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From: jimr@hcrvx2.UUCP (Jim Robinson)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: The Commonwealth
Message-ID: <2356@hcrvx2.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Jul-86 18:50:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: hcrvx2.2356
Posted: Wed Jul 23 18:50:52 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 24-Jul-86 07:40:56 EDT
References: <8091@watrose.UUCP> <2354@hcrvx2.UUCP> <321@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: jimr@hcrvx2.UUCP (Jim Robinson)
Distribution: can
Organization: Human Computing Resources, Toronto
Lines: 42
Summary: 

In article <321@ubc-cs.UUCP> andrews@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jamie Andrews) writes:
>In article <2354@hcrvx2.UUCP> jimr@hcrvx2.UUCP (Jim Robinson) writes:
>>                                 ... Personally, I wouldn't mind her
>>   (the queen's) position if she would show a bit of consistency and
>>   call for sanctions against *any* Commonwealth country that has not
>>   enfranchised its citizenry. 
>
>     Um, JBR, would you mind telling us what other Commonwealth countries
>you have in mind, or are you referring to those countries which just don't
>have an entirely Canadian- or British-style democracy?

I am referring to any country, Commonwealth or not, that has not 
enfranchised its citizens. An example is Tanzania, which is, I believe
a member of the Commonwealth. This country is one of those wonderful
one party socialist states that dot the African continent. When the
former leader stepped down a while back his hand picked successor ran
in an election. The only problem was that he was the only contender.
Doesn't seem like a reasonable way to run a democracy to me, yet, this
same country will criticize South Africa every chance it gets for
doing almost the same thing that it does - refusing to grant majority
rule.

My own personal belief is that the right of a people to boot out of
office those who are leading them is just an important a right as
the right to not be hungry, the right to education, and the right to
medical treatment. Would China have had its Cultural Revolution
if its leaders could have been shown the door? Would Stalin have
been able to kill 20 million peasants if a true democracy had
existed in Russia? Perhaps, but in a democratic and free society 
countervailing forces are at work which usually tend to mitigate the
maximum damage a government can do its people.

Thus I find it somewhat hypocritical that the Queen can quite merrily 
preside over an organization that includes dictators and the 
odd butcher without feeling the need to say so much as boo, yet
when it comes to South Africa she suddenly takes a hard line.
The impression I get is that the only thing that is important to her
is that there remain a Commonwealth for her to head; and if it so
happens that some of its members are a bit, shall we say, unsavoury,
well so be it.

J.B. Robinson