That poppy time of year

[pebblerocker]

It was Anzac Day this week and the entire town is a sea of paper poppies and plywood poppies and crocheted poppies. Poppies on trees and poppies on churches and poppies on kindergartens.

Outside a childcare centre I saw a noticeboard which said "In lieu of Anzac Day..." and I had to turn back and read it, because that is not a phrase one expects to see in these nationalistic times. Could it be that this particular childcare centre is run by people who thinks glorification of war is an inappropriate thing to teach small children? Perhaps they were planning a celebration of international friendship and co-operation in lieu of Anzac Day? No, it turned out to be a request for parents to bring in photos of soldier ancestors for the children to stick on a commemoration wall, written by someone who thought "in lieu of Anzac Day" was a fancy way to say "for Anzac Day".

Ten or fifteen years ago we didn't have this sort of nationalistic fervour. I remember when Anzac Day was just something old people did, people who had lived through wars, and newspaper columnists worried about the dwindling numbers attending dawn parades and whether the whole thing was about to die out. It's very strange how things have turned around.

Comments

[quabazaa]

I'm uncomfortable with the tone as well, especially here in Aus where some people drink all night and then go to the dawn service. My family have never been big on the day because my grandfather who did serve asked us not to go. He never liked the posturing of people showing off their medals and no doubt he wouldn't like the atmosphere now. Even the ANZAC/Gallipoli exhibition at Te Papa felt weird to me, there was no mention of the Turkish who also suffered, it felt like it was glorifying our role too much and seemed very one-sided to me. I'm glad we remember and commemorate but I don't feel super comfortable with the way it's being done.

[pebblerocker]

Yes, the one-sidedness. And it being all about the soldiers who died and not about everyone else - the people whose country was affected (as ours wasn't), the ordinary people who were hurt and killed in war, as if their lives weren't anything to do with it.

The big event at Gallipoli is very, very big on the military performance aspects, but I liked it better than the local ones, because it can't leave out the Turkish part of the story.

[quabazaa]

Yes exactly, I would love it to include the ordinary people as well, and all soldiers not just our own. I'm watching the TV show "The French Village" about a village in France during the occupation during WWII. It's fascinating and really gives a window into the lives of ordinary people during that time, though dramatised. I feel like it's a part of history we don't often learn about. Highly recommended!

On 28 April 2017 at 17:34, pebblerocker - DW Comment <dw_null@dreamwidth.org</p>