In an article for The Round Table published in October 2001, Gott thinks the Commonwealth should encourage us to see imperial history through the eyes of its former subjects. He claims the current British government comments rashly on developments in other Commonwealth countries because it retains an air of empire.
He thinks the British education system should emphasise multiple imperial narratives, ranging from the dominant British narrative of imperial triumphalism to the narratives of aboriginal rebels.
A longer version of this article appears in the December 2009 edition of the Round Table, the Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs.
The Commonwealth is rooted in past movement of peoples and in present-day links between individuals and institutions. Indeed, the health of the intergovernmental Commonwealth depends on the concurrent existence of a vibrant ‘Commonwealth of peoples’.
Title: Conversation Event in Namibia Location: Namibia Date: 2009-10-27
Twelve regional education officers took part in a Commonwealth Conversation event in Namibia.
After an hour of discussions they concluded that the Commonwealth is poorly marketed, and needed to do much more to get the public engaged.
They urged the Commonwealth to become more involved in education in a variety of ways. These suggestions included: investing in nomadic education; investing in institutional development in developing countries and making scholarship application forms more accessible to regional offices.
They thought that in the future, the Commonwealth must ensure a more collective involvement of all member states. Namibia, they felt, seems to have been left out of the scheme of things.
Muttiah ‘Murali’ Muralitharan is the leading wicket-taker in Test cricket history and Sri Lanka’s greatest player of all time. He is also a dedicated humanitarian and philanthropist, serving as a trustee of the Foundation of Goodness, which seeks to help Sri Lanka’s rural poor.
In this exclusive interview for the Commonwealth Conversation, he talks about the power of sport to unite people irrespective of race and religionand what the Commonwealth could do to help Sri Lanka build a better future.
This year’s speaker at the Commonwealth Foundation’s Commonwealth Lecture, Terry Waite, a humanitarian and former hostage, talks to the RCS about climate change, education and the Commonwealth’s relevance.
The post is written by Carl Wright, Secretary-General, Commonwealth Local Government Forum.
The Commonwealth should take a more active role in supporting and promoting local government. As an organisation it should return to what it does best: fostering partnerships and positive links. It is on a local level that the future success of the Commonwealth will be seen.
Local government is often viewed as the poor relation to its glamorous national associates, but it is through us that thriving, safer communities are developed, and the Millennium Development Goals will be delivered. It is best placed to provide basic services such as water, sanitation and primary health care for its people. It is closest to them and knows their needs and concerns. It is where involvement and consultation can be focused and effective channels for the engagement of local people and other stakeholders in the wider work the Commonwealth does can be built.
Why then is this crucial element of modern democracy all too often ignored by heads of Government in important international discussions?
Over 25,000 students have benefitted from Commonwealth Scholarships, and many more have gone to study in another Commonwealth country on their own. What are your experiences of studying around the Commonwealth? Continue reading…
Do you think that the Commonwealth Education Ministers, who met in Malaysia in June 2009, are doing enough to promote education around the Commonwealth? Did their Communique pay enough attention to the stakeholder statements that were presented to them? Continue reading…
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