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Old June 7th, 2011 #7
Darius Appleby
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Join Date: Dec 2009
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Arrow The Selective Amnesia of the Australian Left

http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2011/...lian-left.html

Quote:
March 11, 2011

The Selective Amnesia of the Australian Left

Dr. Peter Phelps analyses Julia Gillard's speech to U.S. Congress junior congressional staff line by line, and how it whitewashes the rabid anti-American vitriol from the left:

Julia Gillard is a member of the Socialist Left faction of the Australian Labor Party. And like many Australian Leftist, she seems to think that she can get away with an ahistorical absolution of the role played by the Australian Left in the Cold War.

The fact is this: the Australian Left was vehemently opposed to the US during the Cold War. They may have vacillated in their support for the Soviet Union and various other Socialist thug-ocracies. But if the US was involved, they were opposed to it.

Now, as Prime Minister, she addresses the US Congress. All the usual buttons were pushed.

But what she missed saying was the one thing that the Australian Left needed to say: “We are Sorry. We are sorry we opposed the USA during the Cold War, that we sought to impute bad motives to their actions and we blindly overlooked the bad motives of the Soviet Union, China and their satellites. We are sorry we were used by Soviet agents of influence to take part in so-called ‘Peace Marches’ and joined Soviet-funded organisation like CND. For these, and all our other dangerous delusions, for our active support for totalitarianism over freedom, we are sincerely sorry”.

But what did Julia say? Herewith you will find her speech and my annotations:

“A message which has been true in war and peace, in hardship and prosperity, in the Cold War and in the new world.”

I’m glad you mentioned the Cold War – but more of that later.

“You have a true friend down under.”

Oh, really?

“For my parents’ generation, the defining image of America was the landing at Normandy. Your "boys of Point-du-Hoc"... risking everything to help free the world.”

And yet, for the Australian Left, the defining image of victory in WW2 was the Red Army storming across Eastern Europe. We were continually told about how the sacrifices of Mother Russia were greater than anything the Capitalist West endured.

“For my own generation, the defining image of America was the landing on the moon.”

That same Apollo Program that was criticised by the Left, usually along the lines of ‘what a waste of money when we have so many poor people here on Earth’.

“My classmates and I were sent home from school to watch the great moment on television.”

In Soviet Russia, television watches you!

“I’ll always remember thinking that day: Americans can do anything.”

Sort of – for most of the Cold War the Left’s mantra was: ‘the bloody Yanks are capable of anything!’

“Americans helped free the world of my parents’ generation.”

So the mindless adoration of Stalin’s armies was wrong? What about the Left’s sudden about face on Hitler following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and their equally sudden about face once Operation Barbarossa was launched?

“Americans inspired the world of my own youth.”

Especially the Students for Democratic Action, the Yippies and the Black Panthers.

“I stand here and I see the same brave and free people today.”

Not bound down by the chains of Capitalist oppression? So you were wrong then, or are you lying now?

“There is a reason the world always looks to America.”

Except that in the Cold War, Socialists like you looked to the USSR or Communist China or Cuba or North Korea.

“You have an ally in Australia. An ally for war and peace. An ally for hardship and prosperity. An ally for the sixty years past and Australia is an ally for all the years to come.”

Except that the Socialist Left continually attempted to break that alliance and have Australia move into the UN’s Non-Aligned Nations caucus.

“Geography and history alone could never explain the strength of the commitment between us. Rather, our values are shared and our people are friends.”

But the Left was closer friends with the Communist dictatorships. They were forever meeting New Soviet Man and admiring what they saw.

“This is why in our darkest days we have been glad to see each other’s face and hear each other’s voice. Australia’s darkest days in the last century followed the fall of Singapore in 1942. And you were with us.”

It’s a pity the Left wasn’t with us until the Soviet Union was attacked in July 1941. Until then, on orders from Moscow, the official line from the Australian Left was that we were engaged in wars of decadent Capitalist aggression.

“The ultimate expression of our alliance, the ANZUS Treaty, was not signed until 1951.”

Signed by a Coalition Government because the previous Labor government was adamantly opposed to any alliance with the Americans.

“But it was anticipated a decade earlier.”

This is a lie.

“In the judgements – the clear, frank and accurate judgements – of an Australian Prime Minister.”

This is another lie.

“In the decades since, we have stuck together. In every major conflict. From Korea...”

Opposed by the Australian Left – remember Wilfred Burchett?

“... and Vietnam ...”

Opposed by the Australian Left – remember Jim Cairns?

“... to the conflicts in the Gulf.”

Which were also uniformly opposed by the Socialist Left – remember that even the then Centre Unity leader of the ALP, Simon Crean, called the 2003 liberation of Iraq ‘both illegal and immoral’.

“Your darkest days since Pearl Harbour were ten years ago in Washington and New York. And we were with you.”

No you weren’t. The Australian Left, while ostensibly lamenting the loss on American lives, said that the US deserved what it got on 9/11 because of its neo-colonialism and its support for Israel.

“ ... what I told General Petraeus in Kabul ... Australia will stand firm with our ally the United States.”

Is that the same General Petraeus who led Coalition forces during the ‘illegal and immoral’ war in Iraq? The same one that the Rudd Labor government subsequently made an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia?

“Our friends understand this.”

They understand that the Left are a bunch of hypocrites who want to conceal their true past.

“Our enemies understand this too.”

Which is why they feel they can attack the West with impugnity. Because the Left will always find fault in their own side, especially if we are fighting alongside the United States.

“We must be very realistic about Afghanistan’s future. Australia firmly supports the international strategy led by President Obama and adopted at Lisbon last year.”

So how do you explain the Left’s opposition to invasion in the first place, and their subsequent calls at every opportunity to ‘bring the troops home’? Or does the Australian Left only support military action when the Labor Party is in power?

“I believe we have the right strategy in place, a resolute and courageous commander in General Petraeus, and the resources needed to deliver the strategy.”

Resolute and courageous? If Labor lived by their insincere hyperbolic words, he would now be facing a war crimes trial.

“I am cautiously encouraged by what I have seen.”

So the Left’s concerns about ‘the surge’ were totally unfounded? Just like they were in Iraq? How about an apology then?

“As an ally we share your resolve. Afghanistan must never again be a safe haven for terrorism.”

And yet, in 2001, the Australia Left queried whether there even were any terrorists in Afghanistan – on the say-so of the Taliban Government!

“Just as our security alliance is one for war and peace, our economic partnership is one for hardship and prosperity.”

What? Why not with Cuba or North Korea or any of those other Socialist paradises that the Australian Left used to idolise?

“Our societies share a deep understanding of the human importance of work.”

Except the Capitalist West gets people to work with dollars, and the totalitarian regimes that the Left adored used the whip, the gun and the gulag. Big difference, Julia.

“We believe life is given direction and purpose by work. Without work there is corrosive aimlessness. With the loss of work comes the loss of dignity.”

Which is why the Left’s love of cradle to grave government welfare has been an abject failure. But it was still the Socialist ideal for much of the 20th Century.

“This is why, in each of our countries, the great goal of all we do in the economy is the same to ensure that everyone who can work does work. In turn, this is why each of our countries took early and strong action in the face of the greatest threat to the world’s economy since the Great Depression.”

The greatest threat to the world’s economy since the 1930’s was the insidious spread of Communism. So, in one sense, Julia is correct. McCarthyism in the US and the exposure of Communism is Australia in the 1950’s WAS early and strong action.

“Like you, I am a leader in a democracy.”

But you wouldn’t be if your Socialist predecessors had been successful in their plans.

“We worked hard with you during the global economic crisis to resist protectionist pressures. This only built on our decades working together to promote free trade in the world.”

Free trade is not usually synonymous with the Socialist Left.

“And we aim for even larger benefits from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is a great economic opportunity for our two countries and seven of our regional partners.”

So COMECON is off the agenda, huh?

“We know the equation is simple: trade equals jobs.”

But that’s not what your brethren said in the Cold War, dear.

“And our societies share a deep commitment to the value of education. We understand education’s transformative power. We know education is the future for every child who learns. We also know education is the future for our economies.”

Education? Yes. Indoctrination? No.

“This is why I went to a school ... this week. The President and I not only saw children learning. We saw the future of your people and the future of your prosperity as well.”

Which is exactly what the Left chose to see when they visited Soviet Russia in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

“We must work together to achieve an historic transition to high technology, high skill, clean energy economies.”

Which once would have meant the massive hydro-electric schemes in Mother Russia, comrade.

“So, conceived in the Pacific War and born in the Cold War, adapted to the space age and invoked in the face of terror, our indispensable alliance is a friendship for the future.”

Indispensible? That’s not what you Leftists said for the better part of the last 60 years.

“It is this year’s sixtieth anniversary of the signing of our Treaty that occasions your invitation to me today. For that I am grateful. As I said to President Obama, it is an alliance sixty years young with so much future to share.”

Now she is just sounding like a conga-line of suck-holes.

“The bipolar world in which our Alliance was signed has long disappeared.”

Yes, and the Left always hoped and assumed that its bi-polarity would disappear through the defeat of the US and the victory of Soviet Russia.

“I am not sad about its passing.”

Yet what did you do to end the Cold War? What help did you give to the cause of Capitalism? What cries did you raise up – like we did – in support of Reagan or Thatcher at that time? Or did you just bludge on the effort of me and my compatriots?

“Hundreds of millions of people have a better life today, democracy and human dignity have spread wide in the world in the last twenty years.”

And no thanks to the America-hating Australian Left of which you were an active part.

“We have seen this from Eastern Europe to East Asia in recent years and we are seeing the hope of it in the Middle East now.”

Like in Iraq? Apologies proffered?

“We understand that nothing is certain.”

Accept that the Left will attempt to hide their disgraceful past.

“There is still much for the people of the Middle East to do and the governments of the world will be called on to help them do it.”

None of which involves a movement towards Socialist totalitarianism. You know. Like the sort of societies your kind were offering us for more than half a Century.

“For Australia’s part, we will do what we can – and work with you – to support orderly transitions to democracy.”

Like Iraq? Like the liberation of a country which the Left actively opposed?

“A peace where Israel is secure...”

Cough, splutter, gasp – the Socilaist Left hasn’t supported that since 1967.

“And we applaud China’s lifting some 500 million people out of poverty.”

That’s more like the way the old Left behaved!

“We encourage China to engage as a good global citizen and we are clear-eyed about where differences do lie.”

Differences? Differences? Why China is a Communist utopia! With the Little Red Book and the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward – all of which were enthusiastically welcomed by the Australia Left (despite the millions of deaths).

“America has always understood this principle of the economy - that everyone can benefit when everyone competes.”

And yet the mantra of Australian Leftism has always been that competition in BAD.

“And for sixty years your leadership in the Asia-Pacific has showed this.”

Thereby disproving the Socialist Left’s desire for Maoist China to be the leaders of the Asia-Pacific region.

“Your presence and network of alliances ensured the stability.”

Network of alliances! Has Comrade Julia forgotten the Socialist wisdom of Cynthia Enloe’s ‘Bananas, Beaches and Bases’? Surely not!

“You were indispensable in the Cold War and you are indispensable in the new world too.”

Again with the ‘indispensible’. So all those Left-wing calls for an end to the ANZUS alliance and American neo-imperialism were, ah, wrong? How about an apology then?

“An alliance which was strong in the Cold War...”

Just not with the Left.

“Together in the hardest of times. Friends for the future.”

Not the Left’s mantra previously. It was ‘US out! End ANZUS! Close the Bases!’ back then.

“To safeguard our future. For ours is a friendship for the future.”

And yet all those Leftists told us, as JFK pointed out in West Berlin, that “Communism is the wave of the future”.

“In 1942, John Curtin – my predecessor, my country’s great wartime leader – looked to America. I still do.”

This is a lie. Curtin was British race patriot who favoured post-war Imperial preference. His comments on the US were a short-term plea for assistance.

“This year you have marked the centenary of President Reagan’s birth. He remains a great symbol of American optimism.”

You f@cking hypocrite. I was there in the 1980’s. The Left hated Reagan. They hated him and what he was trying to do. They mocked his name, his beliefs, his speeches and his actions. But in the end, you were WRONG and Reagan was RIGHT. The Uni conservatives of the 1980’s stand and bear witness to this. If you want to apologise for being so, so very wrong about Ronald Reagan, then do so now. But don’t you dare use his name in your own interests, you hypocrite.

“The only greater symbol of American optimism is America itself.”

Except when it was Soviet Russia.

“The eyes of the world are still upon you.”

Except when they were on Red China.

“Your city on a hill cannot be hidden.”

Except when it was hidden in Cuba.

“Your brave and free people have made you the masters of recovery and reinvention.”

Just like the Left supported the brave and free people of the Khmer Rouge.

“As I stand in this cradle of democracy I see a nation that has changed the world and known remarkable days.”

Just like the workers’ paradise of North Korea.

“On that great day I believed Americans could do anything.”

But for the rest of those 60 years, the Left believed the Soviet Union was good, America was evil, Socialism would triumph and Capitalism would end up on the ash heap of history.

We remember. We remember clearly. We remember and will not let you get away with a white-washing of history.

You and your comrades were wrong. Desperately, dangerously wrong.

And you should apologise to those of us who were mocked, abused, ridiculed and taunted – but most of all, those of us who were who were right.

Peter Phelps is a former long-term staffer in the Howard Government and has a PhD in Australian History.