In a scenario resembling the Biblical account of David and Goliath, enigmatic Cornish activist, researcher, historian and author, John Angarrack, who enjoys cult status in the Duchy, is now, once again, preparing to lead a legal challenge to the UK government's failure to recognise the indigeneous Cornish people as a national minority of Great Britain.

In denying the Cornish this right and their inclusion in the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the Westminster Government are flying directly in the face not only of public opinion in the Duchy, but also against the recommendations of the Cornwall Council, the Commission for Racial Equality and the Council of Europe itself.

The right to be regarded as a National Minority has been accorded to Irish Travellers, Ulster Scots and many other groups. Thus far, the Cornish have been refused and the Westminster Government have thrown massive resources to block their attempts.

The Cornish people seek nothing more or nothing less than the same rights accorded to these people as well as to the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish, to name but a few.

There is now a groundswell of support for the proper teaching of Cornish issues in Cornish schools following pupils being expelled for declaring themselves Cornish and asking to know more of their own history, language and culture which has been hidden from successive generations down the years.

The feeling amongst many activists is that the real force behind the effort to secure proper recognition for the Cornish who are not English, their ancient Celtic language, their unique and distinctive non English history and their culture is in fact Prince Charles, who wields enormous power and influence in his Duchy. Charles retains to legal right to interfere with any proceedings in any Court, or indeed anywhere else, which may affect his considerable income derived from Cornwall. Media interference has occurred and court hearings manipulated.

Mr. Angarrack has made a previous attempt to challenge the Westminster Government and the matter progressed to the High Court. There, the government employed the best lawyers and eventually, Angarrack and the Cornish conceded defeat as they quite simply ran out of funds.

Cornish mistrust of the Duke has now spread to the Isles of Scilly where home owning islanders have begun to feel the force of Duke Charles and who are also mounting a challenge to him there over the issue of housing.

Angarrack, concurrent with the launch of his latest book 'Scat t' Larrups' which revealed the police and authoritarian state extant in the Duchy, has commissioned two websites recently.

The first reveals the true side of Duke Charles and his Cornish Duchy and the second now appeals to the public for pledges of cash to fund a second legal challenge to the Westminster (and perhaps Duke Charles) Government. With a target of £100,000, remarkably, the sum of £21,275 (as at 6th Sept. 2008) has already been pledged within a few weeks. This is astonishing bearing in mind that Cornwall has been assessed as one of the poorest areas within Europe let alone Britain with the majority of the population earning the minimum wage or less in the case of the 'black' tourist industry with its history of appalling working conditions and legal rights.

The back ground to the truth behind the Duchy of Cornwall can be found here:

http://duchyofcornwall.eu/

The Cornish Fighting Fund website can be found here:

http://www.cornishfightingfund.org/index.php

John Angarrack's books which are always best sellers can be found here:

http://johnangarrack.co.uk/

To read of the Cornish Scillonians' fight against Duke Charles:

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/homepagenews/Charles-like-feudal-baron-leases-say-islanders/article-304063-detail/article.html

For a bit of shameless self promotion her is a blog article I wrote for the politics blog OurKingdom.

Cornish to mount legal Challenge: http://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/ourkingdom-theme/philip-hosking/2008/09/12/cornish-to-mount-legal-challenge

Bras de fer en Cornouailles!: http://lapolitiqueduchacal.over-blog.com/article-22915489.html

La Cornouaille, désireuse d'obtenir au moins les mêmes droits que leurs voisins gallois (ou que les écossais) ont entamé une collecte de fonds destinée à poursuivre en justice le gouvernement britannique.

Les revendications de Cornouailles se rapprochent de celles des bretons à savoir droits culturels et éducatifs (pour l'apprentissage du cornique, langue qui a ressuscitée). Cette action s'appuie sur les traités internationaux et européens signés par le Royaume-Uni. Ces lanceurs d'alertes estiment que la négation de la Cornouailles entraîne une assimilation qui contraste singulièrement avec la diversité culturelle.

Site: Cornish Fighting Funds:
http://www.cornishfightingfund.org/index.php

interessant...

Ya gwir eo! Ret et deoc'h da stourm ouzh hor gouarnamant!

On a besoin de beaucoup de publicité et un peut de solidarité interceltique.

Les Cornouaillais défendent leur identité face à l'attitude assimilatrice des Anglais: http://www.eurominority.org/version/eng/reports-detail.asp?id_actualite=1364

KERNOW - 'FRAMEWORK CONVENTION' FIGHT GOES ON

The failure of a 'fighting fund' to reach its financial target, created
to take the British Government to court, has not deterred Cornish
campaigners from continuing in pursuit of their goal.

The Cornish Fighting Fund was launched in May 2008 with the aim of
reaching a £100000 target to take the British Government to court
over their refusal to include the Cornish under the terms of the Framework
Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCPNM). However
the fund closed last month having only raised just over £40000, but
organisers of the fund said that this amount was remarkable in itself
"…given the traditional low pay of Cornwall coupled with the lack
of publicity and the credit crunch". The organisers went on to argue
on their website that:

"It should also be said that no other minority cultural group has
matched this amount of community support - as in all other cases legal
recognition and rights have been acquired through legal action brought
about via direct or indirect government funding. Only the Cornish
have been left to fund their own case."

Despite a distinct lack of media attention about Cornwall's 'fighting
fund', several comments and reports about the campaign reached the
London based media and was written about in a positive way, including
in a widely read article in the Guardian newspaper by human rights
campaigner Peter Tatchell. Now the fighting fund campaigners have
been invited to meet with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission
(EHRC) tomorrow in London to discuss matters further. Even though
the meeting has been arranged ahead of the draft publication of the
3rd UK Compliance report to the Council of Europe to explain what
the UK Government has done to meet its obligations under the FCPNM,
campaigners don't expect much to come out of the meeting. One of the
Cornish campaigners who will be at the meeting, told the League:

"It's a positive step, but we are not optimistic."

Campaigners have resigned themselves to the fact that for the Cornish
to gain any official legal status and recognition for their cultural
and national identity within the UK, they are going to have to continue
fighting every step of the way.

The Celtic League has written to the EHRC ahead of the meeting tomorrow
to request its support in recommending the UK Government that the
Cornish are included under the terms of the FCPNM. The full text of
the letter can be found below:

"Regional Manager
Equality and Human Rights Commission

09/02/09

Dear Mr Sir

Inclusion of the Cornish under the Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities (FCPNM)

I am writing to you on behalf of the Celtic League and ahead of your
meeting tomorrow with campaigners from Cornwall about the inclusion
of the Cornish under the Framework Convention for the Protection of
National Minorities.

We are aware that the UK Government is due to publish its 3rd compliance
report to the Council of Europe over the next few months about the
progress that has been made under the terms of the FCPNM. As an international
human rights organisation, the Celtic League would like to urge you,
to seriously consider the case for recommending to the UK Government
that the Cornish national minority be included under the terms of
the Convention.

We realise that the Commission for Racial Equality - with whom the
League and our members communicated with on this very topic on numerous
occasions - argued that for the Cornish to be included or officially
'recognised' under the terms of the Convention, a case in UK civil
law needed to have been won successfully. However we now know that
this is false, because a number of ethnic groups that are protected
by the Convention have never brought a civil case to court. We therefore
hope that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), in its
new role, will be able to look more objectively at the Cornish case
and realise that the argument to include the Cornish national minority
under the FCPNM has a justified and solid basis.

As you will know, a 'Cornish Fighting Fund' was set up in May 2009,
in an attempt to raise £100 000 to take the UK Government to court
for dismissing the Cornish case for national minority status. Even
though only £40 000 was raised by the fund by its close in January
2009, it nevertheless demonstrates a massive commitment and strength
of feeling on the part of the Cornish community, to have their cultural
and ethnic identity officially recognised.

The Celtic League has stated (and restated) its commitment to the
recognition of the Cornish as a national minority at its annual general
meetings over the past few years and has unanimously agreed to resolutions
on this very topic. Enough time has lapsed since the UK Government
ratified the FCPNM without the recognition of the Cornish national
minority. We believe that with the support of the EHRC, we can rectify
this.

cc. Council of Europe, Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal
Affairs (DG-HL) Secretariat of the, Framework Convention for the Protection
of National Minorities

Related link on Celtic News at:

Yahoo! Groups

The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works
to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a
broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights
human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on
socio-economic issues.

Celtic League Homepage

celtic_league : Celtic League mailing list

A couple of interesting links here on the Cornish question.

The first from OurKingdom which seems to suggest the Cornish paradox is a tale of two sovereigns: Cornish Law | open Democracy News Analysis

Looks like our MPs and other independent experts are taking an interest in Cornwalls de jure constitutional position.

The second is a campaign for Cornish Devolution on a New Labour website: Campaign | Cornish Devolution