Sunderland, UK

Epic win was to be had, read about it in the Sunderland Echo (http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/F...39s.3885826.jp)

Same again guys?

NOTE: We want to actually find some people who had been disconnected. There was a man there who we think was, he had some earring type things that stood out, fairly burly bloke, someone try and contact him.

Also, see if we can put some leaflets out in Sunderland about this.

Scan of the actual article - http://homepage.mac.com/howthedevil/...rland_echo.jpg (face pixellation is mine - faces were shown)

I made a video which is on YouTube in two parts here...

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPDFIqLoGxQ
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4stf3WFkXOc

...or on Vimeo which is a little better quality...

http://www.vimeo.com/799523

I would be up to putting fliers through a few doors, let the locals know whats on their doorstep. Maybe a few posters in the local uni let them know as well. The wife of the guy with the earrings said they will be coming to the April demo, so we can get clarification about their involvement with the local scifags. Was the guy who came out to speak to us a scifag or an estate agent i'm confused?

Find all the Disconnected people you can guys. This needs public support.

It would be great if you guys can let us know how the org is doing. My impression is that it is on its last legs.

With luck you could even close the org. Our first real victory!

I noticed that the building i hadn't seen in 20 years still had the same old gumf on the windows. Looks like they've been down stat for all that time looking at the poor shape of the green dianetic sticker in the window. They had 5 staff there then and they still have about 5 staff so much for their great plans of saint hill expansion. Hopefully this shoe string org will fall within the year!!!

Let's have a lot more signs this time guys. :)

Originally Posted by Tony Whent

It would be great if you guys can let us know how the org is doing. My impression is that it is on its last legs.

With luck you could even close the org. Our first real victory!

All signs point to "not great". Apparently they don't really draw in any new people and seem to specialise in older Scientologists who are passing through the area getting a little top up course here and there. You almost have to admire their tenacity in doing "stress tests" in Newcastle Sunday after Sunday with almost nothing to show for it. Three of us are going down there to keep them company this Sunday (tomorrow) though :D

Originally Posted by vegnej

I noticed that the building i hadn't seen in 20 years still had the same old gumf on the windows. Looks like they've been down stat for all that time looking at the poor shape of the green dianetic sticker in the window. They had 5 staff there then and they still have about 5 staff so much for their great plans of saint hill expansion. Hopefully this shoe string org will fall within the year!!!

The reporter who covered us for the Echo asked me how long it had been there when I spoke to her on the phone the day before and I have to admit I couldn't answer. I've subsequently found out that it opened in 1980 so add another 8 years to how long that stuff's been up! It really looked like it had seen better days.

Originally Posted by dickdoll

Let's have a lot more signs this time guys. :)

Definitely. We dropped the ball on signs last time. [redacted]. I'm going to be bringing a few next time for sure.

Edit:

Originally Posted by vegnej

Was the guy who came out to speak to us a scifag or an estate agent i'm confused?

Estate agent. The way he was dressed and way he was being so forceful in his interrogation of what we were doing and why and his counter arguments had me totally convinced he was from the org. He'd even come from that direction but then afterwards he strolled right back into the Estate Agents next door.

I mean of course he could be both... ;)

Originally Posted by howthedevil

All signs point to "not great". Apparently they don't really draw in any new people and seem to specialise in older Scientologists who are passing through the area getting a little top up course here and there. You almost have to admire their tenacity in doing "stress tests" in Newcastle Sunday after Sunday with almost nothing to show for it. Three of us are going down there to keep them company this Sunday (tomorrow) though :D

We came, we saw, there wasn't anyone there. Was rather fail, really. Still, we went and had a drink, chatted about goatse, and walked aimlessly around newcastle for a while. An afternoon wll spent.

Estate agent. The way he was dressed and way he was being so forceful in his interrogation of what we were doing and why and his counter arguments had me totally convinced he was from the org. He'd even come from that direction but then afterwards he strolled right back into the Estate Agents next door.

I mean of course he could be both... ;)

Actually, we don't know he was an estate agent, just that he went in there. He could have done that to throw us off, then just waited a few minutes and slipped next door.
Anywho, I'm not going to be here for this protest, I'm going to be back in the Midlands at home for easter(!). I'll be in birmingham though :)

Edit: Made a thread about masks:
http://forums.enturbulation.org/show...7657#post97657

Great win for you, the bottom line is the org can't afford to go there every week after all the fifteen or twenty pounds you pay at the quayside must be a great strain on their resources. If there getting few recruits and there income is only from older scifags doing further courses then they must be strapped for cash. Anyone know exactly how much each org gets for sending someone to saint hill for higher services. I seem to remember its about 15%.
As a rule of thumb that ranshackled building must be in the region of a thousand pound a month rent, i think they have the 3 floors so even in Sunderland around about the thousand per month. The peanuts for the staff plus business rates and running costs, say another 500 for the month. So per year they would have outgoings of about 15 thousand.

Other income might come from staff in full time work, correct me if i'm wrong but do staff give a percentage of their income to the org?. So bottom line is how long can they survive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by iviv

We came, we saw, there wasn't anyone there. Was rather fail, really. Still, we went and had a drink, chatted about goatse, and walked aimlessly around newcastle for a while. An afternoon wll spent.

I've had worse Sundays hehe :D

Originally Posted by vegnej

So bottom line is how long can they survive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I swear to God, Vishnu and Cthulhu that if (when) they get turfed out I will personally be there to watch them carry the boxes out.

Originally Posted by vegnej

Other income might come from staff in full time work, correct me if i'm wrong but do staff give a percentage of their income to the org?

Not as a routine action. If a staff member has any spare cash, he might buy a book or clear bracelet or something. If he has a lot of money coming in, maybe from an inheritance, he might buy auditing at 50% staff rates. But usually staff are flat broke almost all the time.

The org doesn't get to keep all its income, by the way. Certain percentages automatically go to management. The amount of income that is spendable by the org for rent/utilities/phone/postage etc. is probably around 50-60%.

Thanks for that, just trawled the net and some threads, it seems the org in Sunderland is probably theirs. So that would mean less outgoings and account for how they've got by on a shoe string for years, however i found this on another thread :
There are several things that get taken off the top, money to management, money to pay back management if they bought you your building (Building Fund Account), money set aside in an account for emergencies that only management can authorize but which never gets used, money for bookstore items which goes into the Book Account in full, Refunds and Repayments, and also, emergencies, i.e. power and phone bills that couldn't be paid for weeks earlier because there is never enough money and they are about to be shut off.

We have known for sometime now that they are crippled as far as getting new people in. We know that they are stretched thin from getting donations for the stupid overpriced buildings. So we know they are having a very hard time financially.

What we need to remember, and this is important, is that when we hold these monthly protests, the cost for the PIs at each org must be paid for out of THAT ORG'S FP, not the Sea Org Mothership. Just having this happen once, is probably a financial nightmare for the FBOs. Having this happen EVERY MONTH ON AND ON is going to be a tremendous financial burden that will have to be paid off the top

I have a couple of pieces of Good News.

1. I am going to be doing a course in Sunderland the week leading up to the 12th (It starts the 7th.) I don't know where exactly...but if it is close enough I will be doing some flyer designs to hand out which will basically be "join Anonymous on saturday, *general Scifag bad Stuff.*" (basically will edit one of the existing posters to put the exact time and location for the Sunderland protest.)

2. I am going to bring Three signs next time...1 Laminated piece of card on a stick (not sure what saying yet...but I would like your suggestions.) and 2 whiteboards with pens and cloth...for writing quick messages ("look behind you! it is a dangerous cult." was one of mine from the 15th.)

I will be getting Stickers from iviv before the event (not a full roll...at least 100...not over 9000 like the last time.)

Originally Posted by vegnej

What we need to remember, and this is important, is that when we hold these monthly protests, the cost for the PIs at each org must be paid for out of THAT ORG'S FP, not the Sea Org Mothership. Just having this happen once, is probably a financial nightmare for the FBOs. Having this happen EVERY MONTH ON AND ON is going to be a tremendous financial burden that will have to be paid off the top

IF they have any PIs, that is. They won't necessarily hire any.

Anyone looked at the Operation Clambake Message Board, a great WIN there a couple of years ago, apparently those Volunteer Minisbuses and their tent we saw in their propaganda were stolen by locals lol.

Another point is several members of that forum seem to have intimate knowledge of the Sunderland Org. We should try and contact them and see if any people in the area have been disconnected

Alarm bells are ringing here, now.
Just had a call from the police, I'm now going to be meeting them at 11am tomorrow regarding a poster that someone apparently sent the church. Apparenlty, they want to ask me about some of the things written on it, though wouldn't say what. Either way, its not looking good.

So, if anyone did send the Sunderland church a poster or anything else in the post, please PM me, explaining what it was. I don't want to go into this blind.

Now, there is an alternative, that we didn't send anything at all. We've all read operation Freakout, and know what they are capable of doing. I'm going to be taking along printouts of this if nobody says anything about this, so the police will look into the possibility that its a fabrication.

I've put myself into the firing line by volunteering to be the liaison between anonymous and the sunderland police, and I don't want to be punished for this. So if it was someone on here, please contact me.

Thanks

Holy shit!

I honestly doubt it was any of us (it certainly wasn't me) - we're so far removed from being that hot-headed and idiotic that I'm betting good money it's the Scienos doing it to themselves to try and scupper the April 12th protest.

Will speak to you more about what the Police said when I get home from work on IRC.

Heads will roll* if this in any way jeopardises our next protest - I won't take this lying down.

*Not literally you silly Scientologist nutbags!

Indeed, I'm sure its something they have done themselves. But if it is something one of us has done, I don't want to go in there saying it was them if it wasn't.

I'm printing out a few pages regarding Op Freakout, to show the lengths that scientology will go to.