Quotation Station ; Jane Addams on Patriotism

Unless our conception of patriotism is progressive, it cannot hope to embody the real affection and the real interest of the nation.

Jane Addams

When I selected a group of quotes for future use, I had no particular thought of using them in a topical way at all, and it is purely co-incidence that this one was next on the list so quickly after H M The Queen`s Diamond Jubilee.

By the same token, I had no intention of adding any comment of my own, but planned to let them stand alone for others to interpret as they see fit.

On this one occasion, I`m going to make an exception to that rule. It`s no secret that the Queen wanted the recent jubilee to be used to promote the Commonwealth (The Commonwealth of Nations), of which she is the Head.

Slightly belatedly,  I`m going to make my own contribution to that by highlighting the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

As the name implies, the CWGC commemorates the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who fell during the two world wars.

I think it`s perfectly proper that they should be commemorated, but the point I`d like to make is that, certainly for World War Two, there was no conscription in the Commonwealth, all the Commonwealth forces were volunteers. 

Anyway, I like to keep these things short so without more ado, I shall just point out that the CWGC can be found at ;

www.cwgc.org

Footnote

I have previously posted items concerned with the Commonwealth both on this blog and at the Webdub blog. As it`s turned out, the ones posted on this blog have not been widely read whereas the others have done OK, so in future I`ll be confining any Commonwealth material to the other blog, which can be found at http://webdub.blogspot.com .



  

The People`s Pledge

The People`s Pledge is a cross-party campaign for a referendum on membership of the European Union.


It takes no position on the kind of outcome it would like to see from such a referendum, but simply believes that this kind of decision needs to be made by "the people, not the politicians".


When I last checked, 65 MPs had signed up to the pledge, including Mike Hancock (Lib Dem), Natascha Engel (Labour), Nigel Mills (Conservative), Caroline Lucas (Green) and  Sammy Wilson (DUP).

Just for good measure, the campaign`s Advisory Council also includes representatives of The Liberal Party and the Scots Nats.

The Pledge campaign is neither Europhile or Eurosceptic.  Labour`s Keith Vaz has made it clear he would campaign for a `yes` vote, whereas Conservative  Andrew `Potato Man` Bridgen  opposes further Europen integration and was involved in a campaign against the euro even before he became an MP. Nevertheless, both have signed up to this campaign.

One of the more telling points the People`s Pledge team make is that no-one under 55 has had any chance to express their view over Europe. I personally would add that with both the two main parties containing both pro- and anti- wings, there is simply no dependable way to know how those party`s voters feel on the subject.

More information on the People`s Pledge can be found at www.peoplespledge.org .

More From the Commonwealth

We looked briefly at the Commonwealth last month (Celebrating the Commonwealth, 15 March 2012).

The current issue of Global magazine features an interview with Lord David Howell, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in which he put forward his views on the way forward for the Commonwealth.

 Necessarily, the views  he expresses are likely to be indicative of the current government`s position.

All I would want to say on that issue is that this blog doesn`t go in for party politics, except in the sense that I tend to prioritise campaigns and other initiatives that have cross-party support. 

Other than that, the interview can be found at www.global-briefing.org .

Celebrating the Commonwealth 2012

I`ve left it a little late to acknoweldge Commonwealth Day (12 March 2012) and the subsequent  Commonwealth Week events.

Undeterred, earlier today I posted a brief background etc under the heading `Celebrating the Commonwealth 2012` at http://webdub.blogspot.com .

However, if you can`t be bothered with me waffling on, you could skip that and try visiting these sites ;

http://commonwealthfriends.org

http://commonwealthfoundation.com

http://youngcommonwealth.org

I would not advocate uncritical support for every part of the Commonwealth. Apart from anything else, my experience of another, quite separate, organisation has made me think that too much uncritical support can be a poisoned chalice, leading to complacency and insularity. I do think the Commonwealth has a lot of potential, even if in places that potential is only imperfectly realised. But that`s another issue !