Annwyl Gyfaill, I’m writing this open letter as a call to action. It’s been floating around my head as I recover from Covid and a year of protest like no other. Now, as the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill (the Kill the Bill Bill or PCSC Bill) moves through the Westminster Parliament, for activists, …
Category archives: Articles
What’s rural Wales’ problem?
Rural Wales is in trouble. Probably more trouble than in living memory, and from forces and trends that are unlikely to disappear any time soon. Economic dysfunction is old hat here of course. The social problems consequent on poor wages, low value added, and a lack of economic opportunity and market income are many and …
Covid-19 in Wales: 18 months of social murder
Image by youtookthatwell This week, a major parliamentary report has heavily criticised the UK’s initial response to the Covid-19 outbreak, calling it one of the UK’s worst ever public health failures. The report has focused on the response in England, over that in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The disastrous response to the pandemic in …
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The case for free school meals in Wales – NOW
When the pandemic required the majority of schools to shut their doors in the spring of 2020, it laid bare some very unpleasant truths about the extent and depth of child poverty in Wales. It was immediately clear that, as well as offering children an education, schools are also part of the critical social infrastructure …
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Wales is not for sale: We need special housing measures to defend our communities
Below is a translation and adaption of the speech I gave to the ‘Wales is Not for Sale’ rally on the Trwyeryn dam on the 10th July. I’ve added some parts left out for brevity’s sake on the day. I hope people will enjoy my contribution as much as I enjoyed doing it. It was …
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“Freedom Day”: a very British self-deception
The new English Health Minister Sajid Javid has announced that on the 19th of July Boris Johnson will stand in front of the English people, barefaced, and proclaim “freedom”. England will remove all Covid-19 protections and let the virus circulate wildly at even higher levels: in other words “herd immunity” is back with a bite. …
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Beyond the “trans debate”: an introduction to lost context
Following recent transphobia in the Welsh independence movement and at Cardiff University, a member of Merched Undod gives context to the “trans debate”, trans oppression and the ideology of Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists. Undod stands in unconditional solidarity with trans and non-binary people in Wales and beyond. Content note: The text discusses transphobic violence and …
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Professor Silvia Federici on socialism, feminism and care (video)
This discussion was recorded on Sunday 2nd May 2021. Here’s the original blurb for the event: Silvia Federici is a feminist writer, teacher and militant. In 1972 she was cofounder of the International Feminist Collective, which launched the Wages for Housework campaign. With other members of Wages for Housework and other feminist authors like Maria …
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What now?
At some point late in the day yesterday, Vaughan Roderick apparently commented that Welsh Labour are one of the few social democratic governments left in Europe. At face value this comment may appear to be true, given the Labour Party’s pedigree, and the fact that the leader was a Corbyn supporter who came to power …
A Problem called Abolish
The most depressing incident of the election campaign for me was receiving a piece of Abolish the Assembly ‘literature’ through our post box. It was a leaflet calling for the abolishment of the Senedd on the basis that it has legislated for sex education in schools. As well as illuminating a little of the elasticity …
In conversation with Sioned Williams – “I don’t come from a family of politicians, but I do come from a political family”
“It is key that the Left explains to its supporters that a vote for Labour is effectively a wasted one when it comes to the second vote.” With the election approaching, we’ve taken the opportunity to speak to some of the candidates. First here’s Sioned Williams, an Undod member and candidate for Plaid Cymru. Shwmae …
The Rhondda’s Next Step by Leanne Wood – a review
“The Welsh make and remake Wales day by day and year after year. If they want to. ” – Gwyn Alf Williams Where stands socialism in turbulent present-day Wales? A timely question on the threshold of elections to the Senedd. Are there still politicians who are unrepentant socialists? If so, what kind of platform do …
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Housing for Wales, not holiday homes
On Saturday, November 21st, three ‘Wales is not for Sale’ rallies were held by Cymdeithas yr Iaith addressing the issue of holiday homes – in Llanberis, Aberaeron and Carmarthen. We were soaked through and Lake Padarn was bleak and grey. Llanberis in the rain is quite different from Llanberis in summer. As the tourists cannot …
Criminal Legal Aid in Wales
Dan Newman and Roxanna Dehaghani The criminal justice system of England and Wales is broken, according to the best-selling Secret Barrister. Decades of underfunding, exacerbated by the UK government’s austerity programme from 2010, have gutted the system posing great threat to access to justice. To date, the debate on the problems of criminal justice have …
Undod stands in solidarity with Gypsy Roma and Traveller communities
Undod stands in solidarity with Gypsy Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities, and with the protestors in Bristol who have this past week been brutalised by police whilst resisting the Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. If passed, this legislation will take away the right to trespass, with devastating effect on the lives of nomadic Gypsy Roma …
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Women United
The following are speeches made at the vigil for Sarah Everard and Wenjing Lin, two young women killed as a result of male violence in the last month alone. People gathered on the steps of the Senedd, looking out to a blustery, mostly clear blue and pink sunset over Cardiff Bay, as women stood and …
The Fight for the Northern Meadows: A Salutary Tale for Today’s Wales
On the 3rd of March there will be a debate in the Senedd on the demand for an independent inquiry into the site for a Velindre Cancer Centre. Here Tessa Marshall, a campaigner with Save the Northern Meadows, provides a detailed account of the recent history around the development, highlighting the need for such an …
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Radical independence cause makes gains in Catalonia
Radical independence forces made significant gains in last week’s parliamentary elections in Catalonia, as the pro-independence vote shifted measurably to the left. Turnout declined because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but reached 51%. A majority of voters opted for pro-independence parties for the first time, and those parties increased their majority by 4 seats. Leftist gains …
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Militarism in Wales
An article that first appeared in Welsh on the Cymdeithas y Cymod website in January 2021 to note that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has come into force, and that there was a day of campaigning against the War in Yemen. Militarism. A crucial subject, but one that is barely discussed in …
A social wage for parents and carers, a national carers’ pension, and a National Care Service for Wales
If ever there was a time when childcare, and care work more generally, has been thrown into the spotlight then the current pandemic is definitely it. In addition to unexpected and last-minute school closures due to COVID-19, many working families have had the difficult task of caring for their unwell or isolating children sent home …
The Land that Lost its Values
For those who grew up in Aberystwyth and the surrounding area, the National Library is a building and institution that is integral to the landscape and the memory it shaped. As a school child this is a place you visited in awe and hushed silence, to take a look at William Morgan’s Bible, the embodiment …
Save the Paddle Steamer – letter to the press
Tomorrow, Cardiff Council’s Planning Committee will consider an application to demolish the Paddle Steamer, a historic establishment in Butetown, for social housing. Campaigners have made a simple ask to engage with them to find a way to keep space for the cafe on the site as part of the development. We’re calling on Council Leader …
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Back to Thatcher for the National Library: Shredding our Heritage
Prospect Trade Union, National Library of Wales Thirty years ago, in the days of Margaret Thatcher, the Welsh Office conducted a review of the National Library of Wales and concluded that the Library required additional funding. A Whitehall-based Civil Servant quipped at the time to a member of management ‘You do like your National Library …
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Summer dwellings and village schools: the ambivalence of the national movement
Angharad Dafis Cymru’s rural communities are under siege. Holiday dwellings on the one hand, and the annhiliation of social hubs of all kinds on the other, are having a detrimental effect on the viability of Cymraeg, let alone the quality of life and standard of living of the inhabitants of these communities. But the official …
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A Name for a Place
With the Senedd discussing the names of homes on Wednesday, this is an article by Elin Hywel first published on the Llafar Bro Blog. When walking familiar ground, I often consider how different each time was when I travelled this way; what thought consumed me then? I’m sure I remember standing in this same spot …
Abolish and replace South Wales Police – and every other police force
Our society has many problems. The police aren’t the institution to solve them. In fact, they’re just another problem. We should abolish the police, overhaul our justice system, and use the money and resources we free up to pursue actual, evidence-based solutions – writes Harry Waveney. **** Regarding police violence, many of us over here …
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Black Lives Matter – A Restatement
On the first of June last year, Undod issued the first version of this statement in solidarity with those demanding justice for George Floyd, and all those who fight against racism and state violence everywhere. As we noted at that time, the violent suppression of protests across the US, from casual brutality to rubber bullets …
First, Do No Harm
Staging a post-pandemic ‘recovery narrative’ in Wales – by way of a celebratory event born of a ‘culture war’ – is a contradiction in terms, argues Frances Williams. Instead of international cooperation, 2020 was a year which saw the pandemic prompt aggressive nationalist narratives. Projections of the virus as foreign body gave rise to a …
Growing our movement in 2021
There’s been a big focus on membership numbers in the Welsh independence movement as of late. YesCymru have been diligently tracking their swelling ranks on social media recently, and it makes for incredible reading: membership has risen from around 2,500 at the start of this year to over 16,000, which by most metrics makes it …
A criminal system
The expanding industry If you want to understand modern Wales – how it is governed, its political culture, the level of respect for basic human rights – begin with the facts about imprisonment. By every measure, the Welsh prison complex is expanding. There are now five prisons in Wales: Usk (and Prescoed), Cardiff, Parc, Swansea, …