An American Indian lacrosse team will not be allowed entry into the UK for the world championship of the sport the Iroquois helped invent unless members accept U.S. or Canadian passports, the British government said yesterday (July 14 ).
The Iroquois Nationals team won't be attending the world championship in Manchester unless the British government reverses its decision and allows them to use passports issued by the Iroquois Confederacy,
At first reading this ban would have some merit,. Where I would love to have a Welsh passport I recognize that it would cause a diplomatic row if another country recognized it at this moment in time.
However :
At the request of Hillary Clinton request, the State Department had dropped a demand that the Iroquois athletes must use formal U.S. passports to enter and exit the country, rather than their confederacy-issued passports. However, the allowance is a "one-time-only waiver."
The Iroquois (also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse",are an indigenous people of North America. In the 16th century or earlier, the Iroquois came together in an association known today as the Iroquois League, or the "League of Peace and Power". The original Iroquois League was often known as the Five Nations, and comprised the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca nations. After the Tuscarora nation joined the League in the 18th century, the Iroquois have often been known as the Six Nations
It is ironic but if the USA had not existed then the Six Nations could now be part of the Commonwealth (OK fantasy but that would been the likely outcome).
Lacrosse a sport associated in the UK with Public schoolgirls could be called the Iroquois national sport and a source of identity . It is appalling that if the US Secretary of State can make allowance in order to right previous wrongs, it is to be scuppered by our own petty bureaucrats
2 comments:
I'm not sure that I agree that it's "petty bureaucrats" at work here. Passports may be issued by anyone, but are only recognised as valid by HM Government if the issuer is a sovereign state.
The Iroquois have treaty rights to travel within North America without having to use American or Canadian passports, as indeed do other First Nations peoples. This degree of sovereignity is limited to specific spheres of activity within the US and Canada, however. Outside North America, First Nations people are first and foremost seen as American or Canadian citizens.
I self identify as Welsh, but must acknowledge that my political rights as a Welsh person are limited to Wales. If I choose to travel outwith these shores, I must apply to HM Government's agents for a British passport. Once I'm abroad, I can exult in my Welshness, but know that I only got into another country because HM's Foreign Secretary's request to bid me enter was acceded to.
You see, the Kings, Queens and Presidents of this world do not relate to the Rt Hon Carwyn Jones. Neither do Theresa May and her minions relate to the elders of the Iroquois Nation.
I hope this lacrosse team change their mind; First Nations players are really the best players of this sport. But if they don't, it's not up to the British Government to relent.
Emlyn Uwch Cych
You point is a fair one,. But I feel I dealt with in when I wrote that the US State department which govern such issues have removed their objections. I don’t know what the Canadian government’s position is but they tend to be sympathetic towards “First Nation” issues.
The issue of Passports tend to be a bigger problem with the UK at this moment in time. No illegal immigrants are going to sneak in with Iroquois passports .If the US State department who are usually very diligent when it comes to Passport control have no problem on this why should we
Post a Comment