Sol Seruya, Part 2

 
Among politicians – many of whom find a sense of security in party membership and the machinery of support that this affords - independents are often regarded as mavericks… loose cannons whose attitudes can upset the status quo, rocking the boat to the discomfort of everyone else. Under our current electoral methods – as the ill-fated attempts of Liana Armstrong-Emery and Daniel Feetham have shown – even small parties have little chance of electoral success – let alone independents!

Though, in the pre-constitutional days of “Colonial” rule - when first a city council and later an executive council ran Gibraltar’s civilian interests – the breed was rare, an ‘independent’ not only could obtain enough votes to be elected but could also attain responsibility for significant portfolios…though, for want of ‘party’ backing, his achievements probably went largely unrecognized.

Solomon (Sol) Seruya epitomizes this political paradox…and the way that party machinery has largely replaced personal striving, while manifesto promises (whether kept or not) rather than personal conviction shape the way we are governed. His raft of achievements for Gibraltar were only recognized with the award of an OBE more than two decades after he had quit the local political scene…and had returned to the Rock (in what he jokingly refers to as his “second coming”) from aliyah in Israel, where he had served as an administrator and international diplomat.

In more than a decade during which he stood as an independent and was elected and subsequently re-elected (each time by a numerically impressive tally of votes) Seruya laid the foundations of many of Gibraltar’s modern successes. In his first election manifesto Seruya mooted the establishment of a casino – ‘While I am not a gambler, it seemed the sort of development which would help attract tourists” he told VOX – which, once established, opened Gibraltar’s doors to today’s thriving internet gaming industry.

And his love of the arts sparked the development of St Michael’s Cave as a venue for entertainments as well as the creation of the open-air theatre in the Alameda Botanical Gardens – achieved by a rare piece of subterfuge.

“I’m a balletomane and had always wanted to see a fine open-air theatre on the Rock and was determined to see one built. So on the pretext of putting up a temporary stage for the fair I arranged for the theatre to be built.

“On the opening night, I was accompanied by Sir Joshua Hassan and the Colonial Secretary Daryl Bates,” Seruya recalls. “Both men were impressed by what the architect John Langdon and I had achieved in the way of a stage and auditorium, but were quick to point out that no finance had been voted for the project.

“I owned up to my ploy and added that if the finance committee did not put up the money, I would do so personally. They stumped up.”

In the early 1950s when Seruya returned from his studies oversea the first signs of transition from an MoD-driven economy were emerging…though there were no pointers as to where that transition would lead. There was clearly a need for economic development and this, he believed, “would be linked in some way to our relationship with Spain.”

“As a student I had taken the view that it would be difficult for any Gibraltarian to carry on without knowing what Spain was all about…what made our neighbour tick,” Seruya says. “So after graduating in economics from St Andrews I spent a year studying Spain and Spanish at London University and extended those studies to Madrid and Salamanca. It gave me an understanding and insight into the historical, reasons for attitudes and views.”

Spain figured prominently in Seruya’s plans for the future of the area – as did Morocco – when he created Gibraltar’s first “tourism department” after being elected to the executive council with the “ridiculously low budget of £13,000.”

He cultivated the British press and gained significant coverage in papers like the Daily Telegraph and magazines like The tattler with such messages as “Gibraltar is the only tourist centre in the world where you can play cricket in the morning, watch a bullfight in Spain in the afternoon and watch belly-dancing in the Casbah in Tangiers in the evening…and all on the same day.”

“In those years I embarked on some of the most difficult developments including St Michaels Cave – with the help of Norman Cummings. We also organized an arts week offering music, theatre and painting,” he recalls. “the arts week was not only to the benefit of locals – we used the arts festival to promote and attract tourism as something special that only Gibraltar could offer.

“Similarly successful was the annual ‘Week of the Sea’ which offered everything from sailing, rowing and swimming to angling competitions. The latter particularly attracted tourists from Britain.”

What happened to the “Week of the Sea” project, VOX asked? “I think when I left, there was no one else mad enough to take it on,” Seruya acknowledged with a laugh.

After five years running the Rock’s tourist portfolio, Seruya took over responsibility for Gibraltar’s economic affairs and spelt out an ambitious programme for Government and private sector to collaborate in investment and expansion of tourism as a source of economic growth.

Though only moderate progress was made at the time, many of the 20 points which he outlined in a paper of “The development of the Mediterranean coast of Gibraltar” have since been put into place. Among other aspects it proposed the type of development now taking shape as part of the Eastside project.

“I am glad that tourism is doing so well – and in Joe Holliday it is in a safe pair of hands,” Seruya told VOX. “It’s a side of the economy that is developing well. And I am looking forward to September 18 and the regional accord that it promises to bring.

“I I have one regret, it is that we don’t have a strategic town plan. That’s a great shame for our land is limited and we have to make the best possible use of it…and though we must develop, we need to do it is a way that is best for the environment.

* The gremlins crept into the first part of this article when it appeared last week and Seruya has asked VOX to point out that he has always been a committed Zionist; and the “Spanish” newspaper in which the Seruya article that earned the displeasure of the AACR was, in fact, a local publication.