WYD organisers: we had nothing to do with”anti-annoyance” laws
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At Crikey we’ve given World Youth Day plenty, particularly about the outrageous amount of taxpayer funding showered on the event by the NSW and Federal Governments. But none of the outrage over the anti-annoyance laws should be directed at the Catholic Church. As WYD spokesman Jim Hanna — who is really earning his money — told Crikey, they’re copping a hiding over this and it’s entirely unjustified. Neither the WYD organisers nor the Catholic Church asked for these regulations and, as Hanna rightly says, they would’ve been mad to do so, quite apart from the rights or wrongs of them. The NSW Government’s chief WYD apologist, Kristina Keneally, defended the regulations in the SMH today, by arguing that they’ve been repeatedly used at other occasions such as major sporting events. That’s just the problem. The NSW Government has an appalling record of savagely infringing civil liberties in its quest for law and order at “special events” (many of which are unwanted by Sydney residents). The entire CBD was locked down, businesses closed and hundreds of thousands of people subjected to massive inconvenience as part of the Government’s over-the-top APEC security measures last year — which the Chaser exposed as being essentially hollow. Last November, they made permanent extraordinary “temporary” police powers to stop, search and seize established in the wake of the Cronulla riots. The NSW government is not alone in this sort of garbage. All Australian governments since 2001 have been guilty of a national security state-style hysteria under which they have dramatically expanded their powers of surveillance, harassment and criminal enforcement under the pretext of protecting their citizens. These are governments that are afraid of their own people, or significant sections thereof, and see in any expression of legitimate protest a threat to themselves. Of all our Federal and State leaders, only Jon Stanhope in the Socialist Republic of the ACT has had the guts to question this. But under this relentless pressure, bit by bit, our conception of what is reasonable and tolerable has slid toward absurdity, as any trip through an airport these days shows. Keneally also conveniently omits one point from her apologia for her government’s attack on its citizens’ rights. Have a look at the regulations. The requirement not to annoy or inconvenience WYD participants (I refuse to use the rather Chaucerian term “pilgrims”) doesn’t just apply to Randwick Racecourse or the Sydney Opera House or wherever noted homophobe Joseph Ratzinger (stage name: Pope Benedict) is putting on his act. The affected areas encompass a huge part of Sydney — every Catholic school and church, a huge number of public schools, and all railway stations as well as much of the CBD. Be careful where you talk about child abuse during the World Youth events. This is a government that tries to manage the media cycle by relentlessly expanding its powers to inconvenience, arrest and imprison its citizens, in the vain hope that its heavyhandedness will be mistaken for the competence and good judgement it so clearly lacks. |
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21 Comments
I believe church officials when they say they did not ask for these laws.
They didn’t need to. The very significant influence of right wing Catholics in the NSW Labour party probably saw to that.
Such people live in perpetual fear and awe of their church and an overreaction to protecting Ratzinger on his Big Day Out is hardly unexpected. Dig a bit deeper, Crikey, and I believe you may find who is really behind this. Or more likely, you will just encounter a wall of silence.
Hello ! NSW Opposition-is there anyone out there ?. Does anyone know if Barry O’Farrell has a functioning brain with a switch that can be turned off the great Iguanagate “scandal” and thrown to things that really matter-like these new fascist laws ?.>
I think the attitude of the NSW Government in cohorts with the Catholic Church has been a disgrace. I say “puck the fope”
I want that stupid WYD coffin opened, you know the one with that “preserved” some-one-or-other. The one the ABC News devoted 1m20s to last night! Hello?? Are we living in the Middle Ages again or in Bible-Belt USA perhaps??
Stage name: Pope Benedict!! I’m not a Catholic (Roman or Angican), but I get so tired of people who are happy to offend may of their fellow citizens when all they succed in doing is appear as sneering smart-arses. The Queen (I’m a republican) is always Betty Windsor. It is all so boring
Frazzled, I’ve been ultra-venemous in my comments in this blog and I’d just quickly like to qualify that I don’t detest all things Catholic, just several things, most of which I’ve referred to. Your comment is as intelligent as it is honest, and all of your points are well-made. Similarly, I think Fr Bob Maguire does good work too, again because he seems an honest bloke. What I hate is hypocrisy, and I think that laws against offending people (as opposed to vilfying people, and although it’s a thin line, I think it’s a pretty clear one in most cases) are un-Australian. I hope, for both of us, that this situation improves. Also, that’s nice work, Ben Aveling.
Yes, it’s absurd, but also very very depressing the eternal vigilance etc. We seem always to be backsliding from the possibility of an enlightened free society. At 65 I’m still naive I suppose.
Police intimidating a protester who is setting up an event in Oxford Street. I’m not a Sydneysider, but presumably someone knows how far away Oxford Street is from Randwick? The more of these stories I hear, the clearer it is that the Catholic church has the NSW governement and the NSW police in the same position traditionally reserved for unfortunate alter boys.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/04/2294284.htm
Atheo-agnostic: try “World Youth Day is none of the above”
(cf. the classic “The Moral Majority is neither”)
Fair call Mike Watson - I’ve met a few NSW right wingers and the word ‘Pharisee’ did indeed come to mind.
What an extraordinary anti Catholic rant this article is, it’s almost pointy hat stuff. It’s also cowardly because there is no way this type of article would be written about Muslims. The media, including Crikey, are like a pack of wild dogs after a wounded animal with the NSW government, they’re snapping at every move. Imagine the frenzy of condemnation if we didn’t have “temporary” police powers and terrorists succeeded in killing Pope in Sydney
I like the giant bit of wood they’re lugging round like the crew on the Life of Brian set.
I’m also hoping in updating the Stations of the Cross for Yoof they’re recognising the sensibilities and cultural proclivities of Gens X & Y.
“Jesus is totally pwned for a third time.”
For what it’s worth, the regulations almost certainly violate ALP Policy 20.5:
A Labor Government will:
“Provide for a legal framework to ensure that
registered organisations and community
organisations and their members are able to
exercise their right to take action (petition or free
speech activities), and other legitimate forms
of demonstration consistent with the principles
of freedom of association, without legal penalty
such as the Secondary boycott provisions of the
Workplace Relations Act and common law actions
in tort (claims such as defamation, conspiracy, and
interference with prospective economic advantage).”
http://www.nswalp.com/download/now/policy_book_2006_2008.pdf
John C, your dishonesty in your comments is just what I’d expect from the Catholic church itself. I’d be equally opposed to an Australian government spending a fortune on a celebration for muslims and trampling on the rights of protesters, but what do you know, no Australian government is trying to do this! Nor would they ever do this. So why mention it? Because you can’t honestly answer why all this is going on, that’s why. Your suggestion that this is all about security to protect the Pope is sheer lunacy - why would the police fine people $5500 for offending attendees if they were only looking out for the Pope? This is about the NSW government bending over for the church in just the same way that alter boys have been forced to for years, and your attempts to suggest otherwise are comical.
I agree with the article and comments made to date. I think it was Kristina Keneally that I listened to defending these laws on triple J. What also concerned me was the response to question about the highly subjective nature of these laws. The essence of the response was “oh well the police just have to use their discretion”. I accept that police do have to exercise judgement and discretion however I think it unnecessarily increases the responsibility for them to make such decisions on the fly. The wording could have been more legally specific. Not only are the public in harms way but also the police and the judicial system are at risk by having to enforce such a subjective law. How on earth do you legally and definitively prove annoyance or inconvenience?
If I lived in NSW, I’d be furious that my tax dollars were paying for police to enforce ‘thou shalt not annoy’ laws. I frankly don’t believe the Catholic church’s denial that they were behind this - they’re trying to avoid as much embarrassment as possible because they know the protests will be on, and it’s unfortunate that Bernard has swallowed their denials. If they really didn’t want these laws, they’d have called on the Government to drop them, and they haven’t done this. Jesus made life a bit uncomfortable for authorities at times, and the Catholic church is showing itself as more alligned with Pharisees (see, that religious eductation did come in useful!). This is church-driven state-sponsored censorship at its worst, but if I headed up the Catholic Church I’d be inflicting as much censorship as I could, because of the embarrassments facing that organisation (did someone say paedophiles?) and the unsustainability of its ideology (thou shalt not engage in family planning because that would drop our numbers). Why the good citizens of NSW need to pay for the police to run the inquisition is beyond me, though.
Memo to: WYD spokesman Jim Hanna
From: very annoyed parishioner
I cannot for the life of me understanding why it is that an event that has so much going for it to unite and celebrate Christ’s love, has descended into Priests on calendars, Pope’s on floats and Cardinals at racecourses. For goodness sake – this isn’t the Olympics, it’s not a rock concert and it’s not APEC.
It’s a gathering of the faithful with a love of our Lord. So start focusing on our faith.
Talk about why it is that we are coming together – to build Jesus in our Midst, to build unity, to live love. Focus on the outreach and inclusion – it’s for everyone, young, old, catholic, Anglican, Buddhist. All of God’s children.
Talk about the thousands coming from different parts of the Church rather than how many bread rolls you’ve bought.
Tell the heart-warming stories of the people coming rather than how many rooms you don’t have for them.
Talk of the personal suffering and how the pilgrims conquered this rather than just focusing on the bones of a dead saint.
Share the stories of the performers coming and how they serve God thorugh their music ministry. How this enriches their lives and the lives of those around them.
Share the joys, the hardships and the miracles that come from trusting our Lord and doing His will, rather than our own.
Talk about the generosity of spirit of the Sydney community opening their homes to the pilgrims, opening their hearts and stop focusing on meaningless distractions like portaloos.
For God’s sake (literally) – just stop talking about the logistics. We all know it’s going to be tricky – we live in NSW. Just get on with it. We’re counting down the days – and still, we’re reading about logistics.
Those road signs just keep reminding us of how horrendous it’s all going to be. We get it. If you’re going to do a countdown - then put something inspirational up there.
Oh…and the approach you’re taking to making the Pope seem like a rock star, cut it out. We are Catholic. He’s a humble servant of our Lord. Remember?
The communiqués reaching the media – and the spin in the published articles are turning us into a laughing stock and targets for hatred. Have a look at the t-shirt sites. That’s not what WYD was designed to do.
Please – for all our sake – simplify your message, celebrate with our faith and share the joy of this adventure.
Bernard, you’re right on the money with this one. We need strong laws in place in case we need them,but what we need even more than is that oh so illusive combination of intellect and genuinely broad based social conscience within the political and bureaucratic systems so that such powers are not abused. And you’re right too that Australian governments at both levels have shamelessly promoted a culture of fear in order to cut even further into people’s rights. Good on you.
Check the RTA WYD web info and you will see that we punters are simply the “non-participant” community!
Personally I think the draconian measures are appropriate, given that the Pope was Joseph Ratzinger, Head of the “Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith” known before 1905 as “the Universal Inquisition” whose activities make Abu Graib look like pikers.
It’s not just that these laws are so over-the-top they’ll encourage dissent (we wouldn’t be Aussies if we weren’t anti-authority), they’re also grossly insulting. Clearly, our governments can have no respect for us whatsoever if they insist on treating us like school kids playing up in assembly.
Has anyone yet taken the Voltaire treatment to “World Youth Day”? Voltaire said the Holy Roman Empire was “neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire”. World Youth Day is neither World (where are the Buddhiists, etc?), Youth (just look at the organisers, sponsors, politicians and hierarchy), or a Day (it’s at least a week and its repercussions spread far and wide over time).