F**k You Wales

Gwern Gwynfil

This is essentially what the carpark management company One Parking Solution are saying to Wales.

Their incredible obstinance in the face of polite and reasonable requests to provide correspondence in Welsh or bilingually seems to speak to something far deeper.

A reflection of a deeply unhealthy attitude towards Wales, the people of Wales and the idea of Welshness. This is far more than an issue of language rights.

It transpires that the existing law of England & Wales gives the right to do this.

Reflect on this as a persuasive argument for justice to be devolved to Wales. It could be argued that in making the right of parking companies to disrespect the Welsh language in Wales defensible, the law of England & Wales as it stands today is saying to all of us that disregard and denigration of Wales and Welsh culture in all its manifestations is acceptable.

Insult

The denigration of Welsh is not just an insult to Welsh speakers but to everyone who lives in our nation. The language is everywhere, in names, in colloquial English (cwtsh anyone?), in both the anthem and the unofficial anthem, in the very rhythm of the way we speak English.

The language is clearly a symbol of Wales and belongs to everyone who lives within our borders.

This is incredibly important. Everyone in Wales is undermined when the world which they inhabit, love and call their own, of which they are a part, is diminished.

Not just Welsh speakers or the Welsh born, everyone. Welsh is part of the land and culture, the very fabric of that world. If you’re in the house and someone’s throwing stones at the window, they’re throwing stones at you.

Anyone who chooses to ignore, dismiss or look down upon our language is disrespecting all the people who live in Wales.

The time has come to draw a line on this. Every one of our politicians, every single one, should stand up and loudly proclaim that such abuse of Wales will not be tolerated.

Show some respect, make the effort and ditch the tail end of the attitudes which gave us the Treason of the Blue Books 175 years ago, condemning Welsh and Welshness as moral failures unworthy of the great civilising forces of Victoria’s Empire. There is no place for it in the 21st century.

We in Wales, collectively, should have the confidence and self respect to stick our heads above the parapet and explain clearly and with conviction that this is not acceptable and will not be tolerated.

Where Sheen Leads

It’s fair to say that Michael Sheen’s recent zero tolerance approach to a social media troll has partly inspired my own unleashing of frustration in this op-ed. It is time for us to draw a line in the sand and say ‘stop, enough already’ when it comes to the post-colonial degradation of Wales within the UK. Time to grow out of historic preconceptions and assumptions and accept that we live in an age where nations, large and small, can front up to each other as equals. An age where respect is demanded and happily given, an age where its absence will be called out.

So I’m calling out One Parking Solution (and others of their ilk). I’m calling out the UK government too for their ostensible desire to Britishify. It is my choice to be Welsh, it is my choice to be British, it is my choice to be European. I can be all of these things without having to see the Union Flag behind every Westminster politician in every single public appearance.

Colonial Outposts

Indeed, for my part this draping of the Union Flag is counter productive, it makes me actively less British every time I see it. Twice a week I drive past the DWP building on Trefforest Industrial Estate in Ffynnon Taf.

Outside there is a flagpole upon which an outsize Union flag is raised. No Draig Goch. This is an industrial estate. It does nothing except make the DWP building look like a colonial outpost in Wales. It sits uncomfortably with me every time it hoves into view – an imposition of a value set that I do not wish to adopt.

The result? Twice a week my level of Britishness gradually diminishes in small increments of discomfort whilst my relative delight at claiming Welshness and being an European increases.

To be clear, there was a time where I would have been content to describe myself as Welsh, British, European. The ‘muscular Unionism’ emanating from Westminster has brought this time to an end.

Every time I drive this road I am thankful that I have alternatives and do not need to feel any affinity for this symbol Westminster seems so determined to impose upon us all. For fans of Catatonia out there, the chorus of International Velvet echoes happily in my mind with fervour and meaning.

International Wales

In our age, identity has become increasingly fluid. This makes it more important than ever. We can all choose our own identity today. It is our choice and ours alone.

It is most certainly not for governments to choose our identities (especially in a nominally modern and progressive democracy). Neither is it the choice of presumptive and overbearing parking companies. If I live in Wales and part of my identity is to define myself through my use of language then when I ask to be addressed, in either of my nation’s two official tongues, then it should be fully accepted and respected.

Anything less is prejudicial to who I am and what I represent as part of my culture and my nation.

Those who can’t speak Welsh should also support this wholeheartedly. If something which so obviously belongs to all of us as a nation and as a country can be dismissed and legally abused ask yourself what else do they feel they can abuse, steal or deny?

Every time we wilt before the withering arrogance and superiority of those whose exceptionalism tells them they are better than us we give them permission to keep being abusive.

The Welsh language is a symbol of Wales just as much as the Dragon and the Daffodil. Those who denigrate it are attacking all of Wales and by extension every aspect of Welshness.

When You See It

Outside of parking companies and the Westminster Union Flag waving ‘muscular’ bubble plenty of our lovely neighbours can see the truth of this. This is heartening. The story shared by the former UK ambassador, Alexandra Hall Hall, on X/Twitter demonstrates this.

In her account the scales only fell from the eyes of the individuals in that room because an angry Welsh person had the temerity and confidence to stand up and tell them, with some passion, that they were blind to their own prejudice.

When will the rest of Wales have the confidence and self belief to stand up and tell all of our neighbours, to tell the central apparatus of UK government, that we will no longer sit quietly in our corner and be treated like an underclass of ‘British’ within some strange, misplaced and nostalgic AngloBritish cultural vision. This has never truly existed and it never will – ‘muscular Unionists’ should reflect on the counterintuitive consequences of their attempted imposition of such an alien concept on the remaining fringes of their fading dream of empire.

Come on Cymru, time to draw the line and say once and for all – enough is enough. Within our borders, treat our language, our culture, our identity, with respect and decency. Leave your exceptionalism and your prejudice behind. Be better.

In return you’ll find we are excellent neighbours who probably won’t begrudge paying a parking fine fairly given in the official state language of our choice.