Casgliadau Arlein

South Wales Chile Solidarity banner, about 1977.

On 11 September 1973, a military coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. Across Wales, throughout the 1970s, trades unions, political parties, faith groups and others showed solidarity to the people of Chile. The nature of the support provided varied across Wales over time, and from place to place. From 1975, approximately 3,000 political refugees arrived in Britain, with perhaps 100-150 coming to Wales, with the bulk of them in Swansea. The presence of the newly arrived Chileans shaped the way that solidarity occurred in Swansea and a group of local people formed an informal support network in the city. One of them, Brian Davies, a student at Swansea University who was also a member of the Executive Committee of the National Union of Students in Wales, designed the South Wales Chile Solidarity banner based on a national Chile solidarity motif. He bought the cloth and paint in Swansea market and made it himself. His mother stitched the material. The translation into Welsh was done by Meic Haines of Gorseinon, who was also involved. The banner was only taken to a couple of demonstrations – one in Cardiff and one in London as it was too heavy to be easily carried. It was stored from the 1970s until 2023 Paul Elliott, a NUPE (later Unison) trades union organizer, who was also active on Chile. The banner was used for the last time on 8 September 2023 for the 50th Anniversary event in Volcano Theatre, Swansea, where Jane Hutt and Jeremy Corbyn were among the speakers, Patrick Jones read his poetry and Dafydd Iwan sang. After the event the banner was donated to the Museum. Source: Alun Burge (Honorary Research Fellow, Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales, 2023).

Rectangular red banner (portrait format), single-sided. Smaller, rectangular yellow-brown fabric with inscription and central image of clenched fist painted in the colours of the Chilean flag has been machine-stitched to the front. Lower edge of yellow-brown fabric has been turned-back but has been left unstitched. Pole sleeve along top edge. Blue plastic eyelets (shaped like a rounded triangle) in all four corners (on the top, these are below the pole sleeve): gold coloured cord is threaded through these blue eyelets. At the top, these are knotted to form a loop, whereas on the bottom corners, the rope has been tied on using cow hitch knots with the ends hanging free. Selvages along upper and lower edge and along horizontal seam across the middle of the banner (full width of woven fabric is 152cm). The lettering has been carefully painted in white with black outlines.