Queen calls for unity

Queen calls for unity
By Joseph Mwenda
Wednesday March 14, 2007 [02:00]

QUEEN Elizabeth II has said that it is more important than ever to keep respecting and understanding each other better in today's difficult and sometimes divided world. And Speaker of the National Assembly Amusaa Mwanamwambwa has urged youths to accept one another's intellectual, physical, economic and cultural backgrounds. In her message to mark the Commonwealth Day which fell on March 12, Queen Elizabeth, who is head of the Commonwealth, said everyone had hopes, needs and priorities.

"Each one of us is an individual with ties of emotion and bonds of obligation to culture, religion, community and beyond. In short, each of us is special," she said. "The more we see others in this way, the more we can understand them and their points of view. In what we think and say and do, let us as individuals actively seek out the views of others: let us make the best use of what our beliefs and history teach us: let us have open minds and hearts; and let us, like commonwealth find our diversity as cause for celebration and source of strength and unity." Queen Elizabeth said the Commonwealth, which was home to nearly a third of the world's population, was a thriving community, which valued its past and made most of its future.

She said the Commonwealth's almost two billion citizens came from many faiths, races, cultures and traditions. "I think that one of the reasons for the success of this organisation is that it draws not only on certain shared values, but also from the principles and practices of everyday life, which can be observed day after day in the cities, towns and villages of our 53 member countries," she said. "By respecting difference and promoting understanding, the future will be a better one for us all." Queen Elizabeth noted that over a thousand years, the very basis of community life had been the pooling together by individuals of their resources and skills.

She said the lesson of community life was that to flourish, people must help each other. "To do this there must be a sense of fairness, a real understanding of others' needs and aspirations and a willingness to contribute," Queen Elizabeth said. She said despite its size and scale, the Commonwealth to her was still a collection of villages, in close-knit communities and that helping each other would lead to greater security and prosperity for all. Commerce deputy minister Dora Siliya read Queen Elizabeth's speech during commemorations of the Commonwealth Day at Parliament buildings on Monday. The Commonwealth Day is commemorated annually on the second Monday of March and this year's theme was "Respecting differences promoting understanding".

And addressing 18 youth representatives from the nine provinces of Zambia, Speaker Mwanamwambwa said respecting each other's differences was a major factor that united Zambians. Speaker Mwanamwambwa, who is also Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Zambia president, urged youths to accept one another's diverse intellectual, physical, economic and cultural background bearing in mind that such were factors that unite the country. "The acceptance of this principle will enable the youths of Zambia to find solutions to perceived problems of discrimination, marginalisation, exclusion, poverty, political differences and inequality and injustice," Speaker Mwanamwambwa said.

He emphasised the need for youths to take up a leading role in engaging individuals, civic organisations and government in resolving conflicts, and building harmonious communities. "Although the Commonwealth grew out of the British imperial past, today's Commonwealth helps to advance justice, democracy, human rights, and sustainable economic and social development in an integrated way," he said. Speaker Mwanamwambwa further applauded the organisation for having become a lively and growing association of states, sensitive to the modern world, yet mindful of its historical ties.