Spanish School Play On Invading Gibraltar

On Friday 27th September 2013, a Youtube video of horrendous proportions was removed by its owner due to international condemnation placed on the events of that footage. It involved Spanish youths acting out a school play on the invasion of Gibraltar and opening fire on British/Gibraltarian citizens.

Though the Spanish actions and sentiments behind this video do not surprise Gibraltarians, it certainly shocked many Youtube viewers globally who expressed their disgust at the thought of an educational institution inciting violence towards a people through their youth. What is even less surprising to Gibraltarians is that not a single organiser of the school play or teacher seems to have been prosecuted by the state for expressing what could very well be hate crimes under international law. 

Since the upload and removal of the video from Youtube, there has been no sign of the event being reported as a headline in Spanish papers or television. It has however been reported by Gibraltarian and various British papers and also Catalunya’s LaVanguardia. 

It is worth noting that the right-wing trade union in Spain known as ‘Manos Limpias’ took legal action against TV3 of Catalunya several days before the video was uploaded. The action was due to a documentary which interviewed children who participated in the recent human chain during Catalunya’s national day this past September 11th. Manos Limpias claimed that the exposure of these children who expressed their desire for an independent Catalunya have violated laws on the protection of minors and international conventions on the rights of those children. No similar legal action was taken against the school play.

In Gibraltar’s view, the sad reality appears to be that it is in the interests of the Spanish state to continue indoctrinating the country’s next generation towards reclaiming sovereignty over the British Overseas Territory through any means necessary. Bullying tactics against Gibraltar continue and it is unclear whether Spain’s next generation of politicians will change their stance and promote more diplomatic approaches in the future.

Jared Baglietto