MA 32:01 6102/90/72 ail arts u A , 1 4 0 2 W S 5 6 N 0 nia 9 0 noAiTiilngAorc srEaewTdR nn ae o .lhShsiltIttu ytgatimni au.trids ndt anlSTr a o ssol eesyiCAiwld ueassgr a i wiAnrremhmouhlS ToiTa,o tseRS ni enfrdng.ToAnvaanniuioa o i tsiacylhuiTmra rto iletrBaiteamiiyTntntlnaspws uSe lui enanocegoanhAdo erailcytra CpioA p bd olr ct dape ccbe ilaerrtahishAA ualthnaeptsntro sbo uiu ocheengs - oAd,emshieyT1impaur0zt o HTi elin9isancesb-htt1lxrdiaohAC teceEn i g kvtl m e liosafii.l nrooeBrutn5o ttm Ulldofroysa 9fieumvt c ttieTsA aai.rfoehetroa4ilhtetlrpjTd o addttao4h mpeideuFgl ne$pae i.t imrr stanft hnAe oesEeao ruh dslTgn iA athc gt eo nacetghfiicouhtntStiiiirT ritnlitd bduo ggdeaeauptothhifl at cclmt ls enaen a An rdne r ycil co. vflaiisl oTiCgti Bad eoitt Sninltant r oagn,AnoogaetpnAei b dscits’ci e2ayAuaegn /l3tr r btpnP nderei9 f o eti p oegt grtsyhoe)n vs iuno30rAlebsnifiooaoe/x0r6 ob eedcunee S(e Xdv ge nrla,k reeuoalsA .ou aheagdo .odsAhyffshmr‘ntRw rldot ln nToteao a. .n ietttil5,ti ts noaodr7egn .o/lytoegnvnle4e2apnialm nr1sa pr onoe l,sdm8iglotolrtr aatinaoa n pnewpi7bsrvutalpi oie 1a osei rqft puncyi3rheidsn r ta qo8unpt,ansusfdn ie ouuumatot)io onui3 AQil,mentlieooe0nat dTtgcsgi b(araeint oSo i tavt,sndsyng csoiiuo ndrevookpoARioi ctc ltheslci a ire.rapl’lw rldbl loeia awthtanp iws o ,;tgeeiI tenltutehiilthttpi tcmfsnonouocaC ln‘ ostiitan 1 ddni.5V_sdA_skooBQ_11033 A a W h e A h e l h T a T i r E e R b k E H e T h T r e n o d e s gi n c. o m a. u r 3 1103 1 1 0 au r33011 u r33011_V5Fa3 Quadr om.au r33 $8.90 Australia I September 2017 design.com. renodesign.com.a V antI nodesign.c no o re e l r . 6 1 N o . 9 S e p t America Drifts Towards e m b e r an Angry Political Divorce 2 0 1 7 Peter Murphy The United States as the New Middle Kingdom Salvatore Babones The Mass Immigration No One Voted For Edward Cranswick, E.R. Drabik The breAk-up of AuSTrAliA 1 Standing Up for the House of Freedom 1 0 3 THE REal agEnda BEHind aBoRiginal REcogniTion r3 Daryl McCann u a keiTh WindSchuTTle m. o c Aborigines Want More Than a Voice in Parliament n. g si Keith Windschuttle The hidden AgendA of The AcAdemic ASSAulT e d o AboriginAl SovereignTy on The conSTiTuTion n re Christianity v. Feminism on Domestic Violence Australian voters are not being told the truth University-based lawyers are misleading the Augusto Zimmermann about the proposal for constitutional recognition of Australian people by claiming our Constitution was indigenous people. The goal of Aboriginal political drafted to exclude Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander On Dunkirk Jeremy Black, Neil McDonald activists today is to gain ‘sovereignty’ and create peoples from the Australian nation. This is a myth. a black state, equivalent to the existing states. At Federation in 1901, our Constitution made On Richard Nixon Philip Ayres Its territory, comprising all land defined as native Australia the most democratic country in the world. On Peter Ryan Alistair Pope Thteitle, w ilbl soonr amouent to mAore tkhan 6-0 peur centp of AuSTrAliA The great majority of Aboriginal people have always The breAk-up of AuSTrAliA of the whole Australian continent. On frightbats Tim Blair had the same political rights as other Australians, Constitutional recognition, if passed, would be including the right to vote. Claims that the THEit sR ‘lauEnchaingl pa da’. RgecoEgnintiond wilal no tB maEke oHur indCon satituBtiono deRniedi gthemin fulla citilzen RshipE arec ogniTion Poetry I L es Murray, Brenda Saunders, Carolyn Evans Campbell, THE REal agEnda BEHind aBoRiginal REcogniTionantion c omplete; it will divide us permanently. political fabrications. Saxby Pridmore, Dennis Haskell, Patrick McCauley keiTh WindSchufoTrT yloeu, or AS A gifT $44.95 Reviews I Patrick Morgan, Robert Murray, Jane Sutton keiTh WindSchuTTle PlUS PoSTagE online Fiction I Libby Sommer quadrant.org.au/shop/ poST Quadrant, 2/5 Rosebery Place, Balmain NSW 2041, Australia The hidden AgendA of The AcAdemic ASSAulT Letters I Environment I Science I Literature I Economics I Religion I Media phone fAX The hidden AgendA of The AcAdemic ASSAulT (03) 8317 8147 (03) 9320 9065 Theatre I Philosophy I film I Society I History I Politics I Education I Health AboriginAl SovereignTy on The conSTiTuTion AboriginAl SovereignTy on The conSTiTuTion 33011_QBooks_Ads_V5.indd 1 8/11/2016 10:34 AM Australian voters are not being told the truth University-based lawyers are misleading the Australian voters are not being told the truth University-based lawyers are misleading the about the proposal for constitutional recognition of Australian people by claiming our Constitution was about the proposal for constitutional recognition of Australian people by claiming our Constitution was indigenous people. 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Quadrant Vol.56 I No3 Ma r c h 2012 ThfJTTPoKWrRoFhBhaNeCoMnoOreixOOionOhgteyfc o PiuFnAReeency h LnihmnonmTOe crendh iBe om AmDetsWchtt vd ’odaSteSlhottiyThoiiamfeaeaeiarbaieueortvrrnmv rvl nrI hswsaiyinDl iedpid a GcoadsrIcG Hehl s tsaty cWsHfaaasii i icIhal loIb fnvlESaIv ohur sforfM lneoL aaso RtmlP axluiuos nire nueaonoacapptltso eilrntatn hlcc,dMn f,rrrti alndy PkaJHilnie dePnlosc obou &rd gks CLIdea erah f a ts itMt prt u dhSttrihMasinoRaryoeen yr olaire, ala,itin regZiai Dsms tcRg gil P jetS Iatiochieiuou c hreonenrlnsknspacGan,eois- c IoehldV eava SsdlMe nellnDRil erpn ooecWEr i aot Mvml eCc,xToRrli soricarJwP oCccosM rooiISrtsnc iaanre an Bth n IvkoeltcnJdm ,aaumdpynos fhJeomerirr u l ah e neeUoadrrJshnn,teio niufLeic, aSarIn y e J rIeVSfmegMa ooSi rDDtnnFnoea,ee oc orOneSTeyaicdntlerwaiscroatesceelrmieiryhpei,ncn n InVhooi, kaf nrfieTeiv lsgrncicpmea ev BnIeeo y fucrSih cmrS skI yi tkthlh epie,sse trosorny To take advantage of this offer you can: • subscribe online at www.policymagazine.com • use the subscription card in the middle of this magazine • contact The Centre for Independent Studies: PO Box 92, St Leonards, NSW 1590 p: 02 9438 4377 f: 02 9439 7310 e: [email protected] * This offer is in Australian dollars (incl. GST), is only available to new Australian subscribers and is not available to institutions. The renewal rate for a joint subscription is A$114.00 (including GST). Ten AustrAliA’s secret WAr HoW unionists sAbotAged our troops in World WAr ii Years HAL COLEBATCH’s new book, Australia’s Secret War, tells the of The shocking, true, but until now largely suppressed and hidden story of the w—a ra gwaaignesdt tfhroeimr o1w93n9 s tooc i1e9ty4 5a nbdy aag nauinmstb ethr eo fm keeny aAnuds twraolmiaenn t oraf dteh euinr i ons u r33011 besT m.a own country’s fighting forces during the perils of World War II. n.co Every major Australian warship was targeted by strikes, go-slows and nodesig re sabotage at home. Australian soldiers fighting in New Guinea and verse 487 pOems 169 auThOrs the Pacific went without food, radio equipment and ammunition because by of union strikes. “It has been known for decades”, Les Murray writes in his introduction to this Photographs © australian War memorial collection, “that poets who might fear relegation or professional sabotage from the Waterside workers disrupted loading of supplies to the troops and It seems to me the best such occasional critical consensus of our culture have a welcome and a refuge in Quadrant—but only pilfered from ships’ cargoes and soldiers’ personal effects. Other strikes collection I have ever read; better, for if they write well.” by rail workers, iron workers, coal miners, and even munitions workers instance, than ‘The Faber Book of Modern From the second decade of his 20 years as literary editor of Quadrant, Les Murray and life-raft builders, badly impeded Australia’s war effort. Verse’; which is saying quite a bit. here presents a selection of the best verse he published between 2001 and 2010. — BOB ELLIS, Table Talk Order This Landmark bOOk $44.95 For you, or As A giFt $44.95 ONLINE ONLINE www.quadrant.org.au/store www.quadrant.org.au/store POST POST Quadrant, Locked Bag 1235, North Melbourne VIC 3051, Australia Quadrant, Locked Bag 1235, North Melbourne VIC 3051, Australia PhONE FAX PhONE FAX (03) 8317 8147 (03) 9320 9065 (03) 8317 8147 (03) 9320 9065 33011_QBooks_Ads_V2.indd 8 6/09/13 3:21 PM September2017 No.539 VolumeLxI,Number9 Letters 2 Felicity St John Moore, Robert Lawson, Philip Ayres, Michael A. Swan, Phillip Turnbull, Stephen Garton editor’scolumn 6 Gender Diversity in Khaki Keith Windschuttle  asperities 8 John O’Sullivan  ASTRINGENCIES 10 Anthony Daniels  theU.S.A. 12 The Two Incommensurable Americas Peter Murphy   22 The United States as the New Middle Kingdom Salvatore Babones   28 Fresh Nixon, Served Raw Philip Ayres  immigration 36 The Mass Immigration Suffocating Europe Edward Cranswick   42 The Great Immigration Non-Debate in Australia E.R. Drabik westerncivilisation 46 Standing Up for the House of Freedom Daryl McCann  aborigines 50 Aborigines Want More Than a Voice in Parliament Keith Windschuttle  religion 56 The Last Service Christopher Akehurst   62 Christians versus Feminists on Domestic Violence Augusto Zimmermann  politics 66 The Emergence of Conservative Affection for Israel William D. Rubinstein  history 70 Inventing the Dismissal Michael Connor   75 When Communists Invaded Cold War Canberra Ross Fitzgerald  tribute 78 Neil McInnes Peter C. Grundy  books 81 Inglorious Empire by Shashi Tharoor Nick Lloyd   85 Fault Lines by David Pryce-Jones Patrick Morgan   87 Fear Drive My Feet by Peter Ryan Alistair Pope   90 The High Mountains of Portugal by Yann Martel Jane Sutton   92 Up Came a Squatter by Maggie Black Robert Murray  literature 94 Full-Witted Women, Decorum and Comedy Gary Furnell  film 98 An Episode of Global Significance Jeremy Black   101 Dunkirk Revisited Again Neil McDonald  story 104 On Valentine’s Day Libby Sommer  sweetness&light 111 Tim Blair  Poetry 21: Half-Price Hardback Les Murray; Melbourne Morning Tina Kane; 27: Our Street; The Dead Sea Saxby Pridmore; 35: A Once Well-Watered Farm; Eye to Lizard Eye Carolyn Evans Campbell; 41: Channel Country Brenda Saunders; 45: Shadows; To Unthink Patrick McCauley; 61: Numbers Dennis Haskell; 65: Wisdom Dennis Haskell; 68: Bush Tucker Tour Brenda Saunders; 69: On a Branch Paul Williamson; 77: Sestina Cecilia Morris; 80: Mespilus germanica Saxby Pridmore; 97: Little Blue Book Joe Dolce; 100: Waiting for Willie Saxby Pridmore Letters teaching and quite liking it.” This letter, written from 106 George Street, East Melbourne, is over- scored, “CONFIDENTIAL. This Editor Elizabeth and Danila is privileged to you. Info to my Keith Windschuttle legal people.” [email protected] Sir: The article by Jane Sutton In the same file of legal cor- Editor, intErnational (July-August 2017) on Elizabeth respondence, written when she John O’Sullivan Vassilieff’s relationships to the was again trying to get his copy- major Australian painter and right back from MOMAD, she litErary Editor sculptor Danila Vassilieff encour- quoted his denunciation of her Les Murray ages me to come out of my rela- political life: “I see that you are dEputy Editor tively quiet corner to rake over really a Red, after all I am really George Thomas some of the old coals. a White Russian. I ought to go to Editor, Quadrant onlinE Like many another artist’s wife, the Security Police and tell them Roger Franklin Elizabeth was also a target of his all about what you are doing.” [email protected] sometimes vindictive brush. It was Her political activity was a key fine during the honeymoon years factor in the breakdown of their Contributing Editors (when her theatrical cousin Dr marriage and it makes nonsense of Film: Neil McDonald Robin Sharwood attended their the political implication of Betty’s Theatre: Michael Connor parties) but devastating when their claim that he was intending to join Columnists marriage split. Sutton’s article is her in Moscow. Sutton takes her Anthony Daniels equivocal about the facts of this split words at face value in a way that Tim Blair but, quite apart from the archive, implies criticism of my research. the split is also confirmed by the It also undercuts the important Subscriptions swag of vicious wedding paint- influence of Vassilieff’s apolitical ings that tell a different story. Her stance on the creative freedom of Phone: (03) 8317 8147 third husband, William Wolf (the Melbourne Expressionism in the Fax: (03) 9320 9065 Post: Quadrant Magazine, German linesman who was taking 1940s and beyond. Locked Bag 1235, the power out to Warrandyte), was The subject of my research North Melbourne VIC 3051 in fact her de facto husband at the was Vassilieff’s art, about which E-mail: quadrantmagazine@ time of Danila’s death and the loss his estranged widow could not data.com.au of the house he had built with his have written because she was not own hands embittered him in his qualified and had insufficient Publisher last years and damaged his pride. understanding of it. Besides, her His estranged widow wasted no marriage took place only five years Quadrant (ISSN 0033-5002) is time in challenging his will, which before his first heart attack and published ten times a year by gave his copyright to the Museum her own interests were prima- Quadrant Magazine Limited, of Modern Art and Design. rily literary and political. Betty’s Suite 2/5 Rosebery Place, Balmain NSW 2041, Australia If Betty’s cousins had dug naive artistic judgment is well ACN 133 708 424 deeper they might have discovered exemplified by her exchanging his her July 1955 letter to Vassilieff remarkable Expulsion from Paradise Production when he was in Mildura teach- screen with a collector friend in ing: “I have told everyone the Warrandyte. Design Consultant: Reno Design same thing; that you are up there As John Bayard later explained Art Director: Graham Rendoth for your health and that you are it: Printer: Ligare Pty Ltd 138–152 Bonds Road, Riverwood NSW 2210 Cover: Colours of Australia “Heidelberg” www.quadrant.org.au 2 Quadrant September 2017 Letters Betty and Pat (Red) Mackie Why French Lost Another clue to the plight of brought them around to English the French language may be found and gave them to me in in the books of Jules Verne, a exchange for a painting by nineteenth-century French novel- a Warrandyte painter she Sir: In his article on the decline ist who wrote tales of science and admired. (Pat later gave of the French language and the fantasy. His best known story is me a bull-terrier puppy he rise of English (June 2017) Christie Around the World in Eighty Days. brought down from Mt Isa Davies omitted some important The central character, Phineas in a small car) ... Felicity turning points. Fogg, is an Englishman who could not have known they One of these was the loss of accepts a bet that he cannot go were extant, as at Betty’s Canada. When Captain Cook round the world in the time request, I would neither was charting the Saint Lawrence specified. speak to or allow Felicity to River the British and the French Verne was very popular in his see or examine my Vassilieff were preparing to fight each other, day, but whether his adventurous paintings and sculptures. and they left him alone because characters were travelling across his charts would be invaluable Africa in a balloon, or descend- That double-sided screen to whichever side won Canada. ing to the centre of the earth, or was the spark for Nolan’s Ned Could it have been Cook who being shot out of a huge cannon Kelly series including First Class whispered to General Wolfe, the to circle the moon, none of them Marksman (Art Gallery of NSW), British commander, that there was were French. All these energetic which was painted at Vassilieff’s a track on the steep river bank that characters were English, German house the year before the Cossack would lead him up to confront the or American. His French read- Australian’s marriage to Betty French army? Wolfe went that ers could not believe that their Sutton-Hamill-Vassilieff-Wolf- way. A battle ensued, both gen- countrymen would get themselves Mackie. erals were killed, and Canada into the adventures and troubles As a much later head pre- became part of the Anglosphere. invented by Monsieur Verne. He fect of Tintern CEGGS I remain Louis XVI saw a great oppor- recognised the shortage of French shocked by Betty’s aggression and tunity for revenge and profit at the explorers, adventurers, successful censorship. I was also traumatised outbreak of the American War of generals, settlers and entrepre- by her mean hounding of Oxford Independence. He directed the neurs. If you are lacking such peo- University Press and myself to the French navy to support the rebels ple you are unlikely to spread your point that they settled for commer- and sent troops to fight for them. language around the globe. cial reasons in 1986 which obliged His soldiers fought at Yorktown, Robert Lawson me to apologise (through clenched a decisive battle of the war. His Bentleigh, Vic teeth); and that Elizabeth’s costly investment did not pay off. The defamation case, which they had Americans did not change to the to defend and had never even been French language, as was suggested A North Korea to court, hastened their departure at the time, and furthermore they Solution from Australia. preferred to buy British goods That she was simultaneously rather than French. Sir: There is one solution, and threatening bookshops for stock- Then there was India. The probably only one, to the current ing my book on the grounds that French had great hopes of India crisis over North Korea’s develop- it was sub judice, and putting becoming a jewel of the French ment of a strategic nuclear capa- pressure on art museums, such empire. It was not to be. The bility. That is the initiation of a as the NGA Council, to buy her British army, bolstered by Indian process leading to a peace treaty Vassilieff paintings, sculptures and sepoy regiments, but always out- on the peninsula and an end to the watercolours, claiming the water- numbered, defeated the European frozen state of war, a war neither colours were her last batch (before and Indian armies arrayed against side won nor can win. offering another 270 at Niagara them. Nehru once remarked that This process would involve Galleries) was utterly shameful the civil service, introduced by the the gradual bringing-in of North and indefensible. British, was the steel frame that Korea from the diplomatic cold. held India together. Nowadays he The idea that North Korea will Felicity St John Moore could say the same of the English give up its nuclear deterrent is (author of Vassilieff and his Art) language. absurd, because as anyone can see, South Yarra, Vic Perhaps it is holding the world and certainly as North Korea sees together. it, nuclear weapons are the only Quadrant September 2017 3 Letters certain deterrent against external to be grounded in verifiable truth made in “the image and likeness threats from other nuclear-armed claims. of the world”. powers. And so I await a knock on the On the other hand, ecclesial This solution, which entails the door.  communities that are attractive tacit acceptance of North Korea as to thinking people and provide a Michael A. Swan a nuclear-armed power, will appear challenging and sustaining spir- Hughes, ACT humiliating to the West, and it is. itual basis for their lives and a dis- However, it has now become the tinctive worldview that demands a only feasible solution. I would bet A Crisis of generous and informed response, that the process has already begun Contemplation while at the same time are mak- in Washington, behind closed ing an impact in society, are those doors, and that Pyongyang will Sir: Dr Michael Giffin (July- who, when confronted with a situ- be in the loop. We could do with August) mentions many of the ation, “gather together as a com- a conversation on this topic in symptoms of the demise of munity of believers with their Quadrant. Christianity in our day but does pastors, subject to the Gospel” (all not identify the disease. The crisis those words are important) and, Philip Ayres Christianity is undergoing today is in prayer, ask, “What is it God via e-mail the same crisis it has undergone in wants us to do in this situation?” previous ages and presumably will No politicking; no networking; no An Open Confession undergo in the future. It is a crisis getting up the numbers. Just wait- of contemplation. ing patiently on the Lord. Sir: In recognition of the thir- There are two types of churches It’s a crisis of contemplation, as tieth anniversary of the pub- in Christianity at present, as there it always is, because, contrary to lishing of Allan Bloom’s justly have ever been: those that are the widely held opinion of many famous book The Closing of the dying and those that are grow- church leaders, church bureau- American Mind, and in the spirit ing. Those ecclesial communities crats and lay people, you do run of the Marxist tenor of the times that are dying are led and made the church on Hail Marys. Many in which we live, I here place on up of people who, when a situa- simply haven’t tried it or, because record my confession. I under- tion presents itself—whether it be prayer is a problem, don’t want to. stand that, holding the views I do, defining if Christ is truly present I recall many years ago a and resisting the call to “be more in Holy Communion or not, mar- popular Sydney Anglican bishop open”, I am no longer fit to be a rying same-sex couples or renovat- discussing prayer on a television citizen (notwithstanding thirty- ing the parish hall—stack synods, forum. He said all the usual things five years in our armed forces). are on the blower trying to con- expected of a Christian pastor. In particular, I confess to not vince people of their arguments A week later he wrote a column being open on some of the big and opinions, proclaiming what where he admitted that the dis- issues facing our society. I confess is and isn’t the will of God and cussion had pulled him up short to believing there should be limi- generally behaving as if they are because, actually, he never prayed. tations on our freedom to live as politicians. He presided at church services, we choose. I confess to not being These people have forgotten, but he had no personal prayer open to the idea that the unborn if they ever knew, that the pri- life; no time for contemplation. are without rights. I confess to not mary task of every disciple of Jesus He had no personal relationship being open to the idea that men Christ is worship. The church with God. And he was involved and women are the same (equal (and the world for that matter) is in running the church! He was yes, but different). I confess to not made up of Homo sapiens but doing an important job affecting not being open to the idea that Homo orans—the praying person. the lives of many people and he the state of marriage is indiffer- We are made in “the image and didn’t even communicate with his ent to who joins it. I confess to likeness of God”. In other words, Boss! Needless to say he was quite not being open to the idea that we are created, unlike the rest of a political mover and shaker on the best interests of our children creation, capable of having a rela- the Sydney Anglican scene. are indifferent to whether their tionship with God made possible As for the church’s future biological parents are involved in through prayer. The worldly model being revitalised by going back to their upbringing. Finally, I confess of politically correct Anglican a marginalised, persecuted cata- to not being open to the idea that synods and Pope Francis stacking comb community? The church can the Christian faith is just a mat- his curia with like-minded mates never go back but only exist in ter of opinion; indeed, I hold it would have us think that we are the present, because the God of 4 Quadrant September 2017 Letters Christianity is “I AM” not I was to suit the argument. He cites two Statistics”, “Comparative Public or will be. And He speaks today books he believes are inspired by Sector Management”, “Descartes”, and can be heard if only we have Foucault, one on madness and “Locke”, “Shakespeare” or “The the humility and courtesy to lis- another on the history of sexuality. Victorian Novel”? The maligned ten. As St Benedict says in his True, but I’m also the author of a History Department has courses Rule, “Listen to the precepts of book on poverty and social policy, on genocide and sex and other the Master and turn the ears of a book on returned soldiers, and topics that repel him but there are your heart to hear ...”  That’s not co-author of one on the history also courses on Medieval Women, possible if your local church, or of Harlem, another on the impact Renaissance and Reformation, the your universal church, is simply of the Dawkins reforms on the Middle Ages and Modern China’s a noisy extension of Apex, or the University of Sydney and one on Wars 1895–1953, studies that would Masonic lodge, or Argentinian New South Wales and the Great not have been unusual when Mr culture, or the gay movement, or War for the New South Wales Windschuttle was a student, in any “ism” with a bucket of holy government—all topics of little its heyday, when presumably the water thrown over it. interest to Foucault. Faculty was not captured by the But has he actually read the Left. Phillip Turnbull two books he cites in support of Mr Windschuttle is an old spar- Cornelian Bay, Tas his case? My book on madness ring partner of the Department, acknowledges the importance of especially myself and Dirk Moses. The Thriving History Foucault but is actually a sustained We have crossed swords in pub- Department critique of his failure to examine lic and in print. But the History the patients in institutions and Department is thriving and doing Sir: Does the truth matter? their socio-economic, religious remarkable work despite these slurs Perhaps never more than now in and cultural characteristics. And and it sits in one of the few facul- our “post-truth”/“fake news” age. my history of sexuality, while also ties in the world that can genuinely The traditional virtues of objective acknowledging the critical impor- claim to some reasonable coverage commentary—avoiding ad hom- tance of Foucault’s work in this of both the Western canon and inem argument, rhetorical flour- field, canvassed the arguments the Eastern. Mr Windschuttle’s ish, and quoting out of context, of as many fierce opponents of perceptions seem set in aspic. One getting the facts right and read- Foucault as supporters. only wishes that he would get his ing what one is criticising first— There are also regrettable facts right and read what he criti- take on new urgency. What a pity exaggerations for effect—quoting cises so he can get the story right, then to see Mr Windschuttle (“A David Stove, he claims the “com- instead of recycling old enmities. Disaster of the Active Kind”, May plete capture of the Faculty of Stephen Garton 2017) betray these virtues in pur- Arts by the Left” and other rhe- (Provost and Deputy Vice- suit of his old nemesis, the History torical flourishes that, surely, he Chancellor, University of Sydney) Department at the University knows are exaggerations but can’t Camperdown, NSW of Sydney (reiterating previous resist the temptation of a “good attacks over the years) and his two line”. A quick glance at this year’s main bogey men, Dirk Moses and Faculty Handbook, if he bothered myself. to look at it, might disabuse him Quadrant welcomes letters Professor Moses can answer for of these preconceptions—he will himself. For my part rebuttal is not undoubtedly find many things to the editor. Letters are subject difficult. There are simple factual that offend to support his case, to editing unless writers errors. Mr Windschuttle claims I but where is the dangerous left- am the author of four books; actu- ism in “Foundations of Ancient stipulate otherwise. ally, it’s seven, when one counts Greece”, “Greek Philosophical co-authored books. Selecting facts Texts”, “Introduction to Economic Quadrant September 2017 5 g e n d e r d i v e r s i t y i n k h a k i KEith WindsChuttlE ow did we ever get to the position where long, drawn-out war against Islamic terrorism, foot Hwomen are being preferred to men for patrols like that at Orly Airport are the front lines recruitment to combat positions in of their combat zone and it could not be clearer that the Australian Army? Sydney’s Daily Telegraph women should be kept out of them, to protect not reported on August 11 that, in order to meet gender only their own lives but those of their male col- diversity quotas, Army recruiting officers had been leagues and any civilians in the vicinity. instructed not to process applications from males For the Australian Army, the latest revelations for combat roles over the next twelve months, but about the obeisance its recruiters now pay to radical to fast-track females through the system for the feminist ideology, especially the notions that girls same front-line positions. can do anything and women are the equal of men The real implications of such a policy were imme- at everything, is simply the latest scandal in the diately demonstrated by the Telegraph’s online site so-called diversity revolution inflicted on the force which posted, without comment, a CCTV video by its former leader Lieutenant General David of events at Paris Orly Airport in March this year. Morrison. It shows an Islamic terrorist capturing a female What is more disturbing is that it is now clear member of the French Army on counter-terrorism Morrison’s programs were not just one-off experi- patrol at the airport. He is much larger than her, ments driven by his own ambition to please the and easily seizes her from behind. He disarms her Rudd and Gillard governments. The current Chief of the assault rifle she carries and takes her hostage. of Army, Lieutenant General Angus Campbell, has Using her as a shield, he frogmarches her along the a much more impressive resumé as commander of terminal shouting he wants to die in the name of a battalion in East Timor and chief of staff to both Allah and “whatever happens, there will be deaths”.  Peter Cosgrove and Angus Houston when each For three long minutes he and his captive are was Chief of the Defence Force. From 2013 to 2015, followed by two male French soldiers, rifles at their he was the commander of Operation Sovereign shoulders but without benefit of cover. When the Borders, which ended the people-smuggling trade terrorist adjusts his grip on his hostage and turns to in illegal immigrants, the job that elevated him to fire her weapon at his pursuers, they react first and Army chief under Prime Minister Tony Abbott. shoot him dead. The female captive crawls away But rather than adopt a different organisational and the two male soldiers rush over to help her. culture, Campbell is going down the same gen- It is patently obvious from this incident that der-blender slope as his predecessor. Last year he women are not strong enough or quick enough for announced: “The number one priority I have with this kind of front-line duty. They are bound to be a respect to recruitment is increasing our diversity.” weak link in any chain of force needed in counter- He set a target to double the proportion of women terrorism situations. Indeed, their presence could employed by the Army from 12 per cent to 25 per well be a positive incitement to terrorists seek- cent by 2025. ing to confront armed forces and die in a blaze of In a Telegraph article in February about publicity. Campbell’s program, Miranda Devine quoted one Hence, it is irresponsible of the Australian dissident whistleblower saying that since his target Army to attract young female recruits with pro- was set, Defence Force Recruiting has pulled out motional material showing them on patrol in cam- all stops to entice women into the Army. They run ouflage gear in simulated combat zones, bearing “female only information sessions, female only fit- the latest automatic assault rifles, doing the same ness assessments, female only job assessment days, as male recruits and looking assured they can han- have a dedicated female specialist recruitment dle whatever arises. For the French Army, in its team... [and] free fitness training”. 6 Quadrant September 2017 genderdiversityinkhaki In one speech to recruitment officers, Campbell “Anzackery” as they call it. As Mervyn Bendle said he would overcome any resistance to his pol- has shown in detail in Anzac and Its Enemies icy. He mentioned an unnamed dissident who had (Quadrant Books, 2015), they regard the Anzac informed Army Gender Adviser, Julie McKay, that Legend as a reactionary mythology that justifies the he would resist diversity targets because he “needed alleged class, gender and racial oppression inher- to protect the Army from Canberra”. ent in Australian society. The campaign against However, it should now be obvious that the Anzackery complements long-term efforts by aca- Canberra government and bureaucracy are far demic feminists to indict Australian masculinity from the only influences on the diversity agenda. for both war-mongering and domestic violence, not The Army hierarchy itself has plainly adopted it to mention epidemics of date rape and imaginary as a moral obligation. Our generals think this is a forms of sexual harassment such as “inappropriate good thing to do, that it is a progressive, enlight- staring” on university campuses. ened and up-to-date policy for the twenty-first cen- In ADFA’s International Political Studies pro- tury. If they did not accede to its demands, they gram, Professor Anthony Burke—a devotee of believe, they would open the Army to accusations postmodern theorists Jacques Derrida and Michel of being sexist and discriminatory on gender issues. Foucault, post-colonialist Edward Said and the In short, the Army has absorbed gender diversity as Frankfurt School of Marxist theory—teaches a a cultural imperative, irrespective of any incompat- program in Refugees and Terrorism, where stu- ibility it might have with the objective of provid- dents learn about Australia’s purported “repression ing Australia with the most effective fighting force and exclusion of asylum seekers”. Burke practises possible. “critical terrorist studies”, a field that seeks to “de- exceptionalise” terrorism as a form of political vio- ow has it come to this? lence, rather than a unique form of “evil”, and to H The rot set in thirty years ago under the engage with terrorists as human beings rather than Hawke government’s Minister for Defence, Kim some de-humanised “Other”. Beazley, the man who bequeathed us the Collins ADFA students who venture into courses run by Class submarines. In 1986 Beazley approved the for- the School of English and Media Studies sit at the mation of the Australian Defence Force Academy feet of Professor Nicole Moore, another academic (ADFA) to provide university degree programs for who takes the theories of French postmodernist junior military officers. Instead of providing higher theorist Michel Foucault seriously and who lists education within Australian military traditions, Gender and Sexuality Studies among her research Beazley outsourced the running of the Academy interests. In the school’s undergraduate degree to the University of New South Wales, which has program, they can study subjects such as Reading conducted it ever since. As a result, ADFA has been Theory, and Heroism, Banditry and Manhood. subject to all the fashionable trends in civilian aca- Or if they go on to postgraduate studies, ADFA demic education that have degraded the humanities students could end up writing theses like the fol- and social sciences over the same period. lowing from a list published on the Academy’s This has meant that, instead of a largely politi- website: Literary Suffragism; Post 9/11 War Films; cally neutral education program based on scholar- Representations of African-Americans; or Marriage ship but with the defence of the nation itself and its in the Nineteenth Century Australian Novel—just democratic and liberal principles as a central focus, the thing to prepare them for a promising career as the Academy has taken on board the same kind officers in today’s Australian Defence Force. of identity politics that has infected the study of ADFA’s program in the humanities provides an the humanities everywhere else. Although it has intellectual climate that teaches identity politics attracted some genuine scholars in military history, is the progressive political cause du jour, and that such as Jeffrey Grey and Tom Frame, the Academy students who absorb its principles will get ahead has also provided plenty of scope for those academ- in our military services. If an educational institu- ics who think their purpose in life is to denigrate tion keeps doing this for three decades on end, and Australia’s liberal democracy and demonstrate how hardly anyone dares to criticise what it is doing, it is crude and uncouth are the cultural values of main- little wonder it can create a cohort of true believers stream Australians. dedicated to imposing their ideology on the insti- For instance, three of ADFA’s academics in tution at large. history, Peter Stanley, Craig Stockings and John In short, ADFA’s academics might have won Connor, have contributed to books and arti- the Culture Wars but at a hazardous cost to the cles designed to belittle the Anzac Legend, or Army’s ability to fight real wars. Quadrant September 2017 7 a s p e r i t i e s John o’sullivan s there a spectre threatening Europe? That was in Britain where Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn Ithe question put to a panel (on which I served) at emerged as the surprise celebrity-hero of the recent Joao Espada’s twentieth annual Estoril Political election by coming second. These new Left move- Forum on the Portuguese coast in late June. The ments have been rendered less threatening cultur- Forum is always an important event because its ally, moreover, by the success of playwrights and founder, Professor Joao Espada of the Catholic screenwriters such as Dario Fo, author of Can’t Pay, University of Portugal, takes great care to ensure Won’t Pay, whose fun-anarchism is the main ideo- that the speakers represent the full range of respect- logical inspiration of the Five Star movement. The able political opinion in the Euro-Atlantic world modern social democratic state has played its part and that an atmosphere of good-humoured toler- too by accustoming people to following bureau- ance suffuses the most contentious debates. cratic instructions to obtain free goods. To borrow How different, how very, very different what Marx said of history: communism repeats from the home life of our own dear university itself—the first time as genocide, the second time vice-chancellors. as therapy.   As a result of Professor Espada’s stewardship, All this has meant that Corbyn is regarded those who have attended earlier conferences—they by the young left-wingers who cheered him at include some of the brightest students from good the Glastonbury pop festival as Gandalf—a gen- universities on both sides of the Atlantic—are tle white-bearded leader of humble country folk among the very few people not astonished by such against the dark satanic mills of corporate Toryism events as the British vote for Brexit or the defeat and into a promised land. That’s to be expected at of the National Front’s Marine Le Pen in France’s a pop festival perhaps. But his name is winning election. The freer and more open the debate, the cheers and debates at the literary festivals where better informed both the debaters and their audi- older, centrist and moderately Tory audiences gen- ence will be.   erally fill the hall. And then most ordinary voters On this occasion the speakers were quick to simply tune out Tory themes that despite his grand- agree that a spectre was threatening Europe, if fatherly looks, Corbyn is a dangerous radical leftist. only because there is always a spectre threatening Consider the positions he has taken both now Europe (indeed usually several). On this occasion and over the years. Today, he wants an end to “aus- “populism” was the spectre they had in mind. But terity” and greatly increased public spending at a other spectres were on hand. time when Britain has very high levels of public When Karl Marx coined the phrase in the debt. Such policies would risk the kind of stagfla- Communist Manifesto, the spectre he saw threaten- tion that in the 1970s compelled the then-Labour ing Europe was communism itself. Two or three government to call in the IMF for help. They would years ago, we might have assumed that this spec- also require massive tax increases on people at all tre belonged strictly to the history books. Surely levels of income. 1989 and memories of the ruin that communism Second, he is soft not on communism only but had inflicted on Russia and Europe—not to men- on almost all the enemies of Britain and, more tion China and Asia—would guard us effectively broadly, the West, including radical Islamists. He against returning to it. But if memories are short, will almost never issue an unqualified condemna- the memories of people born after 1989 don’t exist tion of a terrorist atrocity, instead preferring to at all. condemn the violence “on both sides”. On such Accordingly, communist ideas—generally grounds he maintained a friendly relationship with deriving from softer forms of communism such as the Provisional IRA when it was bombing London Trotskyism rather than Leninism—have revived and Manchester and murdering the ordinary citi- in Greece, in Spain, in Italy, and most recently zens of Northern Ireland. He has since refused to 8 Quadrant September 2017