Welsh Marches

I wouldn't dream of linking to the thing, but Andrew Brons is moaning about a "Tory-led Muslim march in Gwent", featuring the Welsh Assembly Member Mohammad Asghar.

This turns out to have been an Ashura procession marking the martyrdom of the Imam Husayn ibn Ali, the definitive schism between the Shia, who keep Ashura in this way, and the Sunni, to which it means several other things, notably the delivery of the People of Israel under the Prophet Musa. This is certainly the Shi'ite procession, as the banner (in English, so Brons has no excuse) is one of the several features to make clear.

But where, asks Brons, would a Muslim country permit such a commemoration by Welsh Christians? He clearly assumes this to be a rhetorical question. It is not. The great Christian processions of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Palestine or Iran (yes, Iran) are no doubt a long way from, say, Calvinistic Methodism. But there are Catholics in Wales, and there is a pronounced Anglo-Catholic streak in the Church in Wales, far stronger than in the Church of England. These days, there may very well be Orthodox in Wales. In fact, I should be surprised if there were not.

It is in our dear NATO brother, Turkey, that one no longer sees these things. And in "liberated" Iraq. Mr Ashgar, formerly of Plaid Cymru, may have experienced a sincere conversion to Unionism, and I am very glad if he has, though unsure as to why he has not therefore joined the Welsh Labour Party or any of the several emerging localised alternatives to it, social democratic and Unionist whereas Plaid is sectarian Left and separatist. If he feels at home in Cameron's party, then why did he ever join Plaid Cymru?

Furthermore, there is a very deep peace tradition in Welsh Labour. Or, these days, in Welsh ex-Labour, which is a growing force in local government, at Cardiff, and at Westminster. Mr Ashgar has instead joined a party which, unlike his old one, enthusiastically cheered on the war that has destroyed Christian Iraq, and supports the ethnic cleansing of Christian Palestine, the bombardment of Christian (never mind Shi'ite) Lebanon, the putative invasion and destruction of Christian (never mind Shi'ite) Syria, and the nuking of Christian (never mind Shi'ite) Iran.