News from Kernow Matters (KMTU) - Japanese TV, Joseph Emidy, Boundary Bozos, Catalunya

Kernow

3rd October, 2017

Kernow Matters represented on Japanese TV 

Following an approach made by a Japanese TV company, a senior KMTU member, Craig, spent time in the company of popular Japanese media star and musician Narumi Yasuda and her production company. Following initial discussions with us, our Japanese guests came to Cornwall in order to find out more about Cornwall and the Cornish people, our beliefs, culture, ancient sites, mythology, legends and identity.

Site visits and filming occurred at Ballowell Barrow and Carn Gloose in Kernow's far west on a beautiful sunny day.

Craig said, "At Christmas when the programme is due to be screened, a nation of over 128 million people on the other side of the world will be aware that the Cornish are a very special people even if the other side of of our  island refuses to admit it. It was fun, half the time was spent laughing and joking, and we fitted the serious filming in between. The whole crew, bar one British guy, was Japanese, lovely people, a pleasure to work with. Soon, these people will know of the Cornish."

KMTU fields many enquiries from overseas with this being the latest. Down the past 12 months, letters have been sent to dozens of foreign embassies detailing the shoddy manner in which the Cornish and their language have been dealt with by the Westminster Government. This has created much interest and has flagged the reality of the Cornish situation. 

A photograph below shows Narumi Yasuda.

KMTU celebrates Black History month! 

Kernow a sav ryb an gwaskys, pub tu!

October 2017 is 'Black History' Month.

Politicians in the distant Westminster Parliament have been quick to dub the Cornish racists following the publicity surrounding the ancient ‘Darkie Days’ festival in Padstow which has its roots in pre Christian times.

What they will fail to know because they are so far removed from Cornwall and our traditions is that the Cornish people have walked the world and are amongst the most sincere and welcoming of nationalities.

This has always been the case of course, although those who make the place their home are sure to raise hackles by criticising what they find and by attempting to force their ways on an ancient and pre English and England people.

In terms of acceptance, let us take, for example, the case of Joseph Antonio Emidy, who lived from 1775 until 23 April 1835.

Joseph was a black West African-born musician who was enslaved in early life, before becoming a notable and celebrated violinist and composer in Cornwall.

Born in West Africa, he was captured as a child by Portuguese traders who took him to Brazil and later to Portugal. 

In Portugal, he became a virtuoso violinist in the Lisbon Opera. He was press-ganged by British Admiral Sir Edward Pellew during the Napoleonic wars and spent the next four years as a ship's fiddler.

In 1799, he was abandoned in Falmouth, Cornwall. Whilst there, Emidy earned his living as a violinist and a teacher. 

He was completely accepted by the Cornish people and went on to become the leader of the Truro Philharmonic Orchestra establishing himself as one of the most celebrated and influential musical figures in early 19th century Cornwall. 

He composed many works including concertos and a symphony but no known copies survive.

In 1802, he married Jane Hutchins, a local tradesman’s daughter and they had eight children. They moved to live in Truro around 1815.

He died in Truro, Cornwall, and his grave is in Kenwyn churchyard.

On 24 March 2007, during a service at Kenwyn Church to mark the 200th anniversary of the parliamentary abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire, the life of Emidy was featured and some typical pieces of music from his time were played in tribute.

Joseph Emidy is the subject of a brilliant play by Dr Alan M. Kent, the renowned Cornish writer and academic entitled ‘The Tin Violin’.

Living proof that we the Cornish are not as portrayed by London based politicians who know little of us and of what we believe.

We are now a National Minority ourselves having campaigned long and hard for the legal protections afforded by that. We have ourselves suffered horrific and threatening abuse and because of this, we continue to be aware of the needs of others.

Kernow a sav ryb an gwaskys, pub tu! - Cornwall stands with the oppressed, everywhere!

The official Joseph Emidy website: http://www.emidy.com/home

The story of Joseph Emidy has been circulated on KMTUs social media resources and thousands have read and asked, 'Why are we Cornish being denied our history?' A good question.

The pictures depict an early 19th century sketch of the Truro Philharmonic Orchestra with Joseph Antonio Emidy and the immaculate and well maintained gravestone of Joseph Emidy in Kenwyn Churchyard, Truro, Kernow

The questions the Boundary Commission still won’t answer

Cornish academic, Dr Bernard Deacon has been asking some questions of the silly and much despised Boundary Commission down from England who are intent on causing chaos with Kernow's internal Councillor wards and the numbers of our democratically elected Cornwall Councillors. Not that the Boundary Commission have much of a grasp of democracy of course. They aren't elected and they certainly aren't accountable.

Following Dr Deacon's letter to the Local Government Boundary Commission seeking clarification as to why Cornwall Council had been singled out for an unprecedented level of cuts in its democratic representation, he received this typically bland response, so typical of that produced by faceless quangos:

Thank you for your submission. It has been received and will be considered by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. We will let you know if and when a new phase of consultation for this review opens.

Accordingly, Dr Deacon has written again, repeating the questions which the Boundary Commission finds it so difficult to answer:

"I think you did not read my communication of the 27th September fully. Here it is again with the most relevant part in bold.

In relation to the above review, on your website I can find no justification for the proposed reduction of 29% in the level of democratic representation on Cornwall Council. In your letter of 13 June to the Council’s Chief Executive you merely assert that a council size of 87 is the ‘most appropriate’ but provide no rationale for this decision. Given its lack of precedent this is entirely unacceptable. Moreover, I can find no answer anywhere on your website to two key questions I posed in my original submission. I’ll restate them here.

a) Why is Cornwall being treated in such a manifestly different manner from Durham UA, the most comparable authority? in its review of Durham UA in 2012 the LGBCE concluded that 126 councillors would still be required in order to provide ‘efficient and convenient local government’. It then rejected local calls to reduce the Council’s size to 85 members. (Incidentally, this decision leaves the people of Durham, the population of which is 29,000 lower than Cornwall, with a councillor for every 4,125 inhabitants, a better level even that Cornwall’s current 4,467 and much superior to the one councillor per 6,315 being proposed by the Commission.)

b) Why is Cornwall being singled out for this unprecedented reduction in its level of democratic representation, one not seen previously anywhere in England?

Until a satisfactory response to these questions is received it would clearly be premature to discuss the technicalities of ward boundaries.Therefore I attach my previous submission about Council size, while awaiting explicit answers to the above two questions.

As you can see I would like some sort of response to these two questions from the Local Government Boundary Commission before submitting my views on ward boundaries.

I look forward to an early reply."

Needless to say, KMTU has written to the 'Boundary Boys' as well and received a similar response. 

We guess they don't want to cause too much disruption to their neat lines drawn across a map of Cornwall. It seems the 'Boundary Boys' are drawing on the example set by their historical heroes Messrs Mark Sykes and Francois Georges-Picot who also made a mess ignorantly drawing lines on imperial maps.

We do have one little word to add though: GERRYMANDERING!

Dr Bernard Deacon has a website here: https://psephologyfromtheperiphery.wordpress.com/2017/10/02/the-questions-the-boundary-commission-still-wont-answer/

The situation in Catalunya

It's been awful watching a state inflict its worst on people exercising their peaceful democratic rights.

One extremely well known and respected Cornish patriot has made the following observation:

Why can't the Spanish government ignore the referendum, blur the border, destroy the language, flood the country with people from the bigger country, kill off any native media and bury the country in a pseudo-region? It's worked with Cornwall.

A fair question really. 

Spain is a federalised state of course and has been since Franco's demise. Germany too is federalised as is Switzerland, Belgium and the like. 

The UK has its arm twisted over Scotland and Wales and really couldn't care if Eire reunited. This leaves poor old Kernow placed as it is under the jackboot of England's Westminster Parliament, outdated, corrupt, self serving cess pit that it is, where it is necessary for Cornwall Council to go cap in hand seeking permission of ephemeral nobodies for the most trivial of things down to amending speed limits on our roads. 

The Spanish autonomous regions would all be in open revolt at that sort of governance as would Germany's Lander, the Swiss Cantons and so on and rightly so. 

This all said, Madrid has probably done more that any Catalan independence seeker to advance the cause of full independence. It's almost a re-run of what happened when the British Empire fell apart (Look up the actions of one Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, British Army and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar) 

Hitting people over the head will not subdue them, it will unite them. That's why the UK Government cannot stand in the way of Scotland or Wales. 

Politicians really need to be reminded that sovereignty lays with the people not any of the centrally imposed laws. Imagine if everyone refused together to pay their taxes. What would a government do? 

Many cobbled together states have fallen apart these pass few years, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union, the Balkans, and there is every reason to see this continue , perhaps with the demise of the EU, Italy dividing and who knows, the UK falling apart. Time will tell as they say. But for sure, it won't be down to politicians to decide. It will be down to the people.

Kernow bys vyken!

John, Teresa, Craig, Tony, Matt, Mike, Clive, Ronan & Mark

Elected Members of the KMTU Steering Group