From news.interserv.net!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!btnet!dispatch.news.demon.net!demon!mail2news.demon.co.uk!sidaway.demon.co.uk Thu Sep 14 09:44:54 1995
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From: Tony Sidaway <Tony@sidaway.demon.co.uk>
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology,alt.culture.usenet,comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: SUCCESS: First net-organised worldwide picket
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 95 23:07:35 GMT
Organization: Her Majesty's Pleasure
Lines: 80
Message-ID: <810774455snz@sidaway.demon.co.uk>
References: <185308Z09091995@anon.penet.fi>
Reply-To: Tony@sidaway.demon.co.uk
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The September 9th worldwide picket of scientology in protest at their
behavior on the Net was a resounding success.
The cult has mounted attacks involving abuse of the copyright and trade
secrets laws on hundreds of net posters, resulting in bogus suits against
four ex-scientologists who stood up against its attempt to silence them.
L. Ron Hubbard said of such hopeless suits, that scientologists should never
accept the advice of an attorney that a suit cannot be won.
He said, "The intention of the suit is to harass." Rudderless, scientology
follows this diktat to this day, nearly a decade after its founder died,
reclusive, in hiding from press, police, civil writs and FBI, in a small
farmhouse near San Luis Obispo.
The fight-back grows. Netheads on Saturday got up to protest and publicise
this law-suit terrorism, which uses false pretenses to direct Federal
funds to smash down the doors of net posters _without_ due process, in
flagrant denial of constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable
search or seizure, who have been accused of NO CRIME.
In article <185308Z09091995@anon.penet.fi>
an153149@anon.penet.fi "Blind Carlos" writes:
>
> And has there ever been an occasion when $cientology has faced public
> protest on such a scale?
Not that I've heard of.
I've never heard of a demo like this--major orgs across the world
picketed independently, by people who have never met. Orgs like
Tottenham Court Road, that most people pass by and do not even
notice, suddenly highlighted by a bunch of unwelcome guests with
some uncomfortable stories.
I wonder if it's an accident that a religious program on Radio 4
this morning carried a story about religious cults.
All these little incidents add to public awareness of the problem
of cults, and a general understanding of how they do their dirty
work. This was highlighted by the almost identical comment from
most pickets--the people who live near the org do _not_ consider
the cult to be good neighbors, and despite working on their home
turf the scientologists are easily panicked into antisocial
behavior--tales of scientologists having to be physically restrained
in the face of unwelcome questions about Xenu are not uncommon.
Remember, these scientologists may have mounted counter-demonstrations,
but they were of limited success. Most people do not like trouble,
and will not be interested in a business that attracts bad publicity.
The scientologists know this and will avoid calling the press and
issuing press releases locally where journalists have a chance of
finding out what is going on. They'll try to process the footage and
use it in their propaganda, but this will not play well to an already
hostile public.
The Washington Post has successfully thumbed its nose at the cult.
That's the newspaper that broke the Watergate story, and arguably the
most respected general newspaper in the USA.
Others will follow.
The groundswell of opinion has always been against this organisation
which is so quick to point the finger at others, so unwilling to clear
up its own back yard.
Every little helps.
Excellent work.
--
Tony Sidaway SUPPORT DENNIS ERLICH, US CRITIC SUED BY $CIENTOLOGY CULT
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