The Commonwealth Conversation

Lord David Howell, Deputy Conservative Leader in the House of Lords, stresses how everyone seems to be noticing the Commonwealth except in the UK. His article gives some ‘Royal Foreign Policy Advice’.

H.M. The Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, highlighted the Commonwealth’s Relevance in its 60th Anniversary Year during her 2009 Christmas Broadcast. Her speech also featured video interviews with delegates at the Commonwealth Youth Forum in Trinidad and Tobago.

Sir Peter Marshall, former Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General, and Zoe Ware, from the Royal Commonwealth Society, give two differing perspectives on the Commonwealth at 60 from their respective generations in the October 2009 issue of The Round Table, The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs.

Sir Paul Reeves, the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Fiji, says that the suspension of Fiji from the Commonwealth does not mean the expulsion of her people. In an interview just prior to his visit to Fiji on 8-9 September 2009, Sir Paul, who is the former Governor-General of New Zealand, said that he hopes the Commonwealth can continue to offer assistance in restoring democratic governance in Fiji.

Savage, a co-founder of the New Zealand Republican Movement has written the following contribution to the Commonwealth Conversation:

There is a belief perpetuated in Britain and other Commonwealth countries that the British Empire was of benefit to the world. The greed and racism are forgotten. The invasions, wars, political oppression and genocide are downplayed. The poverty and inequality it created are conveniently ignored.

Just as the Crown was essential to the evolution of the world?s most successful system of governance, the Westminster model, so it has been at the very centre of the long evolution of the Commonwealth.

The possibility of a rotating Head has been floated. The opinion polls showed most people in India as many as 50 per cent – favoured that solution. But rotation could create real problems because it would politicise the position. Occasionally a Mandela figure might be available, but such people are a rarity.

Watch Lord Janvrin, former Private Secretary to H.M. The Queen, explain the Commonwealth’s unique role in bringing people together in an era of globalisation.

Read Australian Richard Flanagan, winner of the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize 2002, talk about his impressions of the Commonwealth.