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New 1967 Referendum booklet launched at festival

Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia presented a new booklet on the1967 Referendum at this year’s literary festival. The booklet forms part of this year’s 50th anniversary celebrations of the Referendum and will soon be distributed to pupils in all schools.
Dr Garcia was speaking at the Literary Festival where he gave a well-attended talk at the Garrison Library on “Gibraltar’s Referendum”.
The booklet which like his detailed account of events sets out the background, announcement, choice, campaign, vote and result of the Referendum carries a joint-foreword written by him and Chief Minister Fabian Picardo in which they write that the booklet “will evoke memories for those who were there at a time when emotive political tensions were met with national pride and community spirit”.
For those who were not there or too young to remember, they point out, it will convey the sense of purpose of a generation determined to resist political and economic pressure from Spain in order to remain British and which remains unchanged to this day.
This the second booklet launched by the Government to commemorate important events in the Rock’s history. The first booklet was on the 75th anniversary of the evacuation during WWII which was also distributed in the schools.
Dr Garcia, who reiterated the 1969 Referendum was a defining moment in our history and in the development of the people of Gibraltar, spoke of the important connection in the evolution of any country between what happened in the past and the future.
Without taking account of that and reminding people of the past, he said there was no future and the Government had taken all this on board as was seen in the series of events organised for both the Evacuation and Referendum anniversaries.
He assured there would be other anniversaries in the future which the government would also commemorate such as the 1969 Constitution and closure of the frontier.
“You can be sure we will remember them,” he said in answer to questions from the audience.

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