A group of language protestors slept on the Welsh Government stand at the Urdd Eisteddfod today (1pm, Monday, May 26) to draw attention to its lack of action over the Welsh language, following Census results showing a decline in the number of speakers.
The pressure group held a ‘pyjama party’ on the Eisteddfod field arguing that the First Minister has been ‘sleeping at his desk’ by failing to respond to the Census results which showed a drop in the number of Welsh speakers. The actor Morgan Hopkins, along with authors Angharad Tomos and Gwion Lynch spoke and entertained the ‘party-goers’.
According to the protestors, the party on the Eisteddfod field was intended to ‘wake up’ First Minister Carwyn Jones from his ‘deep sleep’ over the language crisis - a demonstration which is part of a series in a general Cymdeithas campaign to put pressure on the Labour Government to act urgently for the Welsh language. Cymdeithas yr Iaith members are calling on the Government to adopt six basic policy changes, including Welsh-medium education for all, fair funding for the language, and a new planning system for the benefit of our communities.
Morgan Hopkins, who led children in song at the protest commented: “Carwyn and his crew haven’t responded to the pressure on him from adults. It seems he’s not willing to listen to them, but we hope he will listen to our children and young people. The people of Wales want to live in Welsh, and it’s about time the First Minister acted for the benefit of the next generation so every one of them gets to live in Welsh.”
The author Angharad Tomos read a brand new story she has penned called 'Deffra Carwyn!' (Wake-up Carwyn). For the first time, she gave a political edge to a story in the well-known Rwdlan series - a completely new story where sleepy Carwyn is so hopeless that Dewin Dwl [Stupid Wizard] decides to do the job instead.
Robin Farrar, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg added: “It’s time the First Minister - sleepy Carwyn Jones - woke up to the crisis, and changed his policies, instead of sleeping on the job. We are calling for six key changes like ensuring Welsh-medium education for all our children and a planning system that works for our communities. It should be obvious to everyone that if we have an education system which ensures every child in the country comes out being able to communicate in Welsh, the language will be in a far better state. Similarly, use of the language at a community level needs protecting and growing, by ensuring a planning system which makes the language a central consideration. Hopefully it will dawn on Carwyn Jones that definite steps are needed to strengthen the language, rather than the sleepy, lazy response we’ve had up to now.”
The campaigners have been letter-writing, lobbying and holding meetings with politicians and others for over a year, but they have now decided to start protesting following the government’s failure to introduce new policies. In October 2013, the conclusions of the Cynhadledd Fawr - the Welsh Government’s consultation on the state of the language following the Census results - were announced. Among the main recommendations were the need: to increase financial investment in the language; radical changes to the teaching of Welsh as a second language; and changes to planning law. Instead, the following month, the First Minister announced he would be launching a campaign to encourage people to use Welsh five times a day. The Government’s draft planning bill did not mention the Welsh language once.