Scream: April
2007
ANZAC
DAY Murders! Who's Responsible?
The murder of 60,000
Australians in WW1 is the largest mass murder in Australian history.
Who caused their death? Who aided and abetted the death of so many?
Who was brought to justice? Why has there been so little said about
the legitimacy of the invasion of Turkey by the Australian and New
Zealand forces? And what if our whole edifice, the whole basis for
celebration of the invasion, was a lie?
No doubt we should be putting
aside a special day to remember the young men who died. We
commemorate victims of crime and genocide. We throw scorn on those
who perpetuate or through criminal negligence cause the death of
people whatever the circumstance. So in the case of the 60,000 young
Australians killed during WW1, shouldn't we also be remembering the
Government that betrayed them and sent them to death through
political incompetence, cynical indifference and callous betrayal?
Wouldn't such remembrance make it more difficult for contemporary
governments to betray their citizens by committing people to their
deaths on the basis of lies?
Yes! It did happen a long time
ago. But without historical judgement, is there anything to stop the
perpetuation of the idea that war is a legally sanctioned cause for
murder? The same attitudes that saw people flocking to the death
fields of France and Turkey in World War 1 are still with us today.
So let us remember the heroic stance of young people fighting for a
cause and a country. But let us equally remember the culpability of
those who engineered it all and who never acknowledged their guilt or
complicity in a massive crime against humanity. They and their
present representatives still need to be brought to justice.
Joe Woodward
