In the 11th century, more specifically in 1212, there was a movement around the Christian faith that inspired young children to reach the Holy Land, or Jerusalem, from Western Europe. Some of them were no older than six. This movement consisted of two groups, one led from France by a 12-year-old boy named Stefaan, and another from Germany by a slightly older Nicholas. The goal: to reach Jerusalem and regain the Holy Land from the Turks through their faith. Impressionable as children are, they managed to put thousands in front of their carts, but no one ever reached Jerusalem. Many died along the way. Some reached Genoa, where they were put on rotting boats to Egypt and sold as slaves.

This children's crusade inspired a song by Sting, appropriately named “Children's Crusade”. However, Sting looked beyond this event and saw how history was repeating itself all too often. This is also how he talks about the youth during the First World War. Millions of young men, teenagers from England, Germany and France who were sent to the front with many honourable promises. So many who fought in the Belgian trenches here with us, on both sides, never to return home. Another generation lost.

And then 70 years later, in the 1980s, when heroin was on the rise and so many young people, some from the school gates, became addicted. The drug, which was allegedly cheaper than marijuana, cost so many young people their lives. Just think of the movies 'Requiem for a Dream' or the hit 'Trainspotting'. All are about the period when young (and old) despondently give up their lives to drugs that they can't deal with. All in search of nirvana. This also turned out to be a children's crusade. And the same top guys who enslaved the children to faith at the time and transported them to Egypt are no different than those who told their youth to fight their war or the top guys who took advantage of the big business to get all those impressionable young people addicted.

Sting's song touches the core, a sensitive chord and actually wishes all these profiteers to hell. You can find and listen to the text at the bottom of this blog.

We might wonder if the same rhetoric is now also applicable in a more recent past. Like with the banking crisis and the corona crisis, which affected so many young people. Stress and unemployment peaked, followed by the hopelessness that caused a mental crisis. Once again, it was the generation of teenagers and young adults who were hardest hit. Suicide rates went up, wages down, nowhere is there any balance. Modern slavery prevails in the online industry. Even now, the waiting lists for work and psychological help are endless. So again, a large part of a generation remains out in the cold. All because stocks must be raised and top executives must be able to maintain their expensive statutes and freedoms.

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