Qui di seguito pubblichiamo una traduzione in lingua inglese della nostra inchiesta “Ragnatela Scientology”. Il testo è stato pubblicato sul sito www.whyweprotest.net – ma a causa dell’impostazione stessa di quel sito (che fa dell’anonimato una bandiera), non è per noi possibile ringraziare la persona che si è presa la briga di fare tutto questo lavoro. A lei rivolgiamo un grazie, many thanks, per aver reso il nostro lavoro fruibile anche da un pubblico anglofono.
Spider-Web Of Scientology
Front associations. Pressure on local government bodies and on Parliament. Sponsors who donate large sums. This is how the controversial sect is promoting its interests and expanding in Italy. And it is targeting institutions.
Scientology Phase 2 has begun. After having collected the followers of L. Ron Hubbard into the richest and most controversial sect on the planet, it is now targeting institutions. It’s called “dissemination”. It’s purpose is recruitment. And to make money, more money. Not through the “orgs”, the churches which have been the focus of complaints and accusations. Neither through rising levels of mind-clearing “auditing”, which can be bought for thousands of euros. No, the plan was written black on white by the founder on February 3, 1969: through front groups. Associations, non-profit organizations, movements for human rights, acronyms that can reach places which Scientology alone cannot reach. It happened in the United States, France, Germany, Belgium. And now it is happening in Italy. The organization has branched out: from its headquarters in Vimodrone in the province of Milan, which control 11 churches with sales figures between 10 and 50 million euros per year, and its influence extends all the way to Parliament.
Front groups
On the surface, there are committees such as CCHR [CCDU in Italian], which was founded by Professor Thomas Szasz in the United States, volunteer groups such as PROCIVICOS [Volunteer Ministers for Civil Protection], cultural associations such as Applied Scholastics, Narconon and Criminon, associated companies such as WISE, health projects such as “Say no to drugs” or Perché non accada anche in Italia [loose translation: “Because it shouldn’t happen, even in Italy” (a campaign against drugs for ADHD)]. All are non-profit organizations with reassuring names, like the thousands of others in Italy. However, they all have one thing in common: they are offshoots of Scientology. All the front groups profess that they are “autonomous, secular, and independent”, but in reality, they are the new gateway to the sect. Guided by high-level believers, some even appear in the church’s organization chart. For example, the CCHR, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, declares itself to be independent (in brochures, this is presented as the obligatory response to give to whomever asks about possible connections), but it is part of the so-called Department 20, the Office of Special Affairs. The president of CCHR, Roberto Cestari, is a Scientologist who was awarded the Freedom Medal, which is perhaps the highest possible honor of the IAS, the international organization that deals with fundraising. Prestigious enough for him to pose for magazine photographs as a “hero” alongside Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and worldwide leader David Miscavige.
Political strategy
In recent years, the CCHR is the organization which has, more than most, used politicians to spread its ideas. First on the list is the fight against psychiatry, in particular the use of psychiatric drugs on children. Under the umbrella of the Perché non accada campaign, the non-profit organization has woven a network with parliamentarians and regional advisers to propose a flood of laws in legislative bodies across Italy. A network which, from a political point of view, takes on a very precise meaning: it comes almost entirely from a single party, the National Alliance, with a few isolated exceptions. Its beachhead in Parliament is deputy Marcello De Angelis and Senator Cristiano De Eccher. De Angelis presented a bill to the House that seeks to ban psychological tests in schools for diagnosis of the ADHD syndrome that afflicts children with learning disabilities. This is a repeat of 2007; in the days of the Prodi government, he presented a similar but bipartisan bill, along with Loredana De Petris of the Green Party. De Eccher did the same in the Senate, where his bill is still awaiting consideration. Things went more smoothly for De Eccher in Trento, where the same law was passed after having been approved in Piedmont, thanks to Councillor Gianluca Vignale, himself formerly of the National Alliance. The going is more difficult in other regions, despite the efforts of Gianfranco Fini’s lieutenants: councillors Marcella Amadio in Tuscany, Enrico Aimi in Emilia Romagna, and Mauro Minniti in Bolzano.
Tricking deputies
Deputies and councillors are approached using Hubbard’s rules. No one tells them that Scientology is behind the CCHR. They are not pressured to join the sect, and the stories they tell read like a script. “I collaborated on law 21 in 2007,” says Turin Councillor Vignale. “What I find strange is to think that there is an intent to gain followers. I did not experience this.” Likewise for De Eccher: “I’m Catholic, so I haven’t been paying attention to Scientology,” he retorts. “I met with some experts from the CCHR to discuss a law on psychological testing in schools. What does this have to do with that?” So too according to Marcella Amadio, the former political adviser to Gianni Alemanno: “I spoke with the CCHR, but I was not aware that Scientology is behind it.” Same answer in every case. But it turns out that, in official Scientology publications, these politicians and the laws they propose are touted as victories on the part of the sect against “psychiatric abuse”. They quote De Angelis and De Petris, they show the link between CCHR and Scientology, they confirm that a million copies of booklets have been produced and shipped to schools, municipalities, provinces, and regions, in addition to all parliamentarians. Scientology is also behind the “protest marches” against psychiatry that took place in September 2006 in Cagliari, Turin, and Verona, as well as the traveling exhibition about harm by psychiatry that went all the way to Trieste. A similar case occurred in the Province of Pordenone, whose President, Alessandro Ciriani, appeared on the Scientology website and then denied any relations with Hubbard’s sect. One who certainly never had such relations is the Minister of Education, Mariastella Gelmini, although the CCHR website appreciatively features the ministry’s circular recommending that tests be avoided, as requested by Scientology. There were contacts in Piedmont with the President of the Equal Opportunity Commission of the City of Turin, Lucia Centillo (Democratic Party), who worked alongside the CCHR in the European Marathon for Human Rights. “I never had any bad experience. They were even giving Italian lessons to foreigners.” Another case concerns the mayor of Padua, Flavio Zanonato, who was quoted in the official magazine Scientology News, issue 34 (no date ever appears), as being “on board”, which, in Scientology jargon, means being a follower. Meanwhile, back in Padua, Flavio Zanonato knows nothing about this: “The mayor was approached by a proponent of Scientology who gave him a book. He does not know this person,” snapped spokesman Antonio Martini.
Drugs and Narconon
Another battlehorse is the fight against drugs. This is what gave birth to the Narconon (not narcolepsy [sic]) therapeutic communities, which promise to help addicts free themselves through a “rundown” involving saunas, supplements, and vitamins. There are six centers in Italy and each one dreams of obtaining accreditation by the Region for service agreements with the local health agency. It must have seemed too good to be true when the anti-drug authority led by Carlo Giovanardi summoned Narconon to a meeting, along with the Abele and San Patrignano groups. But then it had to step back as soon as the connection to Scientology was denounced, and emphasize that the invitation was purely formal and was due to the fact that one of the Narconon centers is registered as an aid organization in Puglia. This registration occurred in 2005, during the interregnum between Raffaele Fitto and Nichi Vendola as Regional Governor of Puglia. But this status has not yet led to any service agreement, as confirmed by the local health agency in Lecce Province, where the recognized Narconon center, Il Gabbiano [“The Seagull”], operates.
Between tsunamis and earthquakes
In Scientology magazines, they are portrayed as coming in aid to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami, making converts. But we find them too with the same yellow T-shirt in Abruzzo, between the tents that arose after the earthquake, along with the Civil Protection Department headed by Guido Bertolaso. They are the men with the yellow and blue cross of PROCIVICOS, volunteers led by Giuseppe Cicogna, a member of Scientology. On April 6, 2009, they began working in the tent city at San Giacomo in L’Aquila, alternating 3 or 4 volunteers (“now only one,” according to Civil Protection). In addition to maintenance of the canteen service for 400 displaced persons, PROCIVICOS offers after-school services in the tents, along with the teachers, using “the educational method of philosopher Ron Hubbard,” as they state in their press release. One ministry that Scientology has taken by storm is Education. In 2005, when Letizia Moratti was Minister of Education, Applied Scholastics succeeded in obtaining accreditation as an organization formed by teachers. The accreditation lasted until 2008, when Education Minister Giuseppe Fioroni ordered an inspection that led to its revocation. This gesture did not go down well with the “trainers”. They complained to the Regional Administrative Tribunal, which sided with the Education Ministry, and are now waiting to hear from the State Council. In the meantime, however, Applied Scholastics was able to establish itself: vaunting the Education Ministry’s seal of approval, it provided courses to teachers in public schools across Italy, from Milan to Catania. This episode was not the only one during Moratti’s tenure. That year [2005], at the Stramilano half marathon, jogging aficionados found a booklet from the sect in their backpacks. Who put it there is not known.
Targeting businesses
Scientology is also targeting businesses. WISE (World Institute of Scientology Enterprises) is spreading and is imposing increasingly strict rules. So strict that the biggest company which was part of WISE, Paul Ruggeri’s Bologna-based Mind Consulting, with about a hundred dependents, was faced with a ban on using various writings by Hubbard for its consulting work. “The purpose of the collaboration had changed: I had to make converts. So I said ‘enough’,” explains the entrepreneur. He was suddenly declared a “suppressive person”, which, according to the Dianetics dictionary, is “a person who actively seeks to suppress or damage Scientology”. The sect issued a letter dated January 24, 2006, declaring “disconnection”. Result: fifteen employees, followers of the sect, were laid off. Disconnection is a mechanism that Scientology practices even between parents and children, in case of opposition to the church. It occurs to such an extent that the number of cases reported on Simonetta Po’s Allarme Scientology website, the most visited on this subject, is multiplying. The latest leaked WISE report lists 245 companies.
Foreign funds
If the sect is the heart and the front groups are the ramifications, the glue that holds the system together is the IAS. Its task is to collect money. Millions of euros per year. In exchange for a cup or a medal. To fly to their headquarters in Florida, or to the English manor at Saint Hill, dozens of Italians sign big checks. “It is a contribution and that is the kind of experience this is,” retorts Luigi Brambani of Scientology’s Public Affairs Office. However, there is a price list: the range begins with a “donation” of 5,000 dollars for a “Sponsor” and rises to 10 million for a “Patron Laureate”. But where does this money end up? And what about the sums that the orgs transfer at the end of the accounting period every Thursday at 2 P.M.? L’espresso has been able to reconstruct some of what happens by guaranteeing the anonymity of a follower who questions Scientology but has not left it. “Two accounts are managed by an FBO (Financial Bank Officer), as defined by Hubbard,” revealed the “staff” member. While millions pour out, he complains that he is being underpaid, “50 to 60 euros per week to work from 9 in the morning to 11 at night”. The accounts follow strict guidelines: the first account, “abbreviated GBS (Gross Book Sales), contains the funds collected from the sale of books, DVDs and various materials.” The money from auditing goes into a second account, abbreviated GI (Gross Income). A percentage is transferred to the U.S., 15-30 percent is used to pay the staff, when there is enough money for the rest. The remainder is divided among organization expenses, an emergency disaster fund, bills, rent, and mortgages. Then there’s the big one: the money for the IAS. It ends up in a foreign account used by Flag, the mother church in Florida. “In Italy, every week, the total amount is between 200 and 400 thousand euros, excluding donations.”
The 007s
Watching over the sect is the role of Department 20, which is responsible for external and internal security. There is a group for investigations and another for relations with governments. Then there is the section that encompasses the CCHR, the Human Rights and Social Reform Activities Unit. It prepares training kits for new front groups and it recruits and trains volunteers. Many Scientology defectors complain about the fact that Scientology keeps track of the “confessions” made during auditing sessions by believers connected to an E-meter, a machine sold for 4,000 to 5,000 euros and which, according to the church “locates areas of spiritual distress”. Consequently, the records of a person’s past actions sometimes include admissions of crime, sexual preferences, or deplorable behavior, and this information is preserved by the sect. How then is this used? According to the complaint by Giacomo Sotgia, a former follower from Gorizia, who requested and obtained the destruction of archives relating to him, “they use the data as a weapon to keep you from leaving. This task is always assigned to the staff of Department 20”. Not so, according to Brambani, who defends the record-keeping: “When a person joins, he reads a legal document and approves it. It says that if he decides to receive pastoral counseling, the minister will keep track of his entire progression.” The sect accuses the critics of being nothing but detractors. Not detractors, but survivors, contend those who have left. They are often people who were attracted by the “independent” front groups. And then became trapped in a spider web at whose center one thing stands alone: Scientology.
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SIDEBAR – Alfredo Biondi: “They operate within the law and I defend them.”As a lawyer, he defended Scientology during the Milan trial. And he came out on stage during the inauguration of the Milan org, one of the largest in the world, sparking controversy. He continues to affirm that he is a “friend” of the movement led by David Miscavige. This from a lawyer who, though an agnostic, has always been at the forefront in the defense of freedom of religion and worship. Former Minister of Justice, Alfredo Biondi, a Liberal associated with Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party, is one of the few, perhaps the only Italian politician, who has publicly supported Scientology. But without becoming an adherent. “If individuals are responsible for certain actions, then they should be prosecuted. The right to profess a religion or accusing an entire association is another matter. On this point, my thinking will never change,” he says. “The Constitution guarantees to all who believe in a form of transcendence the right to free expression of thought.”The former Justice Minister also considers as “debatable but sacro-sanct” the demand for money for the religious services offered by Scientology to its followers. “Hubbard? Do people spend a lot of money or a little? If a person believes that obtaining an indulgence requires reserving a mass or going on a pilgrimage, instead of spending money to pay for some other kind of service, then that’s his problem. I can have a personal opinion, but even if I don’t agree or if my judgment is negative, it remains a right of the individual. Although, as a lawyer, Biondi has had direct contacts with Scientology, as have other colleagues, ministers, and parliamentarians, Scientology has never received expressions of support from the political world: “There is a degree of caution in these circles about saying certain things,” he adds. “Everyone keeps their distance.”
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SIDEBAR – The High Cost of Being Faithful
It is perhaps the most expensive toll bridge on the planet. Perhaps even in the galaxy. Yes, because Scientology has a price list for everything that is needed to cross the so-called “Bridge to Total Freedom”, the path followed by the faithful as they go through the levels of “auditing” required to achieve the liberation promised by the founder, science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. According to the latest leaked price list, part one of a first-level Solo Auditor course sells for 4,650 euros (3,720 with a discount). Then there’s the second part: another 1,964 euros. As soon as the spiritual journey begins, the “taxi meter” is running. There is an abundance of levels, so many, in fact, that no human has yet completed the journey.From Grade 0, followers go through four stages of consciousness before arriving at NED. More money. Then it’s time for Expanded Dianetics. Money. Finally, the state of Clear. Money. Then a brief pause. To get to this stage, one must pay about 50,000 euros. But it’s not over. Clears next proceed to the state of OT, “Operating Thetan”. They become increasingly conscious of their spiritual condition as prisoners in the body of a human being, the result of a deportation which the Emperor Xenu imposed on the planets over which he ruled in the galaxy, 75 million years ago. To finish OT5, one must spend at least another 52,000 euros, but this leaves out the three other levels needed to reach OT8, the endpoint (for now) of a bridge which, according to Scientology, may one day extend to OT15, a level not yet attained.
On top of all this, there is a long list of materials, books, and DVDs that Scientologists can buy. The “Congress” packages by Ron Hubbard, for example: 2,444 euros for a package of DVDs, 282 euros for a single DVD called the “Clearing Congress”. Another 249 euros for the “Universe Processes Congress”. And so on. A full set of “SHSBC lectures”? In 2006, it cost 11,750 euros (10,575 with the usual IAS discount). The full “Saint Hill Special Briefing Course”, 28,000 euros. Another 14,000 for “Grade V Power Auditing and Power Plus”, 5,687 for 12 hours of “OT preparation and eligibility”, and so forth. From course to course toward purification. Paid in cash.
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SIDEBAR – Troubles with the Star System and with the Judicial System
They say they number 10 million worldwide. For certain, the most thriving Scientology community is in the United States, where Scientology has its headquarters and where it can also count on a cadre of celebrities, so much so that the organization has a special Celebrity Center. Alongside Tom Cruise and John Travolta, there is a line-up of VIPs who are more or less famous, for example the daughter of Elvis, Lisa Marie Presley, actresses Anne Archer (nominated for an Oscar for playing the wife whose husband had an affair in Fatal Attraction), Juliette Lewis (nominated for an Oscar for Scorsese’s Cape Fear), Kirstie Alley (known from situation comedies in the 1990s), Jenna Elfman (of the show [I]Dharma & Greg[I]), Catherine Bell (Jag), young star Giovanni Ribisi, musicians such as jazz pianist Chick Corea, and the recently-deceased black-soul singer Isaac Hayes.Sometimes, however, touting testimonials can be a risky strategy. The English newspaper Daily Mail says that Travolta, after 34 years inside, is thinking of leaving the church following the death of his sixteen-year-old son Jett (who was autistic but, in accordance with Hubbard’s dictates, was not treated with medication). The damage to Scientology’s image would be incalculable. After these signals appeared, the actor prepared to publicly reaffirm his faith, even though, according to the British newspaper, he is being forced to do so to prevent the revelation of the secret concerning his rumored homosexuality. But the problems for Scientology do not end with this. In Europe, its troubles are judicial. Last June, a trial began in France where, for the first time, accusations of fraud were brought against not only individual officials, but the entire organization.
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SIDEBAR – The Language of the Sect
Acronyms, abbreviations, English expressions, hyperbole, verbs used metaphorically. In addition to its beliefs, Scientology also has a language, as well as official dictionaries to help understand it.
Auditing A “confessional” process to which the faithful submit themselves and in which they answer the questions of a minister (auditor) while they are connected to an E-meter, a device said to measure a person’s reactions.
Clear A “highly desirable state” in which a person, thanks to auditing, is free from all interference by troublesome memories hidden in the subconscious.
Flag Flag Service Organization in Clearwater is the worldwide spiritual headquarters of Scientologists. At one time, the upper church organizations were located on board a flotilla of boats and the Apollo, Hubbard’s home, was called the “flagship”, abbreviated as “Flag”.
Bridge The path leading to the state of Clear. The bridge consists of paid services that lead a person through the sect’s various levels to the “Clear” stage of purification and then to the state of OT (Operating Thetan).
Sea Org Short for “Sea Organization”, the sect’s religious order. Unlike ordinary followers (“public”), members of the Sea Org dedicate their lives to the service of Scientology. Paid less than $100 per week plus food, lodging, and medical care, they sign a one-billion-year contract to symbolize the commitment to serve in this life and in future lives.