Acting Witan of Mercia

The Acting Witan of Mercia
Type Political activism
Location
  • UK

The Acting Witan of Mercia is a radical political organisation based in the greater Midlands of England. It believes that the United Kingdom is in illegal occupation of the ancient English region of Mercia, as a result of the Norman Conquest and the perceived Norman Yoke, and the Acting Witan claims to be its de jure and acting government.[1][2]

Origins

The Mercian Constitutional Convention was formed in Birmingham on 17 March 2001 and decided to accept the Draft Constitution for Mercia, produced by the campaign group, The Mercia Movement (formed in 1993), as the basis for its deliberations.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] The Convention debated the draft for over two years and passed a series of amendments to it, although the essence of the draft remained the same and most of its content was unaltered. The Convention published the final draft of its work as The Constitution Of Mercia, a 21-page booklet, in 2003. It consisted of 28 Articles and numerous sub-articles and claimed to be 'the ultimate legal authority in Mercia', stated in Article 1.1 to 'comprise its historic twenty shires (Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire) or such of these as find a common Mercian identity and wish to be included in the region'.[14][15][16][17][18]The Constitution offered a new holistic society in Mercia, based on organic democracy, co-operative community and ecological balance.[19][20]

Formation and campaigns

On 29 May 2003, three members of the Convention (Jeff Kent, Joyce Millington and David Bastable) declared the independence of Mercia, in Victoria Square, Birmingham, in the heart of the region.[10][21][11][22][23][24] After the declaration, the Convention renamed itself the Acting Witan of Mercia, which aimed to spearhead the full democratisation of the region and the re-establishment of its de facto independence.[19][25][15][17][26][27][28][29][30] On 29 May 2004, the first Mercian Independence Day anniversary, members of the Acting Witan launched a new currency for the region, the Mercian penny, in Victoria Square, Birmingham, and handed out the coins free to people who registered as citizens of Mercia.[31][32][24] By May 2009, over 2,000 people had registered as Mercian citizens.[33][34] On 26 February 2010, outside the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, in Stoke-on-Trent, the convener of the Acting Witan (Jeff Kent) and the Acting Sheriff of Staffordshire (Philip Snow) made a declaration claiming the Staffordshire Hoard to be the property of the citizens of Mercia.[35][36][34]

References

  1. ↑ "Give Midlands an independence vote like Scotland's, urges Acting Witan of Mercia". 10 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "'Hoard belongs to Mercian kingdom'". 27 February 2010.
  3. ↑ "Mercia on the Move?".
  4. ↑ Northampton Chronicle & Echo, 20. 2. 2001, page 5.
  5. ↑ Derby Evening Telegraph, 23. 2. 2001.
  6. ↑ Wirral News, 28. 2. 2001, page 11.
  7. ↑ Enfield Advertiser, 14. 3. 2001, page 6.
  8. ↑ Wessex Voice, No. 9, May 2003.
  9. ↑ East London Advertiser, page 18, 22. 5. 2003.
  10. 1 2 Bedfordshire on Sunday, 25. 5. 2003.
  11. 1 2 Central News, Central TV, 29. 5. 2003.
  12. ↑ The Birmingham Post, 29. 5. 2003, page 4.
  13. ↑ The Constitution Of Mercia, The Mercian Constitutional Convention, page 3, ISBN 0-9529152-6-X, Witan Books, 2003.
  14. ↑ Burton Mail, 29. 5. 2003, pages 44-45.
  15. 1 2 Sunday Mercury, 14. 10. 2007, pages 12-13.
  16. ↑ Express & Star, 19. 10. 2007, page 25.
  17. 1 2 Sunday Mercury, 21. 10. 2007, page 41.
  18. ↑ The Constitution Of Mercia, The Mercian Constitutional Convention, ISBN 0-9529152-6-X, Witan Books, 2003.
  19. 1 2 "We Asked the Lunatic Fringe of UK Politics About Their Ideal Britain - VICE - United Kingdom". 26 February 2013.
  20. ↑ "Page not found - When On Earth - For People Who Love Travel".
  21. ↑ Buckinghamshire Herald, 28. 5. 2003.
  22. ↑ Midlands Today, BBC TV, 29. 5. 2003.
  23. ↑ Offa's Dyke Association Newsletter, Number 104, Spring 2007, page 22.
  24. 1 2 The Acting Witan of Mercia minutes and www.independentmercia.org/news.
  25. ↑ Northampton Herald & Post, 25. 5. 2006, page 14.
  26. ↑ Is it time to get Anglo-Saxon about England's local government?, BBC News - bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17822919, 26. 4. 2012.
  27. ↑
  28. ↑ The Big Issue, 11-17. 3. 2013, No. 980, pages 1 and 20-21.
  29. ↑ "Scottish independence: Could areas of England leave the UK? - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-05-16.
  30. ↑ The Constitution Of Mercia, back cover blurb, The Mercian Constitutional Convention, ISBN 0-9529152-6-X, Witan Books, 2003.
  31. ↑ The Birmingham Post, 29. 5. 2004, page 4.
  32. ↑ Widowinde, No. 134, Summer 2004, pages 38-39.
  33. ↑ Congleton Chronicle, 11. 3. 2010, page 20.
  34. 1 2 The Acting Witan of Mercia minutes.
  35. ↑
  36. ↑ The Sentinel, 27. 2. 2010, page 2.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.