A PEOPLE WITHOUT A STATE

Date of Report 1 May 2003
Translated 12 May 2003

STARBIENINO/KIEL: The parliament of a German Land (Province) is setting itself up as the advocate of ethnic opposition groups in several European states. This German agitation is focused (inter alia) on the Cornish "ethnic group" (Volksgruppe) in the South West of England. Click here for News: Cornish Movement joins Welsh Nationalists in NAZI based group and Nazi "Regions"

Working together with the "Foederalistische Union Europaeischer Volksgruppen" (Federal Union of European Ethnic Groups - FUEV) which operates from Flensburg , the provincial parliament of Schleswig Holstein will, in June, be staging a "seminar for autochthonous minority language groups". The seminar is aimed at ethnic opposition groups which - unlike, for example , the German minorities in Germany's neighbouring states - are alleged not to have a "cultural home state", so that the Parliament of Schleswig Holstein is making itself the spokesman for a mixed bag of aspirations for autonomy. Groups from Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania and Poland have been invited to attend.

"DICTATORIAL" OPPRESSION

The seminar, which the Parliament has moved to the "Kashubian University" in Starbienino (Poland), is the second of its kind to be held to date. At a similar event last year, the British government,in particular, was on the receiving end of accusations that it had suppressed an "ethnic group" in "a truly dictatorial manner".

"...OF THE CELTIC ROOTS"

These accusations originated from the Cornish, who term themselves an "ethnic group". They define themselves as such primarily by reference to their own language, a Celtic dialect spoken in the extreme South West of England until the nineteenth century, but which has been extinct for over 100 years. The Cornish language was reconstructed by separatists with an enthusiasm for languages, and today, a few hundred people feel themselves drawn to the language and derive from their use of it their identity as "Cornish Celts".

THE CORNISH ARE "ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS"

At last year's "Smaller Languages Seminar" in Sandelmark, German politicians played their part in drawing political conclusions from the alleged "oppression" of the Cornish, who, among other things, complain that their children learn nothing in British schools about their (invented) "Celtic roots", something they describe as the "continuing denial of basic rights to the Cornish people". In Sandelmark, this was described as the consequence of a failure to recognise them as an "independent ethnic group" whereas other "ethnic groups", it was mentioned by way of support for the Cornish, already had their own political parties and television stations. The Cornish were described, by way of comparison, as being "absolute beginners".

"GERMANY IS BETTER"

This ethnic agitation is funded from various sources, including the German Social Democrat and Green Parties, who form the government in Kiel.

SOURCES

"The Cornish in the South West of Great Britain" - speech by Nigel Hicks (member of the Cornish Stannary Parliament), 13 June 2002, to the seminar "Cultural Diversity and Identity in Europe - Conference of Ethnic Groups", organised by the FUEV, the Landtag of Schleswig-Holstein and the European Academy, Sandelmark; second semianr for authochthonous minority language groups, Starbienino, Poland, 10-11 June 2003, Kashubian University, Starbienino; FUEV press release No 19/2003