Liam Bowen - Branch rep of Cardiff recently went on a trip to Brussels, here’s his blog about his adventures…
Over the last weekend I was fortunate enough to go on my first ‘Plaid Misson’ on behalf of Plaid Ifanc Youth. So far, I’d heard about our delegates being sent to the sunshine in Barcelona, Valencia and Bilbao, therefore I was somewhat disappointed to see a forecast of rain and win in Brussels. To those of you who know me well, it will come as no surprise that I left making arrangements so late that a return flight would cost in excess of £250. The first step of the trip was a Bus to London before an overnight Bus to Brussels via the Ferry to Calais. Yes this took a lot more time, but with a Bus to Belgium only costing £10 – I wasn’t complaining.
The aim of the trip was to keep our strong connections with a number of Europe’s left winged youth Parties that fall under EFAy. EFAy is the youth wing of the European Free Alliance and is a youth organisation made up of members who belong to organisations, movements or political parties that safeguard and promote the cultural linguistic and national diversity of Europe. They do great work and are very fond of Jill Evans, our MEP.
The meeting was called by JERC - Joventuts d’Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, the youth wing of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC). ERC is a Catalan, left-wing Republican Party that are part of the strong push for Independence in Catalonia. The meeting was titled, ‘Youth For the Democratic Revolution’ and we were to take part in a number of interesting and thoughtful debates on what we, as youth movements, can do to improve our small nations within Europe.
I was eagerly looking forward to meet everyone and start on the work, but on arrival at the very posh (and expensive) European Parliament, I had only one thing on my mind. This was the photo I had seen on Facebook that morning – The Photo of Aylan Kurdi!. I will admit that I shared that photo in a particularly emosional and angry rant on my Facebook wall. I couldn’t believe that this photo of a lonely, helpless infant was being used in a tactical way by the same national papers that were pushing propaganda of hate and racism towards the Refugees since the start of the summer. I truly hope that this inexcusable situation will give the people that were so quick to judge a change of heart. And there will always be a welcome for one or two families in Pontyberem!
So, after a small discussion on the Refugee Crisis, it was on to the welcomes and presentations. I was unaware that I was expected to make a presentation on Plaid Cymru and the problems we face, therefore I was very happy to see Dan, who’s currently on an internship at EFAy, walk through the door and come to the rescue (His knowledge was vastly greater than mine!). We heard from six members of Jerc followed by Adrian and Asier of Gazte Abertzaleak – Basque Country, Sebastian and Anna from Denmark and Hanna from Finland. It was very interesting to hear of the different situations facing the left-winged parties of Europe and compare them to what we face in Wales. The first debate was based on Democratic Deficit. It was chaired by Max Zanartu of JERC and we discussed the lack of Democracy within the Europan Union today. We spoke at length about the Greek Crisis and how Europe’s giants, like Germany, could push and bully Greece without any repercussions. A great point was made that this deficit was something that could be seen from the bottom and up and the perfect example of this was recent election results in Wales and Scotland. Since 1979, we have had over twenty years of Tory Governments, even though we’ve never voted for one. How do we resolve this? Stop letting the minority rule the majority and let’s separate from Westminster. Next, it was a tour of the European Parliament. The Parliament itself was huge and very modern, but when considering that the Parliament only holds roughly one meeting a month (the majority being in Strasbourg) this really is a giant money wasting establishment. The tour was very long and boring and was half asleep until we were taken round a corner to the best part of Brussels. Forget the chocolate and the fries, Jill Evans MEP’s corner of Parliament was the highlight of the trip.
In the afternoon we were treated to a lecture by Marc Sanjaume on New Democratic Forms within the European Framework. Marc is a political scientist and researcher at Université du Québec à Montréal. We debated about what was needed for a new minority Country to succeed in Europe and how the number of devolved powers the Country already had would greatly improve their chances of independence. It was very disappointing to see how low Wales ranked on the graph of devolved powers and that we were not even considered as a Country with the possibility of Independence (In the near future). We as a Country are being let down by lazy Carwyn Jones and are being deprived of what is within our capability. ‘Welsh Labour’ concentrate on satisfying their London puppet masters and we, Wales, suffer because of it. Only Plaid Cymru can put us, the people, first and ensure we fulfil our potential.
The lecture was followed by a night of relaxing (and drinking) in the centre of Brussels. The political conversations continued until the early hours, but unfortunately my little liver could not compete with the Catalans, who continued to drink Tequila until way after I had fallen asleep.
After a very useful night’s sleep, we concluded the meeting with a very interesting debate on the independence of Catalonia. The debate was chaired by Silvio Falcon, one of ERC’s political researchers at the European Parliament. I was very happy to hear that Catalonia should be independent within 18 months if the Junts pel Si coalition wins the Catalan elections at the end of the month. Junts pel Si is a coalition formed of left, centre and right winged parties that are pushing for independence. Silvio said that the coalition were busy creating a political programme behind the scenes in preparation for a Free and Independent Catalonia. He added, “We must ensure the money is in its place, and after that – it’s easy.” Catalonia have become accustomed with Spain pulling dirty tricks, similar to what we witnessed in Scotland last year e.g. the bias of the Spanish media. It was interesting to hear that Catalonia would be prepared to call an UDI –Unilateral declaration of Independence if Spain would continue to deny democracy and drag their feet with proceedings and as long as the money is there, they are very faithful that they WILL win the fight for Catalan independence.
With the end of the Catalan debate came the end of the trip. This was a great experience and I would like to thank all members of EFAy for continuing to inspire and for keeping the flame alight in Wales.
It was very hard at times to hear of the excitement and the energy that was so evident in Catalonia compared to Wales. We could only dream of seeing a few thousand marching passed the Castle in Cardiff, let alone the million that were marching in Barcelona last year. We in Wales must realise that there is much better to be had than what we are currently being given. What is so good about being dependant? We are a small but proud Nation with the capability of being strong and prosperous under the right leadership. The only way to ensure this is by voting for Plaid Cymru – the only party that will put Wales first.
Visca Catalunya Lliure! #FreeWales #CymruRydd
