Canberra, Australia

Here we go. :-D

I'm in. Will the protest be in Garema Place again?

I expect that it will be, however, nothing is confirmed yet.

Below is the press release I have written (mostly stolen). Please provide criticism.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ANONYMOUS PROTESTS THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY'S “FAIR GAME” POLICY

Canberra, Australia – 10 May 2008 – Thousands of anonymous citizens will take to the streets in a peaceful global protest of the Church of Scientology's abusive policies at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 10 in more than 100 cities worldwide.

This is the fourth protest in as many months being promoted by a loose conglomeration of grassroots activists under the heading of "Anonymous". This international movement includes ex-Scientologists, cult researchers, and concerned citizens from all walks of life.

The protest on May 10th will focus specifically on The Church of Scientology's "Fair Game" policy, under which, critics of Scientology "May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed". Victims of this policy have been subject to spurious litigation, constant harassment and intimidation tactics.

During this event, Anonymous will distribute informative fliers and promote educational websites. We are also happy to answer questions from the media and public.

All Australians are invited to join the anonymous demonstrations. Facial covering is recommended for anyone participating in demonstrations. Disguise serves as a defence against the “church” of Scientology's “Fair Game” policy. The “church” of Scientology has a long and well-documented history of attacking critics by all means, legal and otherwise. Despite having taken precautions to preserve their anonymity, many protesters report having been followed, harassed, and intimidated after previous protests.

Stop Scientology Abuses | You Found The Card is an excellent and comprehensive source of information relating to why this action is occurring.

Despite peaceful, non-violent protests by 7,500 people Feb. 10th, and more than 10,000 March 15th, the "church" itself has called Anonymous "cyber-terrorists...reminiscent of Al Qaeda spreading anti-American hatred and calling for U.S. destruction."

The most heinous example of the “Fair Game” policy in action is the case of Paulette Cooper, who wrote The Scandal of Scientology in 1971. As a result of this highly critical book, the Church of Scientology initiated a covert plan intended to have the author and journalist imprisoned or committed to a mental institution. The plan, undertaken in 1976 following years of Church-initiated lawsuits and covert harassment, was meant to eliminate the perceived threat that Ms Cooper posed to the Church and obtain revenge for her 1971 publication.

About Anonymous:
Anonymous is a collective of Internet users who believe personal identity is irrelevant to the discussion of ideas. Originating from a group of forums, image board and wiki-style sites, Anonymous has kept to its roots and continues to organize primarily online. Anonymous does not limit itself to the Internet alone, as hundreds of Anonymous take to the streets every week to hand out fliers and educate the public about Scientology's crimes.
Contacts:
Press and the general public may observe and contact anonymous participants on the forums at Enturbulation.org Scientology Activism and Organization - Enturbulation - Scientology Activism and Organization.

Information in regards to Anonymous Activism can be found at Why We Protest - Why We Protest.


- END -

Sounds fine to me!

Just a couple of points: paragraph 5, "Church" should be capitalised. Paragraph 7, italicise the book title. That's all.

Have our local Anons been in the Times or even *gasp* in the Chronically Crap?

CANBERRA 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


.

Australian Anons:

Below are instructions for lobbying your State and Federal Representatives. Please do this if you are able to.

Tax Exemption Letter - AusChanology Wiki


Politicians consider a personally-written, "in your own words" message to have the value of up to 1000 form letters. Your letter will represent to them the voices of 1000 people who didn't write. A form letter is still better than nothing at all. Use your IRL name and address. Perfectly legal, and to do otherwise diminishes the impact. You should come across as a concerned citizen, not as Anonymous. Send this letter to all your representatives at State and Federal level. The more people that talk about this issue, the more that gets done.

Thank you for this. I will write to my MPs.

Gedday Enturbulants.

I've just found the site. I'm in.

Less than a week out and it looks like we don't have a plan yet? The Livejournals have gone kaputt - what's going on?

Do I have to go to Sydney to get my battletoad kicks?

Okay, so our good friend SAT seems to be MIA.

Let's rally on anyhoo. Hopefully he'll be in touch before too long.

I'll suggest as a default plan that we meet at the silver cushion thing in Civic at 11:00am and stay there until 11:30am to give everyone time to arrive. After that it's probably best to keep it flexible, but staying in the same area so that latecomers can find us.

That's the default plan (pending any suggestions/corrections from you guys).

We also need suggestions on the following:
- Somewhere to meet a while before 11 that is sufficiently out-of-the-way to allow us to get organised.
- Marching to/from somewhere. I believe that was suggested, but don't know the details.
- Setting up a table to provide information. SAT was in touch with the AFP and I'm not sure whether he mentioned this and if so what was said. I'd probably hold off on this one until we hear from him. Open to suggestions though.

Another thought I had - if you're trying to get pedestrian traffic moving past you for flyer-giving purposes, make sure they have a clear path. The last protest I was at (March 15th) we were at times just in a group so people would walk around us or cross the street. We need to give them a wide clear path to get by us. I think this may apply at Garema Place as well to some extent.

EDIT: It might also be a good idea to get some kind of a pre-emptive headcount so that we have a better idea on the day whether more people are yet to arrive. So feel free to sound off once you read this, if you're planning to attend.

Thank you. I have to work, so no Battletoad enturbulating for me this month.

Yeah this protest is going to be the first one I miss due to work.
Bit sad really.
Good luck guys. Will be awaiting news.

Has the AFP issued a permit for this protest?

Good luck to you, Canberra Anons.
I was just perusing the May 10 plans for random places, and it's so cool how all these independent groups are all uniting in this common cause.
Was the last protest successful?
I'm from near Los Angeles, and ours was great, but I feel a little guilty because we have the advantage of having people like Tory and WBM (sometimes) which helps draw more people.
Anyway, hope you have fun. I know I will.

This will be my first raid im pumped

Okay, I'm a little concerned as we seem to currently only have Thetanist and putty107 coming ( I can't make this one either X-( ).
I imagine more will be coming than that, but you'll want to be prepared with your own fliers and whatnot anyway. Inform the public, represent Anonymous, and shame the scifags. Good luck!

I hope we hear from SAT, hopefully he'll show. We're not as organised this time as we had hoped to be, but we have many more opportunities ahead of us :D

no one turned up today. i went and was there from 11 to 11:30 and no one showed up, did every one ditch for sydney? or somthing

Damn, that's pretty harsh. I thought Thetanist at least would be coming too. Sorry for leaving you high & dry, it won't happen again (i r srz cat).

We had a bit of a setback with the LJ community going offline, and I think a fair few of the people from there haven't found this thread yet. Hopefully we'll find SAT behind the couch or something and he can help with getting shit organised again for next time.

I'll start early; who can definitely set aside the time for the next protest on June 14th? Assuming we get the numbers of course.

It's right in the middle of exams for me, so I'm saving up all of my rl-anon-win for the big one in July. I'm happy to help in any way I can though.

Anons sound off!