WANT TO KNOW THE SOUL OF WALES? LISTEN TO HER MUSIC

Posted on November 16, 2019 by Norwich Radical in Arts, Perspectives and tagged Aled Jones, arts, Bonnie Tyler, British, Bryn Terfel, Catatonia, Charlotte Church, cool cymru, cwl cymru, cymru, Datblygu, eisteddfodau, featured, Feeder, Gorky’s Zygotic Mwnci, Gwenno, hiraeth, John Cale, Katherine Jenkins, mining, music, Pais Dinogad, pop, Rebecca Riots, rock, Shakin’ Stevens, Shirley Bassey, song, Stereophonics, Super Furry Animals, Thatcher, the Manic Street Preachers, tom jones, Trampolene, Wales, Wales Act, Welsh, Yma o Hyd, Ysgol Sul.

by Jonathan Lee

The oldest known song in the British Isles dates back 1,400 years and it’s written in Welsh.

Pais Dinogad was sung in Rheged, a kingdom of Yr Hen Ogledd (the old North), in what is now modern day Cumbria and the Scottish Lowlands. The song is a simple lullaby, telling a baby of his father, Lord Dinogad, who is out hunting in a time long before Anglo-Saxons or even Gaels had arrived in this part of Britain.

It probably wouldn’t be described as an absolute banger if we’re completely honest (although this lyre-wielding, tattooed, metal-head gives it a real good go). It’s nonetheless incredible that it’s still being sung at all today, and that its lyrics are broadly comprehensible to modern Welsh speakers.Continue Reading

DECOLONISE WALES: I

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Norwich Radical in Perspectives and tagged #decolonisewales, 1847 Royal Commission on Welsh Education, Barwyg, Benedictine, Catwg, Christianity, church, collective denial, colonise, colony, cooperative, cymru, decolonise, division, Ecclesiastical Appeals Act, Elementary Education Act, england, Englishries, exports, featured, Henry VIII, Illtud, imperialism, Index of Negrescence, John Beddoe, language, merthyr rising, Meuthin, miners strike, monasticism, Newport Rising, oppression, picket line, Rebecca Riots, settlements, St David, Tonypandy miners strike, Wales, Welsh, Welsh Chartist Movement, Welsh language, Welsh Not, Welshries, William Lamb, Winston Churchill, working class, Y Brad y Llyfrau Gleision.

by Jonathan Lee

Content warning: this article mentions racism, discrimination, oppression, and racial / cultural slurs.

“If the Welsh are striking over hunger, we must fill their bellies with lead” are the famous words Winston Churchill never spoke, about sending in the Lancashire Fusiliers to put a swift end to the 1910 Tonypandy miners’ strike.

Though he never advocated firing on the miners, he did send the soldiers to the picket line, and was definitely still an imperialist, eugenically-minded war criminal. The only reason the quote is mistakenly attributed to him so commonly is because it is so utterly believable. It typifies the contemptuous colonial attitudes held by the man himself, and the English parliament, for the Welsh and the working class.

Wales was England’s first colony – the template for later British imperialism. Many of its basic strategies were forged here in England’s closest and very first colonial asset, before being exported all over the world.Continue Reading

WHY THE LEFT SHOULD CARE ABOUT CELTIC INDEPENDENCE

Posted on November 28, 2016 by Norwich Radical in Inter|national, Perspectives and tagged anti-capitalism, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, Barry, Capel Celyn, capitalism, Celtic, clean energy, cymru, establishment, EU ref, flags, Gwynfor Evans, identity, imperialism, independence, industry, indyref, Ireland, jeremy corbyn, leanne wood, left, leftist, Llyn Celyn Reservoir, nationalism, nicola sturgeon, Plaid Cymru, politics, Scotland, snp, socialism, uk, unionism, Wales, westminster, working class.

by Tara Debra G

“Flags don’t build houses”, said Jeremy Corbyn last year, criticizing Scottish nationalism and the SNP. Well, no, they don’t, but neither does an unelectable party, so swings and roundabouts really. But he does have a point: nationalism as a political framework doesn’t inherently support leftist values, or the working class, or is particularly anti-capitalist.

In fact, the strongest argument I hear against Celtic nationalism from the English left is that it doesn’t solve the foundational economic equality at the heart of class oppression in the UK. I’m a Welsh nationalist and I agree. But the left shouldn’t care about Celtic independence because it’s intrinsically anti-capitalist, because it’s not that – the left should care because leftist ideals should encapsulate anti-imperialism.

cymru

WANT TO KNOW THE SOUL OF WALES? LISTEN TO HER MUSIC

DECOLONISE WALES: I

WHY THE LEFT SHOULD CARE ABOUT CELTIC INDEPENDENCE

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