A few rambling points in my tired state…
I suppose today’s morning action could be considered generally successful: the issue of the New Zealand military’s role in Afghanistan, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste has finally been raised, and even Phil Goff was forced to acknowledge (and rebuke) the protests from as far away as Afghanistan while visiting the professional thugs there (aka the military). As well, of course, a number of people have reacted very angrily to the burning of the New Zealand flags (which I must admit was quite satisfying) and the protest in general.
The ANZAC day dawn ceremony here was quite sickening: the previous Secretary of Defence talked about peace and such with no apparent irony given his previous role as head of a professional killing machine. After two of our crew were arrested for the political protest, he then — also seemingly without noticing the contradictions — waxed lyrically about the freedoms won through war. Then to top it off, references to our Lord Jesus Christ were aplenty, I had to stand amongst a crowd singing the National Anthem to avoid being grabbed by the cops, and people actually clapped as the members of the current army/navy/airforce marched by.
I’ve covered my objections to ANZAC Day already. I only want to add that the level of nationalism and patriotism present was far worse than I had expected, and the demographics of those present – young, families, clean, white and middle class – coupled with the huge growth in numbers from last year alone makes the ANZAC day trends all the more worrying.
I also have to wonder about what I would call the “fascist personality” that was present in a number of middle aged men present, who gleefully assisted police in pinning down fellow protesters or, in one case, pinning one guy to an iron fence. After one of the cops hit the guy who was arrested in the face, one of these fascist personality types, with the intonation of a school kid sucking up to a teacher, explained to all and sundry that nothing had happened. It’s this personality that reminds me of the Brown Shirts of Germany.
The response to the protest has been quite rambling and incoherent. I can only laugh when people claim that we don’t appreciate the “hard won freedoms” that these soldiers killed for in WWI. Do they even know why WWI started? Do they know that it was little more than empire building? Do they know that NZ entered the war with the main aim of simply securing the NZ State’s primary export market at the time, Britain?
(John Minto wrote a good column in The Press regarding ANZAC day and New Zealand’s highly militaristic past, despite national myths otherwise: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/4035148a16155.html)
In any case, this is just the start of the NZTroopsOutNow.org campaign (visit the website – I’ve almost finished it!).
14 Comments
Oh wow. I just don’t know where to begin. As you have generalised the makeup of the crowd at the Dawn Ceremony, and I was part of that crowd, maybe I’ll tell you a little bit about myself – and why I was there.
I’m a peace protestor from way back – a greenie, a lefty since forever. I’m originally from England, and I would never have gone to a remembrance ceremony there, because in my opinion their ceremonies were all about the glorification of war. Rah! Rah! We won the war! It made me sick.
I’ve lived in New Zealand for 14 years. In my experience, New Zealand’s attitude towards war and remembrance is very different from that demonstrated in the UK when I lived there. Here it feels far more about a deep sadness at the futility of war, a longing for peace, and a sense of grief and regret that so many Kiwi boys went off across the ocean to fight a war that they felt duty-bound to fight in – and never came home.
I went to the Dawn Ceremony today as a pacifist. As someone who is fundamentally opposed to the War on Iraq. As someone who is fundamentally opposed to war of any kind. But also as someone who recognises the enormous sacrifice made by so many young men and women and their families – on all sides, both the military and the innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. Then and now.
There are so many things in our world that are fucked up – you and I both know that – but today is still a day of remembrance. A day of quiet contemplation and of grief at the futility and horror of war. Of a respectful silence at the memory of thousands of boys and men who fought a war nearly 100 years ago because it was what they felt they should do, what they had been taught to do, what they were expected to do, what they believed was right.
They were the boys and men of their generation, shaped and moulded by the beliefs of their time. Used as cannon fodder by the generals and the politicians, sacrificed for a war that was never about them. I believe they deserve my respect and my expression of sorrow that they fought and died in such terrible and inhuman circumstances.
I’m deeply saddened that you and I, who in many ways are on the same side, feel so differently about Anzac Day, and about what it means. I’m deeply saddened that you felt you could achieve any of your aims by disturbing the quiet and peaceful contemplation of this morning’s ceremony. So disrespectful, and so pointless. We’re on the same side, dude, and I think you did quite the wrong thing this morning.
Protest all you like – a lot of the time I’ll agree with you, and maybe march along side you. But pick your moments. You do yourself and your cause no favours by alienating those who could be your friends.
It’s remarkable how the likes of webweaver make the feelings of Anzac veterans the touchstone for their evaluation of the tactics used by protesters on Anzac day. It’s true that there is no point at all in demonising men who were the cannonfodder of war, and it’s true that there’s no point at all in upsetting anyone for the sake of upsetting them. But, really, is the fact that someone is upset an automatic reason not to do something?
It’s notable that right-on ‘greenie liberal’ types of the sort that webweaver identifies with seem to care so much more about the hurt feelings of a few elderly Kiwi blokes than they do about deaths of Afghans and East Timorese. I don’t recall webweaver popping up to lament the murder of two Timorese youths by Anzacs on February the 23rd, or the killing of five anti-imperialists by Anzacs on April the 4th in the mountains outside Dili, for instance. What if the demonstrations of Anzac day 2007 help, in some small way, to put the complicity of New Zealanders in the imperialist occupations of Afghanistan, East Timor, and the Solomons on the political map? For thousands of Kiwis, yesterday will have been the first time they were even aware that East Timor and the Solomons were under Anzac occupation. If upsetting a few vets is the price of doing that, then it’s a price worth paying.
Of course webweaver might argue that upsetting people is not the best route to convincing them, but any campaign to draw attention to a previously unmentionable subject is liable to cause upset, for a time at least. The first anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in the US and in NZ were tiny, and suffered physical attacks from the public. People don’t like being told unpleasant things about what their governments are doing in obscure foreign countries.
Webweaver – you’ve encapsulated my feelings entirely. Perhaps its all about the perspective of years on this planet, – but to me the ANZAC commemorations are an annual grieving for the poor sods who lost their lives (whether they came back breathing or not).
Anarchafairy – you said “Do they even know why WWI started? Do they know that it was little more than empire building? Do they know that NZ entered the war with the main aim of simply securing the NZ State’s primary export market at the time, Britain?”. I don’t dispute this,- but that, to me, is not the point of the day,- or why so many attend.
I realise you have the right to your thoughts and to public protest,- but I cannot support you in this and have said my quiet apologies to those I believe you have shamed. This will be one discussion we will never revisit.
This whole ANZAC day protest has really hit home for me how disconnected from reality most NZ activists are. The vast majority of people who go to Anzac day services are there because they think war is fucking stupid. Numbers are up because more young people are seeing the horrors of war today in Iraq. Instead of explaining to these people about present situations in the world you make complete dicks of yourselves. Like you always do. Is it any wonder there is no mass movement? You people amaze me with your complete lack of strategy and tactics. I used to call myself an anarchist but am increasingly ashamed to do so cos it just connotes juvenile stunts like this.
Whatever rhetoric there may be about how tragic and wasteful war is, ANZAC Day celebrates military service and treats war participants as heroes irrespective of whether or not they were fighting for a good cause. This show of respect for the blind following of orders should be far more disturbing than burning a piece of cloth at an insensitive moment. Everyone forgets the real reasons New Zealanders died at Gallipoli, or at least fails to learn from it. Endless repetitions of “lest we forget”, while we continue with the same participation in immoral wars we always have, currently the “war on terror”. Very few military actions have anything to do with the “protecting our freedom” that so many objectors to the protest go on about.
How many wellington anarchists does it take to put in a light bulb? Answer:4
One to put in the bulb, one to collect the weekly dole money,the third to roll the joint and the fourth to plan a pointless protest that only their scenester friends will show up to while alienating thousands of people.
Q. How many lame wordpress comments does it take to put me to sleep?
A. One – see above.
What a load of bollacks. Anzac Day is a festival of the right. My old man fought in “the war” at El Alamein and Cascino and never came back till 47 because they thought they were going to invade Russia. He was on the anti tank guns and had a lot of respect for German engineering he was a motor mechanic. As far as he was concerned it was NZ @ co. The kiwis were a bunch of thieves many did well out of the war and did’nt bother drawing their army pay.
When he came back he was called up onto the stage at a welcome by the RSA and given a pat on the back and a packet of fags. He was discusted and never joined the RSA. When he died the old chuck joined him up a week before he died in a vain attempt to get them to pay for the funeral all she got out of them was a pair of shoes for my brother. And one last comment concerning Charles Upham. As far as he was concerned he “Was a bloddy murderer”.
I object to protesting at a memorial service in the same way I would object to a protest at a funeral. It’s disrespectful.
ANZAC Day is a day to remember those who fought and those who died, both civilian and military. Soldiers were usually working class and conscripted. They often didn’t have a choice whether to go to war or not (unless it was imprisonment or becoming a social pariah). It’s not just about remembering military dead, but the terrible civilian losses in two world wars and beyond as well. It is important for younger generations to remember things such as Auschwitz, the Katyn massacre, Dresden and Hiroshima.
Your protest reminds me of the anger directed at Vietnam vets, even when those vets were young working class or black men who didn’t have a choice whether to join the armed forces or not, unlike their educated and middle class detractors.
Anarchafairy, I hope you appreciate the irony of comparing the police to the Brown Shirts on a day we are remembering the sacrifices of those who fought against the Nazis.
Your protest, while its aims were commendable, will have done nothing to advance your cause, apart from offending people. Why choose a memorial service, why not the Ministry of Defence or a military base for example?
Bollocks. ANZAC day is all about glorifying the military. The Christchurch Press had a pullout feature on all of NZ’s VC winners. I would love to see a press pullout on say NZ’s “police action’s” is Samoa or the carpet bombings of largly civilians by allied airmen during WWII.
I do agree with you Tim that the villification of those in military (especially in the ranks) is appalling. Most people who join the services (myself included) do not join because they are blood thirsty killers, but more because they are poor and they see it as a way to do some travelling, get a trade, or the physical aspect. saying that I do not think this protest was aimed at servicemen but at the powers that be.
The way to end new zealand involvement in those unjust wars is to build a popular movement to force the government out. I dont see how protesting a remembrance service for war dead at ANZAC day is going to achieve this. You complained about the white middle class attendance at the parade when that is exactly the composition of the wellington anarchist scene (on the whole) and you people prefer ultra-leftist stunts to make a spectacular point to get negative media attention. social change comes through movements so you need some sense of popular political tact in order to bring new people into a movement from many walks of life. but instead you, val and mark (presumably others) preferred to practice politics of the spectacle and burn a new zealand flag at ANZAC day. I agree with everything you say about how ANZAC day can become jingoistic and nationalistic but I would have used some intelligence and realised that such an act would be deeply unpopular with the new zealand public at large, discrediting our political aims and ideas and ourselves. Things like this just prove how out of touch with reality activists are and how little conenctions they have with ordinary people, working class or otherwise.
Another point on war. Hitler wasnt going to simply give up and go home, WWII needed to be fought to end fascism in europe. The world is a better place now there is no German reich which monopolises europe.
My last point is a bit more contentious and bitter, I know there are plenty of people who rely on state welfare in Wellington to support their activism. I find this contradictory. You people are militantly anti the NZ state but your certainly not above taking money off it for your subsistence. I guess your ultra-leftism doesnt extend to the benefits of the welfare state. Wouldnt be more in line with the anarchist ethic to be autonomous from the state and find alternative means of subsistence?
Fair comment Yuda, the protest was probably not aimed at veterans but at the powers that be, but it risked alienating people who might otherwise support Anarchafairy’s cause and it is offensive to victims of war, the vast majority of whom are the poor and oppressed.
For me ANZAC Day is not about glorifying the military (there were many other heroes of war, such as Ann Frank, and many other victims, such as comfort women) but I agree that many people, especially politicians, use the day to glorify NZ’s military history and justify the use of force today.
I can see the point of the protest, it is laughable to say “lest we forget” when millions have died in conflict stoked by the major powers since 1945, and to condemn Nazi atrocities while Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib exist.
However, I’m going to stick by my point, I think the protest was misconceived, it’s kind of like protesting about workplace deaths at a worker’s funeral.
The only reason that WWII ‘needed to be fought’ was the spineless cowards in government in the west that came up with the appeasement policy and the lack of effective left-wing oppisition to hitler during the pre-war years. How is it that Germany went from having massive communist and unionist memberships to having a facist dictatorship in a short space of time?
“The way to end new zealand involvement in those unjust wars is to build a popular movement to force the government out” – I quite agree. How do you suggest actually achieving this, though?