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Welcome to the Scottish Socialist Freedom Project website
Supporting an Independent Scottish Republic
New Events Page
I have
replaced the News Page which rarely got updated with an Events Page this
however will be updated regularly to include Scottish Events taking
place up and down the country.
Slainte
Larry
Slainte
Larry
About The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project
The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project is an Internet project and or communications organisation that supports a Scottish Workers Republic and believes in political activity to encourage change in Scottish society.
Firstly we have to walk before we can run so while the endgame should be to support a socialist republic, it is fundamental that we bring about Scottish independence, through constitutional means with the support of the Scottish people.
The best vehicle for change is to support the SNP majority Scottish Government and their delivery of an Independence Referendum probably around 2014.
The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project website is updated by myself Larry (an Independent Republican Socialist) and is linked to the SSFP Discussion Group @ http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/scotsocialistfreedom/
For political activity and attending Scottish events or commemorations I would advocate getting involved and joining the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement @ http://scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org
Scottish Republican Socialist Movement
Active Republican Socialists in Scotland their website is at http://scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org
And their forum can be found @
http://scottishrepublicans.myfreeforum.org
And their forum can be found @
http://scottishrepublicans.myfreeforum.org
New SNP Supporters Group has started
The SNP Supporters Group has got of to a good start with 6 new members but I would urge you to join if you are a member or supporter of the SNP.
Click here to join the SNP Supporters Group if you are interested in the Scottish National Party and the present Scottish Government. The more members we get the more likely we can get some debate. As well as being an informative group about the SNP it is a good place to keep people in the know regarding Scottish events.
Scottish Republic
http://scottishsocfree.blogspot.com
Click here to join the SNP Supporters Group if you are interested in the Scottish National Party and the present Scottish Government. The more members we get the more likely we can get some debate. As well as being an informative group about the SNP it is a good place to keep people in the know regarding Scottish events.
Scottish Republic
http://scottishsocfree.blogspot.com
Join The Forum for Scottish Democracy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scottishdemocracy
This group supports the establishment of an independent Scottish republic that is socialist and egalitarian. Members are welcome who wish to debate about constitutional change for Scotland and the future of the nation. Also there should be support for an independence referendum.
The group recognises that debate on constitutional change for Scotland is not merely the preserve of the SNP in the independence movement. A wider debate is more healthy concerning constitutional change.
Supporters of Scottish nationalism, republicanism or Scottish socialism welcome
Note this is a broad based and non-sectarian forum.
Moderators
Forum for Scottish Democracy
Scottish Socialist Freedom Project Discussion Group
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/scotsocialistfreedom
News & Debate group on political and cultural issues affecting Scotland and Internationally.
"We believe in an independent Scotland where our vast wealth and abundant resources are harnessed and democratically owned for the benefit of all, not the obscene enrichment of the few."
To join give a short bio of yourself in a brief paragraph regarding your political views and interest in an independent socialist Scotland.
We are essentially republican socialist . socialist activists welcome.
SSFP (Alba)
Scottish Republican Socialist News website updated
Announcement
Scottish Republican Socialist News
http://redstar.webnode.com
This website seeks to inform the people about events in Scotland and what is going on. The purpose is also to promote activity in Scotland for campaigns or events in Scotland particularly but not exclusively of a socialist nature. Direct political action in the community should be encouraged to fight for change in capitalist society. The Events Calendar is regualrly updated about socialist or cultural activities taking place in Scotland.
I have been working on the website for Scottish Republican Socialist News http://redstar.webnode.com and have been adding some new features including photos of Arbroath, Edinburgh and Dumfries Robert Burns statue and mausoleum. I have also added a couple of the prom at Kirkcaldy and also campaign photos and some photos or pics relating to socialism such as Che, MacLean and one of Connolly.
On Scottish links you can find SRSM, SNP etc..and articles for John MacLean
Also new to Scottish Republican Socialist News, as well as changes to the Scottish Links, I have added music videos to the site about John Maclean one being by the late Gerry MacGregor. Also I have added tribal music videos of Albannach and the Trybe and an SRSM video on YouTube at Glencoe.
Because SRSM added the Scottish Republican Socialist News site to their links page I have decided to upgrade from the free site in the near future which will only cost me £1.70 a month of which I can easily afford. Also soon I will purchase a new domain name for the site probably dot org e.g scottishrepublicansocialistnews.org. I will let everyone and very importantly SRSM know when the website address changes.
Anyway take a look as it is coming together nicely.
If you have a Scottish Socialist, International or Scottish Republican event you would like me to publicise then just email me, as my contact details can be found on the home page of SRS News.
Slainte
Larry
Scottish Republican Socialist News
http://www.scottish-republican-socialist-news.com
Scottish Republican Socialist News
http://redstar.webnode.com
This website seeks to inform the people about events in Scotland and what is going on. The purpose is also to promote activity in Scotland for campaigns or events in Scotland particularly but not exclusively of a socialist nature. Direct political action in the community should be encouraged to fight for change in capitalist society. The Events Calendar is regualrly updated about socialist or cultural activities taking place in Scotland.
I have been working on the website for Scottish Republican Socialist News http://redstar.webnode.com and have been adding some new features including photos of Arbroath, Edinburgh and Dumfries Robert Burns statue and mausoleum. I have also added a couple of the prom at Kirkcaldy and also campaign photos and some photos or pics relating to socialism such as Che, MacLean and one of Connolly.
On Scottish links you can find SRSM, SNP etc..and articles for John MacLean
Also new to Scottish Republican Socialist News, as well as changes to the Scottish Links, I have added music videos to the site about John Maclean one being by the late Gerry MacGregor. Also I have added tribal music videos of Albannach and the Trybe and an SRSM video on YouTube at Glencoe.
Because SRSM added the Scottish Republican Socialist News site to their links page I have decided to upgrade from the free site in the near future which will only cost me £1.70 a month of which I can easily afford. Also soon I will purchase a new domain name for the site probably dot org e.g scottishrepublicansocialistnews.org. I will let everyone and very importantly SRSM know when the website address changes.
Anyway take a look as it is coming together nicely.
If you have a Scottish Socialist, International or Scottish Republican event you would like me to publicise then just email me, as my contact details can be found on the home page of SRS News.
Slainte
Larry
Scottish Republican Socialist News
http://www.scottish-republican-socialist-news.com
Building for a New Scotland
Since the SNP landslide victory at the May 2011 Scottish elections it has attracted comment from all factions of the left whether for or against independence.
The problem of the anti-independence left is they bore the mass of the Scottish people with Marxist theology or analysis about how the pro-independence left will divide the so-called British working class after independence. Alan McCombes of the Scottish Socialist Party answers the question nicely by example of how the Irish Trade Unions collaborate on both sides of the Irish border. See Below:
Irish trade unions continue to organise on both sides of the border. There are many US-based trade unions organised in Canada. There is also close collaboration within the trade-union movement across Scandinavia. In today’s world of global corporations, trade union organisation will tend to transcend international borders, though that may well be accompanied by greater decentralisation within trade unions." Alan McCombes Why the left should back independence
Also the article by McCombes points out the achievement of the previous SNP minority lead Government on no tuition fees for students and that prescription charges being abolished on April 1, 2011, just before the election. Also the SNP record of campaigning against the situating of Britain’s Trident nuclear submarine in Scotland.
And McCombes argues that the break-up of the United Kingdom would weaken capitalism and imperialism internationally. In Scotland, support for the union has always gone hand in hand with support for imperialism.
This leaves me to conclude that the reality for the Scottish left come the Independence Referendum is that like socialists and republicans in the SNP we shall all experience unfortunately the effort and propaganda machine that the unionists and British state will employ to destabilise the Yes for independence campaign.
Instead of trying to baffle the Scottish people with long articles to read on International or global socialism we will need to continue to present the immediate benefits of breaking up the British state.
Where I do agree with the pro-independence left as a Republican Socialist is an independent Scottish state, we must have control of policing or security and defence (No Trident weapons on Scottish soil), social welfare, being no way a part of the NATO adventures or no to England's imperialist war games and British occupation of Ireland being certainly essentially unacceptable. Also we should break with the British Crown and build a New Scotland based on egalitarianism, socialism and a true Republic where we fly the Saltire while not being in the shadow of the butcher's apron (union flag) or crown powers rubber stamped by the Queen of England.
Independence will also relieve the Scottish people from the unfair democratic deficit of London Rule at Westminster, and create a more natural political process that reflects the wishes of all the Scottish people whether they follow the road of social democracy, socialism and republicanism alike.
What we must all be ready to struggle against, is the power of the capitalist Murdoch influenced media willing to discredit independence as an option for the Scottish people. Already the Scottish press are stirring the pot and promoting so-called "Independence Lite."
As a Scottish Republican Socialist I am aware of the need to adopt a radical agenda at least and at most the move eventually and speedily to a Workers Republic.
But in the meantime it is important to prepare for the Independence Referendum within 5 years and the need to support the Scottish Independence Convention whether you are Scottish Radical, Libertarian, Socialist or Republican Socialist or simply Scottish Republican.
I through this weblog Scottish Republic in my writings support the revolutionary socialist approach to campaign in the months and years ahead with vigour for true freedom by breaking the connection with England and it's queen.
We must build socialism in Scotland from below before we can dream of International Global Socialism in the longer term which is not going to happen that soon.
Meanwhile one step at a time while the SNP Government have wonderfully and thankfully secured a mandate from the ordinary voting public since the Scottish elections.
Larry
The problem of the anti-independence left is they bore the mass of the Scottish people with Marxist theology or analysis about how the pro-independence left will divide the so-called British working class after independence. Alan McCombes of the Scottish Socialist Party answers the question nicely by example of how the Irish Trade Unions collaborate on both sides of the Irish border. See Below:
Irish trade unions continue to organise on both sides of the border. There are many US-based trade unions organised in Canada. There is also close collaboration within the trade-union movement across Scandinavia. In today’s world of global corporations, trade union organisation will tend to transcend international borders, though that may well be accompanied by greater decentralisation within trade unions." Alan McCombes Why the left should back independence
Also the article by McCombes points out the achievement of the previous SNP minority lead Government on no tuition fees for students and that prescription charges being abolished on April 1, 2011, just before the election. Also the SNP record of campaigning against the situating of Britain’s Trident nuclear submarine in Scotland.
And McCombes argues that the break-up of the United Kingdom would weaken capitalism and imperialism internationally. In Scotland, support for the union has always gone hand in hand with support for imperialism.
This leaves me to conclude that the reality for the Scottish left come the Independence Referendum is that like socialists and republicans in the SNP we shall all experience unfortunately the effort and propaganda machine that the unionists and British state will employ to destabilise the Yes for independence campaign.
Instead of trying to baffle the Scottish people with long articles to read on International or global socialism we will need to continue to present the immediate benefits of breaking up the British state.
Where I do agree with the pro-independence left as a Republican Socialist is an independent Scottish state, we must have control of policing or security and defence (No Trident weapons on Scottish soil), social welfare, being no way a part of the NATO adventures or no to England's imperialist war games and British occupation of Ireland being certainly essentially unacceptable. Also we should break with the British Crown and build a New Scotland based on egalitarianism, socialism and a true Republic where we fly the Saltire while not being in the shadow of the butcher's apron (union flag) or crown powers rubber stamped by the Queen of England.
Independence will also relieve the Scottish people from the unfair democratic deficit of London Rule at Westminster, and create a more natural political process that reflects the wishes of all the Scottish people whether they follow the road of social democracy, socialism and republicanism alike.
What we must all be ready to struggle against, is the power of the capitalist Murdoch influenced media willing to discredit independence as an option for the Scottish people. Already the Scottish press are stirring the pot and promoting so-called "Independence Lite."
As a Scottish Republican Socialist I am aware of the need to adopt a radical agenda at least and at most the move eventually and speedily to a Workers Republic.
But in the meantime it is important to prepare for the Independence Referendum within 5 years and the need to support the Scottish Independence Convention whether you are Scottish Radical, Libertarian, Socialist or Republican Socialist or simply Scottish Republican.
I through this weblog Scottish Republic in my writings support the revolutionary socialist approach to campaign in the months and years ahead with vigour for true freedom by breaking the connection with England and it's queen.
We must build socialism in Scotland from below before we can dream of International Global Socialism in the longer term which is not going to happen that soon.
Meanwhile one step at a time while the SNP Government have wonderfully and thankfully secured a mandate from the ordinary voting public since the Scottish elections.
Larry
Remembering Victims of British Aggression
11 November 2010
Recent years have seen the British state and its various agencies in Scotland step up their propaganda around the Poppy Day Remembrance events as an attempt to direct attention from Britain’s increasingly unpopular military campaigns.
This has seen the growth of organisations like Help for Heroes for maimed and mutilated soldiers so highly regarded by their masters that they are forced to walk round with the begging bowl once their service is over.
It has also seen the ridiculous insistence of the Scottish Premier League over the last 3 seasons force all teams to wear a poppy on their shirts. The poppy was first introduced in 1921 by Earl Haig. Forget for a minute that this upper-class fool probably killed more British soldiers than the forces of German capitalism during the Great Slaughter of 1914-18. Forget also that this slaughter had the same effect as the Clearances on a whole generation of young men and empty glens, sent to their deaths in the mud and the shit of the trenches to defend markets for the goods of British capitalists.
Forget that and ask yourself why now 90 years later has the SPL decided it must ‘remember’ those victims of British expansionism? Was Scottish football lacking in it’s duties for the last 90 years?
Then stop and think for a minute and realise that during the last decade the British State launched deeply unpopular and illegal wars which saw recruitment to British Crown Forces in Scotland fall to record low levels.
This is the main reason for the upsurge in Imperialist propaganda to ‘back the troops’. British Crown Forces are even being allowed into primary schools and nurseries to ‘get ’em when they’re young’.
So on this day we do remember. We remember those workers of all nations who have fallen fighting the wars of capitalists. Capitalists who themselves never see action in the field.
We also remember the A, B, C of British Aggression.
From Amritsar (1919) to Ballymurphy (1971) to Culloden (1746) Britain’s war crimes have spanned the continents and centuries. All have been carried out in the interests of British Imperialism.
In order to ‘free Scotland’ from this legacy of colonialism anbd oppression we must put anti-imperialism at the heart of the struggle.
The only war worth fighting is the war to end Imperialism!
END RECRUITMENT TO BRITISH CROWN FORCES!
CLOSE THE RAF BASES!
SCRAP TRIDENT!
DISBAND THE NORTH BRITISH REGIMENTS!
SUAS AN POBLACHD SHOISEALACH NA h-ALBA!
STATEMENT ENDS
*********************
http://saorsa.weebly.com/poppyday.html
Kernow / Information on Cornwall
What makes Cornwall unique
By admin | July 9, 2011
Cornwall, not England
A great many arguments and counter-arguments have raged regarding the true status of Cornwall. A status that is certainly unique within Great Britain. Why is it unique?
Nigel Pengelly asks historian Craig Weatherhill what is the real and verifiable truth that lies behind Cornwall’s claims?
Is it true that Cornwall was a kingdom?
Absolutely true, and accepted by all historians. Originally it was part of the kingdom of Dumnonia that may well predate the Roman occupation. This covered the whole of the south-western peninsula as far as a north-south line linking the Rivers Axe and Parrott. The advance of the Wessex Saxons caused the border to retreat westward until, by the 8th century only Cornwall was left. It must be remembered, though, that even then and until the 10th century, Cornwall extended to the Exe.
Do we know anything about the kings?
Some of them, although details of most are scanty at best. Fragments of a king-list survive, naming those who reigned from about 450 AD to around 650 AD and who would have been associated with the royal citadel at Tintagel, roughly dated to 450-700 AD. The earliest of these was Gurvor, then Tudwal. His successor was Cynvor, who flourished in the early to mid-6th century. Could he be the Cunomorus named on Fowey’s Tristan Stone (Cunomorus is a Latinised form of the Celtic name Cynvor), the lettering of which is dated to 530-570 AD? Could he also be the man mentioned in the 9th century Breton monk Wrmonoc’s Life of St Paul Aurelian as the king Quonomorius, also called Marcus? Was he, therefore, the famous King Mark of Cornwall?
The next king, Constantine, was king when the monk Gildas wrote around 540 AD. He castigated five contemporary British (Celtic) kings and called Constantine: “the tyrannical whelp of the unclean lioness of Dumnonia”. Welsh records refer to him as Custennin Gorneu (“of Cornwall” – an early reference to the native name Kernow). He is said to have abdicated when elderly and gone into the Church. He was succeeded by Erbin, another name which crops up in Welsh tradition as does the name of the next king,
Gerent I.
He might have been the Gerent rac Deheu (“Gerent for the south”) who fought against the English at Catraeth (Catterick, Yorkshire) in 598. The next king was Cado, remembered by Geoffrey of Monmouth as Cador of Cornwall. After him come Peredur and Theudu.
The king list fizzles out at this point but we know of Gerent II, possibly Theudu’s successor. In 705, the Synod of Wessex wrote to “Gerontius Rex”, demanding that the Celtic (Columban) Church in Cornwall conform to the doctrines of Rome. That demand was never fufilled.
After Gerent II is a huge gap of 170 years before we find records of another Cornish king, Donyarth, recorded by the Annales Cambriae as having drowned in 878 AD. The Annales refer to him as “rex Cerniu” (“king of Cornwall”). Fifty years later, we find another one, Huwal, called by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles “king of the West Welsh”, a term exclusively used to describe the British Celts of Dumnonia and Cornwall (this was not Hywel Dda of South Wales). He was one of several kings who signed a treaty with Aethelstan of Wessex in 928 at Egmont Bridge, following which (and after he’d forced the Cornish from Exeter), Aethelstan fixed the border between Cornwall and Wessex at the east bank of the Tamar – exactly where it remains today in constitutional law (in spite of the unlawful alterations to it by the Boundary Commission and the Ordnance Survey).
So, was Huwal the last Cornish king?
We don’t know, but it appears that at the time of the Norman Conquest a man named Cadoc, described as the last of the Cornish royal line, became the first Earl. After him, the Norman authorities cleverly appointed Celtic-speaking Bretons to the Earldom; men like Count Brian, Robert of Mortain and Count Alan. There are indications that, under this system, the Cornish regarded the Normans as allies.
Are you saying that Cornwall was not conquered by the English and absorbed into Wessex?
No, it wasn’t. If it had been, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles would not have failed to shout it. Instead, there’s not a word, not in any record and the fact that some “historians” assume – even insist upon – its conquest by, and inclusion in, Wessex reflects rather badly upon their own integrity. Cornwall’s continued independence is strongly supported by the fact that it has enjoyed special status, as Earldom and Duchy, ever since.
So, you don’t believe that Cornwall is part of England
No, and for many reasons. First of all, Cornwall was portrayed on numerous maps, including the famous Mappa Mundi, as separate from England right up until the mid 16th century. Henry VIII even listed England and Cornwall separately in the list of his realms given in his coronation address and, interestingly, Elizabeth I stated that she did not rule Cornwall (but Cornish was among the languages she was reputed to speak). 1549 changed many things. No longer do we find Anglia et Cornubia in official documents; the British Sea suddenly became the English Channel and Cornwall as a separate entity was omitted from the maps. No record exists of any formal annexation of Cornwall to England, nor were we party to the Act of Union in 1707. More reasons will crop up later.
So the Cornish people are not English?
No, they can be no more English than the Welsh are, and for precisely the same reason. Modern archaeology now admits that the Cornish and Welsh of today are the remnants of an ancient race native to these islands since at least the Neolithic period, between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. They also now believe that the Celtic language came into being during that same period as a common language of sea trading communities along the Atlantic coasts of Europe from Spain to the Hebrides. Cornish is a direct descendant of that early language. All in all, a heritage to be truly proud of even though officialdom seeks to erase it by dubbing monuments of those periods “English” Heritage. The English peoples, on the other hand, hail from what is now Germany and the Low Countries and did not begin to migrate into Britain until the mid 5th century AD. They had little or no contact with Cornwall until the 8th century. In 1937, Bartholomew published a Map of European Ethnicity prepared by the Edinburgh Institute of Geography which featured “Cornish Celtic”.
I note that you never refer to Cornwall as a “county”.
It’s officially a Duchy and that’s the title recommended by the Kilbrandon Report back in 1973 to be used instead of “county”. The imposition of official county status imposed on Cornwall in 1889 (a year after the rest of the country) was not lawful. Interestingly, the Duchy Charters and other documents refer to the old Cornish Hundreds as “shires” and “counties”. Now, how can any county contain counties?
The name Kernow, you say, is old?
Very old. The Ravenna Cosmography, compiled c700 AD from Roman material 300 years older, lists a route running westward into Cornwall. On this route is a place then called Durocornovio (Latinised from British Celtic duno-Cornouio-n – “fortress of the Cornish”). This has been identified as Tintagel (long before Earl Richard built his castle there) and in the Cornish of today would be rendered as Dyn Kernowyon. In 878, the drowned king Donyarth is recorded in Welsh annals as rex Cerniu, and you will find the present spelling – Kernow – as early as 1400. Remember that there was no such entity as England until just before the year 900 when it first appears on record (as Englaland). So the invading Romans did not occupy England, as too many TV presenters state – how could they, unless they had a time machine that could jump 850 years into their future?
What about Cornwall’s much-vaunted Parliament? Surely that’s just a joke?
Far from it. Even in King John’s day, Cornwall’s Stannary Parliament was believed to stretch back into antiquity – no one knows how far back it goes. After Cornwall’s brief war with England in 1497, part of the cause of which was due to the English king suspending the Stannaries, Henry VII relented and in 1508 restored it under the Charter of Pardon (for a price – the greedy king demanded and got £1,000). This gave the Stannary Parliament additional powers, still valid to this day. The Stannary has power of veto over any Statute or Act of Parliament. People think that the Stannary Parliament applied only to tinners but the terms of the Charter include the words, “their heirs and successors”. You don’t have to be a tinner to be an heir or successor. The terms of the Charter apply to the entire Cornish people.
Yes, but 1508 was a long time ago.
Sure it was, but there are extant English laws that date back even further. In 1977, in answer to a question from Plaid Cymru, the then Attorney General, Lord Elwyn Jones, confirmed that the powers of the Stannary remained intact at law. At a later date the Hansard Library also confirmed that the Charter of Pardon can only be repealed by the Cornish people themselves (as contrasted with “the people of Cornwall”).
That’s not very democratic.
Depends on how you look at it. The Charter of Pardon was meant for the Cornish people alone. I don’t see that it’s any different from the present situation in Andorra where Andorrans only make up about 40% of the population but only they are allowed to vote in its elections.
So why haven’t we got that Parliament and its right of veto?
Because the establishment in London doesn’t want it. In fact, it took only 41 years for London to trample all over the Charter with the forcible imposition of their state religion and language. It is not often mentioned that this contempt for the Charter and the Cornish people was a major reason for the war in 1549 (not ‘rebellion’ – you can only rebel against a legitimate authority). The attitude persists to this day. During that war, the Cornish took Plymouth without a shot being fired, then laid siege to Exeter for 5 weeks. We fought five of the biggest and bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil. Thousands died, including 900 unarmed Cornish prisoners (figure from Edward VI’s own chronicler, John Hayward), and yet ‘English’ Heritage refuses to recognise the battle sites and enter them on the Register of British Battlefields. For that organisation, as it told visitors to Restormel Castle 6 years ago, there was no war – just “wicked rebels” opposing a “good king”. Sadly, we came second but I still think that our general, Sir Humphrey Arundell, should be placed alongside Josef an Gof as the greatest of our heroes.
What about the Duchy? Is it true that it is just a collection of private estates?
That’s what we are told and Duchy representatives have been very liberal with the truth in that respect. The real and lasting truth lies in the successful submission by the Duchy’s Attorney General, Sir George Harrison, in the late 1850s in a spat with the Crown over the latter’s greedy attempt to land-grab Cornwall’s foreshore. Harrison’s submission stated plain fact, describing Cornwall as a Palatine state that had always been held apart from England and that the entire jurisdiction of the Crown within Cornish borders was held by the Duke. In other words – and uniquely in Britain – the reigning monarch’s writ does not extend to Cornwall. Here, the Duke is the ruler. This is why Henry VIII listed England and Cornwall separately in the list of his realms given in his coronation address. He ruled England as King, and Cornwall as Duke. In fact, the title Duke of Cornwall is vastly senior to that of Prince of Wales. As Duke, the incumbent is a ruling sovereign; as Prince of Wales he is merely a figurehead. Under Duchy Charters, the Duke appoints the Sherriff: elsewhere in Britain, including Wales, this appointment is made by the monarch. Harrison also pointed out that, irrespective of external land holdings, the Duchy covered the entire area of Cornwall – including the bed and waters of the Tamar. This confirms the ancient boundary fixed by Aethelstan 900 years previously as, indeed, does the Tamar Bridge Act 1998 that also confirms the power of the Duke. This truth has not been altered since by change or amendment of any Act. It can be tested. If you die intestate on Cornish soil, your estate will pass to the Duchy. The entire foreshore of Cornwall belongs to the Duchy. If a sturgeon is caught in Cornish waters, it must be offered to the Duke, who also enjoys right of wreck in Cornish waters. All four examples are unique in Great Britain – elsewhere these are rights of the Crown – and I must mention one other stipulation of the Duchy Creation Charter that remains law today: no agent of the Crown can even set foot on Cornish soil to carry out Crown duties unless with the express permission of both the Duke and the Cornish parliament.
Whoops – that opens a can of worms!
Yes, doesn’t it just. It explains exactly why Cornwall’s rights have been deliberately ignored for 450 years, and why the ongoing stream of official untruths. Just look at the organisations that operate in Cornwall in direct breach of the Duchy Charters: HM Inspector of Taxes, the Crown Prosecution Service, Crown Courts and even the quangos created by recent governments: English Heritage, English Nature, English Estates. The Government, acting in the name of the Crown, does not allow Cornish children to be taught their own heritage. It even teaches them they are “English” and there have been recent complaints against teaching staff who have punished or humiliated Cornish children for insisting upon their true Cornish identity. London would be the first to condemn any other nation that was treating a legitimate minority in this way – and this situation has only been achieved, ever since 1549, by the exertion of “might is right”. One day, this may well be challenged, perhaps in Europe or to another international court – up to now, Cornwall hasn’t had the money to do it – and the London establishment can never win such a case. The evidence against it is overwhelming. Westminster has operated in complete contempt of its own law for ages and to undo what it has done will create utter chaos – but whose fault is that? Not ours.
Craig Weatherhill
http://www.cornwallinformation.co.uk/news/?p=3133
By admin | July 9, 2011
Cornwall, not England
A great many arguments and counter-arguments have raged regarding the true status of Cornwall. A status that is certainly unique within Great Britain. Why is it unique?
Nigel Pengelly asks historian Craig Weatherhill what is the real and verifiable truth that lies behind Cornwall’s claims?
Is it true that Cornwall was a kingdom?
Absolutely true, and accepted by all historians. Originally it was part of the kingdom of Dumnonia that may well predate the Roman occupation. This covered the whole of the south-western peninsula as far as a north-south line linking the Rivers Axe and Parrott. The advance of the Wessex Saxons caused the border to retreat westward until, by the 8th century only Cornwall was left. It must be remembered, though, that even then and until the 10th century, Cornwall extended to the Exe.
Do we know anything about the kings?
Some of them, although details of most are scanty at best. Fragments of a king-list survive, naming those who reigned from about 450 AD to around 650 AD and who would have been associated with the royal citadel at Tintagel, roughly dated to 450-700 AD. The earliest of these was Gurvor, then Tudwal. His successor was Cynvor, who flourished in the early to mid-6th century. Could he be the Cunomorus named on Fowey’s Tristan Stone (Cunomorus is a Latinised form of the Celtic name Cynvor), the lettering of which is dated to 530-570 AD? Could he also be the man mentioned in the 9th century Breton monk Wrmonoc’s Life of St Paul Aurelian as the king Quonomorius, also called Marcus? Was he, therefore, the famous King Mark of Cornwall?
The next king, Constantine, was king when the monk Gildas wrote around 540 AD. He castigated five contemporary British (Celtic) kings and called Constantine: “the tyrannical whelp of the unclean lioness of Dumnonia”. Welsh records refer to him as Custennin Gorneu (“of Cornwall” – an early reference to the native name Kernow). He is said to have abdicated when elderly and gone into the Church. He was succeeded by Erbin, another name which crops up in Welsh tradition as does the name of the next king,
Gerent I.
He might have been the Gerent rac Deheu (“Gerent for the south”) who fought against the English at Catraeth (Catterick, Yorkshire) in 598. The next king was Cado, remembered by Geoffrey of Monmouth as Cador of Cornwall. After him come Peredur and Theudu.
The king list fizzles out at this point but we know of Gerent II, possibly Theudu’s successor. In 705, the Synod of Wessex wrote to “Gerontius Rex”, demanding that the Celtic (Columban) Church in Cornwall conform to the doctrines of Rome. That demand was never fufilled.
After Gerent II is a huge gap of 170 years before we find records of another Cornish king, Donyarth, recorded by the Annales Cambriae as having drowned in 878 AD. The Annales refer to him as “rex Cerniu” (“king of Cornwall”). Fifty years later, we find another one, Huwal, called by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles “king of the West Welsh”, a term exclusively used to describe the British Celts of Dumnonia and Cornwall (this was not Hywel Dda of South Wales). He was one of several kings who signed a treaty with Aethelstan of Wessex in 928 at Egmont Bridge, following which (and after he’d forced the Cornish from Exeter), Aethelstan fixed the border between Cornwall and Wessex at the east bank of the Tamar – exactly where it remains today in constitutional law (in spite of the unlawful alterations to it by the Boundary Commission and the Ordnance Survey).
So, was Huwal the last Cornish king?
We don’t know, but it appears that at the time of the Norman Conquest a man named Cadoc, described as the last of the Cornish royal line, became the first Earl. After him, the Norman authorities cleverly appointed Celtic-speaking Bretons to the Earldom; men like Count Brian, Robert of Mortain and Count Alan. There are indications that, under this system, the Cornish regarded the Normans as allies.
Are you saying that Cornwall was not conquered by the English and absorbed into Wessex?
No, it wasn’t. If it had been, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles would not have failed to shout it. Instead, there’s not a word, not in any record and the fact that some “historians” assume – even insist upon – its conquest by, and inclusion in, Wessex reflects rather badly upon their own integrity. Cornwall’s continued independence is strongly supported by the fact that it has enjoyed special status, as Earldom and Duchy, ever since.
So, you don’t believe that Cornwall is part of England
No, and for many reasons. First of all, Cornwall was portrayed on numerous maps, including the famous Mappa Mundi, as separate from England right up until the mid 16th century. Henry VIII even listed England and Cornwall separately in the list of his realms given in his coronation address and, interestingly, Elizabeth I stated that she did not rule Cornwall (but Cornish was among the languages she was reputed to speak). 1549 changed many things. No longer do we find Anglia et Cornubia in official documents; the British Sea suddenly became the English Channel and Cornwall as a separate entity was omitted from the maps. No record exists of any formal annexation of Cornwall to England, nor were we party to the Act of Union in 1707. More reasons will crop up later.
So the Cornish people are not English?
No, they can be no more English than the Welsh are, and for precisely the same reason. Modern archaeology now admits that the Cornish and Welsh of today are the remnants of an ancient race native to these islands since at least the Neolithic period, between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago. They also now believe that the Celtic language came into being during that same period as a common language of sea trading communities along the Atlantic coasts of Europe from Spain to the Hebrides. Cornish is a direct descendant of that early language. All in all, a heritage to be truly proud of even though officialdom seeks to erase it by dubbing monuments of those periods “English” Heritage. The English peoples, on the other hand, hail from what is now Germany and the Low Countries and did not begin to migrate into Britain until the mid 5th century AD. They had little or no contact with Cornwall until the 8th century. In 1937, Bartholomew published a Map of European Ethnicity prepared by the Edinburgh Institute of Geography which featured “Cornish Celtic”.
I note that you never refer to Cornwall as a “county”.
It’s officially a Duchy and that’s the title recommended by the Kilbrandon Report back in 1973 to be used instead of “county”. The imposition of official county status imposed on Cornwall in 1889 (a year after the rest of the country) was not lawful. Interestingly, the Duchy Charters and other documents refer to the old Cornish Hundreds as “shires” and “counties”. Now, how can any county contain counties?
The name Kernow, you say, is old?
Very old. The Ravenna Cosmography, compiled c700 AD from Roman material 300 years older, lists a route running westward into Cornwall. On this route is a place then called Durocornovio (Latinised from British Celtic duno-Cornouio-n – “fortress of the Cornish”). This has been identified as Tintagel (long before Earl Richard built his castle there) and in the Cornish of today would be rendered as Dyn Kernowyon. In 878, the drowned king Donyarth is recorded in Welsh annals as rex Cerniu, and you will find the present spelling – Kernow – as early as 1400. Remember that there was no such entity as England until just before the year 900 when it first appears on record (as Englaland). So the invading Romans did not occupy England, as too many TV presenters state – how could they, unless they had a time machine that could jump 850 years into their future?
What about Cornwall’s much-vaunted Parliament? Surely that’s just a joke?
Far from it. Even in King John’s day, Cornwall’s Stannary Parliament was believed to stretch back into antiquity – no one knows how far back it goes. After Cornwall’s brief war with England in 1497, part of the cause of which was due to the English king suspending the Stannaries, Henry VII relented and in 1508 restored it under the Charter of Pardon (for a price – the greedy king demanded and got £1,000). This gave the Stannary Parliament additional powers, still valid to this day. The Stannary has power of veto over any Statute or Act of Parliament. People think that the Stannary Parliament applied only to tinners but the terms of the Charter include the words, “their heirs and successors”. You don’t have to be a tinner to be an heir or successor. The terms of the Charter apply to the entire Cornish people.
Yes, but 1508 was a long time ago.
Sure it was, but there are extant English laws that date back even further. In 1977, in answer to a question from Plaid Cymru, the then Attorney General, Lord Elwyn Jones, confirmed that the powers of the Stannary remained intact at law. At a later date the Hansard Library also confirmed that the Charter of Pardon can only be repealed by the Cornish people themselves (as contrasted with “the people of Cornwall”).
That’s not very democratic.
Depends on how you look at it. The Charter of Pardon was meant for the Cornish people alone. I don’t see that it’s any different from the present situation in Andorra where Andorrans only make up about 40% of the population but only they are allowed to vote in its elections.
So why haven’t we got that Parliament and its right of veto?
Because the establishment in London doesn’t want it. In fact, it took only 41 years for London to trample all over the Charter with the forcible imposition of their state religion and language. It is not often mentioned that this contempt for the Charter and the Cornish people was a major reason for the war in 1549 (not ‘rebellion’ – you can only rebel against a legitimate authority). The attitude persists to this day. During that war, the Cornish took Plymouth without a shot being fired, then laid siege to Exeter for 5 weeks. We fought five of the biggest and bloodiest battles ever fought on British soil. Thousands died, including 900 unarmed Cornish prisoners (figure from Edward VI’s own chronicler, John Hayward), and yet ‘English’ Heritage refuses to recognise the battle sites and enter them on the Register of British Battlefields. For that organisation, as it told visitors to Restormel Castle 6 years ago, there was no war – just “wicked rebels” opposing a “good king”. Sadly, we came second but I still think that our general, Sir Humphrey Arundell, should be placed alongside Josef an Gof as the greatest of our heroes.
What about the Duchy? Is it true that it is just a collection of private estates?
That’s what we are told and Duchy representatives have been very liberal with the truth in that respect. The real and lasting truth lies in the successful submission by the Duchy’s Attorney General, Sir George Harrison, in the late 1850s in a spat with the Crown over the latter’s greedy attempt to land-grab Cornwall’s foreshore. Harrison’s submission stated plain fact, describing Cornwall as a Palatine state that had always been held apart from England and that the entire jurisdiction of the Crown within Cornish borders was held by the Duke. In other words – and uniquely in Britain – the reigning monarch’s writ does not extend to Cornwall. Here, the Duke is the ruler. This is why Henry VIII listed England and Cornwall separately in the list of his realms given in his coronation address. He ruled England as King, and Cornwall as Duke. In fact, the title Duke of Cornwall is vastly senior to that of Prince of Wales. As Duke, the incumbent is a ruling sovereign; as Prince of Wales he is merely a figurehead. Under Duchy Charters, the Duke appoints the Sherriff: elsewhere in Britain, including Wales, this appointment is made by the monarch. Harrison also pointed out that, irrespective of external land holdings, the Duchy covered the entire area of Cornwall – including the bed and waters of the Tamar. This confirms the ancient boundary fixed by Aethelstan 900 years previously as, indeed, does the Tamar Bridge Act 1998 that also confirms the power of the Duke. This truth has not been altered since by change or amendment of any Act. It can be tested. If you die intestate on Cornish soil, your estate will pass to the Duchy. The entire foreshore of Cornwall belongs to the Duchy. If a sturgeon is caught in Cornish waters, it must be offered to the Duke, who also enjoys right of wreck in Cornish waters. All four examples are unique in Great Britain – elsewhere these are rights of the Crown – and I must mention one other stipulation of the Duchy Creation Charter that remains law today: no agent of the Crown can even set foot on Cornish soil to carry out Crown duties unless with the express permission of both the Duke and the Cornish parliament.
Whoops – that opens a can of worms!
Yes, doesn’t it just. It explains exactly why Cornwall’s rights have been deliberately ignored for 450 years, and why the ongoing stream of official untruths. Just look at the organisations that operate in Cornwall in direct breach of the Duchy Charters: HM Inspector of Taxes, the Crown Prosecution Service, Crown Courts and even the quangos created by recent governments: English Heritage, English Nature, English Estates. The Government, acting in the name of the Crown, does not allow Cornish children to be taught their own heritage. It even teaches them they are “English” and there have been recent complaints against teaching staff who have punished or humiliated Cornish children for insisting upon their true Cornish identity. London would be the first to condemn any other nation that was treating a legitimate minority in this way – and this situation has only been achieved, ever since 1549, by the exertion of “might is right”. One day, this may well be challenged, perhaps in Europe or to another international court – up to now, Cornwall hasn’t had the money to do it – and the London establishment can never win such a case. The evidence against it is overwhelming. Westminster has operated in complete contempt of its own law for ages and to undo what it has done will create utter chaos – but whose fault is that? Not ours.
Craig Weatherhill
http://www.cornwallinformation.co.uk/news/?p=3133
SSFP is an Internet project for education and republican unity
The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project
website displays the following message of recent:
About The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project
The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project is an Internet project that supports a Scottish Workers Republic and believes in political activity to encourage change in Scottish society.
This means that due to lack of interest at local and national level it has not been possible to set up a branch or create political activity. Instead the website and Yahoo and google group will continue as a forum for discussion and think tank. It is simply operating as an Internet project giving support to the activist organisation namely Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM) http://scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org
Internet projects have been tried before like the defunct Scottish Resistance website that generated some interest on the web a while ago.
Instead of promoting rivalry the SSFP is an educational project and vehicle on the Internet, to encourage political activity for the SRSM and Scottish Independence Movement.
It is simply my think tank and that grouping has some supporters for Scottish Republican Socialist thought and discussion.
The SSFG Discussion Yahoo Group promotes ideas for independence and socialism while publicising Scottish Events such as those organised by SRSM.
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/scotsocialistfreedom
My weblogs also act as a vehicle for supporting political activity of a Republican Socialist nature.
Through this weblog I urge republican unity and support for the SRSM at all times.
I would like to thank SRSM for linking to here and Scottish Republican Socialist News project http://redstar.webnode.com
In this statement I make I will continue to lend support and encourage membership of SRSM to build for the future regarding independence and a Scottish Workers Republic.
Suas Le Alba!
Larry
SSFP project
http://scottishsocfree.blogspot.com
website displays the following message of recent:
About The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project
The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project is an Internet project that supports a Scottish Workers Republic and believes in political activity to encourage change in Scottish society.
This means that due to lack of interest at local and national level it has not been possible to set up a branch or create political activity. Instead the website and Yahoo and google group will continue as a forum for discussion and think tank. It is simply operating as an Internet project giving support to the activist organisation namely Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM) http://scottishrepublicansocialistmovement.org
Internet projects have been tried before like the defunct Scottish Resistance website that generated some interest on the web a while ago.
Instead of promoting rivalry the SSFP is an educational project and vehicle on the Internet, to encourage political activity for the SRSM and Scottish Independence Movement.
It is simply my think tank and that grouping has some supporters for Scottish Republican Socialist thought and discussion.
The SSFG Discussion Yahoo Group promotes ideas for independence and socialism while publicising Scottish Events such as those organised by SRSM.
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/scotsocialistfreedom
My weblogs also act as a vehicle for supporting political activity of a Republican Socialist nature.
Through this weblog I urge republican unity and support for the SRSM at all times.
I would like to thank SRSM for linking to here and Scottish Republican Socialist News project http://redstar.webnode.com
In this statement I make I will continue to lend support and encourage membership of SRSM to build for the future regarding independence and a Scottish Workers Republic.
Suas Le Alba!
Larry
SSFP project
http://scottishsocfree.blogspot.com
SRSM links to Republican Socialist weblogs
This website welcomes the addition of Scottish Republic and Scottish Rebel weblogs as links to the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement website.
The SRSM have for years flown the banner of John MacLean and Republican Socialism in Scotland. The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project (SSFP) was created as an Internet educational organisation to publicise the cause of Scottish Republican Socialism. The SSFP urge all Republican Socialists to work with the SRSM and attend SRSM organised events.
Statement from Larry
ENDS
The SRSM have for years flown the banner of John MacLean and Republican Socialism in Scotland. The Scottish Socialist Freedom Project (SSFP) was created as an Internet educational organisation to publicise the cause of Scottish Republican Socialism. The SSFP urge all Republican Socialists to work with the SRSM and attend SRSM organised events.
Statement from Larry
ENDS
Scottish Republican Socialist Newsletter
http://dawnofliberation.blogspot.com
Scottish Republic has a new look
If you have had a visit to my weblog before you will have noticed Scottish Republic has a new template design. I have also rearranged the page features adding my twitter,facebook, myspace and bebo profile page on Internet Links near the top of the page. I have also renamed one of my weblogs to The Scottish Rebel. And I have added it to my list of recommended weblogs. I will be still posting here often because Scottish Republic is my main blog while The Scottish Rebel is like my personal diary but still worth checking out. So I will still spreading my message of republican socialism on the Net so I have only changed the design feature of the weblog.
Larry
http://www.scotsrepublic.com
Larry
http://www.scotsrepublic.com
: dotSCO Scottish Government E-Petition
Hi,
Help the dotSCO campaign and sign the Scottish government e-petition on lead up to the .sco application process;
http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/view_petition.asp?PetitionID=216
We need as many signatures as possible to help get support from the
Government.
Thank you!
The dotSCO Campaign
http://www.dotsco.org/
Sign the e-petition today and help give the dotSCO campaign a massive
boost!
http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/view_petition.asp?PetitionID=216
Petition for an independence referendum
Sign the 'Let Scotland Decide' petition for a referendum on Scottish independence: |  |
