The strange story of Mr Davide M., of the mysterious MIAS (Italian Anti-Cult Movement), their lies and connections with the Church of Scientology. 

     

• Foreword: the new CAN
• The strange story of Mr Davide M.
• Scientology makes trouble
• Cutting a poor figure
• Letters to the press

  
• An invitation
• Notes

      Foreword: the new CAN 

Until the Autumn of 1996, an organisation called Cult Awareness Network (CAN) used to exist in the United States. 

CAN had been set up in California in the early 70's by worried parents whose children were involved with various cults. Because of the lack of information available on religious or pseudo-religious groups which were then starting to proliferate, they decided to establish an association in order to gather and distribute information. Over the years, CAN became a reference point for worried families, members, former members and the media. The association provided information and help. 

All of this came to an end in the Autumn of 1996. As a result of many concurrent law suits (most of which made by individual Scientologists), CAN was forced into bankruptcy, and the help phone line, the name, the logo and property of the association were purchased by a Mr Hayes - member of the Church of Scientology - who granted free use of the same to a California group. Several Scientologists, among others, sit on the board of directors of this group. [1] 

This was a "Big Win" for Hubbard's transnational. For years, CAN had been seen as "enemy number one" [2], and it is a well known fact that - according to the directives of the founder, L. Ron Hubbard - in Scientology, an enemy «may be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed» [3]. And in the end CAN was destroyed and picked up by a third party which put an end to the policy which had hitherto been its distinguishing feature. 

The staff of the new CAN [4] consists mainly of members of the Church of Scientology. Worried parents who call the association looking for information or advice about a loved one involved in Scientology will be helped by members of the Church of Scientology. It is as if a member of the public who was dissatisfied with the telephone company contacted a consumer association looking for advice, and were received by an employee of the same telephone company. 

The sector of the organisation of Scientology which deals with the management of CAN is Department 20, i.e. the OSA (Office of Special Affairs), the heir of the well-known Guardian's Office which during the 80's, in the USA, saw eleven of its top officers, including Hubbard's wife Mary Sue, sentenced for trespassing and theft of documents in numerous government offices. [5]

OSA, like the old GO, deals with public relations, legal matters, and - according to critics - with carrying out covert investigations and disturbing those who are seen as "enemies" of the organisation [6], meaning anyone daring to publicly criticise the Church of Scientology and its methods [7] - including the editors of Internet information pages, such as the writer of this article.

For further information on the story of the Cult Awareness Network, you can refer to the special section on our website. [8]

 

The strange story of Mr Davide M. 

On October 19^th, we were contacted via e-mail by a certain Mr Davide M., who introduced himself as a member of MIAS (Movimento Italiano Anti-Sètte, "Italian Anti-Cult Movement"), writing from a provider of free e-mail addresses (Yahoo). Mr M. suggested we "share information", and expressed the hope that our site would link to theirs (which was being set up), and viceversa.

He then gave us a phone number where we could reach him. A question to the phone service brought the answer that the number belonged to a user in the city of Turin. 

He then passed us over to another member of MIAS, who introduced himself as "Dario", claiming to be a former Scientologists. "Dario", on my request, later specified that Davide M. had never been a Scientologist.

"Dario's" messages came from the same computer account as M.'s, and turned out to be sent from a provider in Turin. 

  The following emerged from my correspondence with the pair:     

• MIAS «[is an association which is present] throughout Italy, has no religious background and no specific offices, but a great number of mail boxes which cover all Italy.»

 
• «We are setting up a national phone line people can call; a free telephone number which people who have problems with cults, self-styled wizards and occult charlatans can refer to» 

 
• «The main offices are in Rome with Dr Lo Buono»

 
• «We are in touch with similar organisations; such as GRIS (not the national one, but with various local branches), Telefono Antiplagio, sometimes CESNUR»

 
• The association has submitted cases in court «in Rome, Venice, Bari. We have helped people sue and we have presented ourselves in court as co-suitors [parte civile]»

 
• MIAS works on members of cults, on request from worried family members, in order to help them leave the group. 

 
• «We are supported by professionals (some volunteer psychologists) and some priests (whom we use only in a few cases).»

 
• My question: «HOW do families get in touch with you? How do they find you? Where do you advertise?» was answered as follows «We work through some parishes, for example, which write to our mail boxes advising us of cases which we then contact. The parish priest is often a reference for families. Don Lorenzo Gamba (La Consolata parish in Rome) is one of our people of reference (just to give you one name).»

 
• I presented an umpteenth request for information: «I imagine you must have some other director besides this Dr Lo Buono, who can provide such information as the articles of association, the kind of contacts and with which offices of Gris, Telefono Antiplagio and CESNUR». This was the answer: «The branches of gris with which we are in touch (for example the Rome branch, with Dr Di Marzio) are not many.»

 
• One month later, not having received any satisfactory answer, I repeated my question: «HOW do families get in touch with you? How do they find you? Where do you advertise?» The answer: «Do we advertise? We are not a furniture company! People can get in touch with us through ADFI, shortly on internet, or else by writing to Movimento Italiano Anti Sette (MIAS) P.O.B. 1809 - 20154 MILANO (MI)»

I kept on asking, and received the following information: 
 

• «MIAS was born about 1 year ago, created by people who were all former members of sects and cults. The key point of our articles of association is to help people who no longer want to belong to a cult to exit it; or to help families who are losing a member to get this member back. We do all this FREE. We don't want a cent, just our expenses paid. If I have to take a train to see you and eat a sandwich, all I want is reimbursement of the train ticket and the sandwich, nothing else. Not one cent more. We have been truly active only for the last 6 months. In order to make ourselves known, we have sent press releases to the TV, radio, dailies (who have put us in their files); we have contacted all the groups which in some way work in the field of new religious movements (you are one of these) or who could in some way be recipients (as you yourself confirmed) of requests for help from individuals and family members. We have provided a mail box and e-mail box for those who are in need, and we shall soon have an Internet site.»

 
• In view of the statements about "operations" on members of "cults", I asked how many they had carried out and how many had fallen back. The answer was, there had been 31 positive operations and 2 fallbacks: «Not all were members of Scientology, there were 5 (Italian) Scientologists out of 31. The two failures went back to the Church of the Kingdom of God. A sort of Sect (in the philosophical sense) of the Jehovah's Witnesses.»

 
• My question: do you know the new CAN, received this reply: «I know that CAN is run by Scientology, which is the only body to manage its name. At the CESNUR conference however I spoke with a young man who belonged to CAN Italy, an organisation which is carrying on the line of the old CAN (the one run by C.K. to make things clear) and which was just being established. All I know about CAN Italy is its e-mail: CANITL@YAHOO.IT. He made a good impression on me, but I haven't heard from him again.»

 
• Finally, concerning the special transmission on Scientology which was aired on TV during "Verissimo" (Canale 5) on December 3^rd, 1998, "Dario" commented as follows: «They got in touch with us, as they did with other groups such as Gris, good old M. Del Re, Gatto Trocchi, a few former members here and there, and also - I believe - Michieletto (but I am not sure). As far as I know, they have already recorded something in Rome and Padova. The hot item will be the McPherson case.»

    So this mysterious MIAS, Italian Anti-Cult Movement, which has no offices and cannot provide articles of association - yet claims to be co-suitor in law courts -, which says it has "operated successfully" (i.e. taken members out of the groups they belong to) in at least 28 cases during only six months of activity, which claims to have a large following of volunteers including psychologists and priests, and even a "doctor" (the discipline is not specified), which is contacted by one of Italy's leading TV channels, which however does not advertise itself in any way since it is "not a furniture factory" and which gave us the phone number of a private home in Turin, has all the appearance of a powerful force in the "anti-cult" field, as its name claims.
 
Especially, they contacted the editors of our site - the first and only Italian language website to provide critical information on the Church of Scientology - repeatedly and insistently asking for our names, addresses and phone numbers.

To tell the truth, the whole business seemed strange to us from the outset. 

It was therefore no surprise to read on the pages edited by the directors of Gris Lazio [9] that - during the CESNUR conference (Turin, September 1998) - Dr Di Marzio had met Mr Davide M., the Italian representative of CAN (according to well informed sources, currently run by OSA, formerly GO, of Scientology), the same Davide M., we suppose, who had got in touch with us.

A brief inquiry revealed that a Scientologist of the same name was a member of Department 20 (OSA) of the Turin org, and that a person of the same name had sent several letters to the press, where he declared that he was a member of the CCHR of Scientology (more about this later).

We got in touch by e-mail with Telefono Antiplagio and GRIS Lazio (whose names M./"Dario" had given as references). Both officially denied any contact with MIAS and/or M., and specifically said that they had never heard of such an association. [10]. Only Dr Di Marzio of the Roman branch of GRIS mentioned Davide M., but in connection with CAN. 

To be sure, we also asked the national office of Gris, which also denied any knowledge of the assocation. [11] 

We did not contact CESNUR, since we had learned from Dr Di Marzio's article that M., introducing himself as the leader of the Italian chapter of CAN, had declared at the conference - in the presence of witnesses - that he co-operated with CESNUR, a statement which has not yet been denied by the Director of CESNUR, even though the article has been on the Gris Lazio website for over one month. We have written a separate article on the peculiar relations between CESNUR and the new CAN. [12]

Finally, the files of the diocese of Rome show that there is no La Consolata parish and no priest with the name of Don Lorenzo Gamba. 
 
 

Scientology makes trouble 

Why therefore did Davide M. and "Dario" tell us so many lies? 

Is it fair to suspect that the Church of Scientology, of which Davide M. has been a member for at least 5 years, is behind this covert operation? Is it fair to conclude that Hubbard's organisation - as critics have always maintained - trains its members to lie?

Is it also possible to imagine that the Church of Scientology is trying, on the one hand, to "investigate" us in order to create a nuisance (as appears from directives written by L. Ron Hubbard, an integral part of the "doctrine" of this "church" [13]) while simultaneously infiltrating groups which are actively engaged in opposing "coercive" sectarianism, such as GRIS and Telefono Antiplagio? 

Accusations of this kind have often been made during the history of Scientology, an example can be seen in the recent report by the Swiss Federal Government, dated September 1998. Infiltration - at any level, even of the government and the media - is a practice which was laid down by the founder of Scientology already in the 60's, so much so that eleven top leaders of the organisation were sentenced, including Hubbard's wife, both in the USA and in Canada; this practice has also been the reason for preoccupation by the German Federal Government, which has placed Scientology under observation. [14]
 
 

Cutting a poor figure 

Last December 17^th, I told "Dario" I had had enough of his lies, and that I had good reason to believe that both he and Davide M. were Scientologists affiliated with OSA. Instead of answering with documented evidence of the real existence of the mysterious MIAS (little would have been needed, had it really existed), here are the arguments he used (I apologise in advance for the language he uses):

   

«I suggest you refer to a good psychiatrist before you find yourself forcibly picked up and locked into a soft little room...» 

    A demonstration of high professional skill on the part of a person who claimed to deal with delicate cases of members of "cults"; as well as a curious mention of Scientology's fixation with psychiatry, an issue we shall go back to later on.    

«... Come on, you are not so important! You are just a small silent fart, all that is needed is to air the room!» 

    All I had asked him was to produce some evidence of what he had been saying for the last two months.     

«I was thinking of a nice and pleasant way to finish this message, but the only word that came to my mind was much more prosaic:

FUCK OFF. 

Dario.» 

    This must be the MIAS way of expressing holiday greetings.       Letters to the press 

To finish, I would like to call the reader's attention to four letters sent on different dates to some Italian dailies, each signed by "Davide M. - Turin". [15] Anybody who knows this issue will immediately recognise that they were written by a member of Scientology. 

Indeed in one of these, Davide M. actually calls himself a member of the "Citizens' Commission for Human Rights" (CCHR - CCDU in Italian) [16], a Church of Scientology front which claims to fight disinterestedly against psychiatric abuse.

The deep hatred the founder of Scientology felt for all disciplines associated with Psychiatry is well known and documented. Critics say that this hatred was due to the way scholars demolished the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, the basic text which expresses the pseudo-therapeutical theories still currently used in Dianetics and Scientology centres. Also, those who work in the field of mental health are generally seen by Scientologists as "business rivals", since Hubbard believed that his practices were the only valid ones in this field. [17]

Hubbard's phobia for this branch of medicine led him to lay down the belief, within the framework of the doctrine of Scientology, that psychiatrists have always been around - for millions of years - on the "time track" and have invented sex and pain to enslave Mankind [18]. Other samples of "objective criticism" towards psychiatry can be found not only in the many writings of the founder of Scientology, but also in the propaganda put out by the organisation [19] and in Freedom Magazine (in Italy, "Diritti dell'Uomo") [20]. 

The head of the CCHR in Italy is Fabio Amicarelli, also spokesman for the Church of Scientology, who stands out in TV shows for his hesitation in answering even the most simple questions [21]. He recently sent a letter to the monthly Jesus [22] where he says (despite court sentences and government reports to the contrary):

   

«[...] The Church of Scientology is accused of threatening former members with reprisals. This is a very serious statement to make. The accusation is false, ridiculous and demagogical [...] nobody fears reprisals, nobody has ever been threatened. Unless one takes defence against libel and discrimination to be a "threat of reprisal"»

    As was to be expected. 

We have nothing against the right to fight against the abuses of a certain kind of violent psychiatry. However we ask whether the humane healing methods which the Church of Scientology, the CCHR and Mr Davide M. suggest as an alternative are the same as those which led to the death of the young Lisa Mc Pherson [23], member of the organisation, who died recently at the prestigious "Mecca of technology" of Scientology at the end of a 17-day "spiritual retreat" which cost her her life. 

The autopsy revealed that Mc Pherson suffered from a serious state of dehydration and had died because of a thrombus due to loss of liquids and decubitus. Her body was covered with bruises and the girl had lost about 20 kilos in 17 days.

      An invitation 

Shortly before this article came out, "Dario" wrote again, promising he would answer in depth to the doubts I had raised in my last mail, after the Christmas holidays ("around January 7^th/8^th"). 

I therefore renew the invitation to Davide M. and "Dario" to reply as soon as possible, publicly on these pages.

    Today is April 1^st, 1999. We are still waiting.        Notes 

[1] We have set up a large section with information on the story of the Cult Awareness Network.

[2] See for example 60 Minutes of CBS on the new CAN, a TV show broadcast in the USA on Sunday, December 28^th, 1997.

[3] L. Ron Hubbard, Hubbard Communication Office Policy Letter of October 18^th, 1967, "ENEMY SP Order. Fair game". See this collection of quotes by the founder of Scientology.

[4] For further information, see the official site of the new CAN.

[5] For further information, see the enquiry by the journalist Richard Bear for TIME magazine, May 6^th, 1991, cover story.

[6] From the Report of the Italian Ministry of the Interior on New Religious Movements, inquiry dated February 1998 and sent on April 29^th, 1998 by the Minister Giorgio Napolitano to the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the Parliament, we learn the following:

«Using the full power of its enormous organisation, Scientology [...] often attacks its critics and those who investigate its activities, submerging them under a deluge of libel suits [...], and, it is suspected, also using very immoral, if not absolutely illegal methods; for example, digging into their private lives, in order to identify sins and weaknesses which can expose them to blackmail, or else subjecting them to anonymous threats, disturbance and sabotage of their property.» 

See also the large section of our site under the title Le molestie ai critici ("Making trouble for critics").

[7] L. Ron Hubbard showed he was unable to accept or even tolerate any criticism, however legitimate, of his organisation: Scientology doctrine calls anyone who raises doubts about the validity of his discoveries or disapproves of the methods of the group a "suppressive person" (a synonym of mentally sick, dirty and criminal). «You won't find any critic of Scientology who doesn't have a criminal record», teaches the founder, «this has been proven time and again» (HCOB of August 27^th, 1987, originally published as an article in Ability 199, in 1967, quoted in in Mario Di Fiorino, L’illusione comunitaria, Moretti e Vitali, Bergamo, 1998, p.102).

[8] Dossier on the new Cult Awareness Network (CAN).

[9] See on the homepage of the Roman branch of GRIS, Gruppo di Ricerca e Informazione sulle Sètte, the article on CESNUR '98 Conference - Facts, impressions, meetings and "events", minor and major, at an international meeting, by Dr Raffaella Di Marzio.

[10] The Associations deny: MIAS does not exist - a collection of the replies by the Italian associations we contacted concerning the existence of MIAS (Movimento Italiano Anti-Sètte).

[11] See the previous note.

[12] Does CESNUR co-operate with the new CAN?, by Harry & Martini, December 1998.

[13] See note [3]

[14] For full information, see our information pages.

[15] See Lettere di Davide M. ai giornali.

[16] For further information, see the official site of the CCHR.

[17] Speaking at the event of the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) in 1995, the President of the Scientology RTC Davide Miscavige (current leader of the organisation) said the following:

«There are a lot of opinions out there as to what is wrong with Earth, 1995 - unstable economies, unstable political arenas, criminality, drugs, injustice and so forth - obviousely valid concerns. But if you really want to eliminate those problems all you have to do is work for the objectives that we, as members of the IAS, have set for the year 2000: Objective One - place Scientology at the absolute forefront of Society. Objective Two - eliminate psychiatry in all its forms. We don't care what the current think is regarding what's wrong with the planet. Government won't handle it. Politics won't handle it. Legislation won't handle it. All that's going to handle it is what we, of the IAS, have set down in stone. Let's get rid of psychiatry, and let's bring Scientology to every man, woman and child on this planet.» 

[18] L. Ron Hubbard, HCOB of August 26^th, 1982, Pain and Sex.

[19] Hubbard used psychiatry as a scapegoat for most of the ills of the world. To further this aim, the Church of Scientology distributes glossy propaganda brochures, with little documentation and a great deal of scandal mongering, which show psychiatrists in the worst possible light. Just to give the reader an idea, here are the titles of some brochures published by the organisation, with links to the impressive cover pictures (greater details can be found at the official CCHR site):
 

• Psychiatry - destroying morals, creating chaos
• Psychiatry - eradicating justice, creating crime
• Psychiatry - destroying religion - creating evil
• Psychiatry - education's ruin - destroying lives
• Psychiatry - betraying and drugging children - harming lives
• Psychiatry - manipulating creativity - harming artists
• Psychiatry - destroys minds - inflicting pain
• Psychiatry - victimizing the elderly - denying respect
• Psychiatry's betrayal - creating racism
• Psychiatry - rape - betraying women

  [20] For further information, see the official website of Freedom Magazine.

[21]  For example the unanswered question, «How much does it cost to become a Clear?», which was repeatedly posed during the Maurizio Costanzo Show broadcast on May 16^th, 1998.

[22] Fabio Amicarelli, director of Public Affairs for Scientology, in a letter to the monthly Jesus, December 1998.

[23] See the large section devoted to the Lisa Mc. Pherson case