Osian jailed as part of the struggle for equal rights for Welsh speakers

Tomorrow, Friday November 6th at 9.30 am my friend, Osian Jones, North Wales organiser for Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Society) will be sentenced to a month in prison by Pwllheli Magistrates. The magistrates have already warned him that he faces imprisonment because of his refusal to pay fines for his part in non-violent direct action on High Street stores as part of a Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg’s campaign for a comprehensive Welsh Language Measure that would give Welsh speakers equal rights in all spheres of society.

Osian will be the second member of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg to go to prison this year. Ffred Ffransis was imprisoned back in June for refusing to pay fines also imposed for his part in the campaign for a comprehensive Welsh Language Measure.

Osian Jones said:

It’s interesting that both Ffred and I faced prison this year for our part in this particular campaign. What is more significant is that Ffred the ‘offences’ for which Ffred was imprisoned go back to January 2001 which proves that this particular campaign has been long and hard. The sad thing is, that the Welsh Language LCO which is now on offer, and which is the product of all this campaigning is utterly inadequate since it does not give the Welsh people their legitimate linguistic rights which enables them to live their lives fully through the medium of Welsh, nor does it’s powers extend to the private sector.”

“Even though we argued our case with conviction before committees in both the National Assembly and at Westminster it became obvious to us that the legislative process in Wales is both wearisome and defective, and that we have no choice but to continue with our direct action campaign. I hope that my imprisonment will give other people the inspiration to campaign for the language and that we will see the responsibility for legislating on the Welsh language transferred in it’s entirety to the National Assembly in the near future. The Welsh people have had to wait a long time to see their linguistic rights realised. They deserve a great deal more than the LCO which is now on offer.

Please pray that God will grant Osian courage as he faces the next month behind bars in the name of a just cause.

The BBC tolerating injustice

The other week through Tearfund’s Superdager application in Facebook i sent the following message to the BBC’s Director General Mark Thompson in relation to the BBC decision i force George Alagiah to resign as Patron of the Fairtrade Foundation:

Dear Mr. Thompson,

Regarding the forced resignation of George Alagiah as Patron of the Fairtrade Foundation, the BBC is concerned that Fairtrade causes a ‘potential conflict of interest’ and ‘could undermine [his] impartiality’.

But Fairtrade is not controversial. The Fairtrade mark has become mainstream – more than 70 per cent of the UK population recognise it, and Fairtrade goods are on every high street. Worldwide, consumers spent over £1.6 billion on Fairtrade products in 2007 – that’s over 1.5 million producers and workers in 58 developing countries now benefiting. Who can say this is controversial?

Surely criteria could be agreed that will serve to ensure that both the integrity of the BBC and Mr Alagiah’s enduring service to the Fairtrade Foundation are effectively safeguarded.

Please reconsider Mr Alagiah’s forced resignation from the Fairtrade Foundation and allow him to continue acting as Patron.

Rhys Llwyd

This week i received the following response from the BBC:

I understand that you are disappointed that George Alagiah had to step down from his role with the Fairtrade Foundation.

On its website www.fairtrade.org.uk/get_involved/donate/ the Fairtrade Foundation asks its supporters to help fund its “lobbying and influencing key players across society in commerce, government and campaigning groups” and that the organisation will “continue to push the Government to ensure that all aspects of the global trade system are fair and supportive of development”. Other leading charities have said that The Fairtrade Foundation seeks to “transform trading in favour of the poor and disadvantaged”. Such an ambition is the prerogative of the charities. Many may find it admirable though others may take a different view of global economic priorities.

It is not the business of BBC journalism to take a view on this or to be perceived to take a view. We are committed to due impartiality which means we don’t take sides on issues of controversy. Our job is to represent all sides in an argument accurately and fairly and test them as rigorously as we can to allow our audiences to reach their own judgements. And it’s not enough for our journalism to be impartial. We must also be seen to be impartial. That’s why it’s inappropriate for a BBC journalist to take a high profile, public role representing an organisation which, as the charity makes clear, takes a very particular view of the controversial issue of global trade.

Thank you once again for taking the trouble to share your views with us.

Regards

Craig Wilson
BBC Complaints

This response from the BBC is shocking because it legitimizes the argument for un-fair trade! Proverbs 28:5 springs into mind: ‘Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.’ In the name of impartiality the BBC have in reality made their stand by tolerating injustice.

August madness

Last week I was busy at the Eisteddfod doing this and that (yes, I know, I need to renew the domain), the week before that I was busy on the Start Something Tour; this week I moved house from Bangor to Deiniolen. I’m now back in Aberystwyth prepering my sermon for Souled Out which starts this Friday. After that I hope to have a few days breathing befroe settling down in my new house in Deiniolen and get back cracking on the PhD after the August “rest” – hope to get another chapter in by the end of first week of September.

That is all.

God and his door opening…

I’ve been worrying too much and praying not enough over the past few weeks about what I’m going to do next year. Feeling a call to the ministry is one thing but seeing clearly what door God is opening to you is another matter! A good friend of mine, Derek Rees, is heading up a Welsh language church plant in Swansea this coming autumn and I’ve been praying for God to open a door if he want’s me to be part of that work. This week it has become clear that God is opening a different door so I won’t be joining Derek down in Swansea. It’s a hard decision, I have mixed feelings. Being part of the new work in Swansea would have been very exiting and pulling out now makes me feel as if I have let Derek down slightly. But the door just didn’t open for me to move down there, Derek understands this and both of us will still support each other in whatever way we can.

The door that God has opened to me this week was an offer from the Baptist Association of Arfon to a pastor in training post. They have offered me generous financial support so I can finish off my PhD then move on to do some courses in the Baptist College in Bangor and whilst I do my training I’ll be based working part of the week in my local church in Bangor and perhaps other shorter placements with other churches within the Association. I suspect it will be very much a different set-up to that if I were to have gone to Swansea – but I look forward to seeing the vision God will give me to work in the Arfon area.

I guess that the main worry I have about the calling to stay and work in the Arfon area is that I will be sucked in to keeping things going as they are. Please pray that the brothers and sisters I will be working with will be willing to listen to God’s guidance with me and not just use me as a “young man” who will keep the show going as it is for another 10 years! But most important of all please pray that Christ and his Gospel rather than tradition and chapel culture will be central to my ministry.

Society Profiad and the Start Something Tour

I seem to have neglected this blog yet again, apologies. On my Welsh blog I discuss just about anything but because my english blog is more specialist in nature i write on it less often unfortunately. If you want to read more of what I’ve got to say and hear me voice my opinion on technology, culture and other worldly things then you’ll just have to learn Welsh so you can read my Welsh blog!

But on to matters at hand. I’m a member of an alternative hip-hop outfit. Yes, that is bizarre for someone working on a PhD in theology I hear you say. Well, it’s fronted by my brother, Cynan. Cynan is a prominent Welsh personality and he is a Christian like me. With a John Peel session, his own BBC Radio program and a string of TV appearances already under his belt he has turned in this project to try and fuse two of his keenest interests – his personal faith and alternative hip-hop. I write and record the music and let Cynan front the whole thing. It works out well as – it’s a kinda Liam and Noel relationship just with theological banter instead of fisticuffs. The band’s called Society Profiad and we have also started a label of the same name and hope to help other alternative Welsh Christian artists release their material.

Before the Society Profiad we were in a band called Kenavo – we had a few good songs and during 2004-2005 we giged often, got decent airplay on the radio but we never really put enough effort into-it to do anything of it. The hight point I guess was supporting the Goldie Looking Chain on the tour they did just after braking through. But on the night of that gig a huge thunder storm engulfed north Wales, there was a power cut and we didn’t get to play our set after all the hype! You can listen so some on Kenavo’s songs on the myspace. Cynan has re-written some lyrics for some of the best songs and we hope to use them with the new project.

We recorded a few tracks with Society Profiad last summer mainly because Cynan was asked to preform a rap at a Tearfund advocacy event at the Eisteddfod. But since last summer we haven’t developed more on the project; that is until now. We’re going on tour end of this month – the Start Something Tour – supporting The Reprecussion. Steff Elis a good friend of ours and Tom Whitman will also be joining us on tour. We are all Christians, so I guess this is my first step into the true Christian music sub-culture. Very frightening. Kenavo, by the way, was not a “Christian band” as such.

Here is the promo video for the tour and remember to visit the site and I look forward to seeing you on one of the nights…

Report from the Tony Campolo meeting, Carmarthen

Saturday night I went to the Tony Campolo meeting in Carmarthen. The Chapel was packed out, possibly as much as 500 there, seldom do we see preaching meetings attracting so much people in Wales these days. Most of the people there were from the Baptist Union of Wales’s English convention which was held during the day but also a good number of local folks turned in – many of them Welsh speakers which was very encouraging.

The meeting started with some worship lead by a well rehearsed local (I presume) worship band. They launched through a few modern day classics like King of Kings Majesty, Mighty to Save and Light of the World before powering through the victorious Crown Him With Many Crowns. The Spirit’s present was very much felt during the singing by all who were there. This was followed by a word of prayer and a reading from scripture then Campolo took to the pulpit.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 34-40)

His message was a warm but also hard hitting mix of a call to personal faith in Jesus and a challenge for Christians to live their lives in the light that Jesus laid it all down for them. His delivery was rather eclectic – he used a lot of humor and also used a lot of stories he’d picked up during the years to convey his point. But when needed he reverted to some good old fashioned Baptist staring the congregation out and shouting on us to repent and follow Jesus anew.

He finished his sermon with one of his often used motifs: “When you were born, you cried and everybody else was happy. The only question that matters is this: When you die, will YOU be happy when everybody else is crying?”

The meeting was bought to a close with the very Welsh, at the request of Campolo himself, Guide me O Thou great Jehovah. This was one of those meetings that I will remember for years to come.

Tony Campolo comes to Carmarthen

One of my favorite Christian thinkers of our time is Tony Campolo, I have huge respect for him. This Saturday he’s the keynote speaker at the English Welsh Baptist’s annual Union meeting and the evening meeting is public so I’m going to hear him speak live. I’ve been reading the books and tuning in to the podcasts for some years now so I’m really looking forward to see and hear him in flesh. It really saddens me that some Christians go around branding him as a Liberal only because he preaches the Kingdom of God in it’s full glory and not only personal salvation. He still affirms the importance of personal salvation only that he teaches that the Gospel is more than personal salvation only. In my view he knocks the nail on it’s head and brings a much needed counter emphasis to the evangelical world.

The meeting is at 7pm, Saturday 13th June at Tabernacle Chapel, Waterloo Terrace, Carmarthen – £5 on the door. Arrive early to avoid disappointment.

I’ll let the man speak for himself now….

A stand for civil rights

Ffred Ffransis, a veteran language campaigner and a committed Christian, was banned from taking a Welsh Bible into jail and forced to eat only potatoes while behind bars at Bridgend’s Parc Prison this week. Fred was sentenced to five days at Llanelli magistrates on Monday for refusing to pay an eight-year-old fine of £100. The 60-year-old campaigner said he was appalled at the lack of effort to serve the Welsh community. He was reduced to eating only potatoes because he refused to fill in an English-only form to request vegetarian food. After taking his Bible from him on the way in they didn’t provide him with a Welsh Bible in his cell either.

Ffred has been sentenced to around 6 years in total over the last 40 years, and has served around 4 years in prison. He has been sentenced to prison a total of 8 times. Here are the times he was sentenced to a lengthy periods:


• 1987 (Cardiff Court) – Campaigning for a body to develop Welsh Language Education (1 year – served 9 months)

• 1973 (Huddersfield Court) – Welsh language channel (1 year – served 9 months)

• 1971 (Mold Court) – Welsh language channel (3 years – served 2 years)

• 1970 (High Court, London) – In support of Dafydd Iwan, Road Signs campaign (3 months – served 2 months)

Personally I’ve been arrested four times in the past four years, but have never been given a prison sentence.

It’s very sad that even in modern post-devolution Wales Welsh speakers still have to resort to non-violent direct action to draw attention to our lack of civil rights in vast areas of day to day life.

Welsh medium education at university level

Back in 2004 a few hundred of us camped out over night in-front of the Welsh Government building in Cardiff to show our protest about the lack of Welsh medium education in our universities. It's a blessing now to see all that campaigning over the years bearing some fruit.

A post today about one of the Welsh language campaigns I have been involved in over the past few years. One of the main hurdles that still faces the Welsh language today is the lack of Welsh medium education in the higher education sector, university level. Welsh universities over the years have been institutionally anti-Welsh; things are much better now but developing education through the Welsh language is still far down on the agenda of all institutions and some universities such as Cardiff University have no plans at all to move towards providing the education in Welsh. It is believed therefore that to increase the Welsh language provision in the sector we need to see a new institution established to oversee, maintain and develop the Welsh language provision in the sector. This new institution is needed because current institutions have failed to deliver over the decades.

The model written by Menna and myself, first put forward in November 2007, was conceived with the demise of the University of Wales taken into account. In formulating the model we had examined comparable situations such as Welsh language broadcasting where S4C had been established as a separate channel to provide focus and momentum.

The model’s four core principles can be summarized as follows:

i.) The Welsh Federal College should constitute a new independent academic institution that will bear the responsibility of overseeing, maintaining and developing the Welsh language provision in the sector. The independence of this new institution will bring a new and much needed impetus to Welsh language provision within the sector.

ii.) The Welsh Federal College should have ‘ring fenced’ funding. This funding would be used to implement a step change in the provision, development and marketing of Welsh medium eduction in the sector. Also, the ownership of it’s own ‘ring fenced’ budget will command respect towards the institution from the rest of the sector so that it’s not seen subordinate to other institutions but rather as an equal partner and provider. It should stand shoulder to shoulder and not under current sector institutions in a sector wide hierarchical sense.

iii.) The Welsh Federal College should work under it’s own charter, or other similar legal document, stating clearly its mission, aims and objectives; this will ensure the founding vision is kept central as the institution develops and expands over the coming years.

iv.) Finally, the Welsh Federal College should keep a register of students and academic staff. New appointments under future schemes and current sector personnel who are involved in Welsh language provision should be able to publicly show their membership to the College. This idea of ‘ownership’ from the student and teaching staff perspective is central to the ethos of the new institution – without this membership idea the institution will not be an academic institution but rather nothing more than a Welsh education funding council – this would not be fruitful in terms of creating a Welsh language academic sphere.

The provision itself would be catered through current sector institutions – the Welsh Federal College would work the provision through them. To implement and administrate this it is proposed that the Welsh Federal College would have a ‘branch’ in each sector institution. The size and workload of each ‘branch’ would differ from institution to institution but the long term aim is to have Welsh Federal College co-ordinated Welsh medium provision spread across the whole of Wales in all institutions. The paper makes it clear that this will not be achieved overnight but the model provides a clear framework, given appropriate Government funding, how to move towards this goal. The model can be read in full (in Welsh and English) on the website: www.colegcymraeg.org

The idea of establishing a Welsh Federal College have been adopted as Government policy and currently the Government is considering how best to implement the policy. I hope and pray that the Welsh government will see fit to establish a proper institution with proper funding, as we have argued for, so that the injustice suffered by Welsh speaking students over the decades can be bought to and end.

Llanw – when the music fades

Post in Welsh | Cofnod yn Gymraeg

The blog has been quiet of late because I was away at Llanw last week. Meirion Morris and Hywel Mereydd were the two men who came up with the idea of establishing a Word Alive/Spring Harvest like event in Welsh to inspire and equip Welsh language Christians and their churches. This year’s Llanw was the second and I became involved early on when arranging the first last year. Now I have responsibility over the website, branding, design and online booking pre-event and audio and video systems during the event itself. I also played drums for the evening praise and lead worship in one of the morning services. In short, God has lead me to play a pivotal role in Llanw – I’m sharing this because I need your prayers. Anybody who has been deeply involved in arranging and running an event like this knows that your so busy and so stressed out at times that you your yourself get no time for reflection and find it strangely hard to concentrate on praising God despite the fact that all your hard work makes that very easy for others who only attend a receive!

On the final night a farmer from Cefn Meiriadog near St. Asaph gave his testimony and explained that he did not know Jesus as his saviour in last year’s Llanw and that his experience in Llanw last year was the first important mile stone in his journey towards faith. He retuned this year saved by the grace of God. I’ve never spoken to Huw the farmer beyond the “Hello” passing him in the corridor and I’ve certainly never spoken with him about Jesus but I did make Llanw possible and it was Llanw that God used to start the work in Huw’s heart. It’s stories like these which make the effort and the work worthwhile. While I might have been too rushed off my feet at the event itself to appreciate and praise God like I should, the following Monday, when the music fades, is when it dawns on you how great God has been and such and honor it is to have been involved in his big plan.

Here is a video of Huw sharing his story, I’ts in Welsh, another reason for you to learn the language of heaven!:

Llanw website