tv 40 Years On BBC News June 21, 2022 2:30am-3:01am BST
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this is bbc news, the headlines: israel is to hold its fifth election in three years after the prime minister, naftali bennett, said he would step down from his post and dissolve parliament next week. the current foreign minister, yair lapid, will take over until the vote, which is expected to take place in october. the united nations has been accused of covering up abuse and corruption within its ranks. senior staff at the un have diplomatic immunity from national laws, and all complaints are handled internally. but the organisation's management has been accused of ignoring alleged wrongdoing. colombia's last recognisable guerilla group,
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the eln, has said it's willing to resume peace talks with the government once the new president, gustavo petro, takes office in august. mr petro — himself a former rebel — has become the country's first left—wing leader after winning sunday's presidential election. now on bbc news, katy watson reports from the falklands, as argentina accuses the uk of colonial ambitions in maintaining its ownership of these small islands off the coast of south america. recording now. i was started by a dictator, an unpopular nationalist fighting against communism. it's
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extraordinary to talk about colonialism with a population that has chosen its own future. the british won the war but argentina still dreams of change. but it was a conflict that scarred argentina. we congratulate our forces and the marines. i am a british reporter living in south america is the bbc plasma correspondence here. growing up in the uk, we learned about the falklands is a war that was one
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of the other side of the world but living here, i've come to learn a different version of history, notjust one of orbit of nationhood as well. to people here, they are not the falkland islands islands. the war in 1982 cost many lives. 255 british soldiers, three islanders and 649 argentinians. it was a conflict that lasted little more than two months. the war in 1982 cost many lives — 255 british soldiers, three islanders and 649 argentinians. it was a conflict that lasted little more than two months, but one that hangs over argentina 40 years later. norma's brother eduardo was one of those who died.
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the falklands, or the malvinas, are situated right at the bottom of south america. they may be small and remote but they're strategic, having passed through spanish, french and british hands over the past 500 years or so. the uk says it was the first to claim the islands in 1765, but argentina says that it legally took possession of the islands in the 1820s, inheriting them from the spanish crown.
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diplomatic talks between the two countries eventually broke down, so it was this man who made the fateful decision to go to war — military dictator general galtieri. galtieri's popularity was waning, so he went to war to unite the argentinians behind a national cause and shift the focus from an economic crisis in the middle of a dictatorship. argentina invaded on april the second, but it didn't expect such a heavy response from the uk. just ten weeks later, argentina surrendered. rejoice at that news and congratulate our forces and the marines. and with that, the friendship between the uk and argentina was altered for ever. there's no doubt that 1982 was a defining moment for argentina and its relationship with the uk. take this tower, for example, originally called the english tower. it was a gift in 1916 by the british community here in buenos aires to mark 100 years of
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argentina's independence. but after 1982, its name was scrapped. it became the monumental tower and the plaza that it sits in, the british square — that name was scrapped, too. but most pointedly, perhaps, was the fact they decided to build the monument to the fallen right in front of it. every day, the soldiers are remembered. every day, argentines come and pay their respects at this memorial in buenos aires. this is a war that feels very current. the pain and the anger haven't gone away. take the world cup of 1986, for example, when maradona scored against england. many saw that as payback for the uk's victory in the war. the hand of god made maradona an argentine god, such was the feeling among people here. most argentinians cite the un as backing their cause — that's because of a
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recommendation by the un special committee on decolonization. in 1965, the un general assembly adopted resolution 2065, in which it talked about the cherished aim of bringing to an end everywhere colonialism in all its forms, one of which covers the case of the falkland islands, or the malvinas, inviting both governments to proceed with negotiations with a view to finding a peaceful solution to the problem, taking into consideration the people who live on the island. but more than half a century later, the issue's yet to be resolved and the war played a big part in that. for some, the past three years... after1982, islanders were given british citizenship. the islands are now more british than ever. in fact, in 2013, there was a referendum in which 99%
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the accusation of colonialism is one that the british government denies. it's extraordinary to talk about colonialism when you have a population that has chosen its own future in line with the concept of self—determination, as set out in the un charter. for us, this is not a question of who owns a piece of land, it's how can this people, this amazing, strong community take their own decisions, determine their own future — whether that's about their political future, their economic future,
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their culturalfuture? i think there's been a lot of discussion in the past few years about colonialism. argentinians see it as a colonial issue. do you — can you see where the argentinians are coming from? it is very obvious how strongly the argentines feel about this issue and i think perhaps in a way that's difficult for those living in the uk to understand, because the legal position is — it's so clear and, you know, our sovereignty of the island is so indisputable. i think sometimes, people don't appreciate how strongly the issue is felt here and particularly after the conflict, i think it is a source of great pain to the argentine people. but again, i think talking about colonialism is really inappropriate here. colonialism occurs when a country takes over the administration of a territory against the will of its people.
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that's actually what argentina is proposing to do in this case. beyond the arguments about ownership, there is also a parallel trauma felt by most argentinians. that argentina should never have gone to war in the first place. 0n the streets of buenos aires, that is a view repeated time and time again. we don't have to celebrate it, because war can never be happening. not 40 years ago, not now. because in russia and ukraine we are having the same situation that we have had here. not for the same reasons, maybe, but as i knew about this war, i believe that argentina was the principal
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this is the last picture the family has of eduardo. for more than 30 years, norma's family didn't know the whereabouts of his body. they visited the islands to search for him. this photo showing norma and her mother next to a simple cross of an unknown soldier. her mother passed away in 2017, three months before his body was found. for norma, it was a form of closure, and his body remains there. armed forces seized power in argentina in 1976. and during what was known as the dirty war, some 30,000 people were disappeared. it was against this backdrop that argentinians remember the conflict in the malvinas, or the falklands. people don't know what to do
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with a just cause led by a dictatorship — a very unpopular dictatorship. so, people don't know how to talk about the war without defending the dictatorship and don't know what to do with the dictators, who were the ones who tried to recover the islands, which is a very — very deep feeling for people, even more now that we have the dead there, and many relatives of the dead. the malvinas is a subject that unites most argentines. in fact, polls show that more than 80% support their country's claim to the islands. but it's a subject that feels much more personal in southern argentina, which is closest to the islands. so, we travelled to tierra del fuego, an archipelago right
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at the bottom of south america. ushuaia is often referred to as the end of the world, but argentinians also like to say it's also the beginning of everything. it's known as the capital of the malvinas. the islands are hundreds of kilometres from here, but this is still the city that feels closest to them, and there are references to the malvinas everywhere. they lost the war, but argentinians are still fighting to win back the islands once more. daniel guzman is a veteran of the war and now works as a journalist and activist in ushuaia. for him, history is important in shaping future generations here. daniel lost 12 friends in the war,
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their names inscribed on these walls. it was a period that marks him to this day. it's hard to forget when there are so many powerful memories allaround him. but it was a war that he says people, including him, went into wanting to fight. every day, he says the islanders would bring the argentine troops milk. it was — for a while, at least — a transparent and affectionate relationship. but there is no doubt the war changed everything.
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a couple of hours north is the city of rio grande, another part of the archipelago that feels that sense of loss. this is a place that still lives and breathes the malvinas. it's the place where the planes took off to head to the islands. there's a big sense of pride and patriotism here. but so, too, is there a sense of longing and frustration that the islands over there are still not recognised as argentina's.
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horacio believes that despite the pain of war, the country has come together. not far away, these teenagers are preparing for the anniversary. it's a big year, and they want to mark it. these students were born many years after the war — the story of what happened has been passed down from their grandparents and parents — but that doesn't mean they don't feel strongly about what happened.
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and that's something the children here are taught from a young age. this is a story given to schoolchildren and endorsed by the ministry of education. it tells the story of pepino the penguin, who lived happily on the malvinas with his friends until one day, the monster — ugly monster — a scary monster, comes along in a pirate ship with british flags and chucks pepino off the island. and then, the story goes
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on trying to explain how pepino rallies his friends, trying to get support to chuck the monster off. but you can see by the end of the book, the monster is still in his cave. ushuaia sits on the beagle channel, named after the ship used by naturalist charles darwin. british influence is all around here — or was. horn blares. where once there was a thriving trade between the islands and argentina, these waters are now much quieter. as we head out on patrol with argentina's coast guards, the malvinas, or falklands, feel a world away. there's a real sense of loss, politically, commercially and geographically.
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the history of the falklands, or malvinas, is rich and varied. it's been shaped by so many — foreign forces, local ties and, of course, war. it questions how you define a nation, through people and land. the debate also challenges who has power in this world, and what effect colonialism had, and for many, still has.
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hello. tuesday promises a long day ahead, quite literally, the longest day of the year. it is the summer solstice, and for shetland, we're looking at close to a whopping 19 hours of daylight. i can't promise you 19 hours of sunshine here, however, because there is a weather front that's closing in on northern scotland, and that will mean more cloud around, maybe even some rain through tuesday, although it should brighten across scotland later in the day. quite grey initially, though, with some drizzly rain. by the afternoon, i anticipate skies should brightening, especially in the east, but we could see some isolated showers breaking out. for the clearest of the skies and the best of the sunshine, england and wales will be the place to be, and here, the top temperatures returning to the mid 20s. cooler for aberdeen, as we see that weather front slide south. pollen levels come down somewhat across scotland, in response to the weather front being in place, but still remain very high across england,
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wales and northern ireland. tuesday evening, some more fine weather around, and more sunshine until quite late into the evening, of course, and then, as darkness falls, clear skies continue across england and wales, a little bit more in the way of patchy cloud in scotland and northern ireland. 0vernight lows typically in double figures, somewhere between the 10—12 degree mark. for wednesday into thursday, we've still got high pressure trying to push across the uk — this little ridge from the west, so actually quite a lot of fine weather to come for both wednesday and thursday, and no really dramatic changes in our weather story — perhaps more sunshine though across central and eastern scotland, if anything, and northern ireland on wednesday and here, we should see temperatures responding to that and pushing back up into the low 20s. still cooler, though, for the northwest of scotland with more cloud here. but look at england and wales — 28 degrees, actually seeing some significant heat returning, through wednesday, and i think thursday's picture will be very similar indeed for england and wales.
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the chance of a few showers closing into the south coast, spilling up from the continent, but they should be few and far between. for scotland and northern ireland, perhaps a little more cloud around, but temperatures up to 20 in belfast and aberdeen. it's the end of the week, though, when it looks like things will start to turn more unsettled, and on into the weekend, showers becoming more widespread, the wind picking up and the temperatures sliding down.
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welcome to bbc news — i'm david eades. our top stories: political upheaval in israel — the coalition government falls apart, the prime minister stands down and yet another election is looming. the united nations is accused of covering up, abuse and corruption within its ranks — former un members tell the bbc they were bullied for speaking out. he attacks me in the elevator, he comes at me all of a sudden. i pleaded with him to let me go but he was being very insistent and he was pulling my arm. colombia's largest active guerilla group says it's prepared to take part in peace talks with the new president — and former rebel —
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