The tradition of ANZAC has done nothing to make Australian cautious, reflective and wise in sending troops to war, argues Binoy Kampmark.
ANZAC day
ANZAC Day has become a parade for amnesia rather than reckoning, a ritual that rejects peace makers and conciliators in favour of the war mongers and undertakers, argues聽Binoy Kampmark.
Australia鈥檚 capitalists were quick to see the tremendous marketing potential of Anzac Day by aligning their consumer brand with the officially revered military brand of Anzac. As early as 1916, the 鈥渃ommercial appeal鈥 of the word 鈥淎nzac鈥 was being used to flog various foodstuffs, beverages, soaps, toys, all sorts of apparel, Rexona healing ointment (tested in the trenches!), watches, matches, jewellery, caf茅s and restaurants.
On a cold, wet November morning in the village of Rocles in central France, I attended a World War I centenary event unlike any I had seen before.
In the town square there is a small war memorial with a marble plaque listing the district's fallen sons, much as you find in every locality across France and Australia.
However, on closer examination, this one is a bit different. Instead of "Vive la France", it has palm leaves engraved in the stone, slogans calling for peace and acknowledges all the victims of war. How could this be?
I鈥檝e often heard it asked, 鈥淚s Australia a racist country?鈥 only for the question to be railroaded by a series of semantics: 鈥淲hat does that even mean?鈥; 鈥淗ow can a country have a collective mindset?鈥; and 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 confer a universal attitude onto a population of 24 million, surely?鈥
Politicians and commentators tell us there are such things as Australian values. The same quibbling arguments about whether Australia is collectively racist apply to so-called national values.
An irony of the sacking of SBS sports journalist Scott McIntyre for a series of tweets he made on Anzac Day is that the hysterical reaction from politicians and the media, and the consequences he has faced, has only served to prove his initial point.
Anzac Day is not about remembering history. To remember what actually happened at Gallipoli 100 years ago, and in Australia鈥檚 involvement in wars more generally, is not permissible. Whatever the Anzacs fought and died for, it was not free speech.
Lines of grey muttering faces, masked with fear,
They leave their trenches, going over the top,
While time ticks blank and busy on their wrists,
And hope, with furtive eyes and grasping fists,
Flounders in mud. O Jesus, make it stop!
鈥 Siegfried Sassoon.
Implausible as it might seem, it was the violent protest of a group of Bosnian high school students that sparked World War I.
鈥淧atriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.鈥 Samuel Johnson鈥檚 aphorism is well known. But what does patriotism actually mean? Is it simply a matter of liking the sunshine, the gum trees, the beaches and a certain lifestyle? Is it about being overcome with emotion when we see the Australian flag or the Anzac Day dawn service?
REAL LOVE OF COUNTRY
The movers and shakers and heavy hitters in our society 鈥 politicians, business moguls, journalists in the corporate media, and so on 鈥 are all patriotic. But we should be very cynical about this.
What鈥檚 Wrong With Anzac? The Militarisation of Australian History
By Marilyn Lake & Henry Reynolds
UNSW Press, 2010, 183 pages, $29.95 (pb)
On April 25 in Australia, it is humanly impossible to escape the slouch hats, the Dawn Service, the Last Post, the khaki uniforms and the military ceremonies endlessly recycled in the establishment media. The cult of Anzac Day is pervasive, the culture of war unavoidable.
The campaign to end Australia鈥檚 involvement in the unjust war in Afghanistan has picked up momentum in the last few months in Melbourne.
In December, a number of peace activists decided to organise regular anti-war activities, to tell people the truth about the foreign occupation force and call for Australian troops to be withdrawn.
Since then, three vigils have been held across Melbourne. Activists handed out hundreds of leaflets called 鈥淓ight reasons to get out of Afghanistan鈥.