Brit Nat Double Standards

Are the British nationalists taking the piss? The Telegraph runs a lead story that English is a minority language in 1,300 schools in England (wonder how many schools in Wales?). Nothing wrong in that - I believe that people who move to England have a responsibility to learn English - it was their choice to move there after all.

However, you could have run this story in Wales today, ten years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago but with the concern that Welsh was a minority language in Welsh schools. That is, the gradual diminishing strength of the Welsh language moving through Flintshire, Gwent and Glamorgan westwards over the last hundred years or so. And the process is still happening today. Of course to point this out would be 'nationalistic', 'divisive', 'xenophobic, 'anti-English', 'narrow-minded', 'harmful to children's jobs prospects' ... or probably all six.

Heavens, Welsh is a minority language of the families of most children who attend Welsh medium schools too. No one writes about that. The miracle that happens every day is that these schools, despite their many difficulties, manage to ensure that those kids leave school speaking Welsh and English fluently. No one gets medals, there's no leading articles in London (nor Welsh) newspapers. The English teachers must be a bunch of ninnies if they're complaining!

And if more money is to go to accommodate and immerse kids from non-English speaking backgrounds into English schools, what about the same for Wales with the Welsh language? Why has there been no articles in the Welsh press about the difficulty in accommodating linguistically the English kids who move into Gwynedd or Ceredigion - are the press and politicians too scared? But why?

Immersing English kids in Welsh schools is linguistically much more difficult that immersing Pakistani kids in English schools. It's difficult enough when those kids come from homes where the parents have made a conscious effort to take their children to a Welsh-medium school - it's even more difficult when parents have decided to move to Wales and just happen to be in a Welsh-speaking area. No leading articles in the 'say your British' press about this nor either by Gordon Brit Nat Brown.

If immersing non-English speaking kids is difficult in England then isn't the same true for Welsh in Wales (especially considering the weaker position of Welsh in society and media)? So, where are UCAC and the other teaching unions asking for more money for Welsh schools in this important task? Where's Plaid Cymru AMs on this matter? Welsh teachers need all the support they can get to ensure that Welsh is a medium of instruction in our schools and they deserve the full backing of all political parties (yes, including Labour) on the matter.

What's right for English is right for Welsh too.

The Age of the Small State

Even the Financial Times is now cottoning on to what many of us have known for years to be the blinding obvious - there's no point to states like Britain, France, Spain or Belgium. The hubris of the Brit Nats gets more and more obvious every day.

I saw this piece on the Brussels Journal site. If you read the comments you'll see there's a good reaction by a Breton reader with an interesting link to another article.

Labour's Brit Nats are standing in the way of history and progress - it's time they just moved over. There's no economic, moral, cultural nor practical reason for their nationality just a colonial arrogance towards smaller nations.

You Can't Eat a Flag!

Sad really, at one time Labour MPs like Betty Williams would patronise Welsh nationalists who were raising concerns about the Welsh language with the pathetic put-down like, 'you can't eat a flag'. Now it seems Labour MPs just want us all to have a belly-full of the Union Jack.

Ian Lucas, well-known British Nationalists (Labour of course) wants us to have a Welsh dimension to the Union Jack. If Lucas knew his history he'd know that Wales is included in the Union Jack, we're represented by the Cross of St George, because under the Act of Union/Incorporation 1536 - Wales is a 'part of the Realm of England'. As Lucas is vociferously in favour of keeping Wales a part of this realm then I'd have thought he'd be happy that Wales was part of his mother country.

And in any case, hasn't this man got anything better to do? Nobody flies the Union Jack in Wales, it's not our flag, nobody gives a toss Lucas. We've got a good flag, the English and Scots have also got their own classy flags, why the hell would we want to mess about with the Union Jack? As Labour have patronised Welsh nationalists over the decades, people aren't interested in identity politics and flags Lucas, they want to talk about "schools'n'hospitals"... or are the British Nationalists now worried that the tide of history is against them?

You know where you can stick your Union Jack, Lucas... oh, and get a life! British Nationalists, what are they good for?

Rally in Support of United Belgium

Still on Belgium. Saw this piece about a pro-Belgian rally in Wallonia. 35,000 people, mostly Francophone in Francophied Brussels, join a rally to support the Belgian state.

Now 35,000 is a lot of people. But two things. French-speakers identify with the Belgian state - and only a small minority of the people were Flemish. So it's a bit like those mass rallies in Madrid a few years ago against ETA and Basque Independence - they would say that wouldn't they. It's a bit like a rally in London against Northern Ireland joining the Republic. It doesn't really say anything. Belgium was built in the image of a French state and it's natural then that French-speakers are very happy with Belgium.

The state has changed a lot since WWI when Flemish conscripts were sent to fight by French-speaking officers not understanding a word which was said to them (bit like Wales really) but every concession the Flemish movement and Dutch language has won is that, a concession, from a Francophone state. Seeing french-speakers marching for Belgium is like seeing Russians marching to keep the USSR or Turks marching to keep a united Turkey against an independent Kurdistan.

They want to keep a state which gives their language prestige over a larger territory - of course they want to support that. And of course, this is all done in the name of warm words like 'unity' and 'diversity'. No doubt, the Flemish would be flying Belgian flags if Belgian had been created in the image of a Dutch-speaking state and people able to speak Dutch in Wallonia and Dutch taking over towns in French-speaking Wallonia too.

There's also the ubiquitous 'why don't politicians discuss schools/hospitals/work' which the rally organiser complains about. Conceit is a funny thing. No doubt if parts of Wallonia became Dutch-speaking, or dare I say Brussels - which was a majority Dutch-speaking city until the Second World War, then the Francophones would be up in arms.

The other interesting development is Belgian flag-waving. Funny how the Belgian nationalists are now flying flags, no doubt after years of patronising Flemish patriots as 'flag-waving nationalists'. Funny how Brit Nats now want us to fly their flag too in the name of 'unity' and 'diversity' after years of implying that Welsh nationalists were extremist flag wavers.

What's the point of Belgium?

Over 150 days without a central government (there are another 5 or 6 levels of government depending where you live) and Belgium still stutters on.

Quite a balanced piece in the Guardian on Tuesday by Jon Henley. Although it fails to ask how would the British Nats (yes, the Labour government) react if, say, the commuter belt of London became French-speaking because French people couldn't be arsed to learn English?

Forget the usual bunk about 'diversity'. The Brit Nats supported the Falklands War because they weren't ready to see a part of British territory change from being an English-speaking community to being a Spanish one... and, yes, that it the bottom line in yet another British 'ethnic' war.

The Flemings aren't sending in troops, but Britain's different. It was more than ready to kill and die because it was unwilling to become French-speaking which is why she fought an ethnic war against Napoleon or German-speaking which is why she fought an ethnic war with the Germans (twice).

There are no millions dead on the account of Flemish nationalism - unlike British nationalism! Flemings are no more (probably even less) nationalistic than your average Brit Nat Labour voter or Minister.

The Wallon minister in the piece, Pique, says that the demise of Belgium would be 'a victory for selfishness' - yes he's right, the selfishness of French-speakers to think they musn't stoop so low as to learn Dutch if they live in Flanders.

Henley comes out with the usual line at the end of the piece about the Belgians may 'be missing their country'. But Belgium isn't a country, it's a state. How many people miss states? - how many Czechs or Slovaks 'miss' Czechoslovakia and apart from Russian nationalists, how many 'miss' the USSR?

States aren't important - countries and languages are! The moral reason for a state is to protect and promote a language and culture. There is no Belgian language so there is no moral reason for that state. The moral reason for the creation of the Belgian state was partly Catholic culture and French-speaking nationalism by the upper-class who didn't want to live in a Dutch-speaking state (although that state gave them wide linguistic rights).

That French-speaking moral reason for Belgium is gone. We've no reason to mourn the death of Belgium any more than mourn the death of Burgundy, the Spanish Netherlands or Napoleon's Batavian Republic - or the UK. They are just states.

Get Dafydd Iwan in the charts for Ray Gravell

From Facebook Group:

Dafydd Iwan was Grav's favourite singer and it's well known that before games he would sing Dafydd Iwan songs emotionally.

It's a bit of a wild idea but I thought i'd try to get as many people as I could to buy 'Yma o hyd' online from itunes or another online store. Maybe we'll outsell Leona Lewis! Singles only cost 79p, the price of a bottle of Coke. Let's see what happens!

Only join the group if you have bought or are intending to buy the song. Click on the link below to buy the single from Itunes:

iTunes Store - Dafydd Iwan ac Ar Log -iTunes Store - Dafydd Iwan ac Ar Log - Yma o Hyd - Yma O Hyd

Petition the WRU - Ray Gravell Cup

PETITION THE WELSH RUGBY UNION TO RENAME

The ‘Prince William Cup’

THE

RAY GRAVELL CUP!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION NOW

In memory of a great Welshman and rugby hero. Er serchus cof.

Sponsored by Cambria Magazine.