26th June 2009
BNP
Er gwaetha’r cynnydd yng nghefnogaeth y Blaid a’n llwyddiant yn ein cadarnleoedd, mae’r anfadwaith bod pleidiau cenedlaetholaidd Prydeining wedi gwneud bron cystal a’r Blaid Genedlaethol Gymreig yn yr Etholiadau Ewropeaidd yng Nghymru dal yn fy mhoeni. Gobiethio bod hyn yn pigo cydwybod pob gwladgarwr wnaeth aros gatre, ond mae’n gyfrifoldeb arna i ofyn beth a ellir gwneud yn well neu’n wahanol. Yn hen draddodiad y trioedd, dyma dair, taer awgrym.
Rhaid i ni beidio ymddiheuro am ein cenedlaetholdeb. Yn oes globaleiddio mae gwleidyddiaeth hunaniaeth a’r amgen am ail-wreiddio grym gwleidyddol mewn cymunedau lleol a chenedlaethol yn ganolog i’n cyfnod. Dyna yn rhannol sydd wrth wraidd twf y Dde Brydeinig; consyrn gwirioneddol am bwer anatebol, boed yn sefydliadau Ewropeaidd annemocrataidd neu gorfforaethau’n ecsploetio llafur rhad.
Ein cyfrifoldeb a’n cyfle fel cenedlatholwyr Cymreig yw dangos bod yna ddewis amgen i hunaniaeth Brydeinig, hiliol y BNP (fyddai yn hala Colin Jackson ‘adre’, ond nid y mewnfudwr i Faldwyn, Gauleiter Griffin) a gwrth-Gymreig UKIP (sydd am ddileu’r Cynulliad ynghyd ag unrhyw fesur o ddwyieithrwydd). Mae hyn yn golygu gwella’n gallu i gynhyrchu negeseuon syml, gafaelgar: mi oedd neges UKIP, a’r BNP, dim ots pa mor wyrdroedig, yn hawdd i’w cofio ac yn uniongyrchol. Rhaid i ni greu neges o genedligrwydd cynhwysol Gymreig sydd yr un mor rymus emosiynol.
Yn ail, mae rhaid i ni dargedu’r dosbarth gweithiol sydd wedi eu bradychu gan Lafur newydd ac sydd nawr yn chwilio am gartref gwleidyddol newydd. Ar wahan i’r Cymoedd, mae’r Blaid wedi bod yn blaid y dosbarth canol Cymraeg am gyfran helaeth o’i bodolaaeth. Pan ymunodd fy nheulu i a’r Blaid yn ystod Streic y Glowyr, roedd e’n dipyn o sioc ddiwylliant i’r Blaid yn lleol. O fewn rhai misoedd, mi holltodd y gangen yn ddau: un yn cwrdd yn Neuadd Les y Glowyr a’r llall yn hen dy rheolwr yr Ammanford Colliery Company a oedd bellach yn ‘country club’ y Wernoleu. Mae’r Blaid a Rhydaman wedi mynd ar siwrnai gwleidyddol ers y ddyddiau hynny – ond os ydym am wireddu ein potensial fel yr ydym yn Sir Gar ac yn hen ardaloedd y chwareli, rhaid i ni droi nid yn unig yn Blaid Cymru, ond plaid pobl cyffredin trwy Gymru gyfan.
Yn olaf, mae rhaid i ni ffurfio cynghreiriau. Hen alwad gen i erbyn hyn, ond mae’r canlyniadau diwedderaraf a llwyddiant y Dde yn arbennig yn profi’r angen am gydweithio ar y Chwith. Pe bae’r Gwyrddion yng Nghymru wedi cytuno i’n galwad ni am restr ar y cyd i’r Etholiadau yma mae’n siwr gen i y byddwn wedi dod yn gyntaf a, gyda phum mil ychwanegol o bleidleisiau, wedi llwyddo i guro UKIP gan roi i’r Gwyrddion Cymreig eu Haelod cyntaf yn Ewrop. Mae’r un peth yn wir am Mebyon Kernow a’r Gwyrddion yn Ne-Orllewin Lloegr fyddai wedi ennill sedd oddi wrth y Toriaid wrth sefyll ar y cyd. A’r Dde ar garlam, nawr yw’r amser i greu clymblaid enfys go iawn i ennill nid yn unig yn Ewrop ym 2014, ond yn bwysicach fyth, yng Nghymru 2011.
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Despite the rise in Plaid’s support and our success in our strongholds, the villainy that British nationalist parties have done nearly as well as the Welsh National Party in the European elections still worries me. Hopefully this will prick the conscience every lover of our nation who stayed at home, but I have the responsibility of asking what can be done better or differently. In the old traditions of threes, here are three suggestions.
We must stop apologising for our nationalism. In a world of globalisation, identity politics and the alternative of re-rooting political power in local and national communities is central to our era. This, in part, is the root of the British Right’s growth: genuine concern about unaccountable power, in undemocratic European institutions or bodies exploiting cheap labour.
Our responsibility and our opportunity as Welsh nationalists is to show that there is alternative option to the British identifying, racist BNP (who would send Colin Jackson ‘home’, but not the Mongomeryshire immigrant, Gauleiter Griffin) and the anti-Welsh UKIP (who would abolish the Assembly as well as any level of bilingualism). This means improving our ability to produce simple, gripping messages: UKIP’s message, and the BNP’s, no matter how perverted, is easy to remember and direct. We have to create an inclusive Welsh nationalist message that has the same emotional force.
Secondly, we have to target the working classes who have been betrayed by New Labour and who are now looking for a new political home. Except for the Valleys, Plaid has been the party of middle-class Welsh speakers for a large part of its existence. When my family joined Plaid during the Miners’ Strike, it was a bit of a shock to the party’s local culture. Within a few months, the branch split in two: one meeting in the Miners’ Welfare Hall and the other in the old Ammanford Colliery Company manager’s house that was now the Wernoleu’s country club. Plaid and Ammanford have been on a political journey since those days – but if we are to achieve our potential as we are in Carmarthenshire and in the old quarry areas, we have to become not only a Party of Wales, but a party for all ordinary people across Wales.
Finally, we must form alliances. It’s an old call of mine by now, but recent results and the success of the Right especially prove the need for co-operation on the Left. If the Greens in Wales had agreed to our call for a joint list for these elections I’m sure we’d have come first and, with five thousand extra votes, succeeded in beating UKIP and given the Welsh Greens their first member in Europe. The same is true of Mebyon Kernow and the Greens in South-West England who would have won a seat from the Tories by standing together. With the Right on the rise, now is the time to create a real rainbow coalition to win not only in Europe in 2014, but more importantly, in Wales 2011.
15 Responses to “BNP”
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Rebecca Host says:
June 28th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
1. You’ve already got three alliances:
a) Coalition and full co-operation with nuLabour in the Assembly.
b) Formal affiliation within the communist searchlight organisation with formal alliances with Tory, Libdem ,Labour, and SWP.
c) Alliance with various ethnic minority groups within Wales and the UK via involvement with the taxpayer funded ‘Operation Black Vote’
How many alliances do you think you’re going to need ?
2. If you’re stuck for a simple, easy to remember and direct slogan,just to be helpful, how about:
‘Plaid - we sell you out to unaccountable and undemocratic institutions faster !’
3. Incidentally, if you are serious about trying to defend your position, maybe you should at least try reading the BNP manifesto instead of having to resort to made-up porkies. Trouble with telling fibs is that you eventually get caught out when you least expect it.
T Stanfield says:
June 28th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Plaid have tried to capture votes from immigrants and by forming coalition with nu-labour are now nothing more than a false flag nationalist party. The BNP will sweep you from power in wales within 5yrs. How many people in west Wales know the truth about your hidden agenda such as operation black vote? YOU will pay the price for your betrayel
T Stanfield says:
June 28th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8j41dGklXY&feature=channel_page Traitor!
T Stanfield says:
June 28th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7abgxOBb3r8&feature=channel_page More from the false nationalist party
T Stanfield says:
June 28th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXEfCpqkoMA Is your muslim boyfriend in this crowd adam?
T Stanfield says:
June 28th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
http://news.pinkpaper.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=490 How many people know about this Adam? oooops! they all do now!
Meirion says:
June 28th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Adam,
Do you seriously believe what you are writing about the BNP?
I have not read anything so irrational. I would have expected better from such leading politician.
I fail to understand why you don’t concentrate on your policies rather than indulge in cheap shot gutter statements.
Remember that meeting of 2006 in Carmarthen. Get real!
R Gough says:
June 28th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Thanks T Stanfield! Now I know that Adam Price is a gay man who is not ashamed to be open about it. One more reason to like him and dislike the BNP.
Incidentally, why is the BNP so un-British!? There are more gay people in Britain than there are people who voted BNP…
Plaid Cymru do better than the BNP in Wales because Plaid Cymru is an inclusive progressive party, in line with the values of most Welsh people. The BNP are a party of prejudice and paranoia, with nothing to contribute to a Welsh future.
Uncle says:
June 28th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
A person such as Colin Jackson would be classed as a successfully assimilated ethnic minority. The British National Party does not have a policy of forced repatriation.
As for Plaid, I cannot for the life of me understand how you can be both Nationalist and pro-EU. Really, true Welsh nationalists only have one choice, and you know who I mean.
Mike
(Cardiff)
R Gough says:
June 28th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Mike, Welsh nationalism is not the same as English or British nationalism. Welsh nationalism reflects the politics of Wales which tends to be more progressive. Far fewer people vote for right-wing parties or policies. Welsh nationalism is not about being anti other people, it’s about being pro-Wales. Being pro-Wales involves being pro-Europe because it’s in Wales’ best interests to be an independent nation within a federated continent.
Rebecca Host says:
June 28th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I see, so the Plaid idea for Wales is that with just 4 MEP seats, we should submit ourselves to a foreign, undemocratic and unaccountable institution where there are 781 other MEP seats from some 27 foreign countries. So how does it work again ? Tell me slowly so I understand Plaid’s concept,4 Welsh votes against a policy which is bad for Wales (such as eg: unlimited inward ethnic immigration), versus 781 foreign votes who couldn’t care less as long as they are claiming their EU allowances.
Incidentally, regarding Plaid’s ‘progressive’ history and links to Nazi Germany, this, by Dr.Martyn Johnes, University of Wales, Swansea:
‘The war was deeply divisive for Plaid Cymru. While some in the party wondered whether a German victory would be better for Wales, others supporters were hostile to Nazism and served in the British armed forces. Saunders Lewis’ alleged anti-Semitism and fascist sympathies became a target for opponents of the party and an embarrassment to some of its supporters.
T Stanfield says:
June 28th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
The BNP are not anti gay but we are in favour of people knowing the truth. The media failed to point out the fact Adam is gay to their welsh readership in the same way as the state controlled media forgot to point out to the masses that it was in fact BNP member Michael Barnbrook that started the expenses scandle off with a freedom of information request asking for breakdown of expenses. Had this not occured we the electorate would still be non the wiser and our MP’s including Adam Price would have continued to milk the system for as much of our tax money as they could
T Stanfield says:
June 28th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
why is it that plaid have formed a coalition with nu labour? doesn’t that say something to you about all the political parties? They are one and the same and have led our once great country to financial ruin. The BNP breakthrough has now happened and its now a matter of time before we succeed in Wales- Watch this space. just for the record how many MEP’s do Plaid have? How many do the BNP have?
T Stanfield says:
June 28th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Parasite Price, who cost the British Taxpayers last year, in salary and expenses the mouth watering sum of £317,496 claims that from now on he will be publishing details of his expense claims “from here on in” and will not be claiming a food allowance. But of course the real question is, what has Price claimed prior to the rock being removed from the Parliamentary Maggots that feed off us?
T Stanfield says:
June 28th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Because it is difficult to find out from the heavily censored information on expenses that have been revealed about Price just what he has claimed for. Just try going through his expenses here. Nothing but pages and pages of blanked out information that is about as revealing as a dead rock. http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/adam-price/