It’s safe to say it’s been a difficult few months for the Welsh independence movement.
As said in a previous piece, at heart it boils down to a conflict between those who want independence first “and sort it out afterwards” and those who want to impose their own visions for independence beforehand (and usually without much serious thought behind it).
On the one hand, those who have a clear vision have a point: some things are non-negotiable including upholding and respecting human rights (so nobody is thrown under a bus to achieve independence), social tolerance, rejecting totalitarian and authoritarian ideologies, working to eliminate inequality and learning how to do things better from the rest of the world. But even then different people will have different ideas that will clash: freedom of speech vs social tolerance for example.
Likewise, the “independence first, sort it out afterwards” folks have a point. If we believe in parliamentary democracy and plurality, then a lot of the decisions will be made by the Senedd before and after independence. YesCymru isn’t the vehicle to deliver serious policy changes; they’re there to campaign to get the tools to make those changes. We have to say why we want them and what we can do with them, but the final decisions will be based on election results and party manifestos. Democracy is rule of the majority and it’s a basic fact of life that you won’t always get what you want and change can often be very slow (I come back to this point later).
It would be very difficult for anyone to accuse me of not being a proper nationalist and I’d argue I’ve done quite a bit for the independence movement, but the purpose of this piece is to prove that your personal views don’t invalidate the views of other people in the independence movement and you can still be on the same side.
So, what “controversial” views do I hold – some of which may genuinely annoy or anger people – that may put me in the dog house with the majority of Welsh nationalists?
If an independence referendum could be won as long as Wales retained the monarchy I’d take it. There is polling that suggests that while Wales isn’t a monarchist heartland, it’s preferable over a republic.
If it came down to a straight choice between the two my preference is a republic, but I’m making the point again that independence isn’t about what I want or what you personally want; it’s about what we want – all of us. We’re allowed to disagree and a decision would likely be made if/when a constitution is drafted.
If you want a republic than you need to make a stronger case and it’s more difficult than you think. Sentimentality can be powerful and that’s probably the main reason the monarchy remains popular – it would be like chucking out an overlooked but very flashy heirloom that’s been in the family for generations but serves little function.
When it comes to independence, who the head of state should be is fairly low down the list of priorities. It’s at least behind climate change, economic and social fairness and welfare, sorting out infrastructure, ending homelessness, sorting out a working constitution, the media and broadcasting, creating a lasting system of local government, overhauling the justice system, reforming drugs policy….
People may also have the idea that a President of Wales would be someone relatively popular or held in high esteem. Given how Wales works, the likelihood is (under a system where the president is a ceremonial position) that the candidates would be politically connected types from the Crachach or ex-politicians put forward by their respective parties as a reward for long service and to keep them quiet. If the president has real executive powers, then they would almost certainly be an experienced politician.
Whether that’s any better than one of the Mountbatten-Windsors (who would be in post in name only if Wales had a written constitution like Australia and Canada) is almost a moot point.
However, there is a danger that support for the monarchy has been misinterpreted and is more likely support for the late Queen Elizabeth II. Despite the very ghoulish obsession with Operation London Bridge, Chuck will become George VII/Charles III before the end of the decade (edit: and did so as of September 8th 2022) and there are hints we’ll see reforms . A downsized, less stuffy, mainland European-style monarchy is more palatable (independence or not) than what we have now.
- Does any of that invalidate the opinions of the (seeming majority) of Welsh nationalists who are also republicans? No.
- Am I going to set up anonymous Twitter accounts to harass people who don’t agree 100% with my views? No.
- Am I going to argue that a republic should be disregarded as a constitutional option and we have to have a monarchy come what may or I won’t support independence anymore? No.
