Where does Welsh Labour actually stand on Welsh Medium Education? Nationally they are signed up to a One Wales coalition committment of developing a strategy and promoting it. Locally though there is a lot of hostility, I have previously written about the alleged,"ethnic cleansing" in Cardiff and "language apartheid" in Wrecsam all in the context of Welsh Medium Education.
In Wrecsam this has moved forward with a letter in the Evening Leader from a prominent Labour Community Councillor whose husband Cllr Michael Williams was the Labour Executive Board member who uttered the word, "language apartheid".
Mrs Williams states in her letter:
"A new Welsh medium school is a nonsense a complete waste of money, pandering to the minority and will do very little to ensure the survival of the language or prevent divisions in society which the present system encourages."
So there we have it...can't be any clearer can it...Labour just can't be trusted.
You'll find that the Labour party at local level pretty much everywhere are against Welsh medium education, and against Welsh speakers. In Caerphilly one of them was heard to say he opposed Welsh medium schools because they 'created Plaid voters'.
ReplyDeleteThere you have it.
Welsh Labour. Welsh-hating Labour. Nasty, divisive and anti-Welsh. I'm surprised you're suprised
What saddens me is to hear any local Welsh people so anti the welsh language, regardless of political affiliation. Saying that, after the website disaster that is Aneurin Glyndwr I find this letter very ironic. The Labour party are now trying to lay claim to Owain Glyndwr, with Eluned Morgan claiming 'He's ours now'.Do these idiots have any idea what the man represents to the people of Wales!? Or, as this letter clearly shows, do the labour party just want to ride the wave of Welsh pride sweeping the Country to desperately try and pull their party back from the brink? Quite obviously the authors of this letter show a complete distain for our Welsh heritage, so which is it Labour? Are you proud to link yourselves with the father of Welsh Nationalism and everything he represents or is it just the case that there is very little about this party that is sincere at all.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what would Mrs Williams do to promote the language? No answers just being negative and decisive, banish it to St.Fagan's no doubt. The demand for Welsh- medium education is out-stripping supply all over Wales.
ReplyDeleteGlobal research shows becoming bilingual has positive effects on a child and is more likely to provide thinking, social and cultural advantages.
It saddens me that even in 2009 some people like Mrs Williams still hold a 19th century mentality to bilingualism and resent the growth of Welsh in Welsh life.
Well get over it. Wales has moved on, which is something I’m afraid a dinosaur like Mrs Williams will never understand.
Whether you speak Welsh or not, it is up to all of us to keep our wonderful language alive and thriving, because no-one else will.
I have tried to have a look at the letter on the Evening Leader website but can't find it, is it possible to see it on the net? And I'd like to respond to the letter, do you have an email address for letters page in the paper? Diolch.
ReplyDeleteWrite to editor@eveningleader.co.uk to get your letter published.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't look like the Evening Leader will put it on the website.
ReplyDeleteCan someone scan it, put it on tinypic.com or photobucket.com and give the rest of us the link, please?
It's always good to have a record of the evidence. It will be useful in future.
MH,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your interest, all three letters now scanned onto tinypic.com and can be accessed as follows
http://i39.tinypic.com/n653d1.jpg
Mrs Williams's letter.
http://i43.tinypic.com/aw9qg6.jpg
Cllr Marc Jones's reply
http://i41.tinypic.com/2hi18gh.jpg
Cllr Arfon Jones's reply
Diolch yn fawr
ReplyDeleteTwo more letters in the Evening Leader tonight (1/4/09) giving Mrs M Williams's letter a hard time.
ReplyDelete