Guernsey has lost identity by ‘getting into line’
I FEEL I MUST respond to an article in the Guernsey Press published on Thursday 29 September in which I was dismayed to read what was reported, referring to Deputy Roffey [in the discrimination law debate], who was alleged to have said: ‘It is about time… about time Guernsey came into line with the rest of the civilised world.’
He may not realise it, but Guernsey has been doing just that for decades and in so doing has lost its identity, unique culture, language and traditional flag.
I was back in Guernsey, the island of my birth and heritage, when I read that. The States of Guernsey has been selling out our heritage since at least the post-World War Two days.
It has been the fault of Guernsey folk in letting it happen and selling out their unique culture through ‘getting into line’ with the UK and the outside world. Only a small minority seemed to care, such as the late Dr Nick Le Poidevin, a friend and scholar with me at Elizabeth College. I decided to leave Guernsey at great personal cost, as for me it was intolerable to have to put up with Guernsey losing its identity and making me feel an outsider, yet my family has been here for over 700 years. I did try to stand up for Guernsey, but experienced the phenomenon of swimming against the tide, making it impossible to preserve the Guernsey I knew.
Let Guernsey folk stand up for themselves – no one else will.
STEPHEN DE GARIS