Thursday, January 19, 2012

The rise of independence in Europe


The Motherland
by


Is it just the Scots who want independence ? The simple answer to this is no. There are many states, regions, and areas within the EU borders and outwith, in greater Europe, that are struggling for their independence or want to retain their culture and language from the old colonial super states within Europe. Let's take a brief look at some of them:

Scotland...We know about this so there is no need to go any further.

Wales...Plaid Cymru which has been in existence since 1925 and won its first seat in the Houses of Parliament in 1966. It attained an assembly at the same time as Scotland re-instituted its parliament in 1999.

Ireland...Attained its independence from the UK in 1922 after a bloody War of Independence by the IRA. However, six counties in the north are still in the UK.

Cornwall...Mebyon Kernow (Sons of Cornwall) was formed in 1951 and the Cornish Nationalist Party which was formed in 1975.

Catalonia...An autonomous state in Spain. Catalan Nationalism has been going since, at least, 1892.

Basque...An autonomous country in Spain but claims certain areas within France.

Brittany...A Region of France.

there are many more but you get the point.

There is also a huge list of European countries that have gained there independence post WWI. What is happening in Scotland just now is just a change of mood that have been rushing through Europe for the last 100 years. Will this clamouring for independence continue in Europe? Yes, I believe it will as it will in other continents around the globe. The days of the super states are over but the coming together, in a democratic way, of individual nations will continue.




Posted by at
Labels: ,

6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 19, 2012 at 1:13 PM

    I guess it's one of these things that goes around, and comes around...

    Yes, I think there is a mood for independence for smaller countries now.

    Let's not forget the semi independent states around the costs of England and France: Jersey, Guernsey, Man.

    I still haven't worked out how you get rid of the word verification.

    ReplyDelete
  2. GedguyJanuary 19, 2012 at 4:06 PM

    I'm not forgetting about them as they have the sort of 'independence' which suits them, and good luck to them. The point I was trying to put over, and obviously failed at, was that there are areas, states, or whatever you want to call them that are not satisfied with belonging to another state that, democratically, they had no say in joining or were militarily taken over.

    I've been trying to work that one out myself but, as usual, have failed with alarming regularity.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJanuary 20, 2012 at 7:21 AM

    NO no, you didn't fail. I understood and agreed with your points. Independence is growing in Europe. What I meant was that, there are times when nations want to join together... Germany, Italy, Switzerland... are all unified states. There are times when countries want to separate, as you point out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. GedguyJanuary 20, 2012 at 9:02 AM

    I would have to disagree with you about Germany because the Prussians took it over under Bismark [I think]. He either conquered or bullied them into joining with the Prussians, hence the capital being Berlin. Now, I'm not saying the some of the German states want to separate but most of them seem to be happy being who they are and under the leadership of Berlin; a bit like the USA.
    The same with Italy when Garibaldi did the same. Switzerland being the exception, though it has been conquered, because there is nothing there and is too high up and too cold. It was more of a place to pass through.

    ReplyDelete
  5. GedguyJanuary 21, 2012 at 12:26 AM

    "NO no, you didn't fail"

    I was talking about my inability to get to grips with the design of this blog. It is so frustrating not being able to do what I want. Hence the 'frustration' in the blog title ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. cornubianJanuary 23, 2012 at 12:01 PM

    If you want to learn more about the Breton movement for greater self-determination then try my blog The Breton Connection: http://thebretonconnection.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)