Pope Benedict, Aboriginal people, and walking a kilometer in another's thongs?

The Catholic Church in Sydney is hosting World Youth Day - a major international Catholic fest - in Sydney in June this year. It is planned that Tall Ships will be in evidence and that Sydney residents, as they do very often, will take to the harbour in everything from yachts to bath tubs to welcome Pope Benedict who will arrive on a sailing ship.

Now this event has not been noted for its consideration of other people. Little or no consideration was given to those in the racing industry when the Catholic Church showed its take-no-prisoners attitude to staging the papal mass at Randwick. Negotiations took what seemed like forever and have resulted in Federal and State Government intervention with Australian and New South Wales taxpayers footing the bill.

One wonders how the Catholic Church will handle another hiccup in its planning agenda. Aboriginal people are concerned about the arrival of Pope Benedict on a sailing ship. Too reminiscent of the beginning of white settlement they say. Presumably, the Pope will be clad in his usual white so it just might be a case of looking like Great White Father, Miss Eagle thinks.

When you can do nothing else: bear witness.

The Archbishop and Childhood Depression

Please sign the Archbishop's Petition.

It is just over twelve months since Philip Freier was installed as Archbishop of Melbourne. Miss Eagle is unable to comment on whether Ab Philip is a good administrator of the affairs of the Archdiocese. She is also unable to comment on what sort of guidance, counsel and spiritual leadership the Archbishop provides to the clergy and laity. However, there is no gainsaying the public leadership provided by the Archbishop in 2007. It has been constant and remarkable.

He began with his Prayer4Melbourne quest. This twelve month program has seen the Archbishop out and about in all sorts of places and settings meeting all sorts of people. This has promoted awareness of Melbourne not only for the Archbishop, a newcomer to Melbourne, but within the Anglican constituency itself. The quest has also given the Archbishop and the Anglican community an enlarged profile in Melbourne.

In tandem with the quest, has been Conversations with the Archbishop. The conversations, which are held at BMW Edge in Federation Square, have received great attention and interest. The quality of the speakers has been excellent. The Archbishop has handled his role well.

[A small contingent from St Thom's at Upper Gully will be fronting up to this Wednesday's conversation with Hugh McKay. This is no mean feat because none of us are young and we will be catching the 6.32am train. This will get us there a few minutes late, Archbishop, but we'll be there with our Christmas bells on!]

One exercise of communal and Christian leadership was the Archbishop's address in reply to Patrick Dodson's speech in Brunswick in October. It was a tour de force.

One of the Archbishop's conversations focussed on childhood depression when, on November 14, he held a public conversation under the title Our crisis of childhood depression. Ab Philip was joined by the Director of Women's Forum Australia, Melinda Tankard Reist, and Professor Alasdair Vance, the Head of Academic Child Psychiatry, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne. The Archbishop has called for a national inquiry into the state of childhood in Australia. He has renewed his call to-day in The Age.

Archbishop Philip has highlighted Mission Australia's 2007 Survey of Australia's Young People. Read of its major findings here.

Our unrepresentative democracy

So young voters aren't apathetic - but they do feel left out. I've got news for them. They're right. They are left out. Gen Y is ignored. Significant numbers of 16 year olds are in the workforce. Significant numbers of 16 year olds draw social security benefits because they are not in the workforce but want to be. Significant numbers of 16 year olds can look forward to a lifetime of debt as the price of a university education. Isn't it about time that 16 and 17 year olds were included in the democratic process so they can have a say in the economic power that is governing their lives. In spite of the conservative challenges to the education system, young people are well educated.

Let's give 16 year olds the vote.

Students continue to protest the CPE (First Labour Contract)

Students in Marseille join the protests against the CPE

Protests against the CPE (First Labour Contract) continue (see previous post) in France and are spreading as students take up the cause for employment in proper jobs not the jobs with diminished conditions proposed by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.

It's about time other protests around the world were initiated on employment contract trends.

Student protests over 'Anglo-Saxon' job laws - World - theage.com.au

Miss Eagle is rather pleased with the news from Paris. Students are protesting about what they call the introduction of "Anglo-Saxon job laws". It seems the French Government is proposing to deal with a high level of youth unemployment by stripping away a lot of rights and entitlements.

Now some may think what I am about to say most illogical - but to Miss Eagle it is straightforward commonsense. Why are those who are poor and out of work to have their economic rights and entitlements lowered, removed or dismantled to place them in work? Surely, logic demands that those in positions of economic power with the ability to employ young people shoud face punitive measures if they ignore the plight of unemployed and deskilled youth. Surely, those with economic power should be forced to invest in the future, particularly the future of humanity, by investing in people and boosting their ability for economic participation.

Aah, but economic power prefers to use unemployment whether for the young, the aged or anyone in between as an economic tool: to have a surplus pool of unemployed people and thereby seek opportunities for driving down wages and dismantling sound emloyment conditions. Economic power would prefer the globalization of Chinese wages and working conditions. 'Onya students of Paris. I wish more of us would take to the streets and demand that governments, corporations, and business put an end to the use of the unemployed as economic tools.