Treffie
08-16-2011, 11:29 AM
I wonder if literary critics in the media would get away with saying the same thing about Arabic, Swahili, Urdu etc? :rolleyes:
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A PLAID Cymru MP has written angrily to the Home Secretary about a book review in a national newspaper that describes Welsh as an “appalling and moribund monkey language”.
Jonathan Edwards, the MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, described comments made in the Daily Mail review by the Caerphilly-born writer Roger Lewis as “sick” and said they should not be tolerated.
Mr Lewis’ article mocks Bred of Heaven, a book in which English author Jasper Rees seeks to rediscover his Welsh roots.
The review says: “In his quest to call himself a Celt, our author does the maddest thing of all — he actually learns Welsh, by attending evening classes in London/Llundain and going on courses. I abhor the appalling and moribund monkey language myself, which hasn’t had a new noun since the Middle Ages.
“[The] trouble with the Welsh language is that it isn’t a quaint custom revived or the relic of cultural niceties — it is foisted on people for political reasons.
“Though I was born in Caerphilly and have, as it happens, not a drop of non-Welsh haemoglobin in my veins, I detest the way Wales has been turned into a foreign country, with a Welsh language radiostation, television channel, and dual-language road signs.
“In fact, most Welsh families, in the south particularly, have been in Wales for only five minutes, having come from Scotland and Cornwall to work in the mines.
“The Eisteddfod, where the bards look like the Ku Klux Klan in white wellies, is an ancient ceremony dating all the way back to 1880. Ye Warriors of Gwynedd they are not.”
In his letter to Home Secretary Theresa May, Mr Edwards writes: “The article is a disgraceful slur on the people of Wales. It is deeply inflammatory as the representations I have received indicate. The article equates Welsh nationality with mental illness. It indicates that the only way to achieve social and economic progress is to move to England. That Wales has been turned into a ‘foreign country’ as a result of Welsh language equality legislation.
“It describes our national tongue as a ‘moribund monkey language’. This is an abhorrent comment considering that Welsh is one of the oldest living European languages, and comes only a week after the National Eisteddfod was held in Wrexham, one of Europe’s largest cultural festivals. The article throughout resembles the sort of language often associated with fascists in a different context.
“I’m sure you will agree with me that considering the events of recent weeks it is important that the UK Government and prosecuting authorities do everything in their power to clamp down on those irresponsible elements determined to undermine social cohesion. Following the comments of the Prime Minister during the recall of Parliament last week I would expect this matter to be treated with the utmost importance.
“It is often said that hatred of the Welsh is the only remaining form of acceptable racism. Articles like this further that perception. I would be grateful if you could advise me what action can be taken to remove this sickness from society.”
Mr Edwards has also referred the review to the police and the Press Complaints Commission.
Jasper Rees, the author of the book reviewed in the Daily Mail, said: “He was very rude about the book but that concerns only me. He was incredibly rude about the Welsh language, the Welsh and Wales.
“I’m p***ed off that my book has been driven into a pointless controversy. People like Roger Lewis and people in the media who make these statements are, in my view, utterly risible and should not be given a platform.
“One knows for certain that if you substitute any other language or culture or ethnicity for Wales, Welshness or the Welsh, it would not get in the paper.
“I hope that Jonathan Edwards has every success and I hope that he gets a reply. I hope that it is taken seriously by the Home Secretary and that something is somehow done about it, because these attacks on Welsh culture, as embodied by the Welsh language, cannot be allowed to go on. I find it gobsmacking that the Daily Mail would consider publishing such an inflammatory statement and regard it as free speech, which is apparently what they have said.”
Link (http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/08/16/mp-blasts-monkey-language-attack-on-welsh-91466-29241533/)
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A PLAID Cymru MP has written angrily to the Home Secretary about a book review in a national newspaper that describes Welsh as an “appalling and moribund monkey language”.
Jonathan Edwards, the MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, described comments made in the Daily Mail review by the Caerphilly-born writer Roger Lewis as “sick” and said they should not be tolerated.
Mr Lewis’ article mocks Bred of Heaven, a book in which English author Jasper Rees seeks to rediscover his Welsh roots.
The review says: “In his quest to call himself a Celt, our author does the maddest thing of all — he actually learns Welsh, by attending evening classes in London/Llundain and going on courses. I abhor the appalling and moribund monkey language myself, which hasn’t had a new noun since the Middle Ages.
“[The] trouble with the Welsh language is that it isn’t a quaint custom revived or the relic of cultural niceties — it is foisted on people for political reasons.
“Though I was born in Caerphilly and have, as it happens, not a drop of non-Welsh haemoglobin in my veins, I detest the way Wales has been turned into a foreign country, with a Welsh language radiostation, television channel, and dual-language road signs.
“In fact, most Welsh families, in the south particularly, have been in Wales for only five minutes, having come from Scotland and Cornwall to work in the mines.
“The Eisteddfod, where the bards look like the Ku Klux Klan in white wellies, is an ancient ceremony dating all the way back to 1880. Ye Warriors of Gwynedd they are not.”
In his letter to Home Secretary Theresa May, Mr Edwards writes: “The article is a disgraceful slur on the people of Wales. It is deeply inflammatory as the representations I have received indicate. The article equates Welsh nationality with mental illness. It indicates that the only way to achieve social and economic progress is to move to England. That Wales has been turned into a ‘foreign country’ as a result of Welsh language equality legislation.
“It describes our national tongue as a ‘moribund monkey language’. This is an abhorrent comment considering that Welsh is one of the oldest living European languages, and comes only a week after the National Eisteddfod was held in Wrexham, one of Europe’s largest cultural festivals. The article throughout resembles the sort of language often associated with fascists in a different context.
“I’m sure you will agree with me that considering the events of recent weeks it is important that the UK Government and prosecuting authorities do everything in their power to clamp down on those irresponsible elements determined to undermine social cohesion. Following the comments of the Prime Minister during the recall of Parliament last week I would expect this matter to be treated with the utmost importance.
“It is often said that hatred of the Welsh is the only remaining form of acceptable racism. Articles like this further that perception. I would be grateful if you could advise me what action can be taken to remove this sickness from society.”
Mr Edwards has also referred the review to the police and the Press Complaints Commission.
Jasper Rees, the author of the book reviewed in the Daily Mail, said: “He was very rude about the book but that concerns only me. He was incredibly rude about the Welsh language, the Welsh and Wales.
“I’m p***ed off that my book has been driven into a pointless controversy. People like Roger Lewis and people in the media who make these statements are, in my view, utterly risible and should not be given a platform.
“One knows for certain that if you substitute any other language or culture or ethnicity for Wales, Welshness or the Welsh, it would not get in the paper.
“I hope that Jonathan Edwards has every success and I hope that he gets a reply. I hope that it is taken seriously by the Home Secretary and that something is somehow done about it, because these attacks on Welsh culture, as embodied by the Welsh language, cannot be allowed to go on. I find it gobsmacking that the Daily Mail would consider publishing such an inflammatory statement and regard it as free speech, which is apparently what they have said.”
Link (http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/08/16/mp-blasts-monkey-language-attack-on-welsh-91466-29241533/)