5 posts tagged “australia”

Tim Brunero (yes, of Big Brother fame - I think the guy deserves to outlive it) has a good piece on some of Australia's craziest politicians. If you thought Sir Joh or Pauline Hanson were bad you haven't yet stumbled upon the likes of TJ Ley, Billy Snedden or the entire Western Australian branch of the Liberal Party. A good read.

Here

It's always the personal tales that convince the grassroots that something like Iraq is on the nose. Its even more convincing when the personal tales come from those who've been there. We read soldier's tales in books like

Band of Brothers

Mother Jones has a good article telling some of these tales.

His unit ’s highest-ranking enlisted man laid out the mission in stark terms. “You’re not going to make Iraq safe for democracy,” the sergeant said. “You are going for one reason alone: oil. But you’re still going to go, because you signed a contract. And you’re going to go to bring your friends home.”

While for me it only cemented my views on the war in Iraq as an absurd and immoral power grab on the part of the Bush administration and it will never convince Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney the soldier's anti-war movement must start to convince the people that vote. As it grows in support, as more US soldiers die and as more Iraqi deaths are reported in the media the depth of stupidity must become apparent. One can only hope.

The contrast between the Australian experience and the US one is interesting. While there are growing incidents of opposition in the British Army there are very few reported cases about Australian soldiers. I think the difference stems from two areas. Certainly in the Australian case it is a reflection of our lower commitment to and lower casualty rate in Iraq and the contrast of what are perceived as more morally reputable actions in Afghanistan, East Timor and The Solomons. The other considerable factor is the level of professionalism of the two different armies. With the exception of the two world wars and Vietnam, Australia has always maintained a very small highly professional army and even during WW's 1 & 2 the Australian armed forces maintained a high level of training and a high reputation amongst their enemies. Even during Vietnam which saw Australian conscripts go into action for the first time the comparitive casualty rates of the US and Australian forces paint a picture of the quality of the two different armies. Much of Australia's commitment to Iraq and Afghanistan, the two hot wars we are involved in, are from our elite SAS units whose professionalism and commitment are going to be higher even than the average digger. Contrast this with a kid from urban America who joined the Army or Marines becasue it looked like the only way to get ahead in life and you have a very different situation.

I'm a bit odd amongst my friends. I'm certainly a lot more hawkish than most of the peace loving hippies, stoners and ravers I hang out with. I believe there are times when military force is required, either in one's own defence or in the defence of others. There is such a thing as a just war and must be motivated from the beginning by just motives. Iraq stinks and it is a shame that so many young Americans have to die before the stink starts to waft over the North American continent. I just hope that this is not a three's the trick type of situation before the US culture learns its lesson. Vietnam. Iraq. ??. 

Heil Hitler, Das Schwein ist Tot! (which I think translates as Heil Hitler, The pig is dead)

An interesting review of a new German book about anti-Nazi humour in Germany during the life of that regime.

"Did You Hear the One About Hitler?"

Given my monkey obsession my favourite anecdote from the article concerns a man and his apes,

Many found the Heil Hitler salute with its outstretched arm ridiculous. A circus director in the western city of Paderborn, a confirmed Social Democrat opponent of the Nazis, trained his chimpanzees to raise their right arm whenever they saw a uniform, and they even took to saluting the postman.

He was denounced and a received an official notice forbidding the chimpanzees from making the salute and threatening "slaughter".

Downfall

No it doesn't compare to the industrial nightmare of the Holocaust, it was sadly just another 19th Century tale of English colonial expansion followed by a 20th century sequel of condescension, ignorance and unfairness. Part three for the 21st Centruy looks like a tale of struggle to achieve a level of parity with European culture in this country, one that starts to redress the wrongs of the past and help people achieve a degree of pride and a sense of cultural worth. I wonder what Australia's inexorable (but glacial) shift to a new European/Asian culture will do? Can it accomodate this? Or will it be as hard and as unforgiving as past wrongs?

The Other Side of the Frontier: Aboriginal Resistance to the European Invasion of Australia

For anyone interested in Australian colonial history I recommend the works of Henry Reynolds. He writes very accessible histories of the struggle of culture between black and white Australia and many Australians in particular will be continually surprised as they read these books about just how robust Aboriginal culture in Australia was in the face of white incursion.I wonder what jokes they were telling as they encountered and resisted the whitefellas?