Date: 19th August 2015 Speech by the Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo QC at a reception to mark the Centenary of the birth of Sir Joshua Hassan Your Excellency Lady Hassan Children, family, partners and friends of Sir Joshua Your Worship Ladies and Gentlemen It is truly humbling to have the honour to speak today as the fifth successor in office of the great man whose centenary we celebrate this week. Every one of us here today has a link to "Salvador." We will all remember him with fondness for different reasons, for different acts of friendship or different acts of kindness. Those memories are personal to each of us. But they also shape the public legacy of a man whose epitaph as the political "father of the Gibraltarians" is entirely unchallenged. For when even his adversaries remember their relationships with Sir Joshua with great fondness and regard him with such affection, history, in its telling of his life, cannot but treat him as kindly as he went about making it. Because we are celebrating today the life of a man who walked our streets with a newly crowned Queen in 1954 as comfortably as he had and would walk them with friends, fellow Gibraltar Defence Force volunteers or with his most humble constituent. And these are not common virtues. For Joshua Hassan was not an ordinary man. At a time when few were able to take on a profession, he did so, in the law; returning to Gibraltar to represent working people above all else. When war broke out, like so many others, he had the courage to volunteer to defend his beloved Rock. And when our women, children and infirm were evacuated from our home, he was the lightning rod in the battle for their return. And it was that which galvanised us as a nation. A battle against those who had seen us as "useless mouths." But that would be only the beginning of what Hassan would fight for. He fought for workers’ rights, representing the poor in the face of the rich. He did not choose the side that paid most. He chose the side he cared for most. And he fought for our rights, not just against our traditional adversary, the Kingdom of Spain. He fought for the advancement of our civil rights against our traditional ally, the United Kingdom. With Albert Risso, Aurelio Montegriffo and so many others, they created the AACR, the political party the initials of which were to become synonymous with Government in Gibraltar. But the main battle was of course to keep the Rock our home and to keep it British. Indeed, no sooner had Her Majesty the Queen left Gibraltar in 1954, that a furious Spanish dictator started the most recent siege of the Rock in an endeavour to make it "fall like a ripe fruit." And it was to fall to Joshua Hassan to lead the international representation of the Rock alongside his principal national political adversary, Peter Isola. In those days, before satellites and before global news, before social media, in the days before jumbo jets, they would travel to New York to fight as our advocates for the freedom to choose our political destiny free from Franco's coercion and imposition. Our defiance was expressed at the ballot box in a referendum, in the new constitutions he was one of the principal architects of and, of course, in our community's survival of the long years of the closed frontier. And it was that which galvanised our resolve as a people. And except for a short interregnum of three years, his was the international image of our defiance in those challenging times. And so it was Joshua Hassan that was at the centre of our emergence as the People of the Rock. Galvanised at last as the Gibraltarians. For forty years he was our leader, our Mayor, chief member and then our first Chief Minister. HM Government of Gibraltar • 6 Convent Place • Gibraltar GX11 1AA t +350 20070071 f +350 20076396 e [email protected] w gibraltar.gov.gi 2 For forty years, his family shared him with the rest of us. And for forty years Gibraltar took him to its heart. Indeed, even in the year he lost an election, he topped the poll with an advantage of over 20% over his nearest rival! So when a hundred years has come to pass since his birth, it is right and fitting that his Government, the one he created and which he would be proud to hear now properly referred to as Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar, should commemorate his Centenary in way that reflects his contribution to the establishment of our small but great nation. The magnificent affordable homes to be developed on the Eastside Reclamation will therefore be "Hassan Centenary Terraces." And the first one hundred pound denomination polymer note ever of the Government of Gibraltar will also serve to commemorate this date. What you cannot see from the images is that this note will not be printed on paper. Again this will be a first as the note will be produced in polymer or plastic, which is harder wearing and means that the note will have a longer circulation as legal tender. It will be the first Gibraltar polymer. Sir Joshua will make history again. He will be first again. And the note will be very special indeed in other ways too. It will be dated 21st August 2015, on the exact one hundred anniversary of his birth. And it will be legal tender in the FIRST half of 2016. You have seen the designs today for the first time. They display the enduring image of Sir Joshua Hassan that his people and the world knew on the back of the image of the Queen he so loyally served as leader of her people of the Rock . And if that were not enough firsts, you will be very happy to hear, ladies and gentlemen, that the Joshua Hassan Gibraltar One Hundred Pound Sterling note will be the first ever legal tender pound sterling to be produced in polymer. HM Government of Gibraltar • 6 Convent Place • Gibraltar GX11 1AA t +350 20070071 f +350 20076396 e [email protected] w gibraltar.gov.gi 3 The Banks of England and Scotland are set to introduce polymers also, in five and ten pound denominations, but not until the SECOND half of 2016. And so we will be first with a legal tender pound sterling polymer. Another first for our first Chief Minister. And this time not just a Gibraltar or Gibraltarian first. This time a British first for Sir Joshua. A Sterling first. Because whether we remember him as spouse, father, colleague, partner or friend, Joshua Hassan was a man that touched others in way that was almost universally described always in the positive. And so we must remember and commemorate him also in that positive way. It is for that reason, that I also today want to announce that Government will commission a life size statue of Sir Joshua to be installed in an appropriate location in our city centre, probably in John Mackintosh Square. We have busts and statues of Monarchs, Generals, Admirals, Sappers and Marines. It cannot be right that we do not also have a statue of Sir Joshua and that must change. More details will be announced shortly in this respect. For now, I must tell you that Vi Gregory, Dilip Daryanam (former Financial Secretary), Christine Victory (Accountant General) and current Financial Secretary Albert Mena must take all the credit for delivering, in time for today, the designs of the £100 note to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Sir Joshua. They have worked with De La Rue to achieve this, so thanks must go also to that company for their work on this until today secret project. I had an idea of a one hundred pound polymer note for Sir Joshua; but they had the ability and commitment to make it a stunning reality and one which will be such a great first for Gibraltar to achieve! Stephen Cumming and Peter Canessa have made the video presentation for today possible. Sincere thanks to them for the professional job they have done, as ever, in producing this short clip which we will make available to broadcasters and other news organisations. And Odette Benatar has carried much of the burden for the organisation of today's event. I think Brammy and Salva dor will be smiling in heaven to see Brammy's daughter organising HM Government of Gibraltar • 6 Convent Place • Gibraltar GX11 1AA t +350 20070071 f +350 20076396 e [email protected] w gibraltar.gov.gi 4 something for Sir Joshua! Thank you Odette, as ever for your help. This was surely easier than the last time we had the bright idea of working on a concept for a "cinema in the park!" Joyce Diaz of my office cannot escape a mention, however much she would like to, for the fantastic co-ordination of today. On behalf of you all, I extend our common thanks to her. And finally, thank you to Sir Joshua's family for their participation today and for lending him to us for a life in politics. So much of the Gibraltar we love today would not have been possible without him. His work, his representation and his love for our Rock will long echo into the future as a reflection of the history he humbly forged for our nation.