=====
From: jensting@imaginet.fr (Jens Tingleff)
Subject: Picket report, Birmingham, UK, April 17 1999 [ http://www.xenu.net ]
Date: 1999/04/18
Message-ID: <jensting-ya02408000R1804991253330001@enews.newsguy.com>#1/1
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology

Howdy!

What awful weather and what an up-stat org!

Well, the passage of time will take care of the first and the ARSCC-UK crack picketer corps will take care of the second!

I arrived at the picket site after my customary trip 'round Birmingham center. (Not having perfect memory[1] I usually have to bum around some before I find my way :-( ) I held up the "$cientolofy says you're full of dead space aliens" banner and took photographs.

Lots and lots of clams at the org (20-30 students). During their breaks they would come out and listen to us (huddling in the doorway as they grabbed a smoke[2] out of the rain). John did his usual unassisted shouting and Dave kept up a running commentary and sing-along on the sound system. We played the tape of Hubbard's rantings again and again (at a very respectable volume, too).

We were truly devastated when the clams came out and started distributing leaflets. In fact, the were so much at cause over us that we reacted robotically and doubled our own leafletting activity and promptly ran out of leaflets. Please, OSA, don't ever do that again! PLEASE! (.. or we shall just have to print some more leaflets...).

The students came over to banter (even when we were at full strength and not just when there was only two protesters, as had been the case during the lunch-break). They seemed frankly surprised at the "space alien" thing. "Why *dead* space Aliens??" they asked, sweetly. I said the banner wasn't completely correct, in that it was actually the *ghosts* of space aliens, but this still didn't sound reasonable to them. They asked where we had seen that, and we told them (tructhfuklly) that we had seen the OTIII texts in Hubbard's own handwriting. "You *yourself* saw this??" - "Yep!"

Clearly, the notion that the materiels were openly available was completely novel to them. One took great pains to "answer the question" (which presumably had something to do with our gloating that the courses cost 1500 pounds) with "well, we have to produce the books, don't we??" "what do you think this building costs" (not a lot, mate ;-) ), "the Church of England is one of the richest churches in the world" (whatever that had to do with the price of Co$ courses I shall never know). I tried to get the point across that the infrastructure didn't have to be expensive, saying "INTERNET" and "FREEZONE" again and again. The darling little clams had no idea that "people had Internet".

It sounds like we are going to be facing a lot fewer students when we visit the Birmingham org the next time.

The leaflet handed out by the clams was actually a counter-picket leaflet (YEES, REALLY!). This marks a first for us, I don't know about anybody else.

Anyway, the front page says
Luckily not everyone listens
to the cautionary, carping criticism of
those who fear competition

The images[3] are a series of a person sitting down, hunched up, over a sheet of music with only two notes on in (in dull grey/white), and one person in full colour standing up proudly in front of several lines of what looks like sheet music (not in any notational system that is known to me; 100% standard tech, no dount ;-) ).

The inside is mainly a plug for some book by the Fat Fraud titled "Scientology : The Fundamentals of Thought". It has what we hope is *not* a unique selling point:

.. It contains the basics of
Scientology. Real answers
that you can use right now.
No mumbo jumbo, no
human sacrifice, no
initiation. Just pure
truth about the basic
laws of life

Well, I'm glad to hear it doesn't talk about human sacrifice! Here I was, being slightly uneasy (but never quite able to put my finger on the exact source of my uneasiness) as I browsed though row after row of "human sacrifice for beginners," "101 uses for a virgin (moral majority version)" etc etc etc in the bookshop. Finally, a book with no human sacrifice!!

Repeat

NO HUMAN SACRIFICE!!

I, for one, will sleep sounder, knowing that there is one group, $cientology, which is not about human sacrifice.

He he he ;-)

What overt could be speaking loudly here??

Later, Jens

[1] Well, who does have perfect memory?
[2] Exactly the kind of situation which contributed to me stopping smoking ;-)
[3] The Co$ struggling to keep up with cartoon-level reasoning, it's no surprise that they feel the need to print cartoons with a leaflet. Lovely proeduction values, truth be told.

=====
From: "Dave Bird,....ARS FishMonger ...><_'> <_\"...."
<dave@xemu.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Picket in Birmingham(England), 1999--Apr--17
Date: 1999/04/17
Message-ID: <IbQgjBA6pMG3Ew0y@xemu.demon.co.uk>#1/1
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology

Picket in Birmingham (England), 1999--Apr--17

I hadn't been able to set up a really good pub, so I met at the station bar with John Ritson and the Big Fellah. I was concerned that we got to the bOrg by noon, and we had just arrived and started unpacking on the last bong of twelve. I gave the 5 or 6 people who came out of the door a good load of slogans un-amplified. Hartley was already at the site, and Jens shortly after; no Martin, or Roland. A woman turned up who had relatives in the cult, and later on a couple who know Bonnie and Richard. We had done a fair amount of preparation work, and I met the police earlier in the week to walk the area. Soon we had our banner up: $CIENTOLOGY SAYS YOU'RE FULL OF DEAD SPACE ALIENS, the boom-box going, and Duke the Dog parked opposite the Org. We were quite enthusiastic so carried on until about 12:30 or 40. We took a short lunch break --- down the ring road to Saint Martins and along for 100 yards to an old haunt. Full of shave-headed Irish guys, who were friendly enough, but mainly it was full. We spent half an hour or so there; when I looked around earlier I had gone down back roads, but we saw a small back-road pub on the way down which would do better for afterwards. Hartley and another picketer had decided to stay at the bOrg with some gear, despite my misgivings.... apparently the clams came out be 3s and 4s to harrangue them once the picket was down to two. But, back to business.

        INNER RING ROAD
         (ELEVATED )
          |   |   |                    :   :
          |   |   |'''''''''''Carrs'Lane   :..........
          |   |   |''''''':::::'''''''':       BULL ST
          |   |   |       park:        :   :''''''''''
          |   |   |Church :::::        :   :
          |   |   |'''''''''''''''''''New Meeting St (alley)
          |   |   |'''''''': C.Pk_.-''':   :
          |   |   |  [O].-'   .demo    :   :
          |   |   |_.-'       ''''''''''   :
          |   |   |  Albert-''''''''''':   :
          |   |   |-' St       H.      : HIGH STREET

Most of the demo was on the "wedge" by the round flower bed, with Hartley over the road from us on the narrow walkway. Later we saw body routers go up into the alley end of new meeting street and sent two people to counter them. Later in the afternoon, leafleters were out: we got a lot more leaflets accepted by the public, theirs were all over the floor. Towards the end two clams were leafleting at the end of the alleyway, where it comes into a small outdoor carpark, and this is a very good place for acceptance of leaflets. Damian had me intercept the people with "the other side of the story" when they exited across and he caught those who exited downwards, and after a few minutes I upped this to three people with me leafleting on the High St end of the alley as well, which they did not like. Police appeared on two occasions; a couple who knew all about the demo earlier on. Later, the same guy who had been a pain about the sound system before turned up, I told him how it had all been gone through at length with planning etcetera and he eventually gave up.

All in all, we enjoyed our demo and the clams seemed rather put out to have us there.

=====
From: Hartley Patterson <hpttrsn@REMOVE.ME.vossnet.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Picket in Birmingham(England), 1999--Apr--17
Date: 1999/04/17
Message-ID: <7faqhu$7oo$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>#1/1
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology

Dave Bird wrote:
> Picket in Birmingham (England), 1999--Apr--17
> Hartley and another
> picketer had decided to stay at the bOrg with some gear, despite
> my misgivings.... apparently the clams came out be 3s and 4s to
> harrangue them once the picket was down to two. But, back to business.

We were waiting for a couple of new picketers who weren't sure when they would arrive.
First there was one, then two, then four plucked up courage to confront SPs. Got them outnumbered, heh heh, and one of them a woman! We asked them to go away - we weren't picketing, just chatting, so it seemed a reasonable request to us. They went away.

> Later in the afternoon, leafleters were out: we got a
> lot more leaflets accepted by the public, theirs were all
> over the floor.

Let's face it, their leaflets are litho printed and well designed, ours are inkjet and smudge in the rain. And well designed, sorry Roland! Of course it was raining - this is England innit. On the other hand their leaflets are remarkably daft and when they start handing them out our leafleting stats go up, so I think on balance we get the Win. Don't tell OSA folks - we like them spending money printing leaflets!

A young lady stopped and said "yes, I was in Scientology for a few months, then I realised what a mistake it was. Well done - keep it up!" Makes it all worth while.

=====
From: John Ritson <john@jritson.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Picket in Birmingham(England), 1999--Apr--17
Date: 1999/04/17
Message-ID: <Nchi4EAjxPG3EwFr@jritson.demon.co.uk>#1/1
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology

In article <7faqhu$7oo$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>, Hartley Patterson
<hpttrsn@REMOVE.ME.vossnet.co.uk> writes
>> Later in the afternoon, leafleters were out: we got a
>> lot more leaflets accepted by the public, theirs were all
>> over the floor.
>Let's face it, their leaflets are litho printed and well designed, ours
>are inkjet and smudge in the rain. And well designed, sorry Roland! Of
>course it was raining - this is England innit. On the other hand their
>leaflets are remarkably daft and when they start handing them out our
>leafleting stats go up, so I think on balance we get the Win. Don't tell
>OSA folks - we like them spending money printing leaflets!

And what leaflets! This one was entitled "Luckily not everyone listens to the cautionary, carping criticism of those who fear competition". Merkins may remember Spiro Agnew and the "nattering nabobs of negativism".
We must be causing serious enturbulation, in order for them to spend money producing a leaflet criticising "claptrap from the yapping jaws of prepaid rumor mongers whose job it is to keep people ignorant and confused."
But the leaflet is also trying to sell "Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought" which "contains the basics of SCIENTOLOGY. Real answers that you can use right now. No mumbo jumbo, no human sacrifice, no initiation."

NO HUMAN SACRIFICE? This must be Scientology's concept of a Unique Selling Proposition. "Join us because we are a 'church' without human sacrifice". Are people deserting the Methodists in droves because of human sacrifice? Or is this an example of "the overt speaking loudly in accusation"? Why should Scientology be so keen to deny that it is engaged in human sacrifice? Is there something we ought to know? John ***