Cornish Milestones

Turbo Ride to which century?
6th	9th	10th	11th	14th	15th	17th	18th	19th	20th	21st

The misrepresentation of Cornwall as being 'in England' and the decisions arising from that misrepresentation wilfully denies the Cornish their rightful place within the geographical map of European, and World, nationalities. This is not the fault of the Cornish people themselves - perhaps some of them! - but the fault of a people-controlled inertia of 'English' Imperialism whether at an individual, group or organisational level.
The following 'milestones' illustrate a correct historical representation which has been denied to us and consequently perceptions of Cornwall vary dependent upon ones level of knowledge of 'Cornish' history.
The Cornish people have existed throughout recorded history as one of the indigenous national groups of Britain, Europe and the World. They have an inalienable right to control and promote their own existence both within their national territory of Cornwall and wherever they live throughout the World.
Because Cornish history has been repressed it has been necessary, at an individual level, to research what should have been placed before us within the process of formal 'Cornish' education? It is the responsibility, surely, of the State Government to respect these Rights and to provide the necessary protection to safeguard and promote these Rights. The Cornish, as one of the oldest - but unrecognised - European national groups should come within the scope of the Council of Europe's "Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities".
top	1919
A serious proposal by prof. Fawcett "Provinces of England " (1919/42/60) to submerge Cornwall within a "Devon Province" with Plymouth as the provincial capital. On reading the book there is no indication that he had considered Cornwall in any greater depth than entirely dismissive yet it is his proposals which were to shape external opinions of Cornwall as we shall see.
top	1946
Following the Abercrombie Report of 1943 which contained proposals for the rebuilding of the English city of Plymouth, the City Council made known its desires to expand into South East Cornwall. This proposal was fought and defeated by Cornwall 'county' Council under the determined leadership of Colonel Sir Edward Bolitho.
top	1967
Saw the beginnings of Fawcett's "Devon Province" with moves to fragment the relationship of the Cornish people to their historic territory by such repugnant mechanisms as the "Devon & Cornwall" entities and other non-Cornish mnemonic modes of identifying oneself, i.e. 'PL' postcodes, Plymouth telephone codes and many other mechanisms too numerous to mention here. The first exercise saw the demise of the Cornish Constabulary as the force merged with that of the English county of Devonshire as a "Devon & Cornwall" Constabulary and centred on Exeter with its inevitable need to consolidate its new identity. The corrosiveness of these policies from hell has imposed the degradation of such initials as DCLI (Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry) to that of the Devon and Cornwall Light Infantry - as stated on television and at least one tourist map. The use of English mnemonic postcodes for Cornish territory wilfully misrepresents the historical integrity of Cornwall and further coerces the Cornish people to identify with England.
top	1969
The Redcliffe Maud Report was another attempt to allow the English city of Plymouth to expand its boundaries into South East Cornwall. As was the case in 1946, this proposal also met with a concerted and successful campaign from Cornwall 'county' Council under the magnificent leadership of Alderman Kimberley Foster. The sitting Labour Government, however, accepted the Redcliffe Maud Proposals but was, fortunately, ousted by the Conservatives in the 1970 General Election and who, subsequently, rejected the Redcliffe Maud Proposal but initiated their own review which fortunately left the Tamar River unviolated. Plymouth City, however, continued in its efforts to establish a "Tamarside County" which involved expansion into South East Cornwall but the Cornish objection was overwhelming and the situation was restored to some form of normality by 1972
top	1973
The Report of the Kilbrandon Commission on the Constitution failed to accede to the Cornish call for regional status for Cornwall but is, interestingly, the only official body which has acknowledged the existence of the Duchy of Cornwall and recommended that greater use should be made of 'the Duchy' as a means to protecting Cornwall's territorial integrity so that its "traditional boundaries shall be respected".
top	1978
The 'English' Boundary Commission published proposals for the new European Parliamentary Constituencies. Despite an overwhelming objection by the people of Cornwall to the inclusion of the English city of Plymouth in the proposed Cornish European Parliamentary Constituency, the United Kingdom Parliament rubber-stamped the first overt and politically motivated denial of the Cornish - English National Border. In the House of Commons Debate(sic) on 4th December 1978, the Minister of State stated that 800 representations had been received and that :" Almost uniquely….. most of the representations…. approved of the proposals.... The greatest number of individual representations on one subject - that is, 200 - was against the inclusion of Plymouth in the Cornwall constituency. - [HON MEMBERS: "Hear, Hear"]" John Nott (MP for St Ives) contributed the following clarification: " The Minister said that about 200 objections had been lodged. But those 200 objections were mainly from organisations which, of course, embraced a multitude of individual views. Virtually every local authority in the country, the county council and the Members of Parliament, regardless of party, objected to the designation of a single constituency which would contain Plymouth and Cornwall together. Therefore, to suggest that there were only 200 objections understates the strength of feeling in Cornwall. A further breakdown was provided by David Penhaligon (MP for Truro): " The Minister referred to the protests from Cornwall but rather understates the opposition. But for the protests from Cornwall, there would have been no protests of any consequence. A total of 76 parish councils in Cornwall and 18 in England protested. I have been brought up to make that distinction. When I refer to England, I am usually referring to the area outside Cornwall. There were 75 personal protests from Cornwall and 128 from England. "
top	1983
A Public Inquiry into the Cornish Euro-Con - held, insultingly, in the English city of Plymouth - typically ignored the Right of the Duchy to have its own uncompromised representation in Europe and even changed the rules so that the Cornish count was to be declared in the English city of Plymouth!
top	1987
A notoriously contrived conference at Newquay was given the laudable title of "Cornwall - The Way Ahead" with the Duke of Cornwall as the star guest. The surprising(?) outcome was that the Duke of Cornwall proposed the formation of a Devon and Cornwall Development Company thus giving royal consent to a merger with the English county of Devonshire. The big question is, Did he fall, or was he pushed?
top	1988
A Public Inquiry at Bodmin, lasting two days, examined the continuing Cornish objection to the inclusion of the English city of Plymouth within the Cornish European Parliamentary Constituency. In order to establish a greater degree of marginalisation against the Cornish Dimension, the Inquiry also sought representations from the English county of Devonshire. When it came to the evidence submitted by 'The Campaign for a Cornish Constituency' this was considered by the Commissioner as being too long to read and to debate in public within the available time. He suggested that the submission would be considered in full during his deliberations but requested that he only refers to his selected items for the benefit of the public present. This suggestion was reluctantly accepted on behalf of the Campaign. What had not been anticipated, however, was that this effectively removed the full Campaign submission from the officially published documentation and, as a consequence, the final Report avoided public, and official, discussion on vital aspects of evidence. It was at the same time as this Public Inquiry that the main Opposition Party (Labour) outlined proposals to form what was to be an experimental 'Super-County' comprising - yes! you've guessed it! - "Devon and Cornwall".
top	1992
The mnemonic coup d'état of a "Westcountry Television" franchise and the coincidental "Voice of the Westcountry" focus for a certain daily newspaper provides a powerful Establishment tool to further fragment and weaken the Cornish people-territory relationship with their homeland.
top	1993
Cornish objection to the European Parliamentary Constituency situation still festers and another farcical round of 'consultation' takes place. On this occasion there is no public enquiry but the format was to place all submitted documentary evidence before the public at strategic locations such as District Council Offices. The 'Campaign for a Cornish Constituency' group, which had subsequently evolved into "Tyr-Gwyr-Gweryn", submitted its objection to the proposal and included its documentary evidence. This comprised a new Campaign Statement which included the Campaign submission of 1988 and the Critique of the Report from the 1988 Inquiry. When it came to the documents placed before the Public only a few loose pages of supplementary evidence were presented. Once again the 'English' Boundary Commission stands accused of wilfully prejudicing Cornish Rights.
top	1998
The United Kingdom Government ratified the Council of Europe's "Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities" on 15th January 1998, and which has inter alia the following considerations:-
Being resolved to protect within their respective territories the existence of national minorities;			Considering that the upheavals of European history have shown that the protection of national minorities is essential to stability, democratic security and peace in this continent;
Article 5 -
1.The Parties [the States] undertake to promote the conditions necessary for persons belonging to national minorities to maintain and develop their culture, and to preserve the essential elements of their identity, namely their religion, language, traditions and cultural heritage.			2.Without prejudice to measures taken in pursuance of their general integration policy, the Parties [the States] shall refrain from policies or practices aimed at assimilation of persons belonging to national minorities against their will and shall protect these persons from any action aimed at such assimilation.
Article 16 -
"The Parties [the States] shall refrain from measures which alter the proportions of the population in areas inhabited by persons belonging to national minorities and are aimed at restricting the rights and freedoms flowing from the principles enshrined in the present framework Convention.
The Cornish - albeit unrecognised - are a national minority both within the British State and now, seemingly, within their own territory and with many policies in place to deliberately exacerbate the situation!
top	1999
The year when the ultimate disenfranchisement of the Cornish people will be put into effect with the proportional representation method of allocating votes for the European Parliamentary Constituencies. This sees our Cornish national territory entirely subsumed within a political South West 'English' Region and the Cornish political party Mebyon Kernow forced to seek votes outside of the Duchy. The focus of the Public Inquiry for these proposals, in 1997, was even broader than before and the Inquiry was held in Taunton. Thus greater marginalisation of the Cornish Dimension was assured.
top	2000
As the 21st Century rapidly approaches, it is well to reflect upon the fact that the Cornish have been recorded as an indigenous and identifiable ethnic 'British' group - the Cornovii - since the 1st Century. Cornwall has its place in all the principal European languages, yet our nationality is consistently dismissed and denied by the English Establishment. Racial Equality is being extended with almost excessive positive discrimination to incoming ethnic groups to the United Kingdom whilst the Cornish are wilfully being socially, culturally, economically, politically and territorially destroyed - most noticeably during the past fifty years.

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