Sunday 24 April 2011

ANZAC Eve peace vigil tonight challenges traditional digger debate

A rally for peace, is how a vigil is being promoted by Bryan Law, a veteran of of different kind at the Cairns Cenotaph on the Esplanade this evening.


"What would the ANZACS say and do about the war in Afghanistan?” Bryan Law asks.

Law is provocatively leading a candlelight vigil at the pinnacle of Australia and New Zealand most poignant weekend, a time when many reflect and remember the effort

This ANZAC Eve, on Easter Sunday 24 April, there will be a lantern-lit vigil from 6pm on the Esplanade – at the Cenotaph.

"My father John Law saw service in New Guinea during World War 2, and was part of the occupying force in Japan in 1945
and 1946," Bryan Law recounts. "My maternal grandfather Joseph Tate saw service in WW1. When I was growing up ANZAC Day was firstly a solemn commemoration of sacrifice, which then morphed into a day where surviving veterans played up - with or without permission."

Bryan Law says that ANZAC Day has changed since he was a kid.

"The world has changed. War has changed. Not always for the better," Bryan Law says. "In recent years I’m increasingly concerned about the way politicians are using ANZAC Day to support the several wars we’re fighting right now. Several more wars are likely to start tomorrow."

"The wars of my father and grandfather were exceptional. A failure of diplomacy betrayed us into a massive military industrial folly. We destroyed whole economies and chewed up two generations of fighting men. Winners and losers suffered alike. The 'war to end all wars' had been fought."

HEIL WAR: Some Cold/proxy war glorifyers at the Mareeba Cenotaph last week.

Bryan Law says we the had the so-called Cold War and scores of proxy wars fought around the third world. He cites that there were 'misadventures' by the USA in Vietnam and the Soviet Union, Afghanistan, that proved the futility of fighting guerrillas with our own troops over foreign borders.

"Now we settle for 'maintaining security' overseas, the largest contingent of armed personnel in Afghanistan today are mercenaries," Bryan Law says.

"War today inflicts few casualties on western soldiers, and is easily accommodated by our domestic economy. It is with us all the time in foreign policy. Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd was a prominent urger for the current bombing of Tripoli."

"In Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now Libya, 'the West' enjoys such an economic and technological superiority that our fighting troops are most often not at any significant risk," Law says. "Predator drone operators are most commonly working from Creech Air Force Bases in Nevada. Civilians are regularly killed by drone attack. The operators commute back home for a hot meal."

"Unlike my father’s and grandfather’s wars, most casualties in wars today are civilian. Children. Women. Men. Civilians are dying as you read this. On 1st March this year, in Afghanistan, nine boys aged between 7 and 13 years old were killed by Apache gunship while collecting firewood."

"But the war in Afghanistan is far away. We don’t see. Most of us don’t want to see," Bryan Law says.

"How would you feel if you were this man? ANZAC Day is a great opportunity to ask ourselves What would the ANZACs say about the wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya? Those brave Australians and New Zealanders who struggled and shone and died over four years during WW1 – what would they say about the nine years spent so far in Afghanistan?"

"Didn’t most of them urge upon us the pledge to “never again” commit the folly of war! Would they like to see their names used to justify today’s war in Afghanistan? I know what my father thought. He never fully recovered from the horror of his war. Today, four times as many Australian troops will die from suicide as the result of post traumatic stress disorder than will die on the battlefield. My father wanted recognition for our Aboriginal people in the frontier wars… and he wanted peace."

Cairns Peace by Peace has joined forces with a national network of Christian, Quaker and Buddhist nonviolence groups to initiate a new event into ANZAC Eve that commemorates all the victims of War.

"We hope to contribute through ANZAC Day towards the creation of a peaceful, just world – a world without war," Law says. "The Gospel passage at the centre of our vigil is John 15:12-14: This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you”.

2011 is the inaugural event in Australia, with the central focus being on events in Canberra.
  • TONIGHT IN CAIRNS: Peace by Peace extends a warm invitation to everyone to attend the inaugural ANZAC Eve Peace Vigil.
    Cenotaph, The Esplanade, 6pm Easter Sunday

6 comments:

Bryan Outlaw said...

How can this be considered "non-violent"? The fat fucker has already announced he's going to Rocky. Ot to conduct a peaceful sit-in, but has threatened violence against the equipment of our American masters.

Australians understand the deal we've signed on for. Without our US alliance, we'd be required to defend ourselves. And that means paying for it ourselves. And the end to massive and generous welfare, free healthcare, a "pot of money" (in Entsch's words) for free lagoons, free entertainment precincts, and other commie-style state handouts.

Another misguided and ignorant event organized by the biggest fraudsters in Cairns.

Unknown said...

Oh come on BO, run the fat fucker down all you like, he deserves it, but cut out the bullshit.

"Without our US alliance, we'd be required to defend ourselves."

From who? It's the other way round, we pay to defend them. We also pay billions for weapons we don't need, from them.

When did an F111 fire a shot in anger, or an F18? Now we're buying the new joint strike fighter that will never fire a shot in anger.

We fought in Vietnam, against the good guys, and in Iraq\Afghanistan, illegal wars the yanks started to protect their own interests.

We'd be billions in pocket if it weren't for the one-sided "alliance".

As I said, run the fat fucker down all you like, but use facts, and if you can't find any don't make them up, it has the opposite effect to what you intended.

Syd Walker said...

I agree with youtube. It would be nice to think he/she/it speaks for Google as a whole :-)

This is what ex-SAS commander and latter-day 'Christian' leader Jim Wallace, Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, had to say on twitter today.

Regarding Libya, people might be interested to read Financial Heist of the Century: Confiscating Libya's Sovereign Wealth Funds and Why the West Wants the Fall of Gaddafi? by Jean-Paul Pougala

See 'No sign Gaddafi bombed Tripoli - NATO wages war on false claims'

Watch Prof. Molefi Asante on Libya & Cote D'Ivoire if you have time. Highly recommended - a real voice from Africa, which is being attacked and defrauded.

Obama sends drones to Libya is also well worth watching.

Note that most of this information is not available to you via Australia's controlled mass media, including the publicly-funded ABC.

Then, if you don't like Bryan's form of peace activism, do your own. But do something! Peace is not a given. We have to struggle for it. At present, it's getting away from us...

Syd Walker said...

I agree with youtube. It would be nice to think he/she/it speaks for Google as a whole :-)

This is what ex-SAS commander and latter-day 'Christian' leader Jim Wallace, Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, had to say on twitter today.

Regarding Libya, people might be interested to read Financial Heist of the Century: Confiscating Libya's Sovereign Wealth Funds and Why the West Wants the Fall of Gaddafi? by Jean-Paul Pougala

See 'No sign Gaddafi bombed Tripoli - NATO wages war on false claims'

Watch Prof. Molefi Asante on Libya & Cote D'Ivoire if you have time. Highly recommended - a real voice from Africa, which is being attacked and defrauded.

Obama sends drones to Libya is also well worth watching.

Note that most of this information is not available to you via Australia's controlled mass media, including the publicly-funded ABC.

Then, if you don't like Bryan's form of peace activism, do your own. But do something! Peace is not a given. We have to struggle for it. At present, it's getting away from us...

Bev Prescott said...

That picture on your blog if NOT Mareeba – it is at Atherton.
That is crap anyway – that was showing how some ignorant imbecile had damaged the monument.
If you are going to take pictures from another source, make sure you get the facts correct as well.

Unknown said...

Syd said : "

Regarding Libya, See 'No sign Gaddafi bombed Tripoli - NATO wages war on false claims' Note that most of this information is not available to you via Australia's controlled mass media, including the publicly-funded ABC."

Well Syd, here is what some alternative media report. The commentary is from Hezbollah and the PFLP. It seems that they are agreeing with the view that Gaddafi is waging war on his own people.

PFLP Condemns the Gaddafi Regime's Massacres against the Libyan People by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine 22 February 2011 :

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine demanded an immediate end to the bombardment and massacres against the heroic Libyan people, condemning the killing of demonstrators committed by the Gaddafi regime.
The PFLP demanded the protection of the Libyan people and their rights, and emphasized its support for the demands of the people of Libya and the Arab masses for freedom, human and national dignity, democracy, social justice, and the fight against corruption and dictatorship.
The Front demanded an immediate end to the bloody aggression and oppression and called upon all forces for rights and human dignity in the Arab world and relevant international institutions to act immediately to stop the shedding of Arab blood in the fields and streets of Libya, saying that the criminal regime cares for nothing but its own rule and livelihood at the expense of the enslavement of the homeland and its people.
The Front called for broad humanitarian and national solidarity with the people of Libya, calling upon all to participate in the rally called for by the Network of NGOs and National and Islamic Forces in Manara Square in Ramallah, calling for an end to occupation and division and solidarity with the Arabs in Libya and the Arab masses in all countries.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/pflp260211.html

Hezbollah Statement on the "Crimes Committed by the Gaddafi Regime" in Libya by Al-Manar TV

Hezbollah lashed out Monday at the "crimes committed by the Gaddafi regime" in Libya.

"Anyone with honor and consciousness in this world cannot, and should not, keep silent on the massacres that the Gaddafi regime is committing across the country on a daily basis, especially in Benghazi.  Terror and violence do not protect a regime that was founded on corruption and crime, from the will and determination of a people that has taken its decisive decision," a Hezbollah statement read.
"Hezbollah firmly condemns crimes committed by the Gaddafi regime against the oppressed Libyan people.  We also offer our sincere condolences to the families of those who were unjustly killed, just for demanding their rights.  Hezbollah expresses support to the revolutionists in Libya and we pray that they will triumph over this arrogant tyrant," the statement added.
"The criminality of this tyrant had first struck us deeply as Lebanese, when he kidnapped the Imam of the resistance Sayyed Moussa Sadr with his two dear companions.  We ask Almighty Allah that the honorable revolutionists in Libya would be able to liberate Imam Sadr and his companions, just as they would be able to free Libya from all of its chains," the statement concluded.

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/hezbollah210211.html