About 150 of us marched through Brisbane city centre on 19 July, on the occasion of the Catholic Church's World Youth Day in Brisbane, to say "No To The Pope".
See YouTube for pictures.It was a lively and worthwhile protest, getting a good response from passing shoppers. Several people applauded us; I saw at least one young woman trying to join the demonstration, but being held back by her friend (I don't know who won that tussle in the end).
At the open mike, at the end of the march, I took the opportunity to call for solidarity with those fighting religious bigotry, homophobia, and sexism all across the world - including left-wingers in Venezuela fighting the country's ban on abortion, and trade-unionists, lesbians and gays, and women fighting the sectarian Islamic clerical-fascist militias in Iraq.
That message provoked some reaction from the DSP (Castroites) who, to their credit, had been the main organisers of the march. DSPer Coral Wynter took the microphone to say that the circumstances in Venezuela were "very difficult", but the Chavez regime was doing the best it could.
