Tag: Commonwealth

This will be the first Commonwealth Day presided over by the UK’s King Charles III as King and Head of the Commonwealth…reports Asian Lite News

Commonwealth Day will be celebrated on Monday with observances, speeches, exhibitions and cultural events across the 56 Commonwealth member countries.

With ‘Forging a Sustainable and Peaceful Common Future’ as its theme, the day aims to unite 2.5 billion Commonwealth citizens in celebration of their shared values and principles, and in pursuit of a common future, centred on sustainability and peace.

This will be the first Commonwealth Day presided over by the UK’s King Charles III as King and Head of the Commonwealth.

The day will also mark the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Commonwealth Charter, which outlines the values and principles that unify the 56 Commonwealth countries, representing one-third of humanity.

In her Commonwealth Day Message, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland KC paid tribute to late Queen Elizabeth II for her seven decades of service and welcomed King Charles III for his first Commonwealth Day as the new Head of the Commonwealth.

Speaking on the role of the Commonwealth in her message, she said: “We stand together now to face the challenges of the moment and seize the opportunities of tomorrow. Where there is violence and conflict, we work for peace. Where there is insecurity, we protect the culture, process and institutions of democracy. Where there is poverty, we tackle it. Where there is injustice, we challenge it.

“Where our brothers and sisters have their lives threatened and disrupted by the impacts of climate change, we stand with them, working tirelessly for climate action and a more sustainable world. I believe profoundly that our family of 56 nations and 2.5 billion people is stronger, more vibrant, more connected and more purposeful than ever.”

Drawing attention to the growing cooperation within the Commonwealth at a time of polarisation, Secretary-General Scotland added: “Our unique qualities and advantages mean that the Commonwealth in 2023 is not simply a part of the international system, it is a beacon within it.

“These qualities shine in the fact that, with a multilateral system under strain, the Commonwealth is growing, precisely because of what we stand for and what we can deliver.

“So, on this 10th anniversary of our (Commonwealth) Charter, as we renew our commitment to its values and to each other, let us resolve together to ensure that in the years to come, we make the peaceful and sustainable common future we all strive for a reality for the whole Commonwealth.”

Around the Commonwealth, cities will host inter-faith, multi-cultural observances to mark the day. One of the largest gatherings will be the traditional service at Westminster Abbey in London and will be attended by The King, the Commonwealth Secretary-General, senior government officials, other dignitaries and hundreds of young people.

At the service, the theme will be expressed through musical performances, testimonies and readings from individuals representing several Commonwealth countries, including ‘Amalgamation Choir’, an all-female choir from Cyprus.

Commonwealth Day has been celebrated on the second Monday in March every year since 1977. In recent years, there has been a shift away from a single-day observance towards a full-week celebration, with Commonwealth Day as its focal point.

This year, as part of the Commonwealth of Nations Flag for Peace initiative, each Commonwealth country and every UK city will receive a flag, which they can raise on Commonwealth Day in celebration of the values of the Commonwealth Charter, including democracy, human rights, sustainable development, equality and respect.

Parliamentarians, mayors and high commissioners in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Americas, the Pacific and Europe will also mark the day with various activities, including speeches and cultural events.

The Commonwealth Secretariat has also produced a special quiz for students to learn more about the modern Commonwealth and its diverse membership. Schools around the Commonwealth can download and use the quiz free of charge.

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Barely days into King Charles III’s reign, murmurs of a mass exodus from the Commonwealth club are already stalking the new king…reports Asian Lite News

Commonwealth nations could “rush for the door” of the bloc after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, an expert has warned. In addition to the UK, Charles III now rules in 14 Commonwealth countries that were former dominions of the British Empire.

But barely days into King Charles III’s reign, murmurs of a mass exodus from the Commonwealth club are already stalking the new king. Professor Philip Murphy, the former director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, has argued that several countries in the Commonwealth could make “a rush for the door” over the coming years. Will Charles oversee the final disintegration of this remnant of empire?

“A movement had already started before she died,” he said. He added that it was being driven by “a combination of things like the Black Lives Matter movement, the Windrush scandal and the growing momentum behind the move for reparations for slavery and colonialism. If you want to write a history of the world of international relations, certainly since the 1990s, you would be hard pressed to find a reason to mention the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is so insubstantial it doesn’t have any impact at all, and no one would notice if it disappeared tomorrow, in terms of its practical effects,” Professor Murphy said.

To think about the Commonwealth’s place in the modern world, it is important to consider what the institution is. The transition from the British Empire to Commonwealth implied that the hierarchy between Britain and its colonies would dissipate with independence. Now each state would be equal to each, sharing sovereignty, status, and wealth in common. But older divisions of geography, race, and economic power continued to slice through this “family of nations.”

Think of the differences in movement and access enjoyed by the different people of the Commonwealth. In 1962, the Commonwealth Immigration Act was passed by the Conservative government, which ended the automatic right of people from the British colonies and Commonwealth to settle in the UK.

Though it made all Commonwealth citizens subject to possible immigration control, the target of this law was not white people coming from New Zealand or Australia. Conservative Home Secretary Rab Butler said that the act’s “great merit” was that it looked like it would apply to all parts of the Commonwealth, when in reality its “restrictive effect is intended to, and would in fact, operate on coloured people almost exclusively.”

Commonwealth migration came to mean only people migrating from Africa, South Asia, or the Caribbean, not places like Canada, and was discussed by Conservative politicians as a new specter haunting Britain. Enoch Powell, a prominent Conservative member of Parliament, argued that this migration would give rise to “rivers of blood” flowing across the nation, and in his wake, Margaret Thatcher described her fear that with increasing Commonwealth migration, Britain was being “swamped by people with a different culture.” This was not the rhetoric with which the queen liked to suggest that the people of Nigeria, Sri Lanka, or Trinidad and Tobago were family.

With republican movements gaining ground from Australia to the Bahamas, the new king also faces a challenge keeping the Commonwealth realms in the royal fold, the report said.

Several are already set to vote on becoming republics and replace him as head of state now that nostalgic ties to the late monarch are broken by her death.

Barbados became a republic last year and Jamaica has indicated its desire to follow suit. Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister Gaston Browne said it would vote on whether to remove the royal family as head of state.

As well as the UK, Charles is now head of state in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

Even today, in ostensibly independent countries like Jamaica and the Bahamas, if you have a legal dispute, in theory your final hope of resolving it will be a direct appeal to King Charles III. This functional, legal element of the legacy of British rule across some territories of the Commonwealth shows that the questions being asked in this debate concern more that the “symbolic” role of the monarchy.

The change in monarch comes at an auspicious time for the Commonwealth, as a number of countries—including Jamaica and Australia—had already been making moves toward removing the queen as head of state, and these calls are likely only to grow now she is being succeeded by her less popular son. Barbados already transitioned into a parliamentary republic in 2021, lighting the way for other Caribbean countries that want to follow in its wake. As the protests that greeted Prince William and his wife, Kate, on their tour of the region showed, republican feelings are very much on the rise in the once trusty British West Indies. Meanwhile, much of the British public has only a vague idea of what the Commonwealth actually is. In the past, polls have shown that one in five Brits couldn’t name a single Commonwealth country when asked. Not Jamaica, not India, not even Australia.

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With republican movements gaining ground from Australia to the Bahamas, the new king also faces a challenge keeping the Commonwealth realms in the royal fold..reports Asian Lite News

Commonwealth nations could “rush for the door” of the bloc after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, an expert has warned, media reports said.

In addition to the UK, Charles III now rules in 14 Commonwealth countries that were former dominions of the British Empire, Daily Mail reported.

With republican movements gaining ground from Australia to the Bahamas, the new king also faces a challenge keeping the Commonwealth realms in the royal fold, the report said.

Several are already set to vote on becoming republics and replace him as head of state now that nostalgic ties to the late monarch are broken by her death.

Barbados became a republic last year and Jamaica has indicated its desire to follow suit. Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister Gaston Browne said it would vote on whether to remove the royal family as head of state.

Professor Philip Murphy, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, said that the movement had already started before the Queen died last week, Daily Mail reported.

“A movement had already started before she died,” he told the Times. He said it was being driven by “a combination of things like the Black Lives Matter movement, the Windrush scandal and the growing momentum behind the move for reparations for slavery and colonialism”.

“If you want to write a history of the world of international relations, certainly since the 1990s, you would be hard pressed to find a reason to mention the Commonwealth,” he added, Daily Mail reported.

“The Commonwealth is so insubstantial it doesn’t have any impact at all, and no one would notice if it disappeared tomorrow, in terms of its practical effects.”

As well as the UK, Charles is now head of state in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

Gaston Browne made the announcement minutes after signing a document that confirmed King Charles III as the new head of state but emphasised that the move was “not an act of hostility”.

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Several are already set to vote on becoming republics and replace him as head of state now that nostalgic ties to the late monarch are broken by her death…reports Asian Lite News

Commonwealth nations could “rush for the door” of the bloc after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, an expert has warned, media reports said.

In addition to the UK, Charles III now rules in 14 Commonwealth countries that were former dominions of the British Empire, Daily Mail reported.

With republican movements gaining ground from Australia to the Bahamas, the new king also faces a challenge keeping the Commonwealth realms in the royal fold, the report said.

Several are already set to vote on becoming republics and replace him as head of state now that nostalgic ties to the late monarch are broken by her death.

Barbados became a republic last year and Jamaica has indicated its desire to follow suit. Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister Gaston Browne said it would vote on whether to remove the royal family as head of state.

Professor Philip Murphy, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, said that the movement had already started before the Queen died last week, Daily Mail reported.

“A movement had already started before she died,” he told the Times. He said it was being driven by “a combination of things like the Black Lives Matter movement, the Windrush scandal and the growing momentum behind the move for reparations for slavery and colonialism. If you want to write a history of the world of international relations, certainly since the 1990s, you would be hard pressed to find a reason to mention the Commonwealth,” he added, Daily Mail reported.

“The Commonwealth is so insubstantial it doesn’t have any impact at all, and no one would notice if it disappeared tomorrow, in terms of its practical effects.”

As well as the UK, Charles is now head of state in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu.

Gaston Browne made the announcement minutes after signing a document that confirmed King Charles III as the new head of state but emphasised that the move was “not an act of hostility”.

ALSO READ-Commonwealth’s future at stake after Queen’s death