State of Protest

The 23rd World Youth Day celebrations are currently being hosted in Sydney, Australia from the 15th to the 20th of July. The official World Youth Day (WYD) 2008 site describes it as “the largest youth event in the world… attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the globe… to celebrate and learn about their faith on a more regular basis”.¹ It is the religious equivalent of a week-long music festival, complete with services, entertainment acts, a welcome from the Prime Minister, and Pope Benedict XVI’s first official public appearance in Australia ever to an anticipated crowd of 500,000.²

The estimate of the taxpayer cost for this event is currently at AU$160 million with AU$86 million coming from the NSW state government, well beyond the proportion of funds contributed by past host cities. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church is putting forward only AU$115 million, with AU$75 million expected to be recouped from attendance fees.³ The number of people converging on the CBD is expected to go well beyond that experienced in the 2000 Olympics.⁴ Road closures and disruptions are expected to exceed the inconveniences caused during the 2007 APEC summit,⁵ and the lead-up to the event was beset by anxieties over the ability of Sydney’s underfunded infrastructure to cope with the load of so much human traffic.^{6 7}

While this all might suggest that Australia is quite fond of organised religion, particularly Roman Catholicism, the statistical data evinces a different scenario. Though Catholicism is the largest denomination in Sydney, it is still only a minority of less than 30%.⁸ This year, an international study revealed many striking features of religion in Australia, including the significantly high rate of nominalism in Catholics. 31% of Australians said they lacked a belief in any god, making Australia the fourth least religious nation out of 21 in the study. General interest in religion and religious issues also recorded significantly low. Unsurprisingly, youth were found to be the least religious of all. ⁹

In such an unsuitable environment for an event promoting religion to the masses, the clandestine introduction of special police powers for World Youth Day has proved to be widely unpopular. Using a cleverly arranged legal loop-hole that bypassed parliamentary scrutiny, the deputy Premier gazetted new regulations on June 25, that allowed for a AU$5,500 fine to anyone who “causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event”.¹⁰ The word “annoyance” was vague enough to endanger people’s right to demonstrate and campaign during the event. Members of Broken Rites, a support group for church sex abuse victims, reported being approached by police to have their banners and placards pre-approved for their intended demonstration. The NoToPope coalition expressed concern that they would not be allowed to hand out condoms and protest papal doctrines on sexuality. The consequence of this law that was most widely publicised was that merely wearing a shirt with an anti-catholic or anti-WYD slogan could result in fine or arrest.¹¹ In response to this, the NoToPope coalition staged a “fashion show” in front of State Parliament, displaying a range of potentially offensive shirts.¹²

The government attempted to justify these laws as nothing out of the ordinary, comparing them to the sort of controls used at sporting events, but as Stephen Blanks of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties has pointed out, normally such laws would apply to all sports spectators, not just those supporting the visiting team. It seems that the state government is eager to avoid a repeat of last year’s embarrassment during APEC, where a comedy team made it through two police checkpoints in a fake motorcade, carrying one of their members dressed as Osama bin Laden. They were let off on all charges due to the role that police complacency played in the incident.¹³

Finally, on Tuesday this week, a court ruling deemed the term “annoyance” to be invalid, due to its propensity to outlaw almost behaviour as trivial as tying a shoelace. However, it did not remove the term “inconvenience” from the law, which the Premier claimed was good enough to embue police with the power to suppress undesirable behaviour. ¹⁴

With growing mass dissent and a lack of religious zealotry, it is puzzling to many why Sydney was made to bear this burden at all. Premier Iemma’s main incentive to the public is a promised boost of AU$200 million to the local economy.¹⁵ Retailers don’t seem convinced, however, including the CEO of Myer who predicts losses around $20 million dollars due to their business.¹⁶ NSW Trainers Association says that the AU$41 million compensation deal that had to be struck in order to re-locate 700 horses from Randwick Racecourse will not cover all costs, nor will it justify the risk of a new outbreak of equine influenza which saw last year’s Spring Carnival cancelled.¹⁷ There have been reports that the sex industry can expect a surge in business thanks to non-catholic visitors accompanying World Youth Day, but even that prospect seems to be unsupported speculation.¹⁸

Another proposed justification is as a sort of reciprocation for the contribution the Catholic Church makes to the community through hospitals and schools. State-funded hospitals contracted to the Catholic church often do not refer rape victims to rape counseling (because such services offer emergency contraception to victims), will not perform procedures such as vasectomies and abortions, and will often refuse to host IVF facilities. ¹⁹ Like these hospitals, Catholic schools also receive significant amounts of public money- the government gives Catholic school students 73% as much funding as public schools²⁰ – and really only provide education opportunities to children whose parents are willing to subject them to doctrines of the Catholic church from as young as 5 years old. Considering how few people in NSW subscribe strongly to the particulars of Catholic morality and superstition, it is more plausible to say that these services are being co-opted by the Catholic church for its own agenda, than to say the church has invested its own funding into meeting the interests of the broader community.

However, there is a positive side to all this controversy. Threats of strike action during WYD08 forced the government to settle a long running pay dispute with the transport union.²¹ The gazetting of anti-free speech “annoyance” laws has revived the debate over whether Australia needs a Bill of Rights, and the succesful challenge of these laws has been a blow for the government’s attempts to subvert democratic processes. The inconveniences and injustices of World Youth Day have united businesses, unions and the general public in a way that is rarely seen in politically moderate Australia. As much as the church expects to boost its numbers from this event, many activist groups can expect an increase in support flowing on from the publicity they’ve received. Most of all, many previously complacent citizens have been forced to recognise the importance of vigilance over the powers entrusted to political leaders.

It is clear that rational activists and civil libertarians will not let this mass mobilisation of youth in the name of superstitious dogma go unanswered.

Editorial note: Bishop Anthony Fisher, a World Youth Day coordinator, has lately been criticized for his remarks regarding Catholic victims of sex abuse. “Happily, I think most of Australia was enjoying [and] delighting in the beauty and goodness of these young people and the hope for us doing these sorts of things better in the future, as we saw last night, rather than dwelling crankily – as a few people are doing – on old wounds.”²²

1. “WYD08″. World Youth Day 2008. Accessed 8th June, 2008 http://www.wyd2008.org [<]
2. Kuczynski, Marcus. “500,000 set to converge on Sydney Harbour to see Pope”. June 17, 2008. The Courier Mail: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24030868-953,00.html [<]
3. Powell, Sian. “World Youth Day to cost taxpayers $160m”. April 22, 2008. The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23578255-5013404,00.html [<]
4. “WYD08″. World Youth Day 2008. Accessed 8th June, 2008 http://www.wyd2008.org [<]
5. “Road Closures for World Youth Day 2008″, Roads and Traffic Authority NSW. Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/newsevents/2008_03_wyd.html [<]
6. Hildebrand, Joe. “World Youth Day staff crisis to force free travel”. 3rd June 2008. The Daily Telegraph: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23960027-5013605,00.html [<]
7. “Traffic Warnings ahead of Youth Day”. June 14, 2008. AAP: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24015484-5016937,00.html [<]
8. “2006 Census QuickStats: Sydney {Urban Centre/Locality}”, Australian Bureau of Statistics. Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ [<]
9. “High level of religious identity paired with low level of belief”, Bertelsmann foundation. Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/ [<]
10. “World Youth Day Amendment Regulation 2008 – Clause 7″, NSW Bar Association, Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.nswbar.asn.au/circulars/july/wyd_reg2.pdf [<]
11. Joel Gibson, Jano Gibson and Linda Morris, “Protests need our blessing, say police”. 2nd June 2008 http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/protests-need-our-blessing-say-police/2008/07/01/1214678038215.html [<]
12. “‘Annoying’ proteters hold spoof fashion show”. Australian Broadcasting Corporation News. 9th June 2008 http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/09/2298949.htm [<]
13. Daniel Emerson and Arjun Ramachandran, “Chaser’s APEC stunt charges dropped”. 28th April 2008 http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv–radio/chasers-apec-stunt-charges-dropped/2008/04/28/1209234710155.html [<]
14. “RACHEL EVANS and AMBER PIKE v STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES”. Australasian Legal Information Institute. 17th June 2008, http://www.austlii.edu.au/ [<]
15. “WYD ‘will have its benefits’”. SBS World News Australia. 24th June 2008 http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/wyd_39will_have_its_benefits39_550098 [<]
16. “Myer boss says World Youth Day will be ‘catastrophic’ for sales”. smartcompany.com.au 7th July 2008 http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-Articles/The-Briefing/20080707-Myer-boss-says-World-Youth-Day-will-be-catastrophic-for-sales.html [<]
17. Morris, Linda. “Taxpayers’ $95m bill for World Youth Day”. Sydney Morning Herald. 16th November 2007 http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/taxpayers-95m-bill-for-world-youth-day/2007/11/15/1194766868787.html [<]
18. Plambeck, Sean. “World Youth Day ‘will be a boost for sex industry’. news.com.au 3rd June 2008 http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23804107-5016937,00.html [<]
19. Franklin, Matthew. “Doctors want Catholic beliefs out of state hospitals”. The Australian. 12th January 2007 http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21045678-421,00.html [<]
20. “Catholic systemic school funding”. Catholic Education Office Sydney. Accessed 8th June 2008 http://www.ceosyd.catholic.edu.au/cms/Jahia/pid/3330 [<]
21. “World Youth Day strike called off”. TVNZ News. 9th July 2008 http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1896758 [<]
22. “Catholic Bishop says abuse victims are ‘dwelling on old wounds’”. July 18, 2008. http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/07/16/Stop_dwelling_on_the_old_wounds_Bishop_Fisher_tells_sex_abuse_victims [<]