To think the Commonwealth has had its day?

[antelopevalley]

The Commonwealth is a colonialist institution based on a history of conquest and slavery.

"The origins of the Commonwealth come from Britain's former Empire. Many of the members of the Commonwealth were territories which had historically come under British rule at various times by settlement, conquest or cession. The administration of such colonies evolved in different ways, to reflect the different circumstances of each territory."
www.royal.uk/commonwealth

The Commonwealth Games have never been held in an African country. Although there have been exceptions, most years it is held in Britain, Australia, New Zealand or Canada. Since 1930 it has only been held three times in other countries. Or seven countries if you include youth games and paraplegic games.

The Commonwealth has no clear role; it confers no trade privileges upon its members, does not coordinate their defence or foreign policy, and lacks both the budget and the executive authority to make a practical difference in the world.

It is a colonialist hangover that has no clear role and should be abolished.
AIBU?

Blueberry didn't say British colonies. Togo, Gabon are ex French colonies. Rwanda was a German colony then Belgian. Mozambique was a Portuguese colony

Blueberry also didn't extend it to other former colonial powers.

But the entire context of the thread is British colonialism and the Commonwealth. Not the French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, Belgian, etc.

So, it's not unreasonable to point out Commonwealth members aren't all former British colonies.

Except they can in the UK:

www.electoralcommission.org.uk/running-electoral-registration-wales/eligibility-register-vote/what-are-nationality-requirements-register-vote/can-a-commonwealth-citizen-register-vote

Certainly they can remove themselves from France and euro but if you carry on reading that article, you'll see that the driving force for them to join is that the language used is English.

It also testifies to the importance of English as a language of business, science and international politics and the necessity of building a range of connections to support economic development and get diplomatic messages heard.

It explains why smaller countries want to be in such an organisation as the Commonwealth. So it's not that the CW is an old, fuddy duddy, of the past confederation, rather it's a place where smaller countries have easy access to large economies and leaders from the world stage. They're looking to their economic and political futures. It's MNers that are stuck in the past.

Many countries who have no ties to the empire have chosen to join so you are very out of touch OP.

The commonwealth games was fantastic. Loads of friendship there between the commonwealth countries.

A country wishing to leave can just have a vote and do so.

There is no need to rip everything apart. Even if the history is ugly. We have cities (Liverpool, Bristol) that were made prosperous by the slave trade. Loads of the buildings there were built with slave money. I mean should we firebomb all those old buildings? Or do you think it would be better to keep the buildings and for the cities to acknowledge and educate re the slave trade (they do).

I would be careful thinking that protests by a small number of people in commonwealth countries that the W&K visited actually translate to the majority of the country in question. The break up the union campaign in Scotland was much louder than the stick together one. But they still voted to stick together.

Unless you are actually living in a Commonwealth County it has nothing to do with you. And even if you do, you still don't have a say.

Well given what a giantic misogynist attention seeker Daley is, I wouldn't necessarily hold him up as an example.

Daley participates in the exploitation of women and baby trafficking whilst pretending to be enlightened politically.

Lots of people in Jamaica came out to see them happily.

The government has had a mandate to leave for years and have chosen not to, I suspect because it's a nice little political football.

Anyway, no country needs to remain in the Commonwealth if they don't want to.

I live in the Commonwealth and am quite happy to be part of it. I appreciate the historical and cultural connections which are very real. I also think constitutional monarchies are a very stable form of government that work well empirically as well as having other virtues and so am happy to keep that.

I do wish that Commonwealth membership still conferred benefits like being able to go to university or to work in the UK, but they saw fit to remove that right which is their prerogative of course but sad IMO.

Totally agree @RedToothBrush

Could you give the dates when Mozambique and Rwanda were French colonies?

Mozambique was a Portuguese colony.

Rwanda was a German colony and a Belgium protectorate, and has a long and complicated history with France.

Do the other former colonial empires have anything similar to The Commonwealth? On a smaller scale perhaps?

Of course the Commonwealth is out dated. It was based on the an attempt to unify previously exploited colonies.

Naturally many of those former colonies have chosen to remove the queen has head of state and become republics. Many are waiting for the queen to die before following Sui - Australia notably.

Unfortunately for the commonwealths claims re democracy , it has been made known that the queen wants Charles to take over. So let's see . Any chance of an elected head?

Nations who have become republics can of course band together economically whichever way they wish. In fact the report blocs in the commonwealth could do some good in supporting former colonies in their fight for reparations or even an apology for what was done to them.
The history of the crown is the history of slavery.

The commonwealth serves a useful function within the Uk though- it soothes the uneasy souls of gammons who look back to empire as the good old days. A bit more PR for us too the royals may have thought ... not quite working though is as the embarrassing William and Kate tour showed.

amp.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2022/jul/27/commonwealth-games-must-confront-the-truth-about-its-sportswashing-past

Agreed.

They should get rid of things like the British Empire Medal and OBE/CBE etc. The British Empire had ended!

I'm surprised with all the wokery these days that these things persist.

@Novella4 the common wealth heads of government have already confirmed they pick Charles to be the next head.

While the queen asked for it, there was no obligation on the heads of government to accept it. I can see why they did though. They are all elected officials and have no guarantees that they will still be HOG when the queen dies. Who was going to put their hand up as an alternative?

What I think Charles had planned was for a Harry to take on. Now that is unlikely they may move to a rotating presidency a la G7... but again that relies on all HOG wanting that.

Do you ever just watch sport for entertainment?

. @Twizbe - oh the queens asked and everyone was happy to oblige . That's alright then .

@derxa - I've seen some shallow and empty headed posts from royalists on here but yours takes the biscuit. Have you read the link ? Educate yourself .

Well do you watch sport?

What has my watching of sport got to with anything?

Sport and politics are intertwined .

Well you could object to any sports event on any number of grounds

• the World cup in Qatar


• sexist commentary


• sponsorship by betting companies


• doping


• corrupt officials

etc. etc. The Commonwealth Games seems relatively innocent compared to all of that. It was a wonderful event this year

You clearly haven't read the article .
Pointing out sexist commentary in an attempt to distract from the history will not work .

The countries had wanted to elect a Head. Only the Queens intervention meant they agreed to Charles.