Anzac Day is commemorated with increasing fervour each year in Australia. The Australian Government goes out of its way to keep the ‘Anzac spirit' alive. It seeks to impress the Anzac tradition as symbolic of the ‘national character' of Australia and to impose the Anzac history and concept on everyone, including Muslims living in Australia, as a universal Australian value.

In this regard, Hizb ut Tahrir / Australia emphasises the following points:

1.     The true legacy of the Anzac tradition in our times is Australian involvement in the unjust invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Just as Australian troops were used for British imperial designs in WWI, so too were they used in Iraq and Afghanistan for American political and economic interests. The false pretext in both cases was the spurious claim of "fighting for our freedom", as if one's freedom is predicated on the oppression of others.

2.     The truth is that Australia, as a former British colony in the past, and a modern independent sovereign state today, supports an international framework of deceit, exploitation and destruction led by the US and European powers. It is this ugly reality that is covered by superficial jingoistic celebrations based on crafted mythologies like the ‘Anzac legend'.

3.     From the Muslim perspective, the Gallipoli campaign represents an aggression by Allied troops against the legitimate Islamic authority of the time, the Ottoman Caliphate. There is nothing for Muslims to celebrate about Australian's contribution to colonial aggression against the Muslim world.

4.    In the post- 9/11 and 7/7 context, the Government has impressed upon Islamic schools in Australia to introduce Anzac Day commemorational activities. This is an imposition of foreign values and a foreign history on Muslims that is unacceptable. Will our children, in the near future, be made to observe one-minute silence and by lectured about the ‘feats' of Australian troops in Iraq and Afghanistan too?

5.     We urge the people of Australia to rise above the lowliness of nationalistic sentiment to the higher plane of intellectual inquiry and to think deeply about the reality of Australian participation in war abroad, past and present. There are worthier ends than to live off the oppression of peoples abroad and worthier means than sacrificing the sons of this country at the altar of the economic and political interests of foreign powers like the United States and United Kingdom.

The Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Australia

Contact: Uthman Badar, Media Representative, on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0438 000 465.