or abstract – but these marks are not representational, therefore they must have been abstract.</p>
<p>An alternative argument is that the similarity of such markings with examples from the relevant time period in Africa, Western Asia and Europe results from some common functionality in making such marks.</p>
<p>It is possible that in these cases, the repeated making of marks could be related to the emergence of an <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/664818?uid=3737536&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104668383763">ability for counting</a>.</p>
<h2>What an ‘art’ find means for human evolution</h2>
<p>If the Gibraltar find is evidence of symbolic behaviour among Neanderthals then it brings the focus back to the evolution of human cognition. </p>
<p>The 19th-century claim for cognitive inferiority of Neanderthals relied on <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Neandertals.html?id=PCqAAAAAMAAJ">contradictory and confused arguments</a> about anatomy as well as prejudices about living populations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58860/original/pkkkgk56-1410501885.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58860/original/pkkkgk56-1410501885.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58860/original/pkkkgk56-1410501885.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58860/original/pkkkgk56-1410501885.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58860/original/pkkkgk56-1410501885.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58860/original/pkkkgk56-1410501885.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58860/original/pkkkgk56-1410501885.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58860/original/pkkkgk56-1410501885.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=485&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Neanderthals could use tools but did they know art? From an exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC, US.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ricardosep/7218157168/in/photostream/">Flickr/Ricardo Giaviti</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The contradiction and confusion began to be replaced in the 1970s and the gap between modern humans and Neanderthals narrowed, but did not disappear. Several scholars <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095447012000344">argued</a> that the differences were related to a difference in the capacity for language. </p>
<p>Others <a href="https://www.academia.edu/6900223/Davidson_I._2014._Cognitive_Evolution_and_Origins_of_Language_and_Speech_in_Encyclopedia_of_Global_Archaeology">pointed out</a> that speech became language when the utterances became symbolic so that the crucial evidence was about the existence of symbols.</p>
<p>Genetic <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/314/5802/1113">studies</a> using DNA extracted from fossils of Neanderthals have sharpened the picture. These show that, in the 5,000 years before extinction, some <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1002947">interbreeding with modern humans</a> happened. They also show that during the 300,000 years that the two populations were completely separated, natural selection operated to produce <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v507/n7492/full/nature12961.html">reduced fertility in male hybrids</a>.</p>
<p>The question, then, is whether natural selection also led to a change in behaviour or cognition. The answer to that question depends on the theoretical assumptions that are brought to the study of cognition in general, and in particular how cognition might have been <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699930701437477#.VBFPGWSSyrw">different</a> for different ancestral species.</p>
<p>It seems likely that the initial populations that diverged from the last common ancestor had similar cognitive abilities at the time, but those abilities became more like ours earlier in Africa before modern humans arrived in Europe.</p>
<p>So this find in Gibraltar, like many others, needs to be evaluated critically from the point of view of the archaeology, and it needs to be interpreted cautiously in light of well-developed theory of cognitive evolution.</p>
<p>By itself it is not a game-changer, but if similar marks are found in other Spanish sites, with clear attribution to Neanderthals, we may have to change the way we think about our cognitive evolution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain Davidson has received funding from the ARC, AIATSIS, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. He is affiliated with UNE (Australia), Flinders University, Arizona State University, and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.</span></em></p>There has been much excitement over recent reports that something found in a cave in Gibraltar is the first known example of Neanderthal art. But what exactly has been found, can it be believed and, if…Iain Davidson, Emeritus Professor, School of Humanities, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/170832013-08-21T13:12:21Z2013-08-21T13:12:21ZA booming Gibraltan economy helps both sides of the border<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/29607/original/6m6xct4z-1377013807.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wish you were here?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Birchall/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether it’s arguments over <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/16/uk-britain-spain-gibraltar-idUKBRE97F0OP20130816">delays at the border</a> or concrete blocks <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/gibraltar/10253964/Spain-tells-Britain-to-remove-Gibraltar-reef.html">dumped in the sea</a>, Gibraltar has been causing the UK and Spain lots of grief recently. </p>
<p>It has gathered an awful lot of attention for a 2.6 sq mile territory that is home to fewer than 30,000 people. But to look at the Rock like this is to do it a disservice. Its days as a military outpost are gone, and Gibraltar’s economy is booming. The “business model” that has brought this success is deeply rooted in recent history.</p>
<p>In 1970s, Gibraltar was a largely service-based economy with a heavy reliance upon the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the public sector. The MOD was the hub of the economy, and economic well-being was very much dependent upon decisions made in Westminster. Defence spending and spending by military households together accounted for more than a third of the economy. Adding to the military feel, the frontier with Spain at La Linea was closed and Gibraltar was operating as a siege economy. Even something as basic as water was shipped in on tankers to supplement rainfall gathered from catchments.</p>
<p>The situation today could not be in greater contrast. The Gibraltar of 2013 is a service-based economy with a high proportion of highly qualified professionals. The public sector and MOD are now responsible for less than 11% of the economy.</p>
<h2>Necessary reforms</h2>
<p>This transformation came about out of necessity. When the UK government closed Gibraltar’s major dockyard in 1984, it risked unbalancing the local economy, creating major unemployment and as a consequence destabilising the government of Gibraltar. In the years since the closure of the dockyard, other military operations were curtailed such as the closure of the Royal Naval Hospital in 2008.</p>
<p>To many economies, the disappearance of a dockyard and hospital would be locally difficult but nationally insignificant. But everything in Gibraltar is “national” because of its small size. These were major economic shocks, not only in terms of the lost income and employment and the political messages that were being sent out but in terms of the long-term sustainability of what is, in effect, a very small, vulnerable economy. To survive these shocks Gibraltar needed to be innovative, nimble and above all resolute. It was all of these.</p>
<h2>Abrir la frontera</h2>
<p>The reopening of the frontier with Spain in 1985 was timely and provided two important ingredients for the future of Gibraltar’s economy: a major increase in the level of consumer demand and the availability of a willing and able workforce. Spaniards replaced Moroccans in the workforce and this created the opportunity for economic expansion without the constraints of accommodation and the social impacts this generated.</p>
<p>The privatisation of the dockyard was not a huge success. In spite of Gibraltar’s geographical advantages, it was a difficult time for ship repairers to compete on the global stage – the Far East was just too competitive. </p>
<p>Troubles at the dockyard, reduced MOD dependence and the opening of the frontier led to a period of flux and readjustment. But the siege economy had instilled in local businesses a resilience that would be hard to match anywhere else in Europe.</p>
<h2>Good economies come in small packages</h2>
<p>Modern Gibraltar is still a service-based economy (its human resources and location are its only real assets) but it is a white collar service-based economy. </p>
<p>Because Gibraltar is so small it is vulnerable to external shocks, but this smallness also makes it very fleet of foot and it can quickly take up opportunities provided by market conditions. Therefore we have seen the Gibraltar economy weather the economic storms since 2008 and this has amplified the gap between those who work on the Rock and those who earn their living in the surrounding Spanish region, Campo de Gibraltar. </p>
<p>Gibraltar does not survive because of its tax haven status – its financial regulations and commitments to transparency means that the <a href="http://www.investmenteurope.net/investment-europe/feature/2276548/gibraltar-completes-its-passage-from-tax-haven-to-international-financial-centre">OECD does not consider Gibraltar</a> to be a “tax haven”. </p>
<p>It does have a strong financial service sector (<a href="https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/images/stories/PDF/statistics/2013/Employment_Survey_Report_2012.pdf">7% of total employment</a>) but one that operates efficiently and on the basis of strong regulation. The construction industry has also been a major aspect of the economy from the time that Gibraltar started its land reclamation programme.</p>
<p>It is also the home of a large number of online gaming companies such as BWIN, Victor Chandler and William Hill (accounting for 10% of total employment) which creates well over a thousand jobs on the Spanish side of the frontier. </p>
<p>When the <a href="http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/16695/1/GCoC-24920-FletcherReport-Abridged.pdf">2009 impact study</a> of Gibraltar on the Campo was undertaken, the economic effects could be felt many kilometres beyond La Linea. Spain has an abundance of land and human resources, and Gibraltar has the industry. Both countries benefit from their interaction. </p>
<p>If the Rock was put under siege circumstances again it would survive, but it would find it difficult to prosper. However, the economic and political damage to the Campo de Gibraltar would likely be far worse. Putting aside the cultural and social dimensions of the Gibraltar issue, continued hostilities are in no one’s economic interests.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/17083/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Fletcher has received funding over the time of undertaking research on the economy of Gibraltar from 1978 to the present day. He has been funded by the UK Government, the Government of Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Chamber of Commerce. At all times that research has been academic and objective as it has for more than 70 countries where he has undertaken research over the past 35 years, funded by international agencies such as the EU, the UN and USAID as well as national governments.</span></em></p>Whether it’s arguments over delays at the border or concrete blocks dumped in the sea, Gibraltar has been causing the UK and Spain lots of grief recently. It has gathered an awful lot of attention for…John Fletcher, Director, International Centre for Tourism & Hospitality Research, Bournemouth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/167452013-08-09T05:37:01Z2013-08-09T05:37:01ZAfter 300 years, more monkey business on Rock of Gibraltar<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/28866/original/s46bkhb5-1375890720.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">But I don't speak Spanish!</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Once again Britain and Spain have been at loggerheads this week over a 2.6 square mile rock which the former has occupied and the other complained about for 300 years. It would be over-egging things to say the two countries are at daggers drawn over Gibraltar, but diplomatic relations have been cool to say the least after the Spanish authorities started stopping people going in and out of the British Overseas Territory and threatened to impose a fee for those who wanted to cross the frontier.</p>
<p>At first glance the central question in the sovereignty dispute over Gibraltar appears obvious, should Gibraltar be British or Spanish? It is a question that has been asked ever since Spain ceded sovereignty of the Rock, as it is known locally, to Britain under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. And it was a question that Spain attempted to answer through military force in the sieges of 1727 and 1779-83. </p>
<p>But from 1783, right through until the mid-1950s, the question of who should control Gibraltar was one that fell into abeyance. Spain did not have the military capacity to challenge the ascendant British Empire, and Britain, particularly after the expansion of Gibraltar’s dockyard at the end of the 19th century, had no intention of relinquishing a significant military and naval stronghold. </p>
<p>In 1954, General Franco’s dictatorship in Spain began to place pressure on the relationship between Gibraltar and Spain by making it difficult for Spaniards to obtain permits to work in Gibraltar. In part, this withdrawal of labour was a response to Queen Elizabeth II’s 1954 visit to Gibraltar during her Coronation Tour of the empire. </p>
<p>In 1969, after several years of continued restrictions at the frontier, the Franco government closed the land route from Spain to Gibraltar and instigated an economic blockade of the Rock which was only lifted in the mid-1980s. After 150 years of close co-operation between the authorities on both sides of the frontier, Franco raised the question again: should Gibraltar be British or Spanish? </p>
<p>In fact, this binary view of the issue of Gibraltar’s sovereignty completely misses the point because since 1713 a third party has become involved in the Gibraltar dispute: the Gibraltarians themselves.</p>
<h2>Who are the Gibraltarians?</h2>
<p>Far from being “Britain with more sun” as it is often portrayed, Gibraltar hosts a mix of ethnicities: its population of 29,000 (as at 2012) includes people of Italian, British, Spanish, Maltese, Portuguese, German, and North African origins. All of these nationalities, and others besides, contributed to the demographic development of the Gibraltarian people in the years after 1704. In addition, 10,000 Spanish nationals cross the border each day to work on the Rock.</p>
<p>In 1999 the then chief minister Peter Caruana asserted, in a <a href="http://www.gibnet.com/library/pcun1099.htm">speech to the UN</a>, “that Gibraltar belongs to the people of Gibraltar and is neither Spain’s to claim, nor Britain’s to give away”. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2400673.stm">referendum</a> held subsequently in 2002, after Britain and Spain had discussed shared sovereignty, found that 98.97% of the population was against Gibraltar being handed back to Spain. </p>
<h2>Gibraltar finds its own voice</h2>
<p>Back in 1713, little or no thought was given to the rights of those people who lived in colonial territories. Since then, things have changed considerably. As people flocked to the Rock to take part in the healthy trade which grew up around the needs of the garrison, a community was formed. The first residents of Gibraltar to express their interests in the place were members of the entrepreneurial community; they were quick to complain to the government in Britain about governors who stifled local trade in favour of military efficiency. </p>
<p>By the end of the 19th century, local workers’ organisations were forming to defend and advance the interests of working-class Gibraltarians and during World War II, Gibraltar’s first political party was formed. The Association for the Advancement of Civil Rights (AACR) campaigned on behalf of those families who had been evacuated from the Rock during the war. In 1964, the AACR’s leader Joshua (later Sir Joshua) Hassan became Gibraltar’s first chief minister. The preamble to Gibraltar’s constitution, established in 1969, stated that the people of Gibraltar would not pass under the sovereignty of another state against their express wishes.</p>
<p>The recognition of the rights of Gibraltarians to have a say in their own governance was a significant factor in the decision to close the frontier in 1969. The consequences of the blockade for the people of Gibraltar were severe; many families were split between Gibraltar and its hinterland. News of new births, for example, was often heralded by family members shouting to each other across the neutral ground at the frontier. There were severe labour shortages on the Rock and between 1970 and 1981 the British government gave Gibraltar more than £25m in grants-in-aid to help sustain the local economy. </p>
<p>Recent attempts to stifle the flow of traffic over the Gibraltar frontier have evoked the atmosphere of Franco’s blockade. Gibraltar relies upon the 11m day-trippers who visit the Rock each year to sustain a tourism industry which, alongside off-shore finance and gambling companies, accounts for the vast majority of the income to the Gibraltar economy. Any hindrance to traffic at the frontier would have severe repercussions on tourism and, therefore, Gibraltar’s economy. So it is only natural that Gibraltar’s population worries about the prospect of another economic blockade. Such a turn of events would require the British government to give financial aid to Gibraltar which may be difficult in the present economic climate. </p>
<p>In 1986, Britain was able to force Spain to lift the blockade by making a return to an open frontier a condition of support for Spanish entry to the Common Market (now the EU) - it is difficult to see what similar leverage exists these days. But it is also important to remember that Franco’s economic blockade had an enormous effect on the economy of Gibraltar’s Spanish hinterland which did – and still does – depend heavily on Gibraltar’s economy. Both sides have an interest in keeping trade flowing.</p>
<p>Examining the sovereignty dispute through the prism of an age-old colonial dispute might keep the cogs of international diplomacy grinding, but it does a great disservice to the people of Gibraltar. It ignores the fact that on the Rock there is a distinct, if small, community of people whose right to self-determination is being denied. It also ignores the fact that if the current dispute escalates, it will be the Gibraltarians themselves who will suffer most.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/16745/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Grocott's doctoral research was funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council project entitled 'Community and Identity in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Gibraltar'. The project ran from 2002-2006.</span></em></p>Once again Britain and Spain have been at loggerheads this week over a 2.6 square mile rock which the former has occupied and the other complained about for 300 years. It would be over-egging things to…Chris Grocott, Lecturer in Management and Economic History, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.