Archive for April 17th, 2009
17th April 2009
Gwasanaeth Cenedlaethol Cymreig / Welsh National Service
Mae yn saith mlynedd ers i mi awgrymu creu fersiwn Cymreig o’r rhaglenni gwasanaeth cenedlaethol Americanaidd a grewyd gan driawd o Arlywyddion Democrataidd yn fodelau suful o wasanaeth milwrol. Dechreuwyd y Civilian Construction Corps gan Roosevelt yn y tridegau. Erbyn diwedd y ddegawd mi oedd tair miliwn o bobl ifainc wedi adeiladu pum deg mil o bontydd. Yng nghanol y rhyfel oer fe greodd yr Arlywydd Kennedy y Peace Corps i roi’r cyfle i filoedd o ddelfrydwyr ifainc dangos ochr mwy dyngarol i ddylanwad Americananaidd. Ac yn ystod tymor Bill Clinton fe greodd yntau Americorps fel corff cyfatebol i bobl ifainc oedd am helpu mewn prosiectau nes tuag adref.
Nawr mae Arlywydd Obama – oedd ei hunan wedi dechrau ar ei ymdaith hir i’r Ty Gwyn fel trefnydd cymunedol yn Chicago – wedi cytuno i arwyddo mesur gan Kennedy arall, yr hynafgwr o Massachussets, Edward, sydd am gyflwyno’r newid mwyaf pellgyrrhaeddol fyth yn rhaglenni gwasanaeth cenedlaethol America gan dreblu’r gullideb ar gyfer llefydd wedi eu noddi, a mynd a’r nifer o lefydd ar gael i gwarter miliwn y flwyddyn – nol lan ble fuodd e pan ddechreuodd Roosevelt a’i gynllun yntau.
Ond yw hi’n hen bryd nawr i ni gael rhywbeth tebyg yng Nghymru. Mae dros 50,000 o bobl ifainc yn ddiwaith. Mae yna lu o anghenion – cymdeithasol ac amgylcheddol, cenedlaethol a rhyngwladol – heb eu diwallu. Mae David Cameron wedi son am gynllun o wasanaeth chwech wythnos ar ol gadael ysgol ond dyw hyn ymhell o fod yn ddigonol. Dwi yn meddwl ei bod hi’n bryd i greu gwasanaeth cenedlaethol dinesyddol newydd ar gyfer pobl ifainc rhwng 16 a 24 oed yn para hyd at flwyddyn fydd yn rhoi cyfle i bobl ifainc treulio amser mewn gwahanol rhannau o Gymru a’r byd, i weithio gyda phlant, yr henoed a’r anghenus ac helpu’r amgylchedd.
Iddo fe wneud gwahaniaeth mae rhaid i’r wasanaeth bod o ddigon o faint – 5,000 i ddechrau yn cynyddu i 25,000 o fewn deg mlynedd. Er yn cydweithio gyda’r sector gwirfoddol, rhaid iddo fe cael ei redeg fel rhaglen cenedlaethol gyda hunaniaeth ei hunan – TirnaNog fyddai fy newis i am enw. Fe ddylai’r bobl ifainc cael eu talu – isafswm cyflog o leiaf – a gallant hefyd ennill arian tuag at gostau astudio. Gwirfoddol fyddai’r rhaglen i ddechrau, gyda’r opsiwn o’i droi yn ofynnol i bawb ar ol y cyfnod prawf yn dibynnu ar agwedd pobl ifainc – mae arolygon barn yn dangos mwyafrif o blaid. Ym 2011, blywddyn etholiad nesaf y Cynulliad, mi fydd hi’n ganrif yn union ers i Owen M Edwards a Mallt Williams creu Byddin Cymru – rhagflaenydd yr Urdd oedd a phwyslais ar wasanaethu Cymru. Pa ffordd well o ddathlu’r canmlwyddiant nag i Lywodraeth Plaid Cymru creu byddin o’r newydd dros heddwch rhyngwladol a chenedligrwydd Cymreig.
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It is seven years since I first suggested creating a Welsh version of the American national service programme that was formed by three Democrat Presidents as a civil model of armed service. The Civilian Construction Corps was started by Roosevelt in the thirties. By the end of the decade, three million young people had built fifty thousand bridges. In the middle of the cold war, President Kennedy created the Peace Corps to give the chance to thousands of young idealists show a more humane side to American influence. And during Bill Clinton’s term he created Americorps as a corresponding body for young people in order to help with projects closer to home.
Now, President Obama – who himself began his long journey to the White House as a community organiser in Chicago – has agreed to sign a Bill by another Kennedy, the senator from Massachussets, Edward, who is introducing the most far-reaching change ever in American national service programmes by trebling the budget for sponsored places, and taking the number of places available to a quarter of a million, back when they were when Roosevelt began his scheme.
But it is now time for us to have something similar in Wales. There are more than 50,000 young people out of work. There are a host of needs – social and environmental, national and international – that need to be satisfied. David Cameron has talked about a six week service programme after leaving school, but this is far from adequate. I think it is time create a new national citizenship service for young people between 16 and 24 years old, lasting up to a year and giving the opportunity to young people spend time in different parts of Wales and the world, working with children, the elderly and needy and helping the environment.
For it to make a difference, the service must be of a large enough size – 5,000 to begin with, rising to 25,000 within ten years. Although it will be working with the voluntary sector, it must be run as a national programme with an identity of its own – TirnaNog would be my choice of name. Young people should be paid – at least the minimum wage – and also be able to earn money towards study costs. The programme will be voluntary to begin with, with the option of becoming requisite after a test period, depending on young people’s attitudes – opinion polls show a majority in favour. In 2011, the Assembly’s next election year, it will be exactly one hundred years since Owen M Edwards and Mallt Williams created Byddin Cymru, the Welsh Army – fore-runner of the Urdd with the emphasis on serving Wales. What better way of celebrating the hundredth anniversary than a Plaid Cymru Government creating a new army for international peace and Welsh nationhood.
Cenhedlaeth Newdydd / A New Generation
Wythnos diwethaf, sefais ar gornel y stryd yn Washington rhwng 14th a U. Dyma’r lle, ar nos Iau y pedwerydd o Ebrill ym 1968 pan ddaeth y newyddion o Memphis bod James Earl Ray wedi saethu Dr Martin Luther King, yr ymgasglodd torf o bobl o gwmpas canolbwynt masnachol ardal ddu y ddinas. Pan wrthododd perchnogion y siopau gau eu drysau fel arwydd o barch, fe drodd y dorf yn ddig gan ddechrau malu ffenestri a llosgi adeiladau. Ceisiodd Stokely Carmichael - un o arweinwyr y Black Panthers a dorrodd gysylltiad gyda King ychydig flynyddoedd cynt - ddistewi’r dorf ac atal rhai ohonyn nhw rhag defnyddio trais. Ond ofer a fu. Erbyn diwedd y terfysg pedwar diwrnod yn ddiweddarach mi oedd 900 o adeiladau wedi eu dinistrio a bu farw deuddeg o bobl.
Pedwar deg mlynedd yn ddiweddarach a dyma le dechreuodd y dathlu yn yr oriau man ym mis Tachwedd y llynedd pan etholwyd yr Arlywydd du cyntaf yn hanes America. Y wers dwi yn tynnu ydy hyn: mae cenhedloedd yn newid a mae gwleidyddiaeth yn gweithio. Ar hyn o bryd mae’n hawdd iawn i fod yn sinicaidd. Gyda stori ar ol stori am lwfansau Aelodau Seneddol yn llenwi ein papurau dyddiol pwy all feio pobl am golli ffydd mewn gwleidyddion? Ond rhaid bob amser dwyn gwahaniaeth rhwng gwleidyddion a gwleidyddiaeth ei hun. Nawr mwy nag erioed yng Nghymru mae taer angen i bob un sydd a thamaid o ddiddordeb yn nyfodol ein gwlad i ddangos ei lliwiau.
Da felly yw medru datgan bod aelodaeth y Blaid ar gynnydd. Mae hyn yn barod dwi yn teimlo yn arwydd o lwyddiant ein penderfyniad i ymgyrchu yn onest-agored a hyderus ar annibynniaeth - y tro cyntaf i’r Blaid genhadu a chreu cendlaetholwyr newydd dwi yn meddwl ers y saithdegau. Mae Cynog Dafis ac eraill yn Cymru Yfory yn ofni yn ddigon diffuant y gallwn, trwy’n pwyslais newydd ar annibynniaeth, atgyfnerthu y na-ddywedwyr yn y refferendwm pan ddaw hi ar Senedd gyflawn. Ac eto nid 1979 mohoni bellach yng Nghymru, mwy nag yw hi’n 68 o hyd ar gornel 14th a U.
Mae yna Gymru newydd a chenhedlaeth newydd i’w harwain. Ac na, nid son amdanaf i ydw i nawr ond am Steffan Lewis - arweinydd cyntaf y Blaid o Gymoedd Gwent yn ddiau - Morgan Lloyd sydd wedi safleoli’r Blaid ar flaen y gad technolegol, Myfanwy Davies o Lanelli sydd yn Jennie Eirian ein cyfnod ni, y seren newydd Heledd Fychan sydd yn ail-godi’r Blaid ym Maldwyn, a dwsinau ar ddwsinau eraill nad oes modd eu henwi i gyd. Gobeithiaw a ddaw yddwyf, fel dywedodd Sion Cent. Ni wel pawb ohonom Wlad yr Addewid, ond mae pen y bryniau yn dechrau llawenhau.
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Last week, I stood on a Washington street corner between 14th and U. This is the place, on Thursday the 4th April, 1968, where a crowd of people gathered at the heart of the city’s black commercial area after the news came from Memphis that James Earl Ray has shot Dr Martin Luther King. When shop owners refused to shut their doors as a sign of respect, the crowd turned angry and began to break windows and burn buildings. Stokely Carmichael, one of the leaders of the Black Panthers, who had broken links with King some years earlier, tried to calm the crowd and prevent some of them from using violence. But this was in vain. By the end of the riots four days later, 900 buildings had been destroyed and 12 people had died.
Forty years later and this is where the celebrations began in the early hours of November last year when the first black President in America’s history was elected. The lesson I draw is this: nations change and politics works. At the moment, it’s easy to be cynical. With story after story about MP’s expenses filling our daily papers who could blame people for losing faith in politicians? But we must each time recall the difference between politicians and politics itself. Now more than ever in Wales there is an urgent need for everybody with even the slightest interest in our country’s future to show their colours.
It is good then to be able to state that Plaid Cymru’s membership is increasing. This, I feel, is already a sign of the success of our decision to campaign openly, honestly and confidently about independence – I think the first time that Plaid has missionized and created new nationalists since the 1970s. Cynog Dafis and others in Tomorrow’s Wales are genuinely concerned that we could, through this new emphasis on independence, strengthen the nay-sayers in the referendum on a full Parliament when it comes. But again, it is no longer 1979 in Wales any more than it is 1968 on the corner of 14th and U.
There is a new Wales and a new generation to lead it. And no, I’m not talking about me now but about Steffan Lewis – certain to be Plaid’s first leader from the Gwent Valleys, Morgan Lloyd who has positioned Plaid at the front of the technological battlelines. Myfanwy Davies from Llanelli is a Jennie Eirian for our era, the new star Heledd Fychan who is re-invigorating the party in Montgomeryshire, and dozens and dozens more too numerous for me to name. My hope is on what is to come, as Sion Cent said. Not all of us can see the Promised Land, but the hilltops are starting to rejoice.