Presentation made at the "Middle East: The Cockpit of National Identities and Perpetual Conflict" Panel, 2011 University of Melbourne Festival of Ideas
A public forum to consider Australia’s World War I commemoration and whether it pays appropriate respect to those who died believing in a better world.
World War I brought death to approximately 61,000 Australians and shattered the lives of countless others. Globally, a generation was virtually lost.
The legacy of the war continues to this day. A century on, does our commemoration stop short of asking the hard questions such as how such a cataclysmic event could occur, what we learnt from it and whether that responsibility to learn has been lost amid the flag-waving?
A public forum in Professor Joseph Camilleri, Professor Marilyn Lake and the Hon Ted Bailieu led a Q&A ABC-style convesation on the history and future of Anzac Day.
Th event was moderated by Cr Coral Ross, Mayor of the City of Boroondara.
The address highlighted the unprecedented crisis in international relations: breakdown of international humanitarian relations law, the largest wave of displaced peopl
