Do Not Vex, Pester, or Annoy the Catholic Youth
In Sydney, Australia, the annual World Youth Day, a massive Catholic event, starts on July 15th. It is a week-long affirmation of Catholic power that seeks to “mobilize” young people, and will bring millions of dollars in revenue to the area. Unsurprisingly, local government is doing everything in its power to avoid scandal, controversy, or conflict. And when I say “everything”, I mean everything.
Do I annoy you, yeah?
“Australians have been warned: Don’t get caught annoying the crowds when they gather here later this month to see the pope. New regulations give police and emergency services workers the power to order anyone to stop behavior that “causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event,” according to a New South Wales state government gazette. Anyone who does not comply faces a $5,300 fine … Anna Katzman, the president of the New South Wales Bar Association, which represents almost 3,000 lawyers in the state, said making someone’s inconvenience the basis of a criminal offense was ‘unnecessary and repugnant.’”
While it is good sense to regulate violence, intimidation, or interfering with someone else’s event, to regulate such arbitrary offenses as “annoyance” or “inconvenience” is downright draconian. The No To Pope Coalition is already testing the law by parading around in “annoying” t-shirts outside the New South Wales parliament.
“When about a dozen protesters showed off their new T-shirts, eight policemen stood and watched them. “This is an attempt to intimidate people to not come to our rally and saying their piece against the Pope,” said Rachel Evans of the NoToPope coalition. The coalition wants Sydney citizens to defy the laws and protest against the Pope on July 19. The demonstrators plan to march through Sydney distributing condoms to young Catholic pilgrims as a protest against the Vatican’s opposition to contraception.”
The “thou shalt not protest” law (which also includes broad powers of search and seizure) is also being challenged in federal court by student activists and the NSW Council for Civil Liberties.
“The Federal Court has been told the New South Wales Government’s World Youth Day regulations are too broad and could be applied to members of the public going about their everyday business. Two student activists, with the help of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, are challenging the State Government’s regulations. The regulations allow police to detain and fine anyone who annoys or inconveniences World Youth Day pilgrims. The activist’s lawyers told the court the area where the powers apply include train stations as far away as Parramatta and Camp…”
The government’s response to these charges is expected later today. In the meantime, these laws have local residents worried (a whopping 90% of Sydney residents are against them). One Australian Wiccan e-mailed me wondering if she could be fined thousands by openly wearing her Pentacle at the train station (or any of the 600 “controlled areas”). Seem unlikely? All you need is one over-zealous Catholic copper and an innocent individual could face a strip-search and hefty fine.
So what, if any, input did Catholic officials give to the local government about these laws? According to a World Youth Day spokesperson, none.
“A World Youth Day spokesperson, however, told ENI that the Catholic Church had not requested any special measures to prevent protests. “The Catholic Church supports people’s right to protest. We’re fine with that, as long as they do it in a peaceful manner,” the spokesperson stated.”
In fact, at least one Australian Catholic organization has publicly spoken out against these foolish and dangerous new regulations.
“The Edmund Rice Centre, an Australian Catholic advocacy organisation, claimed that the laws introduced in New South Wales to restrict protests are contrary to Catholic traditions of social justice. “These laws significantly dampen our right to freedom of speech and to demonstrate inside or outside the church,” a spokesperson for the centre, John Sweeney, told Ecumenical News International on 4 July.”
So now, the question is why did government officials think this was a good idea? Were they so afraid of Catholics being offended, of negative publicity, that they became intent on quashing all planned dissent? Were these laws urged on by a totalitarian need for control, or a misplaced fidelity to their own Christian faith? Whatever the motivation, if this law isn’t struck down in the courts, massive civil disobedience seems to be in order.
7 responses so far
I would love to fine everyone who annoyed or inconvenienced me. That would be awesome. The Pope would be on my list, but first I’d go after everyone who gets in my way while I’m driving (which is pretty much everyone).
It seems like this law could back fired, in the sense that pagans (or any other minority group) could use it against any group protesting their functions. (i.e. christian protests against pride events.) This could be interesting how this plays out. Keep us informed.
~Illisse
It should be noted that this is a temporary law affecting the month of World Youth Day only.
Wow, I don’t know whether to be discouraged or encouraged that totalitarian BS is not just an American affectation just now. Soon as the shock wears off, maybe I can decide?
It should also be noted that the pink “There is NO GOD” t-shirt worn in the picture is a Raelian product, which is a whole ‘nother provocative kettle of fish.
http://www.thereisnogod.info/English/Intro.html
I see that the Raelians claim that they support a clitocracy. While it’s a tempting alternative at this point in the electoral process, should we expect them to have any better judgement than the dicks who have occupied the Oval Office?
So would my friend wearing her ‘Dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians’ would be annoyance?? Gods I hope not. Does it mean that anything that is anti-catholic activity is against the law?
When I heard of this ‘new power’ given to police, I was worried. We still haven’t removed the last ‘temporary new powers’ given to police during the APEC Summit (which I beleive took place late last year). What happens if this winds up the same way and it is not removed?
BTW way, Imagine the backlash from the public if it was not the Catholic WYD but say the Musilm WYD. I don’t think that the same level of co-operation from state gov. would exist then. You see, of dearly beloved state government has agreed to pay for a large chunk of this event. One would think that the Vatican has enough cash to pay for it themselves. Especially when people are paying up to $500 each to vist for 3 days..
I think, there is a certain pernicious violence to laws that are so broad as to put bias-based tools in the hands of the few. A great deal of the secular protections on freedoms of religion unsurprisingly arise from gross intolerance between cultures — as colorful as it was the comment about the Catholic copper and the pentacle is a reflective example.
It only takes a moment of prudery and authority to beat someone with the truncheon of the law over something as petty as a symbol or an idea.
A great deal of the excuses to put these laws in place are stupid, and too often they simply embolden, extend, or mimick (badly) laws that ALREADY EXIST. There is no good reason to create a “no bothering” law, when actual REAL harassment/assault takes any form it wants, and it is already illegal.