Some choice quotes:
[7:26, from an ex-NSN neo-Nazi in the March for Australia recap voice chat] “What surprised me is like, how handsy people got. I had someone pushing me in the back. I had another guy […] threatening to punch my friend’s teeth in.”
Anecdotally, some had veterans grabbing their mouths to shut them up. Many people completely unfamiliar with the group reported that it was obvious they’d divided into tiny clusters of 4 spread in the crowd to avoid being shut down easily.
[9:00, same chatroom] “The lesson I’ve taken is we gotta enforce the 1-metre rule very heavily next time” [a self-defense guidance of keeping 1 metre distance from opponents in a fight, in this context their opponents are the crowd of ANZAC veterans and commemorators]
They seem surprised that doing this stunt is alienating them from many nationalists and might push the Overton window away from them.
We also get some prime crying from a Perth idiot pretending they didn’t come in a co-ordinated group to desecrate a commemoration day, ranting to their phone about being moved along by cops. The booing at Perth ended up being clearly only one or two quiet Nazis as a result.
Why anyone would have Welcome To the country on ANZAC dawn service? They are completely unrelated.
A land acknowledgement is relevant to an event held on land. But especially to an event focused on commemoration and respect, of acknowledging war and conflict Australia has been involved in.
Is it appropriate to insult ANZAC veterans and the fallen by saying, “You who fought and died for this country do not belong here, but we welcome you?” I do not think so. “Welcome to country” is only appropriate for occasions such as a citizenship ceremony. Even in such cases it is questionable, because the ceremony is rooted in racism and should not exist in a civilized country.
That’s very different from the impression I get from a Welcome. It almost sounds contradictory? The Welcome, being a welcome, is inherently about including everyone into a traditional connection to wherever we are holding an event - it also includes welcoming indigenous people from other Country - Country here does not mean Australia (Australia is a modern concept), one might consider the word ‘lands’ but the point is it’s not just the land. That article describes in more detail. It’s not about race or ethnicity at all, and it’s really unfortunate that certain strong media influences (e.g. PHON, reactionary commentators) try to misframe it as racist in order to foster discontent.
And from reports on the ground, including those mentioned in the video we’re talking about, ANZAC veterans and families themselves at the ceremonies defended the Welcome ritual by physically attacking those who were booing. They clearly didn’t find the Welcome to be excluding them, or to be an insult. They evidently seem to understand it’s a traditional sign of respect, just like a dawn service is. Both events are an invitation to build connection and respect for our local past.
there’s no the. It’s “Welcome to country”
to translate: It’s an indigenous protocol welcoming people to the land on which they stand. And it is very appropriate to have at a gathering of people brought together for a common purpose.
We have the oldest living culture in human history, fucking embrace it.
Is it appropriate to insult ANZAC veterans and the fallen by saying, “You who fought and died for this country do not belong here, but we welcome you?” I do not think so. “Welcome to country” is only appropriate for occasions such as a citizenship ceremony. Even in such cases it is questionable, because the ceremony is rooted in racism and should not exist in a civilized country.
Nope. Stick that baiting shit right back up your arse. That is not what welcome to country is and you fucking well know it.
For those at home, welcome to country is very much like “we welcome all of you who have gathered here today”. Which you will find seems familiar. Because it gets used a lot. Including at the start of every ANZAC ceremony that i’ve artended in the past 40 odd years.
What TheHolm here is doing is intentionally trying to muddy the waters and oh look, there’s a “racist against our national heroes!!!” card. Rather suss, is it not?
How on EARTH did you get “racist against the troops!!!” out of an aboriginal protocol welcoming people to an ANZAC ceremony?
i get you’re arguing in bad faith but that’s some spectacular gymnastics.