Between Brexit and independence: the Home Countries and the UK election - Nationalia

Between Brexit and independence: the Home Countries and the UK election - Nationalia: Cornwall’s battle for better funding 

Without having a devolved Parliament, Cornwall —the smallest of the UK’s Celtic nations— has a more limited margin of autonomy. The Cornwall Council has executive, but not legislative, powers.

The Council’s cabinet, made up of members belonging to the Liberal Democrats and independents, is currently calling for “adequate funding” from the UK to be able to “protect local services” delivered to a 570,000-strong population.

The Liberal Democrat election manifesto includes their commitment to legislate to “establish devolved governance” towards new authorities, “for example to a Cornwall Assembly or a Yorkshire Parliament,” without clarifying whether such bodies will have law-making powers or not. Neither the Labour nor the Conservative manifesto envisage anything of the kind.

Dick Cole, a candidate for the pro-autonomy Mebyon Kernow (MK, centre-left), is running for election. MK calls for the establishment of a devolved National Assembly for Cornwall, with ample law-making powers.

Vote Dick Cole for Cornwall

Why Cornish is good for Cornwall

The Destruction of Cornwall - Documentary

Ordinary people who care about Cornwall's future or 'the sinister underbelly of Cornish Nationalism' as described by Cllr Dulcie Tudor. You decide.

Kernow (Short documentary)

Kernow (Short Documentary) from Liam Martin on Vimeo.

TOGETHER WE MUST REDOUBLE OUR EFFORTS TO WIN A CORNISH TICK-BOX ON 2021 CENSUS

In my annual St Piran’s Day message as the leader of Mebyon Kernow, I have called on “one and all” to make representations in support of a Cornish tick-box on the 2021 census.

My statement is as follows:

“It is my hope that everyone will be able to do something special around St Piran’s Day to observe what makes Cornwall so special. But the promotion of Cornish distinctiveness is not something that we should only be doing each year in early March. I sincerely believe that we should be doing all in our power, each and every day, to promote and enhance our identity and heritage.

“At this time, a key campaign for greater Cornish recognition is the push for a tick-box on the 2021 census. Sadly, a Government White Paper was recently published which ruled out the provision of a Cornish tick-box and we need to redouble our efforts and put significant pressure on the UK Government to reverse its present position.

“The Cornish were recognised as a national minority on 2014 and it is scandalous that the Government and the Office of National Statistics seem to consider it acceptable that we will be the only UK national minority to be denied a tick-box in the upcoming census.

“As I have said before, this is illogical, prejudicial, disrespectful and just plain wrong. 

“It is also shameful that the UK Government and the Office of National Statistics have yet to act on the advice from an Advisory Committee of the Council of Europe which challenges “the authorities to take the necessary measures to include the possibility to self-identify as Cornish, through a ‘tick-box’ in the next census.

“So on this St Piran’s Day, please join me in writing to Chloe Smith, the Minister for Constitution, calling on the UK Government to meet its obligations through the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and to guarantee a Cornish tick-box in 2021.”

The address for Chloe Smith, Minister for the Constitution, is: Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall, London SW1A 2AS.

Cornwall is dead

If things aren't turned around our future will be nothing but the memory of a people that once existed, a memory of a society that, little by little, went to nothing amongst the great sameness. So it will happen to Brittany that which has happened to Cornwall, swallowed as it was by London, despite the fact that later the people voted the strongest for Brexit, why so?

Ma ne vo ket cheñchet penn d'ar vazh e vo hon dazont nemet memor ur bobl bet bev, memor ur gevredigezh aet tamm-ha-tamm da get e-touez an heñvelded meur. C'hoarvezout a rayo gant Breizh pezh a zo c'hoarvezet gant Kerne-Veur a zo be lonket gant Londrez en desped d'an dud o dues votet, war-lerc'h, ar muiañ evit ar Brexit, perak 'ta ?

The above is translated from the Breton original which can be found in the opinion piece written by GG Gwen in issue 713 of the Breton language newspaper Ya ! It is one example of what can be read about Cornwall in Breton media / social media at the current time. The thinking is along the lines of:  Cornwall is dead - totally absorbed by greater London - nothing but a Celtic fossil - only of use and consideration as a warning for Brittany to change its ways. Some academics, in the very laudable effort to discuss the future of Brittany, have even gone so far as to coin the term Cornwallisation to describe the death of traditional Breton culture. Take the below as an example which can be found in Le Peuple Breton.

There verdict is severe: " a process of 'cornwallisation' is in operation, a neologism used to describe the change suffered by that British region henceforth integrated into the catchment area of greater London and which has lost its original identity. Without a rapid reaction regarding this change, Brittany, as a distinct entity, will also be dissolved.

Leur verdict est sévère : « Un processus de « cornouaillisation » est à l’œuvre , néologisme utilisé pour décrire l’évolution subie par cette région britannique désormais intégrée au bassin du grand Londres et qui a perdu son identité originale. Sans réaction rapide à cette évolution, la Bretagne se diluera aussi en tant qu’entité particulière ».

Have any of our Breton 'friends' seen fit to write anything anywhere criticising this insulting use of the name of our country? Some time ago, I posted about this situation on the Brenow Facebook page, a place dedicated to promoting links between Brittany and Cornwall. Have any of our Cornish academics or leading lights of the Cornish movement made the slightest effort to defend our honour? 

It's not much but I'll be cancelling my subscription to Ya ! and the Peuple Breton won't be picking up the relay. I'd advise anybody who cares to do the same and explain why. 

People’s Vote March for the Future

Brexit will undermine the UK's joint endeavours with EU member states to tackle climate destruction, corporate greed and tax evasion. It will also exempt us from the EU's strong consumer protection and pollution controls; as well as harming British investment, trade, jobs and living standards. Brexit is bad for Britain! Join us on Saturday the 20th of October for the massive #PeoplesVoteMarch to urge a #PeoplesVote on the Brexit deal. Take back control. Let the people decide! Assemble Park Lane in London at 12 noon. INFO: https://www.peoples-vote.uk/march Via @PeoplesVoteUK

People’s Vote March for the Future: Join the People's Vote campaign

Towards a Euroregion Brittany and Wales. Room for Cornwall?

Vers une Eurorégion Bretagne et Pays de Galles: Le Premier ministre gallois, Carwyn Jones, sera à Lorient le lundi 6 août, durant l’Interceltique. Il nous parle du Brexit et de la création d’une Eurorégion, espace commun de coopération.

 

The Breton language by Sorosoro

For an excellent summary of the Breton languages past and present status visit the Sorosoro website by clicking here: Breton « Sorosoro

Sorosoro is a program that contributes to the safeguard of endangered languages across the globe. The website offers videos, maps and written information.

A Breton dies in Afrin

Kendal Breizh - Breton independence campaigner and anarchist killed in Afrin fighting alongside the Kurds: Kendal Breizh est mort au Kurdistan aux côtés d’un autre camarade

His revolutionary and libertarian ideals led him to be interested in the political experiment in Rojava, and then to join the Kurdish forces and their allies (Arabs, Yezhidis etc). He shared with them their anti-imperialist, anti-fascist, anti-sexist, ecological stances and support for libertarian municipalism, respecting the right for all peoples to master their own destinies. 

Ses idéaux libertaires et révolutionnaires l’avaient conduit à s’intéresser à l’expérience politique du Rojava, puis à s’engager aux côtés des forces kurdes et de leurs alliés (arabes, yézhidis…). Il partageait avec elles des idées anti-impérialistes, anti-fascistes, anti-sexistes, écologiques et pour un municipalisme libertaire, respectant le droit de tous les peuples à maitriser leur destin.

An article on the wider subject can be found here from the French national France 24 website: Far left on the front lines: The Westerners joining the Kurds' fight in Syria

Stourm ar Brezhoneg (English Subtitles)

Stourm ar Brezhoneg (English version) from Hugo Massa on Vimeo. A documentary on some of the grassroots initiatives that keeps the Breton language and culture alive in Northern Finistere. Entirely directed and produced by Hugo Massa.

"Stourm ar Brezhoneg - The Struggle for The Breton Language" highlights the daily fight of independent citizens and community-based organizations for the saving of the linguistic heritage of Brittany.

The usage of Breton has declined for the past 200 years, as have the other minority languages in France. The total population of Breton speakers has been divided by ten since the last century. Its decline stands among the fastest in France. The common memory of the repression of the language, mainly led by the public schools of the French Republic, reminds us the relative recentness of the imposition of French as the sole and unique national language.

After having exposed some of the reasons that explain the decline of the language - including the acceptation by the Breton speakers of the "worthlessness" of their language under cultural an economic pressures - the film reviews some of the meaningful characters and community initiatives that have participated, since the 1970s, to the revival of the language. These characters from the Northern Breton region of Finister all share the pride of having contributed to the renewal of the family transmission of the language and to the reversal of the Breton "negative identity".

Through this case, the film aims to demonstrates the possibilities of creative community organization and mobilization around issues relating to the intangible heritage in jeopardy.

Backing Cornwall Council's fair funding campaign

 

Cllr Dick Cole: Backing Cornwall Council's fair funding campaign