Nora Femenia

“ The Argentine construction of the Malvinas-Falklands recovery If Ivanov can say that the Falklands, before 1982 were almost ignored in the rest of the world, in Argentina the reality of them, as Falkland Islands, was also deeply ignored. Since almost the beginning of the XX Century, people have been schooled in a peculiar narrative of the Islands as national territory stolen by the UK. It is not the Falkland Islands, but the Islas Malvinas construction what is at stake. ”

“ The voice of the people, constructed through polls, surveys and elections, tries to channel many expressed opinions into pre-determined choices, so to make selection of the majority one possible. If only the Falklands could proceed designing their own future in a conflict free environment, following a natural development path, predictions would be easy. However, there is no way a domestic election in the Falklands could solve a long international sovereignty dispute. ”

“ The recovery of the Islas Malvinas and its role in public imagination In Argentina, this sovereignty dispute now going on for a long time, has taken its own national life. Discussions able to shape public perceptions of ‘what is doable, possible and desirable’ for the political future of the Falklands in the context of the UK-Argentina dispute are prevented because replaced with shared mythologies and domestic power manipulations. ”

“ What the Forum can simply do is to serve as a model for a cross-cultural and political interaction developed under some rigorous constrains, but accepted by the participants as a safe ground where to develop a difficult but necessary negotiation between deep identity claims from both sides. ”

“ However, a dialogue between the two contrary sides, with real people with real names has not been possible before, and it opens now real avenues for inclusion of the different perspectives at decision time. ”

“ It poses a defense heavy burden and weighs in the UK-FI relation by constraining possibilities that would be otherwise open. Even when present conditions in Argentina are taken into account, (economic crises, diminished military expenditure, official renouncement to a policy of military recovery of the Islands, etc.) there are still social conditions present that make of a forceful recovery a credible threat for the Islanders.
In short, planning for the Falklands future asks that duly consideration should be given to the dispute context and to the future management of the Argentine claim. ”