I am exploring the idea a simple 100 year rule regarding claims to land. The world is full of ancient cultures, and in many places you can have as many as 10-20 different groups claiming the same territory, some with a claim that goes back centuries or even millennia. But most of these people took the land from someone else, and in some cases go to ridiculous lengths to doctor or obscure science by stating otherwise. There is *NO* group of humanity that has some noble peace like spirit that has not engaged in war of one kind or another, either within their group or with outside groups. It might not be war as we recognize it, but be assured, they've taken up arms and they've killed to maintain their tribal area.
The problem with our species is that our greatest gift, language and symbolic recognition, is also our greatest curse. Magic, mythology and stories are, to me, the best part about being human. But our history should work for us, not the other way around. In law, there is a reason for a statute of limitations. People can change, and also there is a finite amount of willpower to enforce things, so why go after a crime that no one cares about anymore? Or at least has no logical reason to care about?
But of course things are more complicated than that. To begin with, following the metaphor, there are certain crimes which are never forgiven or forgotten; like murder or bank robbery, both due to their seriousness, as well as the fact that if there was a statute of limitations for crimes such as these, people would be more likely to commit them and simply play the long game to wait them out. Conversely, genocide is a crime that should never be forgotten, nor should forced migrations.
Moreover, are we going to forget important dates of the past? One culture's holiday and independence can be another's bitter defeat about lost territory. So long as 'the founder of the nation' is honored for their heroic deeds, the baggage of their actions in the past are going to cause problems. People are not going to forget their history easily, and indeed in some cases, their entire culture is defined by events in ancient times.
I am not proposing that we forget history, only that we forgive most of it with regards to territory. But I think the real key to this is self-determination by the people on the land, who are actually living there. This doesn't solve all problems, but it eliminates a lot of gray areas. For example, the real reason I've been considering this is the absolutely ridiculous claims by Argentina against the Falkland islands. Argentina hasn't had anyone from their nation living on these islands in nearly 150+ years but they're making a big political deal about them, and because of international politics, south America is rallying around them. Well then why isn't Argentina returning the land they occupy to its indigenous populations and moving back to Spain? You could make the same claim against the indigenous populations and the bearing straight, but they didn't keep written records. Argentina's claim of 'imperialism' is silly. Its not because the UK wasn't an imperial power...it's because Argentina itself was created as part of the imperial legacy of Spain. Yes, they fought for independence...but if the Falkland islands had fought against Spain and the UK would they claim the land still? Is self-determination only valid if they want independence?
This gets even more complicated, but I believe is still applicable in places like Scotland or Quebec. The concept of the nation state requires coherence, but if a part of a territory wants independence, and seeks it for more than a century, it is foolish not to grant it to them. Let the American South have a vote, once and for all, if they truly want independence, and if they do, let them go. If not then let them stay in the country for another hundred years. Let the reservations in the United States be TRUE independent nations instead of museums for First Nation cultures that are EVEN NOW still exploited by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and corrupt western state governments.
Of course, the counter balance to this is...theft of land once this rule is implemented, against the will of the people that live there is verboten. It means that the Israeli settlements stop. It means that the ones that are there are either frozen or dealt with. Ancient claims of the holy land are based on a religion, and religion should not affect governmental policy. Now, realistically is it possible to keep it out? Of course not. Islam is on the rise in countries which are majority members of that faith, and they seem in the mood to make Theocracies or Theocracy Lite. Well, I consider the idea foolish, but it certainly isn't worth sending an army to stop them. However, the majority of the world's secular governments have no reason to recognize claims that are more than a hundred years old.
It’s a fairly simply policy, but it can work both ways. Let the people living on the ground determine what nation they belong to. Let the people using force to move people around stop it. Make it unrewarded. After that, another vote takes place in another 100 years.
What about current claims? What about Yugoslavia and Kirkuk and have a dozen knots around the world? You solve them like you solve any knot...one link at a time. It means that anywhere there is peace and stability now, all people there get a plebiscite, a vote...Scotland, Quebec, the American South...they get a vote and a chance to form their own nation, and the world recognizes that. And all of the places still under stress have a choice...either renounce their claims or keep fighting their own wars, but be ignored by the world without recognition or trade until the parties involved can settle it in a way that they all agree to. It means that all the parties in Kirkuk or Israel have to BOTH agree to a peace or NONE of them get it and none of them get trade.
Do I expect this to happen? No. But I find it a better solution than what we currently have. I'm certainly open to better suggestions, but until we have one world government, the nation state should be determined by people that WANT to live in it, rather than order imposed by one group over another. Technology and sociological advances now allow both large and small states to be possible. And in cases where an accommodation cannot be found, let paid migration take place. Let there be a place for all in a place they can accept, or at least the closest they can.
Utopian, I know. But worth consideration...
Especially since it would finally shut Argentina up about the Falklands. I'm sorry, 'Las Malvinas'.
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