TOMORROW (Saturday), thousands of people are expected on a march for Welsh Independence at Caernarfon in Gwynedd.
A riot of colour is expected as marchers will walk into the town, and circle the castle before congregating for speeches and contributions from various artists on Y Maes, the centrepiece of the town.
Following the march, a discussion forum entitled “A route map for independence” will be held at Copa – which will now also feature a well-known figure in Welsh politics, who has agreed to fill a last minute gap in the arrangements.
A riot of colour expected in the town
Various groups are also playing in different locations in the town in the afternoon and evening which should ensure an on-going festival atmosphere to the proceedings for hours.
The march has been organised jointly between AUOB (All under One Banner) and YES Cymru, following the success of the first independence march held in Cardiff in May.
One of the notable features of this event has been the efforts of YES Caernarfon members, with over 40 individuals of all ages involved in drawing up the detailed arrangements over the last couple of month.
People who perhaps have varying views about WHAT kind of Independent Wales they would like to see, but who are all united in their determination to REACH Independence in the first place.
A team spirit for Independence
Weekly meetings have been supplemented by regular contact by means of a WhatsApp group, with the team spirit fostered perhaps best demonstrated by the 80,000 leaflets about the march hand-delivered to homes in the Caernarfon, Bangor and Ynys Mon area.
It has been a tremendous exercise in participative democracy, which could conceivably serve as a template for further such exercises in our national life.
After all, isn’t the notion of choosing one man or woman to represent thousands and thousands of people at Y Senedd or Westminster hopelessly old-fashioned and out-dated by today?
A participative democracy for Wales
The independence campaign has already freed people from the notion that only elected politicians should have a say on things. People will not be willing to go back in their boxes once this has run its course.
And Wales, because of its history, the nature of its people and its size is ideally placed to instigate a new participative democracy here once Independence is achieved.
After all, what did perhaps the most famous US President of them all, Abraham Lincoln, himself reputedly of Welsh descent, declare to be the ideal model of democracy?: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
Tomorrow, people are asked to congregate at the lower Morrisons car park on the approach into Caernarfon from Bangor from 12.00 onwards. The march itself starts at 1.00
A great call to arms, Aled, but for the benefit of those of us who want to attend but live further away, can you include details of when and where the marchers should gather?
And by the way, not a lot of people know this, but that famous Lincoln quote from the Gettysburg Address wasn’t something he thought up himself: it comes from John Wycliffe’s preface to his 1384 translation of the Bible into English, where he wrote “The Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People”.
Darllenais rywle arall fod AWJ yn chwarae rhan ganolog yn trefnu’r orymdaith. Felly llongyfarchiadau i AWJ ag eraill fu’n gyfrifol. Mae’n amlwg fod yna bosibylrwydd o gael “cynulliad” amlbleidiol gyda llai o gecru plentynaidd er fod rhai wedi dal ati i greu rhwyg ddoe. Diolch am eich ymdrechion.
Diolch am y sylw caredig Dafis. Mae yna rywbeth gwirioneddol gynhyrfus yn yr ymchwydd hyn dros annibyniaeth: awydd angerddol am newid ond heb gael pleidiau gwleidyddol yn rhan ohono! Anodd rhagweld yn union sut y caiff hyn ei wireddu trwy’r blychau pleidleisiau, ond cytuno bod hyn yn debyg o gynnwys platfform eang ei rychwant na allwn ni ei ddychmygu’n llawn ar hyn o bryd!