Every ANZAC Day it’s not a case of ‘lest we forget’, it’s a case of ‘lest we remember’.
As the dead groan under their weight at the horror with which we cheerfully threw them into the mincer of war, they scream at us to never make the same mistakes.
We always make the same mistakes.
Right now we have the head of the Defence force quietly leaving after the NZDF were caught committing a war crime that killed and injured 21. The new details of the assurances the NZDF gave Key that no citizens were harmed is an extraordinary level of bullhsit and sounds more like a Military who knew they had committed a war crime and were desperately trying to mislead political leaders.
The NZDF were so committed to lying they’ve resorted to redefining the word ‘unfounded’ so that their lies weren’t seen as lies.
Haven’t we grown up as a country and will no longer feed the dogs of war with the lives of our brightest and youngest? When we do go to war it should only ever be for the right reasons and never simply to please an overseas power, aren’t these the lessons we are supposed to have learned when we walk around our War Museums staring at the cringe worthy posters calling on men to fight for ‘King and Country’ as we pass name after name after name after name of the ‘glorious’ dead’?
Isn’t that what we should be solemnly promising the dead at dawn? That they have not died in vain and that we have learned to avoid conflict without flag blinded nationalism that pointlessly slaughters so many?
We have learnt nothing.
The Gunner’s Lament
A Maori gunner lay dying
In a paddyfield north of Saigon,
And he said to his pakeha cobber,
“I reckon I’ve had it, man!
‘And if I could fly like a bird
To my old granny’s whare
A truck and a winch would never drag
Me back to the Army.
‘A coat and a cap and a well-paid job
Looked better than shovelling metal,
And they told me that Te Rauparaha
Would have fought in the Vietnam battle.
‘On my last leave the town swung round
Like a bucket full of eels.
The girls liked the uniform
And I liked the girls.
‘Like a bullock to the abattoirs
In the name of liberty
They flew me with a hangover
Across the Tasman Sea,
‘And what I found in Vietnam
Was mud and blood and fire,
With the Yanks and the Reds taking turns
At murdering the poor.
‘And I saw the reason for it
In a Viet Cong’s blazing eyes –
We fought for the crops of kumara
And they are fighting for the rice.
‘So go tell my sweetheart
To get another boy
Who’ll cuddle her and marry her
And laugh when the bugles blow,
‘And tell my youngest brother
He can have my shotgun
To fire at the ducks on the big lagoon,
But not to aim it at a man,
‘And tell my granny to wear black
And carry a willow leaf,
Because the kid she kept from the cold
Has eaten a dead man’s loaf.
‘And go and tell Keith Holyoake
Sitting in Wellington,
However long he scrubs his hands
He’ll never get them clean.’
James K Baxter
1965
WW1:
A war to prevent Germany having direct access the Middle East oil.
A war to take control of oilfields in the Ottoman Empire.
A war to eliminate German colonies in Africa and link British south Africa with British north Africa.
A war for the French to take revenge on Germany for what happened in 1871.
Etcetera, etcetera.
WW2.
A war for Germany to gain control of Russian and Middle East oilfields.
A war Japan to gain control of Dutch East Indies oilfields and the human and mineral resources of China.
A war to take control of [USSR] communist land and resources.
Korean War
A war to prevent socialism taking hold in east Asia.
Vietnam War
A war to prevent socialism taking hold in east Asia
Iraq-Iran War
A proxy war to weaken Iran and facilitate re-establishment of western control over Iranian oilfields.
Iraq round one
A war to prevent use of Euros in oil trading and a war to gain greater control of Middle East oil.
Balkan Wars and the dismemberment of Yugoslavia.
Wars to eliminate socialism and to establish conditions for western corporations to loot and exploit.
Iraq round two.
A war to more firmly establish western control of Iraq and to demonstrate what happens to countries that oppose western militarism. (The first major war in which the landscape was widely contaminated with the residues of chemical weapons used by the US -so-called depleted uranium).
Afghanistan
A war to re-establish poppy growing and revitalize the international drug trade whilst providing opportunities for corporations to survey the country’s resources.
Libya
A war to eliminate a leader who was using oil revenues for the benefit of the populace and was in the process of establishing an independent African bank.
Syria
A war to gain control of the country so that an gas pipeline linking Qatar to Europe can be constructed. Also on the agenda is the exploitation of Syrian oilfields and the nibbling away at the security of Iran and the security of Russia.
As a vassal state of the Anglo-American global empire, NZ is obliged to participate in the looting and polluting of the planet and to participate in the capture and control of resources.
“And when its over watch the world’s supply
Get parcelled out among the winning giants.
God, have you taken cognizance of this ?
And what on this is your divine position ?”
Robert Frost, ‘No Holy Wars For them ‘
You say,A war for Japan to gain E.Indies ‘Human Resources”.
An essay by Michael Salewski,after W.W.2,says,The moment men are considered resources-“Human Resources”-it follows logically that these resources will be put to the most effective use without the least compunction.
one small step for mankind,bring back the Personnel Officer.
About 50 years ago a young women member of the Progressive Youth Movement, the Protest group most reviled by the Govt./Establishment of that time in N.Z. laid a wreath with penache at the Cenotaph on Anzac day ” To the Dead and Dying of Vietnam”. The response was one of outrage. Anzac day was for the Glorification of our brave soldiers, for the Glorification of War, for the Glorification of our war dead. No matter that the war was fought against a people who had not attacked us, and who had shown us no aggression whatsoever. So what has changed?
The main instigator of the war, the U.S. is still at it.And we are still in a “Western Alliance” that has morphed from our previous enemy the Third Reich Nazi Germany in the Second World War, so that we client States of the Fourth Reich U.S. Empire are still up to our necks in war crimes, invasions, and unprovoked attacks on other Nations.
There is little hope of a change of direction. Jacinda lacks courage and is vacuous and gullible, if her recent performance is any indication.So, its back to the streets.Like an old war horse I will arise again.I may be slightly moth-eaten, but I still have a bite. Is there an alternative?
There is no alternative. We have regularly protested against our own government’s involvement in the invasions of other countries.. we protest… we protest..
I believe NZ and Australia should be first in line for a trade deal with the English. After all both countries made the ultimate sacrifice many of our men were treated like pawns and they were unnecessarily sacrificed under incompetent English military leaders. To have to fight with bayonets when the Turks and Germans had tanks and machine guns shows how dumb and ill prepared our English masters were and to make matters worse they didn’t give a stuff about our people lives. I see Maori were given the shit roles that were extremely dangerous.
one day later I see in Hawkes Bay the Te Mata peak red neck mob have reared their ugly head and are tramping on our Maori culture again and this is what happens when cultural landmarks are privately sold. So much for consultation. And to make matters worse we now have the oil lot saying where was there consultation before the governments recent announcement this shows the high level of hypocracy in our country.
And now we have the all black coach who cant be bothered trying to pronounce a players name calling him triple t. Well Taika was right and I hope he continues to fight the battle for our people because I believe the battle for respect and fair treatment despite our people making the ultimate sacrifice has just begun.
WTF is going on with reply page, take the trouble to comment and is wiped with some bs about incorrect email.(i do know my own email address???)
Peter jackson is about to get the franchise and next year it will be paid entry to all services.
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