Press Releases
If you'd like to receive our press releases regularly, just drop us a line!
Joint Warrior exercise (30/09/08)
The proposed military exercise codenamed "Joint Warrior" which will be held from 6th to 16th October is another sign of the way in which Wales is being militarised.
We oppose this attempt to increase the anxiety and fear of the population by using the excuse that this exercise is necessary to thwart terrorism.
We oppose this attempt to increase the feeling of Britishness which is a part of the objective of these events. We consider it very significant that it is in Wales and Scotland that the vast majority of this activity will take place, two nations where there is a growth in their demand for more autonomy.
Once again these two countries are being treated as second class colonies as these exercises will cause inconvenience and danger as "live" (sic) explosives will be used. We oppose the tremendous waste of resources that will be used as this exercise which is being billed as the biggest in history takes place, and that at a time of an economic crisis. We call on the people of Wales to show their opposition to this abuse of land, sea and air.
Protest against St Athan at Penyberth (08/09/2008)
Jill Evans and Dafydd Iwan in Penyberth
Jill Evans, Plaid Cymru MEP and Chair of CND Wales, spoke at a protest today, which was well attended and organised by the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales at Penyberth near Pwllheli. Jill Evans quoted the Rev. Lewis Valentine, a past president of Plaid Cymru, who had taken part in a protest against the proposed bombing school at Penyberth, who had said he could not remain silent as preparations were made for war and the bombing of cities. Jill Evans said, "We cannot remain silent today and we have the right and the responsibility to say we will not accept anything at any price, such as St Athan, for the sake of jobs alone. We have a right to question what sort of jobs would come for local people, since we need a sustainable economy here in Wales. Wales has a potential to be a force for peace in the world. We must decide in Wales what kind of Wales we want. St Athan military academy was a Westminster decision, not one made here."
The Fellowship of Reconciliation, Cymdeithas y Cymod, is an international faith based peace movement. During the meeting a peace torch was lit to commemorate the 1936 event, when Saunders Lewis, DJ Williams and the Rev. Lewis Valentine started a fire at the site of the bombing school. The purpose of the event was to remind Welsh politicians of the need to oppose the proposed military academy at St Athan.
The other main speaker was Plaid Cymru President Dafydd Iwan who said, "I cannot think of a more suitable place to start on my new term of presidency of Plaid Cymru than here at Penyberth, where two former presidents of Plaid protested against the establishment of a bombling school on this day in 1936."
Dafydd Iwan then went on to say, "Plaid Cymru has certainly not campaigned in favour of the proposed military academy at St Athan, and the time has come to ask questions about the purpose and value of such an establishment to Welsh life. Too much Welsh land is already used to prepare for war with over 140 military establishments. We need to invest in peace, not war." He blamed multinational corporations for profiting from both the destruction of war and from the post war reconstruction work.
The meeting ended with a balad written about the bombing school in 1936 sung by Mr Harry Richards, and this was followed with a prayer for peace by the Rev. Guto Prys ap Gwynfor, the President of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
No to St Athan academy on Penyberth bombing school site (03/09/08)
Jill Evans MEP and Dafydd Iwan will join the Rev. Guto Prys ap Gwynfor to light a flame of peace at Penyberth, near Pwllheli on Monday 8th September at 2pm. The event will commemorate the fire lit by Saunders Lewis, Rev. Lewis Valentine and DJ Davies to stop the building of a bombing school there in 1936. The meeting will send a clear message to the politicians in Cardiff Bay and London of the need to oppose the proposed military academy at St Athan.
The following is a declaration by the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales, which is an international faith based peace movement, who have organised this event for their opposition to the St Athan military academy:
"We oppose the proposed military academy at St Athan for the following reasons:
- Christian morality declares that by loving the enemy we can resolve conflict, not by killing and destroying the property of the enemy.
- The privatising of military training will have a destabilising effect and means there will be no public accountability for activities there and the profit motive will prevail for the benefit of the shareholders of the private consortium.
- The fragile Welshness of the Vale o Glamorgan will be further eroded by the influx of personnel from elsewhere."
Remembering Hiroshima (03/08/08)
Members of the Fellowship of Reconcilliation in Wales will draw "shadows" in chalk on the pavement of Queen Street, Cardiff at 9am on Wednesday 6th August to remember Hiroshima. The shadows represent the vapourised traces of people left on walls in Hiroshima. August 6th is the International Remberence of Hiroshima when the people of Cardiff will join other capitals across the world to remember the first use of an atomic bomb on a city.
Welsh farm names reappear on Eppynt Mountain, also the reading of a winning poem, Saturday 22 June 12noon (18/06/08)
The British Army agreed to the request from the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales to put the original Welsh farm names on signs near the farm sites on Eppynt Mountain. Members of the Fellowship will walk on the mountain to see the new signs on Saturday 21 June 2008.
Members will meet at the ruins of the old Babell Chapel on the mountain at 12 noon on Saturday where the Rev. Guto Prys ap Gwynfor will hold a service to remember the lost community of Welsh speaking farmers who lived on the Eppynt before their land was taken by the Army in 1940 for training purposes.
The Rev. T. James Jones will also read his winning poem at last years National Eisteddfod which describes the sunset on Eppynt mountain and mentions the way in which the land is used for military training today and that only the ruins of the farms are left there.
Stop St. Athan military academy campaign in Paris (Non aux écoles militaires privées!) (03/06/08)
The campaign to stop the planned military academy in St Athan was taken to an international level this week when Cymdeithas y Cymod (Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales) had an exhibition stall at the 3rd International Salon for Peace Initiatives in Paris. The Paris Salon is an international event for activists with over 300 peace and justice organisations represented from all over Europe, which attracted over 14,000 visitors over the weekend.
Cymdeithas y Cymod had prepared bilingual leaflets in French and Welsh explaining the fact that a consortium of private companies including arms and rocket manufacturers were planning to train soldiers for profit from any army that can pay at the St. Athan military academy. The significance of the idea that this Metrix consortium would only be responsible to their shareholders with profit in mind shocked both exhibitors and visitors to the Salon alike.
Many pledged to write to Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan to express their concern at this dangerous development in military training. Some envisaged the possibility that even private armies could be trained at St Athan if they could afford to pay whatever fees the arms companies charged. They saw this as a sinister development in European terms and were afraid similar projects might be started elsewhere if the St Athan military academy goes ahead.
Beside the exhibition at the Salon there were also interactive workshops, puppet shows, films and discussion groups on a variety of peace and justice topics including celebration of the life of Martin Luther King and Ghandi. There were plans discussed on how to celebrate the peace movement in 2014 during the year which will mark the centenary of the start of the First World War and the founding of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Different methods of non-violent action were also discussed including the controversial "Circles of Silence" demonstrations held in France to support asylum seekers started there by the Franciscan brothers. The Salon and Conference was held in the framework of the International Decade of the United Nations for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non Violence and organised by the French Coalition for the Decade under the joint auspices of the UN and UNESCO. The venue of the Salon was the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in Paris.
Against a national day for the army (19/05/08)
We consider the idea the Government has floated to hold 'A National (sic) Armed Forces Day' to be:-
- An attempt to promote a military mentality in the countries of Britain;
- An attempt to rekindle British imperialism.
We oppose these attempts on the basis of our faith based principles and our conviction that militarism and imperialism is responsible for a multitude of the world's problems, and in order to solve these problems we must resist this mentality.
Call for scrapping the St Athan military academy (03/12/07)
At the weekend the Fellowship of Reconciliation held its annual vigil at the Cardiff Millenium Centre. The purpose of the vigil was to call for the scrapping of plans for the proposed St Athan military academy. Dr. Stuart Tannock said that Raytheon, which is one of the partners in the private Metrix consortium which will run the planned St Athan Military Academy, is involved in making the delivery systems for weapons including cluster bombs. He said the fact that First Minister Rhodri Morgan had welcomed the military academy was contrary to the Assembly's stated policy of building a sustainable Wales.
"Wales is one of the most militarised areas of the UK" said the Rev. Guto Prys ap Gwynfor. "Our aim as a Fellowship must be to campaign for the demilitarisation of Wales by raising public awareness" he said "Even the air space of Wales is a military zone. One of our first tasks will be to work to stop further militarisation such as the building of the St Athan military academy".;
A service for peace was held at St Athan Church on Saturday. Dr. Wyn James reminded members that the Vale of Glamorgan was the site of two famous Christian academies during the Dark Ages. He said that these academies had trained missionaries who went all over Europe to convert people to Christ, but that the proposed military academy would train people in the art of killing their fellow human beings around the world.
Launch of the new website of Cymdeithas y Cymod (04/08/07)
Cymdeithas y Cymod, the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales will launch its new website on Thursday, 9 August 2007, 2pm, in the Peace Tent on the National Eisteddfod field. All are welcome.
The website, which is available on www.cymdeithasycymod.org.uk, provides information about Cymdeithas y Cymod and the latest about its activities as well as publications and educational and campaigning resources to download. It will also include a diary of peace and justice events in Wales, and it is host to the website of the 2007 Wales Peace Festival which will be held in Caernarfon on 22 September.
Come and join Dr Robin Gywndaf and the webmaster, Marika Fusser, to launch the website with fair trade fruit juice and peace songs.
For further info please call at the Peace Tent, stall no. 246-248.
Kurdish Language Rights and the Ilisu Dam (01/07/07)
Open letter to the Foreign Secretary
The Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales is an international movement which opposes injustice and violence on the basis of our belief in the power of love to resolve conflict in the world. We are concerned as a Fellowship to hear of the injustice that Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State, ruled to dismiss Abdullah Demirbas, Mayor of the Sur district of Diyarbakir because the municipality voted for the provision of services in languages other than Turkish. The municipality includes people who speak Turkish at 24%, Kurdish 72%, and a smaller number of other language speakers. On the basis of these findings, the Sur municipality voted to provide official services in these languages. The Diyarbakir chief prosecutor further demanded that Demirbas and Diyarbakir metropolitan mayor Osman Baydemir both be sentenced to a prison term of three and a half years, because they should have vetoed the decision. The case is still going on at this time.
Mayor Demirbas is held in high respect as a spokesperson for cultural and linguistic rights and he has done much to defend and promote the language rights in the municipality. The fact he has been dismissed thus stopping the linguistic developments in the municipality does show the way in which the Government of Turkey represses the cultural minorities in the country and ignores the democratic wishes of its citizens.
As you know there is a live interest in Wales in language rights based on our own experiences. We also have experience of seeing the drowning of the land of our country, and interest therefore in the fact that the Turkish Government proposes to construct a dam at Ilisu to drown the land of the Kurds. Tens of thousands of people will loose their homes and their livelihoods if the dam is built. It is also of concern to us that a conflict over water - which will become more and more scarce in the future - could lead to war. We call on you therefore to make it a condition for Turkey to enter the European Union that they do not build the dam at Ilisu and also stop the persecution of Abdullah Demirbas and Osman Baydemir.
We hope you can bring this to the notice of the relevant authorities, especially since Turkey is now an applicant for EU membership. To allow Turkey to join the EU before they change their oppressive policy towards minority languages within their state sets a dangerous precedent for human rights within the EU. Building the dam at Ilisu is also dangerous when we consider the lack of water in the middle east and the possibility of war over water resources.
Repentance on Mynydd Epynt (25/06/07)
Flying the peace flag in the fake village
Over forty people turned up on Epynt Mountain on Saturday 23 June to repent for the fact that it was used for military training prior to the Falklands war. The service was arranged by the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales led by the Rev. Guto Prys ap Gwynfor in the ruins of the Babell chapel. The popular Welsh singer Tecwyn Ifan sang a satirical song of farewell to Tony Blair.
Guto Prys ap Gwynfor said "every war is started with lies, as happened before the Falklands and the illegal Iraq war". Guto Prys ap Gwynfor had worked as a VSO volunteer on the Falklands before the war there. He explained that all the local people he met there wanted to leave for a better life in Canada or Australia. However they couldn't leave because they worked on low wages for large British corporations. The British Government wanted to keep them there in order to keep their claim on the islands which have oil and mineral reserves. The justification for war was based on lies. By today very many of the people have been able to leave the islands.
Some of the local people who remembered the time they lost their homes on the mountain to the British Army attended the service. They could show where their homes had been, which are now empty or destroyed. The Army signs at the farms only gave numbers rather than the original names of the farms. The Fellowship of Reconciliation has asked the Army to put up signs with the original farm names. The group then walked to the fake "German" village built by the Army to train soldiers in urban combat. A false church building and graveyard has been placed there and all kinds of empty houses.
Remembering the Falklands on Eppynt Mountain (16/06/07)
A Service of Repentance will be held by the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales at the ruined Babell Chapel on Eppynt Mountain at 1.00 pm on Saturday 23 June and led by the Reverend Guto Prys ap Gwynfor. He served with the VSO on a voluntary basis on the Falklands for a time before the war and he will talk of his experiences during the service. Apparently the islanders lived under an almost feudal system in thrall to large British companies who paid little and this ensured the people could not leave the islands even if they wished to do so.
The British Army has claimed that it was on Eppynt Mountain that the Falklands war was won through the military training that took place there before the war. The purpose of the service at the Babell Chapel will be to repent that the land of Wales was used to prepare for a war where Welsh young people fought against soldiers of Welsh decent from Patagonia in the Argentine army. The Fellowship of Reconciliation is also concerned about the lack of psychological and medical therapy given to the veterans who still suffer physical and mental problems to this day after the war.
Members of the Fellowship will meet at the remains of the Drovers Arms on the mountain for a lunch at 12.00 before the service to remember the community of Welsh speakers who used to live on the mountain and frequent the pub before the Army stole their land in 1940.
The land of Eppynt Mountain is still used for military training and members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation will walk across the land without military permission to show their resistance to the training of soldiers both for the Falklands war and more recently the illegal war in Iraq.
The War Office forced four hundred people who farmed the mountain to leave within a few weeks in 1940. The army has renamed the area so that farms such as Clwyd Bach y Groes and Hirllwyn and Pentre Uchaf are now called Dixie's Corner, Piccadilly Circus and Gallows Hill.
No to Trident Renewal (11/03/07)
The Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales calls upon all Members of Parliament on 14 March to reject the Government's proposal to replace the Trident nuclear weapons. The purpose of the Fellowship of Reconciliation is to encourage people to follow the way of peace as taught to us by Jesus Christ, and to find non-violent ways of settling disputes at all levels. Nuclear bombs were used on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing thousands of innocent people and people are still dying from the effect of the bombs to this day. We do not want to see another Hiroshima ever again. Nuclear weapons are the armaments of the Devil and even the threat of their use is a sin, let alone their use which would be totally immoral and an end to our world.
The British Government has an opportunity here to follow the example of South Africa and scrap its nuclear weapons thus showing a moral lead to the world. We cannot expect other states which are without nuclear weapons today such as Iran not to acquire these weapons unless we show leadership in this matter. Britain will show moral double standards if on one hand it asks Iran and South Korea not to develop nuclear weapons while she replaces her own weapons.
The Churches in Wales have made a clear declaration against the replacement of the Trident weapon system including the Archbishop of Canterbury the Right Rev. Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of Wales the Right Rev. Dr. Barry C Morgan. Only by following the way of peace, the way of Jesus Christ is there hope in our world. Diabolical nuclear weapons lead us directly to hell and despair.
St Athan (21/01/07)
The Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales, unlike the sycophantic attitude of the BBC in its news programmes (January 16 and 17), and the servile attitude of the politicians of every political party, does not welcome the news that St. Athan has been chosen as the new military training centre by the British state. We cannot celebrate, when we consider it is the business of killing and destroying which brings economic hope to Wales. We cannot feel happy when we consider the thousands of young people who will have their future determined by the war machine. We believe war and the preparations for war is the biggest scourge of our age; a blight which endangers the future of our civilisation and our world as well as creating suffering and mourning on a vast scale. It is no joy to us that our political and industrial leaders put their faith in the powers of evil.
