Lest we forget – 19 things you need to know about ANZAC Day

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1. That the New Zealand wars fought between the British Crown and Maori were far more significant in shaping this country than the catastrophic blunder of Gallipoli.

2. That most Maori (aside from Ngati Porou) were hostile to fighting for the King of England in WWI after being stripped of their land a half century earlier by the same British Crown.

3. That government minister Maui Pomare faced a “whakapohane” (baring of the buttocks) by Waikato Maori when he encouraged them to join the war.

4. That many Waikato Maori were forcibly sent for training and several spent many months in Mt Eden prison for refusing conscription.

5. That Maungapohatu in the Urewera was invaded and Tuhoe leader Rua Kenana tried and imprisoned (the pretext was a charge of illegally supplying alcohol) for his outspoken opposition to Maori volunteering for WWI.

6. That WWI was a clash of empires with each side fighting on behalf of their own capitalist elites.

7. That 10% of the New Zealand population went to fight in WWI and invaded countries on the other side of the world that had never threatened this country.

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8. The shameful fact New Zealand troops travelled the greatest distance to fight a war in the entire history of human habitation on planet Earth.

9. That the young men killed in WWI were mainly working class soldiers who were the targets of crude and cynical imperialist propaganda.

10. That New Zealand’s first action after joining the war was to invade and occupy Samoa – a German colony at that time.

11. That freedom of speech was heavily curtailed and people sent to prison for speaking against the war.

12. That the New Zealand Trade Union movement rightly called for the “conscription of capital before the conscription of men” (individual wealth should be given up before flesh and blood were taken)

13. That New Zealand conscripted troops but Australian didn’t.

14. That the bravest New Zealanders in 1915 were those conscientious objectors who took the tough road of pacifism – at great personal cost – when the road to war was the popular and easy option.

15. That New Zealand military leaders treated our conscientious objectors more harshly than any other country.

16. That we can be hugely proud of Archibald Baxter (read his book “We Will Not Cease”) and other New Zealand opponents of WWI who suffered terribly at the hands of colonial military sycophants trying to be more proudly British that Britain itself.

17. That in 2015 there are some unconscionable idiots in the New Zealand armed services such as Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant General Tim Keating who declared last week that New Zealand entered World War I to fight “a great evil” (sic)

18. That these same idiots are still feeding the same lies to young New Zealanders 100 years on.

19. That the current government has just sent New Zealand troops to another imperialist war which has nothing to do with this country but everything to do with supporting another empire – this time the US empire with its imperialist agenda.

25 COMMENTS

  1. I agree with everything said in this. I’ve been over the endless endless hoo haa about WWI for months now and am horrified that on Radio NZ and on TV it seems to be continuing today and for how many more days who knows. I do often wonder whether people in the armed forces actually think about what the latest conflict, to which they have been instructed to go, is about and have a real opinion, do they ever think now this is wrong!

  2. Thank you, John Minto, for compiling this list of matters to consider, when “celebrating” ANZAC Day.

    I got rather sick of the hyped up, overly emotive story telling, the portraying of soldiers and their sacrifices, the endless reporting on especially radio and TV media about the battle at Gallipoli and the other battles later on, apparently designed to instil a feeling of “patriotism” into New Zealanders.

    On ANZAC Day it reached its pinnacle, and it raised many questions in me.

    Here we had the Dawn Services, the live coverage from Gallipoli, the vows of “friendship” between Turkey, New Zealand and Australia, presentations of old allegiances to the UK, and grand speeches being held.

    The only good thing our PM did, was to mention in his speech, that we remember all of the dead, from the various nations.

    But the rest was close to being “sickening”, and what I really missed was some balanced reporting by the NZ mainstream media. Only Maori TV, and only a very brief item at the end of the news on TV3 on Friday evening, did spend some critical reflections, also mentioning conscientious objectors.

    As far as I can recall there was NO mention at all, of the so-called “Armenian Genocide”, that happened at the same time, that started virtually on the same day as the battle at Gallipoli. I know that the Turks largely disagree with the term “genocide”, and with the number of dead, but they themselves accept that great injustice was done, although some like to blame the Armenians for having “sided” with Russia in WW1.

    Now, surely, it was the 100th anniversary of that first great genocide that occurred in the last century, and the NZ (shit) media, did not see any reason to mention anything, at least not much, about it?!

    The MSM should feel deeply ashamed, for participating in this “nationalism overdrive” with the 100 year ANZAC celebrations. I accept that significant memorial services were justified for the ones that lost distant grand parents or parents, but why continue every year with this somewhat over the top “patriotic remembrance”?

    Is it that the ones in charge have started realising, that New Zealand is now really populated by quite a diverse range of residents and citizens, so that they fear there may be insufficient “cohesion”? Is it they worry about the continuing gap between the better off and the poor, is it because they realise that having superpowers play strategic monopoly in the South Pacific, so that we need to warm our relationships with traditional allies?

    Most sickening was Tony Abbott’s comments about the “splendid sons of ANZAC”. Now, what comes next? We already have the Australian (and increasingly New Zealand) government whip up fears about Islamist radicals and ISIS. And only a few single, so far very individual cases of some straying young and not so young persons, doing very few crazy, perhaps violent acts, in the name of an organisation that they may only have had indirect, brief “contact” (via YouTube, Twitter and other pictures or messages), have occurred.

    It seems we are being “mentally” and “emotionally” prepared for worse to come, and for more military engagement down the line. This I say, is extremely worrying, and John Key will have many things to answer to when he is back, that of course, provided the MSM bother asking the hard questions.

    Corin Dann’s interview on Q+A today was at least a reasonably good start, I must say. Let us hope that journalists rediscover what it means to be a professional journalist, before they all become Infotainment Reporters, and nothing else.

    At present, New Zealanders are largely poorly informed, and most are not historically and politically literate. This is a sad state of affairs.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Turks

    • Spending the first 20 years of life in NZ, and the following 30 in Australia, all I can say is if, as you say, “New Zealanders are largely poorly informed, and most are not historically and politically literate”, what does that say about Australians?

    • Mike downplays the ISIS situation. Even Islam itself is like a spreading cancer of intolerance and suppression. If one observes the situations in countries that have opened their arms to this religion only to have it spew hate against their hosts once they grow in numbers would realise that NZ well eventually have the same problems. As for war, its a bit like if someone breaks into your home and wants to take over the place. What do you do? Sit and take it, fight back or run. Its pretty simple.

      • JRYAN – Have you actually considered what you wrote there? It seems you have a very anti Islam bias for a start. I miss some reason in some of your comments.

        Has NZ been “invaded” or “burgled” by IS? Has the same happened in regards to Muslims? We have an immigration system that does offer legal immigration, which is happening, so you are stirring up something far from the truth, I fear.

        I was not trying to downplay the ISIS threat. But it needs to be put into perspective. And we are here talking about ANZAC Day and its meaning, and not about ISIS, which is though what Tony Abbott seems to be happy to tie together, for his ulterior motives.

        The media is busy misinforming us also, daily, and yesterday John Key was comparing the Houthis in Yemen with ISIS, and tonight he was on the TV news quoting a leader from the UAE with saying, they only make up 3 percent of the population in Yemen.

        I am not sure whether John Key simply confuses stuff, or whether he does mislead us on purpose. The Houthis are a Shiite movement, and now present the majority of Shiite interests in Yemen, mainly Northern Yemen. They have nothing in common with ISIS, neither their religion nor their conduct:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthis

        As for Zaidiyyah Shiites (basically followers of the Houthis) in Yemen, they make up nearly 40 percent of the Muslim population of that country:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaidiyyah

        John Key has been convenient with the facts and truth throughout his career as PM of NZ, but as most people are not that well informed about the matters he talks about, they simply take him for his word, even most of the not so bright journalists, who seem to be more like convenient “court jesters” playing on the court of the PM and his government (entertaining also the public with poorly researched messages).

  3. I wish I’d read this when 2 young Tongan boys who were staying with me this weekend asked me why I never went to the Dawn Parade.

      • Except I feel it gets hi-jacked sometimes. Of those who made it back from WW1 a great many became life long pacifists with an outright abhorrence for war and an outright disdain for the powers that be who send young men to their deaths in the name of whatever jingoistic reason they can think of.
        We are shaping up for another go at each other, I believe

  4. Pathogenic viruses and bacterium….often mutate somewhat over time as does their DNA and RNa strands…..the microbe responsible for causing the Black Death , the Plague….is called Yersinia Pestis , a rod shaped bacterium….and that bares a most fitting name …

    And has been found to have as its ancestor a strain that originally caused those horrific human death tolls…yet through better hygiene standards and more importantly the human species developing a somewhat better immune response to the bacterium ….has generally minimized the carnage that microbe wreaked.

    It is unfortunate that the virus of those who inter – generationally instigate mass genocide …in the name of profit and power…yet mask it as ‘ patriotism ‘ , ‘nationalism ‘ etc….have not yet been neutralized by the human species.

    Indeed…the analogy between those political leaders and microbes is apt in my opinion…however …unlike the the so – called ‘lowest forms of life’…the virus…

    Modern humanity seems to have developed no real immunity or vaccine against these predacious organisms of mass genocide and political opportunism.

    Perhaps we could all benefit from the vaccine of greater accountability , disclosure , unbiased media reporting and laws designed to protect ourselves from such as these…

    Which , …to date …seems like a very distant dream….judging by the sickness of this country through infection of these viruses at the present time.

  5. Take heart, John. I was chatting just last night to a woman who has expressed great reservations about the orgiastic celebration of WW1. She referred to it as a “Cult of the Dead” and was sickened by the way it was being over-hyped. This wasn’t a commemoration, it was a mass glorification, and likened it to a new religion in this country.

    Funny thing, she’s not politically-minded/obsessed like us, but is incredibly astute.

    Maybe some New Zealanders are slowly starting to wake up to the exploitation of the war dead for wholly political purposes.

    • @ Frank Macskasy: “….a woman who has expressed great reservations about the orgiastic celebration of WW1. She referred to it as a “Cult of the Dead” and was sickened by the way it was being over-hyped. This wasn’t a commemoration, it was a mass glorification, and likened it to a new religion in this country.”

      She’s certainly not alone in thinking this. I’ve grown increasingly uneasy at the ramped-up hype over Anzac Day in the last 15 years or so. And the revisionist accounts of why our soldiers were there just infuriate me, the more so because this revisionism has become normative in some parts of this society. John Minto’s nailed it in his 19 points above.

      I’ve been nauseated by the glorification we’ve seen over the centenary of the Gallipoli invasion; I’ve done my best to dodge it, especially on Anzac Day (I hired Season 4 of “Breaking Bad”: a terrific show and truly intelligent TV, for those of you who haven’t yet discovered it).

      This isn’t a callous, uncaring stance on my part. My family has a direct connection with the Gallipoli disaster: two of my father’s older brothers were listed as “missing in action” there. They have no known grave; those reporters blundering round on the peninsula, and picking up skeletal remains, could be handling the bones of my relatives. I can’t help the feeling that it’s disrespectful of the dead, having all those people tromping around on what’s a de facto cemetery.

      The news from Gallipoli about my uncles had a profound effect on my grandparents, especially my grandmother, who, to the day she died in the early 1950s, held out hope that her boys would one day walk in the door. Another of her sons died overseas, but at least she had a death certificate and a grave that other family members could visit.

      I dread the next 3 years: will all this maudlin stuff be trundled out as the anniversary of each battle rolls around? Enough already!

  6. I do not celebrate ANZAC day I had 2 grandfathers 1 who was under survalence and almost imprisioned as his father was German and 1 who went to war with his 3 brothers and only he returned. He refused to join the RSA as he contended that the fat lazy guys in the mansion miles behind the front lines were in charge of the war legacy. Now I know what he meant. At no point have we seen anything about what this country was like to the dissenters, to the children of the Germans!

  7. Some very interesting and thought provocating ideas, but I personally feel some of these Statements are a little simplistic. Such as why were we fighting a war “on behalf off other countries’?? Too me its as simple as, If we support these countries when they are threatened then they will have our back when we are threatened. But History does have a way of being written by those with rose coloured glasses, and the facts/statements about Maori’s forced involvement and bulling into a fight that would have felt very much not their own, to me feel very justified and are a piece of Our History missing from our history books!!

  8. I recently read ‘We will not cease’ & was then able to watch the tv dramatization of the book. I was both disappointed and disgusted that the tv movie left out all the nasty things done to ‘conshies’ in NZ, before they shipped many of them to France under lock & key.

    Was this a concerted attempt to downplay the way the NZ govt treated these pacifists? Who knows, but i was not impressed.

  9. @ Rebecca: “If we support these countries when they are threatened then they will have our back when we are threatened.”

    The “Rainbow Warrior” incident gives the lie to that notion. That ship was sunk at its berth in Auckland Harbour, killing one person; it was an act of terrorism carried out by agents of the French foreign intelligence service, the DGSE. France was at that time, and remains, an ally.

    Most of those involved escaped, but two were caught, thanks to the police and the help of observant and nosy locals. Those two went on trial – to the great embarrassment of France, which had initially denied responsibility – and were found guilty of manslaughter in a plea bargain.

    That wasn’t the end of France’s shabby treatment of this country; the story’s available online, I invite you to go read it.

    But here’s the thing: given the way these things worked at the time, you can be sure that the US was apprised by France of what they intended to do. Had the US gainsaid it, the attack wouldn’t have gone ahead. And in the aftermath – including the shameful bullying of this country and treaty-breaching by France – our other so-called allies were silent. They offered no support or practical assistance of any kind.

    This is a small country; we count for nothing in world affairs, except as another name to add to the list of supporters when the US is swinging its imperialist club. Don’t expect any quid pro quo, from the US or any other of our allies. They wouldn’t see the point of wasting military resources on us.

    Our best defence is principled and ethical independence and neutrality. And our vast distance from anywhere else.

  10. The sheer amount of bullshit we have to deal with every day can only be made worse by this deep PR.ograming going on around anzac.

    John K transitions his next role from Gallipoli to the great ISIL granddaddy of terrorism, Saudi Arabia; with TPP in pocket.
    Will he question them on the 28 redacted pages of the Commission report dealing with their financing their part of the 911 conspiracy ?
    The one the entire ‘war on terror’ is BUILT on?
    And in the oratory toward Chunuk Bair. Do we concern ourselves that, at the very same moment we blow at dawn for the dead of wars past, the grandchildren of the Galacian SS fascist brigades of Babi Yar are now regarded as ‘our’ allies in power in Kiev? Thanks to NATO and the infamous Ass.Sec.State neocon Victoria NULAND who, with her “F*ck the EU” phone call let slip the dogs of fascism in Maidan, and is yet unknown to TV ONE?
    sell that to my Father if you ever meet him.
    He knew who the SS were.

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/italian-paper-breaks-silence-over-political-assassinations-in-kiev-somebody-is-killing-those-opposed-to-the-ukrainian-government/5443623

    Where is the reporting of this? Of the anniversary of Odessa Trades Hall massacre by pravy sector fascists ? Now Western ‘allies’ against ‘Russia’.
    We went into Gallipoli with our eyes blinded by union Jack,
    only to be doing it exactly 100 years later blinded by USAMO.

    • @ Rogermorris: “Do we concern ourselves that, at the very same moment we blow at dawn for the dead of wars past, the grandchildren of the Galacian SS fascist brigades of Babi Yar are now regarded as ‘our’ allies in power in Kiev? Thanks to NATO and the infamous Ass.Sec.State neocon Victoria NULAND who, with her “F*ck the EU” phone call let slip the dogs of fascism in Maidan, and is yet unknown to TV ONE?
      sell that to my Father if you ever meet him.
      He knew who the SS were.”

      Indeed. We’ve also noticed this. What’s actually happened in the Ukraine has been largely elided from the news reports in the West, because it doesn’t fit the narrative as run by the US and NATO.

  11. #20 or maybe #1 These poor souls were not fighting for God, or King, or country, or a flag, or for the “freedom” of their descendents 100 years on down the track, they were fighting for their, and their mates beside them, lives.
    It is for that we should remember them and for that horror they were ordered to go to (once the shine was off the voluntary adventure shit) as cannon fodder.

    • It is hard not to be resentful, isn’t it. I worked with Walter Lawry who was a Corso man and served the needy overseas for years til they decided to get rid of people like him in Corso. He was not resentful then, nor when they jailed him as he said no to war. He told me stories about when he was in prison and decades later, a white feather sometimes turned up. I admired him for his courage. I resent the bullies who try to make us conform to their politics .
      Politicians on both sides of the spectrum tried to push him around. Walter was true to himself to the end with a smile . I find it hard not to be resentful.

  12. I call Anzac day ‘Mass murderers big day out’ and will be ROLMFAO when the body bags start coming back from Irag.
    Only- No more soldiers = No more war.
    Murderous Idiots every last one of them.

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