HAPPY GIBRALTAR NATIONAL DAY FROM THE DEFENDERS OF GIBRALTAR

HAPPY GIBRALTAR NATIONAL DAY FROM THE DEFENDERS OF GIBRALTAR

Its been a tough year for Gibraltar - lets not kid ourselves. We have had to endure onslaught after onslaught from a neighbouring Government intent on creating a conflict to distract its own restless masses. We have endured 8 hour frontier queues, witnessed our social and national identity tarnished with lies, deceit and malicious innuendo and rumours. We have faced constant illegal incursions, military threats and a well-oiled Right-Wing Government controlled propaganda machinery intent on undermining everything we are.

But do you know what? Despite the efforts by this extreme right wing Government in Spain, they are losing. Their attempts to divide us have only made us stronger. Their attempts to drive a wedge between Gibraltar and Britain have only deepened the bond of our relationship. Their attempts to spread fear amongst us has fostered courage and bravery. Their tactics are not working - but why?

Gibraltarians are the reason why. We are a proud and tenacious people - born on a limestone rock subjected to countless military sieges. We have a Mediterranean passion blended with a British warrior mindset. We respond to bullies by refusing to bow down. We have our identity, our land, our sea and our air. It is ours and no one else's. No one can tell us what we can and can't do with our homeland. Only we can determine our own future. No 300 year old outdated MOT certificate can tell us who we are. We know exactly who we are. We have kept the moral high ground throughout this entire conflict and done our ancestors proud.

Although Spain has saturated its own media with lies about our homeland, the worlds media have responded with the facts and the truth. Right is clearly on our side. I take this opportunity to thank all of those Gibraltarians who have been going out of their way to ensure our voices and the truth is heard in the media, especially the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, Kaelan Joyce, the DoG committee and all DoG members.

Last year, I personally took a great risk in dropping all to come back and help out where I could. I along with other members of what was to become the DoG committee sincerely believe that if you know you can help out, then it is your responsibility to do so regardless of the risks - and there were many risks! If it was a mistake, then quite frankly it was the best damn mistake I have ever made. You see, the Defenders of Gibraltar is not just a group - it is an idea. It is the idea that no matter the odds stacked against you, you can always make a difference if you persist and endure in your aims. We are no more Defenders of Gibraltar than other fellow Gibraltarians - we just decided one day to be much more vocal and organised in our assertion that enough was enough. The bully has to be held to account, we have to try our best to ensure it stops and that we do not bow down simply because the bully is larger and can damage the way we live in this little piece of paradise. Better to be free and live on bread and butter than to be subject to the whims of a bully who thinks it is your master whilst you feast.

This years National Day is going to be the best by far - you can feel the emotion in the air, the murmurings and whispers on the street - the raw excitement and emotion, like a collective inhaling of air awaiting the sea of red and white through our streets.

Gibraltar will ALWAYS have the right to Self-Determination. We will win out on our right to be delisted as a colony as in our minds, we have not been one for a very very long time. We value our relationship with Britain, for we have chosen freely to maintain it. But the ability to determine our own future must never interfere with other possible options which our future generations might decide to follow. Self-determination is a journey, not an end-state.

I wish you all have a fantastic day tomorrow, and hope to dance and celebrate with you in the streets. It fills me with such joy to see how quickly the defenders idea is spreading - mainly because it is not a new idea, but a gentle reminder of the strength which lies in all of us.

PS. I wish to ask those reading for one favour. When the balloons are released, please hold a silent thought for all those Gibraltarians who have left this world. Those balloons represent our struggle for freedom, our unbridled hope of a proud, peaceful and happy existence. Long may it stay that way, and long may the inhabitants of this Rock of Gibraltar defend their land to their last breath.

Long live Gibraltar, Rock of the Gibraltarians!
Thank you form the bottom of my heart to the SDGG - for being a source of inspiration and keeping the candle of hope burning for so long - legends every one of you.

Yours truly,

Mr Gareth Ronald Francis Gingell
DoG Chairman, and very proud Gibraltarian.