Gibraltar. No hi he anat mai i realment no tinc cap aspiració per a que continui sent part de "la meva patria" - no sóc gaire patriotic! Però entenc perfectament que si la gent que hi viu allì volen continuar sent britanics, pos, endavant. Per molt que sembla un cas estrany, una roca que fisicament està "penjada" de l'estat espanyol, el fet és que fa 300 anys que els espanyols ho van donar a Anglaterra. Clar, ara han passat anys, però la gent que viu allì continua pensant igual.
Si demà, la gent decideixi voler formar part d'Espanya, per mi cap problema - endavant. Realment és una questió tan simple.
Però, dins de tot l'embolic que es munta per aquesta roca, el que queda demostrat un cop més és que el govern espanyol no sap "guanyar amics". Com pensen que Gibraltar, Catalunya o qui sigui voldran estar amb ells si només rebem amenaces i insults?
Per més morbo, Gibraltar ja té equip de futbol internacional, cosa que demostra que Espanya tampoc sap fer amics dins de la FIFA!
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Gibraltar, 2 and a half square miles of rock stuck on the bottom of the Iberian Peninsula, with a population of 30,000 people and 230 monkeys. Gibraltar was given to the English in 1714 - given, not temporarily lent - in exchange for England backing out of the Spanish War of Succession, thus leaving Catalonia in the lurch. I'm not one of those patriotic types who insists the English (or British) flag must fly over half the world, but I do believe that people should have a say in their own future. And however strange it seems that this rock does not belong to Spain, as long as its people are happy the way they are, so be it. If one day, the majority of the population would rather be Spanish , fine, but as for now that is not the case.
The Spanish tend to use the "Gibraltar issue" as a way to take people's attention away from all the sh*t going on in Spain - especially in the summer when there's no football to do that job. However, I'm not sure they really care - I mean, how do you convince 30,000 people to choose to be Spanish by threatening and insulting them?
Which brings us back to Catalonia - how do you expect 7 million people to be persuaded to form part of the "Spanish project" if all we get are threats, abuse, and our rights being cut back?
To top it all, this week Gibraltar played their first international football match - an impressive 0-0 draw against Slovakia - which just goes to show the influence of Spain's diplomats.
Anyway, as I say, I don't really mind what the Gibraltarians do in the future, but at present, anyone who irritates Spain is a friend of the Catalans :)