make lyrics, not war

There is an emotive issue involving patriotism, politics and peace that is growing in momentum in Australia this week. It was triggered by a blatantly biased headline in the Sunday Herald Sun which triggered the expected rush of Letters to the Editor.

It concerns Australian entertainers and their traditional entertainment of Aussie troops in war zones. Especially when the Diggers are away from home for Christmas.

We had Col Joye and Little Pattie and Denise ‘ding dong’ Drysdale in Vietnam and John  Farnham in East Timor. It has been an even longer tradition for the Americans with  comedian Bob Hope  Bob Hope leading a troupe of sexy Hollywood actresses and singers to entertain in conflicts from World War Two through the Korean War and Vietnam.

Now, Australian entertainers have been invited to entertain Aussie troops at Christmas in Iraq – and some don’t want to go.

That led to the Sunday Herald Sun headline ‘Rock Stars Snub Our Diggers’. Good provocative words like ‘snub’ and ‘our Diggers’ makes it a personal slight on all of us.

According to the newspaper story some of Australia’s top entertainers have angered the Federal Government by refusing to perform in Iraq.  Pete Murray and Tim Freedman from The Whitlams are among those to give such a visit the thumbs down.  Glenn Richards from Augie March said there was not a chance of his group going either.

Freedman admitted his reason to decline was because he did not support the war in Iraq. He said he went to East Timor. He enjoyed the experience and he understood how hard the soldiers do it.

‘But I don’t agree with the war and so I didn’t take up the offer’.

Col Joye – who performed nearly 30 shows in Vietnam forty years ago --  said he would sing in the barracks anywhere in Australia but not in an irrelevant war.

He sounds like he regrets going to Vietnam although he says he doesn’t. “In Vietnam we didn’t know any better. We were fed a line and we went along with it. But we shouldn’t have been there".

All of this was obviously too much for Brian Puls of Mooroolbark. He said, in a letter to the Editor: ‘What a surprise those singers won’t go to Iraq. Most creative people – musos, actors, teachers –tend to be Lefties and lack the intellectual and reasoning skills to make sensible decisions such as helping to stop Muslims killing each other’.

I think he’s missing the point. I am hardly a Leftie – although I may lack  intellectual and reasoning skills – but I thought in this precious democracy of ours we don’t dragoon people or shanghai people and force them to entertain our soldiers at gunpoint.

Surely it is a personal decision. Whether for political reasons, or safety reasons, or for wanting to spend Christmas with your own family. And if a band choose to play where the bang is from a drum kit and not from a suicide bomber then that’s their call.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

©Copyright Derryn Hinch 2006