A Denial of Identity with the National Cause

In the interests of "freedom of information" I publish the following to highlight the way in which the Welsh have been deprived of knowing of their history and have been fed a distorted view emanating from an English attempt to obliterate the culture, language and traditions of Wales. This has resulted in the existence of a section of the community which, through conditioning, has led to a reaction against Welsh identity and acceptance of the language and culture of Wales.
Sue Davies explains her blog : http://walescomment.blogspot.com/2005/06/sue-davies-explains-her-blog.html

THE STRUGGLE AGAINST CENSORSHIP IN WALES
I've started this blog as a small contribution to the struggle against the censorship that has disfigured my beloved Wales for many years.

I used to teach history at a school in Wales. I left long ago because the history I was expected to teach was mostly propaganda aimed at casting the English monarchy in the best light possible - and that meant telling packs of lies about Welsh history.

What brought matters to a head was a refusal to allow me to discuss with students research suggesting that Henry VIII, far from being someone to be admired and exhaulted, had executed tens of thousands of people for the heinious crime of dissent. Many of his victims were in Wales, where the Tudors (supposedly Welsh) were being criticised for not doing enough to end England's brutal grip on the Welsh.

My studies of Welsh history turned me into a staunch Welsh nationalist and republican. In fact I find it difficult to believe how anyone in Wales can have self-respect if they know Welsh history and remain a monarchist. The English monarchy's role in Wales is blood-drenched and stained with many atrocities, but you would hardly guess that from the history that has been taught many in Welsh schools.

I've always had a keen interest in current affairs and about seven years ago I started writing to the Welsh media - broadcast as well as newspapers - on all soirts of topics on a regular basis.

Sometimes my letters were published but often they were not. The omissions fell into a clear pattern - if the letter was non-controversial it would invariably be published (I'm not a bad letter-writer). But it was different with letters supporting Welsh nationalism or republicism or criticising the English monarchy. A few were printed, but most were not. Sometimes they would be edited beyoned belief. There were times when I barely recognised what I had written.

Tawdry baubles

About three years ago I persuaded a few fellow republicans to indulge in an unpleasnt excercise; namely to write some pro-monarchy letters to the newspapers. Every single one was printed verbatim.

It seems clear to me that the Welsh media - almost all of it owned, controlled and, largely, staffed from outside Wales - is determined not to allow any real debate about nationalism or republicism to get going.

It seems to me that many editors and media owners live in hope of some tawdry bauble from the much-discredited 'honours' system and are quite willing to do what is nessesary to 'earn' it. That, after all, is the real reason why the honours system is in place - to defend the monarchy from too much criticism.

So, why am I not in Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party? Well, I was for a short while but I quickly saw that the party wasn't much interested in Welsh independence (this was long before they actually admitted it publically) and had almost as many royalists as the Tory Party (one of the strong opponents of the monarchy I ever came across was a Tory Party activist in North Cardiff!).

I live in Whitchurch, Cardiff and hold a senior position in a pan-European venture that occasionally has me on the road to other countries.

I don't mind people challenging my views. I'm new to blogging so I'm not sure how easily it is for people to react. We'll see how it goes.

SUE DAVIES

More on Global Wales

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Global Wales - in Unity lies Strength!

"Let's find the World's Welsh" is a relatively new group on Facebook which now has 1,000 members. Independence Cymru, which has global readership, invites more of the world's Welsh to join this group. In unity lies strength and now is the time for all those exiles from the land of their fathers to join together in a global movement and promote the interests of a resurgent nation. When Ireland achieved independence and joined the European Union people of Irish descent flooded back to their native land to contribute to the prosperity of the nation. Government tax policies - low company taxes and so on - assisted in this process and today Ireland is a transformed
country, enjoying growth in its economy through international trade and technological expertise.

Its profile has been augmented by its culture - the phenomenal success of Riverdance, and the opening of Irish pubs in many of the world's cities.
Wales will no doubt benefit greatly after the emergence of independence and from assuming its place as an independence self-governing nation within the European Union. The world's Welsh can look forward to that day, when not only their thoughts will turn to home, but the spirit of hiraeth will inspire them to make a visit which may become permanent, as in the case of Ireland, and their multifarious talents will enrich the nation for future generations. So join the World's Welsh and make an impact across the world. Wherever you are you can make a difference.

Lingering Architecture in Lithuania

Since I have been in Kaunas I have stayed in three Soviet era apartment blocks in cramped conditions. They are still a reminder and remain a blot on the otherwise attractive landscape. Soviet architecture is typified by faceless concrete blocks in sombre grey hue and the said monstrosities with their antiquated plumbing and electrical systems deserve to be despatched to Kingdom Come, but people need housing and these monoliths represent affordable housing for the majority of the urban population. Trolley buses form the popular mode of transportation and the ticket is bought from a kiosk for 1.20 Litas and the same price applies throughout the network.

The Burgeoning Euro

May 25 2008 by Steffan Rhys, Wales On Sunday

THE euro was launched as a cash-less currency for virtual payments in 1999 to claims that it was a “toilet currency” that would not withstand having to cover economies as diverse as Germany, Italy and Ireland.
At the time it was worth about 71p but it dropped to a low point of 57p in May 2000, returning to its initial rates two years later, when it appeared in physical form as banknotes and coins.

Its value against the pound has risen by 15% to 80p in the last six months and the euro has been tipped to replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
“The euro’s strength has to do with the different policies in the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, which have both reacted to the current financial crisis,” says Marco Gundermann, economics lecturer at Uwic.
“The European Central Bank is quite inflexible in its policy making. They can’t take into account employment issues and are only charged with looking at inflation.
“The American bank has to react to employment. The Bank of England is inflation targeting but also has to support overall economic policy, so probably feels more vulnerable at the moment.”

Not all EU member states use the euro. Denmark and the UK agreed an opt-out clause exempting them from participation, while other countries (newer EU members plus Sweden) have yet to meet the conditions for its implementation.

steffan.rhys@mediawales.co.uk

Time to consider a Welsh Euro? Should Wales go it alone and join up? It will be the currency of the future without doubt. The days of the Pound are numbered.

The City of Kaunas

Kaunas in Lithuania is a very pleasant city,with parks, many trees and leafy suburbs. There is a confluence of two rivers here and an old town with cobbled streets and fine buildings. Today there was a street market extending for several hundred metres and a religious procession (Catholic) as well as traditional dancing in folk costume. Needless to say I took many photographs. A Welsh exile would have no difficulty in settling in this amenable and congenial environment.

An Offence to Democratic Government in Wales

PLAID WALKOUT AFTER JOBS ROW

IAN LEWIS

from the South Wales Evening Post
09:00 - 17 May 2008

Plaid in Carmarthenshire have stormed out en masse at the first full council meeting of the new term.Members were protesting against what they saw as a very poor offer of representation in influential positions on the authority - considering the party's successful showing in the local elections.

Plaid leader Peter Hughes Griffiths (pictured) branded the ruling Independent/Labour coalition's move a token gesture after it offered opposition members just three key positions this week. The proposal was declined and his party walked out of County Hall during the meeting, held to elect the new leader and committee chairmen.
Councillor Meryl Gravell had earlier been returned as council leader with 42 votes, compared to 28 for Councillor Hughes Griffiths.

The Plaid leader said: "As a group we have rejected the crumbs offered to us by the coalition, as we feel that it is not a fair reflection of how the people of Carmarthenshire voted."
Despite winning 42 per cent of the vote in the county elections, and a total of 30 seats, Plaid weren't offered a place on the executive board and, out of 32 chairmen and vice-chairmen of various committees, the party was only offered two scrutiny committee chairs (housing and social justice) and one vice-chairman's role (education and children's services).
"As a party we have done everything possible to try to talk to the Independent and Labour groups to find a solution that is best for the people of this county, but we have been totally ignored," said Councillor Hughes Griffiths.
"I'm very disappointed with the outcome because, when it comes down to it, it is the voice of the people that is being ignored."
He added: "We will continue to work hard for the people of Carmarthenshire as an opposition party and, with 30 councillors, we will make sure that the voices of the people are heard."

Independent group leader Pam Palmer hit back strongly, dismissing Plaid's antics as "childish at best".
She said: "It just beggars belief - they turn down the opportunity for two very high-profile chairs and a vice-chair, then turn around and walk out of council because not only do they want them, but they want more.
"Their behaviour is extremely childish at best, at worst they have thrown away the opportunity to represent the people who voted for them."

A Comment
I fully support Plaid in their protest at this meeting; what we must remember is a lot of the independents are ex-Labour councillors who have distanced themselves from the party by standing as independents because they knew darn well if they stood under the Labour flag they wouldn't have a cat-in-hell's chance of getting elected. They are still the same tired old Labour cronies we've had to put up with for donkeys years. We have in Carmarthenshire what is effectively a Labour council despite Plaid getting a high percentage of the vote. What we need is new young blood, true independents to stand and get rid of these tired old communist fogeys who are only there to serve their own interests and do the bidding of this inept, incompetent Labour government.
Rob, Llanelli

We in Plaid fully agree. When will people realise that any party or grouping which is affiliated to the "British" parties does not represent the true interests and heritage of Wales and its people? Further comments welcome.

From the Spectator Blog

Wednesday, 21st May 2008
Labour Conference abolishes Britishness
James Forsyth 6:09pm

I’ve just been filing in an application for credentials to the Labour party conference and was gobsmacked to find that you could not declare your nationality to be British. Instead, you had to pick English, Northern Irish, Scottish, Welsh or a foreign nationality.

I’m sure that this is just an oversight. But given how much Gordon Brown talks about Britishness and the giant Union flag backdrop at the special Labour conference that elected him leader, it is rather amusing. I’m now considering starting a campaign: British passes for British hacks.

Independence Cymru says: we call on the Labour Party to officially abolish this illusory sense of "Britishness". Our nations have matured beyond Britain.

Onward To Lithuania

News for the friends of Independence Cymru
I am heading for the old town of Kaunas in Lietuva (Lithuania)
so will be there for a week or so, then back to Dyfed on 6th June.

The Cornish Language Comes Back to Life

From The TimesMay 21, 2008

After centuries, Cornish agree how to speak their language.
by Simon de Bruxelles

For hundreds of years the dwindling band of surviving Cornish-speakers have been so divided that they could not even agree what their language should be called.
Now after protracted and delicate neogtiations, Cornwall’s hardy linguistic scholars have set aside their differences to settle a standard written form for the language they treasure.

Since the early 20th century there has been a successful campaign to revive spoken Cornish, but the use of sources from different eras meant there were several versions of how it should be written. The result was a rivalry between proponents of Unified Cornish, Kernewek Kemmyn, Modern Cornish, Unified Cornish Revised, Kernowak Standard, Kernewek Dasunys and other variants that would have left speakers of the original language utterly bemused.
As a measure of the differences Cornish-speakers could not even agree whether the language should be called Kernowek, Kernewek or Curnoack.
Now after two years of negotiation, scholars from all the different factions have reached agreement on a Standard Written Form which will be used in future in education, in pamphlets and brochures, and on public signs.

A thousand years ago, Cornish, which is closely related to Breton and Welsh, was spoken by most of the population in southwest England. Its decline began in 1549 when the Latin prayer book was replaced by an English version, provoking a revolt by people who spoke only Cornish. The repression that followed culminated in the massacre of 4,000 rebels and left a bitterness that lingers to this day.

Cornish retreated down the peninsula. The last monoglot Cornish speaker is believed to have been a man called Chesten Marchant who died at Gwithian in 1676. Dorothy Pentreath, the last native speaker, died in 1777 at Mousehole. The last living link with the language was broken in 1891 with the death of John Davey, of Zennor, who took to the grave the Cornish phrases his grandfather had taught him.
By 1900 Cornish was a dead language that survived only in a few manuscripts and the notes of 18th and 19th-century linguistic scholars who had recorded what they could before it vanished completely.
Its reconstruction and revival began in the early 1900s with renewed interest in Cornish heritage and there are now about 300 people who can speak it fluently, with several thousand more who have at least a rudimentary grasp.

Cornish is unique among minority European languages because it was revived after having died out. A team of scholars led by a Norwegian linguist, Trond Trosterud, devised the standard written form under the auspices of the Cornish Language Partnership.
Its development officer Jenefer Lowe, who has been speaking Cornish since she was a girl, said: “There were scholastic disagreements and some pretty firmly held opinions but we managed to reach agreement in the end. The standard form draws on the forms already in existence. This means that users of any form will find much that is familiar, alongside some differences.”
Benjamin Bruch, a former lecturer in Celtic studies at Harvard University who helped to draw up the SWF, said: “It is a critical and extremely exciting time in the history of the language. There has been a huge change in perception and awareness of the language over the past ten years.”
He added that he hopes the move will encourage a stronger sense of Cornish identity. “If you have no language you have no land. A lot of people feel it is part of their identity, part of their heritage. Cornwall is lucky because people are working hard to use it more and more. It gives it a fighting chance when others are going.”

Cornwall County Council is now asking that Cornish be recognised by the EU as an official regional or minority language, like Welsh or Gaelic. That could ease the way for EU funding for teaching – which at present is restricted to DVDs in three secondary schools. Frances Bennett, a teacher of Modern Cornish, said: “Young children are really keen to learn the language. It’s like a secret code to them.”

Starting point

Myttin da
Good morning

Dohajydh da
Good afternoon

Gorthugher da
Good evening

Fatla genes?
How are you?

Meur ras
Thank you

Marpleg Please

Pinta korev marpleg
Pint of beer, please

Yeghes da/Sewena
Cheers

A vynn’ta kavoes neppyth dh’y dhybri?
Do you want something to eat?

Ple’ma an bysva?
Where is the toilet?

My a’th kar
I love you

Dyw genes
Goodbye (God be with you)

Alba, Cymru, Eire (Iwerddon), Kernow, Lloegr, Mannin, Breizh - the New Utopia........

Are you ready for this?

An Uncaring Government in a Valueless Society

They say that society gets the government it deserves, but it is the duty of government to set the standards and the tone and to lead society in the best way possible, maintaining values of decency, dignity and respect and establishing a social structure and constitutional framework based on just principles and right conduct. This government has done none of these things. It has stood by while society crumbles and decays, and allows the worst elements to gain the upper hand.
Witness the decline in standards, in government, in the media, in education and on the streets. Witness the rise of bureaucracy, control, regulation, taxation, and the lack of privacy and individual freedom.
Living with this state of affairs it appears to be the norm, but when one distances oneself from it and views it from afar its true nature is revealed in all its abject and sordid profligacy.

Quality of life for elderly 'worse'

Press Assoc. - Tuesday, May 20 04:02 am

A fifth of people over 65 in the UK (20%) feel their quality of life has worsened in the last year, while only 9% feel it has improved, according to a new survey.

One in four older people say they have become so worried about their future that it is affecting their physical health, the study for the charity Help the Aged showed.
The poll by ICM also found that 23% of people aged 65 and over avoid heating their bedroom, bathroom or living room because they are worried about the cost.
One tenth (10%) of people of that age say they are often or always lonely, while 12% are not happy with their quality of life. And more than half (53%) agree that age discrimination is part of older people's everyday lives, with 29% saying health professionals tend to treat older people as a nuisance.
The survey forms part of the charity's analysis of the state of older people, called Spotlight.

Other figures highlighted by the charity include the proportion of older people in England who say they are not always treated with dignity in hospital has worsened from 21% to 22% while the provision of low level social care - two hours or less at home a week - has dropped, with 11% fewer households receiving care in England than in the previous year.
The charity also says that in the past 12 months an estimated 200,000 extra pensioner households have been plunged into fuel poverty.
The same number of older people are living in poverty in 2008 as in the previous year, with 21% of pensioners surviving below the poverty line, it says.
Paul Cann, the charity's director of policy and external relations, said: "It's appalling that we live in a society where older people feel sick with worry about the future.
"The Government must ease their concerns by banning the ageism that continually sinks its poison right into the heart of our society."

Kernewek May be Revived in the 21st Century!

The Cornish language has received recognition and support from the European Union.
Paste the link into your browser window to find out how:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7074487.stm

Message from Cernyw/Kernow

Alun a wheag.

We in Kernow look on with deep satisfaction at these enlightening events in Cymru for we see ourselves as some 40 years behind, (politically speaking). Whilst I as an individual know I will not be alive to witness "Kernow Rydhsys", I will at least know that Cymru and following, Kernow, will be well on the way to achieving a political and nation status that will inevitably lead, not just to preservation, but to a growth of the culture of our Celtic nations. A family based culture that really cares for our peoples and is not solely intent on aquiring wealth as our colonial interlopers seem to be obsessed with.

Personal thoughts are that there is no poetry in the English except that which glorifies its colonialism, "Land of hope and glory", Rule Britannia", et al.

Oll an Gwella.
(name with-held)

Latvia's Need for Resurfacing

The streets and roads of the towns and villages of Latvia are in dire need of maintainance and repair. Many of them are completely unmade while others have numerous cracks and pot-holes. The infrastructure is generally old and creaky, the trams still running after years of service going way back into the Soviet era, and the featureless buildings are ripe for reinstatement or demolition. Latvia needs a massive amount of funds injected into its shaky economy and there is no Barnett Formula here.