06/26/07
The European Free Alliance Youth (EFAy) condemns the formation of the Cornish National Liberation Army (CNLA) in Cornwall and fully rejects the means by which it purports to fulfil its aims.

In a communication with other Bureau Members of the EFAy, Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, President and Leader of Mebyon Kernow’s youth movement MKBY, stated yesterday:

“The threats issued by the CNLA have no place in Cornwall or Europe at large. A democratic society cannot be achieved by employing terrorist activity and this has been shown time and again throughout the post war history of Europe. The IRA, who the CNLA refers to in its communiqué, has laid down its arms in favour of peace and the Basque terrorist group ETA have not achieved any of its aims in almost 50 years of its bloody history. In making threats in this way, the CNLA is clearly out of touch with what people really want and what is achievable.

These threats must however be taken seriously and so must the underlying causes of the disillusionment that has led to the creation of this new group. When people feel let down by their own elected representatives, as can be seen by the recent decision by Cornwall County Council to press ahead with unitary authority status against the wishes of the population, it is inevitable that feelings will run high.

As an organisation that is representative of politically minded young people in Europe, it is our responsibility to encourage the youth to engage peacefully in the democratic process and to continue campaigning by purely peaceful means.”

The Bureau of the EFAy consists of nine representatives of political youth from throughout Europe, including the Basque Country, South Tyrol and Silesia.

The EFAy is an alliance of the youth movements of nationalist and regionalist parties throughout Europe. Although it is a pro-European organisation, the EFAY believes in a different European model to the one which is being offered at the moment. They campaign on a series of different issues including linguistic and cultural diversity, the environment, social justice and human rights.

www.efay.eu

Rhisiart Tal-e-bot

President

EFAy

rhisiart.talebot@efay.eu