Woodlander Initiative provokes mixed reactions in Llanafan Fawr as critics say aim is to build racially exclusive communitiesDuring the middle ages, monks would travel to the village of Llanafan Fawr in mid-Wales to visit the church and relics of St Afan, a son of the king of Gwynedd, martyred by foreign pirates centuries before.Today, a different sort of pilgrim can be found there. Two hilly, wooded parcels of land in Llanafan Fawr were bought by the Woodlander Initiative (TWI), a land-buying scheme led by Simon Birkett, a far-right figure with links to Patriotic Alternative, the UK’s largest fascist group. Critics say Wiltshire-based Birkett’s aim is to create a racially exclusive settlement; he has cited Orania, a whites-only town in South Africa, as an inspiration for the project. Continue reading…