Nuclear Archives - Commonwealth Oral History Project

Interview with Abdul Minty

by nicholaszuniga | May 4, 2017 | Apartheid, Civil Society, Constitutional Change, Decolonisation, Democracy, Development, Diplomacy, Environment, European Economic Community, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Human Rights, NATO, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Nuclear, Race, South Africa, Trade and Investment, United Kingdom, United Nations

Download the transcript (12 Feb 2013) Biography – Abdul Minty. Born South Africa, 1939. Graduate University College London. Appointed the Honorary Secretary of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) 1962-1995. He played an important role in lobbying the...

Interview with David McDowell

by chrismoffat | Jul 31, 2015 | Australia, Bangladesh, Botswana, Canada, CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Diplomacy, Environment, Fiji, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nuclear, Pakistan, Queen, Reflections, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), Singapore, Small States, South Africa, Sport, Technical Assistance, Uganda, United Kingdom, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (24 June 2014); Part Two (2 July 2014); Appendix One (on Nelson Mandela); Appendix Two (on Idi Amin). Biography: McDowell, David Keith. 1937- . Born in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Educated at Victoria University of...

Interview with Sir Don McKinnon

by chrismoffat | Jun 9, 2015 | CHOGM, Commonwealth Secretariat, Decolonisation, India, Kenya, Maldives, New Zealand, Nigeria, Nuclear, Pakistan, Queen, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcripts: Part One (27th February 2013); Part Two (8th April 2014). Biography: McKinnon, Donald Charles. 1939- . Born in London, United Kingdom. Educated at Lincoln Agricultural College, New Zealand. Elected as Member of Parliament for Albany,...

Interview with Simon Murdoch

by rcraggs | May 22, 2015 | Apartheid, Australia, Canada, Commonwealth Secretariat, Diplomacy, European Economic Community, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, NATO, New Zealand, Nuclear, Papua New Guinea, Small States, Sport, United Kingdom

Download interview transcript. Biography: Murdoch, Simon. 1948- . Educated at the University of Canterbury. Joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New Zealand, 1972. Joined Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 1980, as Foreign Affairs Adviser to Robert...

Interview with RF ‘Pik’ Botha

by chrismoffat | Feb 16, 2015 | Angola, Apartheid, Botswana, CHOGM, Cold War, Commonwealth Secretariat, Democracy, Development, Diplomacy, Elections, Mozambique, Namibia, Nuclear, Race, Reflections, Rhodesia (see also Zimbabwe), South Africa, United Kingdom, United Nations, USA, Zimbabwe (see also Rhodesia)

Download Interview Transcript; Appendix One; Appendix Two. Biography: Botha, Roelof Frederik ‘Pik’. 1932- . Born in Rustenburg, Transvaal Province, Union of South Africa. Studied at the University of Pretoria before beginning a career in the South African foreign...

Interview with Sir Anand Satyanand

by chrismoffat | Jan 16, 2015 | Australia, CHOGM, Civil Society, Commonwealth Foundation, Democracy, Environment, European Economic Community, Fiji, India, Judiciary, Law, New Zealand, Nuclear, Papua New Guinea, Queen, Reflections, Small States, United Kingdom

Download Interview Transcript. Biography: Satyanand, Anand. 1944- . Born in Auckland, New Zealand. Graduated from the University of Auckland, 1970. Lawyer, 1970-1982. Judge in Auckland District Court, 1982-1994. Parliamentary Ombudsman, 1995-2005. 19th...

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Definitioner

Simon Murdoch

Simon Murdoch (b.1948) is a New Zealand-born diplomat and civil servant who served as Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1991 to 1998. He had previously been Foreign Affairs advisor to Robert Muldoon in the 1980s, and Head of the Prime Minister’s Policy Advisory Group, 1989-91.

Treaty of Rome

The Treaty of Rome is an international agreement signed in 1957 that led to the founding of the European Economic Community (EEC) the following year. The Treaty’s original signatories were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, though the body has grown and the terms of cooperation adapted through subsequent treaties in Maastricht (1993) and Lisbon (2009), establishing the present-day European Union.

Marlborough House

Marlborough House is a 17^th century mansion in the City of Westminster, central London, which has served as the headquarters of the Commonwealth Secretariat since 1953.

Rotary

Rotary International is an international service organisation that was established in Evanston, Illinois, in 1905. It is a secular organisation that aims to bring together business and professional leaders to support humanitarian services and charity initiatives.

John Key

John Key, b.1961, is the 38^th Prime Minister of New Zealand, having assumed office in 2008. He has led the New Zealand National Party since 2006.

Winston Peters

Winston Peters, b.1945, served as 13^th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand under Jim Bolger and Jenny Shipley’s administrations. He has also served as Treasurer, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Maori Affairs. In 1993 he established the New Zealand First political party, which he continues to lead.

Qarase (Laisenia Qarase)

Laisenia Qarase, b. 1941, served as Prime Minister of Fiji between 2001 and 2006. A polarising figure in Fijian political life, he was removed from power in the 2006 coup d’état.

Sir Michael Jeffery

Sir Michael Jeffery, b.1937, was the 24^th Governor-General of Australia. In this office from 2003-2008, he served under the administrations of John Howard and Kevin Rudd.

Statute of Westminster

The 1931 Statute of Westminster was an Act of British Parliament recognising the legislative independence of the self-governing Dominions of the British Empire. After it was passed, the British government could no longer make ordinary laws for its Dominions – Canada, the Irish Free State, the Union of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Newfoundland – other than at the Dominion’s request. Click here to view the original document in full.

Passchendaele

The Battle of Passchendaele or the Third Battle of Ypres was a notoriously high casualty confrontation between Allied and German troops in 1917, taking place near the Belgian-French border at the height of the First World War.

Waitangi Day

Waitangi Day is a public holiday in New Zealand, commemorating the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. This Treaty is seen as New Zealand’s founding document, making the island part of the British Empire and guaranteeing Maori rights to their land as British subjects.

Dame Silvia Cartwright

Dame Silvia Cartwright, b.1943, was the 18^th Governor-General of New Zealand. In this office from 2001-2006, she served under the Helen Clark government and was succeeded by Sir Anand Satyanand.

Sir Michael Hardie-Boys

Sir Michael Hardie-Boys, b.1931, was the 17^th Governor-General of New Zealand. In this office from 1996-2001, he served under the Jim Bolger, Jenny Shipley and Helen Clark governments.

Sir David Beattie

Sir David Beattie (1924-2001) was the 14^th Governor-General of New Zealand. In this office from 1980 to 1985, he served under the Robert Muldoon and David Lange governments.

Helen Clark

Helen Clark, b.1937, was the 37^th Prime Minister of New Zealand (1999-2008) and in 2009 succeeded Kemal Dervis as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme.

Pasifika

Pasifika is a term used to describe the Pacific Island areas of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The area is distinct from the title Oceania, which includes the above along with Australasia and the Malay Archipelago.

FRG

The Federal Republic of Germany (1949-1990) was the name for the NATO-aligned West Germany during the period of the Cold War. The Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany was known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

CND

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) was formed in Britain in 1957 and advocates the global abolition of nuclear weapons and tighter international regulations around the arms trade. It is one of the foremost pacifist movements in Europe.

Gerald Hensley

Gerald Hensley, b.1935. Former New Zealand diplomat who served as Special Assistant to the Commonwealth Secretary General when the Secretariat was established in 1965. He later served various positions under the Robert Muldoon and David Lange governments in New Zealand, including Secretary of Defense. In 2000, Hensley chaired the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group in its work in Papua New Guinea.

Jerry Falwell

Reverend Jerry Falwell (1933-1997) was a prominent American evangelical pastor and political commentator. His staunchly conservative views on society, religion and the family established him as a polarising figure in American public life.

London Declaration

The London Declaration was a declaration on India’s continued membership in the Commonwealth of Nations following its transition to a republican constitution, issued at the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference. It is generally seen to mark the beginning of the ‘modern’ Commonwealth, accepting that countries which are not dominions are eligible to join. Click here to read the Declaration.

Neroni Slade

Tuiloma Neroni Slade, b.1941. Attorney General of Samoa from 1976-1982, Slade later became Assistant Director of the Legal Office for the Commonwealth Secretariat. Entering Samoa’s diplomatic service in 1993, he would serve as Ambassador to Canada and the United States, as well as judge of the International Criminal Court. From 2008-2014, Slade acted as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Victor Ayeni

Dr Victor Ayeni served the Commonwealth Secretariat as Director of Governance and Institutional Development at Marlborough House, London. Ayeni has also advised President Olusegun Obasanjo on public sector reform in Nigeria, and in 2007 founded a training and consultancy firm advising on governance issues in developing countries.

Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association

Founded in 1970, the Commonwealth Magistrates and Judges Association acts as a network for judicial officers in the Commonwealth. The work of its Secretary General, Executive Committee and General Assembly is directed to promoting the independence of the judiciary and advancing education in law, justice and the prevention of crime.

Pacific Islands Forum

The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organization. Founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum, it aims to enhance cooperation between the countries of the Pacific Ocean.

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan (b. 1938). Ghanaian diplomat. He was Secretary-General of the United Nations 1997-2006.

Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown (b. 1951). British politician. He was Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, 2007-10 and Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1997-2007.

APEC

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was established in 1989 and is a forum seeking to promote free trade and economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region.

ANZAC

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps.

Jeremy Pope

Jeremy Pope (1938-2012). New Zealand-born activist. In 1980 he was appointed director of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division. In 1993 he co-founded the anti-corruption organisation Transparency International.

United Nations. Major international organisation, founded in 1945.

Kamalesh Sharma

Kamalesh Sharma (b. 1941). Indian diplomat, Commonwealth Secretary-General from 2008-2016.

Elizabeth II

Elizabeth II (b. 1926). Head of State of the United Kingdom and 15 other countries, and Head of the Commonwealth (from 1952).

Old Commonwealth

An informal term describing the countries of the pre-1945 Commonwealth: Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Robert Muldoon

Sir Robert Muldoon (1921-1992). New Zealand politician and member of the National party. He was Prime Minister, 1975-84.

Don McKinnon

Sir Donald McKinnon (b. 1939) is a New Zealand politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister for the National Party (1990-96), Foreign Minister (1990-99) and Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations (2000-08).

David Lange

David Lange (1942-2005). New Zealand politician and member of the Labour Party. He was Prime Minister of New Zealand, 1984-89.

Dominions

States that were under British sovereignty, but which became increasingly autonomous, especially from the 1930s, and are now independent nations. Former dominions include Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

Commonwealth Secretariat

The Commonwealth Secretariat is the principal inter-governmental body of the Commonwealth, responsible for promoting cooperation between members. Founded in 1965.

Commonwealth Foundation

The Commonwealth Foundation is a Commonwealth organisation founded in 1965 to promote the growth of professional organisations and exchange of skills, and now pursuing a broader developmental agenda.

CFTC (Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation)

The Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) is an organisation administered by the Commonwealth Secretariat that delivers technical assistance to Commonwealth member countries. A mutual and voluntary fund, it was established in 1971.

CHOGM

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Every two years Commonwealth heads of government meet to discuss global and Commonwealth issues, with the aim of promoting common initiatives.

British Commonwealth

The term used to describe the Commonwealth until 1949, reflecting British pre-eminence within it.

Bainimarama (Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama)

Josaia Voreqe 'Frank' Bainimarama (b. 1954). Fijian naval officer and politician, Prime Minister of Fiji since 2007.

ASEAN

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Formed in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is a political and economic organization of Southeast Asian countries.

ANZAC Day

25th April. A day of remembrance held in Australia and New Zealand.

Mrs Thatcher (Margaret Thatcher)

Margaret Thatcher (1926-2013). British politician and Prime Minister (1979-1990).

Interview with Abdul Minty

Interview with David McDowell

Interview with Sir Don McKinnon

Interview with Simon Murdoch

Interview with RF ‘Pik’ Botha

Interview with Sir Anand Satyanand

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