It has come to my attention that a new facebook group has been started titled "Cornish pride, Cornish recognition", the info page explains:
Cornish Unionists for Recognition Action Group. (CUFRAG)
We are a non-political pressure group, campaigning for the Recognition of Cornwall as a Nation of Great Britain, within the United Kingdom.
Our aim is to obtain status as a Nation that enables our sporting teams and individuals to compete in the international arena.
We would also like to be able to say that we are Cornish, for example, in Census Returns or on Official Paperwork.
We do not promote the Cornish Language.
We do not promote Devolution in Cornwall.
We do not promote Independence.
We are not anti-English. link to page
This is an interesting development, it certainly is not my cup of tea, I am a Cornish nationalist and a member of Mebyon Kernow, I believe wholeheartedly that Cornwall would be better served by devolution in the form of a Cornish Assembly. On the issue of Cornish independence I am actually unclear, I am more than willing to give devolution a try and see how that goes for the mean time. As to Kernewek I believe strongly in the promotion of it and I do believe school children should be given the choice to learn the Cornish language in schools. In a multi-lingual education environment, there is room for our language to take a place amongst French, German and Spanish at the very least.
That said, I welcome the move to broaden the debate about the recognition of Cornish national identity. There is no reason why Cornish identity should be solely agitated for by nationalists. Being Cornish does not mean people are not and can not be proud of the EU, UK or Britain. Recognition of the Cornish people as a distinct nation from the English does not entail immediate devolution or independence, it is a wholly separate issue to Cornwall's place within the UK. This is a point I explored in my blog about the Cornish 2nd National Minority Report, where I explained about cross party support for Cornish legal recognition, link here.
I believe the facebook group was started by a guy called Martin Noye who blogs here: http://tanipitus.blogspot.com/ well worth a read. Also he was the one who started the e petition to recognise Cornish identity, which if you haven't signed it please do.
Thanks for the response Rob. The first thing I need to clarify is that, with the petition for minority status and the Facebook Page I've set up. These do not necessarily reflect my personal views. What I am trying to do is a. Open up the debate to more moderate Cornish people and b. Depoliticise the debate.
ReplyDeleteI've campaigned as a fairly strong Nationalist since I was 16 but over time I have realised that this angle of campaigning serves to turn off most young people, especially those living in the towns. We need to bare in mind that a lot of people in Cornwall are not Cornish or may have been born in Cornwall but do not have Cornish parentage. Recognition is the first stage along the path to greater devolution and even independence but we need people to realise that supporting minority status does not mean that you need to become a hardcore Cornish Nationalist. I also believe that the more the Cornish bang on about independence the more the Govt. move away from giving us recognition. There is also the dirty secret about the way in which Cornwall was absorbed into England, that the govt. really want to keep under wraps..
Young people need something to gain from Recognition and at the moment, to most, Recognition = Learning Cornish, which is a big turn off to them..
We press on and hope that the petition can gain momentum. 543 sigs. in 18 days is reasonable but we need a lot more..
Thanks for the comment Martin, also thanks for clarifying your thoughts on the issue interesting to know. I do believe the issue of identity should be above party politics, it's regrettable when essentially apolitical debates become party political and the issues are lost in the process.
ReplyDeleteI am a lot older than I was the last time I tried to campaign for the Cornish Identity and tbh, nothings changed. we live in a world that is run by politicians, who will (when it suits them) tell you exactly what you want to hear, only for the view to morph into something completely different months later.
ReplyDeleteI can see a situation where the Cornish achieve the status as a Minority, only for Cornwall to remain part of England. A pacifier to the Nationalists.
Here lies the problem!!
What exactly are we fighting for.. I know what I am fighting for but the Cornish debate now has more than one level.
How far do we go? What, in reality would any of it mean?
I lost my way with politics 20 years ago and i'm guessing that the govt, like every govt in the last hundred years, will find a way to divide the Cornish and pacify them with x, y or z..
For me the crucial thing is that Cornwall is recognised as a country..if you are a separate country the issue of minority status doesn't come into it.. oh the irony Martin..
I only started the petition because I found out about it because of the riots. If I had spent more time getting up to speed, maybe we'd have a petition that is even valid.
My gut feeling now is that this petition will fizzle out and (here's hoping) a new petition with full backing will start.. Who knows..
At least I know that there are a lot of people that want Recognition (be that what it may) and that it is, the govt's next move..
I wouldn't crack out the pasties and cream just yet though, you can bet your arse we won't get anywhere near what we really desire..
Maybe im just cynical, I dearly hope not.. Either way, we have a year before this petition runs out. I see my roll now, and I'm sure, given time, that we can get young people in Cornwall excited about Recognition.. but then again I said that once before.. :S
#disillusioned