Last weekend Barcelona Football Club asked (and were successful in their request) to have the time of their match moved to a later time in order that their supporters could attend the huge "Som una nació i tenim el dret de decidir" (We are a nation and have the right to decide)" rally which took place on Saturday. The rally was organised in response to the recent animosity within Spain to the Catalonian aspirations for self-government. Considering that the Nou Camp holds 98,000 people, this may well have helped boost the crowds at the demonstration which were estimated at up to 700,000.

Can you imagine something like this happening in Wales? Appropriating the St.Davids flag as your football team's banner is one thing but this is something else altogether!

This is the list of Catalan towns, groups and individuals that supported and went on the march. What is incredible over there is the sheer amount of support coming such a wide variety of civil groups.

Co-operating for a cause. Something we in Wales could and should learn from the Catalan people I think.

[Watch a 3-minute video clip of the demo]

BBC: Language protester given custody. 19 year old Cymdeithas yr Iaith member Gwenno Teifi is tonight starting a 5 day prison sentence for her part in the protests against Radio Carmarthenshire. The station has repeatedly refused to reflect and promote the culture of Carmarthenshire, and has a policy of playing only "popular" (i.e. English language) chart music. I am listening to the Human League as I type this, who haven't been in the charts for 20 years, but obviously are more relevant to the good burghers of Carmarthen than anything recorded in the Welsh language in the interim.

I'm listening to their webcast at the moment, just to see if their news bulletin mentions the fact that a teenager has gone to prison trying to change their playlists.

Now playing: Easy Like Sunday Morning.

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(Edit.) If you would like to support Cymdeithas' campaign to raise awareness of the Welsh language music scene in Carmarthen - because, let's face it, you wouldn't know any such thing existed from listening to "Radio Sir Gâr" - there's a gig in the Carmarthen Quins Rugby Club on 25 February. Heather Jones, Brigyn, Eusebio. 8pm, £5 on the door.

In the meantime, you can drop Gwenno a message of support:

Gwenno Teifi Ffransis
Young Offenders Wing
HMP Eastwood Park
Felfield
Wotton-under-Edge
Gloucestershire
GL12 8DB

Diolch yn fawr.

I often like to compare the position of the Welsh Language with minority languages in similar situations on mainland Europe, particularly in Spain. But one thing that uniquely qualifies the Welsh Language is the level of negativity associated with and directed at it. It's normal for Spaniards outside of Catalonia and the Basque Country to make negative remarks about the Basque and Catalan languages, or for immigrants (mostly Spaniards from Andalucia) living in or around Barcelona to do so, but this resentment is far from being as prevalent as that which occurs in Wales. What is more, this negativity is a manifold one: it is not just the negativity of the English, nor that of non-Welsh speakers among the Welsh, but also that of Welsh speakers themselves.

The resentment of English people towards Welsh is at best based on ignorance, and at worst beneath contempt and therefore not fit for intelligent discussion. That of the Cymry di-Gymraeg (Welsh people who can't speak Welsh) is more complex: in the South it is both a resentment fuelled by percieved elitist attitudes among middle class Welsh speakers and one actively encouraged by successive pro-Unionist Labour Party governments both on a local and a national level. In the North it is to a some extent the bitter spawn of English colonisation, but it is also caused by a percieved connection between the local lingo and the dire economic situation prevalent in the area (ie "This place is crap, therefore Wales and the Welsh Language are crap too").
Some of this has seeped into the consciousness of Welsh Speakers themselves, who consequently decide to abandon their language and cut their children off from their linguistic inheritance. Such attitudes are hard to find amongst the Basques. The Basque Country has an almost identical ratio as Wales in terms of who speaks the native tongue and who doesn't. Yet there is little or no negativity felt by monoglot Spanish speakers towards Euskara, and they are quite happy that their children are educated in that language (Then again, the Basques have jobs).
But there is another aspect to the negativity of Welsh speakers towards their own language: for many, it is the language one uses when talking to friends, family, and old acquaintances, but it is not to be used with strangers, even when they're speaking to you in Welsh! This can be both an obstacle and a major pain in the arse to learners!
As i have said, the resentment of the English isn't worth talking about, but the overcoming of negative attitudes amongst the Welsh themselves is of vital importance to the success and survival of the language.