Conscript Or Convict?: An Account of the 1970/71 Campaign to Abolish Conscription in Gibraltar

by Humbert Hernandez

The 1970’s were most eventful years in Gibraltar. Given that the frontier with Spain had been closed in 1969 by the Spanish dictator, Franco, Gibraltarians of every age and social class devoted their time and energies at having a long, hard look at themselves, their institutions, their industrial relations and their links with the UK. Young people, particularly, started questioning traditional values in our strait-laced society in Gibraltar and made the struggle for basic human rights the focus of their attention. It is in this context that we find the 1970’s a seed-bed of social industrial action in 1970 to achieve a 40-hour week; the Bland’s Strike; the campaign for the abolition of conscription; the General Strike of 1972; the independence of the Transport & General Workers’ Union when its members voted to disassociate the Union from the AACR political party; the strike at the Casino for fairer wages and conditions, the struggle for parity of wages with the UK, to mention but a few of the upheavals which shook our community. This book concentrates on one of these social the abolition of Compulsory Military Service in Gibraltar. The leading actors in this social drama were all young men hungry for social justice and determined to have their human rights respected. It was the imprisonment of two of the leading activists in this struggle which polarised this small community and finally tipped the balance in favour of the abolition of one of the last colonial relicts. Humbert Hernandez was born in Gibraltar in 1946. He was educated at the Gibraltar Grammar School and later qualified as a teacher of Mathematics and English, at a primary and secondary level, at St Mary’s College, Twickenham. He has devoted 40 years of his professional life to education both in Gibraltar and in London. Since the 1960’s he has made a significant contribution to amateur theatre both as a director of plays and poetry recitals and also as an actor. As from 2002 when he retired, he has concentrated much of his free time on writing, something which he had wanted to do for a very long time. April 2014 saw the publication of his first book of stories “El acordeonista y otras historias” which met with a positive response. November of that same year saw the publication of a selection of his poetry ‘Paisaje interior’. This time round the author has focused his attention on a short, but intense, period of our recent the 1970-71 campaign to abolish Compulsory Military Service in Gibraltar. An event which created much controversy locally and convulsed our close community.

184 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 26, 2018