Better four decades late than never
"At the recent ceremonies in Red Square to commemorate the Russian Army's defeat of Nazism, the Latvian President Ms Vike-Freiberga called it 'surreal', after not a single word of contrition was uttered by the Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the 'Stalinist terror' visted upon the Baltic states.
"In the aftermath of commemorating 60 years since the fall of Nazism, why has there never been a tribunal such as the Nuremburg Trials which has acknowledged the millions killed by Communism in the former Soviet Union and Cambodia?"
Who wrote this?! It sounds like me at any time since about 1966. But no, it's from Late Night Live.
I've given a lot of stick to Phillip Adams over many years (nowhere near as much as anti-communists copped for decades; certainly not as much as the victims), but I'll lay off for a little while now. Goodonya Mr Adams; I've heard a number of your mea culpas, and although not as impressive as if said through tears, they're getting better each year. And you do have the best radio program in Australia, if not the world.
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What we want from the ABC is an entire revision of its historical revisionism. When the darlings of the ABC are trotted out, it should be in the light of truth and historical evidence. When Frank Hardy is mentioned, let us hear "Hardy, who called Stalin the 'great helmsman', publicly debated Australians who accused the Soviet Union of unspeakable crimes against humanity". When it's Jessie Street, rather than lauding her, let the presenter say:
"A tireless propagandist for Stalin's Communist Russia, she refused to alter her contact with leading lights of the Soviet dictatorship during the years of widespread Soviet exterminations. Well into the 1960s, long after many had left the pro-Marxist-Leninist ranks, Street remained a prominent figure in such Communist front organisations as the World Peace Council."
When Hollywood in the 1950s is mentioned, let's hear the other side of the McCarthyist coin: the people in the movie industry who were in fact agants of Stalinism (check the KGB archives as some have done before). For 40 years the ABC has given us how much Communists suffered in Australia for being Communists. End of story. What about the anti-Communists whose careers were not advanced because they did not fit the dominant (ABC-led) paradigm?
When the Petrov Affair comes up (as it inevitably does with a snigger about how Menzies manufactured it in order to win an election), let the ABC researchers earn their salt and actually discover what really happened (another trip to the KGB files will help).
When some old codger is interviewed in Street Stories, let the producers not sweep past the said codger's 30 years in the Communist Party as though it were a badge of honour, but treat it as they most certainly would if he were three decades a Nazi activist in our midst. Let the codger be challenged as one would challenge a Nazi: "Mr Codger, how does it feel to know you defended and supported -- morally and even materially -- regimes in various countries that massacred scores of millions of workers?" Here's a story for the ABC History Department: how much money was sent from Australia to the USSR, and how many torturers and executioners did those Aussie pounds and dollars pay for? Will the ABC do it? In three words, "not bloody likely".
Phillip Adams is getting warm, but nowhere near hot. He admits to having been mistaken. Culpability, responsibility and amends are further steps for the Aussie Left whose second main aim was to pillory Australian anti-authoritarians. What we need to hear endlessly from the ABC is a whole new perspective in accord with the facts of the 20th century reality. What a history the national broadcaster could tell; what listeners they might gain!
"In the aftermath of commemorating 60 years since the fall of Nazism, why has there never been a tribunal such as the Nuremburg Trials which has acknowledged the millions killed by Communism in the former Soviet Union and Cambodia?"
Who wrote this?! It sounds like me at any time since about 1966. But no, it's from Late Night Live.
I've given a lot of stick to Phillip Adams over many years (nowhere near as much as anti-communists copped for decades; certainly not as much as the victims), but I'll lay off for a little while now. Goodonya Mr Adams; I've heard a number of your mea culpas, and although not as impressive as if said through tears, they're getting better each year. And you do have the best radio program in Australia, if not the world.
Listen Real Media Windows Media
What we want from the ABC is an entire revision of its historical revisionism. When the darlings of the ABC are trotted out, it should be in the light of truth and historical evidence. When Frank Hardy is mentioned, let us hear "Hardy, who called Stalin the 'great helmsman', publicly debated Australians who accused the Soviet Union of unspeakable crimes against humanity". When it's Jessie Street, rather than lauding her, let the presenter say:
"A tireless propagandist for Stalin's Communist Russia, she refused to alter her contact with leading lights of the Soviet dictatorship during the years of widespread Soviet exterminations. Well into the 1960s, long after many had left the pro-Marxist-Leninist ranks, Street remained a prominent figure in such Communist front organisations as the World Peace Council."
When Hollywood in the 1950s is mentioned, let's hear the other side of the McCarthyist coin: the people in the movie industry who were in fact agants of Stalinism (check the KGB archives as some have done before). For 40 years the ABC has given us how much Communists suffered in Australia for being Communists. End of story. What about the anti-Communists whose careers were not advanced because they did not fit the dominant (ABC-led) paradigm?
When the Petrov Affair comes up (as it inevitably does with a snigger about how Menzies manufactured it in order to win an election), let the ABC researchers earn their salt and actually discover what really happened (another trip to the KGB files will help).
When some old codger is interviewed in Street Stories, let the producers not sweep past the said codger's 30 years in the Communist Party as though it were a badge of honour, but treat it as they most certainly would if he were three decades a Nazi activist in our midst. Let the codger be challenged as one would challenge a Nazi: "Mr Codger, how does it feel to know you defended and supported -- morally and even materially -- regimes in various countries that massacred scores of millions of workers?" Here's a story for the ABC History Department: how much money was sent from Australia to the USSR, and how many torturers and executioners did those Aussie pounds and dollars pay for? Will the ABC do it? In three words, "not bloody likely".
Phillip Adams is getting warm, but nowhere near hot. He admits to having been mistaken. Culpability, responsibility and amends are further steps for the Aussie Left whose second main aim was to pillory Australian anti-authoritarians. What we need to hear endlessly from the ABC is a whole new perspective in accord with the facts of the 20th century reality. What a history the national broadcaster could tell; what listeners they might gain!
Pip Wilson posted item above at 8:09 PM | Permalink
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