Labour's attack on Adam Price's 'colonialism' comment is a preview of the 2021 campaign

Comments such as those found in your article were also made after the Plaid Cymru conference and I tweeted at the time the need to stop using the emotive term 'reparations'. The need to compensate Wales for centuries of economic exploitation is blindingly obvious, but using the term 'reparations' only distracts from the real argument. I would also rather see the term Internal Colony revived to describe Wales's historical relationship with England. It is a term long-used used by academics, and successfully describes, in my opinion, the way Wales was successfully subjugated. The methods used became a template for future overseas ventures in which Wales, as a part of Greater England, of course played a part. The encyclopaedia entry 'For Wales see England' only reflected the reality of the situation and it has only taken the heroic efforts of generations of individuals to ensure that we have overcome and survived as a nation. The next step is to move forward from the language of 'Yma o Hyd' to providing a vision of the future which all the citizens of our country can relate to and embrace, and it seems to me that this is exactly what Adam Price is trying to do during this election campaign.

Good pragmatic advice I suspect from IMJ. We can look forward to a few years of similar ad hominem attacks running up to the Senedd elections. However, it’s a sad comment on the level of debate in modern Cymru. It seems it’s ‘politic’ not to use the word ‘colony’ in Welsh politics as nobody can agree to it’s true interpretation. Possibly due to the bad press the term carries? The Welsh, rightly perhaps, see at as insulting. Anti Indy thinkers seem to think it insults other colonies of the English Empire to suggest Cymru has suffered on the same scale. Most splendid case of ‘whataboutry’ I ever heard! Truth is if you believe the Oxford Dictionary we were and still are a Colony of Westminster. “country or area under the full or partial political control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country.”. It could be argued that as we have a minority role in the other countries control but we all know that role is almost totally ineffective due to overwhelming majority of the English representation. It may hurt, it may be arguable but in truth, we are still a colony and will remain so, until we become fully independent and an equal member of any British Isles Union.

the need for wales to run its own affairs and have resources taken returned in some shape is justifief only by the benefit that Wales can thereby bring to itself, the UK, other neighbours and the world. The crisis and the challenge is global All solutions here should be seen as and justified only as contributions to the wider and global conundrums. 'The argument: We were unfairly treated and still are' is a puny perochial self interested and defeatist. Wales is here to transform the future, for all its friends and neighbours, not to fight for a fairer slice of a rotten cake.

We know Drakeford is Kinnocked, but how can Labour's door to door stand it?

Plaid has constantly been too nice when if comes to challenging the status quo in Wales, which is Labour Power, and Labour has honed it's skills of undermining Plaid to such an extent that it does so with maximum impact. There's a lot to be said about occupying the moral high ground, but in the realm of politics this is unsuitable. Politics is a dirty business, and sometimes, as a matter of defence retaliation is necessary, not because it's desirable in itself but as a way of instilling in the opponent that there is an inherent risk that a target may retaliate as a means of defence, and the retaliation may be much more powerful than the attack. Not so very long ago Plaid could very easily be sent into a tailspin through Labour simply accusing it of being wedded to independence - which was a truth that Plaid, in its wisdom appeared to want to distance itself from for fear of alienating 'English' Wales, a fear that I feel was largely unfounded, and that it was more the case that Plaid was seen as evasive that led to the widespread mistrust. In more recent times, whilst now claiming full ownership of its separatist policies it tends now to shoot itself in the foot through allying itself too much with Labour when it comes to those who threaten the cosy status quo that seems to order the state of play - and here I'm talking about the hoohaa over Neil McEvoy which seems to have been a Plaid elite/Labour stitch up over someone threatened that cosy relationship. . Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory! Ye gods, I don't think that Plaid could have done anything more inept in terms of it's future success! McEvoy may not be the most suave and sophisticated of operators, and that's where his appeal lies - no nonsense, what you see is what you get kind of person. Sure, he rubs some people up the wrong way, but Plaid's only concern should be that as many of those are Labour, who, to be quite honest, need not only to be rubbed up the wrong way, but need their noses rubbing in any ordure as well. And then we have this coming general election where, because where I live Plaid has stepped aside to give the Yellow Tories a better chance. Again, what the heck is that all about? Does Plaid have such a short memory that it has forgotten how the LibDems enabled Tory ideological austerity? It means that I effectively have to vote Labour in this election, unless I want to vote for the Welsh proto-fascists called Gwlad Gwlad. In truth I've always voted Plaid out pf a sense of complete desperation of a party more worthwhile to vote for, a party that has give out plenty of detailed information about where it stands, much like it did in the old days when Plaid published lots of policy stuff that was pretty easy tio get hold of. Nowadays Plaid seems to think that much of the electorate has been frontally lobotomised and as such one can visit the Plaid website safe in the knowledge that one will leave none the wiser about party policy on anything. If Plaid want to be in with a chance of forming the next government of Wales then they need to shape up, start telling us, the people of Wales about what it is they think about a plethora of important issues that affect the day to day lives of ordinary citizens instead of going overboard over 'ishoos' that whilst have an importance of their own, are nonetheless distant from the bread and butter concerns of everyday citizens that are the reason they cast their votes for one party or another. Yes, Plaid does need to prepare defences for when the opposition mines something from the distant past and serves it with relish, but Paid also needs to have the dynamite at the ready having dug the dirt on Labour. It also needs to wage a war of constant attrition against Labour if it is to win the hearts and minds of the Welsh people. At the moment Labour is failing Wales, sadly at the moment with Plaid's assistance too much of the time.

The best way to look at this outburst, is to appreciate how Vaughan and many Labour members have been victims of the Imperial version of history that was dished out in schools throughout Wales and the rest of the British Empire, with little or no consideration given to the history of their own countries, Wales included.

Hmmm. Not happy with your remark: "In hindsight, I don’t think anyone would be able to claim that Mike Parker wasn’t completely spot on about his comments" apropos the 'incomers are nazis' paraphrase (which was, itself, not an accurate summary of his comment). Please acknowledge that there are also incomers who are vocally curious about the culture and who make a strong contribution to its preservation. Incomers who learn the language (sometimes in the face of apathy) and who play a role in the community.

Wales and many Welsh 'leaders' have acquiesced in English colonial dominance over Wales. As for the Welsh eagerly participating in Britain's Imperial adventure, it would be more accurate to say that they fled Britain to escape religious and racist persecution. Many of the founding fathers of the USA came from such a background in Wales. Many who left for Patagonia did so because they were guaranteed religious and cultural freedom in Argentina. For too long Welsh leaders have been misleading their own public by doing England's bidding. It is time that they all followed Adam Price's example and stood their ground against English arrogance. I am astonished at the criticism levelled against him for stating the simple truth. Why for example is the term 'reparations' considered too emotive. For heavens sake. The Allies paid reparations to General Motors after WWII in order to compensate them for the damage done by our bombing of their Opel factories in Nazi Germany. Factories which built vehicles for the German Army ! All we did was allow the English to steal our mineral wealth and our water. Adam Price is a breath of fresh air in Welsh politics and deserves the support of every welsh citizen.

It is nonsense to say the word "reparations" is linked to the slave trade. The Allies who won World War One used this word to describe the compensation they thought the Germans should pay for having provoked that conflict. Arguably World War Two was made inevitable by the reparations demanded of the Germans under the Treaty of Versailles.

Just to set the record straight: 1/ Adam Price is right in saying that Wales was and is an internal colony. 2/ Vaughan Gething knows it, and knows that if he were to acknowledge his own part in what is in effect a colonial administration, he would be faced with an existential crisis and an awareness of the meaninglessness of his job. He also does very nicely out of this cosy little set-up. This is why he attempts to close down the debate by introducing a historical issue that is irrelevant to Wales's present predicament, namely 18th-Century slavery. 3/ Ifan Morgan Jones is wrong in advising Price to modify his language in the case of colonialism -- it's the simple truth. 4/ IMJ is, however, right in suggesting that the term 'reparations' won't do, but he should bear in mind that most people who saw what Price had written weren't offended but embarrassed by it. We don't need their money, we just want to run our own country without their intereference, and they can certainly start paying us for our resources after independence. 5/ IMJ is right to hint that Plaid Cymru has missed many open goals against Welsh Labour. So many, in fact, that I now question whether their heart is in it. This has been my feeling since Euan Wyn Jones was at the helm. Toughen up, Adam, you're dealing with ruthless bastards who have profitted by corruption. Unless you're profitting from it, too. Prove me wrong in the run-up to 2021.

Isn't this website an example of a better-informed and non-unionist media? I suppose you mean a newspaper, in which case, I agree with you.

Torn between Labour or Plaid Cymru for Dec elections, after Vaughan Gething shameless attempts to undermine Adam by pulling the race card, I'm now firmly settled on Plaid Cymru. Probably the most vocal, inspirational and iconic man who would agree with Adams comments was the god father of the black civil rights movement, Paul Robeson. Whose voice I would put far above most others who supposedly "speak/spoke" for Wales, he even said himself when he came to Wales that he learned then that the struggle for black people in America was the same struggle as the working class white people around the world. Yes there were Welsh figures implicit in the european colonial era but to put things into context Britain was by and large known as England, Wales hardly had a voice, if any. However having said that you should argue that even normal working class English people have suffered during imperialist Britain, point being Vaughans comments are unfounded and a shameless attempt to undermine Adam with very little class or finesse.

Pretending that Wales is a colony is just lazy xenophobic populist nonsense from weak politicians with no actual ideas.

Very helpful article, I think that reparations is a term well known to those who study 20th century history and it should not be confined to efforts by those who wish to gain forms of compensation for exploitation of their ancestors during the trans Atlantic slave trade.

Civic nationalism hasn't worked for Plaid Cymru it knows straight talking victimhood and blame politics cut through so its going back to its roots, blame the Englsish for everything and reap the rewards.

But what would repatriations be for?? Coal and steel took Wales from a sparse populated country to one of the industrial revolutions most important places, The wealth build towns and cities across Wales, why is that a bad thing??