If we asked you to name some other European nations fighting for independence and self-determination, we’re guessing you’d say Wales. And Catalonia. Maybe the Basque Country. Would you say South Tyrol? Corsica? Greenland? You would if you know about ICEC – International Commission for European Citizens.
We have to admit that we didn’t know about ICEC until a couple of months back. Then we went over to Edinburgh for the “Owning Our Futures” meeting. Organised jointly by ICEC and Scottish Independence Convention (SIC), fourteen groups from all over Europe gathered in Greyfriars Church. We have just posted the first of two video podcasts from the meeting:
- Owning Our Futures – Highlights. Also available as an audio podcast.
- Owning Our Futures – Questions and Answers. Available from 17th Dec. And the audio version available from 19th Dec.
So what is ICEC?
Well here is their own tagline from their website:
More than ten years of intense international work and solidarity amongst European citizens in favour of the Right of SELFdetermination of People!
At the Edinburgh meeting we met campaigners from Greenland, the Basque Country, Corsica, South Tyrol, Flanders, Sardinia, Faroes, Wales, Sicily, Ireland, Catalonia, and the North of England. And as well as SIC, there are six other Scottish based campaigning groups who are members of their Network.
What do they do?
Scotland aside, every member of the group is part of a EU Country. That gives them some leverage with EU institutions. They have clearly used that leverage well. Their website has all the details but here is one example that caught our eye, from 2023 in the European Parliament.
‘Peaceful Agreements or Bloody Papers?’
On the 26th of November, seven short films were produced by ICEC’s seven nation members and were shown in the European Parliament. Then the history and treaties referred to those films were explained by campaigners from those countries. All of them pursuing a legitimate democratic fight to make sure their national futures conclude with the victory of Justice and Freedom.
You can watch all seven short films on YouTube, but here is the one about Scotland, covering The Declaration of Arbroath, the Treaty of Union, and the Constitutional Convention. So that’s 700 years and three important constitutional moments.
Our thoughts….
We really enjoyed the meeting in Edinburgh. It was fascinating to listen to people from outside Scotland who are, like us, seeking independence and greater autonomy for their lands.
There is a great deal of overlap in our experience and theirs. That means we can all learn from each other. And it was great to hear their praise of how far Scotland has come in pursuing independence.
One difference was very obvious. Language. Many the other groups have a language that is their own and is different from the state they are currently part of. That is true of Scotland too, with Gaelic and Scots. There are advantages in being fluent in English of course. It is a lingua franca in the world. But English is the language of power in Scotland. And it brings us our news, our education, many of our entertainments, our politics, much of our arts even. Maybe we need to do something to change the balance of that.
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