Independence for the Isle of Man?

Journal Alioth's Journal: Independence for the Isle of Man? 1

Journal by Alioth on Thursday February 11, 2010 @05:35PM

(As an aside, I just made this same blog entry at barrapunto.com - which is a Spanish language Slashdot sister site - barrapunto translates literally as "slashdot". Interestingly, journals seem much more important on that site than on Slashdot - there's actually a "latest journals" on the front page by default. I guess with the size of the English Slashdot, sadly that'd probably be impossible here).

A few weeks ago, some graffiti written by unknown persons appeared on various walls around the island. Things like "Somalia 1960" and "Zambia 1964" were written. The countries are ones that have gained independence from the UK, and the years are (as you may guess) the year in which they gained independence.

Manx independence movements aren't anything new. It's just that recently the complaints about the UK have had cause to be reignited - some adjustments to the VAT sharing rules strongly in the UK's favour and the unilateral abolishment of the reciprocal health care agreement by the UK have left people here feeling a bit sore (especially given that there are countries ending in -stan that still have reciprocal health care agreements with the UK, but from March 1st, the Isle of Man won't - that's to say we will have to pay if we get ill in the UK, which the residents of the countries ending in -stan won't). For those who don't know, the state of the Isle of Man is that it is *not* part of the UK nor part of the European Union, but it is a British territory - similar to the Falkland Islands and the Channel Islands.

To be honest independence for the island is not something that I think of as important. We already have our own passports, our own government, our own laws, our own tax policies, our own currency. We already have all the trappings of a sovereign state except for sovereignty itself. In fact, I think if the island did become a sovereign state, things would get a little bit complicated - I expect we would then have to have a visa to travel to the USA, Manx born people would probably lose the freedom to work without a work permit in European countries etc. I think ultimately, an independent Isle of Man would have to join the European Union to maintain access to EU markets (currently, the island gains access via a common agreement over customs/VAT with the UK). The currency would probably still have to remain linked to the UK pound.

It turns out that the son of the landlord of the pub in which my dad and I have a few beers every Sunday is one of those implicated in the graffiti writing (and will be up before "the beak" to be prosecuted for vandalism).

In any case, it occurred to me when I first saw this graffiti that the independendistas had shot themselves in the foot making several very stupid errors. They had written countries like "Somalia" and "Zimbabwe" - the latter, a brutal dictatorship known for hyperinflation and a totally failed economy directly due to the idiotic policies of its president, the former famous for being a failed state, full of violence and a source for piracy (real piracy, not copying films, but violent attacks on international shipping) and of course "Blackhawk Down". Even though what I know about marketing can be written comfortably on the head of a pin, I know that you don't promote independence by citing Zimbabwe or Somalia [0]. Anyone reading this graffiti would think "I don't want to end up like Somalia or Zimbabwe - we ought to stick with the UK". And indeed, remaining with the UK has its usefulness - aside from meaning Manx people are British citizens and get to travel most of the world visa-free, and get access to European markets - there's a level of underlying corruption here, and what prevents it from growing into something serious and dangerous is the ever present fear amongst those who otherwise may take advantage is that the UK government would impose direct rule if there were too much corruption - and the UK government has done just that with the Turks and Caicos Islands last August due to the growing corruption in its government. (Three or four years ago, our Chief Minister had to resign after it became clear that he was heavily implicated in corruption - the others probably forced him out rather than swept it under the carpet because they knew the likely outcome if they didn't).

[0] It's not just Manx independence people who don't seem to know the first thing about PR. What about the idiots who decided it'd be a great idea for Tony Blair to be an envoy to the Middle East? That's a bit like having General Galtieri as the envoy to the Falkland Islands)

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