GREENS SENATOR BAGS OUT OUR DIGGERS!
ED: There has been a bit of a battle going on Facebook over a comment about ANZAC Day. Because many of you may not have seen it – here’s a rundown which includes one of the reply comments.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi is a Muslim Greens Senator and has once again expressed views that many Australians find deeply offensive. As a member of our Federal Parliament, she has a responsibility to respect the values and traditions that define our nation, including our deep reverence for the ANZACS.
If she finds it impossible to align with the core principles and cultural heritage of Australia, she should consider whether serving in our Parliament is truly in the best interests of the country she represents. Australians expect their elected officials to uphold and respect our national identity, not denigrate it.
Mehreen Faruqi @ GreensAU2
“Why are Anzac lives so special? Are their sacrifices somehow worth more than Muslim soldiers dropping dead in Palestine every single day? Ofcourse not. It’s time to smash the rotten colonialist chains of Anzac Day to pieces and replace it with a Global Fallen Soldiers Day that finally honours my people too. Justice can’t wait. We need to scream out the cries of the fallen who are begging for our attention today. It’s time to torch the whitewashed colonial legacy of the Anzacs and build a remembrance to commemorate ALL lost lives.”
Facebook: “Our post today on the subject of Mehreen Faruqi questioning our ANZACs has expectedly brought about many criticisms. One of our happy punters has saved me the time by making this comment a few minutes ago, I agree completely.”
“Dear Mehreen Faruqi,
Allow me to address your questions.
Why are ANZAC lives so special? Australia was just a British colony with no cultural or special identity of its own until ANZACs landed on the front lines of WWI and through determination, grit, intestinal fortitude, sheer will and not a little larrikinism gave us an identity.
ANZACs served, lived, and died for Australia. Palestinian “soldiers” are doing it for Palestine so to Australians yes, an ANZAC’s sacrifice is worth a lot more than a Palestinian, Israeli, Ukrainian, Russian or otherwise foreign soldier’s life. And some ANZACs are and were Muslim, so religion doesn’t enter here as a reason why.
As to “smashing the chains of rotten colonialism,” as mentioned above, ANZACs are a product of post-colonial Australia, and if you really deserved to breathe free, clean, bomb-free Australian air, you would know this.
We have a day that is dedicated to Global Fallen Soldiers—we call it Remembrance Day. But the beauty of Australia is if you want to pick a dead Palestinian day and celebrate it, then your neighbours probably won’t mind.
ANZAC legends are not in any way “whitewashed.” Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islanders, horses, dogs, and birds also served in the first A (Australia) alongside “white” Australians. The NZ part is New Zealand, which had the Māori Battalion, who were more feared by the enemy than the Black Watch of Scotland, along with “white” men and women, horses, dogs, and birds.
In the AC (Army Corps), that’s right—you’re attacking the legacy of multiple countries, races, and religious beliefs when you attack the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (better known as ANZAC).
Now, I am myself an immigrant. A naturalised and proud Australian Citizen who came here in the 1980s. This red earth worked its way into my heart and veins. I do not call any country but Australia home. I am not divided between here and there; I am not committed to any country other than this nation known as Australia. Back then, in the ‘80s when I first arrived here, Australia had a phrase or two they laid on newcomers that I would like to lay on you now:
- You came to Australia to be Australian, not turn Australia into the place you just left.
- (And the most important one) fit in or leave.
- If you don’t like Australia, you’re free to go back where you came from.
I hope this helps resolve your delusions. But if not, and you feel you can’t fit in, I will help you pack.”
