Editor Planet Magazine / Golygydd Cylchgrawn Planet.
Aberystwyth.
“I’m a Welsh nationalist. I also abhor the grasping self-interest, and the disrespect for the lives of people beyond arbitrary borders which characterises the system of nation-states we live in. Is this not a contradiction? In Raymond Williams’ 1964 novel Second Generation, an African nationalist offers an explanation: ‘Nationalism is in this sense like class. To have it, and to feel it, is the only way to end it. If you fail to claim it, or give it up too soon, you will merely be cheated, by other classes and other nations.’ You cannot simply leap-frog from being a poor, stateless nation like Wales to become a post-national force for justice. You’d be crushed. Wales rather needs to somehow struggle along the well-worn path towards national autonomy while at the same time creating the foundations for a more progressive post-national political community, so it can eventually emerge out the other side… Many Catalans dispense with the tainted term ‘nacionalisme’ altogether; they use ‘independentisme’ instead: their movement isn’t about replicating the oppressive structure of the Spanish state on a smaller scale, nor about the superiority of their culture over others, but a contribution to a longer-term battle for egalitarianism and freedom.”
“Rwy’n genedlaetholwr Cymreig. Rwy hefyd yn casáu’r holl grafangu trachwantus, yr hunan-fuddio a’r diffyg parch at fywydau pobl sy’n digwydd byw tu hwnt i ffiniau mympwyol sy’n nodweddu system y cenedl-wladwriaethau yr ydym yn byw ynddi ar hyn o bryd. Ond onid yw’r ddau safbwynt yma’n gwrthddweud ei gilydd? Mae un o gymeriadau nofel Raymond Williams, ‘Second Generation’ (1964), sy’n genedlaetholwr o Dde Affrica yn cynnig yr esboniad yma: ‘Nationalism is in this sense like class. To have it, and to feel it, is the only way to end it. If you fail to claim it, or give it up too soon, you will merely be cheated, by other classes and other nations.’ Mae’n afrealistig disgwyl i Gymru – cenedl dlawd a chenedl nad yw’n wladwriaeth – i geisio mabwysiadu rôl fel grym ôl-genedlaethol sy’n gweithredu dros gyfiawnder. Pe bai Cymru’n ceisio gwneud hynny, fe fyddai’’n cael ei sathru a’i gwasgu’n ddim. Yn hytrach, mae angen i Gymru ffeindio ffordd, rhywsut, o weithio’i ffordd tuag at ymreolaeth genedlaethol ar hyd y llwybrau cydnabyddedig ond gan osod seiliau ar yr un pryd ar gyfer cymuned wleidyddol, ôl-genedlaethol mwy blaengar y tu hwnt i hynny a fydd yn gallu camu’n hyderus tua’r dyfodol…Mae nifer o bobl Catalwnia wedi cefni’n llwyr ar y term llygredig, ‘nationalisme’; maen nhw’n defnyddio ‘independentisme’ yn ei le. Nid ail-adrodd patrymau a strwythurau gormesol gwladwriaeth Sbaen ar raddfa lai yw nod yr ymgyrch yng Nghatalwnia, na datgan goruchafiaeth eu diwylliant dros ddiwylliannau eraill chwaith. Yn hytrach, maent yn ymgyrchu i gyfrannu i’r frwydr hirdymor am gydraddoliaeth a rhyddid.
