Cue the Sun

ANZAC Day

I’ve only ever been to one ANZAC service, in Melbourne, several years ago. I’ve never been to a dawn service. Here in Canberra, I live within view of the Australian War Memorial, and of late I’ve spent quite a bit of time there to help me formulate ideas for a film script I’m writing. So this morning, I hauled myself out of bed at 5am to attend the dawn service—supposedly the time when the ANZACS first invaded the Gallipoli Peninsula of Turkey. It’s the 90th anniversary, and as the media keep telling us, this event just gets bigger and bigger every year, especially now the last ANZAC veterans have died.

As I stood among the crowd of 25,000, there were a number of things I found unsettling:

1. As the dedication got underway, the voice of a lone heckler rang out across the crowd, protesting Australia’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whilst this person irritated me, I felt reassured that a single voice could still make an impact in this country. That was, until I heard a few comments from the people in the crowd. Several discussed going back there and silencing this guy, with their fists and boots if necessary, and how dare he try and tarnish this day—of all days—with a political protest. That these “patriots” were wearing military uniforms just made my skin crawl that little bit more.
2. A large part of the service consisted of a speech by the Anglican Archbishop of the armed forces (can’t remember his name), which despite being overly long, consisted of numerous references to the death of the thousands of men at Gallipoli as being a sacrifice determined by God, a patriotic duty etc.

The reasons I found these elements unsettling were this:

1. The growing numbers of attendees at these services each year, appear to be driven by an increasingly nationalistic fervour, encouraged in no small part by our current government, and the media interests which control them.
2. We are frequently told the wars in which our country has fought, have been to preserve freedom and democracy. On the day assigned by our nation to commemorate those who’ve died in the pursuit of those ideals, it seems people can only exercise that right if they are exercising it to preserve the current status quo. Dare to exercise that freedom to make heard an alternate voice, and you will be instantly vilified�possibly even bashed by the truly patriotic.
3. That various interest groups (in this case religious) manage to find ways to hijack public sentiment and wrap themselves in it, declaring what the anniversary means for all of us, and creating a public confusion between the true meaning of an event, and the ulterior motives of the interest group. Indeed many, maybe even most of those who have died in the various theatres in which Australia has participated over the past century were God-fearing people. But then, so were the politicians who sent them to their deaths—tough in their case, they probably had good reason to fear him.

I guess ultimately I have a serious problem with anyone, but especially unelected people, presuming to speak on behalf of all Australians. Next time Reverend, just speak about what it means to you, but don’t try and tell me what it means to me, because you don’t know.