Should Commonwealth Day be a Bank Holiday?
Posted by AlexT - 15/09/09 at 12:09 pm
Everybody likes a bank holiday. You go away for a weekend, spend time with your family, or just sit around basking in your own laziness.
The Commonwealth is already celebrated with an annual day eld on the second Monday of each March. But that’sabout it. The average person still trudges into work with no idea of what is being celebrated. Bar the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) every two years, and the Commonwealth Games the organisation barely reaches national consciousness.
A Commonwealth Day Bank Holiday Campaign, which was launched earlier this year, hopes to change this in the UK. They are petitioning the Prime Minister and have a facebook group. But does this sound like a good idea?
The Royal Commonwealth Society’ own polling found that few people understood or cared about what the Commonwealth does.
Would a Bank holiday, perhaps stretching across all 53 member countries make the people of the Commonwealth better appreciate the work they do? Or is this forcing the issue? Does the Commonwealth even deserve a bank holiday? Should it be up to the Commonwealth Secretariat to make itself directly relevant to the people it supposedly serves?
Category : The Commonwealth's Relevance
Tags: Commonwealth Day
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September 15th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
I think that the commonwealth should certainly have a bank holiday to mark its annual day. Even in Britain, many people are unaware that the commonwealth exists or its actual function. A national or preferably commonwealth-wide holiday would help to raise awareness of the organisation and its work, whilst also raising the sense of commonwealth unity.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I think the Commonwealth needs to EARN a bank holiday. What has it done to deserve this day in the calendar?
September 20th, 2009 at 6:40 am
A holiday across the Commonwealth would raise awareness and get people thinking about what it does and the benefits.
September 21st, 2009 at 1:37 pm
As 3 rather well known world leader have said:
The Commonwealth bears no resemblance to the empires of the past. It is an entirely new conception built on the highest qualities of the spirit of man: friendship, loyalty, and the desire for freedom and peace. HM Queen Elizabeth II, 1952.
The Commonwealth makes the world safe for diversity Nelson Mandela, 1994.
The world, in spite of its rivalries and hatreds and inner conflicts, moves inevitably towards closer cooperation and the building up of a…commonwealth.
India’s Founding President, Jawaharlal Nehru.
Commonwealth Day: 2 Billion People, 53 Nations, 1 day.
September 21st, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Perhaps once the Commonwealth has established beyond doubt it’s value.
I’m convinced that it deserves to be a day of celebration or of holiday, but I’m in such an extreme minority that I can’t in clear conscience say that the day should yet be accepted as a holiday or pan-Commonwealth celebration.
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm
What is there is celebrate?
Charles… you quote some world leaders, but what about Joe Bloggs in the street? What does he care of the Commonwealth?
September 24th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I think in the UK, a Commonwealth holiday day is the fastest and easiest way to increase the prominance of the commonwealth.
September 24th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
MatthewH.
Yes, it will increase its prominance… mainly because everyone would be wondering “hey, why is this a bank holiday”, or, “huh, whats the Commonwealth”.
Quotes from world leaders wont rub, nor the claim that by giving it a national holiday it will them become relevant. You cant have the chicken before the egg.
This is the heart of the matter. Why is the Commonwealth relevant?
Joseph, Charles, Mathew, Riley… try and answer this question.
September 26th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
The relevance of the Commonwealth is clearly based in the past and the cultural and economic legacy it has created.
That however is also the key to how and why it can be relevant for the future. With large numbers of commonwealth citizens choosing to move accross the globe, the idea of celebrting the diversity of the commonwealth must be a good thing especially at times when extremists wish to use any difference to divide us.
The Commonwealth is not perfect but in an imperfect world its member countries are typically more democraticaly and economicaly stable than the average – even in the current world recession. In essence the Commonwealth sets an example to the world and that is worth celebrating.
Does that matter to everyone, I think it would if they knew, hence the Campaign to make Commonwealth Day a Bank Holiday, to riase awareness of an institution which has done great good accross the world.
We consistently hear about the European Union in the media as that is percieved to be relevant but few people care about it.
The Commonwealth makes a difference to people’s lives accross the world perhaps not so much in the UK but we should all be proud of the work done through it to make the world a better place.
September 27th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
A Commonwealth day in the UK is relevant because the commonwealth institutions have limited activities in the UK, as is the case in other developed country members. Therefore it goes unnoticed in the UK, but this doesn’t mean it is unimportant. Firstly, it is important that the commonwealth is recognised in the UK because the UK pays for a large part of the commonwealth budget as a component of its overseas development work and it forms part of its foreign policy. More importantly the commonwealth contains a large number of cultural links between the UK and other countries that do not recieve recognition elsewhere. For example, a large amount of emigration from the UK occurs to other commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Although the UK has strong economic and trade links to the EU, culturally the UK is arguably more related to the other developed countries in the commonwealth than the EU, or even the USA. In the case of the smaller and developing nations, the UK must develop stronger links with these countries to alleviate poverty, encourage trade and tackle the big issue of climate change. I suggest the UK can more directly make progress with these issues in countries it has a democratic/cultural/parliamentary/legal familarity with through the commonwealth than indirectly through regional bodies such as the EU.
A commonwealth of nations bank holiday in the UK would provide some much needed recognition for a largely unappreciated asset. I suggest that other commonwealth countries should also coordinate a holiday on the same day.
September 27th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
In addition to my previous comments, I should also wish to add that in the UK we actually have more immgration from India, Bangledesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka than we do from the EU. The large populations of people from these cultures make a fantastic contribution to the economy and culture of the UK, as they have done for well over a century. It is these links that need to be celebrated to be understood and built upon. The Commonwealth of nations should support this, and a Commonwealth Bank holiday would very a would help achieve this.
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:03 am
Completely agree with matthewH!
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:03 am
And of course Charles F!
December 26th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
It is one of the most important global organisations, unrivalled in fostering the national cooperation through mutual values. In a divided world where there is much hatred and anger there is nothing better than the existence of such a strong group of nations sharing common values and beliefs. It is therefore of great importance that those nations that make up the commonwealth understand what the commonwealth does and why its continuing existence is paramount.
Therefore Commonwealth Day should not just be ‘a day off’ in the UK, but it should be a holiday for every Commonwealth Nation to celebrate the Commonwealth.