Re: Anomie

From friends      Aye, Wales can be despairing at times.   But regarding the adventure tourism bit. You may be relieved to know that there are many initiatives at present whereas local, Welsh speaking people are being trained to reclaim the 'adventure tourism' sector. Many of these initiatives are run through dedication of YOUNG ordinary (mostly unaffiliated) nationalists who work at community regeneration level. Money is coming from WAG through various bodies & channels, and is being used for courses (Mountain Leaders etc), and a great deal is also done voluntarily, all of which is done with the interest of Welsh culture, identity and the local economy at heart, to promote sustainable cultural tourism and to promote the training and employment of local, Welsh-speakers in real, fulltime, well-paid jobs. Surely this is what is needed.   Like it or not, this adventure tourism exists and, unlike Scotland, well over 90% of it is run - as you say - by English colonists for English proto-colonists. 90% of Mountain Leaders, Caving Leaders, Climbing Kayaking Leaders are English colonists. We must reclaim this sector for our people, and this is what we are doing here in Blaenau and in Gwynedd at the moment. We do not criticise from the edges, we manouevre oursleves into positions where we can make a difference. There are already dozens of locals benefitting from the various Outdoor Leaders courses that have been set up, and work is under way by dedicated, lifelong community and nationalist workers to set up the Cynefin a Chymuned course, for which funding has been obtained. All this will enable us to get those jobs that the colonists now do. There's no point in burying heads in sand and pretend the adventure tourism industry doesn't exist. We must reclaim it and push the colonists out of the wellpaid fulltime jobs that should be there for us.    Also, numerous local projects have been set up - like Antur Stiniog - where local adventure tourism (mountain biking is a highly sustainable industry) projects are set up BY LOCALS who train and EMPLOY LOCALS and also incorporate culture and identity into the whole project.   There are so many positive things happening in Blaenau at the moment - like the reclaiming of the Town Council, the setting up of Antur Stiniog and other projects, and the influence these have given us on the wider Blaenau Ymlaen strategy - that I find it a bit annoying when initiatives are dismissed out of hand just because of illinformed predisposition to tourism as a whole.   These projects in Blaenau are linked to wider funding administered on a county-wide level, and is now being incorporated into this new strategy announced yesterday.   Slowly but surely, we will reclaim the adventure holiday industry. Maybe one day we will reclaim the whole damn shebang.           ----- Original Message ----- Just thought I'd drop a line in case you were wondering about my silence and lack of action on Welsh Times. Truth is I'm undergoing one of my periodic bouts of anomie. Possibly brought on by the weather. Not helped by some of the news I read.   Such as Alun Ffred launching a 'new' tourism initiative in Caernarfon. Saying we should promote adventure holidays. Tourism, as we know, is a largely English business in Wales, but adventure holidays and the like are exclusively fucking English, yet Plaid Cymru says we must have more of it! What sort of Wales does Plaid Cymru want to see?   Economically speaking, promoting tourism, seasonal and low paid tourism, is a confession of defeat. It's saying, 'Sorry, folks, we are unable to get you decent jobs so we have no alternative but to push tourism'. (And suffer the consequences of communities where Welsh people can't afford to live.)    Then, yesterday, I was in Harlech having the MOT done on my car. I wandered around while it was being done and, inevitably, found myself scanning the notice boards. One beauty of a poster caught my eye, put up by the Meirionnydd Labour Party.   To begin with, it was entirely in English; but then, I suppose Labour has given up on Meirionnydd. The poster was calling a public meeting to discuss "Developing and protecting the Ardudwy coast" Now what parallel universe do these twats inhabit where logic is reversed so that a coastline can be protected by being developed?   I shall snap out of it shortly and return to the fray. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.733 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/2651 - Release Date: 01/28/10 07:36:00