The Commonwealth is no anachronism

 

Anachronistic Avant-Garde

Vincent J. Curtis

6 July 22

RE: Commonwealth is an anachronism.  Opinion piece by Martin Regg Cohn.  Published inexplicably in the Hamilton Spectator 6 July 22.

It’s amazing how quickly the avant-garde can fall behind the times.  Martin Regg Cohn would regard himself as on the leading edge of forward thinking.  He’s one of those people who would abolish the monarchy in Canada, but not admit that he’s calling for Canada to become a republic, like the United States or France or Germany.

The Commonwealth is anachronistic only if those British ideals of rule of law and tolerance are anachronistic.  Cohn completely misunderstands the significance of Rwanda’s membership in the Commonwealth.

Rwanda was a Belgian colony.  The official language was French.  Then came the genocide.  Rwandans who, it must astonish Cohn to learn, are intelligent human beings, determined among themselves that they needed a whole new model of society and government.  They chose the British model because of its hard-won tradition of tolerance and dedication to the rule of law.  Most surprisingly everybody learned English.  Then, Rwanda applied for membership in the Commonwealth.  Cohn would destroy what inspired post-genocide Rwanda.

In his “Iron-curtain” speech, Churchill declared that, besides the UN, the world needed associations of nations “which harboured no design incompatible with the Charter of the United Nations, far from being harmful, are beneficial, and, as I believe, indispensable. I spoke earlier of the Temple of Peace.  Workmen from all countries must build that temple….”

The Commonwealth is an association of nations dedicated to the cause of good government, mutual benefit, and domestic peace.

Like many self-appointed forward thinkers, Cohn would destroy what he doesn’t understand.  The Rwandans understand.

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Martin Regg Cohn is an anachronism of the Toronto Star.