Word: commonwealth
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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More black than white, more poor than rich, the Commonwealth so far has been able to bear apartheid, Kashmir, trade wars, internal snobbery and even Suez, when Britain joined with France and Israel in the 1956 attack on Egypt. India violently opposed the invasion, and Canada, noted a British newsman, felt as though it had found a "beloved uncle arrested for rape." In this crisis Canada put preservation of the Commonwealth above affection for the mother country, and at the United Nations joined the U.S. in pressing for a ceasefire. With Australia and New Zealand backing Britain, Canada...
...picture -an African like themselves-and they will say, 'Aiee, look, here is my leader on the stamps. We are truly a free people!'" Other African leaders have given fair warning that, "if it is ever a choice between loyalty to Africa and loyalty to the Commonwealth, then Africa will...
...Glue. Disparities do not split the Commonwealth for the simple reason that greater likenesses hold it together. The most important are British law and the British parliamentary tradition. From Barbados to Tasmania to Quebec City, courts generally work well, and black-robed Speakers of the House keep lawmaking orderly and pondered. Other ingredients in the Commonwealth glue...
...enough to realize that the world outside was cold and forbidding, too gale-swept by war and ideology for them to stand alone. By linking up with Great Britain, the newcomers could make their piping voices heard in the councils of the world. They are further drawn to the Commonwealth because "we don't want to shake off British imperialism merely to replace it with Russian or Chinese...
...TRADE. Commonwealth membership is a good way to hold on to markets already achieved. Loans are easier to get in prosperous Britain (see BUSINESS) than in New York, for British bankers are familiar with the problems of such places as Accra and Lagos and Colombo. Tariff preferences and unity in the sterling bloc is another bond (but Canada is a dollar area); India, Pakistan, Malaya and Ghana all keep their balances in London vaults...