My Anzac Day Heroines

Maybe they were drunk . . . maybe they were delinquents . . . maybe their choice of protest wasn’t the best way to ‘win hearts and minds’ . . . but maybe they’re the last feminists left in Australia with the guts to critique the new Aussie secular religion of Anzac Day.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sydneysiders-turn-out-in-force/2007/04/25/1177180684770.html

Five young women, aged 15 to 17, allegedly vandalised Bathurst's Carillion War Memorial last night. They had painted slogans like "ANZAC murderers" and "Aussies don't fight" in letters a metre high, along with peace symbols.

I'm not applauding graffiti, or damage to public property, but I have to say I rejoiced to find someone was protesting against the monstrous obscenity of war as it is celebrated on Anzac Day, and even more that it was a group of young women.

Seems to me the feminist critique of Anzac Day, and war in general, has become muted to the point of silence. Even women commentators I respect, like Fran Kelly on Radio National, and Geraldine Doogue, all seem keen to hop on the Anzac Day bandwagon.

Lest We Forget - war inevitably involves the death, rape and enforced sexual slavery of WOMEN. And although they try to unearth a few nurses or WACS for each celebration, the fact remains that it is an overwhelmingly masculinist celebration of bogus male virtues like bravery, 'mateship' and self sacrifice, which makes it incredibly difficult for the thousands of men who have been irreparably damaged physically, mentally and emotionally by the horrors of war to admit and then find appropriate treatment for its impact on their lives.

It's no accident that the two main focii of modern Australian nationalism - Anzac Day and the various football codes - render women practically invisible, merely cheering on hegemonic masculinity from the sidelines. Little wonder that Aussie women remain second class citizens, the structural economic and political barriers to their full inclusion and participation in Australian society largely unrecognised and unaddressed.

So I salute those young women who refused to be marginalised and ignored, no matter how many RSL branch presidents they have reduced to tears, or how "inappropriate" their methods - at least they've raised their spray cans in protest, which is more than I've managed to do.