Volume XV, Number 3, March 1997
The Western Separatist
Papers are published monthly by W.S.P. Ltd.
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Western Canada V8W 3N3.
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Letters to the Editor
West Needed by Canada
To the Editor:
I have certain sympathies with western separatism. The West has been consistently ignored, ridiculed, overrode, and stomped on. The Federal Government has forced multiculturalism, bilingualism, socialism, and centrism down your throats. I've never lived in any of the western provinces, but as a Canadian I keenly understand your bitterness, and disenchantment with the current system. However, I do not believe the way to solve it is through separating.
The Dominance of Ontario and Quebec is a given....for now. The key to the situation is the Ottawa-Quebec power bloc. It is this bloc which must be attacked. Ottawa has become a veritable paradise for Quebecrats whose allegiance is given to Quebec first and Canada not at all. These individuals have for years been manipulating and dividing English Canada so that Quebec can have the deciding voice in Confederation. As for Ontarians, they are well meaning, but traditionally have had no understanding of western grievances. Until now. Ontario has increasingly become marginalized as well, as power continues to accumulate in the hands of these Quebecrats. Ontario pays many of the bills, but has decreasing say in how the country is run. This was one of the reasons Mike Harris was elected.
The real solution to these problems lay in cutting Quebec loose from confederation. With Quebec gone, and suitably carved up, Canada can finally be a nation unto itself, and Canadians can be masters of their destiny. How will this benefit the west??? The strongest advocates for centralised, bureaucratic, socialist government are from Quebec. With the destruction of the Franco-hegemony, power will pass into the hands of Anglophones. English Canadians, despite the best efforts of Trudeau, Mulroney, and Chretien, favor decentralised government. We can build a true confederation of equal provinces- a union of the Canadian people. Most of the powers of internal affairs can then shift to the provinces! Without the Quebec fact, Bilingualism and multiculturalism will die a swift and richly deserved death. The balance of power will shift to a more even distribution, as the federal government would no longer be able to impose its will unilaterally to benefit one region at the detriment of others. The west will finally gain the power it deserves.
Time is the best ally the west has! Its population is growing swiftly, and so is its economy. With its rich resources, the West could develop itself, and in time become the new centre of power in Canada!!!
Should the west separate however, I feel that its promise will be wasted. The western provinces would not have the power by themselves to resist American encroachment. In time, It would become a giant aqueduct and oilwell to feed the ravenous appetites of California. That would be a tragedy.
The key is to change Canada, not truncate it. In this, the west can and should play a leading role in building Canada as it was meant to be!!!
We are all Canadians, and we deserve a homeland that suits out (sic) needs. Maple leaf forever!!!
Sean Jolliffe, sean@capitalnet.com
WSP welcomes your letters. Please address them to WSP, P.O. Box 40143, Victoria, B.C. V8W 1C4, by FAX to 250-479-3294, or to wcc@ftcnet.com, if by e-mail
Movements to Nationhood
Around the World
This month: Northern Italy - Lega Nord
c) 1996 Settore Informatico Lega Nord - Lega Lombarda
"Welcome to Padania - Official Northern League WWW Site"
Small political movements campaigning in defense of local cultural traditions in the geographic area of North-Italy were formed after W.W.II, but they could never achieve remarkable success and change the course of Italian politics. On the other hand, tensions between il Nord and il Sud have always been smoldering and they exploded when the crisis of the State-run economy and the necessity of conforming our economy to the European standards made the burden of an unproductive South no longer tolerable for the North.
The Lega Nord party was formed when the cultural and the economic demands merged; its symbol is a medieval warrior, in memory of the victorious struggles of the North-Italian Comuni for self-rule in the 12th and 13th Centuries. Local branches of the League are active in all Regions of the North: Valle D'Aosta; Piedmont (Turin); Lombardia (Milan); the Veneto (Venice); Liguria (Genoa); Trentino-Alto Adige/Süd Tirol (Trento); Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Trieste); Emilia-Romagna (Bologna); and also Tuscany (Florence); the Marche (Ancona); and Umbria (Perugia).
Padania is the name given to the geographic area of these Regions which are now struggling together as a federation to achieve cultural and economic independence.
The Northern League is the party which gives political expression to the federalist movement and proposes implementation of the federalist idea as a solution to the cultural and economic crisis.
The crisis of the State-run economy in Italy coincided with the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the unveiling of the financial crisis which besets most major nation-States in the West, Japan, and elsewhere. Of course each case has its own particular features, but there are some common threads.
Here is a brief exposé which attempts to place the explanation of the phenomenon of the federalist movement and the Northern League into a general historical perspective.
Fighting for the Freedom of North-Italy
The following excerpts from the web page of the Lega Nord are reproduced to draw attention to the parallels between the situation of the North in Italy and the West in Canada, between this movement and that of Western Canadian independence:
Two Histories, Two Cultures
"...Finally, the South: never an independent State, it was swapped between the major continental powers, Germany, France, finally Spain from the 16th century onwards. As a consequence, it was always governed by second-rate politicians, while the local population never developed a political and civil consciousness. A total disrespect for the law and the civic rules emerged; corruption was widespread; paying taxes was unthinkable if one could bribe an official instead; stealing public money was considered more respectable than working; no one really bothered about improving the economy or just tiding up the cities; local Mafia and Camorra clans began to emerge in the absence of a respectable government...."
"...As to the North, the emerging middle classes felt their democratic hopes betrayed, their tradition of local autonomies spoiled by an oppressive Roman bureaucracy, and could never understand what on earth they had in common with the people living in Sicily, with whom we share almost nothing. After all, simply from a geographical point of view, the distance between Milan and Berlin, or between Turin and London, is less than the distance between those two North-Italian cities and Sicily; the same is true from a cultural point of view as well."
"...Another cause of great discontent in the North was, and is, the huge amount of money wasted in trying to support the State-run economy of the South (some US$1000 billion since W.W.II); while the Northern economy has always been productive and competitive on the world market (it would be even more so if we were independent...), the South of Italy has always lived on unproductive State-owned industries (e.g., Soviet-style big steel plants when no one in the world is buying steel any more), unemployment benefits, fraudulent disability pensions (it appears that in some Southern regions one person out of three is unable to walk or see), an over-inflated and inefficient public sector; public jobs are easily available in the South if one supports the local Mafia boss at the elections. Taxes are never paid, and no one really cares about using public money for his own interest; if something is broken, the Northerner's attitude would be to try and fix it, the Southerner's often to sit down, wait for someone to come from Rome with the money to fix it, then take the money and let someone else worry about it. Tens of billions of dollars have been spent on Mafia-controlled public works, for instance long stretches of 6-lane highways starting and ending nowhere in the Southern countryside, never-ending tunnels, Golden Gate-style bridges over small brooks, 20 year roadwork projects, power plants started 40 years ago and never finished, and so on; the sewage system in Naples has not been upgraded in 150 years...."
Reasons for Cutting Ties with the South in brief
"...Instead of acknowledging those cultural traditions, as they did in Spain after the death of fascist ruler Francisco Franco, or as they did in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, or in Quebec, the central governments in Rome have always tried to suppress them, in particular the Northern dialects (Southern dialects are still widely spoken, even at public level, by Southern politicians). Only after the Lega Nord's success did they begin to admit our local languages have a dignity, after all."
"...Culture and ethnic identity may well be important but, one may reasonably argue, the economic structures are the main factor to ponder before splitting the country or transforming it into a federation. In fact, in all social, political and economic statistics Italy does not rank well at all, and only Portugal spares us from last place in the standings of Western Europe; this image is quite deceptive, though: the North is at the same level of the most developed regions of Germany, France and England, and could well be a leading force in the future European union; the South, on the other hand, can be compared with Tunisia or Algeria. We are struggling to win the right to develop our economy, culture, science and technology by establishing links with the rest of Europe, but we also spur the South to get rid of the rotting, Soviet-style State-run economy if they want to join Europe, as well. If this doesn't happen, Italy as a whole will be left behind. Prosperity in the North is based on private enterprise, and nothing could be more oppressive than the present corrupt and centralized regime. Not even our Universities are left free to compete with the best educational institutions in the world: almost all Italian Universities are State-run, and differences between them based on merit are not tolerated."
"The problem of the South has been addressed by all the 50-odd governments in the last 50 years, but their only solution has been collecting money from the North and pouring it down (and we all know where the money goes). In 1994, each citizen of the North paid on average almost US$2000 more than he received from Rome; each citizen living in the South received some US$4000 more than he paid in taxes."
"...tensions between il Nord and il Sud have always been smoldering; they exploded when the crisis of the State-run economy and the necessity of conforming our economy to the European standards made the burden of an unproductive South no longer tolerable for the North. The Lega Nord party was formed when the cultural and the economic demands merged; its symbol is a medieval warrior, in memory of the victorious struggles of the Northern Italian Comuni for self-rule in the 12th and 13th century."
"...The Northern League must stay outside and above the meaningless Left-Right scheme, fighting for its well-defined goal, against all other parties if necessary but at the same time trying to catalyze transversal support among them. A stronger cultural basis is required to achieve this goal: the yearn for massive popular support driven by populistic slogans has to be put aside for a while, and the conduct must be subtler and more refined. The dreams of a revolution leading to the ultimate goal for many of us (full independence of the North) must not be confused with reality. Yet these dreams must survive..."
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND SOVEREIGNTY OF PADANIA
We, the Peoples of Padania, gathered together along the great river Po from Emilia and Friuli, from Liguria, Lombardia, and the Marche, from Piemonte, Romagna, and Sudtirol-Alto Adige, from Toscana, Trentino, and Umbria, from Valle d'Aosta, the Veneto, and Venezia Giulia, united today, 15 September 1996, in Constitutional Convention, affirm and declare:
When in the course in human events it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the bands which bind them with another, to establish themselves as an independent and sovereign community, and to assume the role assigned to them by the Natural Law of Self-Determination among the nations of the Earth, respect for International Society and all of humanity requires that they should declare the reasons which impel them to the separation.
Since time immemorial, we live, we build, we work, we protect, we love these lands handed down to us by our forebears, bathed and quenched by the waters of our great rivers;
Here we have invented an original way of living, of developing the arts, and of working;
We belong to a historical area, Padania, which is strongly integrated socially and economically, though in recognition of the due respect for the diversity of the Peoples of which it is comprised;
These lands are united by the ties which run as deep as the enduring cycles of the seasons revolving about them, as strong as the spirit of freedom of the Peoples that inhabit them;
We, therefore, constitute a natural, cultural, social, and economic community founded on shared values, culture, and history, and on harmonious social, moral, and economic conditions;
Padania is our pride, our precious resource, and our only chance for freely and fully expressing our individual natures and our feeling of community;
In contrast, the history of the Italian State has become the history of colonial oppression, of economic exploitation, and of moral violence;
The Italian State has, over time, systematically occupied Padania's economic and social system through its parasitic bureaucratic apparatus;
The Italian State has systematically annihilated every form of autonomy and self-government of our Towns, our Provinces, and our Regions;
The Italian State has jeopardized the freedom of the future generations of Padania, destroying enormous resources on fraudulent policies, on welfarism, on the vote-pandering system, and on criminal enterprises which have irreversibly led Italy down the path to bankruptcy;
The Italian State has deceptively forced the Peoples of Padania to be subjected to systematic exploitation of their economic and financial resources, built up through years of tireless daily work, to squander them on devastating welfarism, the vote-pandering system, and Mafia-style corruption in the South;
The Italian State has deliberately attempted to suppress the languages and the cultural identities of the Peoples of Padania through the colonization of the public education system;
The Italian State has imposed its unfair laws on the Peoples of Padania through a judicial system applied with racist criteria;
The Italian State has sought to dominate the Peoples of Padania by assigning the tasks and functions of public order and safety to Roman-style prefects and law enforcement officers applying the most hateful forms of Statist colonialism;
The Italian State has appropriated the constituent powers of the Peoples of Padania and has been deaf to ever-growing cries of protest;
For these reasons, we are profoundly convinced that the continued presence of Padania within the confines of the Italian State would lead to gradual extinction of all hope of rebirth and the annihilation of the identities of its Peoples;
We are aware that a free and independent Padania will become a political and institutional focal point for the construction of a Europe of the Regions and of the Peoples;
We are convinced that a free and independent Padania will guarantee a decisive contribution to cooperation and tolerance and to peace among the Peoples of the Earth;
We, united here today, represent the last hope that the oppressive Rome-based regime can come to a rapid conclusion;
We, the Peoples of Padania
Since the courage and the faith of those who have come before us in the struggle for the freedom of Peoples are our guiding light which must lead us to irrevocably take charge of our own destiny;
Since we want our acts to be guided by the respect we owe to ourselves, to our forebears, and to our children;
Since we recognize the unalienable sovereign power of all Peoples to freely decide with whom to be, how and by whom they should be governed;
Since we affirm our right and our will to assume the full powers of a State, to levy and collect all taxes, vote all laws, and sign all treaties;
Since Padania will be all women and men who inhabit it, who recognize it, and since we are those Peoples;
Since the hour has finally arrived to set forth on the great enterprise of giving birth to this new Country which we baptize today with the name Padania;
In the name and with the authority which derives to us from the Natural Law of Self-Determination and from our free conscience;
Calling in the name of our free Institutions the teachings of love for liberty and the courage of our Padanian forebears as witnesses to the honesty of our intentions
We, the Peoples of Padania solemnly proclaim: PADANIA IS AN INDEPENDENT AND SOVEREIGN FEDERAL REPUBLIC
In support of this Declaration we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Freedom's Voice
Without consistency there is no moral strength.
Owen
Facts that are not frankly faced have a habit of stabbing us in the back.
Sir Harold Bowden
It's amazing what ordinary people can do if they set out without preconceived notions.
Charles F. Kettering
Nothing can be more destructive to vigor of action than protracted, anxious fluctuation, through resolutions adopted, rejected, resumed, and suspended, and nothing causes a greater expense of feeling. A man without decision can never be said to belong to himself; he is as a wave of the sea, or a feather in the air which every breeze blows about as it listeth.
John Foster
Every noble acquisition is attended with its risks; he who fears to encounter the one must not expect to obtain the other.
Metastasio
Progress in every age results only from the fact that there are some men and women who refuse to believe that what they knew to be right cannot be done.
Russell W. Davenport
The pursuit of truth shall set you free — even if you never catch up with it.
Clarence Darrow
Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
Rodin
There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, and all things in succession. That which grows slowly endures.
J.G. Holland
One man can completely change the character of a country, and the industry of its people, by dropping a single seed in fertile soil.
John C. Gifford
Some things have not changed since the dawn of history, and bid fair to last out time itself. One of these things is the capacity for greatness in man — his capacity for being often the master of the event — and sometimes even more — the changer of the course of history itself. This capacity for greatness is a very precious gift, and we are under a danger in our day of stifling it.
Dr. William Clyde de Vane
A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices.
Edward R. Murrow
A Separatist Speaks
by Douglas Christie
Some people imagine that the best world would be one in which one government like the United Nations would tax and govern the world from some grand assembly like the "parliament of man." This body would redistribute the wealth from the "rich" nations of the north to the "poor" nations of the south. A bureaucracy of multiculturalists trained in multiracial schools like Pearson College the Pacific would all know each other and administer the world for the equal distribution of wealth with the eventual assimilation of all races into one race.
This goal is the socialist utopia. For me it would be a vision of Big Brother, foreseen by Orwell. The truth would have to go down the memory hole of the cultural reality of Europe as the driving force of civilization in the last 500 years. This would require massive indoctrination, brain-washing and totalitarian thought-control. Socialists would see this as happening for our good and hence would see nothing wrong with repression of dissent. Communists have never been fond of free speech anyway. The distinction between communism and socialism exists only in the manner it seeks to attain the goal of one world government, not in the goal itself.
The self-righteous socialist can always rationalize the suppression of free speech in opposition to his utopian one world dream by claiming that law should impose a new morality and that free speech is just a capitalist distraction.
In contrast with this view of the world which worships bigness and seeks to eliminate all differences in the name of "tolerance" (double speak, when you think of it) there exists another way. Both Capitalism and Communism favour big corporate states which impose uniformity and regulate everything. This mentality at the core is statists and anti-individualist.
The other point of view is capsulated in the expression vive la difference. One only needs to imagine a world where all the differences disappear and every city from Singapore to Sorrento from Baghdad to Boston spoke the same language, paid the same taxes, drove with the same rules, used the same currency and enforced the same laws to realize that there wouldn't be much freedom anywhere. The ethnic nationalist says "no" to all that. They believe each nation should preserve and enhance its own unique culture and maintain its own identity. The nation should be an extension of the family and like Japan be basically of one ethnic heritage. Thus, Israel can claim to be a Jewish state. Hence some others should have the right to be considered Christian states, if they so chose. Otherwise we see in large multicultural states, a cultureless, raceless nation of faceless people administered by faceless and colourless bureaucrats.
Another major reason for small nations is efficiency and preservation of the environment. Small nations having a common language and common values doesn't need so many laws or police to enforce them as witness Japan.
Corruption is harder to hide and graft is more easily identified as is waste, in a small nation whose resources being limited keeps the power of government under a sort of natural check. The mistakes made by government are smaller and more readily addressed as they are more readily seen in a smaller environment.
An example is the increase in the deficit which in the large weak nation of Canada has grown by 20% under the Jean Chretien Liberals. How often have you heard the gullible pooh, pooh the debt, saying that the rate of increase is declining and "besides we are the largest, richest nation on earth." What these people seek to avoid is facing reality of graft, waste and corrupt politicians by pointing to our size. However the Titanic was large for its day, too.
Still further reasons for small countries are emerging around the world. The movement for separation exists almost everywhere ignored and ridiculed by the major media who also worship at the altar of quantity while they ignore quality. I suppose it is always easier to count than weigh. Maybe that is the weakness of democracy. The world however, is separating at an enormous rate with new countries emerging all the time. Soon we will see the emergence of megopolii like Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto, Bos-Wash (Boston to Washington) as countries reject rule by a single city.
Western Canada can draw courage form the emergence of such nations as Scotland, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Croatia, Quebec, Hawaii, Alaska, Northern Italy, East Timor and many other nations yet to be named. These movements are autochthonous. They proceed from the soil and native land.
Thus we see that a nation of Western Canada even by the mere geopolitical reality of its smaller size, mono-lingualism, more common culture and similar economic interests would be indeed the best alternative if we want smaller, more efficient government, closer to the people governed. We must always realize that the federal system was imposed on us in the 19th century to keep the regions weak, with all the burdens of practical affairs like schools, hospitals, roads and social services while the centre enjoyed the power to spend and unlimited taxing powers with which to bribe its friends and punish its enemies. Thus it has done throughout history, racking up the highest per capita debt in the world today, far greater than the US.
A Western separatist needs only look around and smell the roses to realize the west needs and desperately needs the power to govern itself, keep its resources, protect its common language before it is swamped in a sea of linguistic aliens, and end the control of the bankrupt spendthrift government of Ottawa.
Our biggest problem is to overcome the tremendous monopoly of socialist Utopians who dominate the media, and let the world know there is a better way to govern ourselves than to let someone else do it with our money while they redistribute it with the "less advantaged" provinces. They merely control the patronage which keeps them in power by such a means.
Our job is to get this message to the people and build the movement. Some people are really moving forward with the declaration of independence being all they need to get people to sign up. Have you tried doing that today?
That's how new nations are made.
WCC Notes
Progress made during the past month has included the establishment of an office manned by volunteers who come in and deal with correspondence on a regular basis. A telephone has been installed. Tax receipts for the BC WCC were issued before the end of February, as required. New initiatives are planned this month, to reach more people with our message of Western Canadian Independence.
The ad in Alberta on television has brought in some response. We wonder if our members in Alberta have seen the ad, and if so, what do they think?
As well, more work has been done preparing material for the WCC page on the Internet.
Meanwhile, for further information about the Western Canada Concept, write to: P.O. Box 40143, Victoria, B.C. V8W 1C4. Membership is $15.00 per year.