------------------------------------------------------------------- F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network, Incorporated) a non-profit computer bulletin board and electronic library 601 16th St. #C-217 Golden, Colorado 80401 USA BBS 303 530-1942 FAX 303 530-2950 Office 303 473-0111 This document is part of an electronic lending library and preservational electronic archive. F.A.C.T.Net does not sell documents, it only lends them according to the terms of your library cardholder agreement with F.A.C.T.Net, Inc. ===================================================================== The Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network - a new resource for research into coercive psychology and cultic influence In the past, there has been little networking of information relating to coercive psychology and its use tn destructive cult groups. A few universities and courttar cult groupn have paper collections, but the largest collections are tn the hands of former members. This hard won research is at lnst becoming broadly available through the F.A.C.T.net computer network. Cults control members in part through controlling the information they receive. Members are simply not told if a major court case is lost, or about the defection or suicide of a leader's child. Usually, cult leaders pretend great achievements, skim funds from the group, and keep certain rituals and procedures secret. Such rituals range from the compulsory sexual abuse of inner group members (and even children) to the belief that we are all inhabited and controlled by "clusters" of extraterrestial spirits. It is essential that cult members are kept away from former members, who will explain the devastating effect of cult practices on their lives and the bogus nature of the cult's claims. Consequently, cult groups tend to harass former members and critics. And the harassment is no party game: cull members have committed murder. When I began research into Scientology, its sub-study Dianetics and its leader L. Ron Hubbard, I soon discovered that the subject 2 of my inquiry was far from passive. The "scriptures" of Scientology contain much that is not made available for public scrutiny or to uninitiated members. Hubbard's extensive teachings on harassment form part of these "scriptures". For instance, Hubbard said, "Don't ever tamely submit to an investigation of us. Make it rough on the attackers all the way." (1). Recently, Scientology leader David Miscavige has admitted that his "Church" was controlled by criminal elements until his take-over ten years ago (2). Miscavige dismissed 800 staff, but Hubbard's policy regarding intelligence gatt~ertng and the harassn~ent of critics remained. The Guardian',q Office of the Church of Sctentology was replaced by the Office of Special Affairs, which houses the investigation department, known to its agents as "Invest". In the course of gathering information, I discovered that public records relating to Hubbard and Scientology had been stolen, and that there had been attempts to insinuate false material into the public record. This was part of an intelligence operation dubbed "Snow White" by Hubbard. Hubbard readily admitted that he had employed former intelligence agents to steal fi'les from the media and mental health organizations, and suggested that he had files stolen from the then British Prime Minister (3). Hubbard's wife and ten other Scientology operatives were imprisoned in the United States for a conspiracy which involved the bugging and burglary of US government offices, the theft of a massive amount of materials, kidnapping and false imprisonment. The files stolen included Interpol ftles on terrorism and John Wayne's tax file. Similar criminal convictions were obtained against Scientology tn Canada in 1992, and in November 1993, 73 Scientologists were given prison sentences in Italy. Many authors and journalists have been actively harassed by Scientology (4). In the mid-1980s, I helped Sur~day Times journalist Russell Miller to research his biography of L. Ron Hubbard, Bare-Faced ._Mess_i__a_b. Within weeks of announcing his intention to Scientology, Miller, the Sunday Times and Miller's publishers in the US, Canada and the UK began to receive threatening letters from Scientology organizations and attorneys. Miller was accused of "willful disregard of the truth", although he had yet to publish a word. He was repeatedly told that Scientology would not cooperate with him unless he accepted certain conditions: "In addition to supplying his manuscript, he should furnish [us] with a full ltst of the documents he has gathered and all other documents upon which he was relytng. Further, he should provide us with the names of all his sources of information". Otherwise Scientology would refuse all cooperation. Scientology also warned that a suit would be launched for defamation, and even clatmed that tt had ell rtgh~s to the use of Hubbard's name, thereby prohfb~.f;ing any unauthor'teed btogrsphy (5). Elsewhere, Scientology clatms to support the right to free speech and even campaigns for Freedom of Information. 4 In the end, Russell Miller was sued for violation of copyright and use of material held under court seal. Suits were won by Miller or settled in his fayour in England, Canada, the US and Australia. However, Scientology did not live up to its threats and no suit for defamation was brought. Publication of my own history of Scientology, _A Piece of Bl_u..e Sky, was held up for a year through copyright litigation. But the pressure brought to bear is far greater. The private investigator hired to head the harassment team on Miller gave his story to the press. He said that œ100,000 had been spent on the campaign against Miller and me. tie claimed that he left when asked to tap Miller's phone and bug his house. Events which took place long after Miscavige took over the "criminal" Guardian's Office. Finding a publisher willing to run the Scientology gauntlet is difficult enough, but once a book is published there is still the problem of keeping it in circulation. Even after huge print runs, books hostile to Scientology rapidly become collectors' items. One library in Florida has had twelve copies of my book stolen. An Oregon library has gone through nine. The problem has been compounded with the appearance of The International Federation of Religious and Philosophical Minorities. FIREPHIM, as it styles itself, is a joining together of several cult groups, including the Moohies, the Children of God, the Jehovah's Witnesses and Scientology. It seems that 5 Scientology is training other cults in its public relations, litigation and intelligence strategies. Academic research can be further hampered by cult influenced or even cult hired social scientists. For example, the group AWARE seems to exist to prevent the publication of papers hostile to cults. Until recently, only private or restricted access collections have existed. Sociologist Roy Wallis tried to start a collection at Stirling University in the 197Os, but it came to nothing. As part of negotiated settlements in the past, Scientology has insisted not only on litigants future silence, but also possession of all of their documents. In this way, Boston attorney Michael Flynn's enormous collection was lost overnight to Scientology. My own collection numbers hundreds of thousands of pages, ranging from Hubbard's college and navy records to hundreds of his letters and even several of his teenage journals. I had come to believe that this collection would probably gather mould tn whichever University it was donated to. The quantity and complexity of the material makes it highly unlikely that it would even be catalogued, let alone used. Oddly enough, whilst writing this article, I have been approached by a Scientology executive who offered to buy both my collection and my silence. Recognising the difficulty for researchers, and the need for a secure and accessible collection of cult related materials, Lawrence Wollersheim and Bob Penny, helped by other leading cult experts, launched the Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network in 6 1993. F.A.C.T.net holds the world's largest database on coercive psychology and is operated as a non-profit library from Colorado. Wollersheim is no stranger to cult harassment. He has successfully sued Scientology for false imprisonment, and ruining his business, as well as severely affecting his mental health during his membership of that group in the 1970s. Consequently, Wollersheim also recognised the need for a reliable information source for former cult members, as a vital part of their recovery from the highly invasive cognitive restructuring undertaken by cult groups. Many former members spend years locked into a vicious circle of guilt, blaming themselves rather than the cult group. I was initially approached by Wollersheim to advise on the construction of the database. In January 1994, I was appointed president of F.A.C.T.net. Within weeks, the corporation was threatened with suit, and two private investigators were sent from Los Angeles to conduct a smear campatgn against me. A few weeks ago, one of my brothers was told that Scientology would spend any amount of money to silence me. F.A.C.T.net is a non-aligned, non-profit, research and educational service. It consists of an electronic lending library, a bulletin board, an E-mail service and an E-mail news service. F.A.C.T.net is concerned with all forms of coercive psychology and unethical persuasion, and already holds a significant database of papers and books on this subject. F.A.C.T.net also holds a huge collection of legal rulings, government inquiry reports, court transcrtpt8 and 7 affidavits, as well as a huge library of press clippings. The database and the bulletin board conferences are designed to help former members, social scientists, journalists, lawyers, psychotheraptsts, educators, the friends and families of members and even current members. F.A.C.T.net is the first attempt to link together the hundreds of existing counter-cult groups. The network has been in testing since November 1993, with over 100 users. On July 4, 1994, F.A.C.T.net will be opened to the general public, and soon after wtll move onto Internet, generally reducing phone charges from anywhere in the world to the cost of a local call. There will be free public access to certain libraries within the database. Destructive cults succeed largely because they can intimidate their victims and critics into silence. As in Orwell's !9B~, cults actively rewrite history. Wollersheim sees F.A.C.T.net as a way of "levelling the playing field by ustng technology to achieve soctal justice" F.A.C.T.net can be contacted at 601 16th St. no.C-217, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA. For more information about Scientology, or for a copy of my book, _A P__i_e_c_e of .BI~U_p _S.._ky_, please contact me at Avalon, Cranston Rd., East Grinstead, W. Sussex, RH19 3HQ. References: (1) Hubbard, "Attacks on Scientology", HCO Policy Letter 25 February 1966. (2) Declaration of David Miscavige in Church of Scientology International v. Fishman & Geertz, US District Court for the Central District of California, case no. CV 91-6426 HLH (Tx), February 1994. (3) Hubbard, "Ron's Journal 1967", recording of lecture, September 1967. (4) For example, Robert Welkos "Shudder into Silence", The Quill (USA), November/December 1991. (5) Letters exhibited in New Era ApS v. Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Federal Court of Australia, Victoria District Registry, 1987 No. VG 451. ================================================================= If this is a copyrighted work, you are acknowledging by receipt of this document from FACTNet that on the basis of reasonable investigation, you have not been to obtain a copy elsewhere at a fair price, and that you are and will abide by the following copyright warning. WARNING CONCERNING COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS: The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photo copies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified by law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research." 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