Freedom for the Kelpers

Buenos Aires — Article I of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states, "All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development." Since the Covenant's adoption in 1966, there has been little consensus as to what exactly constitutes a people. Often, populations of different ethnic and religious groups are so interspersed that it is nearly impossible to carve neat, self-governable states out of them. In places such as Northern Ireland, the Balkans and the Middle East, there are no easy answers to disputes over sovereignty. One of the world's more straightforward cases, though, is that of the Falkland Islands.

These windswept islands of the South Atlantic are home to 2,976 residents — known as Kelpers for the Islands' lucrative industry of seaweed-harvesting. Of these 2,976 inhabitants, 2,976 of them are British and approximately 2,970 of them wish to remain so. Referenda on whether to remain a British Overseas Dependency are about as lopsided as the 2002 Iraqi presidential election. Nevertheless, Argentina still claims the Falklands as an integral part of its national territory. It has even enshrined this claim in the national Constitution.

April 2 was the 25th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the Falklands, a day marked in Argentina both by solemn remembrance for the war dead and by jingoistic appeals for sovereignty. In 1982, Argentina's economy was on the rocks. The military dictator, Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, thought that the patriotic fervor stirred up by an invasion would distract the people from his failed economic policies. It worked fairly well, until a British expeditionary force resoundingly defeated the Argentines two months later. Argentina's military junta fell shortly thereafter, as it had become apparent that the armed forces were far more adept at terrorizing civilians than at fighting another army.

While democratic Argentine governments reject the war as an illegitimate tactic used by an illegitimate government, they still seek control over the Islands by peaceful means. According to official Argentine policy, the right to self-determination does not apply to the Kelpers because they are not an "indigenous population." Argentina inherited the Falklands from Spain as part of its national patrimony. According to this version of history, the British colonists who arrived in 1833 illegally removed a village of Argentine seal-clubbers. The subsequent generations of British settlers were illegal usurpers, and thus, their descendants have no right to determine the Islands' fate. This story, along with the Islands' geographical proximity to Argentina, is the basis for the continued claim.

There is no doubt that the British in the 19th century resorted to some dishonest and coercive means to gain territory. This, however, is of little relevance to the Islands' status today. If we are to return to 1830's maps, then the western third of the United States should belong to Mexico, Hungary to Austria and most of Poland to the newly reconstituted state of East Prussia. This is to say nothing of South American countries themselves, which regularly invaded each other, usurped territory and aggrandized their own borders. If Argentina has a right to the Falklands, then Chile has a right to much of Argentina.

No more legitimate is the claim to sovereignty based on geographical proximity. Two islands off the coast of Newfoundland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, comprise a French Overseas Department. While Canada could claim these islands based on proximity, the islanders identify themselves as French. Bermuda and the Canary Islands are far closer to the United States and Morocco, respectively, than to Britain and Spain. The locals are permitted to remain a part of those countries with which they identify.

The claim that the Falkland Islands constitute European colonialism is also a spurious one. Colonialism is the act of a foreign power imposing its will on a local population. In the case of the Falklands, though, it is the local population that wants the foreign power to stay. Before the war, the United Kingdom was prepared to negotiate sovereignty with Argentina. Now, any negotiation would be a betrayal of the Kelpers' wishes. In addition to speaking English and being of British descent, Falklanders simply do not want to be part of Argentina. The Islands are self-sufficient, and Argentina has hardly been a model of political and economic stability. It is Argentina, not Britain, that seeks to impose colonial rule on the Falklands.

Jorge Luis Borges described the 1982 war as "two bald men fighting over a comb." Much of today's posturing by both sides seems just as petty: Argentina renamed the Islands' capital of Port Stanley as Puerto Argentino, in defiance of reality. For their part, the Falklanders refuse to let the Argentines fly their flag on the graves of their own war dead. Still, the principle of the matter is fairly clear: People have the right to choose their own government, without being burdened by their ancestors' peccadilloes. The right of self-determination is inalienable, even for Kelpers. Thomas Dollar is a junior in the Wilson School. He is currently studying in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and may be reached at tdollar@princeton.edu.