Kirsty illiberal Williams determined to make RSE compulsory in Wales

Welsh Education Minister keeps religious education, makes it compulsory and inserts trans-ideology into the 7-16 curriculum.

You might see her determination to carry it through, despite the criticisms even hostility in the public consultation, in the unsmiling eyes and tight mouth chosen for her picture/
It's not difficult to spot the hidden agenda in cancelling the parents' right (and duty) to protect their children from religious and trans-promotion.  The documents use "LGBTQI+" which is Stonewall's latest claim for their 'trans' community.  They consulted only Stonewall and not the independent L or LGB organisations, nor did they involve women's organisations like FairPlayForWomen, WomansPlaceUK and Transgendertrend (this latter has excellent record and experience of schools material; all are hated by transactivists).

The covert trans-agenda was blurted out by an LGBT-campaigner journalism student, over from Wisconsin - 3rd Sept student piece and  7th Nov. article. This Christian Phelps seems unaware that in Wales and the UK, the trans-cult has to be more circumspect.

Let's remember that Kirsty Williams signed up to be a ‘Stonewall ally’.  She runs a department whose Equality Impact Assessment is based on Stonewall’s bastardisation of the Equality Act.  It conflates Sex/Gender and redefines Gender Reassignment as “the act of transitioning and Transgender people”. They don't let on this is the hoary old error of citing the Dept for Education in England and ignoring modern guidance from the EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission).  The EqIA adopts Stonewall’s fiction of LGBTQI+ and states quite wrongly  that “the rights of LGBTQI+ people to be treated with equality are protected in law”. In fact, the Equality Act gives the LGB group the right to recognition of their Protected Characteristic, uncontaminated by TQI+.

So what did Kirsty Williams do in view of trenchant criticism of the EqIA?  She just got her trans-people to mark their own homework and re-summarise the same nonsense.  Evidently their signing up to Stonewall means the Welsh Education officials can’t be trusted an inch.

Qualification is having an offshoot in Aberaeron and some bilingual ability

What of the independent reports of the public consultation?  The main one is a travesty – written by a group (WaveHill) without expertise.  The Young People’s report shows that even the youth parliament warned against compulsive religions, but were ignored.  Pleas for non-religious/atheist views were likewise spurned.

Humanists UK, who campaign for a secular state, said they are "particularly concerned about the scrapping of the right to withdraw from RE in faith schools, because such schools will still be able to teach the subject from a faith-based perspective". 

The consultation gave a childish excuse for forcing eg. christianity on islamic children, that their parents “may have option to send their children to a (muslim) faith school”.  As the document admits "There is no current equivalent option for parents of other faiths to send their child to a school where RSE (or RE) will be taught in a way which reflects the tenets of their faith, while being pluralistic, within the maintained school system in Wales."  With no practical prospect of a slew of new faith schools to 'fill the gaps', the demand for the right-to-withdraw will be unstoppable.   Faith groups, gender-critical humanists, feminists and LGBers unite!  

Why is Kirsty Williams ploughing ahead, with the LGBTQI+ cause, when 

telling a child they can choose their sex or they may be 'born in the wrong body' is not just unscientific but also dangerous.  It encourages children onto the transgender pathway with huge consequences for their future that they cannot possibly understand.

She expects public discord and disruption to education (despite smooth talk of care in managing parents).  She would set back prospects of community integration. The costs of an epidemic of teenage girls wanting to trans (as in Canada), costs to the NHS as well as long-term stunting of the girls, are not faced.  And the Welsh Government is likely to face the Courts for flouting the rights of the child against indoctrination (CEDAW Convention) and parental responsibility.

Legal challenge to the transgender schools ‘Toolkit’

Max Wallis writes:  Judicial Review Test-Case

My recently deceased wife Anne Greagsby attended the Vale Council’s scrutiny session 18 months ago to speak along with other women against the Council's new transgender inclusion toolkit.  The Cabinet disregarded them, though promising to review the toolkit after a year.

They had expected religious objectors, but the objectors were well-informed feminists, keen to protect our children from girl/boy stereotypes and insidious ideas like ‘being born in the wrong body’.  Anne objected to male-bodied adolescents using toilet and changing facilities with our girls, contrary to girls' right under the Equality Act to single-sex provision.

The women's opposition deterred Cardiff other nearby Councils except Merthyr Tydfil from copying the Vale, but several English counties have introduced similar toolkits. The Vale's transgender toolkit was heavily criticised on the Transgendertrend website.

An Oxford parent has courageously mounted a legal challenge to the Oxfordshire Trans Inclusion Toolkit.  She has engaged Sinclairslaw and raised over £11 500 crowdfunding, but may need 2 or 3 times more for this test case.

Can I appeal in memory of my Anne and for the sake of her grandchildren for Vale people to donate in support at https://tinyurl.com/crowdjustice-trans-Oxford ?

Our case is these Trans Inclusion Toolkits are unlawful and damaging to children.  We argue the guidance places the rights of trans-identified children above the rights of all other children and staff.  Teachers have to ignore sex-based protections, yet they have a statutory duty to protect children from harm. Teachers are required to set child confidentiality above parental responsibilities and rights, when they should be working with parents in the best interests of children. 

Any parent who doesn’t affirm their child’s chosen gender identity – an ‘identity’ that’s often a passing fancy during puberty changes - may be deemed a safeguarding risk, and referred to social services for causing harm to their child.

It’s been rightly called “pernicious” guidance.  At present, individual schools can choose to resist the Toolkit’s prescriptions, but some are already giving grief, especially to adolescent girls.  Pressure to conform may well come. Please give ‘crowdjustice’ support for the Oxford test case, to win for us in the Vale too. 

   Safe Schools Alliance are backing the case.  Details including a link to the Toolkit and a link to the Solicitors letter can be found here: https://safeschoolsallianceuk.net/legal-action/.  SSA will be attending and be ready to discuss the action at the 1st Feb. conference:  https://womansplaceuk.org/conference-womens-liberation-2020/ in London.

JK Rowling weighs in behind Maya Forstater

Judgement over Maya Forstater case causes a storm, in large part because JK Rowling tweeted "IStandwithMaya" over the judge deciding there's no protection for someone holding a reasonable and sincere belief (not relevant to the job) as protected under the Equality Act. JKR's tweet has 34 000 'comments' and getting on for 200 000 'likes'.

There are reports in the national media, mainly taking off from JK Rowling as in the Telegraph. 
   Judge Tayler characterized Forstater’s comments as proving that “she considers there are two sexes, male and female, there is no spectrum in sex and there are no circumstances whatsoever in which a person can change from one sex to another, or to being of neither sex.” Is this not a reasonable belief? One that’s commonly held and worthy of protection? The judge also noted that “she would generally seek to be polite to trans persons and would usually seek to respect their choice of pronoun but would not feel bound to.” Again, is this not a reasonable position?


The judge himself notes that Forstater’s approach “is largely that currently adopted by the law, which still treats sex as binary as defined on a birth certificate.” And yet he decides that the answer to whether one should be protected from being fired, simply for politely expressing a belief in biological sex, is no.


The judge  dressed it up :

“Even paying due regard to the qualified right to freedom of expression, people cannot expect to be protected if their core belief involves violating others’ dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for them”. 

  In context, he thinks a belief in biological sex violates the dignity of Trans-people, yet does not consider the problem that trans-belief in an internal male/female identity violates the dignity of believers in biological sex.     Nor did he consider the reality that trans-activists have created an intimidating and offensive social media environment for those adhering to a belief in biology.  Thus JK Rowling was subjected to flurry of abusive responses to her tweet.

Thus, the judgement gives reign to extremist religious groups to object to the hostile environment of poking fun at believers in Christ or Allah. Creationists can object to the hostile environment generated by teaching Darwin and science-based biological evolution.  

 J. K. Rowling is right. The judgement must be supported to Appeal and overturned.

Maya Forstater: first Legal Case that EqAct protects Sincere Beliefs

Are sincerely-held beliefs protected (like religious beliefs) under the Equality Act?

Maya Forstater was sacked in March 2019 by a US development charity after using her personal Twitter account to express the view that “male people are not women”. There was no claim that Maya pushed her views at work, simply that some workplace colleagues complained at her holding such views, with the employing body being pro-LGBT.  
The legal Appeal over her dismissal was widely reported, including by the quality papers.

  The Tribunal sat for over a week in November and has to decide whether the statement is a belief that should be protected under the Equality Act 2010, or just a personal opinion. Evidence was taken from philosophy and law professors, as well as a lifelong transwoman who lived as a woman but insisted she was still male in experiences from early life and because each of her cells had the male sex chromosome.

  “I believe that sex matters,” Ms Forstater wrote in her witness statement to the tribunal. “This belief is based on things that I regard as fundamental scientific facts, as well as basic logical constructs.

  “I have always believed that sex is a material reality, that being female or male is an immutable biological act, and that sex matters, and I always will.”

  To prove a sincere belief, it has to be shared by many, evidenced by a body of writings and supported by established authorities. Being tenable logically and scientifically are additional, which religions don’t necessarily share, but humanists can claim.

Links to reports and documents for the case are found here.
Ms Forstater's Appeal was crowd-funded (well over-subscribed), including by Martina Navratilova who was also sacked by the BBC for similarly 'offending' transgender activists. After decision in December, the case may well move on to a higher Court.

Welsh Govt attempt to get compulsory pro-trans RSE

Response to Welsh Gov. Consultation:  https://gov.wales/ensuring-access-full-curriculum

“Ensuring Access to the full curriculum”              November 2019

As a humanist and feminist, I endorse RSE reflecting the internationally recognised World Health Organisation (WHO) standards for sexuality education. This definition seeks to encourage schools to take a joined up approach to education around relationships and sexuality.

Including under s.26 understanding gender  is wrong  as the term ‘gender’ is socially constructed. It's much misused, including by WG. Missing from s.26 is· understanding puberty and the sexual human.  The item · the human body and development  fails to express this; it looks to refer to a biological description rather than hormones, feelings and emotions, which must be included in RSE.

  It's evident as in other places in the document that the Welsh Government is aiming to get its views of transgender and "LGBTQI+" (adopted from Stonewall) taken on board in the RSE curriculum.  Telling a child they can choose their sex or they may be 'born in the wrong body' is not just unscientific but also dangerous.  It encourages children onto the transgender pathway with huge consequences for their future that they cannot possibly understand.

Welsh people cannot possibly trust the WG and its many politicians and institutions who've declared themselves Stonewall allies to decide on a curriculum free from indoctrination.  You shouldn't trust yourselves to do it.  Whatever emerges will be controversial, which you cannot dismiss by promising "handled carefully".  It follows you have to allow people to choose to withdraw their children when they object to materials - as they objected to certain books in the Birmingham schools - though their Headteacher and LGBT advisor Andrew Moffatt insisted on keeping them.

I concentrate on the  EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT   https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultations/2019-10/integrated-impact-assessment-ensuring-access-to-the-full-curriculum.pdf

This ignores the impact on girls as female sex, as in Stonewall's transgenderism, and is thus in breach of basic law.

    The sex-based rights of women are set out in the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 18 December 1979 (CEDAW).  It obliges the WG to take “appropriate measures, including legislation, to ensure the full development and advancement of women, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the exercise and enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms on a basis of equality with men.’’ (Article 3). 

Article 5 of the CEDAW states, “States Parties shall take all appropriate measures: (a) To modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.’’

   Nowhere do you mention combating gender stereotypes in the RSE syllabus.

Gender refers to “the roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society at a given time considers appropriate for men and women… These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes.’’ (Gender Equality Glossary, UN Women).

   The concept of ‘gender identity’ would makes socially constructed stereotypes into an innate condition, thereby undermining women’s sex-based rights and in effect breaching CEDAW.   Rights relating to sexual orientation are compatible with women’s sex-based rights, and are necessary to enable lesbians, whose sexual orientation is towards other women, to fully exercise their sex-based rights.

We have no confidence that the WG, being allied with Stonewall, is capable of determining a curriculum that fully accords with CEDAW.

Your heading 

Gender Reassignment (the act of transitioning and Transgender people)   is false - the Equality Act 2010 and recent guidance on it defines the protected characteristic GR as transsexuals. Most 'transgender' people are hardly 'transitioning' and don't intend to undergo the surgical operations.

   You would "encourage schools to consider how they provide support and learning to LGBTQI+"  This is a quite different group to transsexuals (=GR) who are not given EqAct  'protection'.

You state 

"Research put forward in the Stonewall School Report Cymru (2017) shows LGBTQI+ identifying young people are still more likely to suffer poor mental health, self-harm and depression. The changes to RSE in the curriculum look to combat this by helping all learners feel emotionally and physically safe and secure so they are able to achieve their full potential."

  That 'research' by an advocacy group has been much criticised (see Transgendertrend) so cannot be used to determine changes to the curriculum. Many teenagers have mental issues, the LGBTQI+ "group" is Stonewall's fiction.  Pushing transgenderism in the curriculum is likely to worsen emotional states.  Tavistock statistics indicate that accepting teenagers onto the trans-pathway may worsen self harm and suicide ideation (Transgendertrend).  Moreover, it's proving to be emotionally upsetting for many girls to endure male-bodies in their school washrooms etc.; forcing on them the idea that they must accept this has emotional consequences and safety risks that you and Stonewall wrongly ignore.

You admit "there has been contention around these proposals and that could, if not handled carefully, have a negative impact on learners either in general or in the specific context of an individual school."  Are you alleging they were not handled carefully in Birmingham?  It's likely that some schools/governors in Wales will likewise be unable to handle parent protests "carefully", so Wales should keep the parents' right of withdrawal.

Religion, belief and non-belief

You accept "for RE, a decision to not to include a right to withdraw in the new curriculum will have a negative impact on some religious groups. Based on the evidence we have been able to gather, it will be a particular issue for Jehovah’s Witnesses and humanists".

This appears to be the only reference to humanists in the document.  Cardiff humanists are an active public group, so why did you talk only to Jehovah Witnesses and not to us humanists?

  Your excuse that some religious groups “may have option to send their children to a faith school” is unacceptable. You need some alternative for all.

  You admit "There is no current equivalent option for parents of other faiths to send their child to a school where RSE (or RE) will be taught in a way which reflects the tenets of their faith, while being pluralistic, within the maintained school system in Wales. [Such schools could be established following a school organisation proposal]"  There is no practical proposal for this - maintain the right-to-withdraw until there are options for the large majority, including anti-trans humanists.

  

You use the protected characteristic  Sex / Gender  and write of  "disadvantage based on gender"

That’s a travesty!  The Equality Act 2010 defines the p.c. as Sex.  This Equality Assessment has to follow that definition.  Under-18s cannot change their gender (Gender Recognition Act); this section has to be concerned solely with disadvantage based on Sex.

Boys who claim a female ’gender identity’ are being enabled to access opportunities and protections set aside for girls.. This constitutes a form of discrimination against females, and endangers women’s fundamental rights to safety, dignity and equality.  This assessment has to admit this 'impact' on girls. 

The WG is in breach of CEDAW (above) by adopting Stonewall’s conflation of their notion of gender with sex;  sex is defined by the UN “the physical and biological characteristics that distinguish males from females.’’ (Gender Equality Glossary, UN Women). 

   You have apparently engaged with Jehovah Witnesses, but not with Women’s groups concerned about protecting the rights of women and girls, Fair Play for Women etc. Your bias against girls/women in ignoring our rights is outrageous.  I refer you to the Declaration on Women’s sex-based rights, that's been well publicised and supported since launched in March. Your whole section has to be withdrawn and reconsidered.

Sexual orientation (Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual)

I strongly object to the inclusion of  “TQI+ learners” under sexual orientation.  This is a Stonewall fiction.  LGB does not include sexual fetishes.  The Welsh provision for Trans caters only for over-18s, like the GRAct, so not school "learners".  

It's factually wrong that the rights of LGBTQI+ people to be treated with equality are protected in law.  I take issue with Stonewall-influenced training which shows in this false statement by you.  It detracts from the real need of the LGB group for recognition of their Protected Characteristic, uncontaminated by TQI+.  Further, your misrepresentation of the law (according to Stonewall) looks deliberate - did you never check this basic point?

   

You have engaged with Jehovah Witnesses, but not with LGB groups (eg. LGB Alliance, Lesbian Rights Alliance); these do not accept that Stonewall any longer represents LGB or L alone.  Why did you not try to engage with them?

Human Rights and UN Conventions

Your insertion of transgenderism  into the curriculum. as also traditional RE, breaches Article 9 on freedom of thought, conscience and  religion. 

Cults propagating such views have to be excluded from our schools, though their beliefs may be discussed like beliefs in astrology and an after-life.  Welsh RSE can cover serious religions, but give priority to humanism as a belief system rooted in a scientific approach. 

Not including a Right to Withdraw and the pluralism requirement:

You say "The Welsh Government considers the proposals for RE and RSE are compliant with the Convention Rights".  But you haven't considered the rights of girls impacted by your promotion of transgender ideas and even fellow 'learners', and you haven't considered that this is indoctrination, breaching Article 9 as interpreted by the ECHR.

Therefore, the parents’ right-to-withdraw must be preserved and strengthened.

Anne Greagsby (completed posthumously)

What is feminism?

Munroe Bergdorf mansplaining feminism...

You might have thought that the #MeToo campaign, in which women have been speaking out about the universality of sexual assault and rape, would make people more sympathetic to concerns about female safety. You would be wrong: nothing makes you look more liberal these days than shouting at women who express anxiety based on their experiences.

But then, as with experts, apparently we’ve all had enough of lived experience now. When a 19-year-old trans woman was elected a Labour woman’s officer last year, a Labour councillor explained that “lived experience as a woman” was not a pre-requisite to be a woman’s officer. Biology, too, has been deemed terribly passe. “Inclusive feminism,” Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Wood wrote when considering why self-identifying trans women should be allowed into women’s refuges, understands that “gender is a complex and deeply personal thing, and is about so much more than outdated ideas of biology.” On the day of this year’s Women’s March, trans model Munroe Bergdorf tweeted that to “center reproductive systems” at the demonstrations was “reductive and exclusionary”.

Munroe Bergdorf would like you to please keep your vaginas out of his feminism 

Arguing about feminism and transgenderism: an opinionated guide for the perplexed

FAIRPLAY FOR WOMEN have written a series of short posts to guide you through some of the basic concepts in feminism and to help explain why modern transgender theory is concerning for some women.

tl:dr – The words gender and sex do not mean the same thing!

Efforts to establish a Peace Institute in Wales

The 2012 Initiative for an Academi Heddwch plus historical summary of campaigning for a Welsh Peace Institute, which fell apart.

Stephen Thomas records that the WCIA initiated the idea of a Welsh Peace Institute in 2008 (e-mail* to Ben Gregory, Kelvin Mason, Jill Evans MEP and Jill Gough CND Cymru). 
Stephen introduced it at the Peace Festival in Bangor 18-19^th October, where Jill Evans spoke in support [1]. Jill saw the Military Academy to be built in St Athan as the catalyst for the idea of a Peace Academy [2], a view echoed by Adam Price MP who had nevertheless argued for Wales to win the project in the Westminster committee [3]. Peter Sutch of Cardiff University formulated an alternative educational/academic concept* in Nov. Nic Wheeler of UCW Aberystwyth was interested, came to the 4^th July 2009 Cynefin y Werin meeting, but later backed off.

A coordinating group met in Bangor alongside the October 2009 Festival and agreed to take it up through Cynefin y Werin, with a first meeting in Aberystwyth on 14^th March 2009 (reported by Kelvin Mason in Peace News, April 2009 [4]). Invitations* to a working group ‘Project Meeting’ on 4^th July were sent out by Jill Gough (CND Cymru) on behalf of Cynefin y Werin. It heard cases from Robin Gwyndaf and John Cox on the title, adopting 'Academi Heddwch' but preferring 'Peace Institute' as the English form. The meeting agreed on mobilising around a Petition to the Senedd Committee and was keen to seek broad support, from organisations far from 'peace' groups, and to avoid any identification with CND. Campaigning for the Academi would be non-partisan and aim for support from all political parties. Several people volunteered to form an interim steering group to progress the Petition.

The Petitions Committee application [5] submitted in Sept. 2009 with 1500 signatories led to a cool response* from Rhodri Morgan, who suggested a university-based collaborative institute, focussing on social science based research. Nevertheless, the Petitioners continued to press for a broader concept:

“a Peace Institute concerned with Peace and Human Rights, comparable with those supported by state governments in Flanders, Catalonia and elsewhere in Europe”

Representatives of the Flanders Peace Institute were brought over to give oral evidence* to the Committee in Feb.2010). Public meetings in Carmarthen and Bangor heard addresses from the Flanders representatives, with a lecture in Aberystwyth. With the new Assembly elected in 2010, Carwyn Jones was asked for his view* – in August 2011, he endorsed Rhodri Morgan’s position, declared there's no WG funding, but still asked for a detailed and fully costed proposal.

Stephen Thomas was losing patience with the Petitions Committee by Sept. 2011, and suggested* another way, for Cynefin y Werin to sponsor peer-reviewed credible research into Welsh situations and issues, and disseminate this publicly. But his proposal was given limited circulation and shelved by those still hoping of Senedd progress, so another year was lost.

Then in October 2011 the Petitions Committee decided on hearings into the Petition and put out a call for evidence. Robin Gwyndaf played a big role in encouraging Welsh organisations to respond to the Petitions Committee call for evidence, as is evident in the ~70 submissions and his personal evidence with a published article (see http://Academiheddwchcymru.blogspot.com). The final output from the Petitions committee was very disappointing when it came in January 2012.

It stalled the Senedd process with their decision to:

1. Forward the petition and information gathered so far to the Cross-Party Group on Human Rights and request that the working up of a concept for the establishment of such an institution is placed on future agendas;
2. Forward the consultation responses gathered to the petitioners to work up a concept in parallel and suggest that they lobby individual Members to hold a Member-led debate in Plenary on the subject.

Neither of these happened; John Cox hoped (*, p.78) a Senedd All-Party Group on Peace would be formed in 2013, which “may make it possible to progress this matter”.  

Stephen Thomas sent out an invitation (4^th October, below) to the 9^th October 2012 meeting,

(held following the presentation of the anti-Drone petition, led by Mererid Hopwood).

His motivation was the call from Cardiff UNA for a

one-day conference (as broad-based as possible), to discuss the nature, role and duties of a Wales Peace Institute and to agree arrangements for its structure and funding'.

Stephen wrote in his invitation email (4^th October 2012)

..convening a meeting of those at the Cardiff UNA gathering who expressed a personal wish to be involved in the next step of the process (8 people). ...also invite those who gathered a couple of times last autumn to give the Academi Heddwch project a push forward then.

Stephen explained the intention was

the creation of a diverging process from the discussion process on the issue within certain parts of the National Assembly for Wales

A further meeting on 16 October set up a Steering group to organise the ‘broad-based’ conference under the name Academi Heddwch Cymru/Wales Peace Academy for 23^rd March 2013 in Aberystwyth. An important target of this separate initiative was to create a body that would establish the Academi Heddwch as a project within the 2014 commemoration of the Centenary of the start of World War I. However, conference preparations were stalled in February by Cox and Gwyndaf opposed to an independent membership body that would bid for WW1 funds. A semi-formal committee was chosen to continue under Cox and friends. This hardly functioned and they let the WCIA include 'peace' projects in a large and successful bid for resources. 

The WCIA accounts shows they did not even spend the money, with £238k remaining in 2018 in the "Wales for Peace" account.  John Cox's committee had not functioned. while Stephen Thomas and Robin Gwyndaf had wound up Cynefin y Werin (opposed by Max Wallis), so there was no-one to salvage anything for pursuing the Academi Heddwch goal. 

NOTES

* denotes documents within John Cox's 84-page dossier ('summary'), dated 1 Feb.2013

[1] report of Bangor festival by Phil Steele 

[2] ** see also Jill Evans’s speech in November 2009 

[3] “I did back the campaign to bring the training facility to Wales. This was based on the economical benefits .here  

[4] Kelvin Mason report of Aberystwyth meeting in March 2009 

[5] Petition Wording: We call upon the National Assembly for Wales to investigate the potential for and practicality of Wales having a Peace Institute concerned with Peace and Human Rights, comparable with those supported by state governments in Flanders, Catalonia and elsewhere in Europe

National Assembly for Wales P-03-262 Academi Heddwch Cymru / Wales Peace Institute

Lead petitioner: Welsh Centre for International Affairs, Cymdeithas y Cynod, Cynefin y Werin and CND Cymru. Number of signatures: 1525

From Stephen Thomas, Cynefin y Werin, 4^th October 2012

Annwyl Bawb / Dear All,

As some of you know, I spoke to the Cardiff and district branch of the United Nations Association 10 days ago on 'The Prospects for an Academi Heddwch/Peace Institute for Wales'. It was their choice of topic for noting the International Day of Peace.

At the end of that meeting a resolution was passed, with no objections: '..welcoming a one-day conference (as broad-based as possible), to discuss the nature, role and duties of a Wales Peace Institute and to agree arrangements for its structure and funding'. It was hoped that the conference could be arranged by Cynefin y Werin and could take place 'before the revived enthusiasm for a Welsh Peace Institute becomes dissipated with the passage of time'.

Cynefin y Werin has acted - in the first instance by convening a meeting of those at the Cardiff UNA gathering who expressed a personal wish to be involved in the next step of the process (8 people). Cynefin y Werin thought it correct and necessary also to invite to that meeting those who gathered a couple of times last autumn to give the Academi Heddwch project a push forward then.

Hence your inclusion on the invitation to attend this forthcoming meeting at: 2.30 pm, Tuesday 9 October at Coffee Mania Crema Café , Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay (city centre end of the building).

From this it is aimed to obtain a structure to organise a subsequent conference in (?) spring 2013. Cynefin y Werin has committed itself to providing funding for that conference. It is not intended to detract from what may continue of the discussion process on the issue within certain parts of the National Assembly for Wales: but at the very least the creation of a diverging process was now felt to be worth pursuing.

Please let me know if you are able to come Tuesday next week; and of any matters that you wish to input to the process if you are not going to be there.

Hwyl / Regards

Stephen

PRESS ITEMS

Wales Peace Festival18-19 October 2008

Phil Steele’s report re Wales peace Festival Speaking out in Wrexham Peace & Justice News

Stephen Thomas of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs, after an interview on Radio Cymru, kicked off the first day with a lucid discussion of peace building, credibility and reform within the United Nations. Jill Evans MEP, Chair of CND Cymru, raised issues of nuclear proliferation and security in the Middle East, with special reference to Palestine. She floated the idea of founding a Wales Peace Institute, a proposal which received support from the floor. See here 

A small meeting was held upstairs at the Anglesey Arms to discuss the future of the Wales Peace Festivals, the future direction of Cynefin y Werin, wider collaboration with other movements and organisations in Wales, and the idea of a Wales Peace Institute. It was agreed to progress these discussions at a meeting in Aberystwyth in the New Year. Kelvin Mason of Aberystwyth Peace Network chaired the meeting, James Maiden of Cynefin y Werin took the minutes.  see here 

Instituting peace in Wales News | March 2009

. A meeting of the Cynefin Y Werin networkin March will aim to take this idea forward. ...

Peace Institute a step closerhttp://peacenews.info/node/4131/peace-institute-step-closer News | April 2009

... that Saturday afternoon, and top of the agenda was a Wales Peace Institute. Some of us had been working towards this meeting since the …

The PeaceInstitute- Jill Evans MEP - Plaid Ymlaen - Plaid Forward 

Nov 20, 2009 –The catalyst for the idea of a peace Academy was the shock and...

Cymdeithas y Cymod, the Welsh Centre for International Affairs, Cynefin y Werin and...

A peace institute for Wales?http://peacenews.info/node/4117/peace-institute-wales News | December 2009

... calling for the National Assembly of Wales to create a Peace Institute comparable with those in Flanders, Catalonia, Finland, Norway and … 

CNDCymru » Wales Peace Institute – Presentation to  Feb 19, 2010

A Wales Peace Institute could advise and inform the Assembly on policies...Y Senedd Meeting with Nelly Maes and Tomas Baum all welcome...Stephen Thomas of the Welsh Centre for International Affairs commented:

‘Much work is already being done in various parts of Wales in the field of encouraging peace and preventing violent conflict. There is teaching at schools and universities, academic research, and campaigning on peace matters. It is fitting to seek to strengthen the efforts of so many organisations and individuals, through the co-ordination that would be provided by a national Peace Institute.’

See here 

Lecture by the President of the Flemish Peace Institute- Aberystwyth...

Lecture by the President of the Flemish Peace Institute. 24 February 2010. L-R: Mr. Penri James;...The lecture was part of a visit to Wales in support of calls locally for a Wales Peace Institute.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/interpol/research/research-centres-and-institutes/ddmi/events/seminars/title-91698-en.html

L-R: Mr. Penri James; Jill Evans, MEP; and Professor Nicholas Wheeler, DDMI Director. Photo by Syd Morgan.

Bringing the message of the Flemish Peace Institute to Wales News | April 2010

Nelly Maes, president of the Flemish Peace Institute, spoke at the David Davies Memorial Institute(DDMI) in Aberystwyth ... part of a visit to Wales in support of calls for a Wales

Peace Institute. On 23 February, Maes and Tomas Baum, director of the Flemish …

A Nonviolence Research Network? News | October 2010

Regular readers of this page will know that the Cynefin Y Werin network is pursuing a major project to establish a Peace Institute … Regular readers of this page will know that the Cynefin Y Werin network is pursuing a major project to establish a Peace Institute (Academi Heddwch), working with academics and others in Wales. The Peace Institute is likely to be based on the model of the Flemish Peace Institute. Delegates from Cynefin Y Werin have visited Brussels and speakers from the institute undertook a speaking tour of Wales. The Wales project has the rhetorical support of the Welsh Assembly government but the prospects of any material support from that quarter seem extremely unlikely.

From Peace Institute to Palestine Solidarity News | November 2010

... posted its official decision on the ambition for a Peace Institute (Academi Heddwch) in Wales. “The committee agreed to: undertake ..

Re-energisinga network: Cynefin y Werin Feature | August 2011

... The task of pursuing these questions was taken on board by Cynefiny Werin

(Common Ground) “a network of organisations which promotes equality, ...