from Heather Jones @ Facebook
Wales the Land
On the western perimeter of Europe lies the damp, demanding and obessively interesting country known, if it is known at all, as WALES to the rest of the world and by us its own people as CYMRU ("com-ree").
It is a small country, in many ways the archetype small country, but its smallness is not petty; on the contrary itis profound. Wales is a country, but not a state. It has a capital city, but not a Government, an indigenous language but not indigenous laws. Yet Wales remains not only a separate nation, but a distinctly separate and often vehement idea. Today only a minority of us actively fight for the national identity or even speak our native language. As activists we have long believed ourselves to be a special breed, and we have demonstrated the exhausting resilience of Afrikaners, Jews and other 'chosen' races. Seldom do we behave as passive provincials on the edge of things, but rather as campaigners in the very eye of history. The Welsh see themselves as inheritors of Roman urbanity, christian devotion, and as trustees of a lost Celtic civilization which was to become ever more marvelous in the imagination, peopled by ever more heroic heroes, inspired by saintlier saints, until the very dream of it became part of the whole world's consciousness in the legendary paragon of King Arthur. Wales was the folk-memory of Europe! The Welsh word for Wales is CYMRU, CYMRO is a Welshman, CYMRAES is a Welshwoman, Y CYMRY means Welsh people, CYMRAEG means Welsh language and , CYMREITOD is Welshness. ... mi ddawnsiaf ddawns y Gymru Rydd Mi ganaf gan y Gymru Rydd Ac rwy'n yfed i doriad yr hyfryd ddydd Y dydd y bydd pob Cymro'n rhydd! ...I'll dance the dance of Wales Free I'll sing the song of Wales Free And I drink to the dawn of the lovely day The day when every Welshman will be free! by the folk singer; Dafydd Iwan Wales is not just a country on the map, or even in the mind; it is a country of the heart, and all of us have some small country there.
A film to watch - get the DVD :"The Wind that Blows the Barley." (Lessons for Wales)
"The Nineteenth century saw a great Springtime of Nations as the revolutions of 1848 saw new countries created the length and breadth of Europe. In our world today we are now seeing our own Spring Awakening with people and cultures that have long been dormant and subdued asserting their right to exist, their right to dream." Adam Price MP
2 comments:
I would like to point out that our Country is not known as 'Wales' by the rest of the world; it is known as 'Wales' by the English speaking world, although large, it is far from being everybody. I think that this is an important psychological point given the weight of Anglo-centricity bearing down upon us.
And the way to get there is tax reform. Idiot English politicians must not be allowed to determine the tax code in Wales anymore.
with a proper tax code Wales would flourish.
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