Introduction to dossier on the Falklands/ Malvinas, from Workers' Liberty 2/3
The Falkland Islands, small specks in the South Atlantic, were annexed by Britain and settled by British people in the 1830s. There had been no previous indigenous population. A century and a half later, in the 1970s and 80s, the islands were an odd little relic of empire. They had no huge economic or strategic importance. Their 1800 or so inhabitants, many of whom would move on to more clement climates after their time in the Falklands, had no desire to separate from Britain. Argentina had long laid claim to the islands — calling them the Malvinas — on the grounds that it was the nearest...