From: lucey@uksr.hp.com (peter lucey)
Subject: London Picket: 9th March 1996
Date: 1996/03/10
Message-ID: <4hvidc$2to@hpwin055.uksr.hp.com>#1/1
newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
An entertaining hour or two picketing the London Org in Tottenham Court Road on the 9th. Obviously prepared, the CoS had erected a small booth on the pavement, emblazoned with the slogan "So No To Drugs", under which the Jive Aces (yes, sponsored by Dianetics and late of the Bier ' Keller bar in Bracknell) pounded out some excellent R'n'B.
(Their best number; a request I believe, was the "SP Boogie"; proof that someone in Scn has a sense of humour!)
I was *overjoyed* to collect my long-awaited SP T-Shirt and, with the other picketers, donned it to enjoy a cheerful demo.
There was a lot of interest from the passers-by, especially those locals who get understandably irritated by consistent requests to take a personality test. My opening line "Can I sell you Total Spiritual Freedom (tm) for a third of a million dollars" elicited no takers :-( even when I offered a free session at a cardboard and tin-can mockup E-Meter (supplied by a fellow demonstrator.)
I think these good-natured demos, every 6 months or so, are very worthwhile.
And, (Xenu be praised!), I found a Central London parking place!
=====
From: plmlp@mail.bris.ac.uk (Martin Poulter)
Subject: DEMO REPORT: London, "FURTHEST TRAVELLED PROTESTOR"
Date: 1996/03/21
Message-ID: <DoM6Hy.K4M@uns.bris.ac.uk>#1/1
newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
ever so 'ello!
[After failed attempts to get through to anon.penet, Martin is posting this for me. Kind of embarrassing to receive such a prestigious award for being at the demo, before I even post the write-up ;-( ]
Sure had fun at the demo in London! Compared to the Sep 9th demo (I went to SF - the t-shirt from that picket came in handy), it was more laid back. Protesters would walk right up to me and say "Hi, I'm so-and-so, who're you?" which was a but disconcerting after SF (where we were suitably paranoid ;-) ). One could even get the seriously absurd page being handed out by the clams, by asking (even if the clams looked wary when I asked for one).
I was disappointed that we didn't merit a video/camera crew as in SF ;-) The photographing was done by the clam rank and file (rinky-dinky cameras too). There weren't any busty C-org matrons either ;-(. The nice old clam asked if he hadn't seen me around before - I realised later that he probably meant the photos from the SF picket ;-)
The protesters were partly the usual collection of nice computer people; partly a whole row of people who were obviously more of the concerned-parent / sued-to-heck-and-back type. I think that the wider spectrum of protesters (compared to my 1st experience in SF) had a positive influence on the reaction of the people wandering past the demo. The music was both a distraction and a benefit - it made people stop and listen, which enabled us to dump leaflets on them. I was doing amazingly well with a coloured leaflet with the title 'The Truth about Scientology' (nice job, whoever it was, I didn't make any leaflets - as usual...); a lot of people would ignore the white printout sheets handed out both by the clams and ourselves, but the 'Truth' part would catch their eye, and they'd go for it after all.
The master enturbulator himself had a toilet seat/cover which read (on the inside of the cover) "Humans descended from clams"; jolly useful for snapping in time to the music.
We all had a pint (or so) at the pub afterwards; us computer folks (excuse me: "Internet abusers" ) were getting all misty-eyed about good old technology (paper tape, punch-cards, drum/core memory and so on and so forth).
All in all a great event, well worth the trip from the continent.
[end of forwarded message]
===
From: plmlp@mail.bris.ac.uk (Martin Poulter)
Subject: Leaflet for March 9th Protest
Date: 1996/03/03
Message-ID: <Dnp2vI.FoE@uns.bris.ac.uk>
newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
The following is part of the text of the leaflet used at the September 9th protest in London. One side of the leaflet had this set of quotes. and the other side had a description of Scientology's attack on the 'net (which I have not reproduced here because it is now out of date). Feel free to copy this list of quotes, changing the contact addresses to the appropriate ones for your country.
[In box at top, huge letters, "doesn't" in italics]
What Scientology doesn't want you to know...
"I don't know how to describe what happened other than that my brain was frying right up. I felt like I was in a daze half of the time. I'd do things, sort of like watching myself doing them but not realizing I was doing it, as if it was somebody else, except that I know it was me."
-Annie Rosenblum; affidavit, 1980's
"I was locked up for about 24 hours in a room with no windows. I was under continual guard during that time and slept on a mattress on the floor without sheets or blanket. I was shocked and awake the entire night sometimes weeping and other times completely numb, devoid of all feeling or thought."
-Hana Whitfield; affidavit 8 August 1989
"[W]omen are being coerced into aborting their unborn children; parents are being kept from their children for weeks and even months at a time. Scientology registrars are coercing people to part with their life savings; they are convincing people to turn over their credit cards."
-Stacy Young; affidavit, March 1994
"He then told me that he'd 'take care of me' if I kept asking questions. I asked him what that meant. He said that he would certainly hurt me, maybe kill me 'with his OT powers' if I did not comply with his demands."
-Patrick Jost; post to alt.religion.scientology, March 1995
"Scientology can make one feel good, but this is just an deception or illusion. In fact, I think scientology is a very fairy-tale like world, where people just lived in illusions of an ideal world where there are no wars, drugs..etc."
-Isabel Hsin-Yu Chang; post to alt.religion.scientology, April 1995
"I can honestly say that being a staff member was the worst experience of my life - long hours, low pay, severe punishment for minor infractions... My experiences, in comparison, were nothing compared to some of the horror stories I heard."
-Joyce Stephenson; affidavit 30 August 1989
"Staff are routinely handled with ruthless force, psychotic screaming, obscene shouting and absurd programs. Lies, trickery and treachery abound."
-Shiona Fox-Ness; resignation note, 27 January 1984
"He had been caught, and they said they had him in a motel room, and the next day they were going to take him out to sea and 'deep six' him - tie weights to him and dump him overboard."
-Margery Wakefield; affidavit, 13 April 1990
"Church monies were used to purchase semi-automatic assault rifles. HK 91 assault rifles capable of firing 300-350 rounds of ammunition a minute, 45 caliber pistols, .380 automatic weapons and twelve gauge shotguns were stockpiled. These weapons were not registered. Church monies were also used to buy the ammunition."
-Andre Tabayoyon; affidavit, March 1994
"Miscavige maintains absolute control over all officers and board members of this corporation, controlling these other members of the board of directors by fact of his possessing undated, signed resignations of each member."
-Vicki Aznaran; affidavit, January 1992
"Such methods include brutal interrogations in which two or more people gang up on someone (who has usually been deprived of sleep for days) in a locked room and scream abuses until the person confesses to anything they want him or her to confess to."
-Stacy Young; affidavit, March 1994
"Scientology is both immoral and socially obnoxious... In my judgement it is corrupt, sinister and dangerous. It is corrupt because it is based on lies and deceit and has as its real objective money and power for Mr Hubbard, his wife and those close to him at the top. It is sinister because it indulges in infamous practices both to its adherents who do not toe the line unquestioningly, and to those who criticise or oppose it. It is dangerous because it is out to capture people, especially children and impressionable young people, and indoctrinate and brainwash them so that they become the unquestioning captives and tools of the cult, withdrawn from ordinary thought, living and relationships with others."
-Mr Justice Latey, High Court decision, July 1984
The following organisations are informing people about the dangers of cults like Scientology and campaigning for legislation:
Cult Information Centre (CIC)
BCM Cults London WC1N 3XX
Family Action, Information & Resource (FAIR)
BCM Box 3535 London WC1N 3XX
Families Under Scientology Stress (FUSS)
BM Box 3506 London WC1N 3XX
This leaflet has not been produced by the above organisations or with their approval
=====
From: John Ritson <john@jritson.demon.co.uk>
Subject: The Howls of the Lawless (March 9th leaflets)
Date: 1996/03/12
Message-ID: <LngPGPAAZfRxEwm2@jritson.demon.co.uk>
newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
The London March 9th demonstration was pretty good. Xenu be praised, we selected perhaps the only dry period all day. And the Scientologists even laid on a band for us. And provided hilarious leaflets
Their 'copyright' leaflet had on one side copies of newspaper cuttings mostly quoting dearest Helena, and talking about the Lerma ruling. But one 'Copyright and holy wrongs' by British computer journalist Guy Kewney included the following gem.
"And it offended me deeply that a certain Arnaldo Lerma can be found guilty of any wrongdoing when all he has done is to quote the things that the 'Church' preaches, in order to illustrate what rubbish he believes it all is."
************************************
The other side is a classic. "The Howls of the Lawless"
"The internet is a modern computer communications medium of tremendous potential. However, it also carries with it the potential for abuse by the lawless fringe. While millions provide and use the services of the Internet for the good it also is misused by a small number [who] have been involved with copyright infringements, privacy invasions, lawlessness, racial intolerance and other hate crimes, and theft. An Internet user can travel widely in complete anonymity because computer facilities are especially designed for that purpose. An individual can, untraceably, traffic in child pornography, infringe copyrighted works, spread false and libelous information on bulletin boards and read and even answer another person's mail.
The Church of Scientology was subjected to violations of its rights by a handful of Internet lawless extremists, and as a result has taken a leading role in cutting edge law protecting against copyright piracy on the Internet. Sacred religious texts were stolen from one of the Churches of Scientology many years ago and a handful of unscrupulous Internet abusers, who have no respect for others' rights or the law, have recently attempted to place the materials on the Internet, attempting to justify their illegal actions by claiming 'freedom of speech'. Church counsel asked the infringers to cease their actions, but when met with blatant refusal, the copyright holders had no choice but to take legal action to protect their own copyrights. In the first such case in which final judgement was made, the judge found the Internet infringer, Arnaldo Lerma, to have committed a number of copyright infringements for which he will have to pay damages and costs. In a second case involving one of the small clique of the Internet lawless, there has already been a ruling that access providers should be responsible to rectify infringements by their subscribers, once notified of their existence.
Copyright law has long existed to protect the freedom of speech and expression of individuals. It ensures that others do not steal their ideas and works, corrupt them or exploit them. If one owns a copyright and there is any infringement of the copyright then the copyright owner must be seen to take effective action to protect the copyright in order to not lose it.
The handful of lawless extremists now abuse the meaning of 'Freedom of Expression' and 'Freedom of Speech' -- to divert attention from the known fact that it is illegal to take works that are copyrighted to another and publish them without permission. They are now complaining bitterly, only because the courts are insisting they follow the law; and incredibly, they are trying to blame those whose rights they thought they could trample on, until the courts said otherwise. Interestingly enough the organizer of the current demonstration, Martin Poulter, is closely allied with none other than the original thief of the texts, Ron Lawley, who resides in England and has refused to pay money he owes arising from the court orders in the case against him for his theft.
In contrast to Martin Poulter and the small handful of Internet abusers who are howling because they have been told to follow the law, the Church's actions, which benefit the millions of persons who want protection of their copyrighted materials, have been acknowledged by responsible people the world over.
The extremist Internet abusers seek to destroy people's rights and destroy the law. The Church's actions in upholding the law are creating peace and order for the law-respecting majority.
The Church of Scientology has a long record of fighting for human rights and freedom. The Church has championed the right for people to be free from abusive psychiatric treatments, and vigorously investigated, exposed and eradicated violations of other individual rights and freedoms. The Church is a longtime defender of freedom of speech and a pioneer in application of the Freedom of Information Act in the United States, standing up for the citizen's right to know and to act upon that knowledge."
So when the dawn raid comes, don't worry, it's to stop 'privacy
invasions' and protect 'peace and order'...........
Interestingly enough, the words 'trade secret' are absent from this diatribe, no mention of that embarassing loss, and the concept of 'fair use' or in English 'fair dealing for purposes of criticism or review' is also not mentioned.
'handful of lawless extremists'? Doesn't that seem to fit the Co$ rather well?
*******************************
Not forgetting their 'Say No to Drugs' leaflet
"Give me Five Good Reasons why People Shouldn't Take Drugs
One. Drugs are very unpredictable
.....
Two. Drugs and their effects sometimes never wear off
... [but no mention of the fat cells]
Three. Drugs are Expensive
People who take drugs can be addicted. At this point these 'druggies' spend most of their money on drugs. They can't hold on to jobs, they can't buy clothes, the latest fashion is out of their reach
Drugs have taken over their lives completely now, they cannot live without them.
And one foir one these 'druggies' started out on 'soft' or 'harmless' drugs.
Ask them now would they ever have started if they knew what was going to happen.
[Try substituting 'Scientology' for drugs in this and it is so true it is not funny]
Four. Drugs Affect People's Health
People who take drugs can become very unhealthy - and look it.
......
Five. Your own personal High will be far greater than the artificial high created by drugs!
.......
