Cymraeg
Policy Statement: National Honours and Welsh Independence
On the 22nd February 2024, the Students’ Union Student Senate passed the motion titled ‘A better future for Welsh Students’. This motion mandated the Union, through its Elected Officers, to undertake three main actions: to support an Independent Wales, to review how Wales is represented within the National Union of Students, and to lobby the University to cease its engagement with the National Honours system including its current practice of nominating individuals to receive such awards.
As resolved by this motion, Cardiff Students’ Union now believes in and supports Independence for Wales. In this, we believe all students who study in Wales would be better supported, cared for, and fairly treated if Wales were to be an independent Nation. Whilst education is already a devolved matter, an Independent Wales would have the autonomy needed over its immigration policy, taxation, and policing amongst other powers, and would therefore be able to create a better society and environment for which our students could thrive and prosper.
This motion also identifies the need for the Union to explore and campaign for new options for a national body to represent the students of Wales outside of the current NUS UK structure. Welsh students have the right to have absolute independence and autonomy over the way in which they are represented, and currently NUS UK is unable to provide this absolute autonomy and therefore it is only right that we begin to explore other options which allow students in Cymru to prosper.
Another key element of this motion is the firm stance against the celebration of National Honours. National Honours such as OBEs, MBEs, and Damehoods all have something in common, the celebration and recognition of the British Empire. An Empire that is bound in the history books as a vehicle of oppression and colonialism, and is linked to multiple chapters of our history that we do not wish to see repeated or celebrated. By no means do we wish to take away from the accomplishments of individuals who have gone above and beyond to improve the lives of others, but rather we hold strong in our opposition of the inclusion of an Empire that no longer represents who we are as a society.
We therefore call on our University to cease its engagement with such processes, acknowledge the dark past of the Empire, and strive to find an alternative means of celebrating those we wish to recognise. One such alternative, as already used in Wales, is the St David Awards, which recognises those in Wales who have gone above and beyond and inspired others within society – so with such an alternative available the continued celebration of the Empire can only appear outdated and wrong.
The Sabbatical Officer Team of 2023/24
Datganiad Polisi: Anrhydeddau Cenedlaethol ac Annibyniaeth i Gymru
Ar yr 22ain o Chwefror 2024 fe wnaeth Senedd Myfyrwyr Undeb y Myfyrwyr basio cynnig o’r enw ‘Dyfodol Gwell i Fyfyrwyr Cymru’. Mae’r cynnig hwn yn datgan y bydd yr Undeb, trwy ei swyddogion etholedig, yn ymgymryd â thri phrif bwynt gweithredu: cefnogi Cymru Annibynnol, adolygu sut mae Cymru’n cael ei chynrychioli gan Undeb Cenedlaethol y Myfyrwyr, a lobïo’r Brifysgol i roi’r gorau i’w hymgysylltiad â’r system Anrhydeddau Cenedlaethol, gan gynnwys ei harfer presennol o enwebu unigolion ar gyfer y fath wobrau.
Fel penderfynwyd yn y cynnig hwn, mae Undeb Myfyrwyr Caerdydd nawr yn credu mewn, ac yn cefnogi, Annibyniaeth i Gymru. Yn unol â hyn, credwn y byddai myfyrwyr sy’n astudio yng Nghymru yn derbyn gwell gefnogaeth, gofal a thriniaeth petai Cymru yn wlad annibynnol. Tra bod addysg eisoes wedi’i datganoli, byddai gan Gymru Annibynnol reolaeth dros ei pholisi mewnfudo, trethiant, a phlismona, ymysg materion eraill, gan ei galluogi i greu cymdeithas ac amgylchedd gwell er mwyn i’n myfyrwyr ddatblygu a ffynnu.
Mae’r cynnig hwn hefyd yn nodi angen i’r Undeb ystyried, ac ymgyrchu dros, opsiynau newydd ar gyfer corff cenedlaethol sy’n cynrychioli myfyrwyr Cymru, tu allan i strwythur presennol UCM y DU. Mae gan fyfyrwyr Cymru hawl i annibyniaeth a hunanlywodraeth dros y ffordd y cânt eu cynrychioli, ac ar hyn o bryd ni all UCM y DU ddarparu’r annibyniaeth yma, ac felly mae’n rhaid edrych ar ffyrdd eraill o gyflawni hyn.
Elfen allweddol arall o’r cynnig yw safbwynt cadarn yn erbyn dathlu Anrhydeddau Cenedlaethol. Mae gan Anrhydeddau Cenedlaethol megis yr OBE, MBE, a theitlau Bonesig rhywbeth yn gyffredin - maent yn dathlu ac yn cydnabod yr Ymerodraeth Brydeinig. Ymerodraeth sy’n perthyn i’r llyfrau hanes, ac sy’n gysylltiedig â digwyddiadau a chyfnodau nad ydym am weld yn cael eu hailadrodd na’u dathlu. Nid ydym o bell ffordd yn dymuno bychanu cyflawniadau unigolion sydd wedi mynd cam ymhellach wrth wella bywydau eraill, ond yn hytrach rydym yn gwrthwynebu cynnwys Ymerodraeth nad sydd bellach yn ein cynrychioli ni fel cymdeithas.
Rydym felly yn galw ar Brifysgol Caerdydd i roi’r gorau i’w hymgysylltiad â’r fath broses, cydnabod hanes tywyll yr Ymerodraeth, ac edrych am ffyrdd arall o ddathlu’r rheiny maent am eu cydnabod. Un opsiwn, sydd eisoes yn cael ei ddefnyddio yng Nghymru, yw gwobrau Dewi Sant, sy’n cydnabod unigolion a grwpiau sydd wedi creu gweir newid ac ysbrydoli eraill o fewn cymdeithas – felly gyda dewis arall ar gael mae parhau i ddathlu’r Ymerodraeth yn ymddangos yn hen ffasiwn ac yn anghywir.
Tîm Swyddogion Sabothol 2023/24