Battle Creek, MI

Alright, lets get planning.

This time, lets plan to start at the correct time, instead of 2:00...

I'm thinking 11:00 as the meet-up (same spot? we need to ensure that all patrons still know about how to receive bacon), 12:00 as the time to be in front of the church. Let's hope for no more rain (god knows, we could use a break in Michigan once a month.)

Just in case, everyone make sure to bring a raincoat and/or umbrella. Also waterproof your signs, use foam-board or wood (foam-board is nice and light, it's preferable) and if you use marker, make sure to spray over it with a bit of clear primer or something so it doesn't run.

While we're talking signs, i think we did pretty good; we had some signs written in meme speak, but they were understandable and some were actually pretty funny to even non-anonymous (and Disconnected Cat was epic). Does anyone know our May 10 focus? We should brainstorm what we want the BC message to be once we figure out what we're focusing on.

Let's also try and increase our numbers. We don't want more than 40, unless someone wants to get us protest permits.

Also; i have an idea, but i don't know how practical/legal it is: Bringing laser pointers to point at the scilons' cameras so their video is just a big red glare (i doubt this is legal, but would be lulzy).

Someone might also consider getting a van or something to park on the side of the street we protest on (rented, or we could just make sure they don't get your plate number), where we can put a water cooler and general supplies.

I agree that coming earlier will make the Scientologists shit brix.

May 10's focus is on Fair Game, I think.

One thought that I was having at the last protest was that we don't seem to have a proactive objective. The signs were amazing this time, and I think we really got some more attention than we have at the last few protests. In addition to that, I think that Tony Meman handed out over 9000 fliers, so that was an epic win. We've had ~3 months to inform the public of what Scientology's wrong-doings are, but soon we should take it to the next level.

In particular, I was thinking of maybe getting a petition going. If at all possible, we could set up a booth at the corners of Michigan and Division with a paper copy of the petition. In addition to that, we could have an online petition for those who can't stop to sign it in person. For informing the public of that, we should get two or three big signs that say something along the lines of "You've Heard of Scientology's Crimes" "Now Get This Criminal Organization Out of Battle Creek" "Please go to www.petition.com to Keep battle Creek Safe".

I also think that we should protest more on the main streets (Michigan x Division) because we attract more attention that way. It will also make our protest look larger and will make people consider that we are telling the truth more.

Finally, if at all possible, we NEED some press coverage. That will boost our protest success exponentially.

tl;dr
1) Make a petition
2) Get press coverage
3) ?????
4) PROFIT!!!

HeliDavid has a good idea going with the petition, we should work out how to get that started soon. Also, I am working on a flyer to distribute, here's what I have so far May 10th - Operation Fair Game: Stop . Please critique it if you can, and give me suggestions for improvement. Thanks.

Noon is cool, I'll try to make it this time.

Originally Posted by VenOmTaTToo

I agree that coming earlier will make the Scientologists shit brix.

They do read this forum, I don't think they'll be totally surprised.

I think "staying the course" is the way to go; hold up your signs, and it sounds like you had success with flyers so keep doing that.

If you seriously want to make a petition to get CoS removed from Battle Creek you're going to need a LOT of signatures to convince the city commission to evict what they see as a small church that just sells books and serves church members. And I doubt they'll paid much heed to a list of names from an online petition site (which will probably end up including names like "Richard Mongler" and "David Miscarraige"). I don't mean to totally trash the idea, if you can get it to work it would be pretty epic, but it will take a LOT of work and will probably end up getting you namefagged.

I've never found anything in the Battle Creek city ordinances requiring a protest with more than 40 people requiring a permit; where did you guys hear this? Is it a state law or something?


Also, I wanted to do something since I wasn't able to make the last protest, so to pasta from the postgame thread:
I'm hoping to put together a flyer raid in Kalamazoo if I can get a few people to go along. Activities will include walking and handing out flyers to people. I'm thinking of WMU; hopefully some of those those young idealists will see our brave struggle and join the cause.
I'm aiming for sometime in the middle of next week (23rd or 24th) at around perhaps noonish; next week is finals week for WMU. If you're interested, PM me and let me know what time and days you can make it. If I get enough people interested I'll make a thread.

I'm sorry if this post is bit on the obscure side but I've been randomly stabbing in the dark to find people in this area of Michigan concerned about the acts of Scientology; Privately I've been doing my own research but never thought the protests were literally in my back yard! What brought my attention to this fact and this site was a flyer that was being passed around the KVCC campus about a month ago. I do not know if the individual responsible for this is a member currently of this site but if he/she is then I pass my kudos to you and thanks.


I would like to participate in this protest a great deal and I'm hoping that I can connect with individuals at the KVCC campus to start planning. Maybe even designate meetings at the campus for future planning in person perhaps? Just a thought.

No fucking way! Someone actually noticed those flyers I left around KVCC. Was wondering when someone would notice. Glad to see it works. Come find me in the IRC in #michevents, most of the planning is done there.

IRC Instructions:
1) Download Firefox if you haven't already (it's better than Internet Explorer and has an IRC program built in).
2) After you have Firefox, go to Google, and search for "ChatZilla".
3) Download ChatZilla.
4) Follow all the instructions and everything, then open ChatZilla (located under 'Tools')
5) Once on ChatZilla, type in /server irc.lulzhost.net
6) Once you are in the server, type in /join #michevents

Once you're there, talk to us; we may seem unfriendly at first, but thats for security reasons.

(applogizing in advance for spelling errors this computer lacks spell check)
hey.. I messed up lol Posted one in central USA instead of east lulz...
But I am from grand rapids, and I'd love to attend (only problem is it's around graduation) but anyways, If anyone is heading from grand rapids, and wouldn't mind giving anon a lift I'd apprciate it,,, I'll downlaod the IRC tonight

P.S. In IRC I WILL be trying to talk to the vets, to see if theres one from GR.. I don't want a new protester to give me a ride, (could be a Co$ fag acting like an anon)


~~~Cybor 0rphan~~

Originally Posted by Honoraboveall

(applogizing in advance for spelling errors this computer lacks spell check)
hey.. I messed up lol Posted one in central USA instead of east lulz...
But I am from grand rapids, and I'd love to attend (only problem is it's around graduation) but anyways, If anyone is heading from grand rapids, and wouldn't mind giving anon a lift I'd apprciate it,,, I'll downlaod the IRC tonight

P.S. In IRC I WILL be trying to talk to the vets, to see if theres one from GR.. I don't want a new protester to give me a ride, (could be a Co$ fag acting like an anon)


~~~Cybor 0rphan~~

There's a few of us GRfags, but I'm not sure I'll have room (friends coming this time, and if ID needs another pickup). I think DoctorAnon is from around here though too...

http://forums.enturbulation.org/22-l...hug-fest-9817/

Upcoming proposed MI flyer raid, check it out.

BATTLE CREEK ROCKS!

so, someone made a thread about how some of the smaller cities and some of the cities who don't get as much recognition as the places with bigger orgs are being slighted. i happen to think ya'll should get more recognition.

i want to thank you for organizing the protests in your city. i know that it must be much harder to show up with very few people and protest.

every Anonymous protest is important. every anon who protests is vital. every anon who cannot make it to the protests, but who helps in other ways is vital. there is not one of us who is not an integral part of this movement.

so, thank you very much for having your protests!

day day,
AnonMomAnon


.

My name is Ed Brayton, I am a popular blogger and a reporter for the Michigan Messenger, an online news source run by the Center for Independent Media. I did a story about your earlier protest where the one kid was arrested and was the only reporter to point out that the Battle Creek police had made an illegal arrest (there is no law in Michigan against protesting in masks, as I'm sure you all know by now). You can see that article at:

Michigan Messenger:: Police arrest anti-Scientology protesters for wearing masks

You can also view my blog at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. I don't do this to spam the thread, only to establish that I'm genuine and not a Scientology spy. I'm very interested in doing more thorough coverage of your protests, including interviewing some of those involved. I promise to keep your identity secret if you request that. If anyone is interested in being interviewed, or if the leaders of this protest would like to help me do more thorough coverage of your protests, please contact me at stcynic@gmail.com. Thanks.

Regarding Ed Brayton (above):

I can vouch for Ed. He is absolutely not a spy, and he has been writing for a number of years. His blog, Dispatches from the Culture Wars, is well-written and well-read, and to my knowledge, is among the more popular blogs on ScienceBlogs, which is a fairly tough group for a blogger to get into in the first place.

If I were from Battle Creek, I would absolutely speak with him.

Actually, DoctorAnon is moving to New York and won't be with us in BC any more... :(

Alright, is everyone cool with a start time of 12PM?
Should we have a pre-protest meeting? Do you guys find it useful or helpful?

Thanks AnonMom, we do what we can. We don't get a whole lot of recognition other than our cameraman who (evntually) broadcasts our efforts on Youtube, but we do it for the movement, not the fame. Recognition from outsiders is still a nice morale boost though :D

Flyer raids work! Keep it up guys, there are people out there who want to help us (or would want to help if they knew what Scientology was about), so let's do our best to reach out to them.

Ed, we really appreciate your coverage, and thank you for taking the time to stop by and actually post here. The arrest of the protester was unjust and we are glad someone in the media is willing to make that known.
I'm sure we have people that will contact you and are willing to speak to you, but keep in mind we aren't really an organization; we don't have any leaders directing us (decisions are made by group consensus) and everyone contributes whatever and however they want. Therefore we don't really have official spokespersons but we still have individuals who would be more than happy to explain our cause to you.
Please stop by our protest on May 10th! So far it looks the time will be at 12:00PM but we'll be out there at least a few hours. We will definitely have people willing to talk to you there. If you have a press card or some other way to indentify you that would be appreciated as some of us can be fairly paranoid regarding anti-Scientology things (for reasons you may already know, if not I'm sure anyone you interview would be happy to explain why).

Sorry to see you go Doc, keep in touch!

I remember seeing the Dianetics ads on TV when I was a kid. They looked really cool and it got my attention. The volcano's erupting and the cool voice over.
Well several years passed and I was in Royal Oak (at least I think it was there it has been a while) and my girlfriend and I saw a Scientology center. I didn't know much of anything about them and remembered the cool ads and we decided to go in and check it out. Big Mistake. They took us in separate rooms grilled us with questions and really freaked us out. They wouldn't let us leave unless we bought something. I kept saying I didn't have any money, then they found and old beat up copy of Dianetics to sell me for $2. So I bought it and we left. I never forgot how crazy of an experience that was.

I have been following the postings of Anonymous on Digg and Youtube because it really interested me to see these nuts getting taken on.

I live in GR and would like to attend the BC event. I can understand your hesitation to allow new members to come. So I will watch here and see what I can do as a n00b.

Also I can't get your IRC server to connect. Is there a certain time it is up or something?

EDIT: Is there going to be a GR event?

if i can attend anyone willing to give me a ride?
Will need 3 or 4 vets to vouch for you thou.. cant be to careful

I'll be there at 5/10 with my camera and more flyers. If anyone has a specific flyer they want me to print out and bring let me know. I have a duplexer so it can be double-sided, however I can only do grayscale. Also, if it's really busy I might have to make changes to it (brightness, inverse colors in areas) so it won't take too much toner.

I'm really happy to see people becoming interested! We are hesitant to trust new people when it comes to things that might ruin our anonymity (like giving others rides and such) but anyone is free and encouraged to attend the protest. If you have specific questions IRC is probably a good place to ask (I would assume, I don't do IRC) but the general protest info is always posted here.

My advice before coming to the protest: become informed about the dangers of Scientology and the reasons we protest (especially "Fair Game" which is the focus for this month); Operation Clambake - The Inner Secrets Of Scientology has a wealth of info.
Make sure you cover your face at the protest; Scientologists will be taking pictures and video taping us. And we are Anonymous after all. A lot of us will be wearing masks, hats, scarves, dust masks, bandanas, etc.
Finally, try not to park near the protest; they like to get plate numbers. Make sure you aren't followed when you leave.

We had a gathering in GR once to protest a Scientology event (vid will be up by like tomorrow I swear) but the monthly protests in Michigan are only in Battle Creek and Farmington Hills; those are the only Scientology centers in MI. If there ever is another Scientology event in GR we'll probably arrange some form of protest there but I don't think that will happen again any time soon.

A couple other things for the old timers:

I sure do feel really cool and intimidating in my suit, but I'd hate to be the only one. More suits guys! Typical Anon outfit; black suit, black tie (red can work too), black shoes and a GF mask. Bonus points for a hat. If you don't have a suit (or don't want to risk yours getting ruined or something) head down to your local thrift store and find some black pants, black blazer and a white dress shirt. It doesn't have to be totally black, anything dark can work. You gals can try pantsuits or something else businessy.
I really think the suits attract more attention and get people interested. At 4/12 when Meman handed out flyers I would sometimes wave and bow to people in the cars; if nothing else it would provoke a smile or other reaction.