Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Silencing a small voice

In a footnote to a post the other day is a link to the Cymdeithas y Cymod advert banned from S4C by Clearcast on the grounds that its message was a "matter of public controversy".

You can see the advert for yourselves here, but for those who do not understand Welsh, here is a translation:

War is costly

War kills

How many lives?

Too many to count

For the sake of our friends

For the sake of each other 

For the sake of our families

Join us now

Cymdeithas y Cymod

Working for peace

And that's it. No pictures, and no sound. Just simple white text on a black background, and words which even the Ministry of Defence would struggle to argue with.

Nestling between Army recruiting adverts ("We see your potential"), and all of the adverts for Betfred, Ladbrokes and the other online betting companies (ironically another Blair legacy), this small voice was clearly much too controversial to be heard.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cymdeithas y Cymod clearly has too much money!

What is it? A language pressure group or something?

Cneifiwr said...

No, Anon, it is not a language pressure group. It relies on the contributions of its members, and the advert would have cost far less than an Army rifle.

glynbeddau said...

Anon Cymdeithas Yr Cymod is part of The International Fellowship of Reconciliation in a peace organization whose members reject war and violence on the basis of their religion.

In Wales they represent a long tradition of Peace campaigners stretching back to (1812-88) a welsh MP who camerae known as the apostle of Peace.