ANZAC 4 SALE

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, April 21st, 2015 - 37 comments
Categories: capitalism, defence, iraq, journalism, war - Tags: ,

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Has the spirit of ANZAC Day become subsumed by the commercial imperative? 

How disgusting it was yesterday to see John Key defending Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot’s branding of the joint Kiwi/Aussie Iraqi venture with the “ANZAC” label. While there are one or two similarities – the Kiwi/Aussie joint force is a small component of a much larger force being run by an overarching imperialist nation, for example – the differences are so vast as to render the “splendid sons of ANZACs” branding little more than war mongering propaganda. That it fits in quite nicely with the weekend’s fear mongering propaganda speaks of co-ordinated effort to gather the hearts and minds of New Zealanders to support this murderous corporate venture to secure oil reserves and maintain munition sales.

But its not just our government which is looking to assist multi-national corporations make profits by employing the ANZAC brand. Earlier this year, Australian banksters at ASB arranged as awful an example of native advertising as has ever been seen. That was pretty cheeky of the ASB because the Returned Services Association had already teamed up with the Australian banksters at ANZ. 

Another crew of dodgy Australians looking to profit from ANZAC branding here in New Zealand is SkyCity. WTF? After the way that company rorted itself a prize piece of central-city land and a 30 year licence to print money it now expects us to feel all warm and gooey because its using the poppy image to highlight its penile presence towering over Auckland. Crazy. There’s also various manufacturers getting into the act with special biscuits in special tins and special chocolates with special packaging. There’s even Trelise Cooper special poppy iPhone covers and wrist bands . . . the list goes on and on. 

Check out what the Xenu-fearing Scientologists tried on with a fund-raising venture for its Auckland HQ . . . 

anzac

anzac 2

 

. . . truly enturbulating!

Happily, in the last instance, the Australian RSL got onto this tiny aspect of the much larger Scientology fraud pretty smartly. The Veteran Affairs Minister Senator Michael Ronaldson delivered a well-deserved bollocking last year. His New Zealand counterpart, Craig “Novopay” Foss,  didn’t have anything to say.  Not surprising, really; National Ltd™ has always had a soft spot for chancers on the make, especially when they help out with PR-ing unpopular decisions. Just ask Tony Abbott. 

Its all just seems such a shame. Not only are we in a somnambulant march to hand over the freedoms our ANZACs died believing they were protecting, we are slowly replacing a solemn remembrance of their sacrifice and example with more war mongering in subservience to corporate profit making.  

37 comments on “ANZAC 4 SALE ”

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  1. Sanctuary 1
    21 April 2015 at 8:21 am

    The problem with politicising ANZAC day it it makes ANZAC day a legitimate target for political protest.

    • Draco T Bastard 1.1
      21 April 2015 at 8:33 am

      That doesn’t seem like a problem to me. ANZAC Day has always been political as it was a political decision to go in the first place.

      • Tiger Mountain 1.1.1
        21 April 2015 at 9:13 am

        parliament apparently did not vote to participate in the imperialist European WWI, it was an executive decision on the back of a letter from King George V.

        ANZAC gives me the shivers when young people treat it like going to the sevens or such like.

        Dawn parades did get heated while the Vietnam war was on when opponents tried to place wreaths etc and RSA members pushed back, and in the 80s when peace movement members pushing for a nuke free NZ held vigils and silent protests on ANZAC day.

        • Draco T Bastard 1.1.1.1
          21 April 2015 at 1:27 pm

          Sure, it wasn’t our political decision but it was still a political decision.

      • Ron 1.1.2
        21 April 2015 at 10:00 am

        +100
        Apart from the fact I am heartily sick of all the pro war Anzac material being published in papers on TV and on RNZ. It appears Saturday is going to be ‘donated’ entirely to propaganda supporting wars,
        Hopefully we will get a rest from it all next week but God knows what the papers are going to fill their papers with.

        • Tracey 1.1.2.1
          21 April 2015 at 10:15 am

          Many years ago an Aussie rugby league player (Laurie Daley) donated all of his $5000 match fee from the ANZAC test to the RSA. His reasons? He was paid enough and laying for Australia was honour enough, and the people who fought for Australia had done far more than he ever would. A rare insight from a sport figure. Stayed with me.

        • greywarshark 1.1.2.2
          21 April 2015 at 11:49 am

          I haven’t checked the papers yet – they usually have a list of observance sites and times for Anzac, but now I am told it is on the 27th. Or perhaps this is just the extra Monday tacked on as a holiday. I’m confused – the 25th has alwaysns been Anzac Day.

          • Tiger Mountain 1.1.2.2.1
            21 April 2015 at 11:57 am

            it has been “Mondayised”, meaning if the 25th falls on a weekend day as per this year, the immediately following Monday is a public holiday

          • millsy 1.1.2.2.2
            21 April 2015 at 5:28 pm

            Thank you David Clark…..

    • Stephanie Rodgers 1.2
      21 April 2015 at 10:23 am

      The problem with insisting that ANZAC Day is unpolitical is that that’s an inherently political stance.

  2. jenny kirk 2
    21 April 2015 at 8:23 am

    Colin James has a reasonable antidote to all that “glorification” and commercialisation – refreshing to read – especially his last sentence. Here’s the link

    http://www.colinjames.co.nz/mateship-sacrifice-a-fair-go-and-all-that/

    • Tracey 2.1
      21 April 2015 at 9:32 am

      well said

    • Clemgeopin 2.2
      21 April 2015 at 10:29 pm

      From the end of that article:

      “For the soldiers, war on Gallipoli and on the western front did involve courage and mateship and sacrifice (willing or not). It required endurance and resilience, coping with bad food, cramped, insanitary conditions and boredom — those were veterans’ primary recollections in interviews I did as a young journalist brought up on glory stories.

      And they had to survive deafening noise, gas and ubiquitous violent death of mates. Many of those the war did not kill or physically maim it scarred in subtler ways.

      Anzac stands for ordinary folk doing extraordinary things under duress. That is the true commemoration this weekend.”

  3. Charles 3
    21 April 2015 at 8:35 am

    When I was a kid, shops were closed all day ANZAC Day. Try it now.

    “Oh jesus I’ll go bust!”
    “You damn Commie!”
    “I’d have to fire all my staff to make up the losses!”

    Want to prove ANZAC Day isn’t just commercial? Go back to everyone closed, all day.

    “Oh now look, that’ll cost $2b in new stationery…”
    “We already have the flag debarcle, now you want another referendum!”
    “Why should I have to… (do anything about anything) ..?”

    Yeah. Thought so.

    • mary_a 3.1
      21 April 2015 at 11:50 am

      @ Charles (3) – we must be of the same generation, because I remember the same, when businesses were closed on ANZAC Day as a sign of respect for what the day represented.

      Now I see if ANZAC Day falls on a weekend, the following Monday will be yet another public holiday, which no doubt will see the shopping malls full of commercial trading. If that is going to be the case for the future, then how about the shops being closed all day on that particular holiday Monday?

  4. infused 4
    21 April 2015 at 9:05 am

    Yes BLIP, we know you hate John Key/National.

    [lprent: Read the damn post first then engage your inner bigot after you finish reading it. ]

    • felix 4.1
      21 April 2015 at 9:21 am

      Dude, you really should start reading the posts before commenting.

      • Tracey 4.1.1
        21 April 2015 at 10:14 am

        This is why Nat supporters are so big on the three R’s. Many of them failed them at school and now see the importance.

    • infused 4.2
      21 April 2015 at 2:00 pm

      I did.

      National Inc/LTD as BLIP uses in virtually every post, which is really just a ploy to google bomb to push his own posts elsewhere.

      Yeah, not hard to see through at all.

      [lprent: You obviously either don’t understand google-bombing or you are having a go at BLip. I think the latter is far more likely based on your previous technical comments and as BLip doesn’t post elsewhere.

      Since you know the policy, banned for a month. A couple of weeks for attacking an author on their post, and more weeks for suggesting an ulterior motivation. ]

      • felix 4.2.1
        21 April 2015 at 2:21 pm

        That’s weird, I thought you said it was all about hating John Key. Now you say it’s all about google ranking.

        I guess you still haven’t read it.

  5. dukeofurl 5
    21 April 2015 at 10:09 am

    Regarding the ASB;

    “. Earlier this year, Australian banksters at ASB arranged as awful an example of native advertising as has ever been seen. ”

    Often the reason the young unmarried went off to fight, is that they were sacked if they didnt enlist.

    Stevan Eldred-Grigg’s The Great Wrong War ( a very pro german view of the War in NZ)

  6. Clemgeopin 6
    21 April 2015 at 10:36 am

    Thanks for that excellent article, Blip. Made me cringe. Their behaviour is vomit worthy.

    We are being fooled by a set of very wealthy ‘so called leaders’ who would never send their own privileged kids to go and fight on our behalf in distant dangerous lands.

    We are being taken advantage of by our government and the crooked money-hungry corporates working for their shareholders.

    We are all being ruled and screwed by a set of awful arse holes.

  7. shorts 7
    21 April 2015 at 10:38 am

    I fear those trying to keep ANZAC day non commercial and for the purposes it is designed might be fighting a rear guard action… and to be honest I’m not sure its a battle worth worrying too much about…

    Patriotism and wars of stupid which took so many lives from us here, our allies and those we fought should be terrible lessons of history not propagandafests that play on a sense of nationhood that is more historic than anything

    Lest We Forget

  8. JonL 8
    21 April 2015 at 10:50 am

    “Has the spirit of ANZAC Day become subsumed by the commercial imperative? ”

    EVERYTHING has become subsumed by the commercial imperative!

    Thank you NeoCons for destroying the dreams of my youth!

  9. Philip Ferguson 9
    21 April 2015 at 11:02 am

    A reminder of what Gallipoli was actually about:
    https://rdln.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/gallipoli-invasion-a-dirty-and-bloody-business/

    Phil

    • Clemgeopin 9.1
      21 April 2015 at 11:53 am

      That was such a thought provoking article! Thanks phil.

      One should read the full article to understand the truth about that war.

      Impressive. Read it!

  10. Philip Ferguson 10
    21 April 2015 at 11:05 am

    And a reminder of what NZ involvement in World War I meant for the people of (western) Samoa: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2011/08/28/samoa-what-new-zealand-did/

    Phil

  11. saveNZ 11
    21 April 2015 at 11:34 am

    Fabulous sum up Blip.

  12. Paul Campbell 12
    21 April 2015 at 12:35 pm

    Let’s not forget that the New Zealand government has already held a commission of inquiry into Scientology all the way back in 1969

    http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Cowen/audit/nzhome.html

    it found against them on all counts – they’re a scary bunch, adept at separating people from their money and their families – seeing them claim ANZAC as their own is completely in character – remember it’s all because they convince themselves that they are haunted by space aliens – tell your friends and family to give them a wide berth

  13. Stickler 13
    21 April 2015 at 12:35 pm

    Your concerns are quite correct, but let me address the sugar issue.

    As you say, various manufacturers are bringing out their own versions of biscuits and confectionery under the term “Anzac”, seeing yet another opportunity to turn a serious commemoration into a festival of sugar consumption.

    The sugar-peddlers have already got Easter and Christmas, and from the Yanks they made sure New Zealand was force-fed Valentine’s Day and Halloween to fill seasonal lulls in sugar consumption. I’ll bet they’re eyeing up their chances with Matariki; that would fill a midwinter marketing gap.

    The original biscuits made for soldiers had to withstand weeks if not months at sea, and were more like hard tack. Yet on cooking websites, and TradeMe, birdbrains are offering up Anzac slices and cakes, and virtually any baked good with a scattering of oatmeal or a dab of golden syrup is now being being rechristened “Anzac” this or that. What do they think they are achieving? Finding a role for women in the testosterone-festival that is Anzac Day?

    Will our only form of commemorating anything in future be by shoving more sugar down our diabetic gobs?
    How does this commemorate all those mothers’ sons sent to their deaths by the wrong people, in the wrong place, and for the wrong reasons?

  14. idlegus 14
    21 April 2015 at 3:37 pm

    “I see Tony Abbott is exploiting the memory of Anzac soldiers to try to justify sending our soldiers to fight in Iraq, by calling them the ‘splendid sons of Gallipoli.’
    I sincerely hope their mission in Iraq is not a disastrous failure, as Gallipoli was.” Sue Kedgely.

  15. Jessica Parsons 15
    21 April 2015 at 4:43 pm

    Well, they’re selling commemorative ANZAC chocolate helmets at the supermarkets…

    Whaddya reckon?

    “Lest we forget” is just a bunch of hot air now.

  16. millsy 16
    21 April 2015 at 5:27 pm

    It seem to be all about the glorification of war and the the recasting of the ANZACs as legendary demi-gods (some times unfavourably comparing todays ‘decadent and lazy’ youth to them).

    The whole thing leaves me uneasy. Why cant we get this worked up about more positive things, like the passing of the 1938 Social Security Act, or the building of the first state house, or free secondary education?

  17. Clemgeopin 17
    21 April 2015 at 10:03 pm

    * “Australians and New Zealanders are being urged by Key and Abbott to turn out in force on Anzac Day to show they are not cowed by Islamic State terror plots”

    What has ANZAC day to do with Islamic state terror plots? They are two completely different unconnected issues. It shows that Key and Abbott either do not really understand what the war was about at all or they are simply milking it for their own ends. Am I correct?

    * “The best thing Australians and New Zealanders can do is to turn up in very large numbers at Anzac events, wherever they are, to support our values, our interests, our armed forces,” Abbott said.

    No, that is NOT the purpose of ANZAC commemorator at all! Is it?

    * “The soldiers being deployed to Iraq were referred to as the “sons of Anzacs”

    Sons of Anzacs? Really?

    * ” Key, Abbot and other leaders will be meeting at a special gathering at Gallipoli”

    Milk away!…and more photo ops and political exploitation of the solemn commemoration! Isn’t it?

    • BLiP 17.1
      21 April 2015 at 10:25 pm

      ‘

      Cunning, isn’t it? Even if ISIS didn’t exist and it was all peace, love and hugs in the Middle East, there would still be a massive turn out of Kiwis for this, the Centenary of the Gallipoli masssacre. What John Key and Tony Abbot are doing is seeking to frame that inevitable turn out as a show of support for their sending of troops into Iraq. The leveraging of inevitable events in order to portray something other than what they really are is a play straight out of the Crosby Textor Book of Black Arts.

      Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if both Abbott and Key were to pop up in Iraq on ANZAC Day with our brave troops for the photo-op of the year. Its only a 20 minute fighter jet trip from Turkey.

  18. Dont worry. Be happy 18
    22 April 2015 at 8:36 am

    Lest we forget eh? Let us remember then that they did not “fall”….they were gassed, blown apart, drowned, starved, shot and left to die, driven mad, blinded, maimed, burned alive….they did not “fight for our freedoms” ..they were tricked or forced to fight for Empire’s riches and King’s ambitions. They came to despise those, who from a safe distance, pushed War and Glory and Noble Sacrifice and found it in their hearts to respect their enemy, similarly lied to. And if you want to “remember” the bullshit NZ experienced surrounding this sickening industrial murdering 100 years ago listen to our current media and the current cowardly crop of “leaders” going all respectful and maudlin and patriotic with their dirty money grabbing hands all over anything ANZAC.

    On ANZAC day I remember the men in my family in my heart. And I stand in awe of and honour the decent lives that they built, solidly day after day, on their return from POW camps, the Pacific, the bombing raids and the killing fields of France.

    No dawn parades for me.

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