Showing posts with label Anguilla. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anguilla. Show all posts

Monday, August 19, 2019

Brexit Curse in the Caribbean | DW Documentary


Great Britain is not the only country gripped with uncertainty over the outcome of Brexit. The Caribbean island of Anguilla, a British overseas territory and former British colony, would lose its status as an associate member.

Anguilla, a popular holiday destination, is 6,500 kilometers away from Britain, but just a 20-minute boat ride from the half-French, half-Dutch island of Saint Martin. Relations between both islands are like a smaller, Caribbean version of the EU-Brexit tugging war. ‘Saint Martin is our downtown, that’s where we go shopping, or see a doctor’, says the Premier of Anguilla, Victor Banks. ‘What will happen to my EU passport?’, worries DJ Hammer. He fears the consequences of Brexit will be even worse than Hurricane Irma, which devastated the island in 2017. Will theater director Felix Fleming still be able to visit his family - and his father’s grave - in Saint Martin without applying for a visa and queuing at the border each time? What will become of the turtles in the Marine Park, currently subsidized by EU funding? How has the Anguillan blogger Shellecia Brooks-Johnson been experiencing the mood in England since she moved to Cambridge six months ago? One thing is for sure: Although residents of Anguilla were not entitled to vote in the Brexit referendum, they will still suffer the consequences.

Brexit and its impact on the Caribbean: This film looks at Europe’s thorniest current issue from a more unusual perspective.