WHEN DO YOU CHOOSE TO FORGET?

Friday 21st August 2020 was the 52nd  anniversary of the Soviet led invasion of Czechoslovakia, it’s an anniversary that these days increasingly passes largely unnoticed save perhaps by some people in Prague. Now that the Soviet Union is history, although Russia on the rise in the east, people have lots of other things to be concerned about.  It’s been 52 years since Soviet troops and most but not all of their Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia on August 21st 1968. 

The Warsaw Pact invasion crushed the political and economic reforms known as the Prague Spring, led by the country's then new First Secretary of the Communist party Alexander Dubcek.  Leonid Brezhnev and other Soviet hard-liners in Moscow, probably correctly in the light of later events between 1989 and 1991, at least from their narrow perspective, saw the reform movement as a serious threat to the Soviet Union's hold on the Socialist satellite states, they decided to act. In the first hours on the 21st August 1968 Soviet planes began to land unexpectedly at Prague's Ruzyne airport, and shortly Soviet tanks would soon be trundling through Prague's narrow streets.  

A Prague Street scene in August 1968

The Soviet-led invasion effectively established the Brezhnev Doctrine, which Moscow said allowed the U.S.S.R. to intervene in any country where a Communist government was under threat. The Soviet backed occupation of Czechoslovakia lasted until the velvet revolution brought an end to the Communist dictatorship in November 1991 as the Cold War ended. It was always contested - the reformist communists were finally defeated in the mid 1970's just as detente created the Helsinki accords which inspired Charter 77. Russia’s attitude to the invasion still touches raw emotions, evens in the Czech and Slovak republics. 

Tensions in the relationship between the Czechs and Slovaks (and other nationalities) had re-dated the establishment of the first republic in 1918. The perception (and reality, especially if you ask the Slovaks) that Prague (and the Czechs) ran the republic touched a raw nerve in different parts of the republic. Ironically the Communist dictatorship which was resisted by dissidents, former reformist communists and ordinary citizens, kept the lid on internal tensions within Czechoslovakia between Czechs and Slovaks. 

The West's focus on Prague, the Czechs and the former Czech dissidents meant that tensions between Prague and Bratislava were mostly, but, not entirely missed. The welcome regular pronouncements about curbing the arms trade and arms exports did not go down well in Slovakia were a significant portion (but not all) of arms production was based. With the dictatorship gone, it took only a few years for the former state to split into the Czech and Slovak republics - both of whom became independent states on January 1st 1993, joining the the EU in May 2004 as they returned to Europe.

Now the Velvet revolutionaries are well into middle age, as are the rest of us who watched the fall of the wall and the communism in Eastern Europe. Now the visible symbols of communism are long gone, the unemployed and the homeless, invisible under communism are back as are the gleaming shopping centres and the well stocked supermarkets are part of normal life rather than the preserves of the communist elite. 

In Prague the Communism museum is increasingly difficult to find, and perhaps healthily irrelevant to younger Czechs. More importantly perhaps a generation of Czech and Slovak voters have grown up with democracy and no fear or a personal understanding of the fear of the secret police, the knock on the door in the night, or border guards and informers. They also don't have to worry about any consequences of expressing their opinions in work, education or at leisure and they have also have no limits on their no freedom of movement (beyond costs) within the EU - all of which has to be the ultimate positive. 

Remembrance is important, as is history, forgetting is very human and is part of life. Selectively forgetting the past and erasing our collective history is a more dubious practice ( especially in Hungary, Russia and the Peoples Republic of China, etc ) but also within these islands, especially when it comes to the perceptions of and the realities of Empire, etc. Creating a rose tinted view of the past, is neither history nor remembrance, its manufactured / peddled nostalgia - and that too is both dubious and dangerous. 

A WELCOME U-TURN

“This is a victory for the young people of Wales” says Plaid Cymru as Welsh Government announce MAJOR u-turn into A Level and GCSE grades debacle

 

Responding to the major u-turn from Welsh Government that all A Level and GCSE grades will be based on teacher assessments rather than on algorithms, Plaid Cymru Shadow Education Minister Sian Gwenllian MS said,

 

“This is a very welcome if not a seriously overdue announcement.

 

“Pressure from Plaid Cymru, students, teachers and parents will now mean that our young people will have the grades they should have been awarded all along. The real victory belongs to the young people of Wales who have demonstrated better leadership and decorum than their government.

 

“Whilst it is regretful that this U-turn have come last week instead of putting students through so much unnecessary uncertainty and anxiety, I offer my congratulations to the young people who have led this campaign so ably.

 

“There should be a full investigation into this debacle and the Welsh Government should apologise to students, teachers and schools for what they’ve put them through over the past few weeks.

 

“Never again should the professionalism and integrity of our teachers and the hard work of our students be called into question. For today, let us celebrate that justice has prevailed.

 

ENDS

SUPPORTING WELSH STUDENTS

Annwyl Mark,

In the words of UK Labour Leader, Keir Starmer, “across the last twenty-four hours, we have heard heart-breaking stories and the scale of the injustice caused by the fatally flawed results system has become clear. Young people right across the country, in every town and city, feel let down and betrayed.”

His views have been echoed by the interim leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey who said that the system has led to “some utterly unfair outcomes.”

Both were referencing the downgrading of results in England where 40% of A level results were lower than predicted.

In Wales, 42% of results were downgraded, leaving pupils angry that they have suffered at the hands of a flawed system.

If the criticism from your parties in England is to mean anything other than political game-playing, you and the Education Minister must now reassess your approach as a Welsh Government to ensure that no pupil is disadvantaged in what has already been an anxious year.

Pupils who were awarded lesser grades than the teacher assessments in A level and AS exams should be upgraded to the teacher assessment grades.

Further, this should be used as the mechanism for awarding GSCE results and this should be communicated to learners today for peace of mind.

In these extraordinary times, we must be ready to respond with unprecedented action in the interest of fairness and pupil welfare.

I am copying this to the Education Minister and to your UK Party leaders who have made these comments.

Yn gywir,

Adam Price AS/MS,

Sign here: http://www.partyof.wales/support_welsh_students?recruiter_id=172282 

UNMEASURABLE SUCCESS ?

Newport’s 19th century Market which has served the city well, through good and bad times and two world wars, is to undergo yet another redevelopment. 

This redevelopment may be the final blow, as most to the remaining stallholders are in the process of moving out and the builders will soon  begin work to transform the market into a multi-million pound, multi-purpose centre.

Some of the market stalls will remain but the redeveloped market will include apartments, offices, a food court with pop-up units and a performance space. 

Newport city council has described the redevelopment as “potentially the largest market redevelopment in the UK” and it says it will create a “24-hour working/living space”.

This all sounds good, but, the poor old market has been managed to death by the City / Town Council who could never leave it alone. 

Years of faffing about with the buses / bus routes near the site of the market has not helped. That it managed to survive so long is close to miraculous.

If you live in various parts of Gwent or are intimately familiar with your home community, then over the years you will have noticed that redevelopment / regeneration comes and goes in phases, in any particular community or town.

Regeneration schemes will have cleaned areas up, built in cycle routes, created transport plans, pedestrianised streets, reopened them to traffic, re-pedestrianised them and (as is the case in Newport and no doubt elsewhere) made certain streets shared space with both cars and pedestrians (this is not as crazy an idea as it sounds, and it actually works) and so on. 

Parking has been restricted, created and removed, made it free and charged for it, bus lanes have been created, removed and the hours when bus lanes operate varied. 

Now this is all well and good and may reflect the latest trend in regeneration and development, but at the end of the day has it made the places where we live, work and shop any better? 

The one question that tends not to be asked, and hence not answered is: Has the regeneration process or scheme increased or generated wealth in our communities or provided people with the opportunities to get jobs, to go into business for themselves or generate wealth? 

One of the unintended features of redevelopment is that quite often it is (or is perceived as being) driven from the top down i.e. by elected bodies whether they be Town or County Councils or the Senedd. 

Regeneration is a process that merely consults, usually after the plans have been drawn up rather than before, during and after - any process run this way runs the real risk of becoming deeply flawed. 

Local communities and towns and cities of South Wales have over the years has been the recipient of much grant aid, development and redevelopment schemes and initiatives - how can we measure success? 

Measuring a regeneration schemes success should be a key factor in any regeneration scheme. 

This is the key question that needs to be asked - after the cement and the paint has dried, after the development / redevelopment / regeneration professionals have banked the cheque and moved on - have the various schemes made a difference. 

I mean beyond any immediate physical improvements to the environment, have they made a real difference when it comes to wealth generation in the area affected by the regeneration scheme and can the people who live here actually see and benefit from the change? 

If the end result is in reality a makeover, and the targeted community is no better off, save for being bereft of the 'regeneration funds' that have been effectively hoovered up by professional regeneration companies - some of whom make a good living out of regeneration - then we should ask is this success? 

How do you make regeneration projects work beyond the tick box list of the regeneration schemes managers? 

One key component that is often ignored or marginalised during the regeneration process is the communities greatest resource - its people.

If we truly want to build and develop strong sustainable communities, then any regeneration scheme should from the start and at every stage of the process. We don’t need regeneration professionals coming into an area and engaging in a largely token consultation process. 

They should directly talk to local people (who are an asset to the process) rather than at them, and actually find out what they would like to be done, what they actually want for their community and their town.

If you are reusing or renovating old buildings then any regeneration scheme needs to ensure that old buildings can make a sustainable contribution after the regeneration scheme is finished. 

If we do this rather than merely making a token gesture towards public consultation, then any regeneration schemes will, with hard work, really begin to deliver tangible benefits to our communities. 

Regeneration schemes and projects should be bottom up rather than the top down. 

The bottom line should be when spending public money, work it extra hard and squeeze out every single possible benefit and maximise the impact locally of the regeneration process and make every effort to build in local benefits into the tendering process - whether by employing local people, using local resources, local skills and local input. 

Now a plea for a more people focused and community driven regeneration is not driven by nostalgia or about living the past - we have to re-image our urban spaces for the 21st century - but not at the expense of the people who live and make their living within them. 

 

As had been said elsewhere, regeneration should be a process rather than a cash extracting event, that delivers unmeasurable success. 

A SCOURGE ON OUR SOCIETY

If you live in Allt-yr-yn, Pill, Tredegar Park, St Julians or anywhere else in Newport - or pretty much anywhere else in Cymru / Wales you will know that fly tipping is a significant problem. 

Household rubbish and waste is being dumped on our streets, our nature reserves, in fields on the Gwent levels (in the drainage reens which aggravates drainage problems and flooding), on our mountains and in our national parks. 

Fly tipped fridge freezer and chill cabinet

More Locally Newport City Council is directly responsible for removing dumped items from any council owned land, including housing estates, grass areas, parks and reens, canals and public highways. 

It remains one of those anti-social problems that plagues all of our communities across all of Cymru / Wales affecting both relatively well off and less affluent communities of our country and our city. 

Fly-tipping affects both rural and urban areas equally and despite the best efforts of financially strapped county councils shows little sign of being discouraged or curbed. 

Local fly-tipping regularly costs Newport council over £100,000 a year to clean up (South Wales Argus). In 2019 clean up costs were £117,452. 

Based on observational evidence and stories in the media, 2020 is going to cost great deal more - judging by the rubbish (including domestic and commercial waste) that has been dumped in and around Newport in the last few months (across Cymru / Wales fly-tipping has increased by 88% since Lockdown started.

The South Wales Argus (back in July 21015) reported that there were more than 7,000 fly-tipping reports but only five prosecutions in the last four years in Newport, a Freedom of Information request showed. 

No-one was taken to court in the city between April 2011 and March 2014 and the five offenders the council prosecuted in 2014-2015 were handed fines totalling just £2,600, the Argus reported.

It was noted in 2015 that fly-tipping costs Newport council tax payers £300,000 a year.

Fly-tipping in Newport by and large fell in the four years between 2010 and 2014, with 2,014 reports in 2011-12, 1,982 in 2012-13, 1,578 in 2013-14 and 1,672 in 2014-15, totalling 7,246, the Freedom of Information request showed. 

In February 2017 the South Wales Argus reported that 135.8 tonnes of waste was picked up by the Pride in Newport team since it was launched.

Newport council (and other local authorities) have no doubt mostly done their best it can to resolve the problem, made worse recently by the close of local tips during lockdown. 

Some local authorities operate  a "zero tolerance approach" to fly-tipping, and regularly hand out dozens of fines and fixed-penalty notices to offenders - others don’t. 

One problem is that the sums raised through through fines pale into insignificance when compared with the large costs involved in clearing up illegally-dumped waste.

Much of this activity is worthwhile, but, it’s reactive and after the fact, with the waste dumped. 

The Welsh Government’s on-going campaign urges everyone to use their duty of care and ensure all waste is disposed of legally by a registered waste carrier and to report any fly-tipping to their local authority. A list of registered waste carriers is also provided on the Natural Resources Wales website.

It’s clear we cannot go on as we are. We need to a lot more creative to fix this problem. 

Household waste makes up 70% of tipped waste - with the remainder being commercial / industrial waste – something that may well be aggravated by the charge that commercial concerns face at some refuse sites (including Newport). 

For a start we need to produce less waste to start with, eliminating or reducing packaging would also help. 

Part of the problem is lack of systematic approach to enforcement - some councils are very active, others, to be generous are less focussed on the problem - that needs to change. 

What’s needed is to develop a realistic and sustained all agency approach, which can initially reduce and then bring an end to the problem of fly tipping – one step in the right direction would involve accepting commercial (but not industrial) waste at the tip for no fee - and greater enforcement across all our local authorities.