(WMR)—After decades of a global consensus that sought the decolonization of the remaining European colonies around the world, the European Union has reversed course and in a new decision on the member states’ overseas countries and territories—the term “colony” no longer being in vogue—expected for final adoption in March 2012, the EU now maintains that the smattering of EU member states’ overseas dependencies must be less “dependent” on Europe but must be maintained as “strategically important outposts spread all over the world.” The EU also wants European colonies to reflect the EU’s values and to get on board with globalization and international trade policies.
The colonies are also expected to start adopting EU rules and standards.
In the Turks and Caicos Islands, Britain has already abolished the territory’s self-governing status and has reappointed direct and undemocratic rule by a British-appointed governor in traditional British colonial fashion.
The move to restore the concept of colonization, albeit under a different name, has also been apparent in the United Nations, where the UN General Assembly’s Fourth Committee—the Special Political and Decolonization Committee—has been under intense pressure from the United States, France, Britain, Israel, and other countries to curtail its enthusiasm for decolonization. With the new EU decision on maintaining control over the “strategically important outposts” of Europe around the world, the British, French, and Dutch do not want to see the UN poking its nose into the affairs of the Cayman Islands, New Caledonia, or Curacao. The United States has always disliked the UN’s involvement in the colonial status of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Marianas, U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, while Israel continues to balk at any notion of its colonial administration of the West Bank and Golan Heights. The issue of Western Sahara and West Papua, considered by some nations as colonies of Morocco and Indonesia, respectively, has also brought about resistance from Rabat and Jakarta.
The European colonies where the EU now intends to maintain an indefinite European colonial presence are:
Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint-Eustatius, Sint Maarten-Saint Martin, Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, Pitcairn, British Indian Ocean Territory (Diego Garcia), Mayotte, St. Pierre and Miquelon, Reunion, Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Greenland, Faroe Islands, British Antarctic Territory, Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, St. Helena and dependencies of Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, and French Southern and Antarctic Territories.
Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.
Copyright © 2011 WayneMadenReport.com
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).
