En Passant

Lest we forget. It is the defining phrase of ANZAC Day. And yet the Day itself is about forgetting. It really should be lest we remember because ANZAC Day is about denying history.

This is from the Sovereign Union Facebook page WE WON’T LET YOU FORGET Over 500 nations of peoples were slaughtered or displaced using savage weaponry, poisons, germ warfare and filthy trickery, in the bloodbaths that continued for over 150 years by the greedy invading savages. The frontier wars were carried out in such inhuman ways […]

100 years of war, 100 years of resistance: Gallipoli and the Anzac myth – a one-day conference on 9 May at the University of Technology Sydney organised by Solidarity

Historically speaking then, McIntyre is not all that far off the mark, but he has been sacrificed on the altar of populist outrage. The response to McIntyre’s tweets is a demonstration that the popular perception of Anzac is completely out of step with the historical reality – but his remarks are also timely. We should not forget that war is never a one-sided affair in which our boys are squeaky-clean heroes and their boys murdering, raping villains.

We couldn’t have Aboriginal people pointing out the truth about the Frontier Wars from 1778 to 1920 in which tens of thousands of Aboriginal warriors fell defending their land against the invaders could we? That would expose the reality of the essentially white character of the celebration of ANZAC Day and its reinforcement of white Australia. Stopping Aboriginal people marching in memory of their brothers and sisters who were killed during the Frontier Wars exposes that white Australia reality too.

As Tony Abbott prepares to spend $12 billion on useless fighter jets and up to $30 billion on submarines while at the same time he attacks Medicare, Universities, jobs, wages, unions, pensions, disability pensions, legal aid, Aboriginal communities, scientific research, and spending on social services, remember this. We are not all in this together. ANZAC Day is cover for these attacks on the poor and workers. It celebrates an imperialist war to divert attention away from the one sided class war the rich have waged against us for the last 32 years and to prepare us for future wars and justify our ruling class’s imperialist expansion in the region. The less bread we get the more circuses they put on.

The Gallipoli campaign was not about democracy, but defending the profits and colonies of the British empire, one of the most brutal the world has seen, writes James Supple in Solidarity magazine

It is so good to see that, rather than fresh food, ANZAC Day is reserved for traditional things like getting pissed on VB, with all those Carlton & United Breweries ads to remind us of the link between grog and killing Johnny Turks for King and Empire, Thus does Anzac Day fall prey to the vultures of capitalism. What irony that ANZAC Day itself remembers an imperialist war in which workers from all sides sacrificed themselves for the very people today unleashing the profanities of Woolworths and CUB against the supposed ideals (but not the reality) of the day. There is a logic that is unrelenting to this marketisation of one of Australian capitalism’s holiest days.

ANZAC Day, the supposed symbol and celebration of the ‘nation’ denies this most obvious truth – Australian society was founded on the genocide of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and that genocide continues today. Let’s unite and fight to stop the brutal war against Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders now.

As Tony Abbott spends $12 billion on fighter jets and cuts pensions, disability pensions, legal aid, scientific research, public service jobs, wages, spending on social services and attacks unions, remember this. We are not all in this together. ANZAC Day is cover for these attacks on poor and workers. It celebrates imperialist wars to prepare us for future wars and to justify our ruling class’s imperialist expansion in the region.