A timely response to Prime Minister Abbott’s infamous challenge “Whose side are you on?” has recently been written by Douglas Newton, historian and author of Hellbent: Australia’s Leap Into The Great War.
Newton argues that casting doubt on the patriotism of people who eschew a “hate-the-enemy auction” has a long and dishonourable history.
Newton refers to debates in Britain over the Boer War (1899-1902) – “that vultures’ frenzy provoked by gold and diamonds” – where those who questioned the war were roundly smeared and accused of treachery.
Newton also refers to British debates over World War 1 and the vilification of E. D. Morel who founded the Union of Democratic Control (UDC) in 1914 and campaigned for a negotiated end to that war. Morel was condemned as an agent of Germany and jingo thugs, incited by the pseudo-patriotism of the Daily Express, violently disrupted UDC and other anti-war meetings around the country.1
A modern day variant arises in relation to the ‘war on terror’. As expressed by Newton, “those with principled objections to the ‘war on terror’ are accused of being ‘soft on terror’; and it is a short leap to say they are ‘pro-terror’.”
A short leap indeed – one that Prime Minister Abbott has already made. During a parliamentary Questions Without Notice session, Abbott attacked Labor for questioning the constitutionality of the Coalition’s plan to strip suspected terrorists of their citizenship and accused the opposition of “rolling out the red carpet for terrorists”.2 This ‘pro-terror’ smear complements Abbott’s latest exaggeration to bolster his government’s hypocritical ‘war on terror’, namely that “Daesh is coming, if it can, for every person and for every government with a simple message: submit or die.”3
Douglas Newton’s article ‘Whose side are you on?’ can be read here.
Notes
1. For a home-grown example of the traitor smear used during WW1, see the words of Colonel Granville Ryrie cited in Hellbent: Australia’s Leap Into The Great War, pp. 129-30.
2. Tony Abbott, Questions Without Notice, National Security: Citizenship, House Hansard, 18 Jun 2015, p. 6838.
3. Refer to Michael Gordon’s commentary ‘The Tony Abbott of old declares war on Bill Shorten’, The Age, June 20, 2015.