Many times people often ask me to clarify myself on certain statements I utter, whether the claims are made in person or through the modern medium of Social Media. Whilst the majority of people tend to be laid back in most aspects of life, merely sitting on the fence is not something that is built into my being. I passionately believe in a myriad of campaigns or causes and find it hard to turn my head nonchalantly away without a care in the world. Having an opinion matters, even an opinion that some might consider outdated, offensive, controversial or ridiculous. It is such people that create talking points and stop the world from being merely a uniformed mass of conformist robots.

 For those that know me, the issue that often crops up is my firm stance on the rejection of “being British”. I live in a state that collectively titles itself the “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”. This is a legal fact, documented by the residual powers of the island. I possess a British passport in an overt expression of enforced-Britishness on the holder, once again a legal fact. I was born on 14^th November 1985 and since I took my first breath in Morriston Hospital in Swansea I have been TOLD I am British by documents if not verbally. Am I allowed to reject this? Do I have a case at all? Without creating a fuss and offending the easily offended… it seems not. Yet I do reject this. People can bleat all they want about how I am British because the state say so, the simple fact is that a person has the power to self-identify as they wish. We are born free human beings, free of the shackles of slavery and oppression from others. I am Welsh. Call me anti-British or anti-English all you want, the view I take is I’m pro-Wales. I love visiting London and I enjoy the company of English friends. I love Scottish history and learning about Robert the Bruce for example, but I’m not British or English or Scottish. Wales is my concern since, in case you haven’t realised by now, I am Welsh. This is my self-identification and opinions of others are irrelevant. Yet I hear you ask, what is so wrong with being British and why aren’t you content to be considered a Great Briton like so many others before you? Where to start?

 What is it to be British? Who are the modern day British? Anyone with a decent grasp of history knows that the native peoples of large sections of these islands, the Britons, were the modern day Welsh and even spoke a Brythonic language that was the forerunner of Welsh. These “Welsh-Britons” inhabited modern day Wales, most of England and the Scottish lowlands before constant conquests by invading forces pushed the Britons back to a small western section of the island. Therefore surely this historical account is accreditation enough that I should be proud to be British, the forerunner of Wales and her people? Well, no. Let’s look at what Britain means in its current guise for the word has been usurped. The etymology of the word is that Great Britain constitutes the historic and different nations of Wales, England and Scotland in a cumulative and combined political alliance. The creation of this “Britain” occurred when the independent Kingdom of England (and its conquered and thus annexed colony of Wales) entered a union with the equally independent Kingdom of Scotland, in practice with the ascension of the Stuart dynasty to the English crown in the early 17^th century and officially with the Union of the Crown’s a century later. This was further complicated by the inclusion of Ireland and then Northern Ireland in the official usage although the term Britain and British still refers to the mainland itself. England and Scotland thus ceased to exist and independent, self ruling nations and became the Goliath “Great Britain” in an era where collective Imperialism meant power. Wales of course had lost her self determination in 1282 after it was battered into submission by its larger and stronger neighbour. Due to this political manoeuvring and rebranding the English, Scottish and Welsh thus became “British”. So with that quick history lesson done, it instantly shows my first reservation about being lumbered with the concept of Britishness regarding self-identity. Britain came into official existence in 1707 whilst the Welsh nation both as a people and as a country predated the manufactured statehood of Britain by at least a millennia. I have traced my family tree on my mother’s side as far back as reasonably possible and have gotten back to the very time the British union was created. The Griffith’s family of Talley were farmers and it is absurd to think that one day they woke up and ceased to be Welsh and suddenly became British with a sudden pride and affiliation not only to their kin in Wales but also to strangers 500miles away across a land they had never ventured. Welsh is what I identify with, this is my roots, this is my country and this is my nationality regardless of what anyone wishes to state to the contrary. Why would I want to be British (which also includes the Scottish and English whom are different peoples with similar-yet-distant characteristics) when my people and the people I identify with are from Swansea, Llandovery, and Aberystwyth and not London, Aberdeen or Newcastle. Where does one stop…are we all now European only due to bureaucratic insistence from Brussels? It should be noted that the union was met with vicious derision from both Scottish and English peoples and was initially a hostile merger amongst vociferous opposition. Hardly the will of the people.

 Of course a major feeling of anti-Britishness has festered within myself due to a feeling of my Welsh compatriots being ostracised and sidelined by the ruling establishment in London. How can I be expected to be proud and patriotic towards “British” events in parts of the state that don’t concern me whilst ignoring what I personally feel are vicious acts of oppression against the very people from whom I am descended and live amongst? How can I throw my weight behind an institution that has gleefully raped my small, helpless country of its natural resources, leaving behind mass unemployment, crumbling communities and broken hearts once they had satisfied their capitalist needs. We all know the true price of Coal and the hundreds of men whom perished whilst filling the coffers of the self-styled British Government. What about the lesser known plundering of Welsh water, sinking communities in order to create reservoirs to supply English cities with drinking water with no thought to the destruction caused to rural lives? Cofiwch Dryweryn. Remember Tryweryn. How about the attempted destruction of the Welsh language and Culture by the biggest proponents of the “British” way of the life, the Victorians. At the height of the British Empire in all its pomp and glory the usage of Welsh was frowned upon and embarrassing for a world power attempting to force English on its colonies around the globe. This was perhaps best illustrated by the implementation of the “Welsh Not”, a device used in schools to eradicate and discourage the speaking of Welsh under the threat of physical harm from teachers. The Welsh people are not even represented on the Union Flag, the official banner for which purports to represent the so-called British people of this island. Am I supposed to gleefully wave a rag which symbolism notwithstanding, has no representation of me on it? A rag that was the symbol of oppression, imperialism and slavery for centuries and a rag which is currently the darling of the far-right movement? I think not.

 How about the repugnant way in which the all-encompassing idea of Britishness is constantly forced upon the people that are unlucky enough to come under its ridiculous guise? When the very idea of a British identity was being crafted in the 18^th Century it superimposed itself over the existing identities that had been cultivated on this island for hundreds of years previously. It says something about the resilience of the individual cultures of the English, Scots and Welsh that they are still visible amongst the overpowering enforcement of Britishness on the people. Renowned Welsh politician Gwynfor Evans once state “Britishness is a political synonym for Englishness which extends English culture over the Scots, Welsh and the Irish” and I have to agree. Whilst Scottish people then may have felt endearment to the term British due to allowing them an even keel in a wider context and some Welsh feeling affection for a term that is derived from the historic name of the Welsh people, to the majority of the English people both past and present “British” and “English” are interchangeable and this no doubt alienates vast swathes of the alliance. Once again, why do I wish to be inextricably linked with a people whom do not represent me both in outlook, attitude or ethnicity (the Welsh side naturally). I am not English. Why do I want to claim to be, or Scottish for that matter? A Scottish victory in anything is not a Welsh victory simple because of the term “British”. Equally, why should a Welsh victory be shared with others whom have no affiliation whatsoever to the victor simple because of this all-encompassing term “British”. When I watch the Olympics I do not support the British Olympic team. I feel no affiliation to them whatsoever. I will on individual Welsh athletes in a similar way I will on individual Welsh players in the British and Irish Lions rugby team but I do not feel any sense of affection for the brand they are forced to represent for no other eligible option. I refer to an earlier point, I do not celebrate a Spanish World Cup victory simply because they are fellow European union members and we are all European citizens. The same logic applies. This imposition of a manufactured state has parallels with other similar creations in recent history however much proud British citizens may protest. The Soviet Union was a nation that was created out of the spoils of World War I whereby ethnic Ukrainians, Moldovans, Kazakh’s and Estonians to name but a few were forced into an alliance whereby their own national identities were ignored in favour of the new super nation. Their passports and state papers may have announced them to be Soviet, but the people themselves would self identify as Ukrainian or whatever the case may be. The Soviet Union fell and traditional national pride and identity resumed. This will happen to Great Britain sooner rather than later as 300 years of enforced Britishness has still not led to the individual affections being diluted and replaced.

 What about reputation on a global scale? The British as a state are amongst one of the most despised states in the World, their actions both historically and presently building up a strong feeling of anti-British sentiment. Why? Foreign Policy. The British Empire may have unleashed the age of industrialisation on an unsuspecting world and in the process evolving Human’s capacities beyond all expectations but the way they conquered countries to use up their resources remains a sore issue. South Africa, United States, India, Pakistan, Uganda, Ireland etc are just a number of countries that had their issues with colonisation by a British force. Many of the world’s current conflict zones are a direct consequence of British involvement. Palestine and Kashmir spring to mind. The modern age also has brought with it British armed force in a myriad of nations such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. The reasons they are there is irrelevant, the fact they are however creates an anti-British sentiment that endures across the world and is even directly responsible for bringing terror to the streets of this country in revenge attacks. The IRA brought their campaign to the British mainland during their operational years but tellingly never attacked Wales. We were not the target, England was. However, does a fundamentalist based halfway around the world understand the nuances of the separate nations within the British union? Why should Wales be potentially bloodied for the actions of a London-centric government? I do not want my name linked to the string of offences, even war crimes some might say, committed across the world in the last three centuries and possibly for many more to come. How anyone can be proud of a country that merely acts as a stooge of the United States is beyond me and this is another reason for a distinct lack of affection to being “British”. If Britain’s foreign policy is something to be ashamed of then I don’t possess the vocabulary to adequately capture the actions of the United States. What I do know is that the “Special Relationship” lowers Britain’s standing even more. Some view Britain as a country full of Hugh Grant-bumbling fools whom enjoy tea, prudish morality and waving Union Jack’s at the Proms and Royal Weddings. Others view Britain as a dominating war machine eating up the cultures of others in an attempt to impose its own agenda and ways on the world. Both are simplified stereotypes that belie the true picture but even so, I will be Welsh not British until the day I die and for this I make no apologies.