Hello and Thank You!

Hello Syniadau members!

I am very excited to have discovered this site, and hope to contribute positive ideas “Towards Welsh Freedom”.

What I particularly appreciate is the non-partisan perspective and tone outlined. While independence and membership in the world community of nations has been one of the two primary pillars of Plaid Cymru, it stands to reason there are those currently closeted within Welsh Labour, Welsh Conservative, Liberal Democrats, and other/independents parties who also have ideas to contribute but have no forum to express their ideas. It is not presently politick for them to do so. Additionally, once Independence comes to Wales, those parties will need to develop Welsh policies to remain relevant, much like the parties have done in other former realms of the British Empire. With this in mind, this forum offers those people a positive sounding board and necessary anonymity.

I have visited Betsan Powys BBC Wales political blog off and on, and only recently contributing more there. I have to admit some exasperation at recent bombastic comments by ultra-Unionists, also known as British Nationalists or “BritNats” who have seemingly taken over the blog. My handle there is as here, though spelt Drachenfyre.

I am not a member of Plaid Cymru, nor presently plan on membership. I stumbled upon “The Welsh Question” (which Plaid is intimately woven into) through Wikipedia, of all places. I’m sure most of you are familiar with Wikipedia- “the Online Encyclopedia that anyone can edit”. Therein lies the issue... anyone can edit. I watched constant edit wars between rival factions on weather or not Wales is or is not a nation, a country, or merely a region.

Recently, I discovered the text of a speech by Professor John Davies of the University of Wales given at the North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History conference in Gallia County, Ohio, in 2001, which I think very apropos on the subject:

"In the international recognition of Wales, the United States played a significant role. The American Emigration Service recognized the Welsh as a distinct category in 1875. They had already recognized the Scots and Irish, but until 1875 the Welsh were lumped in with the English. The British Emigration Service also recognized the Scots and Irish, but it did not distinguish between the English and Welsh until 1908. Thus, between 1875 and 1908, a migrating Welsh person was an English statistic on leaving Britain and did not become a Welsh statistic until landing in America. Thus, it could be argued, it was the United States that invented the Welsh".

I wanted to know more on “The Welsh Question”, and picked up books on the subject, contributing to Wikipedia and adding soured information there. I was deeply concerned at the then lack of information on Wikipedia regarding Plaid Cymru and Welsh independence, and what information was available was clearly biased against the organization. So far I have written the History of Plaid Cymru article in Wikipedia, hopefully as balanced as possible. I do need to further edit the article and update it to include 2008. It is my goal to bring that particular article to a feature status. Additionally, I am working on the History of Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages. Eventually I would like those articles translated into Welsh.

To the Admin:

1. I particularly like how you have broken the subjects down between various spheres. It is very thorough.

2. Additionally, Perhaps a section may be entitled “The Pub”, where members may post topics on other subjects. It may assist in “breaking the ice”.

3. In the Frequently Asked Questions, and also in the About This Site forum, I think you should list who is sponsoring and hosting this site. Full disclosure and transparency and all that. Any official sponsorships from any political party, company, or group?

I look forward to reading everyone’s contributions!

Again, Thank You again for hosting the site!

D. Llewellyn
aka Drachenfire

Welcome to the board Drachenfire - from another refugee off Betsan Powys' comments thread! I like your idea of a "Pub" too, where maybe people can have a slightly more informal level of discussion. The rest of the board is very professional, but even professionals take time out to go for a pint or two sometimes... ;-)

Thanks Draig32 for your welcome! I do recognize your name from post on Betsan's blog!

I am awaiting for the book Towards Welsh Freedom by D. J. Davies to arrive before posting more comments to be honest. There do not seem to be many posts in the main. I do think there is a great amount of work already done by others, such as DJ Davies.

Drachenfire wrote:Thanks Draig32 for your welcome! I do recognize your name from post on Betsan's blog!

I am awaiting for the book Towards Welsh Freedom by D. J. Davies to arrive before posting more comments to be honest. There do not seem to be many posts in the main. I do think there is a great amount of work already done by others, such as DJ Davies.

A man after me own heart! I've got a lot of time for DJ Davies. He strikes me as perhaps an underrated but highly important thinker in the early history of Plaid. I've read "Towards an Economic Democracy" and what struck me was how fresh and relevant many of his concepts still are to us today in Wales. Davies was a big believer in "Co-operative" democracy and argued for a co-operatively owned mining industry - federated for marketing purposes. It's a great irony that he effectively foresaw Tower Colliery by around 50 years - he was a man ahead of his time and should be celebrated.

Sorry that it's taken a so long to get round to it, but we now have our very own Pub where people can get to know each other and discuss more informal topics.

The Syniadau Arms - A place for informal discussion

As for the other subjects you raised, Drachenfire, there's nothing particularly special about the breakdown of subjects. If you or anyone else can think of other subjects to add, then please say so.

There is no sponsorship or anything like that. There are no costs involved since the forum is hosted by Forumotion.com and their service is free. As you would guess from the number of posts, MH has been the person responsible for setting it up, but with lots of moral support. It is specifically not meant to be a Plaid Cymru site, not least because people form other parties support an independent Wales, and some people who support Plaid are not in favour of independence.

However it has been set up in such a way that the Admin function is separate from MH's own opinions. So it can therefore be handed on for others to run at a later date. There has been no real need for any moderation so far, but if that need does arise the intention would be to form a team of moderators so that there would be no conflict of interest.