Scientology --- Re: Spiegel: The Octopus Weakens

Re: Spiegel: The Octopus Weakens

On 9 Jul 2001, Rod Keller wrote:

> Spiegel has an article about how Scientology is weakening in Germany. They
> have fewer body routers now and recruit more through business consulting
> companies. Bob Minton is mentioned and how Scientology has filed charges
> against Mrs. Caberta for allegedly receiving a loan. Article in German.
>
> http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,143270,00.html
> and
> http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,143271,00.html
Hi Rod, thanks for the neat graphic, too. This is part 1 of The Octopus Weakens. In case anyone is wondering what the Octopus looks like, there is a picture of it at http://cisar.org/octo.jpg. (Norbert Bluem can help you with that!) --- Fight against Scientology The Octopus Falters Hamburg, Germany
July 9, 2001
http://www.spiegel.de Dwindling membership, financial problems and criticized in court - the German section of the Scientology Organzation is not faring well. The Hamburg Task Force on Scientology, opposing the group for just ten years, has made a major contribution to this condition.

Hamburg - Roses, flyers and frozen smiles - this is how Scientology is again going hunting for members in several cities. That is what they have to do, because in spite of propaganda to the contrary, the organization seems to have lost the wind from its sails. "They're not getting a grip in Germany," Ursula Caberta, Hamburg's Scientology Commissioner, takes stock of her years-long fight against the organization. Since 1992, the former Burgershaft representative has been assigned to the Task Force on Scientology, which reports to the Interior Agency.

With considerable success. Numerous wealthy members have left the organization and brought important information with them according to Caberta. Even Scientology has remarked that there have been a few members who "have not been able to consistently hold up to" "the many pressures" from outside. On the other hand they say they have been able to gain "many members" - but how many the organization does not say. Nor does it say what the membership figures look like in recent years.

Recruitment for new members is getting more and more difficult for the psycho-concern, Caberta reports. "The people today are well informed about their machinations." However the Scientology opponent, who has been targeted for her incessant efforts against the organization, is not calling off the alert. She stressed that the mere presence of her agency should not make people believe they are invulnerable. She said the organization is still endeavoring to wrest away political and commercial power for itself.

A Case for Constitutional Security Unlike the strong mother organization in America, which enjoys tax-exempt status and numerous associated advantages, the membership figures in Germany, according to findings from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, which has had the organization under surveillance for several years, have been declining slightly. Altogether about five or six thousand people are counted as Scientologists in Germany - the organization itself asserts that it has more than 30,000 members. The goal of the Scientologists, according to Constitutional Security agents, is to occupy important decision points and so to found a Scientology social system;

as a counter-move, values anchored in Basic Law are to be removed.

One of the most important areas of operation for the totalitarian structured organization has been the real estate sector. But even there members are finding things more difficult. While a third of the buildings being renovated in the 1980s passed through the hands of Scientologists, that share has dropped considerably, according to estimates by the Hamburg Task Force.

Scientology and the Psycho-Boom At the moment the organization is profiting from the "unbelievably booming psycho-market," according to Caberta. In times of "Chaka-chaka you'll-do-it"

gurus of the Juergen Hoeller variety and the self-experience trips which include insects and worms for supper for the burnt-out manager souls, many companies have been placing more value in communication seminars from external trainers for their staff.

"Scientology is very active here," Caberta reported.

The so-called "entrance drugs" are dispensed in continuing education seminars where the participants are introduced to Scientology's mindset and operation. The Hamburg Task Force has found that more members have been recruited in this manner in recent years than by the usual "flirters" on the street.

In the second part of this article you'll read about the Security Statement as a secret weapon and about Scientology's informant system.

--- Unofficial translation/critical interpretation of German media, For non-commercial use only. Recent events - http://cisar.org/trnmenu.htm Informational publications http://members.tripod.com/German_Scn_News Thousands of articles sorted by date http://cisar.org/sortdate.htm

developed by Caberta and her team.

In the Statement, companies, staff and seminar directors must declare that they reject the technologies of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. "That's a genuine mortal sin for Scientologists," explained Caberta. Denying Hubbard, together with the technology he propagated, would be viewed as a "high crime," so that signing the statement would not be possible for members. "That works," Caberta reported, not without a touch of pride in her voice. In this way an important breach in the bulwark has been considerably narrowed for the Scientology organization. "By doing this we are far ahead in this part of the game."

People in the civil service have also since recognized the danger that lurks in continuing education courses.

The civilian workers - and with them the entire civil service - are supposed to be protected from Scientology ideology with a Security Statement, which every director nationwide who gives training seminars for the civil service has had to sign since March of this year.

Scientology's Intelligence Agency ("Secret Service" for non-US Americans) Ursula Caberta has first-hand experience in finding out that the fight against Scientology is not without adverse effects. For years she has been spied and informed upon by the organization's intelligence agency. Telephone calls to her friends and acquaintances or specific questions to her neighbors have been the daily routine for years, reported the Scientology opponent with near disinterest. "In my job you have to have steady nerves."

In the Administrative Court in Saarland, the one which was involved with Scientology's complaint against surveillance by the Saarland Constitutional Security, one of the Scientology organizations members denied responsibility for carrying out "operative measures" against the Task Force director. In its decision of March 29, 2001 in which it dismissed the charges, the court nevertheless did determine that Scientology had authorized the procedural methods being used against the Task Force director. The State Office for the Protection of the Constitution said somewhat more clearly how these methods were to be understood, namely the "employment of intelligence agency methods."

Ruthless dealings with critics The "operative measures" against Caberta lets inferences be made about the general methods of operation used by the organization, which would rather be described as a church or as a religion.

According to the Saarland judge's decision, against which Scientology has filed an appeal, Scientology's claim to absolutism is expressed primarily by eliminating attitudes which oppose or which are different from Scientology's own, and also by the demand for total discipline, primarily in its ruthless dealings with critics.

An expert opinion from Frankfurt political scientist Hans-Gerd Jaschke, commissioned by the Nordrhein-Westfalian state administration, also came to the conclusion that Scientology demonstrated "all the characteristics of a totalitarian organization and weltanschauung community." [See http://cisar.org/trn1001.htm.] Caberta knows what that means because of her numerous interviews with former members of Scientology. Threats, coercion and intimidation. It is exactly with these methods that the organization is currently trying to silence their highest-profile opponent in Germany. The accusations against Caberta go up to soliciting for favors and to bribery, for which the psycho-concern has filed charges. In the meantime the Hamburg state attorney's office has investigated the matter. Scientology asserts that the director of the Hamburg Task Force accepted money from American businessman and renowned Scientology opponent Bob Minton on a trip to the USA. Caberta, who would rather not say anything more about it until the case is closed, views the charges as part of Scientology's overall strategy to torpedo the critics it does not like. That strategy would also include a petition from Scientology to the Hamburg Burgerschaft, the goal of which is to have her removed from her position.

Caberta is not too impressed with that, either. In order to be able to counter the organization's measures she is promoting legislation for Germany - similar to the so-called anti-cult law passed in France in June. "We should recognize that psychic bodily harm is criminal, too," Caberta demands. And "The organizations responsible for their subordinate members' deeds should finally be held accountable."

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