I am a Welsh nationalist. I believe that Wales should be an Independent Country. I use to be a member and a branch officer of Plaid Cymru, I have been an electoral agent for the party and I have made speeches in many of the party conferences!
I have not stopped being a supporter of Plaid Cymru, I just stopped paying my membership fees after Dafydd Wigley's statement that plaid had never ever supported Independence for Wales, some 15 years ago!
I support independence!
It's interesting to see Plaid Members calling out Plaid reps on the independence question now!
The one thing that stops me joining Plaid is a quote that appears often on Syniadau's blog when he calls others to order:
2.2 To ensure................, decentralist socialism.
Decentralised socialism is an oxymoron. You can do what you want in your neighbourhood as long as it is Socialist – that isn't decentralisation! It's as stupid as saying that Wales can be independent as long as it remains British!
I was a member of Plaid when this Socialist crap came to a head, in the days of the Hydro Group. The silly thing was that on individual motions there was never a "Hydro" v "Socialist" split, both groups either supported each other, or both split amongst themselves!
I think that there is something quite pathetic in the fact that Plaid's rules exclude me from membership of the party for agreeing on social policy from a right wing Christian position with Welsh Ramblings ultra left atheist position on many areas of public policy. Surely it's the policy that counts - not the background doctrine!!!!
Showing posts with label Right Wing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Right Wing. Show all posts
02/11/2011
16/07/2011
On Dragons and Tongues
There is a typically Guardianista debate taking place on the Comment is Free site about intellectual clichés:
In the Context of the CiF debate the cliché's origins are not in a debate just about the language, but in a book by Glyn Jones and a HTV series where Prof Gwyn Alf Williams debated with Wynford Vaughan Thomas, not so much about language, but about conservatism and radicalism. Both Wynford and Glyn were fluent Welsh speakers the tongues that divided their dragon wasn't linguistic but cultural; it wasn't can speak Welsh v can't speak Welsh but right v left.
In the intervening 30 odd years since the programme was made, only one party has successfully taken on the lessons learned from the programme - the Conservative Party - The only party that doesn't really mind the language that you use as long as the message is right in both senses of the word. Unfortunately the Tories oppose national self determination for Wales, so I can't support them!
Plaid Cymru, a party that one would expect to unite all Welsh speakers and all who have an abiding interest in Welsh culture and history cuts us Wynford types out, because we are not Gwyn Alf's disciples who believe that the Gresford disaster and Streic y Penrhyn are the be all and end all of North Wales' history, because we are not all left wing. Plaid treats our Dragon's Tongue with opposition, opprobrium and derision.
Unless and until a national movement unites all who want Welsh independence, left and right, cultural and practical, Welsh speaking or not, one of the dragon's tongues will remain very, very wilted!
"We've all been there. You're in the middle of a heated discussion – debating the news over a pint in the pub, or firing off comments below an article on Comment is free. Suddenly, you remember that someone famous once put your argument in a much pithier way than you ever could. It might be an old canard like "Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" from the Old Testament, or trendy economist-speak such as Malcolm Gladwell's well-worn phrase "the tipping point". The point is: you didn't really read the original text, and you're not all that sure what the author was really going on about in the first place. But you quote it anyway. Everyone – commenters, commentators, yes, even editors – sometimes resorts to intellectual clichés."As if by magic our own Wales Home came up with a perfect example "The Dragon Has Two Tongues", a debate about whether or not Wales Home should publish posts in Welsh without translating them into English, a theme picked up by John Tyler.
In the Context of the CiF debate the cliché's origins are not in a debate just about the language, but in a book by Glyn Jones and a HTV series where Prof Gwyn Alf Williams debated with Wynford Vaughan Thomas, not so much about language, but about conservatism and radicalism. Both Wynford and Glyn were fluent Welsh speakers the tongues that divided their dragon wasn't linguistic but cultural; it wasn't can speak Welsh v can't speak Welsh but right v left.
In the intervening 30 odd years since the programme was made, only one party has successfully taken on the lessons learned from the programme - the Conservative Party - The only party that doesn't really mind the language that you use as long as the message is right in both senses of the word. Unfortunately the Tories oppose national self determination for Wales, so I can't support them!
Plaid Cymru, a party that one would expect to unite all Welsh speakers and all who have an abiding interest in Welsh culture and history cuts us Wynford types out, because we are not Gwyn Alf's disciples who believe that the Gresford disaster and Streic y Penrhyn are the be all and end all of North Wales' history, because we are not all left wing. Plaid treats our Dragon's Tongue with opposition, opprobrium and derision.
Unless and until a national movement unites all who want Welsh independence, left and right, cultural and practical, Welsh speaking or not, one of the dragon's tongues will remain very, very wilted!
04/05/2010
Did my Dad have more from Labour Past?
When I am not doing politics, my other great passion is family history.
Family historians often have to evaluate documents that deal with money in days gone by.
Was great grandfather generous or not when he bequeathed his youngest daughter £30 in 1872?
Was great, great Grandmother guilty of a major crime when she was hanged for stealing 6d worth of goods in 1728 or was she subject to a barbaric law that used capital punishment for petty crimes?
When Dad worked in the 1960's for £15 a week was he well paid or exploited?
The rule of thumb is to double the value of everything every ten years!
So a wage of £15 in 1960 would be £30 in 1970, £60 in 1980, £120 in 1990, £480 in 2000 and £960 a week in 2010 - a very good wage by today's standards
Only part of the double rule is accounted for by inflation, the other part is accounted for in greater expectations: Indoor toilets, television, a home computer etc. Things that my ancestors never had but, one would be considered very poor for not having today.
When the Labour Party boasts that it has doubled the funding of the Welsh Assembly over the past ten years, as a badge of honour, what they are really saying is that they give as much today to the Assembly as they gave ten years ago – no more, no less!
Family historians often have to evaluate documents that deal with money in days gone by.
Was great grandfather generous or not when he bequeathed his youngest daughter £30 in 1872?
Was great, great Grandmother guilty of a major crime when she was hanged for stealing 6d worth of goods in 1728 or was she subject to a barbaric law that used capital punishment for petty crimes?
When Dad worked in the 1960's for £15 a week was he well paid or exploited?
The rule of thumb is to double the value of everything every ten years!
So a wage of £15 in 1960 would be £30 in 1970, £60 in 1980, £120 in 1990, £480 in 2000 and £960 a week in 2010 - a very good wage by today's standards
Only part of the double rule is accounted for by inflation, the other part is accounted for in greater expectations: Indoor toilets, television, a home computer etc. Things that my ancestors never had but, one would be considered very poor for not having today.
When the Labour Party boasts that it has doubled the funding of the Welsh Assembly over the past ten years, as a badge of honour, what they are really saying is that they give as much today to the Assembly as they gave ten years ago – no more, no less!
20/01/2008
Lefty Saxon Gnat
I came across this blog whilst blog surfing earlier today:
Rebellion Sucks
A Socialist English Nationalist Blog. Most Welsh and Scottish nationalist blogs are left wing. English Nationalism seems always to be portrayed as right wing.
Now, being a tad to the right myself, I usually have more sympathy for the English national cause than I do for the lefty Welsh national cause. But it is good to see that there are some lefties who support England's self-determination.
Now where are the right in Wales who support my Welsh Nationalism and me?
Rebellion Sucks
A Socialist English Nationalist Blog. Most Welsh and Scottish nationalist blogs are left wing. English Nationalism seems always to be portrayed as right wing.
Now, being a tad to the right myself, I usually have more sympathy for the English national cause than I do for the lefty Welsh national cause. But it is good to see that there are some lefties who support England's self-determination.
Now where are the right in Wales who support my Welsh Nationalism and me?
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