ANZAC day reflections from abroad

As many of you who know me I am not a big fan of the ANZAC day tradition in Australia. I have always belived that it valorises mass murder in the service of empires or nationslist nation states.

I had almost forgotton it was ANZAC day until I logged into the SMH and read the article titled 'Everyone is just so proud'

Well, having travled throughout Vietnam for 3 weeks and seen the damage caused by our troops all I can say as an Australian citizen I am anything but proud of our counties role in the Vietnam war which devistated this country and its people for 10 years.

Here are just 2 examples.


image by sridgway

The photo above is of the mountain range between Hue and Danang on the Hai Van Pass, notice how there is little jungle coverage, well this is because agent orange contining toxic dioxins was sprayed over the thick jungle by American and Australian soldiers, reeking enormous ecological damage and untold harm to the local population.


image by sridgway

The photo above is of the Ancient 4th-10 century, world heritage listed My Son relics @ Hoian. Many of these were destroyed by American and Australian bombs during the war.

The people of Vietnam continue to live with the lgacy of our attempted occupaton and people walk down Sydney street with puffed up chests proud.

Reflecting on the Iraq war and our involvement again with american troops it demonstrated just how the ANZAC tradtion serves to justify our invovement in immoral and illegal foriegn occupations rather that act as a catalist to prevent it ever happening again.

Rice bowl

image: sridgway

We drove out to the ancient ruins of My Son today through hectares of golden rice. The harvest is on. Teams of harvesters worked plots in the fields, scything, stooking and threshing the grain by hand. Front courtyards were displays of colour as the rice, alongside chilis, maize and beans, was laid out to dry in the sunshine.

Globally soaring food prices aligned to international economic conditions are taking their toll even here in the world's 3rd largest rice exporter. Rising prices might be good news for farmers but consumers are suffering. A cafe owner told us today that the price of rice has doubled in recent months.

Rumours are of rice shortages but it appears that a far greater impact is rice hoarding. Vietnam and Thailand it seems have in fact had record rise crops in the past year.

According to U.S. Agriculture Dept. what's driving the price of rice so high are widespread worries about food inflation in many rice-growing nations. "In poorer nations, a large share of people's earnings is spent on food, and big price increases in other kinds of food are harming consumers," Childs says. So to protect their supplies of rice—a staple food in much of the world—several countries have imposed export bans or sharp limits. That has led to a sharp reduction of rice available for trade in the global market. In 2007, India and Vietnam, two of the world's biggest rice exporters, reduced their rice shipments. Since then, Cambodia, Egypt, and Brazil have all halted rice exports. (Business Week)

The outlook appears grim, especially for nations that are net importers of the grain and that have large rice-consuming populations, like the Philippines.

Meanwhile here in Vietnam where labourers earn 50,000 VND (~ $3) a day there were government announcements via jeep mounted loud hailers today informing the locals of subsidies and strategies to stop the price rises. It was an interesting but necessary medium in a country where the hardest hit are unlikely to access the news in any other format.

image: robynejay