121 / Anzac Day
Anzac Day is upon us again. But this whole War Memorial thing is wrong. The concept of remembrance and of honouring fallen soldiers is noble; but remember the soldiers - not the wars, not the battles.
Anzac Day celebrations are militaristic ceremonies, designed to keep the Anzac Spirit alive in the old and instil it afresh in the young. But what is the Anzac Spirit? It is war-consciousness by another name. A perpetuation of the idea that our wars are just and solve problems.
The tired cliché that ‘war is horrible’ is rolled out again and again – yet, the war-spirit we are so proud of will inexorably lead us into the next war. This is the mind-set Barak Obama spoke of when he said, “I don’t just want to end the (Iraq) war – I want to end the mindset that led to war.” We need to change our mindset. We need peace-consciousness. On Anzac Day, stop celebrating battles. Stop celebrating war.