War crimes: Left-wing uni magazine accuses Australians of bad character

An artist with Afghan refugee parents was “mortified” veteran helplines were listed in alleged war crime stories and has slammed the “Australian character.”

An artist has launched a stunning attack on the country that took in his parents as refugees, claiming the alleged criminal behaviour of some SAS soldiers in Afghanistan was merely the “very character of Australia on display’’.

Artist, writer and non-binary queer youth worker Bobuq Sayed — who prefers to be referred to as “they’’ instead of “him’’ or “her’’ — also objects to counselling helpline numbers for struggling veterans being attached to media reports on the alleged war crimes.

A child of Afghan refugees who were welcomed into Australia, Sayed wrote he was “mortified” that such helplines are being listed to aid war veterans and their families.

Bobuq Sayed claims the Afghan war crimes are the “very character of Australia on display.” Picture: Twitter

The self-proclaimed “artist of the Afghan diaspora” made the statements in university-funded literary magazine Meanjin, which is edited by ABC presenter Jonathan Green.

“Perhaps these war crimes in Afghanistan are not an ­exceptional lapse in judgment, but the very character of Australia on display in full focus,” they wrote.

“What hit hardest was the addendum to articles about the report from The Age and The Guardian. At the bottom of the page, both outlets listed 24-hour support and counselling hotlines for members of the Australian Defence Force and their families.

“It mortifies me that the emotional impact of this report centres (on) veterans, although it is unsurprising given how often this ‘bad apples’ framing occludes the extent of national complicity.”

Institute of Public Affairs research director Daniel Wild said such an article as Sayed’s could only be written and published “in a country which values and protects freedom of speech — a value which millions of veterans have fought and died to protect”.

Sayed also calls the listing of counselling hotlines for veterans “mortifying”. Picture: Twitter

“These comments are ­driven by animosity towards the Australian way of life and mainstream Australian values,” he said. “They are simply unAustralian.

“More than one million Australian men and women have served in the armed forces to protect our way of life and have done so with great honour and distinction.

“It is to them that we owe our freedoms and liberties.”

Australian Defence Asso­ciation executive director Neil James also slammed the comments. “Advising on counselling hotlines for victims surely shouldn’t ‘mortify’ anyone,” he said. “Including for veterans and their families with no involvement in war-crime allegations. Ideological barrowpushing to the contrary simply ­diverts due attention from all victims, and from due acc­ountability regarding the ­perpetrators.”

The Brereton report found there was evidence that 25 Australian Special Forces soldiers unlawfully killed 39 Afghan civilians.

Addressing some of the feedback to the piece on Twitter yesterday, Green said he fully supported the article.

“This is a contentious area, and this post has raised some anger,” he posted. “Just to say, as the editor who commissioned it, that I support it entirely, and that in my view it makes good and measured points. It’s not the whole story, but doesn’t try to be. It is an important perspective.”