What is the point of the Commonwealth and does it really have a future?

EVERYONE is thinking it, but no one is saying it. At the opening of the official Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London on Thursday, there is one question that needs to be asked.

What is the point of the Commonwealth?

Yes, it’s a great chance for Australia and the UK to clean up the medal tally at the Commonwealth Games without any competition from the rest of the world.

Yes, it gives us some great royal photo opportunities and a chance for Prince Harry and his soon-to-be royal bride to conduct an extended honeymoon at public expense.

But with 53 countries covering 2.4 billion people spreading from Africa to the Caribbean and Pacific, what do we really have in common and is there any point to it at all?

The London event has been seized upon by the UK as a chance to pave the way for Prince Charles’ inevitable ascension to the throne. Not to mention reinvigorating a trading network post-Brexit, thus proving to the 48 per cent of the country who voted to remain in the EU that leaving won’t be a total disaster.

But with the incredibly disparate range of nations the Commonwealth covers, from genuine heavyweights like India and Canada to tiny island states like Tuvalu and Nauru, with hugely divergent views on everything from gay marriage to trade — does such a club based on nothing more than a shared colonial past really have a common vision for the future?

Critics question the relevance of the organisation in an era when many nations are considering whether they want to become republics. Some claim the vision is too wide-ranging to be really effective, while Afua Hirsch in The Guardian asked whether it’s really just a second incarnation of the British Empire.

“It would just be so much easier if all concerned simply admitted this reality: The Commonwealth is a vessel of former colonies with the former imperial master at its helm. Or, as I like to call it, Empire 2.0,” she wrote.

Comments from diving champion Tom Daley following his Gold Coast win highlighted disparate views after he pointed out “37 of the competing nations criminalise being LGBT+”.

“I feel so lucky to be able to be openly who I am without worry. I hope one day every athlete from every nation in the Commonwealth will be free to compete openly as who they are too,” he said.

At the opening of the summit, UK Prime Minister Theresa May highlighted a wish list for co-operation including everything from free trade to cyber security, preservation of the rules-based order, democracy and climate issues, neatly aligned with the UK’s foreign policy priorities.

She also said she “deeply regrets” discriminatory laws put in place by UK governments overseas on gay rights, saying “they were wrong then, and they are wrong now”.

“The UK stands ready to support any Commonwealth member wanting to reform outdated legislation that makes such discrimination possible,” she said.

Perhaps most successful have been environmental initiatives, which directly impact many of the Oceanic member states. The UK has used the event to launch a ban on plastic drinking straws and a Queen’s canopy of rainforests covering nations around the world.

At what many think could be the Queen’s last CHOGM, the biggest clue as to her vision lies in her “sincere wish” that Prince Charles picks up the mantle.

Whether the organisation founded in 1949 still exists in another 70 years could be entirely down to him.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/what-is-the-point-of-the-commonwealth-and-does-it-really-have-a-future/news-story/91b51cfb457a09031d47477b9ae75ff4

Vintage wrote:No one is forced to be a member of the Commonwealth, anyone can leave any time they want, some have, some who were never part of the British Empire have joined. If its not perfect what is, its surely up to the members to make changes if they prefer to remain as members but don't like the terms.
As for Veya I don't know why he keeps knocking Britain all the time surely he should be grateful that the circumstances of British Colonialism have given him the chance to live in such a peaceful, economically viable  country that is well situated geographically and climatically. If it wasn't for that history he may have found himself mostly cold and wet then being roasted on a few suprise occassions.

Vintage wrote:
No one is forced to be a member of the Commonwealth, anyone can leave any time they want, some have, some who were never part of the British Empire have joined. If its not perfect what is, its surely up to the members to make changes if they prefer to remain as members but don't like the terms.
As for Veya I don't know why he keeps knocking Britain all the time surely he should be grateful that  the circumstances of British Colonialism have given him the chance to live in such a peaceful, economically viable  country that is well situated geographically and climatically. If it wasn't for that history he may have found himself mostly cold and wet then being roasted on a few suprise occassions.

Afua Hirsche wrote:“It would just be so much easier if all concerned simply admitted this reality: The Commonwealth is a vessel of former colonies with the former imperial master at its helm. Or, as I like to call it, Empire 2.0,” she wrote.

Original Quill wrote:

Afua Hirsche wrote:“It would just be so much easier if all concerned simply admitted this reality: The Commonwealth is a vessel of former colonies with the former imperial master at its helm. Or, as I like to call it, Empire 2.0,” she wrote.

If "former colonies" were the sole definition of the Commonwealth, why was the US not invited to join.  The answer: the US was too powerful and would have taken over.  No, no, Britain didn't want any such equity or impartiality.

Entering the 20th-century, what Britain found was that maintaining an Empire, with reciprocal commitments, is expensive.  Remember the Suez dispute?  So the ministers sat around the table and pondered the question: "How can we keep the benefits, and crap out the liabilities?"

They came up with the Commonwealth.  Y'all can have the pride and prestige of being associated with us, but don't ask for anything in return.  You get to come over and fight our wars for us, but don't ask to live here.

The Commonwealth is Britain's way of having their cake, and eating it too.

Didge wrote:The Royal Commonwealth Society is making plans to open a branch in the United States, with a view to one day bringing America into the fold as an "associate member".

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:          

After the (Dis)united States of Amerika fractures into 3, 4 or 5 smaller entities,  the breakaway New England/East Coast region could then consider throwing in their lot with the British Commonwealth...

Thereby recognising their common ties with their new major trading parties and allies --  Canada, the West Indies, and the Falkland Islands..