We'll Fly OUR Flag

Interesting pics. Some of the Welsh members of the Olympic team being feted by the Senedd (good to see the Senedd becoming the centre of Welsh life).

And the image below is that of Becky Adlington, an English member of the GB Team, arriving in Mansfield. Notice the difference?

We are flying our own flag, the Red Dragon - not a Union Jack in sight. The English fans can fly the Union Jack. Wales is where the heart is!

Scottish Sikh Visits Festival of Hate

... and doesn't get abused or mugged by Welsh speaking 'extremists'.

I found this link to a witty and positive programme by the Scottish Sikh comedian, Hardeep Singh Kohli, broadcast a few days ago on BBC2 (throughout the UK) about his visit to the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff last week - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d18bm

Funnily enough, unlike the Labour Party in Wales he:

1. turned up at the Eisteddfod
2. didn't find it to be a Festival of Hate or one for the 'Crachach', just quite interesting, relaxed and affirming.
   

Yes, a festival that welcomes all people, in a celebration of literature, art, science, music... and getting off with smart girls. If a Scottish Sikh can feel at home at the National Eisteddfod, it just makes you think what deep colonial prejudice the Labour Party in Wales has with the Welsh language and a Welsh culture which isn't stuck somewhere around 1955.

But then Hardeep Singh Kohli isn't a member of the Labour Party, isn't a British nationalist or anti-Welsh like large segments of the Labour Party in Wales.

Well Done Nicole, Now it's time for a Welsh Olympic Team!

Congratulations to Welsh cyclist Nicole Cooke for winning a Gold Medal at the Olympics today.

Nicole, from the Vale of Glamorgan, was the first Welsh athlete to win a gold medal at the Olympics for over 30 years, but I am sure that Wales would have many more medals, if Wales had an Olympics team, and more Welsh athletes were given the chance to shine on the greatest sporting stage of all.

Nicole is one of only 14 Welsh athletes, out of a GB group containing 312. It doesn't take a mathematician to see that Wales is poorly represented, and that many more Welsh athletes would be in Beijing this year if Wales had its own Olympics team.

OK, Wales is not an independent country (yet!), but are Palestine and Hong Kong Independent countries? Both have teams competing at this year's Olympics!

Wales is too small to have a team many sceptics will shout, but there are many smaller nations than Wales who have teams competing at the Olympics. Not enough athletes? Well we have 14 in the British team; some countries are only represented by one or two athletes.

Welsh athletes would certainly NOT be at a disadvantage if they represented Wales instead of GB. Most of the sports are individual sports, and for the team events, hardly any Welsh athletes are represented at the moment. The GB Football team at the 2012 Olympics will be full of Englishmen, as the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish FA's refuse to take part. If Wales had it's own team at the Olympics, think of the wonderful under 23 football team that could represent us in 2012. Gareth Bale, Chris Gunter, Sam Vokes, Ched Evans, Lewin Nyatanga, Wayne Henessey and Aaron Ramsey.

To make matters worse, a very large sum of money that was supposed to come to Wales (estimated at around £100 million) will go to London instead to pay for “Britain’s” 2012 Olympics. It Wales had its own Olympics team, this money would have stayed in Wales.

The Welsh flag has even been banned from the Olympics this year, with flags from competing countries only allowed. That's why Nicole Cooke wasn't even allowed to hold the Welsh flag after her superb victory today. Her National Anthem (Hen Wlad fy Nhadau) is also banned at the Olympics, and she had to listen to God Save the Queen, with the Union Jack (that doesn't represent Wales by the way!) flying above.

It’s about time Wales had an Olympics team. Contact your local politicians to ask them to campaign on your behalf!

Below is an excellent article that appeared in the Western Mail a few days ago:

Give us our own Olympic team

Aug 7 2008 by Our Correspondent, Western Mail

In light of the ban on the Welsh flag in the Olympics, Dr Geraint Tudur, general secretary of the Union of Welsh Independents, argues it is time Wales was given a separate team

BANNING Welsh medal-winners from draping themselves in the Red Dragon flag during victory celebrations at Beijing is an absolute disgrace. It undermines our nationhood and is an insult to the Welsh people.

Indeed, we feel that this is contrary to the Olympic Charter itself which insists on “respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”. As Christians in Wales, we believe that God has created us as a nation to serve him, and that our existence is a cause for celebration. Any action which diminishes or rejects our identity is to be deplored.

Potential Welsh medal-winners, such as swimmers David Davies and Jemma Lowe, and cyclist Geraint Thomas, must be allowed to celebrate their achievement by waving the flag of their country.

It is very sad, but relevant, that this story should have broken in the press during National Eisteddfod week at Cardiff. The massive financial burden of holding the Olympic Games in London in 2012 has already thrown a shadow over Welsh cultural events – including the eisteddfodau.

The “National” is the pinnacle of a pyramid of smaller eisteddfodau held in village halls, schools, chapel and church vestries throughout the length and breadth of Wales. These local eisteddfodau are the breeding ground for the formidable talent that maintains the high standard of the National Eisteddfod.

But the society which does so much to promote the local eisteddfod, Cymdeithas Eisteddfodau Cymru, has had to curtail its activities drastically after losing grant aid – as a direct result of Lottery Heritage funding being diverted into the financial black hole that is the 2012 London Olympics. Village eisteddfodau and other cultural events are threatened. Many are held in our chapels, and are part of both our Welsh and Christian heritage.

This is happening because the cost of the London Olympics has risen to nearly £10bn – four times the original estimate. And so, the Welsh Peter is being robbed to pay the London Paul.

Earlier this year, the then Welsh Heritage Minister, Rhodri Glyn Thomas, estimated that Wales would lose £70m between 2009 and 2012. Adam Price MP put the loss at well over £100m. Losing grant aid will have a devastating effect on charities, societies and services in Wales.

As Mr Price said, it is totally unfair that some of the poorest communities in Wales will be paying towards the rejuvenation of part of the richest city in Europe.

Independent Chapel members throughout Wales are horrified by this injustice. At our annual meetings at Swansea last month, members accepted a motion from West Carmarthenshire chapels expressing outrage at the way in which Wales is being milked of money to pay for the 2012 Olympics, at a time when the Welsh language and our nation’s community life is already fragile.

To add insult to the financial injury, successful Welsh athletes at Beijing will now have to mount the winners’ podium beneath the Union flag, to the strains of God Save the Queen.

Of course, this situation would not arise if Wales was allowed to compete as a nation in future Olympic Games. In view of the financial injury and the political insult, we feel that this is the only reasonable course of action.

I have, on behalf of the Union of Welsh Independent Chapels, written to the Welsh Assembly Government, asking them to press on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow Wales to compete as a nation in its own right in the London Olympics.

Would you like to see a “British” Rugby Union team or a “Great Britain” football side in the World Cup? In these days of devolution surely it is time for Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to compete as separate teams in the Olympic Games. And what would it matter if Wales came 67th in the medal table? (GB only managed 10th last time!) Surely our self-respect and rights as a nation on the world stage should come first.

The Union of Welsh Independents represents some 30,000 Christians in 450 chapels. Since 1872, the Union has taken a radical stance on a range of spiritual, moral and social subjects.

The Cost of British Nationalism

Yes, they want a British state, no matter who's in power - Labour or Tory, they're both wedded to the drug of British virility. Yes, they pour £3bn down the drain, because the British state is a nationalist state that needs to prove its worth with nuclear weapons.

So, when Labour British nationalists like Eluned Morgan say Wales can't afford to have status for Welsh in the EU or we can't afford to have policies to promote Welsh, or build council houses, or railways in Wales... you know who to blame and what to blame - British Nationalism which is espoused by the British nationalist Labour Party.

Independence for Tibet - Independence for Wales

I salute all those protesters who've stood up for Tibet in London and Paris - and hopefully in the USA when the Olympic flame visits there soon.

If you believe the Olympics should be 'apolitical' or 'shouldn't be used for political purposes' then, hey, time to get out of bed. What - and you think the Chinese aren't using the Olympics and spending billions of pounds of it without a political agenda - c'mon, smell the coffee!

OK - I'll leave aside my genuine mistrust of trendy Brit lefties highlighting the plight of a small nation and language (Tibet) in danger of being swamped by a larger one but failing to see similar correlations in Wales. For once we're as one. Tibet's fight is Wales' fight. And lets hope Plaid Cymru don't just talk of political rights and rights of expression. This isn't a protest about rights of expression or human rights - this is a fight about NATIONAL rights.

The Han Chinese people have precious few rights - it's right to campaign for their 'rights of expression' or 'human rights'. But the Tibetan Intifada is about National Rights. The Han Chinese are educated in their own language (or at least an agreed Mandarin 'Chinese' language). They have their own state, legitimacy of national culture. The Tibetans don't have their own state; don't have full linguistic rights and don't have the right to secession or self-government (though many Labour Brit Nats probably agree with that).

So come on Plaid, tell it like it is, this is an Intifada for National Rights and Tibetan independence, and we support them because without their own independent state the Tibetan language (like Welsh) WILL become a minority language in its own country - a fate the Han Chinese (or English) would never allow to happen to their own language.

It's time the West stood up to China. It's time the Brit Left Wing stopped winging about George Bush (he won't be here in a few months time), stopped attacking America every chance, and looked at the elephant in the room. Do you want a world dominated by China? Independence for Tibet, like the campaign for independence for the Baltic States in the 1980s, is not only morally right, but strategically right too. Baltic independence brought the evil empire of communism down. Support for Tibet will show China that the people in the West are no fools. Tibetan independence will bring democracy to China.

Tibet is Estonia with mountains, Wales with glaciers, Brittany with monks, Sioux Indians with writing, Kurds with communism. We're different but we all know what language death looks like. We all know what living next to a stronger and more numeric culture looks like. And we all know what being called 'separatist/racist/fascist/xenophobe' looks like when we're called that for wanting the same national and linguistic rights as our stronger neighbours would never dream of giving up.

Yes to Chinese independence; yes to Chinese language and culture; yes to Chinese democracy.

But also

Yes to Tibetan independence; yes to the Tibetan language and culture; yes to democracy in Tibet.

I look forward to the 2012 Olympic games where there will be national teams competing from China, Tibet ... and Wales!

Tibet am Byth

Free Tibet: http://www.freetibet.org/

Eluned Morgan - British Nationalist against Welsh and Tibetan Independence

So Eluned Morgan MEP in an incredible attack on her own nation has said that recognising the independence of Kosovo is a dangerous precedent.

Yes, this coming from a Labour MEP whose party lead the war in Iraq which is this year costing UK taxpayers $3bn and has been part of a totally reckless international precedent. Absolutely no irony - amazing.

Of course, Morgan, believes that nations which are part of larger states (i.e. that have been militarily conquered in the past and have been colonised) shouldn't be recognised - that's us, the Basques, Catalans and in fact virtually every nation on earth sometime in its history. Oh, how I wished Britain had been defeated by Napoleon or the Kaiser to teach some humility to these British nationalists. I mean, was there ever any national campaign for liberation which wasn't 'a dangerous precedent'? The UK didn't exactly support US independence, nor Ireland's nor most African states nor Welsh when Glyndwr lead an intifada.

Morgan's words gives moral support for the Chinese massacres in Tibet today. Oh yes, Morgan will say she's against the heavy-handed action of the Chinese and that they should put up some bilingual signs in Lhasa and have a nice cup of tea, but by not supporting the right of a nation to independence she gives moral support to the Chinese.Will Morgan support Tibetan independence or not?

The arguments used by the dictatorial communist Chinese regime is exactly the same ones used by Morgan and her Spanish and Turkish nationalists to oppose Kosovan, Basque, Kurdish or Welsh independence. Her immoral stance will create more bloodshed and tears as it gives thugs like Putin the go-ahead to crush Chechen independence or the Burmese junta's war against the Karen. It seems Morgan, like a true British nationalist, is very proud to be in the camp of the colonisers, the juntas and the anti-democrats.

Is Morgan going to campaign in the EU against the legitimate right of a nation to become independent? When she walks around the corridors of the EU does she have the conviction of her principles and tell the Slovene or Estonian MEPs that their shitty little countries shouldn't be independent and should have stayed a part of Yugoslavia or Russia. I'm sure they'd love to hear her tell them what a mistake independence was for them!

And how can she speak to these people and see the Slovene Presidency of the EU and not think, "hmm, maybe Wales could do that..." but then, Wales is just a shitty little country which should be glad and proud to get little crumbs from London's table. Heavens, what kind of deep psychological condition does Morgan suffer from which makes her believe that Wales is not only less capable than Slovenia but that Wales shouldn't even have the right to be like Slovenia. Oh, yes, Labour's British nationalism.

Morgan's comments will actually deny legitimate nations like ourselves the right to independence. Or maybe she'd actually campaign against Welsh independence within the EU. Fine - we'd take her on. I'd like to see Labour take that to Scotland and see Salmond whip them for it. I'd like to see the EU deny membership to Flanders in which Brussels is a part. I'd like to see the EU refuse to recognise Basque independence after a majority of people have voted for it. Morgan's comments are a recipy for disaster not for Wales or the Basques but for the EU. If the EU won't recognise legitimate nations who precede the states in which they are a part of it will be another small but significant step to dismantling the EU. Countries will go it alone and will prosper - it will only be a small step then for England / Germany / Italy to leave as well.

Moreover, Morgans' almost racist hierarchy of nations (with her own, Wales, very much on the bottom, below Latvia or Malta) will lead to conflict and maybe bloodshed. The Spanish state refuses the democratic right of the Basques or Catalans to have a referendum on independence. This anti-democratic madness is the one glimpse of legitimacy which ETA use to support its claim that there is no democracy in the Basque Country and that the Spanish state will never peacefully allow the Basques to chose independence. ETA's reasoning, supported by the Spanish State, is that only military option will give that choice to the Basques.

The UK was more intelligent than the Spanish. In the Good Friday Agreement, Tories and Morgan's Labour, agreed that the UK had no selfish economic nor military interest in Northern Ireland and that the 'province' was free to chose it's destiny. That one significant statement undermined the whole of the IRA's logic and lead to peace.

What kind of a Welshperson snitches against her own nation's right to independence and aligns herself with Chinese Communists who kill Tibetans, Burmese junta who kill Karen or Stalin and Franco?

Independence for Kosovo

Congratulations to Kosovo, or rather Kosova, on gaining statehood and voting for independence on Sunday.

There's a lot of doomsayers about the future of the state the usual 'economically unviable' and, yes, at the moment it's in a bit of a mess. But, it's more economically viable than an independent Palestine, and I've yet to meet anyone that says Palestine shouldn't gain independence because of its economic inviability!

In fact, statehood will be a great help towards the economic development of Kosovo, bringing it out of a legal limbo and forcing the Albanians to sort themselves out and stop blaming others. It won't be Sweden in five years time, but then, who would have thought the other East European would have travelled so far in 15 years. Well we would have as Welsh nationalists! We've always known 'you can't make it on your own [sic.]' to be prejudice by proxy.

If Kosova can gain status and recognition (and will in time be economically successful), then what really is stopping Wales? Are we really less of a people than the Kosovar Albanians, one of the poorest people in Europe? Do we have less self-respect and dignity than the Kosovar Albanians? What kind of a nation is Wales that can't even vote to ban plastic bags?

In 2012 Kosova will be represented at the London Olympics, raising the profile of her nation and her self-respect, and where will Wales be, cap in hand asking the Mother of Parliaments for a few more crumbs, no doubt with the Brit Nats telling us how lucky we are!