Cymdeithas yr Iaith and the campaign for Welsh language rights.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith was founded in 1962, inspired by Saunders Lewis’ radio lectur, Tynged yr Iaith (Fate of the Language). In the lecture Saunders Lewis says that revolutionary means are the only means to secure the future of the Welsh language.

Young people at the time responded to that and held the first protest on Trefechan Bridge, outside Aberystwyth in west Wales, sitting on the bridge to stop traffic to call for Welsh language rights, before going on to the Post Office on Aberystwyth to put posters on the windows calling for rights to services in Welsh.

Since then campaigns have included the campaign for Welsh language road signs, a Welsh television channel, Welsh education for all and language acts. We have also supported communities fighting to keep their village schools, the miners’ strike in the 80’s, groups campaigning against nuclear power stations that would completely change communities.

Our campaigns have evolved during our six decades too. The campaign for a Welsh language channel began at the end of the 1970s and continued into the early 1980s, until S4C began broadcasting in 1982. Many of our members were jailed for terms varying from weeks to a year and a half for their part in direct action.

Forty years on we still only have one Welsh medium channel and Welsh medium content online is rare.

We are campaigning now for a Menter Iaith Ddigidol, a Welsh language digital enterprise, as a step towards transferring broadcasting powers from Westminster to Wales. A Welsh language digital enterprise would create and facilitate others to create content in Welsh as well as making Welsh content more accessible.

We have also published a manifesto every ten years since we were founded, giving our long term vision and responding to current challenges. The manifesto we launched recently, Cymru Rydd, Cymru Werdd, Cymru Gymraeg - A Free Wales, a Green Wales and a Welsh-speaking Wales shows the intersectionality of campaigns.

The Welsh language doesn’t exist in a silo, neither do our campaigns or our calls. We need more than a specific policy on the language - it is relevant to everything - land and farming, industry, energy, housing, tourism - the list goes on!

In our manifesto we call for:

A Free Wales – This is more than transferring power from Westminster to Wales and continuing with the same systems. Even if Wales were independent, Wales will not be free until all of our people have a roof over their heads, nutritious food in their bellies, and suitable clothes on their backs. Wales will not be free while the unfairness that deprives our youth of a future in their homeland exists.

Our campaigning has changed significantly in the years since the devolution of some powers to Wales, for the better. And this can only improve further with independence for Wales.

A Green Wales - how can we claim to be a green Wales when there is so much work to be done on our country’s infrastructure? Cold houses, too many cars, not enough public transport, not enough support for local renewable energy, centralising services. These are not sustainable.

The capitalist method of creating demand for “things” cannot continue in a real Green Wales either.

A Welsh-speaking Wales – despite the Government’s commitment to reach a million speakers by 2050, we cannot afford to treat the language and its requirements as something separate. It must be central to the Welsh Government and to the Local Councils’ policy considerations.

Some have argued in the past that the battle for the Welsh language has been won, but there is some way to go yet, so we continue to campaign.

You can read the manifesto on our website - https://cymdeithas.cymru/dogfen/maniffestoS