Y DECHRAU/THE BEGINNING
Back at the start of the sixties, the language wasn’t a part of public life at; there were no Welsh road signs nor Welsh medium secondary schools, and it wasn’t possible to receive official documents in Welsh.
In the fifties, the Beasleys refused to pay a tax bill that was only in English. Eileen and Trefor went to court 16 times and the bailiffs took their property several times, but it paid off. From 1960 onwards, the tax bills were bilingual.
In this period, there was an ongoing revolution across the world and more and more people were standing up for their rights – from the rights of gay people to Martin Luther King and the fight for civil rights in the United States.
In February 1962, Saunders Lewis’ lecture was broadcast, Tynged yr Iaith ‘the Fate of the Language’; the lecture warned that the survival of Welsh was under threat. According to Saunders Lewis “Trwy ddulliau chwyldro yn unig y mae llwyddo (success is through revolutionary means only)”.
The lecture was an inspiration for a lot of people, Cymdeithas yr Iaith (the Welsh Language Society) was formed a few months later in the Plaid Cymru summer school in Pontarddulais.
Y DYDDIAU CYNNAR/THE EARLY DAYS
A few concessions were won from the Government during the sixties include the Language Act of 1967 which gave restricted rights for the use of Welsh in legal cases, and some bilingual documents to be provided by some public bodies.
In 1963, the first mass protest was held – in the Aberystwyth Post Office and on Trefechan bridge, where traffic was halted as activists sat in the road. This was the beginning of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s campaigns that broke the law.
YMGYRCHOEDD Y CHWEDGAU A’R SEITHDEGAU/CAMPAIGNS OF THE SIXTIES AND THE SEVENTIES
THE INVESTITURE – 1969
Cymdeithas yr iaith and its leaders were a prominent part of the protests against the ivestiture of Charles, son of the queen of England, as “Prince of Wales”.
As part of the campaign, one of Cymdeithas’ largest protests was held in Caernarfon on Saint David’s Day 1969.
ROAD SIGNS
One of Cymdeithas’ first campaigns was painting and defacing English only road signs across the country.
“…nid malu awyr mwyach, ond malu seins yn ni!” – “…no more nonsense, we’re breaking signs now!”
THE CASE OF THE EIGHT
In May 1971, eight members of Cymdeithas yr Iaith were arrested for damaging road signs. A crowd of 1,500 came to Swansea City Hall to support them in court. Some 40 people were arrested and about 18 were jailed for over a fortnight for ‘disrupting the peace’.
This campaign was key in securing bilingual road signs.
YMGYRCHOEDD Y CHWEDGAU A’R SEITHDEGAU/CAMPAIGNS OF THE SIXTIES AND THE SEVENTIES
RADIO AND TV
From the seventies onward, the priority was to campaign for a Welsh language radio and television service.
Some protestors to buy a tv licence, whereas others climbed broadcasting masts and interfered with tv studios by cutting live broadcasts.
1971-1980: during the campaign for a Welsh channel, the activism that broke the law was at its height. Nearly 900 people faced court cases, and 14 were imprisoned.
Following increasing pressure on the broadcasting authorities to offer a Welsh service, Radio Cymru was established by the BBC in 1977.
In the Conservative manifesto there was a promise to set up a sperate Welsh language tv channel, but after winning the election in 1979, Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Government announced that it wasn’t going to establish such a channel after all.
Gwynfor Evans announced that he would go on hunger strike until death if the Government were not to honour its promise. With all the campaigning that had been, the announcement caused a lot of commotion which put huge pressure on the British Government. In the end, the Government yielded to the pressure and in September 1980 it was announced that Welsh programmes would be broadcast on a new channel. Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C) was launched in 1982.
YMLAEN I’R WYTHDEGAU A DIWEDD Y GANRIF/ONWARDS TO THE EIGHTIES AND THE END OF THE CENTURY
This is the period of Margaret Thatcher, the Malvinas War and the Miners’ Strike – and the death of Bobby Sands.
The Tories refused to meet with Cymdeithas yr Iaith.
Campaigns for a new Language Act and a Welsh Education Development Body were started.
LANGUAGE ACT 1993
By the eighties, the campaign for a new Welsh Language Act was gaining momentum. A thousand people gathered to protest before the Welsh Office’s building in Cardiff in 1989, and in 1990.
The British Government yielded to the campaign, and the Language Act 1993 was passed.
From then on, there was an expectation for public institutions to treat Welsh and English equality, and the Language Board was created.
NID YW CYMRU AR WERTH
In 1987, the campaign for a Property Act began, with the aim to control the housing market with the famous slogan ‘Nid yw Cymru ar Werth’ – Wales is not for Sale, a slogan which has resurfaced several times over the years since then.
For an entire week in the summer of 1991, members of Cymdeithas camped in front of Mold Crown Court during the case of Branwen Niclas and Alun Llwyd, who had broken into the Welsh Office building in Llandrillo-yn-rhos and damaged property in order to bring attention the need for a Property Act.
YR UNFED GANRIF AR DDEG/THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY
DEVOLUTION
Following the establishment of the Welsh Assembly in 1999, politicians were closer to the people, and there was now political power in Wales.
Official status for Welsh
The 1993 Language Act did not go far enough, and so direct action campaigns went on to target the private sector – big companies like phone companies, supermarkets and banks.
In 2011, the Welsh Language Measure came into legislation. The Measure gave official status to Welsh for the first time. This means that Welsh has a legal status and Welsh should not be treated less favourably to English.
The Welsh Language Commissioner was set up, instead of the Language Board, to set standards on bodies. Cymdeithas yr Iaith continues to campaign for standards to be extended so as to ensure that more and more bodies and companies have to provide Welsh language services.
FUTURE of S4C
In 2011, there were protests against the plans to cut S4C’s budget and the British Government’s plan to transfer responsibility for funding the channel to the BBC, which would threaten S4C’s independence.
Alongside mass rallies, several studies were occupied and the Conservatives’ offices in Wales were damaged.
YR UNFED GANRIF AR DDEG/THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY
COLEG CYMRAEG CENEDLAETHOL
At the same time with students of Aberystwyth and Bangor University, Cymdeithas yr Iaith increased pressure to establish a multi-site Coleg Cymraeg (Welsh Language College) that would enable students to study any subject through Welsh at University.
In 2011, the National Welsh Language College was established (y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol).
Since then, Cymdeithas yr Iaith has campaigned to expand the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.
2011 CENSUS RESULTS
The 2011 Census showed a fall in the number of Welsh speakers, and significant fall in several counties.
Cymdeithas yr Iaith organsied a series of rallies to bring pressure on the Welsh Government to act in favour of the language and to protect Welsh speaking communities, including a protest on Trefechan bridge on the 2nd of February 2013 – exactly half a century since the first protest.
That lead to direct action against the Government and pressuring them to ensure a million Welsh speakers 2050.
Following the 2016 election, the Government announced a target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050.
Y GYMDEITHAS HEDDIW/CYMDEITHAS TODAY
Our structure
THE AGM
Members of Cymdeithas meet in the AGM to make important strategic decisions and elect officers for the year.
THE SENEDD
Cymdeithas’ Senedd meets ten times a year under the leadership of the chairperson. The Senedd directs the entire work for the next period.
CAMPAIGN GROUPS
The campaign groups lead national campaigns of the movement in five areas: Communities, Rights for Welsh, Education, Digital/Broadcasting, and Health.
REGIONS
The regions are the link between the Senedd and the cell’s local activity. The six regions, Gwynedd-Môn, Clwyd, Ceredigion, Caerfyrddin-Penfro, Powys a Morgannwg-Gwent.
ADMIN GROUPS
The admin groups meet to discuss maters such as communication, staffing and raising money.
CELLS
Members set up cells in villages, towns, schools and universities. The cells campaign on behalf of Cymdeithas.
TOWARDS THE FUTURE
Despite the many things that Cymdeithas has won since its establishment in 1962, there is still a lot of work to do. Our main campaigns at the moment are:
WELSH EDUCATION ACT FOR ALL
There needs to be legislation to ensure that everyone has Welsh language education, not just a minority.
DEVOLVE POWERS FOR BROADCASTING TO WALES
Power over broadcasting needs to be moved from London to Wales. Forty years since the start of S4C, there is still only one tv channel and one radio station in Welsh.
PROPERTY ACT
There needs to be legislation to protect our communities and to ensure that people can live in their communities.
EXPAND THE WELSH LANGUAGE STANDARDS
There needs to be an inclusion of companies like banks, supermarkets etc under the standards to that they have to provide Welsh language services.
GWEITHGARWCH ERAILL Y GYMDEITHAS/OTHER ACTIONS BY CYMDEITHAS –
GIGS
Cymdeithas yr Iaith has organised countless gigs over the years by giving Welsh language artists of every kind a platform and by creating a contemporary music scene.
LEARNERS
From running Welsh lessons in the eighties to residential weekends and coffee mornings to chatting today…
SOLIDARITY
Cymdeithas yr Iaith is part of the worldwide revolution for rights and freedom. We collaborate and support other campaigners from every corner of the world.
MANIFFESTOS
Every ten years Cymdeithas yr Iaith releases a Maniffesto, which sets our vision for the Welsh Language and our communities in the context of the decade in question.
MANIFFESTO 1972
The first Maniffesto was published in 1972, that looked back on the first ten years of Cymdeithas yr Iaith, and announced that the language needed status and rights to use it.
MANIFFESTO 1982
This Maniffesto recognised that Welsh will not survive without a society or communities that speak Welsh. It stated that the language needed to be used fully in every field.
MANIFFESTO 1992
This Maniffesto responded to the Miners’ Strike and the closure of the pits; the effect of large migration from England and the growth of three free market on communities. The main message was that the fight for Welsh speaking communities was the main fight.
MANIFFESTO 2002
This Maniffesto set Wales and the Welsh language in the context of the fight for minority rights in the face of the globalisation and centralised power.
MANIFFESTO 2012
To celebrate fifty years of Cymdeithas yr Iaith, Tynged yr Iaith 2 was broadcast. The lecture announced that Welsh’s future was certain by now but it asked whether it would be a main language that will be used naturally every day, or a minority language only.