Commemorating war demands remembrance of lives lost, confrontation with difficult facts – and a renewed commitment to peace.
The Australian War Memorial takes money from companies that profit from war.
Weapons companies have vested interests in war. They have no place in the national memorial to our war dead.
Most Australians don’t want weapons companies in the war memorial:
68% of people agree that the Australian War Memorial should not accept money from companies that produce weapons of mass destruction.(Ipsos, March 2022)
Partnerships with companies that profit from war have been described by an AWM former Director, Brendon Kelson, as being “at odds with all the Memorial stands for and an affront to all who served and died for the nation, those who returned with shattered lives and the damaged families left behind.”
“It amounts to an institutional loss of moral compass.”
Image credit: Gordon Short. Australian Leslie ‘Bull’ Allen rescuing a wounded American soldier on Mount Tambu, New Guinea, 30th of July 1943.
Weapons companies donate to the AWM to improve their public image and to curry favor with political insiders.
Weapons companies only donate small amounts of money, but get big benefits.
Image credit: Christopher Pyne/Twitter
The Australian Frontier Wars were fought from 1788 to the 1930s between First Nations people and invading settlers, militia, police, and colonial soldiers.
National institutions like the AWM must recognise these foundational conflicts as worthy of remembrance and understanding.
Listen to Dr Sue Wareham on ABC Radio National on the need for the AWM to commemorate the Frontier Wars.
Telling the truth about wars – even when it is uncomfortable – is essential.
Australia’s expeditionary wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan resulted in untold suffering for combatants and civilians. In Afghanistan, some Australian troops may have committed war crimes.
Meanwhile, people who have told difficult truths about war face persecution.
Truthful remembrance of war can help people and societies reconcile, and help us avoid armed conflict in the future.
Reclaim Remembrance is a campaign of the Medical Association for Prevention of War.