Anzac forgetting and remembering

For Scott McIntyre

Anzac Day continues to move us,

& grow, despite attempts to make it 

a media event (left to them we’d attend

‘The Foxtel Dawn Service’). But The March is

proof we got at least one thing right, informal,

straggling & more cheerful than not, it’s

like a huge works or 8 Hour Day picnic-

if we still had works, or unions, that is.

John Forbes

They said:

Today, this day, is not the day to remember some things.

Today, this day, is the day to remember other things,

They said.

Today we will remember some things but not others.

Today we will not remember innocent children, on the way to school, murdered,

their shadows seared into the concrete of Hiroshima.

Today we will not remember that two of the largest single-day terrorist attacks in history were committed by our allies in Hiroshima & Nagasaki.

Today we will not remember the summary execution, . . . rape and theft committed by some ‘brave’ Anzacs in Egypt, Palestine and Japan.

Poorly-read, largely white, nationalist drinkers and gamblers are not allowed to pause today to remember the horror that all mankind suffered.

Poorly-read, largely white, nationalist drinkers and gamblers seem unable to pause today to remember the horror that all mankind suffered.

We will not remember that Anzac Day has become the cultification of an imperialist invasion of a foreign nation with which Australia had no quarrel.

We will not remember that this is against all ideals of modern society,

largely because it has never even crossed our minds.

Today we will remember and idealise the Australian soldier,

devoid of malice, devoid of sin, devoid of life

and wait for another day in a few days, weeks or months’ time

to let the truth-telling begin.

If we remember.