Apr 5, 2007
Governments Alone Make War
On the 4th April 2007, the BBC carried a story about an unusual marriage: Sebastian Socodo is an Argentine & Phoebe Reid is a Falklands Islander. They live in Port Stanley & have two children.
What is really unusual is the BBC reporter’s tone, as exemplified in the opening & closing paragraphs of the report. The War was between governments, not peoples. People can live together peacefully; their rulers can't [emphasis added]:
“The UK and Argentine governments may be further than ever from reaching a definitive solution to the Falkland Islands/Malvinas dispute, but one couple living on the islands is giving them a lesson in peaceful co-existence. ”
[....]
“Twenty-five years after the Falklands War, marriages like this one show an alternative solution to a problem which most feel detached from and which seems to be more of a tug of war between governments. ”
If even the BBC can begin to see that peoples don’t go to war, only governments can & do, there’s hope yet.
What is really unusual is the BBC reporter’s tone, as exemplified in the opening & closing paragraphs of the report. The War was between governments, not peoples. People can live together peacefully; their rulers can't [emphasis added]:
“The UK and Argentine governments may be further than ever from reaching a definitive solution to the Falkland Islands/Malvinas dispute, but one couple living on the islands is giving them a lesson in peaceful co-existence. ”
[....]
“Twenty-five years after the Falklands War, marriages like this one show an alternative solution to a problem which most feel detached from and which seems to be more of a tug of war between governments. ”
If even the BBC can begin to see that peoples don’t go to war, only governments can & do, there’s hope yet.