The Commonwealth is a good not just a games

The Right hate the Left pointing out the achievements that we have brought to any moment of national unity.  Just remember Tory MP Aiden Burley’s horror at a telling of our national story at an Olympic opening ceremony that was warm, inclusive and celebrated both our capitalistic and socialistic achievements.

The Commonwealth games organisers had an incredibly difficult balance to strike last night, finding the political balance between being proud of Scotland without that pride seeming to make a statement one way or another about Scottish independence. I think they did a really beautiful job.

But the reality is we are all thinking beyond our nation. Whether we are worried about the victims of rocket attacks on Israel or the incursion into Gaza (or like most of of us both of them), the victims of the MH17 disaster or the continuously worrying takeover of Iraq by ISIS, what we are worried about are our fellow human beings. What we refuse to accept in our concern about others is any sense that our fellowship stops at any natural or unnaturally enforced border.

So maybe we can all take this moment to remember that there is so much more that unites us than that which divides us. The definition of a commonwealth (according to Wikipedia), a commonwealth is “a political community founded for the common good”.

Some leftists hate the idea of the commonwealth games – being as our current commonwealth is a union built on England’s colonial past. I understand that because I share their horror of what has been done in the past in the name of this unity. Equally, I find the celebration of our unelected Queen as head of our commonwealth abhorrent to my delight in our democracy.

But personally I refuse to allow a horror at Colonial sins of my past stop me celebrating the commonwealth of our present and the better times of our future.

I am an incredibly proud Londoner. When asked it is my first personal identifier. Before British, Before English, Before European. But being a proud Londoner doesn’t stop me being any of those other things. Being a Londoner doesn’t mean I don’t desperately want the UK to stay together. But what I loved about London 2012 was how much it celebrated all of the UK and all of the world.

And last night at the beautiful opening of the Commonwealth Games, I felt a sense of national pride. One I’m going to fight hard to let anyone take away from me. Scotland is part of my commonwealth.

But we can’t let our commonwealth begin or end at our formal borders or those we currently fight over wherever we are in the world. When we start to think of border, we stop thinking of people.In these dark, dark times, we all owe each other our sense of socialism. We all need to think about what we do beyond our official borders for those who find themselves less fortunate than we are.

That cannot and should not mean giving up our values. If we believe all people, no matter their gender, race, sexuality, disability or religion have rights under our society, we believe those are universal rights. That means a consistent challenging of our partners in trade, or partners in territory and our partners in defence. Our partners in belief and our partners in history.

Of others we need to be able to say that they don’t have to believe what we believe – but they have to allow the freedom to believe what we do and what we don’t. How can we be a genuine “commonwealth” with those who don’t?

True of those who declare themselves democracies and fall so short and of those who never do.

And as Socialists, we need to really think about that word.

Common. Wealth.

A shared wealth.

That surly is an idea to champion above all. Maybe we can – for once – use the joy and emotional openness that these kind of sporting events to be celebratory of our internationalism while also questioning what we can do as internationalist to make sure all countries are living up to the best of our values.  To challenge where our wealth falls and whether that is common. To ask the same of others.

At the very least, we can all – those of us who can afford to – should donate to the UNICEF appeal running alongside these games in an affirmation of the global vale of “from each according to their ability to each according to their need”.

Emma Burnell is Contributing Editor of LabourList