A lot has been said and written over the last few months about the WA election and its eventual outcome, and it wont be long before we start all over again discussing the possible strategies and outcome of a referendum on a Welsh Parliament. So I thought it was about time that we got back to discussing Welsh Independence - in particular, what form a future Welsh state might take.
I personally believe that we should be aiming to create a Republic but the use of the term Republican often solicits a negative response. To most people the term is simply anti-monarchist, and provokes unionists to start weeping nostalgically about the Royal Family, the loss of the British Empire, and Britishness (whatever that is Mr Brown). To others the term is associated with Irish Republicanism and they immediately start to make comparisons with Sinn Fein and the IRA and other assorted terrorists.
But republican ideals are the basis for many modern democracies, most notably the American & French Republics, and their guiding values are simple:
Republicanism stresses personal liberty, and gives all individuals inalienable rights – rights which can not be voted away. In our context, individuals would have the right to communicate in Welsh – a right that could not be voted away by the majority English speaking electorate
Republicanism establishes that we are not subjects, but citizens. It rejects the monarchy and aristocracy but also all forms of inherited political power, including from the military, churches, trade unions, and lobby groups such as CBI. Instead all political power is democratically vested in the people, who are expected to actively use this power and to participate in civic duties.
Abraham Lincoln defined republicanism in terms of Freedom, Equality & Democracy and described ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’.
Surely these would be excellent ideals for a new Welsh democracy, and we should not be afraid to promote the cause of a Welsh Republic.
Many people are not aware, but much of the inspiration for the American & French republics actually came from Wales. On his blog, Adam Price has been recently quoting the Italian political thinker Antonio Gramsci – but he should look nearer to home for inspiration, and look up the work of his namesake Richard Price. Born in Llangeinor, Bridgend in the 18th century he was in regular correspondence with Benjamin Franklin and his writings proved to be inspirational in the American and French revolutions, and could be considered to be the father of a Welsh republican ideal.
The French Republic has as its motto
Liberté - Egalité - Fraternitié.
I suggest that we should develop this into a Welsh context and suggest our own motto of:
Rhyddid – Tegwch - Cymuned
I personally believe that we should be aiming to create a Republic but the use of the term Republican often solicits a negative response. To most people the term is simply anti-monarchist, and provokes unionists to start weeping nostalgically about the Royal Family, the loss of the British Empire, and Britishness (whatever that is Mr Brown). To others the term is associated with Irish Republicanism and they immediately start to make comparisons with Sinn Fein and the IRA and other assorted terrorists.
But republican ideals are the basis for many modern democracies, most notably the American & French Republics, and their guiding values are simple:
Republicanism stresses personal liberty, and gives all individuals inalienable rights – rights which can not be voted away. In our context, individuals would have the right to communicate in Welsh – a right that could not be voted away by the majority English speaking electorate
Republicanism establishes that we are not subjects, but citizens. It rejects the monarchy and aristocracy but also all forms of inherited political power, including from the military, churches, trade unions, and lobby groups such as CBI. Instead all political power is democratically vested in the people, who are expected to actively use this power and to participate in civic duties.
Abraham Lincoln defined republicanism in terms of Freedom, Equality & Democracy and described ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’.
Surely these would be excellent ideals for a new Welsh democracy, and we should not be afraid to promote the cause of a Welsh Republic.
Many people are not aware, but much of the inspiration for the American & French republics actually came from Wales. On his blog, Adam Price has been recently quoting the Italian political thinker Antonio Gramsci – but he should look nearer to home for inspiration, and look up the work of his namesake Richard Price. Born in Llangeinor, Bridgend in the 18th century he was in regular correspondence with Benjamin Franklin and his writings proved to be inspirational in the American and French revolutions, and could be considered to be the father of a Welsh republican ideal.
The French Republic has as its motto
Liberté - Egalité - Fraternitié.
I suggest that we should develop this into a Welsh context and suggest our own motto of:
Rhyddid – Tegwch - Cymuned
.
I guess we can have our own TRILLIW as well.
7 comments:
I found this site with several of Price's works. I'm off to do some reading.
http://www.constitution.org/price/price_.htm
Here is another:
http://oll.libertyfund.org/Texts/LFBooks/Sandoz0385/HTMLs/LoveOfCountry.html#hd_lf018.1.head.105
I don't think Adam was looking to Gramsci for inspiration on the kind of state, rather the tactics used to achieve independence.
By the way, what do we think of the red-green coalition?
The red-green coalition is a natural combination reflecting the values and political complexion of the nation, and is to be found on the Welsh flag together with white which represents peace between the two parties.
I think we should retain some tradition at least. If we do become a republic, we should not be Gweriniaeth Cymru but Tywysogaeth Cymru and have a Tywysog, not a Arlywydd and the Heat of State should be held sepreatly from the Prif Wenidog.
An agenda for a police state with Crown immunity?
On the strength of the manipulation of the evidence taken from an impressionable Cornish teenager, the press appears to be attempting to condemn as nationalist anyone claiming to be Cornish. Nationalist is not applied to anyone claiming to be English. We are all British with only British passports so, any sub-division of British is equally nationalist. If British is the legally correct nationality, then, the use of English, for the state funded English Heritage Co. Ltd., would be an example of cultural nationalism.
Are we Cornish really the guilty nationalists as charged by those self-appointed judges, the barons of the English press?
The press appears to have been given the task of covering up centuries of economic nationalism in Cornwall retained, with Crown immunity and inalienable rights, for Duchy profit authorised by the permanent English majority at Westminster. This feudal legacy is ripe for exposure as incompatible with the modern principle of equality before the law. In a state where the public are being deprived of the other side of the story, the suspicion is aroused of the presence of journalistic nationalism.
Recently, the United Kingdom became the only one of 27 member states of the European Union to have “won” the right to exclude Fundamental rights from its legal system. This apparent assertion of racial supremacy is similarly suspected in the exclusion from the Human Rights Act 1998 of Article 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights: “the right to an effective remedy for violations by persons acting in an official capacity”. In addition, politicians do not appear prepared to legislate for a guarantee of: “The right to equality before the law for all persons” currently unavailable in the English legal system. Such a basic international right is available in a written constitutional form for all the citizens of the Monarchy of Sweden, the United States of America, France, Germany, Poland and Switzerland to name but a few governments who have created universal inalienable rights for their citizens. They have rejected legislative nationalism by accepting that the individual has the right, in every case of the alleged abuse of power, institutional bias and official racial discrimination, to enforce accountability upon persons acting in an official capacity.
To avoid the possibility of a charge of academic nationalism, we challenge English universities to write down the British Constitution as it stands today showing proof of any inalienable rights available to the individual to challenge any alleged failure to comply with the Oath of Allegiance taken by persons acting in an official capacity.
The Human Rights Act includes Article 10 of the European Convention: “Freedom of expression”. This gives Cornish people the right to declare their membership of the Cornish national minority, (Article 14): “without interference by public authority”. The Police do not record declarations of “Cornish” on their forms. Is this a case of interference with freedom of expression encouraged by the Duke of Cornwall’s attack on human rights? (The Times, 2nd March 2006).
The denial of basic Human rights, Fundamental rights and equality before the law is an agenda for a police state with Crown immunity. Every attempt to grab absolute power must be resisted by rejecting all forms of aggressive nationalism, whether Cornish or English, and demanding the right to be condemned only by an impartial and independent Court of law free from judicial nationalism.
The Cornish Stannary Parliament
What about a Celtic republic, a seperately elected president who would form his government from the National Assembly and he/she would be the head of the Welsh Assembly Government.
Of course it would be known as the "Celtic Republic of Wales". It would help us promote ourselves better as Celtic, and reveal to the world our relation with Ireland, Scotland, Britanny, Cornwall and the Isle of Man. More on my blog.
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