UK WAKE UP AND ROAR LIKE THUNDER

A big thank you first of all to the 10,000 people that signed the petition urging the Governor (and the UK) to act in maintaining the integrity of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters. Let us also not forget the many volunteers who helped in the canvassing and collection of signatures from people in Gibraltar; volunteers who went out of their way and gave much of their time and energy towards this cause. Thanks to you all, we were able to hand in our petition to His Excellency yesterday - Great Success!

So whats next?

Well the Governor has stated he will personally hand in the petition to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during a visit to the UK next week. He has also stated that he will push for a fast response to the covering letter to the petition (for covering letter please see end of this post).

What do we expect?

We expect the UK to have a far more robust response to Spains illegal activities not only in our Territorial waters, but in every problem Spain throws our way - the covering letter to the petition specifically asks for the UK Govt to seriously deliberate on the feasibility of stationing whatever deterrent capability is deemed necessary to cease Spains bullying. We do not want conflict or armed struggle, however having an effective deterrent should be enough to keep the Spanish bully at bay - why do we think that? How many GC vessels do you see in our waters when there is a British Destroyer in the harbour.......none. Like all bullies, they puff up and pick on weaker individuals when no one is looking - however when eyes are on them, the turn tail and act like well behaved children, with glistening eyes to match...

We promise to keep you all updated on any correspondence we have - any response will be made public the moment it is received. We are not naive enough to expect a miracle - we believe the work of the DoG has only just begun. In the space of only a few months we have gone from being whispers in the wind to providing a popular apolitical platform for Gibraltarians to voice their frustrations to Spains oppressive tactics and the UKs appeasing policies.....and Gibraltarians are finally uniting and dropping the attitude of simply accepting Spains 18th Century behaviour. If Spain wants to be taken seriously as a civilised democratic nation, we believe it should start acting like one, and start showing it!

Media Links

Gibraltar Chronicle
Youtube
Panorama

LETTER TO GOVERNOR:

Attached to this letter is a petition bearing the original signatures of 9,475 residents and friends of Gibraltar. By adding their signatures to the petition, the signatories have expressed their support for the stance, vision and resolve of the Defenders of Gibraltar. These signatures bear evocative testament to our collective concern that HMG should do more to uphold the rights and wishes of the people of Gibraltar.



Spain’s incessant campaign against Gibraltar has spanned over four decades. She has obsessively flexed her muscles against Gibraltar at every opportunity and campaigned relentlessly against the legitimate and immutable rights of the people of Gibraltar, which are enshrined, inter alia, in the Charter of the United Nations and our own Gibraltar Constitution. We call on HMG to place the sovereignty of Gibraltar and the rights of British citizens before its relationship with Spain, a foreign nation.



The message underpinning every signature attached to this petition is elementary and simple: enough is enough! Gibraltar continues to suffer inhumane frontier queues promoted by Spain. We put up with unfounded accusations and finger-pointing exercises lashed at Gibralar by our neighbour and we face the temper tantrums of successive Spanish governments at every opportunity, whether in political, cultural or sporting events. These actions in themselves expose Spain as being democratically deficient. 



In the face of this unremitting Spanish campaign the patience and the goodwill of the people of Gibraltar have been tested by the apparent passivity of those who have a moral and constitutional duty to defend us. We are, after all, British citizens and subjects of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second. 



We have lost faith in the soothing words issued by the FCO in response to Spanish aggression. In our view, actions speak louder than words. Since the beginning of our campaign to collect signatures for this petition, there have been notable events, or shifts in the current sovereignty dispute. We salute the heroic action of the Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP) in rescuing British Gibraltarian citizens who were in the process of being abducted by a Spanish Customs Vessel. But the Royal Navy could only stand by and watch as we are told that the RN is not allowed to act in such circumstances. We want to see our navy empowered to take the appropriate action to uphold and protect our sovereignty. Simply reading warnings over the radio is not enough and has no affect whatever on Spain. We urge HMG to consider seriously the feasibility of stationing whatever naval or military assets are necessary to act as an effective deterrent to Spain’s actions.



The recent tit for tat in the summoning of Ambassadors in both London and Madrid was a welcome change and a breath of fresh air to hear the British lion grumble its annoyance, although we would rather have heard it roar! Spain is a bully – it picks on the weakest only when it feels it can get away with it. As the days slip by, Spain grows more emboldened by its actions which they appear to take without penalty of any kind. Britain’s inaction is encouraging Spanish action. As Edmund Burke said: “All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” History teaches us that appeasement is never a viable option. 



The cohesion of the people of Gibraltar is solid and we are steadfast in our resolve to defend our rights and further our wishes. We turn to you, Sir, as Her Majesty’s representative in Gibraltar to call on HMG not to turn a blind eye to Spanish aggression towards us. Quiet diplomacy will never bring about a major behavioural change in Spain. The people of Gibraltar expect, nay demand, a vigorous response by HMG against Spain’s policies, attitudes and actions against our people. 



Sir, enough is enough! The British government is morally and constitutionally charged with protecting its citizens in Gibraltar and the defence of our homeland. We ask you to forward this petition to the Foreign Secretary to make him aware of our deep concern and we call on the UK to take action to protect its citizens in British Gibraltar.

Gareth Gingell

DEFENDERS OF GIBRALTAR HAND OVER PETITION TO HIS EXCELLENCY

On Wednesday 28th November at 5.30pm, members of the Defenders of Gibraltar group will deliver a petition to His Excellency the Governor containing the signatures of over 9475 Gibraltarians and their friends. A covering letter containing a message from the Gibraltarian people will be handed in along with the petition. This letter will be read out to the public before it is handed over.

The petition itself urges the Governor to act in maintaining the integrity of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, and is a direct result of Gibraltarian frustrations with the way in which the appeasing stance taken by HM Government to date has actually led to a direct increase not only in the number, but also the strength of illegal incursions. Spain will only grow bolder by the day until an effective deterrent is operational in our waters.

 The letter and petition is being delivered to the Governor in advance of his visit to London next week.
 The handing over of the petition will be a public event where all are invited to attend.

We will be meeting at Inces Hall at 5pm, with a view to marching down to the Convent. All are welcome to join us, as we will be reading out the letter in public for all to know its contents.

Yours faithfully,

The Defenders of Gibraltar

The Comedy of Spain

Special thanks go to the play-writes at elconfidenciadigital.com for coming up with a story which is sure to grab the Oscar Award for best comedy this year. I think on the day it was written, it was 'bring your child to work' day in Spain. Failing that, it could be that Landaluce has written this himself (or maybe the mentally deficient individuals over at Gibraltar Es****l) For those of you who have not yet read it, I urge you to do so and have a jolly good belly laugh. Apparently, the Defenders of Gibraltar are the following (the accusation, followed by the facts):

(web page here)

1) Anti-Spanish:

If we were so anti Spanish, what on Earth do you think we were doing handing out water bottles and food to Spanish Citizens stuck in frontier queues of 6 hours? Not only that, but if we hated Spain so much, why do you think we bother handing out leaflets explaining the situation to Spanish citizens? A gentle reminder to those who harbour so much hatred for Gibraltarians, and even more for Gibraltarians who stand up to them - the Defenders of Gibraltar arent anti-spanish, we are anti your current incompetent and regressive government with its Fascist tendencies and approach to the solving of anything it deems a 'problem'. Thanks to the bumbling fools of Rajoy and Margallo, Spain currently has the worst reputation and economy in its history. However, just because we arent anti spanish, it doesn't mean we are going to be your Governments cheerleaders; thats Landaluces job, following in his idol Sanchez' footsteps.

2) Harassing and threatening Police and Civil Guard:

Just so you have it clear in your head, taking photos of Law Enforcement and/or military entities in the act of oppression is not harassment. We have always sought legal advice from Gibraltar Police and Lawyers prior to any arrival at the Frontier. We go  to document any queues, for onward transmission to the EU, UK and of course the UN. If you dont like the photography, the formula is simple: NO PHOTOS = NO QUEUES! The sad truth of this accusation is that the only threats have come from the Guardia Civil, who in the utmost civilized approach reminiscent of the Franco days, have punched and kicked the Fence as well as threatened us with physical harm should we cross into Spain. They too have taken photos of us.

3) Police Resistance Training: 

Now this one had me in fits of laughter for well over an hour - basically the play-writes copied a photograph from our blog (without our express permission I might add) which was part of a series of photos showing members of the Defenders of Gibraltar having a laugh whilst gaining signatures for the petition - indeed if you look in past posts, you will find the photo they have used. Apparently, the subjects of these photographs are engaged in Police Resistance Training LOLOLOL in full public view of course. Of course, Fascism goes hand in hand with Paranoia, which explains why a photo of two elderly (please forgive me) female members of the DoG having a laugh in public are brushing up on the moves taught by Jackie Chan in his recent visit (ooops....said too much)

4) Leader is Spanish:

I can certainly assure you that one, we have no leader only a committee of which one member is a spokesperson. Two, the spokesperson is currently Gareth Gingell, one of the founders of the group. Three, he is as much Spanish as Rajoy was born a woman. In any case, the writer tries to play on the less than intelligent reader, who already believing the previous lies flares up in rage at finding out it is the work of one of his supposed Judas like countrymen. If you fell for it, may I suggest you take an IQ test.......its amazing what a spanish writer can get away with on the backdrop of Cataluna elections (they have been painted out as betrayers of the Spanish cause; whatever the heck that is)

Please feel free to read this little propaganda comedy - Goebbels is surely playing thumbs up at the writer, until he read it himself and started rolling in his grave. Failing that, you could always print it out and decorate the birds nest (although it might give it a heart attack) or use it as toilet paper (although it might give you a nasty rash).

5) Independence and Rajoy joke:

Now I dont know about you, but I am a proud British Gibraltarian (yes still proud even though the FCO lack of action is shameful). Indeed everyone in Gibraltar knows that with Spain as a neighbour, independence would last all of 5 minutes before they screamed 'territorial integrity' as the precursor to military intervention. However that is a debate for another day. 

Apparently, a famous joke about politicians running over pigs (historically aimed at Zapatero) is apparently a call for Rajoys death! I would think that there are millions of people in Spain who harbour much more of that visceral hatred of the guy than us - we will stick to making fun of the bumbling idiot of a Spanish sounding version of Sean Connery if thats ok ;)


OTHER NEWS

We now have over 90 followers on Twitter and expanding by the day. Feel free to click on the Twitter link at the top of this page to find out more.

Spain once again conducted illegal incursions into British Gibraltar Territorial Waters. In all fairness, how do we expect them to stop coming into our waters when they are up against pea shooters? Mind you the RGP gave an example to the Royal Navy on how to do things: These brave individuals went mano a mano with armed Aduana bananas, cutting loose a vessel whose occupants the Spaniards were trying to kidnap and take to Spain. Needless to say RGP, well bloody done! You made us all proud that day, and shamed the FCO and the Royal Navy.

The Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, was in Strasbourg on Tuesday for a series of meetings at the European Parliament. This follows an intervention in the Parliament Chamber by Liberal Democrat MEP, Sir Graham Watson, last night on the issue of the frontier delays. Dr Garcia was also interviewed by an EU television channel on the visit and on the frontier delays. Dr Garcia was accompanied by the Government's Chief Legal Officer Michael Llamas and Personal Assistant Caine Sanchez. The delegation returned home today.

Today the Defenders of Gibraltar once again went to the Frontier to document the political aspect of the creation of queues. At this moment in time, certain interesting bits of information have come to light during some of the photographs taken. These photos will remain unpublished for the time being while the committee deliberate on how best to propagate these for maximum effect. Other photos of the day can be found at our Facebook page (link at top of site)

OH and here is an interesting video which will surely wind up the fascists hehehe :)  LINK 



I forgot to mention that the 25 Helicopter video 'drones' have now arrived, and will soon be seen zipping around the border area and out at sea to document everything from above. There is a slight delay only because of the difficulty of having more than 4 airborne at any one time (due to frequency used for remote control) however these are being adjusted with advice directly from the manufacturer. The adjusted range will be 2km Line of Sight (so far enough than needed). So if you see 25 humming vehicles in the air, its not a Spanish invasion, its the DoG with our new toys ;)

Lastly, here is a picture to remind our Spanish readers of their current global reputation - it surely is bad enough - please dont make it worse...

NO QUEUES = NO PHOTOS

The Defenders of Gibraltar would like to draw attention to the recent sitting of Parliament,
where a question was asked of the Government by the Opposition specifically regarding the taking of photographs at the frontier.

We would like to clarify that a committee member of the Defenders of Gibraltar was indeed approached and informed personally by the Chief Minister of his views on this subject. Indeed the group is approached daily by a plethora of individuals who freely
express their views; we are open minded and always willing to listen to new ideas or points of view. We feel we must also clarify that at no time during this personal exchange were we ordered in any way shape or form. 

The advice from the Chief Minister was presented by the DoG member to the committee in a formal manner, where we discussed and debated the strategy in detail. The decision taken by the committee following this meeting is that there will be no change to our current strategy. We also feel we must clarify and reiterate our long standing position with regards to said strategy at the frontier:

1) The Defenders of Gibraltar always act within the law, and constantly ensure the legality of our actions by seeking advice before we conduct such acts. Based on legal advice, we are confident that our current strategy is perfectly in accordance with Gibraltar Law.

2) The Defenders of Gibraltar do not harass, insult or misbehave in any way shape or form during the taking of photographs or otherwise.

3) Photographs are only taken for the purposes of documentation of Spains political oppression towards Gibraltar in the form of queues, and as such are only instigated following consistent monitoring of the length of said queues prior to any action being taken.

4) During this process of documentation, general photographs of the area are taken and interviews with those stuck in the queues are conducted. These are proliferated on the internet in order to draw attention to Spains actions.

5) On more than two occasions we have been insulted and threatened by the Guardia Civil, and on one occasion physically assaulted through the fence (On one occasion GC punched and kicked the fence to hit 2 DoG committee members who were taking photos 5 cm from fence, whilst on another occasion a Policia Nacional illegaly entered Gibraltar with one hand on his pistol intent on arresting a member of DoG). The DoG response to such behaviour unbecoming of a person in uniform is to post photographs of these individuals online for all in Gibraltar to be aware of - this is the exception rather than the rule. Indeed it has since come to our attention that the GC who assaulted our DoG committee members is the very same one who apparently assaulted Felix Alvarez a while back.

6) Although we understand the position, however unlikely, taken by the Spanish Authorities with regards to the possibility of publicised individuals being the subject of a terrorism, a greater concern for us are the thousands of innocent citizens stuck in queues for 6 hours; many of whom are vulnerable members of society. When Spain brings up terrorism and the threat to personal security, we feel that they really are scraping the bottom of the excuses barrel.

7) Finally, the formula we are trying to get across to the Spanish Authorities is fairly straight forward and simple:

No photos? No Queues!

The Defenders of Gibraltar is a pressure group with no allegiance to any political party in Gibraltar, and will fully endeavour to remain so. It should be noted however that we are willing to work with and alongside any individual. group or party which has a vested interest in ensuring that Gibraltar has the appropriate mechanisms in place to deter Spain from its constant political oppression, or respond to its harassment in the appropriate way expected by Gibraltarians. 

When it comes to Unity against a greater foe, we urge all parties in Gibraltar to maintain a united stance against the aggressor, a stance which was clearly apparent on the recent Sovereignty debate on GBCs Viewpoint. "El pueblo unido, jamas sera vencido" is not just a popular chant, it is a historical fact for Gibraltar when it comes to threats from without. When you think about it, we only ever really move forward when we act as one.

In the days and weeks ahead, we will be revealing much more of the tactics and strategies we will be pursuing to hold Spain publicly to account on its actions. 

Will Gibraltar one day emerge victorious from the constant belligerence of our neighbour? The answer to that question does not lie solely in the hands of our politicians, but in the ferocious spirit and tenacity of the people of Gibraltar. The answer to this question lies with all of us. It is time to pick up the pace, and form a united stance.

By Changing Nothing, Nothing Changes

Petition Collecting reaches over 9,000

------------------------UPDATE------------------------

What an amazing week! Today was the final day of our adventure at the Piazza canvassing for signatures; for the petition aimed at urging the Governor to act in maintaining the integrity of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters.

The amount of signatures gained on this final momentious day I hear you ask?

Well very straight forward - 902

Which brings our final number (provisional as there are around 400 still to come in) to:

9475!

We aim to hand in the petition towards the end of the month (more details to follow once date has been set), and are in the middle of planning just how to do that in an interesting way. Current scheming is confidential ;)



So whats going on in other news? Well the Gibraltar Chronicle featured a front page article on yesterdays incursion, even sporting the photograph which one of our members Trevor Bickerstaff took. Even more suprising was an interesting comment piece by the editor itself which made me smile from ear to ear - for those of you who havent seen it yet, it is below (when you read it, you will understand why I had such a grin on my face).


But for the very much reduced emissions (at least one point in its favour) the rust bucket flying the Spanish flag is gradually getting close enough to shore that it might do well to take advantage of the very good services Gibraltar’s ship repairing industry can offer.
You have got to be pretty pathetic to be a nation the size of Spain and have your flagship sail past a nation the size of Gibraltar’s with an outsize flag flown simply to middle finger a community it purports to be respecting the interests of. Of course the gesture is really to Britain and it’s about as unsophisticated as one can get.

It is our challenge, in a mini-country like Gibraltar, to maintain a sense of proportion and to recognise where we are in the world’s political pecking order whilst never forgetting the importance of defending our rights and having them defended.

But it should not be so difficult for a Government of Spain, which aspires to a place on the UN Security Council, to show a little more dignity and diplomacy. Que payasada….

It’s not just with Gibraltar. In his own backyard Foreign Minister Garcia Margallo, instead of deploying, as Westminster does with Scotland, a wooing campaign with Catalunya, comes out with remarks such as describing aspirations for independence as an attempted ‘coup d’état’. 

Gibraltar has shown consistently that it is fully aware of the dangers of a drive for independence in a world where partnership and alliance is everything. We have also demonstrated, not least in the response to joint-sovereignty threats, that size does not matter when it comes to democracy.

In any self-respecting country the cretin responsible for yesterday’s flag stunt would be disciplined, unless, of course, he is sitting in Madrid fiddling in the Palacio Santa Cruz.

In other news, Jim Dobbins MP, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Gibraltar will be asking the Foreign Office to summon the Spanish Ambassador, in order to make the strongest possible Protest at the latest series of incursions by the Spanish Navy. I sincerely hope someone makes a fresh batch of the strongest coffee possible, so the Ambassador can smell it all the way from the Spanish Embassy (if its still open tomorrow - you never know with all the cuts they are ordering). Or will the FCO sacrifice Gibraltar once again on the altar of Anglo-Hispanic relations?

Jim Dobbins MP

Lastly, congratulations have to go to Andrew F and Christine B D for being the first to break the code put up on the blog on monday! Both have won a Defenders of Gibraltar Cap which we will try to get to you as soon as possible :) - for those who didnt break it, this is what the coded message said, essentially a joke a spanish colleague sent to me last week:

El Presidente Mariano Rajoy, y su chofer paseaban por una carretera, cuando subitamente atropellaron a un cerdo matandolo instaneamente. 

Rajoy le dijo a su chofer que fuera a la granja para explicarle al dueno lo sucedido. 

Una hora mas tarde, ve a su chofer tambaleandose, con un cigarro en una mano, una botella en la otra y su ropa desarreglada

"Que paso?" Pregunto el presidente al chofer, y este respondio 

"bueno, el granjero me dio el vino, su mujer el cigarro y su hermosa hija el amor apasionadamente"

"Por Dios Que les dijiste?"

"les dije - Soy el chofer de Rajoy y acabo de matar al cerdo"

LOLOLOLOL


 Here are the photos from the final day at the Piazza - I hope you enjoy them! Till the next installment, take care and keep going strong Yanitos, que sin duda venceremos!

Photo Ops galore!

Dog says "sssh, que yo soy un dog not you"

Signatures

'I heard the word on the street is that DoGs meet at the Piazza?'

More signatures!

Scoop for Panorama! Using photo taken by DoG

Dog fight - the final battle

Another signatory :)

Keep those signatures coming!

Multiple signatures calls for multi tasking - men watch and learn....

Must....take....photo....of.....amazing.....banner!

The signing never stops, and neither does the DoG

Sign here please!

More keep coming :)

The older generation are the real fighters - they have been there done it and got the t shirt :) hats off to you

The signing just keeps going on and on

Thank You for your time and your signature! Viva el Wally!

Oh PS - heres a new code ;) little bit harder than the last one - btw the next one will be picture based code tee hee:

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Another day, another 700 signatures for the petition!

-------------------UPDATE-----------------

Another day, another 700 signatures for the petition! The reception continues to be amazing, with many people from all over the world stopping to ask about the way Spain is treating us. Gibraltarians keep coming during their work breaks to sign the petition, while the Spanish Navy keep coming in our waters....wait a minute did I say that right? Oh yes, it wasnt a case of Deja Vu....oh well here we go.

Spanish Naval Incursion

Most of you will recall that last week we were subjected to an illegal incursion into our waters by a Spanish Navy Vessel, namely P79 SPS Vence-dora the Explorer. This incident apparently resulted in a 'strongly worded' protest by the UK Govt to Madrid, especially after it emerged the vessel had illegally intervened in bunkering operations. Well if last weeks incident wast bad enough, they were at it again this morning. The culprit once again being the P79....the great grandchild of the smokey joe so I am told :)

An online news outlet in Gibraltar stated that the boat was in Spanish waters - I hope this individual goes to Gaches (or specsavers in UK) and / or learns about where the median line is... I say this because not long after todays illegal incursion the Convent released a statement confirming that the vessel had once again entered British Gibraltar Territorial Waters (they have radar which is rather accurate) - see below:


(Christopher Thompson, International Policy Advisor, FCO, Office of the Governor of Gibraltar, The Convent has today issued the following statement)

"There was an unlawful incursion into BGTW this morning by the Spanish Navy vessel SPS Vencedora flying an over-sized Spanish ensign. The vessel was not exercising the right of innocent passage. The Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron challenged this behaviour. The vessel lowered the over-sized ensign and departed BGTW.

We regret that the Spanish Navy vessel chose to return to BGTW, in particular so soon after HMG's formal protest about last week's incursion was lodged in Madrid. The Convent has notified London and Madrid of today's further incursion.
HMG will make a further suitably-worded formal protest as soon as possible regarding this incursion and the flying of this particular Spanish ensign within BGTW.

The Convent is also aware of the incursion this afternoon by a Spanish Customs vessel and has notified London and Madrid. We are awaiting further reports on the detail."

Meanwhile the Government of Gibraltar considers that the continuing incursions by vessels of the Spanish navy and other agencies of the Spanish state into the territorial waters of Gibraltar are totally unacceptable and believe that the continuing breach of international law has now gone beyond the issue of diplomatic notes.


Failing that, all the individual had to do was log onto Facebook, go to the Defenders group and see the following informative photos (taken by DoG members at different locations) - simples!

Ban Ki Moons opinion on Self Determination

The Secretary General of the UN today gave a beautiful 'indirecto' to Spain with regards to the principal to self determination: 

“I don’t think Security Council members are violating relevant UN resolutions. The impression is that people who are living under certain conditions should have access to certain level of capacities so that they can decide on their own future. And that is the main criteria of the main UN bodies. Having independence or having some kind of government in their territories. I don’t think it’s an abuse or violation of relevant UN resolutions”

Wham Bham thank you Ban! Are you listening Rajoy?

Meanwhile, we wait for the British Lion to wake up from its slumber or return from Narnia (CS Lewis wrote about Aslan "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down-and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion"). However sometimes I get the weird feeling that it is often up to the mouse to remind the lion of its roar...

The million pound question is whether the FCO will pen a 'strongly worded' letter in protest, or actually bring in an active deterrent capability. I know where my money lies at the moment, but I will be more than happy to be proved wrong. The UK and Gibraltar Governments have just been made to look like utter fools, and will continue to appear so until someone remembers appeasement doesn't work.

Finally, here are some photos from todays effort at the Piazza - I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them.

PS - seeing as nobody cracked yesterdays code, it will remain up until someone actually manages to crack it - come on Yanitos give it a go!

Another day, another post, another update and another 1,000 signatures....

-----------------------UPDATE----------------------

Another day, another post, another update and another 1,000 signatures....
.....hold on - another 1,000 signatures in a day?

Yes 1,000 more signatures for the petition aimed at the Governor, urging him to act in maintaining the integrity of British Gibraltar territorial waters. That essentially brings our running total passed the 8,000 mark, which is extraordinary.

Today has also been a remarkable day for the sheer amount of tourists asking about the current oppression dealt to us by Spain. We have explained the most prominent ones as follows:

1) 6 hour queues when they feel like (i.e. when we stand up to them)
2) Denial of and opposition to GFA entry into FIFA
3) Illegal fishing and incursions
4) Spanish Navy incursions
5) Spanish paramilitary incursions
6) Constant negative propaganda against Gibraltar, like calling us Pirates (when to see a real one all they have to do is look at their Government) or occupiers

Tourists willing to listen came from everywhere, like Holland, Poland, USA, Ireland, France. But the most surprising and delightful 'question time' has to have been the number of Spanish individuals from Algeciras who came to see us today. They came to us asking what our side of the story was as they do not hear it in Algeciras - we gave them the pure facts first and then our point of view. Once they heard, they were adamant that we should be doing more to make our side public and get the news into spain - they said there is too much hatred being spread by their media trying to spoil cross border relationships.

If there is one message we took from all of the encounters, is that we need to try harder to reach people around the world. That is the only way which we can counter all the vitriol and negative propaganda spread by Madrids Government.

So what about other news? Of course the unCivilised Guard have begun the illegal incursions again over the last few days, the Defenders of Fish that they are. Meanwhile the UK waffle and protest, a few strong words here and there but the reality is that Spain carries on acting like an ill disciplined and spoilt child, constantly testing. Unfortunately I dont think the naughty step will work with them...heres a picture of the most recent one.

Here is something new which I learnt of today, and is published in the History Society Circular:

"A planned exhibit by the Gibraltar Philatelic Society at the Estepona Philatelic Exhibition had to be abandoned recently due to the intransigence of their Mayor who withdrew all reference to "Gibraltar" from the agreed advertising, replacing any reference to the Rock with Britannic. Although the Society remains a non political organisation, it was felt that this was unacceptable and they withdrew their participation."
It is incredible that Spanish Politics infiltrate such mundane things as postage stamps! But then again what do we really expect from Spain's plastic democracy...all you have to do is look at the daily beatings dished out by the Spanish Police and GC, the threats of military intervention in Cataluna due to a call for self determination, the unchangeable constitution changed to pay back debt, prosecution for asking about family members who went missing in the times of he-who-must-not-be-named...the list goes on and on and on. The reality is that during these difficult times being experienced by Spain, the state of so called democracy is being tested to the limit. Unfortunately it seems that we are to become the scapegoat for all the ills they experience. I just hope Spain is much smarter than their Government and see through all the lies. Keep going strong Indignados! Estamos igual de Indignados!

Finally, today I have had one of the best belly laughs in at least a year! There is a Spanish Fascist extremist group composed of people from the Algeciras and La Linea Partido Popular party, who started a facebook group called Gibraltar Espanol. They mostly waffle absolute rubbish online and talk about how Harry Potter will help them in capturing Gibraltar. Also on occasion they think they are agent 007 Jaime Bond because they 'infiltrated' Gibraltar (crossed the frontier), took a couple of pictures of the Defenders of Gibraltar at the Piazza (because so many people are), and proclaim victory that no one will ever find out who they are (when that is completely true, as nobody actually really cares). So why do I mention them? Well here it is:

I am apparently a mastermind fascist, starting some paramilitary organisation on the orders of the UK military - comparing me to mussolini....WOW! Now we know who should be writing the next Dan Brown novel of conspiracy theories. Next thing you know I'll be goose stepping down main street to the Gibraltar National Anthem.......apparently even though we are a peaceful movement, its just a matter of time before we turn to the Dark Side.

God bless them and their imagination - obviously too much time on their hands. Maybe ill give them a copy of Halo 4 and Black Ops 2 for Christmas. Should keep them busy for the next 3 months. Mind you if they are looking for signs of Fascist Dictatorship, all they have to do is look at the picture below - im pretty sure it will ring a bell....

Hope they bring a couple of good belly laughs ;) - anyway here are the photos from todays amazing experience. Enjoy!

And for the code breaking enthusiasts, lets see who will be the first to break this one! Credit to Matt M who was the first to break last fridays code - todays one is a little rhyme - first to post the answer in the DoG facebook group wins a Defenders of Gibraltar hat - good luck!

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