Menadue, John: Sacrifice is being politicised. Militarism is becoming the norm

John Menadue

Sacrifice is being politicised. Militarism is becoming the norm‘, Pearls and Irritations, 17 November 2018

Passionate post from Australian Elder, former senior public servant and businessman (and among Honest History’s distinguished supporters).

Remembrance is morphing into  acceptance of conflict. The culture war about remembrance being waged by conservatives and the military is winning with little opposition.  The never ending stories of Gallipoli, the Western front and Armistice go on and on. We are celebrating war on a scale that no other country does. Government ministers,  Veterans Affairs, the Australian War Memorial and the media  imbedded in the military complex can’t contain themselves. Public occasions are invariably  backgrounded by numerous  flags and  the military, often regardless of the subject at hand.

So that we won’t ask the hard question WHY we fight in so many futile wars we immerse ourselves in HOW we fight. We are deceiving ourselves.

Ranges widely across excessive military presence on national occasions, Australian arms-selling ambitions, obtrusive paramilitary Australian Border Force, fearmongering about ‘the other’, military vice-regal appointments, militarisation of overseas aid, War Memorial extensions to feed the ego of its Director, failure to examine why we fight (the Great War as the war for White Australia), foreign policy subservience to the dangerous alliance with the United States, China panic, lack of involvement of Parliament in decisions to go to war, lack of recognition of non-military achievements in our history.

The piece should be read in conjunction with other recent pieces by Douglas Newton and Henry Reynolds (use our Search engine).

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