Escocia se prepara para el Referéndum

En Edimburgo, capital y segunda ciudad más grande de Escocia las opiniones están divididas ante una gran premisa: independencia sí o no. El ministro principal escocés, Alex Salmond, defendió en el congreso anual del Partido Nacionalista Escocés (SNP) la viabilidad económica de una Escocia independiente del Reino Unido, informó Efe esta semana.

La semana pasada se logró un acuerdo político por el que los poderes del Estado delegaron en el parlamento regional la capacidad de convocar y organizar un referendo de independencia «antes del final de 2014».

Pete, un vendedor apuesta por el sí, se apoya en estas razones económicas. «Estoy a favor de la independencia porque quiero que los impuestos que pago reviertan en mí país», dijo

Sin embargo, hay otros escoceses que consideran que las ventajas económicas de la separación no son tan claras y que hasta ahora se han beneficiado de pertenecer a la Unión Europea como parte de Reino Unido.

En Edimburgo hay unos 20.000 españoles, lo que representa el 5% de la población, que en su mayoría estan habilitados para votar. En su caso la opinión también está dividida.

«Escocia contribuye con un 9,6% de los impuestos recaudados en el Reino Unido y, a cambio, solo recibe un 9,3% del gasto. Esta diferencia es de 2.700 millones de libras (3.327 millones de euros) o, lo que es lo mismo, mil libras (1.232 euros) para cada familia escocesa», señaló Alex Salmond el jueves.

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Understanding The Mindanao Conflict: Mindanao at the Crossroad

At no time in history had the issue of Mindanao independence been brought to a critical point as it is today. The issue had already been expressed as early as 1910 when the Zamboanga business sector presented a written petition to isolate the island for the development of "plantation interests". The same sentiment was aired in the written petition of Muslim datus, sultans, and leaders in 1930 when the question of Philippine independence from the United States elicited Muslim preference for exclusion from the projected free Philippines under Filipino rule. Then in the late 1970s the Independence aspiration of Mindanao was again revived by the Mindanao Independence Movement of Datu Udtog Matalam of Pagalungan Cotabato, Ruben Canoy of Cagayan de Oro, and Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front. Only the latter succeeded in achieving a compromise agreement known as the Tripoli Agreement on December 23, 1976 through the mediation of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). Although the OIC explanation was for the Agreement to be a Comprehensive representation of the Filipino Muslim Community, this was not acceptable to Hashim Salamat and his MILF. This was where the critical point began from the Muslim perspective creating the problems, ambiguities, and dilemma in the government responses to the Mindanao conflict.

New hope, new fear for Mindanao

New hope, new fear for Mindanao
By Carlos H Conde

 
MANILA - Four days after President Benigno Aquino met in Tokyo with leaders of the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the main Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, a series of firefights between the rebel group and one of its breakaway factions broke out in the southern Philippines, killing at least 14 people and displacing thousands from their homes.

The violence dampened the optimism that was raised by the August 4 secret meeting between Aquino and Al Haj Murad Ibrahim, the MILF's chairman. The meeting was significant as it was rare for a Philippine head of state to meet with the leader of a rebel group before the signing of any official peace accord. The men talked for nearly two hours at a hotel near Narita airport in Japan, giving a significant boost to the until now stalled peace process. Government officials said it was Aquino who sought the meeting.

The fighting left no doubt among many Filipinos that the conflict in the southern island of Mindanao will not be resolved easily. Now more than ever, analysts say, the government needs to demonstrate a willingness to offer a sincere and comprehensive solution, if only to avoid a repeat in previous negotiations in which peace initiatives were undermined by factionalism. Indeed, the MILF was born of an internal split when rebels led by Hashim Salamat broke away from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in 1977.

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