The Judge RANTS!
Dyddiad: 13/08/12
Y Mwyaf Mae Pethau'n Newid...
Ym 1952, derbyniodd Trefor ac Eileen Beasley, pâr priod o Langennech yn yr hen Sir Gâr ofyniad trethi gan yr hyn a elwid yr adeg honno'n 'Llanelly Rural District Council'. Er mai Cymraeg oedd iaith dros naw deg y cant o drigolion Llangennech, yr oedd y bil yn uniaith Saesneg.
Ysgrifenodd y pâr i'r Cyngor yn gofyn am y bil yn Gymraeg. Gwrthodwyd eu cais, a mynnodd y pâr na fyddent yn talu'r dreth nes buasai'r Cyngor yn gyrru bil Cymraeg.
Yn ystod yr wyth mlynedd nesaf, mi aeth y Cyngor â'r pâr i'r Llys Ynadon dros ddwsin o weithiau, gan anfon y bwmbeili i mewn sawl gwaith i ddwyn eu dodrefn i dalu'r ddyled.
Yn y diwedd, ac mewn ysbryd digon sur mae'n debyg, ildiodd 'Llanelly Rural District Council' ym 1960, a gyrrwyd bil dwyieithog at y teulu Beasley.
Roedd dewrder a phenderfyniad y teulu'n ysbrydoliaeth i'r to ifanc o ymgyrchwyr fu'n crynhoi o gwmpas y colegau a'r ysgolion a oedd yn benderfynol o ymladd dros hawliau sylfaenol y Cymry Cymraeg; yn wir, achos y teulu Beasley oedd un o'r pethau y soniodd Saunders Lewis amdano yn ei ddarlith radio Tynged Yr Iaith ychydig ar ôl i'w hymgyrch ddwyn ffrwyth.
Yn y flwyddyn 2011, fu gwrthdystiad yn swyddfa Aelod Seneddol Torïaidd Gogledd Caerdydd yn erbyn cynllun Llywodraeth Llundain i roi Sianel Pedwar Cymru dan reolaeth y BBC. Yn ystod y protest, paentiwyd slogan ar wal. Cafodd y paentiwr, Jamie Bevan o Ferthyr Tudful, ei anfon i'r carchar am wythnos yn ogystal â gorchymyn costau sylweddol.
Er iddo ofyn i Wasanaeth Y Llysoedd ar sawl achlysur am wŷs yn Gymraeg, methodd y Gwasanaeth yn llwyr â chwrdd a'i gyfrifoldebau. Felly, ar egwyddor a chydwybod, gwrthododd Jamie Bevan dalu'r ddirwy.
Dyw'r frwydr ddim drosodd o bell ffordd, nag'di? 
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The More Things Change...
In 1952 Trefor and Eileen Beasley, a married couple from Llangennech in the old Carmarthenshire, received a rates demand from what at that time was called 'Llanelly Rural District Council'. Although over ninety per cent of the population of Llangennech was Welsh-speaking, the bill was in English only.
The couple wrote to the Council asking for the demand in Welsh. The Council refused, and so the Beasleys insisted they would not pay the rates until their rights were respected.
Over the subsequent eight years, the Council took the couple to the Magistrates' Court more than a dozen times, and sent in the bailiffs on a number of occasions to seize their property.
Finally in 1960, and no doubt with the customary ill-grace, 'Llanelly Rural District Council' gave in and sent a bilingual rates demand to the Beasleys.
The family's courage and determination were an inspiration to the young campaigners who were assembling around the colleges and schools who were determined to fight for the fundamental rights of Welsh-speakers; indeed, the case of the Beasley family was something to which Saunders Lewis referred in his radio lecture Tynged Yr Iaith (The Fate Of The Language) a little after the campaign had gained its victory.
In 2011, there was a protest in the offices of the Tory MP for Cardiff North against the plans of the London government to place the Welsh-language television channel S4C under the control of the BBC. During the protest, a slogan was painted on a wall. The painter, Jamie Bevan from Merthyr Tudful, was handed a sentence of a week's imprisonment, along with a hefty order for costs.
Despite his having asked the Courts Service on a number of occasions for the summons to be issued to him in Welsh, that Service completely failed to meet its obligations to him. So, on a point of principle and conscience, Jamie Bevan refused to pay the fine.
Today, in Merthyr Tudful Magistrates Court, rather than getting justice and a proper apology from the authorities, some hack of a magistrate sent Jamie Bevan to prison for five weeks, and this at the end of a hearing in which he had had to rely on the services of a translator because the court insisted upon proceedings being in English.
How many times must we have to fight these battles?
