The following talks recorded at forums in the first half of 2008 have just been added to the Spark Audio archive.
John Edmundson
What future for Palestine?
Phil Ferguson
Iraq five years on
Nick Scullin
The present war in Afghanistan
Anzac Day: what are we celebrating?
Australian soldiers in East Timor: the Anzac myth plays a major role in legitimising this sort of imperialist military intervention
Every year we are told that the young men whose lives were snuffed out at Gallipoli died gloriously for our freedom. We are told that the “liberties” we supposedly enjoy in New Zealand today exist only because of the sacrifice of these soldiers. The message is that the soldiers’ deaths were worth it, and that the cause they died for was just.
There is no nice way to say this: it’s all lies.