It's good to see Cymdeithas Yr Iaith taking action to highlight just how little the Welsh Government is doing about Welsh, both with Robin Farrar's can of spray paint earlier this week and today's protest in the reception area of the government's Cathays Park offices.
I want to express my support for what what they're doing, and would like to see them keep up this campaign of peaceful pressure until it spurs the government to take more action than they've shown any appetite for so far.
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12 comments:
So you'd prefer to live in a world in which things were "clean" but nobody took any action? Some things are too important to let lie.
The British state has been a steamroller for uniformity, of language, culture, & much else. There is a significant democratic deficit, and lack of protection for minorities. Appropriate direct action has a place & can be effective.
Fine, protest by all means. But protest lawfully.
As for minorities being steamrollered, perhaps so. But we all probably belong to some form of minority grouping or other, be it sexually, religiously, culturally, linguistically or whatever. We need to be steamrollered into a collective whole, because it is this collective whole that pays for our hospitals and roads and education and pensions and welfare.
Alternatively, opt out ..... and do without!
You lie in front of the steamroller if you want to, but most people I know aren't so passive or compliant.
Fine, don't be passive or complaint. Do your stuff.
But understand the consequences. The 'collective whole' withdraws its support from you and yours.
Easy.
Anonymous 20.04
It's a good job Nelson Mandela wasn't afraid of the 'collective whole' withdrawing its support from him and his. There would still be institutionalised racism in South Africa today if he had listened to your generous advice.
Phil Davies
Phil Davies, you are right. Institutionalised racism needs fighting. And this is why we must rally against councils like Gwynedd and Ynys Mon imposing a 'speak Welsh' language policy on employment opportunities.
It's racism of the very worst sort.
Quite so Anon 12.08, the poor English-speaking man or woman of North Wales (a sorry group to which I myself belong)... we brow-beaten, oppressed, socially and economically excluded, linguistically castigated under-class... I can see the clear parallels between Beaumaris, Deganwy, Abersoch and Soweto . I would rise up and organise a mass rally against the 10 Welsh-speaking-only jobs in the BBC in Bangor, were I not distracted this afternoon by the 70 English-language tv channels available from the comfort of my sofa, the chirpy conversation I will have with my chums down the golf club this afternoon and the English-language pub quiz at the sailing club tonight.
Phil Davies
Comparing contemporary Cymdeithas to Nelson Mandela is laughable.
Cymdeithas need to adapt to the modern world. They've had the majority of things they wanted across Wales but Welsh speakers in the Bro are declining. Maybe they should move their gaze from the 'Welsh' Government and put pressure on Ceredigion, Pembs and Carmarthenshire, although Pembs isn't in the Bro, the traditional Welsh dialect of the area is being eroded.
They need to focus on keeping the Bro majority Welsh speaking and supporting Welsh expansion in other areas.
It should be encouraged in the Vale, Cardiff and the Valleys but not to the extent where it is deemed as 'being forced upon them'.
I agree wholeheartedly with what they are fighting for but I wholeheartedly disagree with how they decide to fight.
On the subject of steamrollers, it would rather depend on who's driving it. And, for the record, I most certainly believe that some things are worth breaking the law over, and Welsh is one of them.
I set out my position on direct action in detail in this post a few years ago. One point to note is that painting a slogan on a wall is not necessarily a criminal act. The Kingsnorth protest established that painting a much larger slogan on the chimney of a power station was not a criminal act because it was justified by the importance of taking action on global warming. I see no reason why painting a slogan on a wall should not similarly be justified by the importance of taking action on Welsh.
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As far as I know, every council in Wales has a policy that requires its employees to the able to understand and speak English. But of course, in the strange mirror world that some people inhabit, that cannot possibly be "racism of the very worst sort".
MH, by all means have council employees who can speak and understand Welsh and make their services available to those who wish to use the Welsh language for communication. But please don't expect everyone else, the non-Welsh communicating, to make use of such employees. Why should they, they too have rights.
And if we could extend this principal to the use of doctors and lawyers and so on things would be a whole lot fairer. Why, some people would seek out truly bilingual speakers as a matter of course. But remember, a bilingual speaker is as a different as a Welsh or an English speaking person.
Again, choice is everything. But with choice comes restriction. To try to pretend otherwise is counterproductive (just look at education).
For the record Gwynedd council also requires English language skills for employment. Residents of Gwynedd that only speak English get a full service in that language. Everyone's rights are upheld.
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