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Celtic League: Attitudes Harden As Unrest Hits Several Celtic Countries

The burning of holiday cottages in Cymru/Wales, the spraying of nationalist graffiti in Mannin/Isle of Man and plans afoot to hold a demonstration in London by the Cornish; are these

Par Cathal Ó Luain pour Celtic League le 11/12/09 0:02

The burning of holiday cottages in Cymru/Wales, the spraying of nationalist graffiti in Mannin/Isle of Man and plans afoot to hold a demonstration in London by the Cornish; are these actions a coincidence or is this a sign that there is growing nationalist unrest ahead of next year's general elections and Alba/Scotland's planned referendum?

In the early hours of Saturday 7th November 2009, the fire service was called to put out a house fire near Rhosneigr on Anglesey. When fire fighters approached the burning house they found the smouldering remains of a tractor blocking the road preventing the fire engines from getting through. Shortly afterwards the fire service was called to another house fire nearby. Both homes were holiday cottages and even though North Wales Police said that there was nothing to suggest that either of the arson attacks were linked to `Welsh extremism', they said that they were keeping an `open mind' on the matter, telling holiday home owners in the area to be vigilant.

In Mannin this month, Manx language slogans were sprayed on roads and signs along the west of the island, calling for Manx independence. Banners and flags have also appeared and a Facebook group site has been set up entitled `The Isle of Man a republic — Mannin Aboo' asking for members to join if they support Manx independence. The site has so far attracted over 360 members.

In Kernow, a branch meeting of the Celtic League next month will discuss plans for a `noisy protest' in London, following the publication of a draft UK government report to the Council of Europe on the Framework Convention for the Protection of national Minorities, which all but excludes mention of the Cornish or their language. The noisy protest is planned to ensure that people hear that the Cornish do exist.

In Mannin, Mec Vannin (Manx nationalist party) founder and Director of Information for the Celtic League told the `Isle of Man Today' newspaper that there are a growing number of young people on the island getting involved with Manx nationalism. However, Mr Moffatt said to the paper that he believed "...in an upfront approach rather that skulking around daubing paint under the cloak of darkness." As in Cymru, Mannin also experienced an arson and graffiti campaign in the 1970's with several activists being jailed. However, in Cymru nobody was arrested for the arson campaign even though several groups, like Meibion Glyndwr and Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru, claimed responsibility.

As in Mannin, nationalist graffiti has also appeared recently in Kernow in October 2009 and made the front covers of the Cornish press when anti student graffiti was sprayed on the university in Tremough, Penryn and signed `Cornish Republican Army (CRA)'. The CRA has been blamed for a variety of nationalist activity for a number of years, including arson attacks and threats.

It could be that these recent actions are just a part of the ongoing nationalist struggle against British imperialism in the Celtic countries, but are they the first bubbles reaching the surface of a slowly boiling pot? Indeed in the 1970's nationalist graffiti and protests preceded other direct action in all the above three mentioned Celtic countries.

At the risk of over simplifying the issues involved, there are nevertheless some distinct similarities between 1970's Britain and today; similarities that deserve to be taken into consideration, which could also be argued, were a cause of the underlying tensions that resulted in the overspill of nationalist sentiment during that period. In the 1970's for instance people were concerned about the increase of holiday homes in Cymru, Kernow and Mannin in addition to house prise increases. A slumped economy, dramatic increases in oil prices, an increasing awareness of civil and human rights among the population, a reduction in government spending, an unpopular Labour Party government and a general feeling that communities are under threat from big business and unaffordable new house builds that are changing the face of our local environments, are all areas of concern today as they were then.

Of course there are some stark differences too with one of the biggest being that Cymru now has its own national assembly and a Welsh nationalist party in government in the country for the first time. Today, a limited number of political and economic decisions in Wales today can be made in Wales and not in England. The similarity with Mannin here is that the UK is also changing its economic ties with the island, as Mr Moffatt says:

"They [UK government] want us to stop hanging on to their coat tails and our government is acting like a wailing baby wanting its nanny back."

With the new unitary authority in Kernow, some decisions can be made on a whole Cornwall basis in a way that they could not have been before.

Also, as in 1979, it looks very likely that the Labour Party government is finished and that the Conservative Party will be elected into the UK government next year. Whether this will have the consequent disastrous affects for the Celtic countries as it did during the Thatcher year's, remains to be seen, but are nationalists thinking this?

The question begs, are we beginning to see a UK and Great Britain beginning to think of its political future in a way that it hasn't done so before? With the Conservatives in government after the next general election and David Cameron as Prime Minister - who incidentally is no Margaret Thatcher – a referendum on independence in Alba just around the corner, could it be that nationalists in Cymru, Kernow and Mannin are just waiting expectantly for the union to begin to fall? As Mr Moffatt says:

"With the growing importance of international agreements and international groups, not least the European Union, I think it is possible for states to exist and operate independently."

People today are more aware of this fact than at any other time in recent history and democratic nationalists across the UK and the British Isles, in Breizh/Brittany and indeed across Europe will be looking with baited breathe for the referendum results in Alba. A positive vote for independence in Alba will mean a boost for the democratic nationalist cause everywhere and nationalists from the other Celtic countries will be asking, `when does our turn come?' It may be that the Celtic peoples are already asking themselves this question already and these recent occurrences are the beginnings of a new political struggle for independence that has only just begun.

Article compiled for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot General Secretary Celtic League.

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