A Discussion with Dickon! "CORNISHNESS!" Points numbered for easy cross-referencing and response

01. I think this is relevant but not necessarilly helpful.   (To explain the following,   I am a Cornishman who has chosen to live in Spain - where cultural and language differences are normal).   A friend introduced me to another friend who is from Euskadi (the Basque Country).   He is not a supporter of ETA but simply someone acutely aware of his "difference" and educated enough to know the history of his people. He asked me where I was from and I explained.   He said "Oh, England" and I explained,   "Not England but...."   Many hours later he asked me "Why are you not angry?"   How do you answer that?

02[01]. Nice to hear from you.   You raise some interesting points!   I would have been extremely interested in how you personally responded to the very questions that were being posed to you by the 'friend from Euskadi' but particularly intrigued by your response to the key question,   "Why are YOU not angry?" 03[01]. I am, personally, extremely angry as, indeed, are most people who are acutely aware of their Cornishness and, through self-education, know the history of their people.   Your observations of 'the friend' is, in fact, the key to answering your own question.   Awareness and knowledge provide the most powerful ingredients to generate confidence in oneself and one's people. 04[01]. It also allows people to recognise where domination and deception actively denies them access to a Cornish legitimacy. 05[01]. I shall shortly be expanding on this site's analysis of Cornish genocide which will give some indication of the methodology being used to destroy our Cornishness and, perhaps, some understanding of why there is, at the moment, no mass 'fire-in-the-belly' display of anger. 06[01]. A simple answer to your own question on how do you answer 'why are you not angry?' might conceivably be related to the fact that you have chosen to isolate yourself from the direct daily influences of our repression by the State. 07[01]. If the question was relating to the Cornish people as a whole, then the answer must be that the current situation within the Duchy is that the majority have a 'simple' awareness of being 'Cornish' but have been wilfully denied the confidence and consolidating influence of a 'Cornish' education and media. 08[01]. That is definitely a situation which will be reversed and retribution demanded. 09[01]. My own release of anger is the creation of this website, intended to inform people of what I see is being done to the Cornish people. 10[01]. If every Cornish person resolved to do something 'Cornish' every day then we would be on an accelerating train away from extinction.

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11. I came here once, made a remark which generated questions which I did not answer but which were answered by the lack of other remarks.

35[11] - Sorry but I do not understand what is being said or implied here!

57[35] - Perhaps I should first apologise for the "purpleness" of my prose; an almost impossible thing from someone who recommends Daphne du Maurier's "Vanishing Cornwall" as essential reading.

72[57] - This goes a long way to explaining your manic negativity about Cornwall.   Have you read 'The Making of Modern Cornwall'?

12. I am Cornish.   My family is of the Jacketts, the Reids and the Taylors (who were once called Talek).   I have the eyebrows for those who understand.   Now I live in a country where I can still buy fresh pilchards and grey mullet (currently, we have a bit of an argument about whether women are allowed to fish for them).   I live in a country where "Celtic Rock" music and the sound of the pipes get to number one in the pop charts:   where five different languages are recognised as "official":   where, thirty years ago, anybody speaking anything other than one of these languages would be thrown in jail;   where, forty-three years ago, miners' union leaders were castrated.   A country which, in spite of all the despotism, in spite of all the controls, retained its unique character;   retained its folk lore and kept its language.   It is called Valencia and it is the same as all the other regions (countries) of Spain.

36[12] - Everyone deserves their own solution to their pursuit of happiness

13. Cornwall lost its identity through snobbery (my family changed its name, voluntarily, so as not to appear too "peasant") and apathy.

37[13] - Whilst I can accept that 'apathy' is one of the main reasons for the parlous state of the Cornish nation, it would be naïve, in the extreme, to dwell only on 'the effect' but not to acknowledge the socio-politically imposed cause which produced it.   Whilst you will certainly not agree with me, I see your self-imposed exile, and the reasons given, as no different to that of your ancestors decision to change their name.   They chose, for example, to abandon their Cornish name.   You have chosen to abandon your country!

14. A Basque friend once asked me why I was not angry.   I answered "How can you be angry with a people who have voluntarily thrown it all away?   Yes, you can be angry with them but it is like being angry with a sheep for allowing itself to be slaughtered."

38[14] - I do not accept that our Cornish Legitimacy has been 'thrown away' voluntarily or otherwise.   That is much too simplistic an analysis of what has happened, and is still happening, within our country.   Your response sounded to me as if it were some weak form of self-justification for excusing yourself from the battle.   Did your Basque friend actually specify the focus of your anger as being against the Cornish people, as you imply, or did he mean against those who contrive to deny us our Cornish legitimacy?

15. Kernow exists only in the minds of mebion Kernow and long may it be so.

39[15] - That is simply a reflection of your own commitment to Cornwall and, fortunately, not shared by many people.  Many would like to see it disappear but there are those of us here who shall see to it that it does not.

16. Geographically, the lump of the British Isles at the far South West is part of the County of Devon and Cornwall because nobody, not even the Cornish, cares.

40[16] - Whilst you seem content to argue for the Imperial English Cause from the isolation of your distant ivory tower, I am more interested to hear about upon what grounds you make such assertions and what you feel should be done and who should do it?   I believe strongly in the saying that 'if you want something done well you should do it yourself'.   Much, much too easy to be critical from out of the target area.  You say that you are Cornish but what are YOU doing about it?

58[40] - I do not live in an ivory tower.   I live in a country where, in spite of very serious deprivations, the culture and the language survive.   I choose to live here because my nationality, whatever I want to call it, matters less than who I am; because when I explain that "Cornish" is not "English", it is not worth even a raised eyebrow (once explained); because the things that my ancestors, the free-traders, used to import can be bought at sensible prices.

73[58] - Your choice of where you live has probably more to do with simple economics than matters of ethnicity.   To compare Cornwall to Valencia is as relevant as comparing one apple to ten pears when looking at any aspect of political geography or history.

59[40] - I do not live in Cornwall because it is English and I will not live in Cornwall while it remains so; that is to say, within my lifetime or to put it another way, ever.

74[59] - Your view and opinion of Cornwall is regrettable and is entirely superficial.   In point of fact, you should be celebrating the enduring character of the Cornish people at home who continually face a more insidious enemy than any other you could name within the Western World - or, apparently, cope with.   The following Table is a simple, approximate, comparison of our respective States and Nations and even without considering factors of political geography, Valencia must be considered to be in the same league as, say, Scotland rather than Cornwall.

Population Area (sq. Km) Density Spain a 40,000,000 506000 79 Valencia b 4,000,000 23300 172 b/a % 10.00% 4.60% 217% UK c 56,000,000 240883 232 Kernow d 500,000 3565 140 d/c % 0.89% 1.48% 60%

75[59] - It is inevitable that any country the size of Cornwall will reflect all the aspects and attributes of the English Imperial Dream of the 'Island of England'.   This is, in my opinion, equally true of all the minority nations of this State and one must make a judgement whether this is a simple perception of 'Englishness' or could equally be referred to as 'Britishness'.   As long as there is an under-running political culture within Cornwall against the English repression - as there most definitely is - the only ones who deny us our territorial integrity are 'the English' (and, consequently the ill-informed) and 'the Quislings'.

76[59] - The true Cornish do not have the luxury of selectivity in what they choose to believe in.   We are Cornish by virtue of having lived daily as 'the Cornish people' - taking both the good and bad that life offers us and working against almost impossible odds to keep ourselves on the map within a repressive Anglo-centric State.   You really have missed the point of this website completely - haven't you?   We are not 'convenience Cornish' living in some cosy Cornish cloud cuckoo land because it suits some inner personal agenda to elevate our ego and to hell with reality.   The bulk of the indigenous Cornish population is, I grant you, apathetic but they are still more Cornish than you, as a theoretical 'fair-weather' Cornishman could ever be.

60[40] - So, what do we do about it?

77[60] - Where did the 'we' come from?   I was under the impression that this discussion was a one to one.   Are you really qualified to speak for others?

61[40] - For a start, we do not dwell on the opinion of some Prussian who did not even speak English or indeed, some Norman who declared his son the first "Duke of Cornwall".

78[61] - You may wish, for some reason, to block out certain aspects of a history that has had very significant consequences for both the Cornish people and Cornwall but please do not stick your head in the sand regarding the only act which has allowed you the luxury to indulge your 'warped' view of Cornwall.

62[40] - We tell the people about their ancestors.

79[62] - This is very laudable you should start a website so that we at home can also be educated

63[40] - We generate a pride in the common (Cornish) man e.g. like Scottish engineers, Cornish miners are the most sought after in the whole world; the Cornish were trading with the known world before the rest of the British had climbed out of their caves; even now, people with Cornish ancestry are recognised as indispensable workers.

80[63] - I imagine that you must have some arbitrary cut-off point which somehow reflects your view of Cornwall.   Please define Cornish ancestry and at what point this becomes diluted out of personal consciousness both at home and abroad?

81[63] - What sort of attributes are carried forward within your genetic code and apparently resistant to all external pressures?

82[63] - This conjures up a magnificent picture of a work force of super-beings.   I wonder why it is then that in the Duchy we have such a job shortage and a fragmented economy?

17. As an aside, I recenty watched, on Spanish TV, the Richard Burton film of Tristram and Isolt.   In the last few months, it has been shown three times here.   How many times in the YUK.

41[17] - I assume that this was an American film about Tristan and Iseult?   I have never seen it so must pass on making any judgement as to whether that is a good or bad thing.

18. As an another aside.   Why do most of your contributors speak a language which is not even English?   Then again, I must admit to a pathological hatred of anything "American" which I regard as so Saxon as to be Essex.. (Just look at the manifest for the Mayflower).   We all know about Essex boys and girls, don't we?

42[18] - As long as the mode of communication is intelligible I have no problem with it.   I shall leave narrow stereotyping to others.

Follow-up email (re 11 to 18) prior to my response

19. I shall assume that, for technical reasons, you did not get my previous note. I would rather do that than think that only sycophantic messages get published and therefore I shall try again to provoke discussion.

34[19] - I did get your previous note but was unable to get around to replying to it before setting off for a festival in the Isle of Man.   Now that I have returned I shall be only too delighted -within the next week or so - to post both your emails with my replies on the website.   Keep watching this space. 43[19] - Having now re-read your emails I have noted a change in the tone of your latest replies [points 11 to 18 & 19 to 32] and must confess to being a bit suspicious of the purpose of this exchange and whether it is intent on being a bona fide discussion.   On the basis that it raises some valid points for discussion I shall respond accordingly without fear or favour and sincerely hope that I am not too sycophantic.

20. The state of being Cornish is equivalent to the state of being West Indian, Punjabi or "Chinese": it does not matter where you were born, what your passport says is your "nationality" or where you live. What is more, it certainly does not rely on whether Cornwall is administratively a Duchy or half of a county. Cornishness is a state of being; it is a Celtic state of mind.

44[20] - You have gone to great lengths to say that Cornwall no longer exists and that the people do not care and you have even abandoned whatever it is that does not exist so, please, let me know more about what it is that 'being Cornish' relies upon - this 'state of being'?   What is 'a Celtic state of mind'?

21. If you do not feel one with the sea or the land, if the old songs and the sound of the pipes and brass bands do not make you feel emotional, you are not Celtic and you are not Cornish. If you can look at a picture of Brown Willy, Hell's Mouth or Coverack without feeling a lump in your throat, if you cannot pronounce Penarworthal or Fowey, if you can't make a stargazy pie, you are not Cornish, If, on the other hand, you qualify on all of the above but were born in Nowhere, Idaho or Beyond, New South Wales and one of your great grandparents came from west of the Tamar, you have the blood, you are of the race, you are Cornish. you are one of the (estimated and at least) six million.

45[21] - I must confess to getting worried when I hear such comments as being 'at one with' this that or the other, or, the equally judgemental 'if …. then….' preconditions of identity.   We all have our own, quite valid, thoughts on identity and how this directs our lives and thinking.   Hopefully from a Cornish point of view these will, in the main, coincide and the ongoing decolonisation of Cornish history will enable the consolidation of a more focussed sense of Cornishness.

22. This page, welcome as it is, wastes a lot of space trying to prove that Cornwall is a Duchy etc. This matters not a jot. Cornwall was a country when the last true English (Saxon) king was killed at Senlac nearly one thousand years ago.

46[22] - Sorry you think that this page (?) - do you mean the site? - wastes a lot of space.   Perhaps from the loftiness of your particular pedestal you could suggest a better formula or plan of action to change political opinion within our country - which you say does not exist.   What, for instance, is the relevance of your own comment to the 21st century?

64[46] - Whatever you may think, I am not "knocking" your site (sorry about calling it a "page" - these days I don't speak much English).   I am merely criticising some (and only some) of its content.   The criticism is (I believe) honest and intended to inspire debate.   That said, if only you react, perhaps I have proved at least part of my argument.

83[64] - I have no problem at all with criticism whether constructive or otherwise.   I do, however, have a problem with an attempt to 'inspire debate' which does not respond specifically to points being raised - my reason for numbering the various paragraphs!

84[64] - With regard to the initial comments in para 22., the situation in Cornwall is directly arising from the repression of the Duchy of Cornwall constitution which is itself the only political accommodation which affirms the territorial legitimacy of Cornwall - the country, and the Cornish nation.   Without the Duchy Constitution your historical observation is consigned to the historical dustbin as an interesting but irrelevant fact.

85[64] - Whilst I had originally hoped that the site could become a sort of debating forum, it is clear that there is too much else to do to develop it.   There is already such a forum in existence but I do not appear to have its address .

65[46] - This is one of those few occasions when I would like to be proved wrong but I fear that I am right.   Kernow is a figment of the imagination of those who would call themselves mebion Kernow.   It has a history but now is no more.   Prove me wrong - please. Come back.

86[65] - Perhaps you should contact the Mebyon Kernow website and see what they have to say?   I can only say that your views are based on your own rather elevated view of something that you have never experienced.   I do not need to prove you right or wrong - you are wrong because you choose to hold a particularly narrow view on the matter!

23. Since then, England has been ruled by French, Welsh, Scots, Dutch and (to this day) Germans.

47[23] - Perhaps we should all just lie back and 'think of E...............urope'?

24. Who really gives a damn what a bunch of land grabbing foreigners and their equally avaricious administrators say?

48[24] - Those of us who have the resolve and commitment to do something about it and who live with their lies daily, give a damn.   For us 'ignorance is bliss' is just not good enough.

25. Cornwall was a country in the days of King Mark, Tristram and Isolt and remains so.

49[25] - Easy to say and to believe in but again, how would you convince 21st century man on the Camborne bus that this is not just some fanciful statement from a disgruntled eccentric and which still has relevance - particularly as to say 'remains so' contradicts your declared perception of Cornwall today?

26. The sad thing is that there is no plot to do away with the Cornish. Any conspiracy theory falls to the ground when faced with the awful truth.

50[26] - I would fundamentally disagree with you on this one and suggest that you revisit the pages on Cornish Genocide and in particular the page on Covert Coercion and see this within the context of the times.   Cornwall has lacked the particular strengths, through size, of her Celtic neighbours in defending herself against the ravages of the - still rife - inertia of English Imperialism but we have the truth on our side and we shall prevail.

27. Only the expatriates (with very few exceptions) keep the faith, have the pride.

51[27] - Having spent a period of 16 years as a Cornish exile in England and only lived for the day that I could return home - which I did 20 years ago - I find that comment quite arrogant and offensive.   The only way to be truly and sincerely Cornish is to live in Cornwall and to fight for our Cornish Legitimacy on the proverbial battlefield on a daily basis - devoid of woolly visions of some imagined Celtic utopia.   Whilst I could never claim to be in the frontline of action, I endeavour to do what is within my capability.  If what you say is true and not just so many more empty words, why are these five and a half million faithful and proud beings so silent in Cornwall's hour of need?   The territorial integrity of Cornwall must be the responsibility of all the Cornish people worldwide!

28. The language and the culture almost disappeared by default.

52[28] - This again does not acknowledge the pressures of the times during the decline of the language nor the sterling work done over the past hundred years to reverse the processes of Cornish genocide.   How would you have done things differently?

29. Families (mine included) "anglicised" their names and spoke only English so as not to appear "bucolic". The Furry Dance, the Obby Hos, Dozemary et al were laughed at as being only for tourists (we weren't allowed to call them emmets). Even the Cornish Pasty developed the short "a". To quote an old Jonie Mitchell song, "You don't know what you've got 'till it's gone, they paved paradise (in this case, Land's End) and put up a parking lot".

53[29] - You make it sound as if ALL Cornish families anglicised their names but this essentially only applied to those who particularly aspired to - and were able to aspire to - English values within a system where there were only two ways to go.   One assumes from the tone of your arguments that you would, at whatever time, have suddenly found the courage to organise and lead a revolution!

30. I went back to Cornwall about eight years ago but it wasn't there any more. Fortunately, it still exists in my memory even if most of that is stories told to me by my Grandfather (a black sheep if ever there was one). I imagine that this is the case for most true Cornish, wherever they are. None of this stops me being Cornish.

54[30] - Whilst I would say that Cornwall has changed dramatically over the past fifty years - and not for the better - I am convinced that it is still there.   You do not apply any time scale to any of your comment as to when you moved to Spain or at what point Cornwall suddenly ceased to exist yet you readily accept that there have been some significant changes in your adopted country.   It is always said that when you leave somewhere that you should never go back because you will rarely like what you see.   I think they call it progress?   Your immediate reaction is that it no longer exists.   The problem is that your thinking is locked into a time warp and you embroider your own dreams and visions based on some idealised and nostalgic concept of the past.

66[54] - Explanation - my family moved to London when I was a baby.   My first impressions of Cornwall were the stories of my grand parents and my mother (my father never having returned from Arnhem).

67[54] - My next impressions were when I visited my cousins in Falmouth during the late forties and fifties.   From the age of sixteen (1961) to twenty-three, I never once visited the "land of my fathers".   From then, for about seven or eight years, I visited as an emmet but always felt more "at home" than in London.   That is to say I feel more Cornish than Cockney, where I spent my formative years.

87[66 - 67] - I presume that your cousins are still around?   What do they think of your view on Cornwall and the Cornish people?   It seems to me that your formative years are ruling you - because, to me, you sound typically English.   Your early visits to, and safe nostalgic impressions of, Cornwall cannot compete with later impressions as a tourist with flawed preconceptions.

68[54] - I have met Boston Irish, New York Scots and Argentinian Welsh, not to mention South Australian Cornish and all of them, like me, have a pride in their roots.   We have not abandoned our country; we have taken our race to the four corners of the Earth.   To us, the Davey lamp is more significant than a memo from a Schleiswig-Holsteiner to a Saxe-Coberg-Gotha.   We don't care about the ruling classes, we are Cornish by blood.

88[68] - I do not accuse others of abandoning their country - only you!   Simply because of your arrogant assertion that Cornwall no longer exists.   Also I would say that it was dire circumstances that forced our people to the four corners of the earth and not some grand plan as you imply.

89[68] - If being Cornish by blood is your only test of who are Cornish then I must assume that you only promote that which can be shown only to originate from those who 'have the blood'?   I must also assume, therefore, that you have a definitive family tree for all those worthies and heroes lucky enough to have your admiration.   Where does that leave us poor souls unfortunate enough not to have left our country?

31. My big regret is that the lump of land west of the Tamar isn't any more.

55[31] - Good job the Cornish people do not think that!

69[55] - My feeling that Cornwall, as a proud race of people, is no longer "there" derives simply from that lack of pride of the people within the geographic limitations imposed by the Tamar and the sea.

90[69] - Why is it, do you think, that those of us who 'have the blood' and still live within 'the homeland' have a 'lack of pride' in being Cornish - in complete contrast to such as yourself?

91[69] - If as you suggest our land is no more, would that not place us precisely in the same position as 'true' ex-pats - pride and passion and all?

92[69] - In fact, would our position not be unique because we could do something positive about it rather than conjure up irrelevant dreams?

70[55] - Aside from a remark in the Kings Oak in Lostwithiel that the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary were "a strange lot", I detected nothing anywhere that was, in my admittedly warped view, Cornish even though an estate agent in Truro warned me that "the Cornish are a bit strange" (I am cursed with a London accent).

93[70] - It would be interesting to be enlightened as to what you would consider to be 'Cornish' within a State environment which exists within, and reflects, a global economy and mass sub-culture?

94[70] - Did you consciously try to get to know any Cornish people or were you just a very, very obvious fly on the wall?

95[70] - Did you acknowledge, for example, that the Cornish probably, if we're lucky, only make up about 40% of the population and not all of them would frequent the King's Oak?

96[70] - What did the estate agent say when you asked him what he meant?

32. PS. The Spanish language has its own words for England, Wales, Scotland, London, Edinburgh and Cornwall, no other British place names appear in the Spanish dictionary. Doesn't that tell you something?

56[32] - You are preaching to the converted but please do enlighten us?

71[56] - "Cornuallia -   a land at the extreme south west of Great Britain".   The word "pais" used in the definition literally means "land" but usually in the context of "country":   I live in el pais Valenciano which signifies an autonomous region within the state of Spain.   I understand from the news here that T.Blair is using the Spanish model for Scotland and Wales but that may be just local "hype".

97[71] - I live in 'the Duchy of Cornwall' which defines a petty kingdom - a land, country by any other definition.   We are, however, being coerced by the State to dwell within an English administrative county.   How would you get us out of this one - in the real world?

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