Anonymous Montreal November 2009 raid: a resounding success!

On November 7, thirteen of us—including seven newcomers!—braved the chilly weather and held our monthly demonstration against Scientology fraud, crime, and human rights abuses. Here's a video recap of the event.



Our next monthly raid will take place on Saturday, December 5. As usual, we'll be meeting at Rachel and Papineau (the northeast corner of Parc Lafontaine) beginning at 11 am, and proceeding to the Scientology org (Mont-Royal and Papineau) at noon. If you, too, are outraged by Scientology's increasingly desperate attempts to excuse its illegal and unethical activities as being somehow protected by freedom of religion, we invite you to join us. Don't forget your mask!

"What you believe does not mean you are not accountable for how you behave."

When confronted with overwhelming evidence of its abuses and crimes, the tiresome response of Scientology is usually to claim religious persecution. Scientology hides behind aggrandized and, frankly, delusional conceptions of what religious freedom actually means in order to continue its litany of fraud, deception, and crime. On trial in France for organized fraud and unlicensed practice of pharmacy, the Scientology refrain was that they were the victims of a modern-day inquisition.

Any and all claims of religious persecution made by Scientology when its more dubious operations and methods come under scrutiny are red herrings—nothing more nor less.

Such claims are deliberate attempts to derail legitimate inquiry through intentionally disingenuous distraction. Furthermore, likening investigation and prosecution of Scientology crimes to the Holocaust is more than a validation of Godwin's Law. It is sickening, inappropriate, and disrespectful to the victims of the Holocaust and their surviving families. Scientologists are not being herded up and exterminated. What is happening in one country after another is that the corrupt Scientology organization is being exposed, investigated, and being subjected to laws that every organization—religious or otherwise—must follow.

When the Catholic Church was forced to answer for child sexual abuse among its clergy, was this a case of religious persecution? Are priests permitted to systematically break the law, leaving a trail of victims in their wake, and claim immunity from prosecution because they are members of a religious order?

Does outrage at Sharia Law "honour" killings constitute anti-Islam bigotry? Is the fact that such killings are prosecutable crimes in non-Muslim countries mean that Muslims in those countries are being persecuted?

The answer to these questions is a resounding NO. And the same moral and legal principles apply to Scientology. This is irrefutable and immutable.

Scientology variously refers to Anonymous as a hate group, religious bigots, anti-religious extremists, and cyber-terrorists. Such accusations are also red herrings. The goal of Anonymous is to expose the ongoing abuses and crimes within Scientology. We use the Internet as it was intended: to disseminate information to every corner of the world. (And we happen to be very good at this.) It is the unmitigated force of incontrovertible truth, through the unrestrained spread of information, that continues to force Scientology to answer for its crimes.

Do not call us religious bigots, because we are not. Nor are we a hate group, because we do not hate you; rather, what we hate are your crimes and human rights abuses.

Do not cry religious persecution where there is none. We do not care what you believe. We are not protesting your secret (not to mention expensive) "scriptures" that tell the story of how humans became infested with the souls of space aliens who were blown up in volcanoes 75 million years ago by the evil galactic overlord Xenu.

But most importantly, do not assume that your past successes in hiding behind an undeserved cloak of religious freedom will in any way guarantee that you can continue to do so with impunity. It's just not going to work anymore.

On November 17, Australian Senator Nick Xenophon made a speech (PDF here) calling for an investigation of illegal activities of the Church of Scientology in that country. Probably his most succinct assertion, and the title of this blog entry, was that "[w]hat you believe does not mean you are not accountable for how you behave."

This is the case not only for Scientology but any organization and any individual with a modicum of moral fibre. If Scientologists were truly "the most ethical people on the planet," as they claim, then they would understand this moral imperative. It appears they don't, and this will be their downfall.

Remember, remember the Fifth—make that the Seventh—of November

Anonymous Montréal will be celebrating Guy Fawkes Night a couple of days late, but without a bonfire... and during the day, actually.

We'll be having our monthly protest against Scientology's crimes, organized fraud (for which they have recently been convicted several times over in France), and human rights abuses on Saturday, November 7.

We'll be meeting at the corner of Rachel and Papineau (the northeast corner of Parc Lafontaine) at 11 am, after which we'll walk to the Scientology headquarters (Papineau and Mont-Royal) at noon.

We highly suggest that you arrive at the meeting place with your mask already on.

Hope to see you there!

Anonymous Montréal October 2009 raid: a recap

On October 17, Anonymous Montréal held its monthly protest against Scientology fraud (for which—among other offenses—they have been convicted in France) and human rights abuses. Here's a video of some of the day's highlights.



Our next protest will take place on Saturday, November 7. As usual, we'll be meeting at the corner of Rachel and Papineau (the northeast corner of Parc Lafontaine) at 11 am, after which we'll walk to the Scientology headquarters (Papineau and Mont-Royal) at noon.

If you're new to Anonymous and would like to know more about us and the truth about Scientology's ongoing crimes and human rights abuses, we encourage you to visit the following websites:

www.xenu.net
www.whyweprotest.net/en
forums.whyweprotest.net
www.whoisdavidmiscavige.com

The Anonymous Montréal discussion forum is located at:

montreal.roflforum.net/forum.htm

Anonymous Montreal: next protest Saturday, October 17!

Ready for another demonstration against Scientology fraud and abuses?

Our October monthly raid will take place Saturday, October 17. We'll be meeting at the corner of Rachel and Papineau (the northeast corner of Parc Lafontaine) at 11 am, after which we'll walk to the Scientology headquarters (Papineau and Mont-Royal) at noon.

Don't forget your mask!

September 2009 raid: a recap

On a gorgeous late summer day, about a dozen of us—including three newcomers—held our usual monthly protest in front of the Montreal Scientology org. In keeping with our "/b/lackup" theme, most of us wore suits and afro wigs. All in all, it was a pretty laid-back demonstration, but most definitely a success: we distributed hundreds upon hundreds of flyers until we finally ran out!

Here's a video recap of the event.



Our next protest will take place on Saturday, October 17. We'll be meeting at the corner of Papineau and Rachel at 11 am before heading to the Scientology org (Papineau and Mont-Royal) at noon. Hope to see you there!

August 2009 raid: Post-game

A double-header! On Saturday, August 8, a half dozen or so Anons raided the Montreal Scientology org for a few hours as usual. We then headed to Anticipation, the 67th WorldCon science fiction convention, which was being held at the Palais des Congrès, where we continued flyering and informing the public about Scientology abuses.

Here's a video recap of our (long) day.



We also encountered a young woman who told us the story of how her family's golf course, Les Vieilles Forges in Trois-Rivières, was bought by Scientologists who then started forcing Scientology techniques and courses on employees. (The French Anonymous Montréal blog first reported on this story this past February.) She understandably didn't want her face shown. The video is in French, but will be subtitled in English shortly.



Our next protest will take place on Saturday, September 12.

Aloha Xenu!

On Saturday, July 11, we held our monthly raid at the Montreal Scientology org, with a Hawaiian theme. Decked out in loud Hawaiian shirts, leis, straw hats, and grass skirts, we did our usual thing for about three hours before the rain got too heavy. One thing's for sure: rain or shine, Anonymous delivers!

Here's a video of highlights from the raid.

Revisiting the CCHR at Concordia affair: Part 1

The recent flap over Concordia University’s hosting the “Psychiatry: An Industry of Death” exhibit by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a Scientology front group, is still fresh in the collective memory of Anonymous—not only in Montreal, but around the world.

It seems that the Concordia administration, represented principally by Vice-President, Services Michael Di Grappa (whose department booked the CCHR exhibit in the first place), stopped reading emails of complaint and concern long ago. With this in mind, Anonymous Montreal will use the public forum of this blog to directly address Mr. Di Grappa, university spokesperson Chris Mota, and those other members of the Concordia administration who seemed incapable of recognizing and acknowledging (at least publicly) the true nature and intent of the CCHR and its exhibit. By acting as de facto apologists for the CCHR, we believe Mr. Di Grappa and Ms. Mota in fact made the university administration look even worse than had they displayed a modicum of humility and maturity, and admitted (even if subtly) that they had perhaps made a mistake in allowing the CCHR to set up its traveling propagandist horror show in the atrium of the McConnell library building for a mere $250 a day.

(The fact that the October return of the CCHR exhibit appears to have been canceled leads us to believe that—behind closed doors, at least—the administration recognized its colossal blunder. As well, having seen what Anonymous was capable of accomplishing in a matter of days in alerting the local news media, spearheading an email campaign, and organizing a demonstration, they no doubt wanted to avoid a repeat of this headache as well as further negative publicity.)

With this in mind, this first blog post on the CCHR/Concordia affair will make clear the truth about the CCHR as existing solely to further Scientology’s stated goal of the global obliteration of psychiatry and psychiatrists. In fact, Dr. Nada Stotland, president of the American Psychiatric Association, recently declared the CCHR a hate group.

Mr. Di Grappa’s form letter sent in response to the hundreds of email complaints received about the CCHR at Concordia made arguments in defense of the CCHR that were weak, flawed, and poorly (if at all) supported. (Perhaps if Mr. Di Grappa—and it is indeed “Mister,” not “Doctor,” for he does not hold a Ph.D.—had actual research and teaching experience, he would have been able to construct a better argument, and would have displayed an understanding of the importance of academic integrity.) We will be addressing this form letter in detail in a future post. For now, we will look at two points made in the letter that are directly relevant to the video posted below.

Mr. Di Grappa wrote that “it [was his] understanding that the Church of Scientology is a recognized religious and charitable organization.” Further, he stated that “[i]t is a precondition of any event on our campus that the emphasis will be and at all times will remain on the respectful discussion and debate of possibly opposing positions in a secure, collegial environment.”

Meanwhile, in the news media, spokesperson Chris Mota parroted the same tired talking points that were no doubt fed to her by the administration. For example, in the CTV Montreal report on the CCHR affair, she said, “Even if you disagree with the content of what is being presented, if you can’t do it in a university, then there’s really no place left.” Ms. Mota, the CCHR exhibit left no room for disagreement. (In a French radio interview with Benoit Dutrizac, available here, Ms. Mota defends at length the university administration's decision to host the CCHR exhibit—and then admits to not having actually seen it.)

With the foregoing in mind, then, we invite Mr. Di Grappa, Ms. Mota, and other members of the Concordia administration who defended the CCHR exhibit, to watch the following video. It features none less than David Miscavige, leader of Scientology, spouting incendiary anti-psychiatry rhetoric with clear undertones of violence. Please, out of respect to all those who emailed you to express their concerns about the CCHR’s infiltration of Concordia—concerns you in large part ignored—watch the following video, and then try and defend the CCHR as a charitable organization with a legitimate interest in “respectful discussion and debate.”

June 13th protest in Montreal

Anonymous protested on June 13th in Montreal in fornt of the scientology building on the corner of Papineau and Mont-Royal.

This is a video relating this event:



We also encountered a former scientologist who spoke briefly about his experience in the cult: