Over the weekend, Plaid Cymru held its annual conference in Cardiff. During two-packed days, party members at every level and from every corner of the country, came together to debate, propose policy for driving our country forward and catch up with each other.

For my part, I hosted an uplifting fringe event that celebrated the contribution of Welsh Muslims to civic society.  Taking part were Abyd Quinn-Aziz who is a lecturer in social work and chair of Plaid BME, Dr Mohammad Alhadj Ali who is a consultant physician and chair of the Syrian Welsh Society and Dr Kasim Ramzan who is a partner at a GP surgery and a member of Muslim Doctors Cymru. The trio spoke of the projects and efforts they have been involved in to better civic society in Wales.

All too often Muslims are mentioned in an unjust and negative manner so it was very refreshing and long overdue to hear a positive portrayal of the contribution of Muslims to civic life in Wales. It is an important story that needs to be told throughout the land to counter the negative and false narratives that fuelled much of the riots in England over the summer.

I was also involved in a panel discussion with Building Communities Trust which covered the difficulties and red tape volunteers face when trying to take over a patch of land or a building for the benefit of the local community. It is a real shame that communities in Wales do not have the same right to buy community assets that their counterparts in England and Scotland enjoy and have done for more than a decade. The Labour Government have dropped the ball on this issue and it is high time they corrected this anomaly but – as I found out in a plenary question I asked earlier this month - there is no urgency to put this wrong right. 

We also featured a speaking slot from Husam Zomlot, who is the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He forensically outlined the barbarity of the war in Gaza and his calls for peace and justice for Palestinians chimed with a party motion that was passed unanimously by party members.

It was a reminder that Plaid Cymru – despite having its primary focus on Wales – is very much an internationalist party.