20 April 1990. Thought for the Week:
"Faith is power in a very real sense. Though the term is used
loosely, Faith is not mere belief or trust, although these
can be evidence of Faith. Faith is the 'knowledge' of Reality
acquired by an inner spiritual experience. It is this knowledge
of Reality that brings the human mind into communion with
the Universal Mind and the One Source of ALL POWER. Thus Faith
is a dynamic - a power with limitless potentialities depending
upon its quality and conscious realisation."
L.B. Byrne in Faith, Power and Action |
BETRAYING THE ANZAC SPIRITby Eric D. Butler Knightley's reference to "The Anzac Myth", coming at a time when the A.B.C. sunk to a new level of vulgarity by using the Easter Season to present Dr. Barbara Thiering's interpretation of the traditional Christian story as allegedly revealed by the Dead Sea Scrolls, raises the generally misunderstood nature of myths and their vital role in the human drama. What needs to be grasped is the nature of myths and the use to which they are put. There is, for example, the "Chosen Race" myth, which treats people as a collectivity to be used by "leaders" against the best interests of the individual. Any realistic discussion of the subject of myths must start with a definition of the term. An examination of the Greek derivation mythos shows that the word simply means a story, neither an untrue nor a "true" story, but just a story. Christ's use of stories in the form of parables was a method of conveying an understanding of truths at that time. A generation brought up on Aesop's stories will testify to the great benefit they derived from the wisdom and values conveyed by these stories. Now it is certainly true that from a strictly military point of view, Gallipoli was a disaster of the greatest magnitude. The bungling was appalling. There was a tragic loss of life, not only of Australians and New Zealanders, but also of British and other Empire troops. Gallipoli was one of Winston Churchill's many military blunders. But what did the epic of Gallipoli, the manifestation of a type of reckless courage, of incredible resourcefulness, leave behind? The legacy of Gallipoli was that of the spirit, affecting a nation, helping to illuminate the eternal values. What was apparently Christ's ignominious death upon the Cross also appeared to be a complete defeat. But two thousand years of Christianity demonstrated that Christ's teachings so partook of Truth, of Reality, of God, that death was followed by life. Even some of the world's prominent agnostics have said that the world would have been a poorer place without what they believed to be a myth. The story of Gallipoli has, of course, been embellished over the years. But the embellishments are based upon historical fact. In 1914 tens of thousands of young Australians of predominantly Anglo-Saxon Celtic background flocked to heed the call of an Empire, which, with all its faults, appeared to be the harbinger of a better world. Many of these volunteers were British immigrants, like the legendary Simpson Kilpatrick, who with his donkey led a charmed life for 23 days bringing scores of wounded men down the deadly Shrapnall Gully. "Greater love hath no man than this that he would lay down his own life for his friend." The legend of Simpson and his donkey has been an inspiration to those who have heard it. Yes, the legend has taken on a mythology of its own, but to debunk it is a wounding of the spirit. A nation that forgets its past has no future. Anzac Day is a time to remember, to reflect on the past, with all its mistakes as well as its great achievements. It is an appropriate time to recall that Australians who served in the First World War were all volunteers, and that in the middle of that conflict Australia's politicians permitted the Australian people to have a say about whether or not they would accept conscription to provide more manpower for the murderous trench warfare in Western Europe. Not surprisingly there were bitter divisions at a time when Australian casualties were running high and the end of the conflict did not appear to be in sight. But the politicians did agree that the Australian people should have a say in this matter. Today's politicians refuse to let the Australian people have a say on the life or death issue of immigration. One of the less known stories of Gallipoli is the alleged comment by the Turkish officer who, during a short armistice to allow both sides to bury their dead, said, "Curse all politicians who make wars in which good men die." The only way to assess any myths is by looking carefully at the purpose they serve. Any myth, which requires constant organisation to sustain it, obviously is not true. If myths are to be disturbed, what about starting with the money myth, one of the most deadly of all myths? I do not anticipate the A.B.C. spending hundreds of millions of dollars providing a programme on this type of myth! As a national symbol, Anzac Day offers an inspiring message concerning free men offering their lives in defence of an ideal far superior to that offered by those who, unless checked, will continue to attempt to drive Mankind towards some type of a World State. This is a time to say, again, "Lest we forget", and to remember, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance". |
BRIEF COMMENTSA report from Jerusalem states that it is estimated that 100,000 Soviet Jews will migrate to Israel this year. This mass exodus from the Soviet, financed in the main by the international Zionist movement, has been hailed by former terrorist Israeli Prime Minister Shamir as "the fulfillment of the biblical prophecy..." In his carefully documented work, The Thirteenth Tribe, the famous Jewish writer, the late Arthur Koestler, documents from the great majority of people described as Jews, particularly those from Russia, cannot even trace their origins back to Biblical times. Koestler's book is now difficult to obtain. In his classic work, The Zionist Connection, the American Jewish expert on the Middle East, Dr. Alfred Lilienthal, predicted that the Zionist leaders regarded Russian Jewry as a type of reserve force to be used when necessary to strengthen Israel. Such a policy can only lead to further friction in the Middle East, with Palestinian fears further increased by the act of Jewish settlers taking over Christian shrines in Jerusalem during Easter. Former Queensland Senator John Stone is a man who exudes confidence in himself and his abilities, and no doubt felt that his election to the House of Representatives was so certain in what was once a safe National Party electorate, that he was quite safe to promise that if not elected he would not seek to return to the Senate. John Stone's subsequent verbal gymnastics seeking to explain why he should not keep his original promise do him no credit. It is appropriate to recall that John Stone was the man who seconded and endorsed the outrageous smear of the League of Rights by fellow Nationalist Senator Ron Boswell on April 27th, 1988. One of Senator Boswell's more absurd claims was that the League of Rights was denigrating the democratic system. It would be instructive to hear what the good Senator thinks of John Stone's contribution towards improving the image of party politicians. Generally unreported was the massive electoral swing against Prime Minister Hawke in his own electorate of Wills. Although Mr. Hawke continues as Prime Minister, he has not as yet been formally declared the winner in Wills, which will be the last to be declared in Victoria. At last count before Easter, Mr. Hawke needed five sets of preferences to pass the 50 percent plus one required for victory, without having to draw upon the preferences of the Australian Democrats. The swing against Hawke was approximately 11 percent. |
NOW FOR THE 'NICE CHAPS' OF THE OPPOSITIONIn terms of conventional politics, new Federal Liberal leader Dr. Hewson has probably made the best of the talent available to him for his Shadow Ministry. Dr. Hewson presents a new face with a fresh style and is claimed to be a "nice chap". We wait with interest, but little confidence, to see what Dr. Hewson and his fellow "nice guys" like Mr. Ian McLachland offer as constructive proposals for moving Australia off the economic disaster course on which it is moving at an accelerating rate. But to his credit Dr. Hewson has already raised the basic immigration issue with an appeal for a "rational" and "open" debate on the economic implications of Australia's present immigration policy. Mr. John Howard, new Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations, also took up the same theme last weekend, but being careful to steer clear of his remarks about Asian immigration when he was leader of the Liberal Party. However, it was left to the new leader of the National Party, Mr. Tim Fischer, to go further with a statement that social as well as economic aspects of immigration should be debated. In a refreshingly blunt statement, as reported in The Age of April 15th, Mr. Fischer said, "Australia has the absolute right to decide who comes here, and we would be absolutely crazy if we did not have an eye to the need to maintain cohesion and harmony within Australia and to take into account all other factors." Generally described as a '' surprise'' choice of leader for the National Party, hopefully Mr. Fischer will make some more surprise statements similar to that on immigration. We strongly support "open debate", but much more important would be a direct say for the Australian people. |
FAMILIES AT RISKfrom The Australian, March 30th "Robyn Barrow, Executive Director W.A. Council of Social Sciences (Letters, 5/3) is wrong on two points. "First, she alleges that the critics of the Convention on Rights of the Child are concerned about the rights of parents. They are concerned about the duties and responsibilities of parents (particularly Christian parents) in the nurture and care of children. "Second, she is wrong in her categorical assertions that the position of the parent is adequately safeguarded. There are provisions in the Convention, which confer rights on the child and also recognise the importance of the family and parents. On a more favourable construction this leads to a conflict, which has to be resolved. On another construction (and that is my view) the rights of children are stated with greater emphasis than is the role and recognition given to parent and family."Problems of interpretation arise in relation to conflicting provisions as well as to provisions which confer rights to children subject to often vague and imprecisely drafted qualifications. The Convention provides no clear guidelines as to how problems of interpretation should be resolved. "In this context, the welfare workers and other bureaucrats, anti-family activists and children may take particular provisions of the Convention and rely on them to undermine and eventually destroy the family. "The Convention is unfortunately supported by people who are not anti-family. But they do not recognise its implications and how it can be used." (Professor) L.J.M. Cooray, Beecroft, N.S.W.) |
THE CHIEF IS THE CHIEFfrom The Australian, April 6th "Your leader (2/4) says Robert Mugabe is 'misguided'. "He isn't misguided. He's African. Because he's African, democracy as we understand it is a meaningless concept. To argue, as your writer does, that Mugabe should learn from the breakdown of Marxist/ Communist regimes in Eastern Europe is just plain silly. "What happens in Eastern Europe, or anywhere else, has no relevance for Zimbabwe. Africans don't want democracy. They want and need a strong, high profile, maybe even ruthless, leader. And having got their leader, they expect him to stay. "From the African point of view, Mugabe has done all the right things. His 'Fifth Brigade' dealt firmly with the rebellious rumblings in Matabeleland. "The vast majority acclaimed him as 'Chief' in 1985. They can see absolutely no point in going to the polls in 1990 just to vote him in again. Hence the very low voter turnout. "To us, it's reasonable for our leaders to put their jobs on the line every few years. To the African, this idea is totally incomprehensible. The Chief is the Chief. He doesn't put his job on the line - ever. "The one party State, the Dictator, the President for life makes sense in the African context and no amount of wishful thinking will change things. "Will the West ever learn to leave Africa alone?" (Richard J. Robson, Edgecliff, N.S.W.) |
THE BIG VOTING DRIFTfrom The Australian, April 9th "It was inevitable that your editorial statement, 'Mr. Mack's pledge to vote on legislation according to the wishes of the electors is ominous should be attacked (Letters, 30/3). Most readers would wonder how on earth else he was supposed to vote. "Yet your attitude complies much more closely with the original intention of the Constitution. The framers of this document envisaged that regional interests would be catered for by those elected to the Senate. "Senators would thus be expected to look after the particular interests of their own State. Those elected to the House of Representatives were expected to vote on behalf of all Australians. "The only reason for dividing Australia into various electorates for the House of Representatives was to give voters the best chance of choosing someone suitable. It was assumed that if candidates lived locally they would be well known locally and the opportunity for voters to pick the best person to act in the national interest would be maximised. "It is laughable when you think how far we have drifted from that concept today. "Ted Mack is more encouraging when he states that his main aim is to introduce citizen initiated referendums and that if he achieves nothing else that will be enough. I, for one, hope he will prove a vigorous salesman for his cause. (Jocelyn Maxwell, Wollstonecraft, N.S.W.) |
UPPER HOUSESfrom The Advertiser (Adelaide), 23/12/1989 "Rex Jory, in proposing the abolition of the Legislative Council, surely forgets the Queensland experience where Labor abolished the Legislative Council against the wishes of the people. "Absolute power results in abuses, but an upper house finely balanced can prevent a government riding roughshod over the community. "I shudder to think where South Australia would be with a Labor government in complete control and able to push through laws, unchecked-laws relating to such matters as industrial conciliation and arbitration, WorkCover, Country Fire Services and pastoral lands. "Without the Legislative Council there would not have been the detailed exposure of the South Australian Timber Corporation's disastrous losses in New Zealand or the proposed Marineland Select Committee. "In the last brief session of Parliament before the election, of the 29 bills passed, the Legislative Council successfully amended 10 with 99 amendments achieved - not the record of a house with no further use. "No system is perfect and the resources to the members of the Legislative Council to do their job are almost non-existent, but a significant majority of South Australians would prefer some check on a government's use of power rather than an open slather." (K. Trevor Griffin, M.L.C., Liberal Legal Services Spokesperson, S.A.) |
HIGH-TECH CITY COPIES ANCIENT TROJAN HORSEfrom The Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton, Qld., 22/3 "During the dying days of the election campaign it appeared to be suddenly discovered and revealed by Mr. Peacock that there was a proposal in the air to build in Australia a Japanese enclave called the multi-function polis. "In commenting on this astonishing revelation Mrs. Haines said that few people knew about it. Why? Was there a conspiracy of silence among the retiring Members of Parliament, but Peacock let the cat out of the bag and set it among the pigeons. "Mr. Hawke's reaction was to swear at Peacock, 'racist', which Andrew, with great embarrassment, denied. Why is it racist for people of Caucasian extraction to defend their ancestors, yet the Japanese, Malaysians and Singaporeans, just to name a few, can even expel people of different ethnic origins? In Australia, we Anglo-Celts are called 'racists', while anyone else is 'ethnic'."The concept of an M.F.P. is a city of advanced technology within the territory of Australia and inhabited predominantly by Japanese. "A genuine copy of the Trojan Horse to further open the flood gates to Asian immigration. Big business is all in favour (witness John Elliott's reaction to Peacock's statement) because of the $$$ signs written all over it. "Bob Hawke's stated view is that it will provide us with overseas technology. Within living memory Paul Keating was saying his economic policies were designed to attract overseas capital. Three forms of cargo cult! We have no need of any of them. "Australia was once a world leader in technology, but economic policy in this country is driving a lot of initiative and talent off-shore. "If our economy was tuned to reality we could go about our business without all this cut and thrust, without the cargo cult-like worship of money." (Ron Fischer, Capella, Qld.) |