Thanks for the reply, Aran. I think we’ve all been very friendly and respectful here, haven’t we? It’s an interesting place to have this discussion, and (as with all topics) there are aways going to be a broad range of opinions, all of which are valid.
As I’ve said, I’m opposed to nationalism - it makes no sense to me. It’s a place of birth, nothing more. I love many cities and countries around the world and I respect, marvel, and wonder at their language, traditions, heritage, history etc. I see this as no different to Welsh really, and we can see that by the number of international community members (who have never even been to Wales perhaps) who study the language. Using the label of nationalism (in my opinion, again) only causes divisions, and I’m all about opening borders not closing them. I support the language, and I wish that Welsh history was taught in schools (it wasn’t at all up until the point I finished teaching a few years ago), mostly to educate people as to how our communities and societies have become what they are now (unemployment, social structure etc). To clarify, I did mention that there was a fine line between right-wing fascists and Welsh nationalists, not that there was a similarity between them (just as all people declaring as ‘patriotic’ are not fascists). There’s an unfortunate number of people utilising the banner of ‘nationalism’ as an excuse for segregation and racism (a number of people, not all, again to clarify) whether we like it or not.
I don’t know of anyone who hasn’t had a bad experience with Welsh at some point in their life to be honest. Mine started at school (I went to Gowerton Comprehensive, at the time when half of the school grounds were given to the new Welsh School - Gwyr (much-needed, I’m not disputing that, there should be more Welsh schools!), but the way it was handled was appalling, and resulted in practical gang warfare between the two schools. The kids at Gwyr used to wait for us behind buildings to attack us on the way home, for no other reason than we were from the ‘English’ school. Gwyr also had brand new sports facilities, that they were supposed to share with our school, but never did (this was clearly an error from the governance of the school, but nonetheless, it fed down to the pupils). As a professional musician now I’ve attended Eisteddfodau for years, and unfortunately have seen Welsh schools selected over English ones purely because of their language (this hasn’t happened as much recently, as far as I can tell, but most definitely happened in the 80s/90s). To give an example - I entered a chamber group in the late 90s (3 musicians, all of whom went to conservatoires the following year), which were beaten in the preliminary stages by a recorder group several years younger, who were from a Welsh Medium school. It was an open secret that the proficient group didn’t go through because they were English medium (this is factual by the way, not opinion).
My partner went to a Welsh medium school in North Wales, but his family don’t speak Welsh at home. He was brought up hating the language because of the level of bullying by the ‘mam-iaith’ at school towards the ‘English’. He still speaks the language, and teaches through the medium down here in the south now, but has no high regard for it due to his negative connotations. He was also a member of a Welsh-language pop band in the 90s (he’s also a professional musician) and has a very negative view of Radio Cymru, and the expenditure on Welsh language acts - prior to the ‘Welsh music only’ situation changing on RC, all Welsh language bands knew they could write any old nonsense, and it would get played on RC due to the lack of music available (again, this is fact, not opinion from someone who was there in those days).
To the present day, every Welsh entertainer/musician is aware of ‘The Taffia’ and how closed a group it is - you’re offered MANY more opportunities within the closed clique if you’re a Welsh speaker. There’s a strong sense of this supporting the culture within the Welsh-speaking community, but also of ostracising the English-speaking side. I’ve attended the Urdd, National and Llangollen Eisteddfodau (as a participant, teacher, and visitor) many MANY times, and out of all of them, the Llangollen one is by far the most inclusive and supportive of culture. The participants of the Urdd are mostly privately-educated musicians these days (harp is quite simply, not affordable as an instrument to learn for your average-earning Welsh family), which has been made worse by the dismantling of local education authority music services, local youth music groups etc. I was thrilled by the openness of the National last year down the Bay, and hope that this continues, and that the Urdd follows this lead too. The cost of attending Eisteddfod is simply prohibitive for many. Eisteddfodau are probably the only things keeping Cerdd Dant alive I suppose, so that is one definite example of the language supporting the culture! However, it does largely preserve it only for those who can enter those circles. For anyone not directly involved in Eisteddfodau, Welsh culture is non-existent. That needs to change.
All in, it’s a highly complex issue, as I’m sure you of all people are aware Aran (I have absolute respect for you for going on to the Jeremy Vine show and attempting to reason with him - I find the man utterly reprehensible to be honest, and can’t bear his show where he whips up hatred!). I feel we very much need to acknowledge the bad and the good about the language, and that some Welsh speakers can do SO much more to make Wales, and Welsh inclusive. We’ve come a long way since the dark days of Meibion Glyndŵr, thankfully!
I’d be interested to see the difference between ‘mam-iaith’ speakers’ views on culture and the language in Wales, and of English-speaking Welsh folk. As I’ve said, I can only go on my experience. Looking forward to an interesting debate here though!
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