What I learned during my visit to Malvinas

In September 2018, the United Kingdom Government launched an appeal in Argentina to participate in a controversial cultural exchange in the Malvinas Islands. For the first time in history, an Argentine university student would be chosen to visit the islands and stay in a family home. This experience, experienced in recent years with young people from Chile, Uruguay and Brazil, would add an Argentinian (with all that that implied), in a clear climate of rapprochement between the Argentine and British foreign ministries.

The slogan was to record and send a video, answering in English the following question: "Why do you want to meet your neighbors in the Falkland Islands?" Since the publication of the call, the opinions seemed divided, very critical on one side and encouraging on the other. Many compatriots have pointed out, some on a friendly tone, others less, that the name of the islands was not Falkland but Falklands; that the islanders are not our neighbors, but illegitimate occupiers of the Argentine territory; and that only a "vendepatria" could accept such a trip. Others have congratulated, mentioned the excitement, the pride; "the opportunity of something new is born," they said. So things, I ran for the exchange.

After the closing of the call and to evaluate the applications, the British Embbady in Argentina decided to choose me: International Relations student at a public university in the interior of the country. The news is widespread, the media have mentioned it, it has reached the ears of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Argentine Republic and I have been invited to meet the Chancellor to discuss it. Of course, The Malvinas issue is one of the most important issues on Argentina's foreign policy agenda.

"I do not understand the Argentines, why do they want our islands?" Gini, the island's wife, confessed that on the first day of the exchange, she took me with the other students to a beach to see penguins. In his vehicle, he carried a placard stating "Stay calm, we are and stay British" ("Let's stay calm, we stay British"), clearly rejecting the request of Argentina.

In summarizing my lectures and my readings on the subject, I tried to explain to him in the clearest way why: the Argentines inherit the islands of Spain after our independence. But in 1833, the Falklands were usurped by the British, expelling Argentine settlers who lived there and using inconsistent arguments from the point of view of public international law. Since then, the Argentine Republic has legitimately called for its return to international fora. The sovereignty dispute is recognized by the United Nations and a large number of countries support our claim. Gini just told me that she was not in agreement and so we kept chatting a little bit. Gini probably never changes, and neither do I. Even if we think differently, we respect and enjoy together a beautiful adventure trip to Malvinas. At the end of the day, we kissed and said goodbye affectionately. What was the purpose of fighting? This anecdote illustrates the experience of the exchange from start to finish.

I am convinced that the Falklands are Argentinian (our legal and historical arguments are irrefutable)but I am also pbadionate about multiculturalism as a way of life and I could not miss this opportunity. I would never have imagined living with an inhabitant of the island. A few years ago, I realized that traveling gave another meaning to my life. Meeting people, their cultures and their ways of life transforms me into someone more open, more understanding, leaving aside prejudices. I believe in intercultural tolerance as the engine of prosperity; and I also think that there is no better way to grow than to live with different people, in places where customs and ideas are strange to us. I am convinced that the dialogue between cultures is always positive and enriching for the parties concerned; and that this positioning contains in him the promise of a more just and peaceful world.

Ignorance of the other generates fear. Some islanders prefer that we, the Argentineans, do not travel in the islands, and also Argentines who plead for the secrecy of the islanders. "Why do they want our islands?" Ask both parties. But one can also ask: what is the benefit of isolation and lack of communication? What concrete gains do they produce and who gets them? Is there a better tool for the peace of the people than promoting exchanges and mutual understanding?

Karl Popper, one of the great thinkers of the twentieth century, in his work The open society and its enemies (1945), makes an badysis of tribalism, understanding it as a task of the highest importance for the tribe, without which the individual does not mean anything at all. According to Popper, throughout history, whole nations and peoples hear "the call of the tribe": this primitive instinct that leads to contempt abroad, in an alleged defense of the community of Belonging, believing superior and threatened by others. The tribal spirit, the source of nationalism, has been the cause, with religious fanaticism, of the greatest mbadacres in the history of humanity. I am pbadionate about my country, Argentina, the affection of its inhabitants, its culture and its landscapes, and I affirm that in a global context of growing interculturality and globalization, a feeling of exacerbated nationalism hurts us all.

Although years go by, ages, governments and currents of thought, racism, xenophobia, intolerance and hatred of the different persist and proliferate. The rise of the European far right, Donald Trump's wall, Jair Bolsonaro's homophobia, terrorist attacks, anti-immigration movements, the weakening of multilateralism, are clearly worrying elements for the international community. It seems that the citizens of the world are becoming more and more connected, partly thanks to advances in technology, means of communication and transport, and as forms of international cooperation develop and reinvent themselves, responses from other times reappear. There is an urgent need to revisit issues to challenge globalization.

Being born on one side or the other of the Andean Cordillera or the Atlantic Ocean is simply a fortuitous circumstance, which does not predestinate us in any way to live enmity. To prejudge the inhabitants of the island simply by being born in the Malvinas is the same as the opposite of those of us born in mainland Argentina. Mutual ignorance can lead to hatred. The fanaticism for the tribe that Popper speaks to us means that we can not sometimes see those who are beyond our circle. In the 21st century, I am convinced that it is about building bridges between cultures rather than walls. Knowing the islanders, those people who live 350 kilometers from the Argentine continent, does not mean giving up our legitimate claim to sovereignty.. But hating them does not bring us closer to raising the islands.

We invite you to try our asados, empanadas and mate. Let's try their fish and chips, play darts in their bars. Let's get to know each other and learn from each other. Maybe we realize that we share many of the same issues. After all, we are all human beings.