As I continue to get stronger after operation my little birds are still collecting information across Wales. Information trickles in and I become increasingly disturbed by what I hear, now large areas of my nether regions are rather purple and bruised. Yet these are are not the only things that are purple.
I notice with great interest that Jac o`the North c has been retweeting stuff from European Neo-Nazis. worryingly there seems to be a concerted effort going on by the British Far Right to get a toe hold in the emerging Welsh Independence movement. Jac`s tweet sounds like this
"@JacotheNorth Aug 13
You want to know what's wrong with @Plaid_Cymru? Here it is - the 'narrow church' party: nobody other than wimmin/leftists/greens/remoaners. “ Jac has taken on a complete Right wing pseudo- kipper populist agenda. Some years ago he was championing the brave men of the Conferedarcy and bemoaning the taking down of the Confererate Flag in South Caroline. Perhaps we should remame his page Jac o` the Alt Right
There is a website called Cymru Nation which has become infested by posters denouncing Socialism, denouncing Muslims and political correctness and denouncing LeanneWood.. They invariably call for a 'new national movement in Wales that is neither left or right' and of course this is pure post modern third way fascism of whom one of the culprits is a English Defence League supporter from Kent. WNFN championed Trump and endorsed his agenda. One wonders what their stance is on the attack in Charlotteville on Monday
Please dont be fooled by the Facebook Page of Welsh National Freedom News They are part of the far right bridgehead strategy and I found this comment from them on my feed.
. “Our magazine is common - simple - right wing and proletariat. .” WFNS clearly identifies itself with the “proletarain right” as it puts it. Its odd how all these events occur at the same time..odd that
And I have just noticed Jac seems to have removed those tweets...how odder still....
I am a long term supporter of an Independent Wales, I welcome the rise of Yes Cymru
and similar movements and I am delighted that web sites like Cymru nation are appearing. I am a supporter of Welsh culture, history and language. I am an Ecosocialist and support an independent green party within an independent Wales and I cannot make it much clearer than this My family has strong North Walian origins as well as having many Europeann roots.
However I an many others are concerned to see that people on the British far right trying to worm their way into the Welsh Independence movement, fascists and racists and their repugnant ideas are not welcome in Wales.
There is an English Defence League supporter from Kent called Kim Erswell. he speaks a lot about Tommy Robinson and the EDL. He has been commenting on the Cymru Nation website. Horrifyingly he has said he has been involved with Cymdeithas. I am including within this piece many of his tweets and comments on the Cymru nation blog...they illustrate many of my concerns and of his thinking. Please read and decide for yourself
There is also someone called Chris Piper who has been trying to infiltrate Yes Cymru groups and Welsh nationalist social media groups and circles. He is a neo fascist active in the so called Welsh Defence league and I suspect he comments on Cymru Nation under a pseudonym. Please read the comments above and consider my thoughts.
In a debate I had last September with a young Libertarian right winger within UKIP I wondered why he continually refused to criticise Plaid and now I understand why. I think that the so called right sense an opportunity within Wales and I urge you to look at certain interesting articles on the blog Bella Gwalia that speculate on historical parallels with the Welsh situation and Ireland at the turn of the twentieth century.Wales is a progressive left leaning country. And there is no place for neo fascists in the Wales we want to create.
I am concerned that a powerful right in an independent Wales will create an Éamon de Valera moment leading that Welsh state to have the problems of the Irish republic. Independence Ecosocialism and social justice must be enshrined within that independent Welsh state and must not avoid social justice and economic equality. The Irish state has been independent nearly 100 years and social justice and equality is still far far away.
This piece on Cymru Nation this week, and some of the comments posted under it are was very illuminating and more than a little worrying. It promotes some nonsence about Wales being a 'socially conservative country' and also attacks the Welsh left and argues for a new national movement that is conservative with a small “c”.
Why Cymru Nation keeps allowing I just do not know. The article reads thus it is written by Ifan Morgan Jones
Jac o the South..... and Welsh National Freedom news......the right rears its head....
I, like many others within the Welsh national movement, voted to ‘Remain’ in the Referendum on EU membership on 23 June last year.
Subsequent events have, I believe, validated that choice. I believe that Wales will suffer economically, and culturally, because of Brexit.
However, as contradictory as it may seem, the Welsh Brexit voter may have gotten us into this mess, but they’re also key to getting us out of it.
There’s no point shunning them. They are our friends, family members, and fellow countrymen. If we truly believe that we’re running a national movement, we need to include them too.
And it’s clear that they share many of the aims of the Welsh national movement.
Wales voted ‘Leave’ because of a deep dissatisfaction with the political status quo.
To use slightly more colourful language, they wanted to give an out of touch elite that they perceive as not giving a damn about them, a good kicking.
And however terrible Brexit would be to the economy, they wouldn’t have risked that if they didn’t recognise that Wales’ economy was in a pretty bad state anyway.
OK, yes, the same elite they voted to kick is now using Brexit as an excuse to make themselves more politically powerful.
And yes, what little crumbs off the table they had given Wales in recent years are going to be swept back up off the floor. That surely wasn’t part of the plan.
But you can’t blame Leave voters for that. Some of us here in Wales had warned that this would happen, but:
We lacked a strong Welsh media to get our message across
We were complacent. We didn’t see it coming and didn’t do enough to stop it
Disillusioned
If the national movement in Wales is going to make any ground, it needs to offer these small ‘c’ conservative voters a home. Here are four reasons:
These are the people most likely to understand that we live in a rigged system, because they see that same system holding them back every day however hard they try to overcome it.
These are also the people most willing to change that rigged system, because they have less to lose in doing so.
They are looking for change. If the Welsh national movement doesn’t offer it to them, they will turn to the imperial nationalism of the Farages and Trumps of this world instead.
The Welsh national movement won’t get very far without them.
The contradiction at the heart of the Welsh national movement is that it’s a middle-class, mainly Welsh-speaking, socialist movement in a mostly working class, English-speaking, socially conservative country.
It’s a front-row nationalism in a back-row country.
In other words, it’s not much of a national movement at all because it effectively leaves out a good 75% of the population.
Independence and dependence
The second of the four reasons outlined above warrants further discussion.
These socially conservative voters are also actually more likely to ultimately vote for independence than the group that currently makes up the independence movement.
Although cultural factors do play a part, the success or failure of national movements ultimately comes down to economic and political self-interest.
Ironically, the people who currently make up the Welsh national movement are also the group that’s probably one of the least likely to vote for Welsh independence.
That may seem mind-boggling, but it’s true.
This is because their own economic and political self-interest is dependent on the public-sector institutions most likely to be damaged by the economic changes that would follow independence.
In fact, it could be argued that the Welsh national movement isn’t in its current form an independence movement at all. Its aim is to achieve two things:
Maintain the current political status quo (with a few tweaks) in perpetuity
Maintain Welsh institutions for the employment of the Welsh middle class
That is, we have ended up with half a nation state (devolution) not because the Welsh are ‘weak’ or because we’ve been ‘brainwashed’.
It’s because half a nation state is ultimately the arrangement that meets the political and financial needs those that make up the Welsh middle class than run the country.
While they are ultimately financially dependent on the UK government, the kind of activity that would make independence a possibility will never happen. There’s simply no incentive.
Only a financially independent middle class will ever fight for independence.
The conservative argument
Therefore, if Wales is to become independent (and it’s a big if) it’s more likely to do so via a small ‘c’ conservative movement than a left-wing, socialist one.
Such a movement would be free to argue for the following:
Spending less on the public sector and more on projects that would strengthen the private economy in the long term, such as better infrastructure
Lower taxes on small businesses to make Wales a country of financially independent business people.
Fight to devolve broadcasting in Wales – the BBC and S4C. While the media in Wales depends on the UK Government’s funding it’s unlikely they would give an independence movement an equal platform.
Argue that while immigration of skilled workers is a positive, free movement in and of itself can damage the cultural fabric of communities (English as well as Welsh speaking) if not controlled
Combine local authorities but also devolve significant powers over housing, education, language, transport and agriculture
Strive in every way to cut Wales’ financial deficit and set independence as the goal once it is done
These are arguments that are already out there, and are occasionally expressed by members of Plaid Cymru, Labour, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems.
However, there is no party or movement that has brought them together into one over-arching, consistent political manifesto.
Small ‘n’ nationalist in Plaid Cymru, Labour and the Liberal Democrats are mostly content with the current arrangements (with a few tweaks).
There is some overlap with the Conservative Party but their British nationalism means that such a program would be anathema to them.
Want Welsh independence? You’ll need Brexit voters.
But you may need to create a new movement from the ground up, as none of the political parties in Wales, at the moment at least, offer an easy fit.
I think it tells you a lot about a nascent right wing movement in Wales. I am not criticising Cymru Nation I am simply thinking about a sub text being introduced into a post Brexit Wales as a leit motiv of the right. In an article today on the website there is a call for Plaid to enter a coalition with the Tories...odd that...what else do we have ? I wonder indeed. And I hope that one Jac o the north is just a mistaken and silly old man ….... and not a Jac o' the deep South.....
https://nation.cymru/2017/a-plaid-cymru-and-conservative-coalition-would-help-wales-move-on-from-the-80s/
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