TrevAnon

Belgian newspaper De Morgen has an article about the choices Western European governments have to hit Scientology

De Morgen De Gedachte - Tref scientology in het hart (1022367)

Google translation:

Google Vertaling

Anonymous

ok I love the title.
"Strike scientology in the hart"

Belladonna

That was delicious.

Exes! Still intellectually curious? Here are some worlds of wonder, for free :)

N. Ron Rubber

Any DutchAnons in the room for translation?

Anonymous Montreal: Blog (English/Français) — Forum — Youtube — Twitter

Does David Miscavige, a dwarf leading a destructive cult, killed Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard by shooting Vistaril in his butt? Or maybe XENU did it...

«J'ai fait un rêve très précis une nuit après avoir mangé des cretons pas frais. Ça implique l'Église de Scientologie et une sordide histoire de chèvres. Je ne peux pas en dire plus...» - François Parenteau

TrevAnon

There is a link to Google translation in the OP, and below is a rough translation


Be harsh on Scientology

Luc Willems is a lawyer. He is the former reporter of the parliamentary inquiry into the cults and former senator for Open VLD (Belgian political party, liberal).

In Belgium, the prosecution must rely on the more general crimes such as abuse of trust, extortion, illegal practice of medicine, or theft. The abuse of the mental weakness of certain groups of people remains out of range.

The Scientology church this week in France got convicted for organized fraud and in the U.S. is under attack by testimonies of former members. What about Scientology in Belgium, where several lawsuits against the cult are pending? Luc Willems has been occupied with the problem of cults for years: "Police and public prosecutors still do not have the appropriate means to fight against the dubious and reprehensible practices of certain cults.”

The condemnation of the Church of Scientology by a Paris court and the growing flood of testimonies by former supporters again sharpens the debate about addressing harmful cults. The power that these organizations want to have over people are against the basic rights and freedoms. Question is to what extent the government should intervene if these totalitarian groups stifle the free will of citizens.

Opinions are divided: there are ones that say people should think for themselves and each adult must decide how he arranges his life, others feel that when people in distress are being manipulated, there should be more government intervention.

In the laws on consumer protection the choice has already been made in the seventies. The government has set rules and enforcement to protect consumers from deception and misleading sales practices. Here a clear choice is made in favour of protecting the individual over the unbridled freedom of contract. And with success.

Immersion
In the world of Scientology the same question arises. Scientology followers are being recruited through personal contacts or cover organizations. The potential victim is presented a profound personality test. The outcomes of these tests are always similar: there are some problems, but these can be addressed through scientology. The potential cult-member then gets a communication course offered at almost no cost or even free. Then a new course follows that costs more and befor the cult-member knows he or she is immersed in the Church of Scientology and they pay expensive courses with questionable content and without results.

As long as this is done freely and fully conscious, there still is no problem. The government should not stand watch over each shoulder. Gradually, however, the organization takes control over the cult member's personal life. Then it gets dangerous. Is the member able to get out at any time he wants? Does Scientology respect that choice? Does Scientology allow the ex-meber to quietly build up his life again? There are many testimonies of victims against Scientology in this respect. Victims quickly lose 50,000 euro and lose their lives with it. They go further into debt to be able to take courses.

When analysing this we determine that especially people who undergo a personal crisis fall for it. When a relationship broke down, someone loses his job loss or they feel lonely, they are vulnerable to the feel-good-courses. The effects in relational and financial terms are dramatic. The same problems occur with therapeutic and other religious cults.

Rain in Paris

The parliamentary inquiry into cults in 1997 set a series of failures in legislation and administration. Despite fierce criticism from cults the majority of the recommendations from the inquiry is implemented into guidelines and legislation, and made operational. The most important part was the independent IACSSO, the advisory centre that informs the general public about cults in our country. Addressing the harmful cults was efficient and there followed a number of convictions. One recommendation to date, the criminalization of the core business of cults, has remained a dead letter: the mental destabilization of people and the abuse of persons in a weakened position. France since 2001 has the About-Picard law that addresses these excesses.

This law allows for prosecution to investigate proactively and for the courts to condemn serious violations. In Belgium, the prosecution must rely on more general crimes such as forgery, abuse of trust, extortion, receiving stolen goods, theft, slander, defamation or unlawful practice of medicine. The core of the activity, the abuse of the mental weakness of certain groups of people, remains out of reach. A thoughtful and effective legislation is essential to address certain issues. Police and public prosecutors have to date no appropriate legislative means to fight the dubious and reprehensible practices of certain cults.

Drip in Brussels

The support for legislation to be able to prosecute in these cases has significantly increased over the years. There were the opinions of the parliamentary monitoring committee in 2005 and the IACSSO who indicated that there is wide support across different political families. Several bills were filed and Minister of Justice Onkelinkx (PS = Parti Socialiste, Belgian social-democratic party) sent a bill to the Belgian Parliamant. However, the parliamentary debate did not take place. Now it's raining in Paris, is perhaps the time to let it drip in Brussels.

Anonymous

The author is making the argument that in order to really take a swing at Scientology, you need additional legislation that makes it illegal to use brainwash-techniques.

IMO, that's bullshit. Most negative effects of Scientology are pretty well covered by existing legislation. The oatee scam, privacy issues, slave labor, medicine without a license - it's all blatently illegal. All that (European) governments need to do is actually enforce their laws.

Doesn't mean that this type of legislation isn't needed to curb cults in general though. Take cults for example where women are coerced into having sex with the almighty guru. That basically amounts to legal rape. My guess would be that the author (long time anti-cult laywer) is using the current bad publicity around Scientology to lobby for this type of legislation. I'm all for it.

AnonyMary

Good article. Hope you don't mind but I used your title when I posted about it on my blog.
Belgian newspaper De Morgen On Legal Choices To Hit Scientology


Thank you to Anonymous member TrevAnon for posting about the following article Belgian newspaper De Morgen on legal choices to hit Scientology. I have posted the original via BlogThis and have provided an English translation.


Formerly Fooled and Finally Free From The Deceptive Cult Called Scientology: Belgian newspaper De Morgen On Legal Choices To Hit Scientology

Anonymous

Summary

Be firm with Scientology
Luc Willems is a lawyer who is the former reporter of the parliamentary inquiry into the cults and former senator for Open VLD, a liberal Belgian political party. Den Morgen is a reputable somewhat Leftist newspaper.

Belgian law, like French law but unlike English law, is Napoleonic and so depends on the application of general categories such as abuse of trust, extortion, illegal practice of medicine, or theft.

In France this week Scientology was convicted of organized fraud and in the U.S. is under attack by several legal suits brought by former members. In Belgium also several lawsuits against the cult are pending. Luc Willems has been occupied with the problem of cults for years: "Police and public prosecutors still do not have the right weapons to fight cults.”

The power that these organizations want to exercise conflict with basic rights and freedoms. To what extent should the government intervene?

Opinions are divided. Some say people should think for themselves; others feel that when people in distress are being manipulated, there should be more government intervention.

In the field of consumer protection the government in the seventies already set rules and enforcement to protect consumers from deception and misleading sales practices. A clear choice was made in favor of protecting the individual over the unbridled freedom of contract. And with success.

In Scientology the same question arises. Scientology followers are recruited through personal contacts or cover organizations. The potential victim is put through a profound personality test. The outcome of these tests is always similar: there are problems, but they can be cured by Scientology. The potential cult-member then gets a communication course offered at almost no cost or even free. Then a new course follows that costs more and before the cult-member knows he or she is immersed in the Church of Scientology and they pay expensive courses with questionable content and without results.

As long as this is done freely, there still is no problem. Gradually, however, the organization takes control over the cult member's personal life. Then it gets dangerous. Is the member able to get out at any time he wants? Does Scientology respect that choice? Does Scientology allow the ex-member to quietly build up his life again? There are many testimonies of victims against Scientology in this respect. Victims quickly lose 50,000 euros and their lives with it. They go further into debt to be able to take courses.

People in the throes of a personal crisis are particularly vulnerable: a broken relationship, job loss or loneliness makes them vulnerable to the feel-good-courses. The effects in relational and financial terms are dramatic. The same problems occur with therapeutic and other religious cults.

Rain in Paris

The parliamentary inquiry into cults in 1997 identified a series of failures in legislation and administration. Despite fierce criticism from cults, the majority of the recommendations from the inquiry were implemented into guidelines and legislation, and made operational. The most important part was the independent IACSSO, the advisory centre that informs the general public about cults in our country. Addressing the harmful cults was efficient and there followed a number of convictions. One recommendation which would criminalise the core business of cults has so far remained a dead letter: this is the mental destabilization of individuals and the abuse of vulnerable people. Since 2001 France has the About-Picard law which addresses these questions.

This law allows for prosecution to investigate proactively and for the courts to condemn serious violations. In Belgium, the prosecution must rely on more general crimes such as forgery, abuse of trust, extortion, receiving stolen goods, theft, slander, defamation or unlawful practice of medicine. The core of the activity, the abuse of the mental weakness of certain groups of people, remains out of reach. A thoughtful and effective legislation is essential to address certain issues. Police and public prosecutors have to date no appropriate legislative means to fight the dubious and reprehensible practices of certain cults.

Drizzle in Brussels

The support for legislation designed to prosecute such cases has significantly increased over the years. The opinions of the parliamentary monitoring committee in 2005 and the IACSSO indicated that there is wide cross-party support. However no parliamentary debate took place. Now it's raining in Paris, is perhaps the time to let it drizzle in Brussels.

auchraw

The author points out that the French have had a law protecting vulnerable people from cults since 2001 and that to bring a successful case against Scientology in Belgium would be made easier and more likely if the Belgians also had such a law.

He knows what is possible under the present law. There are several pending cases. But he wants a big gun.

http://wiki.whyweprotest.net/Freewinds_timeline
http://wiki.whyweprotest.net/Jett_Travolta

Anonymous

I am aware of the About-Picard law. Regardless, the French still went for a fraud conviction. I am not entirely sure why - but some commentators have argued this was the least bumpy road.

Although hardly relevent, my earlier post is what I read between the lines of the Belgian article.

AnonyMary

I like your translation summary and posted it with credt to you in lieu of my google translation. Thanks

Formerly Fooled and Finally Free From The Deceptive Cult Called Scientology: Belgian newspaper De Morgen On Legal Choices To Hit Scientology

FUCK

om nom nom.

Indiana Anonymous at cause!
http://indiananon.ning.com

Anonymous

Thank you. Feel free.