Tools of War
Page 31
Turn it around. Did Aaron hate Grace? How did people like Aaron, and those championing his cause, fight bigotry? To fight for equality you had to hate inequality. But hating people? Hating…
It wasn’t that simple. It was nowhere near simple.
“I’ll see you home, Anne.”
Everyone was leaving. They’d heard and seen shocking things. It would take a long time to fully comprehend, it would take forever to recover. If ever. But there were homes to go to, families to be tended, lives to be continued. Most importantly, tomorrow there was vital work to be done. Work which would need keen minds and superior effort.
Julian escorted her from the building. “We need to talk.”
She looked up at him. “Not tonight, Julian.”
“You know I’ll be moving on.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll see you home.”
“Don’t bother.”
He followed her across the road, to the approaching tram. It stopped. He held her arm.
Annoyed, she watched the tram pull away. “What do you want? Let go of me.”
“Please, Anne - try to understand.”
“I do.”
“You’ve changed.” He studied her. “I can’t blame you.”
“Leave me alone, Julian.”
“Anne - for what it’s worth, I did love you. I do love you. I have no choice. There’s far too much at stake. We’re a very small part of a very big operation.”
“That’s your business,” she retorted. “It’s not mine.”
“It is your business,” he insisted. “It’s everyone’s business.”
He was right. Of course he was right. The traumatic years in the laboratory had proved that. How to respond?
“What?” he pressed.
“You’re right,” she tiredly conceded. “It is everyone’s business. It’s just… Your job... What you do….”
“My job is necessary.”
“I don’t know how you can do the things you do.”
“There’s a lot at stake, Anne. You know that.”
“Don’t you understand?” She flashed. “I don’t want to know!”
His earnest eyes searched her stony face.
I will not feel that darkness. I will not be like you. I will not be like Grace. A few more minutes, hang on for a few more minutes. Do not give in.
“You’re right,” he sympathised. “Of course you don’t want to know. You’ve had a rough time.”
“I don’t ever want to know! I don’t care!”
“You will,” he countered. “You will care, Anne. The war’s not over yet. Remember – don’t care was made to care.”
I don’t want to care! “Mum will be waiting.”
He released her. “Get well, Anne. Rest …”
His words were drowned by the sound of the approaching tram.
“Goodbye Julian.”
The tram stopped. She boarded it.
From the tram stop, he waved.
If only there was no war, but there was.
She did not wave back.
1945
August 6th:
Hiroshima is destroyed by an atomic bomb.
August 9th:
Nagasaki is destroyed by an atomic bomb.
1947
1947 October 23rd:
Ronald Reagan, president of the Screen Actors’ Guild, appearing before a Congressional committee investigating communism in America, warns of the dangers of a witch hunt. “I hope that we are never prompted by fear or resentment of Communism into compromising any of our democratic principles in order to fight them.”
1950
February 9th:
In the United States Senator Joseph McCarthy launches a crusade against alleged Communist infiltration of the Federal Government. He offers no proof and refuses to reveal names on his list.
1951
March 9th:
Prime Minister Menzies’ attempted ban on the Communist Party of Australia has foundered on the opposition of the High Court to his Dissolution Act. Menzies, declaring the fight has just begun, says: “The community must either have, or get, power to defend itself against internal wreckers.”
September 22nd:
Australians reject a referendum proposal to give Parliament wider powers to control the activities of Communists. The referendum was proposed by the Menzies Government following a High Court ruling that Parliament exceeded its powers in outlawing the Communist Party.
1953
April 17th:
Comic genius, Charlie Chaplin, falls victim to McCarthyism. Banned after he left for Europe to promote his film ‘Limelight’, he said : “I have been the object of vicious propaganda.”
Under threat of proceedings to bar him if he goes back, he surrenders his re-entry permit and announces he will never return to America, his home for 40 years.
1972
April 3rd:
Returning to America, Charlie Chaplin receives a special Academy Award.
2001
October 24th:
The ‘American Patriot Act’ is passed in response to the acts of terrorism of September 11th 2001. Convinced that law enforcement and national security officials need new legal tools to fight terrorism, it is made law by an overwhelming majority in the American Congress.
2005
December 1st:
The Australian Government rules out scrapping the controversial sedition provisions within its anti-terror laws, offering only minor changes.
Senator Brandis reports the bill will not only be changed, but the whole issue of sedition will be reviewed by the Australian Reform Commission in early 2006.
2006
Excerpts from Anne’s diary:
“No matter what people do to you, they can never take away what you choose to feel about it.” Dr Viktor Frankl.
Born in March, 1905, Dr Frankl survived four Nazi death camps, including Auschwitz, and died at the age of 92.
The politics of fear thrive, the tools of war multiply, and personal choices become universally critical.
THE END
Addenda
1.
“The Patriot Act. America. A response to the terrorist attacks on New York, September 11th 2001.
The events of September 11 convinced overwhelming majorities in the American Congress that law enforcement and national security officials need new legal tools to fight terrorism. But we should not forget what gave rise to the original opposition. Many aspects of the bill increase the opportunity for law enforcement and the intelligence community to return to an era where they monitored and sometimes harassed individuals who were merely exercising their First Amendment Rights. Nothing that occurred on September 11th mandates that we return to such an era.”
John Podesta: USA Patriot Act – The Good, the Bad, and the Sunset (Winter, 2002)
2.
News Items are taken from personally saved clippings and from the Penguin Publication Chronicle of the 20th Century.
Inspired by actual events, the story of ‘Tools of War’ takes place in World War Two Melbourne, Australia. Anne Preston, a naïve teenager employed in a laboratory critical to the production of tools of war, becomes embroiled in the espionage and intrigue which successfully sabotages this branch of the war effort.
Closely associated with members of the illegal Communist Party, legalised in 1942, she is compelled to confront opposing beliefs and ideals and to ask questions rarely contemplated by previous generations of young Australians.