THE G7 in Cornwall will be remembered for many things, whether it is the “many serious matters” US president Joe Biden told a Catholic priest, or the “Covid-secure barbecue” world leaders had on their last night in the normally sleepy south-west corner of England.
However, it has also given an apparent boost to Cornish independence, and the Cornish rights group Kernow Matters To Us, who described it as “possibly the most successful displays of Cornish identity thus far”.
The group was formed in 2015 to “proclaim and celebrate Cornish culture and support the “Cornish National minority”.
They said their presence during the G7 “drew positive support from the wider public and even the police who waved and sounded their horns as they passed by”.
“The Cornish independence movement has been growing surely and steadily in recent years as the people of this ancient Celtic nation, once a Brythonic kingdom in its own right, seek the right to determine their own future,” they said.
“Meanwhile, increasing support for us from our cousins in Scotland and our brothers and sisters in Wales … and we have even entered into liaison with 'Yes' Groups in Brittany and have close links with the other Celtic Nations.”
They also have their own All Under One Banner group, AUOB Kernow – the ancient name for Cornwall.
Cornish journalist Rebecca Tidy said successive Westminster governments have abandoned coastal towns at the periphery of our supposedly United Kingdom for decades, and visiting city drug dealers had invested more cash in local enterprise than the politicians.
In an opinion piece for Bella Caledonia, she said all hands had been on deck for the arrival of global leaders to Carbis Bay, near St Ives.
“Cornwall Council – always keen to do Westminster’s bidding – has forcibly removed over 130 homeless people from St Ives B&Bs to make room for visiting G7 guests,” she said.
“And up the road in the seaside resort of Newquay, five vulnerable women were told to leave their emergency accommodation, so that English police officers had somewhere to stay during the summit preparations.
“A local woman with schizophrenia was left at the side of the road with her belongings in black bin liners, while another lady in her 50s is sleeping in her car as she refuses to drive the hour and a half across the border to England for the duration of the big event – she said she’s never left Cornwall before.”
Tidy said many locals had lost work because of the summit, as mini-bus and taxi drivers found it impossible to get in and out of town. Many had taken an extra week of unpaid annual leave.
The gathering was, she said, a “painful visual reminder” that the Cornish are frequently left on the outside, looking in at their wealthier English neighbours.
She said it was no surprise that Cornwall’s residents wre getting together to send a clear message to England’s politicians that they need their independence, and added: “Over the next week, there will be huge protests against both the G7 and Westminster’s ongoing desire to treat the Duchy as a playground for the elite, whether it’s global leaders or wealthy second home owners.
“The next month is sure to bring a seemingly endless stream of well-known politicians posing for the obligatory photo, whereby they thoughtlessly reduce our culture to a pasty or cream tea.
“But Cornish nationalists will be carrying banners, flying St Piran’s flags and spreading the word that there’s an alternative to English rule, with a future that doesn’t render us dependent on the scraps from the Westminster table.”
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