Proud to be British? Really?

It is ironic that former anti-Apartheid campaigner and de facto Governor of Wales, Peter Hain, believes the people of Wales should be proud of the role they played in building the British Empire.

That anyone should be proud of an imperialist legacy is in itself sad and astounding, if not a little alarming. But for the people of Wales - England's first ever colony - to be proud of the systematic destruction of their language, the erosion of their culture and identity, the denial of their own history, the ravaging of their natural resources, the drowning of their valleys to supply water for English cities, and the economic decline of rural and industrial communities, is as humiliating as it is irrational.

It’s time we started thinking for ourselves. It’s time we thought about what Britishness actually means, and what we benefit from our forced association with it. A question which has yet again come into sharp focus with the billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money the British State spends on worldwide war and killing thousands of people in oil-rich countries. Not to mention the British State’s pursual of Orwellian restrictions on civil liberties, and its ideological zeal for the worst excesses of free market capitalism that sees thousands of Welsh jobs go to the Far East, and a majority of first time buyers unable to buy - or even rent - a home.

The Welsh nation is a historic nation that has been denied its right to self-determination for far too long. We at Welsh Independence Blog believe it is time to rid ourselves of our subservient status and stand up for ourselves. An opinion poll conducted for the BBC today revealed that 20 percent of Welsh people support Welsh independence. That 1 in 5 people in Wales support independence when the issue is not even on any political party's agenda, and therefore not publicly debated, demonstrates that there is indeed a grass roots recognition of the need for change, and that the case for an independent Wales should be put before the people.

The British Labour Party, the majority party and government of Wales, has for far too long used propaganda, scaremongering and British nationalism to persuade our people that Wales cannot make it on her own and that Britishness and the Union Jack is our redemption. This view has never been challenged. Untill now.