Brian Dingwall, writer for www.whaleoil.co.nz: In 1212 another Crusade to the Holy Land took place, and this one has the popular name ‘the Children’s Crusade’, because it is thought to have been prompted by visions that came to children in France and Germany, and because many children took part in it. Some were sold into slavery. The name was also given to a civil rights movement in the USA in 963.
What we saw in March 2019 could be given the same appellation, though this time the focus was on ‘climate change’. A 14-year-old was quoted as saying; "My demands are short and simple: No Adani coal mine, no exports of coal from Australia, and all future additions to electricity must be through alternative sources, not fossil fuels." As the interview developed, it became clear that while Ambrose had only three simple demands, he had almost literally no idea of what he was promoting. When the interviewer pointed out gently that stopping all coal exports would make no difference to anyone other than Australians, whose standards of living would drop alarmingly, Ambrose seemed to indicate that didn’t matter. It was important that Australia showed the way.
It sounded very much like the Children’s Crusade of 1212, whose youthful participants had little idea of what actually was the case in what we now call Israel and Palestine. But, like the marchers last week, they knew they were right, while the students knew that they were the real victims of their elders’ folly in not dealing with climate change much earlier.
