Greenland Now - Green Green Grass of Home Next?

OK, sorry, very bad title, but in any case, congratulations to Greenland for voting so overwhelmingly to transfer more powers from Copenhagen to Nuuk.

They're now well on their way to independence and even have a timescale for it - 2030 - 300 years since they were incorporated into the Kingdom of Denmark.

Now, if Greenland, a nation of 57,000 people, speaking what many of our fellow-country men would probably call 'a silly language which nobody speaks', has the confidence to have more power, what the hell is stopping Wales?

Are Welsh Labour AMs so weak that they won't even come out fighting for the One Wales 'Yes' Vote - which will give Wales less power than Greenland? Heaven bless the Greenlanders that they don't have their own version of Welsh Labour MPs in Copenhagen begrudging and thwarting every move towards more power and self-respect.

Why doesn't Wales have a schedule for independence - lets say 2030 too? Although, after being patronising and smug towards Iceland, I don't see Gordon 'Brit Nat' Brown quite so smug now that it's obvious he, nor the UK, has any clothes. The present economic crisis in the West is the fall of our Berlin Wall. The old 'big' states; UK, Spain, Denmark can't defend us - why stay with them?

Greenland now, but keep an eye on the Faroe Islands, Flanders, the Basque Country (where Spain refused to allow them to hold a democratic free referendum on independence a few weeks ago) etc. The dominoes will fall and the tide of history is too strong for British nationalists like Brown.

BNP Members List

Not sure what to do about the leak of the BNP members list. After having New Labour members attack decent Welsh people as 'racists' and 'xenophobes' and hear Labour AMs demanding that Prof Dafydd Glyn Jones not to be allowed to speak at the Assembly in 2001, I'm not really impressed when I hear the same Labour people using this members list to their own advantage.

Labour's tactic of smearing everyone with the word 'racists' etc has only achieved in belittling the word and its actions - and that's a grave mistake.

I simply take no notice any more if I hear a politician or writer accuse someone of being racist. How do I know they are? Maybe they're just ordinary decent people who Labour have decided to hound like they did to Simon Glyn, Dafydd Glyn and anyone else with a name including Glyn... or who doesn't follow Labour's Thought Police.

In any case, now that some of the BNP's topics: controlling immigration, Gordon Brown's allegiance to the Union Jack, promoting the English language, controlling borders etc etc. are main-stream shouldn't we also see the leaked names of Labour members too? If truth be told, I think a lot of them have a close to racist view of the Welsh language! Maybe we should tar and feather them and make sure they can't have a job in the public service which may mean them dealing with Welsh speakers?

I don't support the BNP. I deplore their policies, and all forms of racism. I have stated on this blog from the beginning: "We completely oppose the racist and fascist views of the BNP. There is no room for their politics in Wales."

But, unlike the Labour, Tory and BNP I don't believe in the concept of a British nation. It's a political concept which has done more damage to Welsh identity, language, economy, wasted war dead and self-respect than any corner shop owner from Pakistan or Polish plumber. I want a tolerant, inclusive Welsh identity.

My guess is that the leak of the members names will actually benefit the BNP as people turn round and see 'people like us' who are members and think, 'oh, he's a nice enough chap, maybe the BNP isn't so bad'.

The BNP are a fringe group who scare Labour and Tories because they appeal to some of their core vote. Attacking the BNP also makes people feel good about themselves, because fighting fascism is so much more simple and heroic than explaining how we got into the economic mess we are today or which services will be cut - whoever is in government.

My view; this list shows that the BNP have less than 500 members throughout Wales. They are an irrelevance. Wales's problem isn't the BNP, it's the British state!

Star in full frothingly self-righteous Brit Nat mode

It is sad, but perhaps not all that surprising, to see Mohammed Tufail, Director of Race Equality First, lending his support to a particularly poisonous article by the Daily Star on Wednesday. The Star, in full frothingly self-righteous Brit Nat mode, had decided to scrape the dregs in a hate-filled attack on Ron Davies for having the temerity to suggest that some Welsh people prefer not to be called British.

Mohammed Tufail, in a soundbite which will have delighted the attack dogs at the Star, claimed that he had 'not come across any Welsh people who don't want to be referred to as British.' Surely Race Equality First can see that when their soundbites are being used to support vicious attacks against individuals who want to express their own identity, they are not doing a very good job of promoting the tolerance necessary for the equality agenda to succeed?

Well, here's a first for you, Mohammed - I'm a Welsh person who doesn't want to be referred to as British. Is that such a dreadful sin? Don't you want to see a fair society where individuals can be proud of their identity even if it's different to the majority of the population? When you say that you've not met any Welsh people who don't want to be referred to as British, it raises some interesting questions. Do you quiz every Welsh person you meet about how they want to be identified? Or do you think it is fair and reasonable for you to imply that people like me don't exist, shouldn't exist, and should shut up if we do happen to exist?

Perhaps, Mohammed, before you make sweeping pronouncements about the people of Wales, you should consider taking part in some of the social networks that are letting people express themselves more than ever before. How about opening an account with Facebook? If you do, you could join the group 'Welsh not British' - which has almost 3000 members. Or, like David Davies, you might find it safer, more British, more acceptable, to join the Welsh conservatives - they've only got 37 supporters as I write this, so they might be grateful for a few more!

Come on, Mohammed - have you got the personal integrity to answer some of these questions?

Dear reader - if you, like me, are a Welsh person who would rather not be referred to as British, why not let Mohammed Tufail know that you do, in fact, exist? You can find his email address on the Race Equality First website. But don't stoop to the level of the Daily Star - just let him know, politely, that you exist, and that you would be grateful if he would not deny your existence, deny your identity, and deny your right not to be targeted by the kind of hatred the Daily Star is so quick to promote.