| |
|
Scientology gets Picketed in Los Angeles, Sept 13, 2003
Tory Christman: LA PICKET: WE BEAT OSA!!! We began today meeting at Sizzler, planning on a nice, informative picket Exposing the abuses of "The Church of Scientology". First off let me say one of the critics helped us by making beautiful new signs. This took lots of work, and we each thank this person for their hard work. Once we ate, we decided to head out to the HGB: Hollywood Guarantee Building (Which is International Management), and the L. Ron Hubbard Life Exhibition right next door. These are at Hollywood and Vine, basically. Someone had already driven past big blue, and reported they now have HUGE walls put up to block ANY views of our communications. God forbid the followers should see some truth! As we began picketing, Hollywood rallied with us. Cars drove by all day long with people honking, yelling, and giving us the thumbs up. Many people walked by and told us their own personal horror stories re Scientology. This town is not fooled by these phonies!! We also had two people walk up and ask us if they could join the picket. We had extra signs, so we gave them signs and they too began walking back and forth. One had a dog, and had a sign on it saying, "Do Not Believe L. Ron Hubbard". So this was a first re having a dog in our picket!! All during this the staff did their usual cowering inside the building. Three of us were X-Scientologists and the rest were critics. We continued talking with people and passing out Xenu Flyers (at least 300, and 400 flyers and about 300 cards with Web sites). People of all walks of life and all ages came up to talk with us. Meantime, Scientology hid inside. The picket just seemed to flow like music, with each of us talking to passersby, passing out flyers and cards, and walking along with our signs. Next we decided to go across the street and get something to drink, to cool down. (It was about 80 degrees today). As we sat down we could see across the street and suddenly, as soon as we left, they all came outside. We could see the LRH Life Expo zip out and try to quickly pass out more invitations in. As usual, no one wanted to come in! This went on all day. People honking with us..Scientology trying to to rope people in and they failing. As we traveled down to the Scientology Testing Center, things heated up :) Down from them were these loud Black Israelites screaming non-stop about how Jesus was really Black. They were screaming constantly. Ok, and OSA had Mellony, the Commanding Officer of L.A. Day out at the Testing Center, Along with Jean Dale, OT 7 or OT 8. Both were not happy with we picketing. You can hear on the tape Mellony asking people, "Would you like to get a Free Presonality Test" and one for one, people said, "No". Meantime, we were passing out flyers, the Web sites, and I had the sign, "Honk if you Think Scientology is a CULT". People were literally honking from both sides of the street. Also, if they didn't have a car, and were walking by, they'd go "HONK".into my tape recorder. I was taping this, and will send it to Andreas to put up, as it's amazing to hear what people have to say. All of a sudden I realized this Cab was parked right outside of the Scientology Testing Center, basically semi-blocking our signs. I realized no doubt OSA had requested the cab, with the intention of blocking our signs. So I leaned in and asked, "Are you picking anyone up?" The gentleman said, "No". At that point I knew my perception was correct. So I leaned in and said, "These people are against Free Speech, and we are fighting FOR Free Speech. You cab is blocking our signs, so you think about that and decide what you want to do". I walked away, and to my great surprise, a few minutes later I heard the cab start up and he roared off, honking loudly down the street. This happened two different times while we were there. All during this time, Mellony and Jean were on their Cell phones. Finally the police showed up! At first it was just someone from OSA, talking with two LA PD. Finally the cops came over to me and told me they had a report we were disrupting a residency. I asked where, as the Testing Center is totally a business. He pointed above it (Three stories) and said those residence were complaining. I told him first off we have a Constitutional right to picket, and secondly, I was pretty sure they (OSA) were lying about anyone living above the Testing Center. I also pointed out if we were upsetting these so called residence with our quiet picket with only Graham speaking out a bit, what about the Black guys screaming non-stop. He said, 'We'll get to them" (Which they never did, proving it was only content related, not true distraction). Finally after much talk, more OSA Int people arrived. Pam (used to be King) now Bowen and one of their top dogs who runs the attorneys, Ed Parken arrived on the scene. Pam was furious and I could see was sent with orders to get rid of us. I used to work with Pam, and Mellony, and was on OT 7 with Jean, so I knew them all. Of course they were giving me (and all others) the total Scientology non-communication Silent Treatment. By this point they were shooting total hate 'vibes' at me. "How could you" .was the flow. The two cops came back and said they were "Just trying to keep the peace". I said, "So are we". They said, "Well, we have a request. You can say yes, or no, but we would like you to go over to the other side of the street". Having lived through the Clearwater nightmare with the "Church" I looked at the young cop and said, "I heard your request and here is my
answer: No! We are here, we are going to continue to picket per the
Constitution of the USA". I also pointed out I was pretty sure they were
lying about anyone living upstairs. The two LA PD said they couldn't handle
it, and they'd have to call their supervisors. So the Supervisors arrived,
and now there were 5 or 6 cops in all.
We continued picketing, and more people began honking than all day long.
Maybe they saw the cops..I'm not sure, but suddenly it went wild from both
sides of the street.
I saw OSA skulking around the corner, so I walked around to hear what was
being said. Pam immediately said, "I don't want her here!" I said, "Well,
since you're talking about me, I'd like to hear what is being said". At that
point I hear the Supervisor ask Ed, "Well, if you live here, I'd like to see
your driver's License proving it".
At that point I could only laugh, as I knew once again the infamous "Office
of Special Affairs" had blown it AGAIN!!!
I told Mellony and Jean that if they would just knock of the Fair Game, and
Knock of Lying.and just do what they do best, they'd actually have more
people wanting to come in. However, when they are actively trying to get us
arrested or pitched off the street for picketing (They hoping to stop free
speech)..people don't like that.
The cops finally drove off..as Scientology had NO proof that anyone lived
above the Testing Center. We won. they lost. OSA INT was seriously pissed,
and growled by me calling me a "Hate monger". I told them I was not a hate
monger, and if they'd stop trying to stop free speech and go read any of
these sites, they'd no doubt be out with us picketing. They growled, and
walked off. Pam leaned against the testing center looking very mad. I walked
over to her and she said, "Get away from me or I'll call the police". My
response? "What about OT, Pam. What about Communication? Scientology is
supposed to be about communication and yet all you do is work to stop it".
Shortly after this we decided we were done. We actually were just about to
leave when the cops arrived, but once OSA had called the cops, we decided we
needed to take it to the correct "win", which we did!
We all came back to my house to celebrate, share food and drink and enjoy
each other. Some other SP's arrived to share the night together.
It was a grand picket.and a delightful night!
Thank you to each person who helped create such an informative, and fun
picket! We actually even had someone from another country; many miles away
come join us :)
I'm SOOOO Happy I'm free!
Thank you SO much to Andreas, and to all my friends who have helped me get
out of that trap and free. It has taken quite a lot.but it's been SO worth
it :) Also, from everyone in Hollywood, thank you to Andreas and
Xenu.net, and each critic who stands up for Free Speech. We are winning, no
question about it!
My love to all :)
more information, please see: It takes about 7 hours to drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles. So I spent
14 hours driving in order to spend about 14 hours with critics in LA. It
was worth it.
The big news Saturday morning was that the police had arrested a suspect
in the arson of dozens of new Hummers in LA several days ago. The Earth
Liberation Front (ELF) had claimed credit for protecting the environment
by destroying all these gas guzzling vehicles. See, some activists are just
dumb.
I drove around in the morning looking at Co$ properties. I saw that
L. Ron Hubbard Way had been closed off and lots of tables and decorations
had been set up. On the south side they had placed cloth walls about 10 feet
high across the entrance to the road. That way, any picketers ouside that
wall could not be seen. I saw people making some more of those walls, probably
for the north side. The parking lot was surrounded by this same high wall
of cloth. There was a big stage set up (I'll try to post pics later).
The Celebrity Center was pretty quiet, as were the Hollywood Blvd. properties.
So I read the paper then went to our lunch meeting place. 3 others showed
up, one was a new ex that I had never met before; Skippy. So we had a good
lunch and took off.
We went to the Hubbard Life Exhibit, a great place to hand out fliers.
We probably handed out about 200 fliers there (a guess). Skippy was very
good at handing out fliers. Graham and Tanman joined us there, as did another
ex and 2 pedestrians. So we had a good group and weren't harassed at all
that I can think of. Many people walking by said in low voices "boy we're
glad you're out here!" And, "Finally somebody is doing this!" We got positive
responses and several good conversations there. Some people refused our
fliers saying "I already know it's bad, give it to someone who doesn't know."
I think we were there about 2 hours and some.
As we were taking a drink break at the pizza place kitty corner from the
Life Exhibit, I saw that the security camera on the Life Exhibit building
was pointing exactly at the entry of the pizza place. How strange! And
of course, when we went back on the sidewalk, the camera went back to pointing
at the sidewalk.
And you know, since *we* have Total Freedom, we just out of the blue decided
to go to the testing center down Hollywood Blvd. and protest there for a
while. And you know what? We didn't have to have a committee about it,
ask uplines for permission, or anything. Somebody suggested it, we all figured
it was a good idea, so poof, there we went.
The first thing we noticed when we got to the testing center was this
group of maybe a dozen black guys preaching on the sidewalk just west of
the testing center doors, maybe 30 feet away. They were very loud and constantly
preaching. One would preach, and another would yell out Bible quotes when
prompted. They would harangue people going by, and even did a short bit
about what might be wrong with Scientology.
So Graham and I held up the WWW.XENU.NET banner closer to the testing
center than the black guys (I think their group is Black Israelites or something
like that - they claim to be the Lost Tribes). Others walked up and down
with the great new picket signs. Tanman somehow had parked his car right
in front of us, and suggested we drape the banner on his car. So we draped
it on the left side, holding it in place with the windshield wipers front
and back. This was great as any cars going by and anybody across the street
would see this. I went across the street for a look and it stood out even
more than any Co$ posters or signs (again, pics later).
We had a pretty good time, even with the competition of the black guys
accosting pedestrians, us handing out fliers, and the Scientologists handing
out fliers, all in the same little area. There were no confrontations or
anything from that. But as we were just talking about leaving, Tory said
that the cops had arrived. So we hung around to see what the cops wanted.
They talked to Tory, Graham, and others, but I didn't talk to them at all.
These policemen didn't seem clear on what they could or should do, so they called
their supervisor. I went down the couple of blocks to put more quarters in
the meter for my car, and when I got back there were 2 cop cars, 2 bicycle
cops, and even more Scientologists talking to the cops. So it was a kind
of hectic scene on that corner; Black Israelites preaching away, us with
our signs and fliers, the Scientologists handing out their fliers, and OSA
and about 6 cops having a heated conversation. Tory wrote about what happened
with the cops, but I just kept picketing so I don't have direct info. on
that.
A few people stopped to ask about who Lisa McPherson was on my sign, or
just to converse. One guy asked if I knew that Seagram's had bought Scientology
in 1983. I said no, I'd have to look into that.
Finally the cops left (and note; they NEVER talked to the noisier, more
aggressive Black Isrealites), about 45 minutes after we first started talking
about leaving. It was time to get to The Party, so we took off. Graham and
I talked about picketing the Auditor's Day event that night, and then off
we went.
It was a good party, with good food and conversation. Graham arrived
a little later, but we were both a bit bushed from all the picketing we had
already done, so once again - since we have Total Freedom - we just decided
not to go picket. Can you believe that? We just decided that resting, conversing,
and eating heavy chocolate cake was more our calling at that time.
Later that night I took off to begin my long journey back to Phoenix.
My car gets 36 mpg.
www.lisamcpherson.org
End Note by Jeff Jacobsen I was thinking about how people acted on both sides of the protest in Los
Angeles last weekend. Thinking back, it was obvious that the Scientologists
could not act on their own initiative. As soon as we arrived at the testing
center, instantly the security guy got on his walkie talkie and the other
people got on their cell phones. They were on those things a lot. Were they
calling their moms to see how they're doing? No, they were calling to get
instructions. It was all top-down action. There is no independent initiative
within Scientology. It is all like one big organism with only one brain.
Every aspect of Scientology shows the leadership's disdain for independent
thinking. So much for Total Freedom. In fact, "total freedom" in Scientology
means submission to authority. Sure you can do whatever you like, just so
you only like obeying orders. In the movie "Forrest Gump" when Gump was
in boot camp, his drill sergeant yelled at Forrest "what are you going to
do today, private?" To which Forrest instantly yelled back "whatever you
tell me to do, Drill Sergeant!" The sergeant replied "Forrest, you are a
Goddamn genius!"
On the protester's side, there wasn't even a top to get orders from! It
was all bottom-up. We had Total Freedom. In fact, part of "the plan" was
to protest at the Big Blue building at the time of the Auditor's Day celebration.
By the time we picketed all afternoon and wound up at the party relaxing
and eating, we decided not to. We didn't call anybody. We didn't check
the duty roster. We just decided we had done enough protesting for one day.
Related: Home | F.A.Q.'s | Legal | News | Contact us | |
