Sunday, May 26, 2013

Gallipoli and Woolwich


Well, I went there and came back, spending most of the month of May on the Turkish Aegean coast just south of Canakkale. Highlight of the trip was undoubtedly a day visit to Gallipoli. It is ineffably beautiful and has monuments and cemeteries everywhere commemorating the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 when thousands of soldiers on both sides lost their lives.
Particularly poignant are the memorials to the ANZAC troops. The Turks simply could not understand why men from Australia and New Zealand would want to come half way across the world to fight in someone else's war (as they saw it).

And now I come home to the news that a British soldier was stabbed to death in Woolwich (London) by two Islamist fanatics, which has provoked a lot of anti-Muslim rhetoric and acts of vandalism and a surge in support for nationalistic movements like the English Defence League. Will we never learn?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Apparently we won't (or can't). Do you think there's a design fault somewhere?