Cynog Dafis: English Immigration Not a Problem.

Cynog Dafis, Mid and West Wales Assembly Member (regional Member):

Meibion Glyndwr targeted empty holiday homes

 

'Act now to protect Cymru' urge Republicans

by Christopher Trefor Davies

In ever increasing spirals of self-justification, Plaid Cymru’s Cynog Dafis now argues that English immigration is ‘no problem’ for Cymru’s Heartlands despite extensive research to the contrary.

Cynog Dafis, the former Plaid Cymru MP for Ceredigion and AM for Mid and West Wales, made his claims in a talk given to the Institute of Welsh Affairs West Wales branch in March 2004. The article also appeared in agenda (Summer 2004), the IWA’s influential magazine.

Cynog bases his whole thesis on the 2001 Census Publication from the English Office of National Statistics, denying the home-grown research from our own Welsh institutions. These statistics seem to indicate that there is a problem in Cymru with the phenomenon know as brain drain. (Perhaps it’s catching- avoid Cynog for 48hrs).

From these figures, Cynog states that the number of people describing themselves as Welsh has fallen. In 1991 75% of people living in Cymru described themselves as Welsh with British (Other). In 2001 this fell to 67% of people who described themselves as Welsh and Other (usually British).

As soon as Cynog spotted the word “Other” his brain should have engaged in recent political history, and his thoughts should have turned to the then Independent Wales Party’s (now Cymru Rydd) Census Coffin, dramatically carried around the muddy Maes stuffed with thousands of binned Census Forms from ‘refusniks’- brave patriots who refused to call themselves “Other” in their own Nation. IWP’s research showed that those who refused to complete the forms were, in the main, from households with persons who would be termed leaders in Welsh communities. Cynog does a disservice to Cymru’s young people when he implies that “as soon as finger makes contact with degree parchment” they leave. His figures take no account of the Census Campaign led by IWP but embraced with enthusiasm by thousands of households throughout the diverse communities of Cymru. Why is this? Is Cynog ashamed of Plaid’s own completely inadequate response to one of the greatest insults heaped upon our Nation in the last two decades? Or did Cynog think it unimportant to accurately record the true position- that those describing themselves solely as Welsh (or Cymro) is actually on the increase, particularly in the former Anglicised areas of Cymru. Here, people are realising that “British is Bullshit”. People, formely blinded by the yoke of Crown propaganda, are now saying that they are not British nor Saxon, but Welsh.

Is Cynog ignoring this because it means a resurgence in Republican sentiments and the desire to regain our Nation- and for the right of that nation to self determination? If this is the case, Cynog ignores it because such sentiments highlight Plaid Cymru’s own deep rooted connection with the English Crown’s Privy Council. Further, Cynog argues that “Wales has never been, and never may be, a nation state.” Nothing could be more removed from the truth. This year marks the 604^th Anniversary of Owain Glyndwr’s Great War of Welsh Independence, where, history records, Cymru was an autonomous, self-governing and self-regulating nation- and recognised as such by the super-powers in Europe. Not recognised of course by the Anglo-Saxons- just as Cynog and his Party refuse to recognise our claim to Independence now.

So then, what of the Heartlands which Cynog has served so well over the years?

In Issue 2 of the Republican Magazine Ein Gwlad, the paper proposes the theory of continued colonisation by the English.

“For the plain truth is that the present influx (of immigrants to the cefn gwlad) is sponsored, even engineered, by the English state in accordance with a policy henceforth refered to as "Plantation". As for differences in comparative wealth these merely facilitate the influx. In other words they are no more than a device, one of several, by which the policy of Plantation is implemented. Until we recognise this, we have little hope of defending ourselves against it."

It is vitally important to the survival of our Heartland communities, that the issues of leisure immigration, second holiday homes and absentee landlords are not sidelined as Cynog’s train of thought tends to do. Even if “Brain Drain” was more of a problem for Cymru than the aforementioned issues, Brain Drain can easily be reversed. Welsh folk living in England can always return and there is a constant supply of new generations of our faithful young people emerging from our Institutions (many of which are leaders in their field).

However, with each farm that is sold to rich landlords for conversion into holiday cottages or country apartments, there is a greater loss to the traditional way of life of our people. Irreparable damage is inflicted on the Welsh speaking community through the loss of yet another family unit. This damage, carried out through the auspices of the English legal system, will take generations to resolve- if ever! Clearly, Cynog is wrong to assert that Immigration is no problem for Cymru.

In their 2003 General Election Manifesto, the Independent Wales Party quite correctly addressed this problem:

“A Cymru Rydd administration will consider various Land Reform measures to ensure our countryside serves the interests of our nation – not the interests of speculators, absentee landlords, development corporations, or Quangos. Our approach will be underlined by the vital importance we place in family farms and smallholdings. We will work to ensure that making our living from working the land is restored to the dignity and economic viability it deserves.”

At its inception, radical Plaid Cymru stood firm to protect and promote the cultural and linguistic heritage of our Nation. Sadly, Plaid, by continuing to take the Crown’s shilling, will one day abandon all pretence of being The Party of Wales.