Ex. 10. Pair work. a) Discuss your answers to the following questions using the words and phrases from the above exercises.

1. Why has the Commonwealth grabbed the attention of the public and media recently?

2. What was achieved by the Commonwealth before 2016?

3. What ties the Commonwealth countries together?

Speak up

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. The Commonwealth is often criticised for being outmoded and ineffective, but what do you think compels the member states to stay within the association?

2. What to your knowledge is the reason for the current revival of the UK’s interest in the Commonwealth?

Follow-up

Watch the third part of the video (8: 50-22: 40) out of class and get ready to discuss the critical thinking questions.

Critical thinking

1. Did the speakers, in your opinion, manage to make a convincing case assessing the present relevance of the Commonwealth?

2. Comment on the words of Kamalesh Sharma, former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations: “Before you consider what it does, Commonwealth is of great value to the world for what it is”.

3. Give an answer to the question posed in the video: ‘If the majority of the Commonwealth countries were developed countries, would the nature of the organisation be the same? ’

READING 2

PRE-READING QUESTIONS

1. What, to your knowledge, are the current relations between the UK and the other Commonwealth’s members like? Are they likely to change after Brexit?

2. What do you think are the prospects of the Commonwealth?

Read Par. 1 and comment on the allusion in the title, then scan the rest of the text to find out what the Commonwealth has going for it.

Don’t Let the Sun Go Down

https: //www. economist. com/britain/2019/04/27/the-commonwealth-turns-70

the Economist/April 27^th 2019

(1) The two women at the top of the Commonwealth are determined to keep it buzzing. One is its titular head, Queen Elizabeth II, who adores the post-imperial cosiness of the club’s 53 members meeting in a grand conclave every two years—and who in turn is revered by many of the Commonwealth’s leaders and people. The other is Patricia, Baroness Scotland, a Dominica-born former attorney[11]-general of Britain, who as secretary-general for the past three years has had the thankless task of trying to revive an outfit that, apart from the occasional sporting and heads-of-country jamboree[12], is widely reckoned to be pretty pointless.

(2) On April 26th it will celebrate its 70th birthday as a modern club of equals, five days after the Queen’s 93rd. Will it ever again wield real influence in the world, as it did, for instance, when nudging South Africa and Zimbabwe towards democracy near the end of the last century (1)?

(3) Brexiteers have long puffed up the Commonwealth as a potential alternative to the European Union, but few Commonwealth leaders think that is remotely[13] plausible. “It was never meant to be a substitute for Europe but an addition, ” says Lady Scotland. “It was never an either/or. ” Moreover, she stresses, the Commonwealth has no British prefix, despite the queen’s role, which her heir, Prince Charles, will inherit. Britain, at best, is primus inter pares[14].

(4) Indeed, one of the club’s selling points is that each member, even the Pacific island of Tuvalu (population: 11, 000), is supposed to have an equally loud voice at its biennial heads-of-government meetings. In particular, the Commonwealth gives a rare global voice to the 31 of its members who are deemed “small states” (defined as having fewer than 1. 5m people or “having the characteristics of a small state” which thus includes a few more, such as Jamaica, Namibia and Papua New Guinea). Hence it pays special attention to climate change, since half of its members are islands, many of them vulnerable to rising sea-levels and cyclones. Lady Scotland hails the club’s Blue Charter, which boosts co-operation on ocean issues.

(5) One big snag is that the Commonwealth has been in terrible need of cash. Seven years ago its budget, two-thirds of which was spent on a technical co-operation fund and a youth forum, was around £ 60m ($78m). When Lady Scotland arrived in 2016, it had shrunk to £ 42m; the cost of running its secretariat has been hard to meet. Canada, infuriated by the Commonwealth’s failure to speak up for human rights in Sri Lanka in 2013, cut much of its funding. Australia is less keen than it was. Britain, despite Brexit, has been unwilling to pick up the slack, though it is by far the biggest provider. Senior staff have been sacked, jobs cut and merged, many feathers ruffled. Lady Scotland has, in her words, been denigrated for shaking up the scenery too roughly.

(6) Another snag is that too many of the Commonwealth’s beefier members do not take it seriously as a political force in the world. India, in particular, which, enthusiasts for the club hoped, would lead it in global forums, has been notably disengaged, though there are flickering signs that its prime minister, Narendra Modi, may see the point of India taking an interest, even the lead. Some say it may consider taking those small states under its wing, especially in the Pacific, perhaps for fear that China will gobble them up commercially and even strategically if it does not.

(7) Whatever its lack in power as a global heavyweight, the Commonwealth, which encompasses a third of the world’s people, a quarter of the UN’s membership, a fifth of the world’s land mass and a third of its waters under national jurisdiction, is a valuable network. Most of its members speak the same language and follow similar legal systems. This helps members to trade at a discount, even without free-trade agreements. Yet India, whose economy is the club’s biggest after Britain’s, seems in no hurry to strike a special trade deal with the old country post-Brexit. Along with other Asian members and many African ones, it looks more to China for business.

(8) So the Commonwealth still faces an uphill struggle to recover its momentum. Ireland, which Commonwealth buffs[15] in Britain have often wanted to induct[16] into the club in order to help soften centuries of enmity towards its former ruler, recently chose instead to join the International Organisation of La Francophonie, albeit as an observer. That, say watchers in Whitehall, was a slap in the face of both Britain and the Commonwealth.

(9) By contrast, France makes no bones about being top dog in the Francophonie (2), as the outfit is generally known. Not to worry, says Lady Scotland. A number of non-Anglophones (Rwanda and Mozambique, for instance) have joined her club; French-speaking Togo has applied to do so. Gabon and Angola have put out feelers.

(10) In any event, even the small states may prefer to play big beasts off against each other rather than be locked into one club or another. Last year the long-serving foreign minister of Rwanda, which joined the Commonwealth in 2009, became the secretary-general of the Francophonie. In the age of globalisation the sensible aim is to belong to as many clubs as you can. That is scant comfort to Brexiteers wanting to re-embrace the Commonwealth.

/Adapted/