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What do we celebrate in Anzac Day?

Anzac Day is celebrated with pride every year. Like zombies, the old and young wake up before the sun has even set its alarm; we congregate around cenotaphs under artillery siege. There are the trumpets we have come to associate with war and the smell of gunfire fills the uniformed crowd like fog. If the event – our national, unifying, event – is so war-clad, how can we not say it is a celebration of war?

Red and Starry-Eyed has many issues with Anzac Day. Why do we wear a national massacre with pride? Gallipoli was a badly-planned invasion that backfired. New Zealand lost a quarter of the troops who disembarked. In total 120,000 New Zealanders fought in the “Great War”, more than 10% of our population at the time – and of these around 18,052 died. It was meant to be the war that ended all wars; alas, it wasn’t. This was only an excuse to get troops conscripted.

Some New Zealand streets are still lined with crosses to remember the fallen, but many don’t understand that World War I was an imperial war, and far from being our nation’s birthmark it showed our submission to Britain. The nation lost much more than it won. After the war we were plagued by joblessness, the Spanish flu and despair.

When Anzac Day was first celebrated, it was in memory of our great-grandfathers – we should remember them. Lest we forget many did not want to go. From 1916 there was forced conscription for Pakeha, from 1917 for Maori. This only led to more deaths, or mass imprisonment for those who refused.

Anzac Day is now a celebration of all our wars and all our fallen. We have not learnt from our mistakes; in fact we cherish our international involvement in Afghanistan for “peacekeeping”, we were commanded into Iraq by the US and we have had a constant involvement in the Pacific. Lately it has only been in “reconstruction efforts”, but always imposing a presence to our expense, and aiding civilian deaths.

Our involvement in World War I should not be a thing of pride. Why don’t we remember the conscientious objectors? Or reflect on the overall casualty rate? Every war we fight will lead to another one, with more innocent deaths. It’s time to let go of the artillery and use Anzac Day as a textbook example of why we should not fight.

—Red and Starry Eyed