Contributed by Joe Montero

This is ANZAC Day, and thousands will be turning their attention to remerging those soldiers who died in wars, from the Landing at Gallipoli to the present. Some will event go to the pub afterwards for a beer or two, and maybe a game of Two-Up.

Those whose lives were snatched away should be remembered. The occasion should serve to consider the horror and terrible waste of war, and as a lesson not to send Australia’s youth overseas for the wrong reason.

Gallipoli is a case in point. The slaughter there was not about protecting Australia and freedom. It was about backing British colonialism’s effort to prevent the people of Türkiye from being their own masters. Earlier British attacks had forced Türkiye into a pact with Germany for its self-defence. When World War One broke out, this pact was activated. The war itself was about competition of a handful Western powers for colonies and spheres of influence turning to violent means. It was not about defending freedom.

Photo from the National Museum Australia: Trench at Lone Pine after the battle, showing Australian and Turkish dead on the parapet, in August 1915

For many of those who were in Gallipoli, Egypt, and Europe, the experience was transformative. They came back angry at what had been done to them, against war and the British Empire, and to politicians that had pinned a medal on their chests and quickly cast them aside. Veterans had often been radicalised their experience and became the backbone on the union movement and contributed to the anti-conscription movement that brought down a government. Thousands joined the Labor Party or a few years later, became founders of the Communist party of Australia.

Everyone has heard of the story about Simpson and his donkey. John Simpson Kirpatrick, which was his real name, is celebrated for his bravery in transporting injured Australian soldiers from the battlefield. The rest of the story is that he had refused to kill and ended up in his non-combat role because of this. His refusal to shoot other human beings for King and Empire was the core of his bravery. Simpson became politically active of his return to Australia, as a lifelong fighter for socialism.

John Simpson Kirpatrick

Another was Victoria Cross winner, Hugo Throssell. He was shot in the neck on Hill 60 at Gallipoli in 1915 and survived. He was sent to Egypt in 1917. While it was possible for men “to profit by war, we will always have war,” he wrote to his wife. And he advocated for society’s reorganisation “for the wellbeing of the community as a whole.”

Hugo Throssell in hospital after being wounded

In case anyone should think that these are isolated cases, the often-celebrated disrespect by Australian soldiers to their officers and their orders was born out of discontent breeding alienation from the brass, a government that sent them to war on lies, and opposition the Crown and Empire. Evidence of this is in many of the letters sent home by the soldiers.

This side of the Gallipoli story has been buried by those who sanitise it and use it to promote the very thing that the Diggers stood against. The use of jingoism to promote the glory of war, racism, blind obedience, and wish to use Australian youth as the cannon fodder for someone else’s empire. This is why they hide the real story.

Since the Second World War, Australian youth has been sent to die for the American empire’s push for global dominate. It began with Korea, was followed by to Vietnam, and then from Iraq to Afghanistan. In every case, it was war waged against the people of another country, and where Australia had no business in being involved.

Photo from AP: Australian soldiers in Vietnam

At be range of official events, noting will be said about the true legacy of ANZAC. Nothing will be aid about opposing the drive to war today, and the holocaust being inflicted on Gaza, with political and military support from the Australian political establishment.

All of this underscores an ongoing semi-colonial status. We must never forget this.

ANZAC Day should be an occasion to remind us that we must once and for all stand up as a truly sovereign nation to forge our own destiny and be a force for harmony between the peoples of the world and an agent for peace.