Welcome to this week's editorial. In a week of remembering. Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders "who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations" and "the contribution and suffering of all those who have served". And once again we will see those who make the decisions to send good men and women to war, lay wreaths at dawn that pay respect to those good men and women sent to war by their predecessors, those who returned broken, and those who did not return at all.
There will be no speeches of the horrors that remain in the minds of those who survived, nor will there be apologies for the unjustifiable wars that good men and women of Australia and New Zealand were sent to. Nor will there be any commitment made that good men and women will not be embroiled once again in the matters of fools and kings.
Long gone are the days where leaders led their forces into battle. Now the wars are conspired behind closed doors, by the warmongers who fear out of ignorance, by those who conspire for territory or greed and by those who enjoy the financial windfall of war or at worst want to convert the non-believers to praise their god above any other.
For those who have not heard the final speech of Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator released 31 October 1940:
I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor That's not my business I don't want to rule or conquer anyone I should like to help everyone if possible Jew, Gentile, Black Man, White We all want to help one another, human beings are like that We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery We don't want to hate and despise one another
And this world has room for everyone, and the good Earth is rich and can provide for everyone The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in Machinery that gives us abundance has left us in want
Our knowledge has made us cynical Our cleverness, hard and unkind We think too much, and feel too little More than machinery, we need humanity More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness Without these qualities life will be violent, and all will be lost
The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people And so long as men die, liberty will never perish
Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts!
You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!
Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: "the Kingdom of God is within man" - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people!
Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness Soldiers! In the name of democracy, let us all unite Lest we forget
Lei
