The Welsh Language Society (Welsh: Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, also often abbreviated to Cymdeithas yr Iaith or just Cymdeithas in English) is a direct action pressure group in Wales campaigning for the right of Welsh people to use the Welsh language in every aspect of their lives. The chair of the Welsh Language Society since October 2023 is Joseff Gnagbo.[1][2]
History
1960s
The first protest at Pont Trefechan in Aberystwyth, 1963
The Society was established in name on 4 August 1962 at Pontarddulais in South Wales, but did not have a constitution until 18 May 1963. The formation was at least partly inspired by the annual BBC Wales Radio Lecture given on 13 February 1962 by Saunders Lewis and entitled Tynged yr iaith (The fate of the language).[3] Historian John Davies has said that the lecture was "the catalyst" for the formation of the Welsh Language Society, and the start of a period of direct-action agitation to enhance the status of the Welsh language.[4] Its direct effect on the formation of the Society is described in a history of that society.[5]
The Society's first public protest took place in February 1963 in Aberystwyth town centre, where members pasted posters on the post office in an attempt to be arrested and go to trial.[6] When it became apparent that they would not be arrested for the posters, they then moved to Pont Trefechan in Aberystwyth, where around seventy members and supporters held a sit-in blocking road traffic for half an hour.[7]
The first campaigns were for official status for the language, with a call for Welsh-language tax returns, schools, electoral forms, post office signs, birth certificates and so on. This was done through the formation of 'cells', the first operating in Bangor in April 1963 by Owain Owain who also founded and edited the Society's only publication, Tafod y Ddraig ('The Dragon's Tongue') and designed the logo.
In 1968 a sit-in was held at the news and television studio and the newsroom department of the BBC at Broadway, Cardiff, by members of the Society. The sit-in was calling for the BBC to use more Welsh.[8]
1970s and 1980s
Protestors dump English-only road signs at the steps of the Welsh Office in Cathays Park, Cardiff. This started in 1970 and ended in 1972.
The society believes in direct action, and in the course of its campaigns over a thousand people have appeared before the courts for their part in various campaigns, many receiving prison sentences, making it Britain's largest protest group since the suffragettes – in terms of fines and the numbers sent to prison.[9][10] Typical actions include painting slogans on buildings owned by businesses, and other minor criminal damage.[11][12][13]
At the beginning of the 1970s, the society began to campaign for a Welsh-language radio and television service. Radio Cymru was established in 1977, but in 1979 the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher announced that it would not keep its election promise to establish a separate Welsh-language television channel. Some protesters refused to buy television licences and others climbed up television masts and invaded television studios.[14]
There was much damage to radio and television transmitters:
Waltham was turned off from 10 pm on Thursday 2 November 1978; the group had broken into The Wrekin on the same night, but had turned off the wrong switch.[18]
Midhurst was damaged on Thursday 8 February 1979; BBC1 transmissions were restored by Friday but BBC2 took three more days;[19][20] it caused £15,700 of damage; 23 year old Hywel Pennar, a student at St David's Lampeter, was jailed for 9 months; he was the son of Pennar Davies, the Principal from 1959 to 1979 of Swansea Theological College[21]
Sudbury in Suffolk was damaged on Thursday 15 March 1979 with £20,000 of damage.[22]
The government reversed its position and a Welsh-language TV channel, S4C, was launched in 1982.
2000s
A political poster used in the early 1970s depicting a judge wearing a garment styled as the flag of the United Kingdom, trampling over the words; 'Y Gymraeg' (The Welsh [language]) which was created after 11 Welsh speaking protestors were arrested
On 24 July 2004 (five weeks after launching), Radio Carmarthenshire's studios in Narberth were invaded by eleven activists from the Welsh Language Society. They were protesting against Radio Carmarthenshire's decision to limit the amount of its Welsh-language programming. The offices and studios were stormed during a live broadcast, taking Radio Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire off-air for fifteen minutes. According to Keri Jones (who later branded the members of the group as "terrorists"), his head of sales was injured, and needed hospital treatment for a fractured wrist sustained during the scuffles which ensued. Police arrested eleven activists, and subsequently released them pending further enquiries. The chair of the movement Steffan Cravos was later found not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm.[23]
The society claimed that 50% of the population in Carmarthenshire speak Welsh as a first language, but less than 5% of Radio Carmarthenshire's output was in Welsh. As a result of complaints and pressure from the society and individuals, the United Kingdom's broadcasting watchdog Ofcom issued Radio Carmarthenshire with a 'yellow card' warning in late 2004; any further claims[clarification needed] of the station not conforming to its licence agreement would result in the station being severely reprimanded by Ofcom.
Response to the 2011 Census results
Following the 2011 Census results, the group held a series of rallies across Wales. In the first rally in Caernarfon in December 2012, the group published its Maniffesto Byw[usurped] (Living Manifesto) which outlined tens of policies designed to strengthen the language. The society launched the "Dwi eisiau byw yn Gymraeg" (I want to live in Welsh) slogan at the same rally.
On 6 February 2013 and 4 July 2013, deputations of the society met First Minister Carwyn Jones to press for urgent policy changes in light of the Census results.
A revised version of the Maniffesto Byw was published in July 2013, following a public consultation and an extraordinary general meeting when a number of amendments to the manifesto were adopted.
In August 2013, the group wrote to the First Minister Carwyn Jones, giving him six months to state his intention to deliver six policy changes[usurped] for the benefit of the language:
Addysg Gymraeg i Bawb (Welsh-medium Education for All)
Tegwch Ariannol i'r Gymraeg (Financial Fairness for the Welsh language)
Gweinyddu'n fewnol yn Gymraeg (Internal Government in Welsh)
Safonau Iaith i Greu Hawliau Clir (Language Standards to Create Clear Rights)
Trefn Cynllunio er budd ein Cymunedau (A Planning System for the benefit of our Communities)
Y Gymraeg yn greiddiol i Ddatblygu Cynaliadwy (Welsh as central to Sustainable Development)
Carwyn Jones had made no such statement of intent by 1 February 2014, and the group started a direct action campaign and held a series of protests across the country.
Ongoing campaigns
In 2015, the society began calling for Welsh medium education to be extended to every school pupil in Wales, to 'give them the ability to communicate and work' in the language. This call was supported by the linguist David Crystal and academic Christine James.[24] These calls include a call for an Education Act for Welsh language education for all.[25]
Sustainable communities; a property act to help tackle the housing crisis and second home issue.[26]
Nid yw Cymru ar Werth protest in Aberystwyth, February 2022
The principal campaigns can be divided into four major areas:
Hawliau i'r Gymraeg (Rights to the Welsh language)
At the beginning of the 21st century, the society started a campaign for a new Welsh Language Act. The Welsh Language Act 1993 declared that Welsh should be treated on an equal basis with English, but the society argued that this fell short of what is needed.
In 2007, the society published its own Welsh Language Measure[usurped], draft legislation which would amongst other things establish official status for the Welsh language and rights to use it, and establish the office of the Welsh Language Commissioner.
In 2011, based in large part on the society's proposals, the National Assembly for Wales passed the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, which established the Welsh language as an official language of Wales, and introduced the Welsh Language Commissioner.
Cymunedau Cynaliadwy (Sustainable Communities)
This group leads on a number of matters, including housing and planning policy. Since the 1980s the group has called for a Property Act[usurped] to increase the number of communities where Welsh is the main language of the area as well as tackling income inequality and environmental problems.
This group campaigns for rights to see and hear the language. This includes campaigns for investment in Radio Cymru and S4C, as well as the presence of the Welsh language online.
Grŵp Addysg (Education Group)
Welsh medium education is available in most areas of Wales in the primary and secondary stages of school education. Welsh second-language GCSEs are compulsory in English medium education. This group demands improvements and also massive expansion in further (college) and higher (university) education. This mainly includes a Welsh language federal college, which would be a multi-sited college that provides courses and resources in the medium of Welsh.
Vice-chairperson of administrative duties- Mai Roberts
Treasurer- Danny Grehan
Officer of raising money and Membership- Bethan Ruth
Officer of commercial and goods- Mirain Owen
Officer of Digital- Llinos Anwyl
Officer of design- Carwyn Hedd
Editor of Y Tafod- Mared Llywelyn Williams
Officer of learners – Heledd Owen
International deputy- Joseff Gnagbo
Chair of education- Mabli Siriol
Vice-chairperson of education-
Chair of the Sustainable Communities Group- Jeff Smith
Vice-chairperson of the Sustainable Communities Group-
Chair of the Digital Futures Group- Carl Morris
Vice-chairperson of the Digital Futures Group- Mirain Owen
Chair of Right to the Welsh Language – Aled Powell
Vice-chairperson of Right to the Welsh Language
Chair of Health and Well Being Group- Gwerfyl Roberts
The society is a largely voluntary movement, which also employs five full-time members of staff, one at its head office in Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, one in its Caernarfon office, two in its Cardiff office and one in the Llanfihangel-ar-Arth office.
^Davies, A History of Wales, Penguin, 1994, ISBN0-14-014581-8, p 649: "the catalyst (for its formation) was the radio lecture given by Saunders Lewis on 13/2/62"
^Davies, John, A History of Wales, Penguin, 1994, ISBN0-14-014581-8, p 649
^Phillips, D, The History of the Welsh Language Society in Jenkins, Geraint. H., and Williams, Mari A., (eds) Let's do our best for the ancient tongue, UoW Press, 2000, ISBN0-7083-1658-1, p 467
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