Regards the report by your
Chief Reporter Martin Shipton entitled “Council’s union flag disgrace” which
appeared in the Western Mail on January 8, I was astonished and disappointed to
read in the report that Dennis Morris, the Chairman of a newly formed ‘Plaid
Glyndŵr was concerned enough to speak out in condemnation of Abergwaun Council
for flying the Union Jack rather than Y Ddraig Goch. As, both, the movements
Cofiwn and Embassy Glyndŵr has pointed out repeatedly over the last forty yrs,
Y Ddraig Goch flag, as a flag, originated with the Tudor pretenders to the
English Throne who were quite willing to display the Red Dragon on green and
white Bannerettes and ‘make play’ of it’s links to Cadwaladr and Uther
Pendragon to win over the Cymry to their cause but, once Henry VII was crowned,
they promptly discarded their Tudor and Cymric connections preferring to be
known as the ‘Richmonds’. Then, the ‘Tudor Handle’ was resurrected again for ‘British’
use by an English historian of the 18th century as, indeed, was the Stuart, Georgian and Victorian
handles whilst, the flag as it is today,
was only ‘given’ to us as our ‘National’ flag by the Queen of England in
1959.
Mr. Morris has chosen to use
the name of ‘Glyndŵr’ for his new political party so, the question begs to be
asked, why is he not promoting the flying of ‘Baner Glyndŵr’ – the flag of
Glyndŵr on all Official and Civic buildings in Cymru - as Embassy Glyndŵr has
tirelessly done so for the last 16yrs? Why on earth is he fighting the cause of
the ‘Richmond Rag’, a symbol of subservience, insidiously used to weaken our
true political patriotism and any hope that we may have in uniting our nation
in a ‘national independence’ struggle in the real sense of the term.
Over the years, whilst we
have been promoting the flying of the Baner Glyndŵr – the true ‘uncompromising’
flag of an Independent Cymru, Embassy Glyndŵr has encountered, over and over,
the weak excuse from “faint hearted” Cymric patriots that…”Y Ddraig Goch is accepted worldwide now…we can’t change that” Our answer to that is, If we cannot even unite
to secure that little, that could lead to so much, why pretend that you are
prepared to fight the British State for Cymric Independence? If free South Africa can replace the Boer/British
Flag with a new flag and the ‘Old South States’ of the USA can ditch the
Confederate Battle Flag as a ‘State Flag’, why can’t we be mature and strong
enough to demand the Four Lions Rampant of Owain
Glyndŵr – the true flag of an Independent Wales as handed down to us by Prince Owain Glyndŵr, our true Tywysog Cymru, as our
National flag?
This week, I went to see the
Film ‘Mandela’ and throughout the film, I was reminded that the ANC got what
they struggled for because they stood united and refused to compromise their ideals
so, our message to you Mr. Morris is, if you wish to use the name of Glyndŵr
for your party then you have to respect his ideals which he did not compromise
so, NO COMPROMISE! If you and other Political Patriots want to declare for one
Country and one flag, let it be for a restored Cenedl Glyndŵr – Cenedl Cymru
Rydd symbolically represented by the Four Lions Rampant. Its time for Cymric
political nationalists to wake up and realize that our symbols must boldly
declare what we stand for and distinguish they from those symbols (such as the
Union and Richmond rags) that insidiously display us, , as being ‘Loyal’ to
England aka ‘Greater Britain’.
This year, 2014 is quite
possibly the 660th anniversary of the birth of Owain Glyndŵr (1354) A great opportunity of course
to organize events and parties to celebrate this birth and to blanket our
nation in Baner Glyndŵr but, is Mr. Morris and other Cymric patriots and
Nationalists up to the challenge of seriously promoting such? We shall see.
Additional Corrections:
Siân Ifan.
C.E.O. Embassy Glyndŵr
