Greenlandic - Stronger After Independence?

I welcome Greenland's move towards independence. As a Welsh nationalist I'm also a Kurdish nationalist, a Tibetan nationalist as well as Breton, Basque ... and Greenlandic.

We're very different of course, but also there are many similarities. Whilst I hope for Greenland's independence and a thriving Greenlandic language I have once concern.

My concern is that having Danish as an official language has in many respects in recent years, strengthened Greenlandic. That is, once the tipping point was passed in the 1970s, Danish was never strong enough to kill off Greenlandic. The fact that native Inuit became bilingual with Danish strengthened their language rather than weaken it. Danish became just another language, another asset among many possible languages and language skills, the prime one being of course, English.

My fear is this; come independence Greenland will only have English as the second language as Danish will be discarded (as it was in Iceland following their independence in 1944). That could undermine Greenlandic in a way Danish never did as English becomes the only 'other' language. An all-powerful 'other' reality.

The danger for small languages like Welsh (and possibly Greenlandic) isn't that Welsh was conquered by another language (English) but it was conquered by only one language. It would have been a strength for the Welsh language if our people also spoke another language on top of English and Welsh - Spanish, French etc. The ability to communicate in more than two languages makes the weaker indigenous language stronger not weaker. Their language is evidently just one among many linguistic possibilities. When a weaker linguistic community becomes bilingual in just one other (stronger) language, then the indigenous language is always in the orbit of the stronger, always in its shade always as a comparison to it.

So, independence to Greenland. But for tactical as well as cultural plurality and diversity, don't give up on Danish!

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.

Labour Mess - Labour Trap

The present economic crisis seems to be a god-send to the Labour party. Never mind the fact that they're partly to blame for encouraging a culture of greed, irresponsibility and lacks government, Labour seem almost to gleefully welcome every new calamity on their watch. The same goes for Welsh Labour.

The big question is, is Plaid going to be caught out? Every thing put on the altar of schoolsandhospitals.

For every initiative which Plaid have brought to the table or have shown support for, especially ones based on the promotion of the Welsh language or an international Welsh identity - Welsh Federal College, Welsh Language Act, .cym, National English Language Theatre, Labour will turn around and say; 'hey, we'd love to see these happening, but er, you know guys, credit crunch and all that, we've got to support schoolsandhospitals.'

If Plaid aren't careful, come next year's conference or the 2011 election and they'll have nothing to show for. Not only will they have supported a Labour agenda they will have actively supported the shelving of their own agenda. By doing so, devo-sceptic Labour will have had what they want and will have denied what Plaid want... with Plaid paying through the loss of disillusioned voters. Of course, the Brit Olympics will still go on and be funded by Welsh tax-payers!

The credit crunch, Labour's credit crunch, will be used by the devosceptics to halt Wales's progress as a nation.

So-called Prince of Wales

Dafydd El's comments on the non-need of an Investiture for the (so-called) Prince of Wales is one of the most sensible and courageous things he's said in a while. The Investiture was used by George Thomas in 1969 to further his own ego and to keep Welsh identity in it's place i.e. subservient to the imperial centre.

However, Dafydd Elis Thomas's suggestion that people don't like 'stunts' or 'gimmicks' isn't quite true. Welsh people love a pageant and pomp - from the Gorsedd of the Bards at the Eisteddfod to a rugby international, the St David's Day annual parade or the recent Olympic celebrations outside the Senedd.

And if Welsh people can't release that need to celebrate, dress up, recognise nationality and other people's success within a Welsh context they'll look for it within an English or British one.

So, 'No' to another sycophantic, forelock tugging Investiture but 'Yes' to pageant and ceremony on Welsh terms, celebrating Welsh achievements. Being Welsh doesn't mean wearing woolsack.

New Government, New Language Act - Wales and Paraguay

It's not very often you see Wales and Paraguay in the same sentence. But it's interesting to notice that the new Government in Paraguay, the first non-Colorado Party Government in 60 years, has echos in Wales as we have our first non-Labour control in Wales in 60 years.

One of the priorities of the new government in Paraguay will be a Language Act in favour of Guarani. So, another indigenous, language which has been sidelined by a stronger one is fighting to gain prestige. Good also to see the trade unions call for this - pity the same hasn't happened in Wales over the years when Welsh had a similar percentage of speakers as Guarani.

Guarani am Byth!