A War-Making Tradition

"One of the most horrible features of war is that

all the war- propaganda, all the screaming and lies

and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not

fighting.”

George Orwell,

Homage to Catalonia, 1938

 

A civic alternative must be found to the celebration of war, sinister and sectarian liturgies, the exaltation of human waste, the opportunity for mindless rhetorical exercises by political

persons - who usually do no fighting, military parades - where marching is traditionally a substitute for thought, and the obscenity of dressing little children in miniature uniforms

laden with someone else’s medals - conferred by people who prudentially stay behind and in most times overseas, and the floating of a flag which carries the symbol of British interests

(the red cross comes from the City of London Corporation

 - then ‘the Empire’ and the world’s primary business centre

) and of the oppression of the Irish and Scottish people (with

the red saltire representing Ireland and the white saltire representing Scotland). All that mystification is a prologue to a bibulously transfixed expression of that ‘mateship’ often associated with a powerful sublimated homosexuality. Indeed some of its most ardent intellectual celebrants are slowly coming to see that mateship is deeply antipathetic to

women. And if that sounds heretical consider the proposition that much stolid rhetoric could very well be substituted with the recital of the words that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk offered to

the mothers of his former enemies:

 

“Those heroes that shed their blood

And lost their lives.

You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.

Therefore, rest in peace.

There is no difference between the Johnnies

And the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side

Here in this country of ours,

You, the mothers,

Who sent their sons from far away countries

Wipe away your tears,

Your sons are now lying in our bosom

And are in peace

After having lost their lives on this land they have

Become our sons as well”.

 

A war-making tradition

 

For the Australian Britons, the battle of

Çanakkale,on the southern (Asian) coast of the

Dardanelles, was a disaster. As it turned out,

Australia became a member of a small club of

other nations - Serbia is another - the military myths and sense of nationhood of which are characterised by a celebration of defeat.

The British, with an eye on the oil-rich Ottoman Empire,

had deceived and encouraged Turkey into entering the first world war the side of Central Powers.

For the Ottoman Empire and the Turks, the Battle of

Gelibolu(Gallipoli) was a successful heroic defence of their country from foreign invaders.

 

The result is dramatically recorded by the Australian Department of Veterans’ Affairs

 

                                 dead               wounded      total

Total Allies                44,092              96,937          141,029

United Kingdom       21,255              52,230           73,485

France (estimated)  10,000              17,000           27,000 Australia                     8,709              19,441            28,150

New Zealand              2,721               4,752              7,473

British India               1,358                3,421              4,779

Newfoundland                 49                      93                 142

Ottoman empire       86,692             164,617        251,309

 

Total (both sides)  130,784               261,554       392,338   

 

from here