Racial activism and right-wing activism are both unwelcome on Anzac Day. By Flat White in The Spectator.

A majority of Australians, as suggested by the Voice to Parliament referendum, disagree with ‘Welcome to Country’ utterances outside tourist settings.

Perhaps even more Australians find ‘Welcome to Country’ particularly abrasive, even insulting, when issued as part of an Anzac Day memorial.

Others are simply exhausted by the messaging on every flight, website, government building, corporate email, and school address…

It is also true that the ‘Welcome to Country’ performance is part of a larger, racially-charged activist movement that includes a shadow-Parliament, enshrined racial privilege, the assumption of inherited legal authority over the land, and special exemptions and status in various parts of government. Even the justice system openly nods to Aboriginal heritage.

‘Welcome to Country’ is tangentially attached to the ‘Land Back!’ movement which brandishes disturbing slogans such as ‘Pay the rent!’ and the ‘Colonies must fall!’ Some of its enthusiasts drench their hands in red paint during marches and carry signs that, arguably, meet racial incitement and hate thresholds. …

That is not to say any particular person giving any particular ‘Welcome to Country’ over the Anzac Day weekend has involvement with the wider activist story, but rather that ‘Welcome to Country’ exists in this cultivated political world which every person listening to a ‘Welcome to Country’ is aware of. They have heard these slogans, seen the signs, and been the victim of aggressive equity policies.

Welcome to country is especially inappropriate on Anzac Day:

These are Australians who are told they have no sacred connection to land and should ‘go back to England’ (despite being born here). Australians have had their ancestors falsely painted as rapists and murders, watched educational institutions tear out the pages of history and replace them with propaganda, been told they are ‘privileged’ because of their skin colour rather than the sacrifices they made, and have been openly discriminated against by society because they can’t tick a minority box.

These people don’t like being reminded of aggressive race activism when they are trying to peacefully remember their dead.

Many agree it is neither the time nor the place. Others would point out that it is impolite to push shades of coloniser rhetoric when remembering those young men and women who died to keep Germany and Japan from violating Australian sovereignty in two wars where those so-called colonisers bore a disproportionate blood cost compared to those who now live here thanks to their sacrifice. Sombre respect is all that is asked on Anzac Day. …

Fringe right groups continue to poison the well, to the delight of the left/media:

Now, for the difficult part, another truth which risks derailing any sensible and valid attempt to dismantle ‘Welcome to Country’ in the future.

A poisoning of the well.

At least some of those who instigated the booing at various ceremonies, as with last year, have connections to unsavoury political movements. Their actions were pre-planned on social media. They said so on their Twitter Spaces and Telegram chats. It is alleged, or perhaps suspected, that the booing is, in some cases, part of raising attention for their movement rather than an organic reaction to ‘Welcome to Country’. Others were stopped from attending by police. These groups are known, as are their beliefs, which stand as an affront to the memory of the Anzacs. …

While many conservatives may agree with their voters when it comes to scrapping ‘Welcome to Country’ across a range of ceremonies, it does not mean they associate with the individuals behind the booing or their activism. …

We have seen groups hijack genuine grievance and kernels of truth as a way to grow their movement in a sanitised way among people who have no idea what the full scope of these beliefs might be.

Just as many young leftists cannot name the river or the sea and have never read Hamas doctrine, conservatives do not understand what some of these people mean when they say ‘patriotism’.

It is with enormous sorrow that I say that many conservative words and causes have been poisoned by these groups, cheered on by the left-wing media, and allowed by the ambivalent right who either don’t know or don’t care that it’s happening.

Alexandra Marshall sums up her article on her blog:

Australians don’t like being reminded of aggressive race activism when they are trying to peacefully remember their dead.

Many agree it is neither the time nor the place.

Please don’t welcome me to my own country, that my Anzac ancestor fought for.