"By Their Deeds Shall You Know Them" The Motives of South African Scientology v1.0 - Last updated 12-4-96 by Chris Owen As we have seen, the Church of Scientology places a great deal of importance on its activities in South Africa. At first sight, this seems a little curious. Although many individual Scientologists do appear to be genuinely concerned with social improvement, the governing philosophy of Scientology is highly unsympathetic to the needy: as each person is held to be responsible for their own condition, it is considered immoral to assist a "down statistic" by giving something for nothing. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard was strongly opposed to charity and welfare, writing that "welfarism is a psychotic mental disease born out of a guilty conscience and conducted only for the victim by those that try to make victims." [LRH, Ability magazine issue 146] Altruism is obviously not the reason why Scientology has striven so hard to get involved in South African social affairs. So, why? Hubbard, once again, provides the answer: "The factories, the marts of trade, the homes, the neighborhoods, these are the places we want trained Scientologists. In that way alone, we're on the busy, still healthy communication lines of the world ... we are the world's trouble shooters." [LRH, HCO Policy Letter 26 Oct 1980, "What we expect of a Scientologist"] In the late summer of 1981, Hubbard announced his annual "Birthday Game". (This was usually some grandiose project or other, often with the objective of raising productivity; Church management has evidently found it a useful tool and continues the tradition, with Scientology organisations competing annually to recruit more members and process more people.) The goal of the 1981/82 Birthday Game was called "Operation Fourth Dynamic" - the "fourth dynamic" meaning "the survival of mankind" - and, although it is almost certainly not called this any longer, the aim set out by Hubbard still appears to be in force: "The Continued expansion and widespread acceptance and recognition of Scientology in every community." [LRH, quoted in The Winner issue 14 (Sept 1981), p. 8] To put it crudely, Scientology organisations were instructed to compete with each other to spread Scientology as widely as possible - according to Hubbard, any method was acceptable as long as it resulted in a "win". The "OP 4D" programme was co-ordinated by Bureau VI of the Guardian's Office, a secretive and controversial organisation established by Hubbard to serve as a sort of Praetorian Guard. It was later to be abolished following the imprisonment and indictment of over 40 senior Scientologists (including Hubbard and his wife) for the theft of huge quantities of confidential US Government papers. Social programmes were subsequently handed over to the newly-constituted ABLE, with many Bureau VI functions apparently being transferred directly to the new body. Its basic goals seem to have remained unchanged. These, critics charge, boil down to three fundamental objectives: * To make money. * To recruit members. * To further the goals of the Church of Scientology. The evidence for this is persuasive and there are good grounds for suggesting that policies aimed at furthering these goals have been pursued or proposed in South Africa. It should be emphasized, though, that the goals listed above apparently represent the corporate policy of Scientology; ordinary Scientologists, as Roy Wallis' 1976 study The Road To Total Freedom demonstrates, often seem to be motivated by quite genuine motives of altruism. The only people who make a financial gain from Scientology are those who sell courses (at a 10-15% commission rate) and, it seems, the senior leadership - an English High Court judge accused the Church of having "as its real objective money and power for Mr Hubbard his wife and those close to him at the top". [Justice Latey, Re: B and G (Minors), High Court (Family Division), 23 July 1984] To portray Scientologists in general as money-grubbing parasites, as some do, would therefore seem to be an unfair and inaccurate assertion. Many Scientologists do appear to be genuinely socially-minded people, but they believe that the problems of the world can best be overcome through Scientology. Hubbard wrote: "A housewife who does not have professional level skill in Scientology could not expect to run a wholly successful family or keep order in her neighborhood and keep her family well. A factory foreman could not possibly handle his crews with full effectiveness without professional Scientology skill. The personal assistant to a corporation executive could not do a fully effective job without being a professional Scientologist. A corporation president without a [Scientology] certificate will someday fail. And the head of a country would go to pieces if he didn't know Scientology from the pro angle." [LRH, "What We Expect Of A Scientologist", Ability magazine issue 136] His followers sincerely believe this, but their personal objective of saving the world through Scientology helps to further the more mercenary corporate goals alluded to by Justice Latey. [------------------------------] Making Money All organisations which use materials produced by Hubbard are ultimately under the control of the Church of Scientology itself. Although the Church has scores (probably hundreds) of corporate entities, the really important ones are the Religious Technology Center and Author Services, Incorporated, both of Los Angeles, California. All of Hubbard's copyrights are vested in these organisations and all Scientology entities have to pay fees and tithes for the use of Hubbard's material. The money raised goes into a "war chest" which, according to publications from the International Association of Scientologists, "is used for projects that guarantee the future of the Scientology religion on this planet and which advance Scientology through broad dissemination." RTC and ASI are both staffed by members of the Sea Org, the paramilitary elite of Scientology, and effectively control the rest of the Church by virtue of their monopoly on Hubbard's material. The Chairman of the RTC and former head of ASI, "Commander" David Miscavige, is Hubbard's successor as the de facto head of the Church of Scientology. The other contenders to Hubbard's crown were either expelled from the Church or have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. In March 1972, Hubbard promulgated a Policy Letter entitled "Principles of Money Management" (which was revised in February 1991, though to what extent I do not know). It listed the twelve financial goals of the Church, ending with the most important ones in capitals: "J. MAKE MONEY. K. MAKE MORE MONEY. L. MAKE OTHER PEOPLE PRODUCE SO AS TO MAKE MONEY." [LRH, HCO PL 9 March 1972] Note especially the last goal. It is not coincidental that Scientology offshoots were established around this time for the purpose of disseminating so-called "secular Scientology". Although the Church of Scientology gains most of its income from selling Scientology courses - which can cost as much as R28,000 ($7,200) each - it also gains a good deal of money from its social outreach programmes. The amount of direct income from this source varies. Applied Scholastics' experimental programme in Compton, California, cost the district authority $27,000 over two years - not a great deal of money on the global scale. Association World RELIGIOUS for Better Institute of Local End users TECHNOLOGY --> Living and --> Scientology --> subsidiaries --> e.g. IFP, CENTER Education Enterprises e.g. Cyanamid (ABLE) (WISE) Businesswise WISE is a much more profitable organisation. In 1990 it was charging clients such as Businesswise a hefty $12,000 for its basic no-frills training course, with additional consultancy being charged at $1,875 a day. A Scientology publication reported in 1987 that in the US alone, $1.6 million a month was being earned for Scientology by WISE and its subsidiary "Scientology Enterprises". As the diagram on above shows, WISE is organised to be a Scientology cash cow; in exchange for the rights to use Hubbard's works, fees and royalties flow up the chain to the parent organisation and ultimately to the central Scientology organisation, the Religious Technology Center (RTC). It was reported in the Scientology magazine Impact that WISE had made a one-off $100,000 "donation" to Scientology's "war chest", in addition to its normal payments to the RTC. In the first part of this article, we saw how the Inkatha Freedom Party and other organizations have used WISE affiliate Businesswise to implement Hubbard's "Management Technology". The consultancy fees charged by Businesswise will have gone straight back into the pot of Scientology and used to pay for, amongst other things, the retention of scores of lawyers (Scientology is said to be the most litagious non-governmental organisation in US legal history) and the employ of private detectives to harass and pursue critics of Scientology. Furthermore, organisations selling Management Technology to end users (such as the IFP) were reported in 1990 to be required to tithe to WISE a gross 13% of their income. This means that the IFP has, in effect, contributed tens of thousands of rands to Scientology's "war chest". It should be noted, though, that WISE and its subsidiary organisations do not seem to make much effort to explain their relationship to Scientology. The claims of Businesswise executive Alan Murray that a link to Scientology could only be shown if one were "devious" would appear on the face of it to be disingenous, as the diagram of Businesswise's organisational relationships shows. [------------------------------] Recruiting Members Recruitment is one of the most fundamental goals of Scientology's activities. The turnover rate amongst the membership is extremely high - on the Church's own figures, nearly 50% of its members drop out after less than three years, with a third of these not even lasting one year. (Critics claim that this is the result of harsh discipline and extortionate fees). This means that the Church needs to recruit an estimated 1,700 new members each month merely to maintain the status quo. In his internal bulletins and policy letters, L. Ron Hubbard wrote extensively on the subject of the recruitment of new members (or "procurement of raw meat", as he called it). Much of this is overt. Those passing by the Johannesburg office of the Church will notice the clipboard-clutching recruiters standing outside, offering free personality tests which lead to the selling of Scientology courses. This is a scene repeated in some 270 towns and cities around the world. An important and growing area of recruitment, however, is that which is practiced covertly by Scientology's "social outreach" associate groups, such as WISE, Narconon and Education Alive. There is little doubt that WISE, to take an example, is seen as a vehicle for lucrative recruitment. An internal Scientology periodical reported in 1987 that the US branch of WISE and its clients, the various "Scientology Enterprises", were recruiting between 50 and 75 businessmen a month into Scientology proper, where each week they spent some $250,000 on Scientology courses. The use of this method of recruitment is confirmed by reports from those who have dealt with the US affiliates of WISE. The Los Angeles Times summed up the process, as described from those who had subsequently escaped, in a 1990 article: "Businessmen are drawn into Scientology after they have ganied confidence in Hubbard's non-religious management methods. They are often told that, to achieve true business success, they should get their personal lives in order. From there, the church takes over, encouraging them to purchase spiritual enhancement courses and begin a process called 'auditing'." [Los Angeles Times, 1990] WISE is, in short, a 'Trojan Horse' for getting people into Scientology. In the South African context, the implications are obvious if the same methods have been followed (and one of Scientology's boasts is its global uniformity, rather like McDonald's). If "standard tech" has indeed been used, senior IFP figures will have been approached and some, inevitably, will have entered Scientology. Inkatha were described in the Weekly Mail and Guardian article quoted in part 1 as having "no problem" with the Scientology connections of Businesswise. This points to one of two things: ill-informed complacency, or full acceptance of WISE's activities. Given the fact that Inkatha and personal associates of Chief Buthelezi have sometimes close links with Scientology, going back at least 16 years, it is more likely to be the latter. The use of Scientology methods outside of the Church of Scientology is, according to Church literature, "purely in a secular sense and should not be confused with the theory and practices of the religious doctrine of the Church of Scientology." [What Is Scientology? (1978 edition), p. 236] This, however, is flatly contradicted by internal statements from the Church and from high-ranking Scientologists. Promotional literature from Scientology schools, which teach solely Study Technology mostly to the children of Scientologists, advertise Study Technology as being the only way to keep children out of the hands of "the enemy" (psychiatrists) - a very Scientological concern. One Scientology school in Oregon, USA, has claimed that without Study Technology, children end up being "psych-washed"; it has also said that teaching Study Technology to non-Scientologist children allows Scientology children, "who are being trained to become leaders", to gain experience of dealing with "wogs". Hubbard himself wrote that education was "a good procurement area". This does not necessarily have to mean something as drastic as the indoctrination of the young, or the covert dissemination of Scientological ideas. The Way to Happiness is a case in point. The BBC's former religious affairs correspondent, Stewart Lamont, describes The Way to Happiness as "a distilation of the ethical principles of the great religions". Leaving aside the book's contents, which are not overtly Scientological, the way in which the book has been disseminated is interesting. The apparent intention is to do two things: to increase recognition of Hubbard's name and to foster a public perception of him as a moral philosopher, rather than as the founder of a controversial sect. This analysis is seemingly confirmed by the comments of Scientology publications that the Way to Happiness campaign is "the largest dissemination project in Scientology history" and "the bridge between broad society and Scientology". The presence of a six-page chapter on a supposedly "nonreligious" campaign in the promotional book What Is Scientology? also raises questions, as does the fact that The Way to Happiness itself is licensed from the central Scientology organisations, the Religious Technology Center and Author Services Incorporated. Another question worth asking is why the Way to Happiness Foundation, supposedly a secular body unconnected with the Church of Scientology, has reportedly given a lump sum donation of $40,000 to the Scientology 'war chest'. [------------------------------] Furthering Scientology's goals Critics of Scientology have long contended that the use of corporate identities with no overt links to Scientology - such as Education Alive, Businesswise and Self-Development Communities for the Retarded (formerly based in Capetown but now apparently defunct) - is, amongst other things, intended to spread Scientological thought in secret. The evidence for this is compelling. It is certainly true that Scientology offshoots are not generally keen to advertise their links with the Church of Scientology. Advertisements for Narconon in England, for instance, have made no mention whatsoever of the Scientology connection; Businesswise, as the Weekly Mail and Guardian article indicates, denies having "anything to do with Scientology" despite franchising its material from the Church; CCHR claims to be an independent human rights organisation, despite having been founded by the Church, publicised by the Church, funded by the Church and staffed by Church members. This pattern of denials appears to be fairly standard practice for Scientology affiliates. The declared aims of these organisations differ markedly, depending on the audience. It seems reasonable to assume that the goals stated to Scientologists are definitive, although they frequently exhibit considerable differences to those stated to the outside world. This table gives a summary of the "external aims" (as communicated to non-Scientologists) and the "internal aims" (as described in internal Scientology publications and documents): * CCHR o External aim: To campaign for the rights of mental patients and an end to psychiatric abuses. o Internal aim: To destroy psychiatry. Its campaigns are based on assertions such as these: "Almost every modern horror crime was committed by a known criminal who had been in and out of the hands of psychiatrists and psychologists often many times ... Spawned by an insanely militaristic government [supposedly Bismarck's Prussia], psychiatry and psychology find avid support from oppressive and domineering governments ... their word was law and they could harm, injure and kill patients without restraint." [LRH, HCO Bulletin 29 July 1980] o Comment: Hubbard had a pathological hatred of psychiatry and psychiatrists, not least because they ridiculed his magnum opus, Dianetics, when it was launched in 1950. He apparently established CCHR specifically to further his anti-psychiatric campaigns. In England and South Africa in the late 1960s - early 1970s, the Church of Scientology and Hubbard himself were forced to pay heavy libel damages to the former British Minister of Health, Kenneth Robinson, and the South African United Party M.P. and psychiatrist, Dr. E.L. Fisher. It was at precisely this time that CCHR was founded in the US by the "Reverend" Kenneth J. Whitman, a Scientologist. The Church seems subsequently to have used CCHR as a platform from which to attack psychiatry and reduce the risk of the Church itself being sued for defamation; this tactic appears to have been reasonably successful. o Typical publications: "Psychiatry, the Ultimate Betrayal" "Psychiatrists: The Men Behind Hitler" "Creating Racism: Psychiatry's Betrayal In The Guise Of Help" * Criminon o External aim: To help criminals rehabilitate themselves. o Internal aim: To (a) get prison authorities to pay for the use of Hubbard "technology" in jails and (b) to recruit convicts into Scientology. (The infamous American serial killer Charles Manson was a Scientologist.) * Education Alive o External aim: To assist those with educational problems. o Internal aim: To implement L. Ron Hubbard's "study technology" and effectively to introduce students to Scientology methods; to increase Hubbard's profile amongst students, which would probably make them more receptive to Scientology recruiters. * The Way To Happiness Foundation o External aim: To promote a renewed sense of moral responsibility in society. o Internal aim: To increase recognition of Hubbard's name, to present Hubbard as a "moral philosopher" (with no mention of Scientology) and, in the words of a Scientology publication, to "build a bridge between Scientology and broad society". * WISE o External aim: To improve the profitability and management of companies. o Internal aim: To get Hubbard's "management technology" into use in businesses and in so doing, attract wealthy businessmen into Scientology. As this clearly shows, Scientologists and the general public are being told two different things. Which are we to believe? In the case of WISE, it does seem that the organisation has been used in South Africa to further Scientology's goals. It seems clear that clients (such as Inkatha) are expected to produce a quid pro quo in addition to normal consultancy fees, following the use of Scientology materials. This frequently appears to take the form of sending executives on formal Scientology courses to iron out "bugs" in their personal lives. The Weekly Mail and Guardian's report on the Inkatha - Scientology connection, however, suggests a more subtle political trade-off: "A document quotes Johannesburg Scientology "patron" Earnest Corbett as saying: "I have helped to start a successful Wise group, a U-Man group and a field auditing practice -- all of which are doing splendidly." Scientology "patrons" such as Corbett are described as "special public inviduals who have greatly assisted the International Association of Scientologists by making contributions to its 'war chest'. This war chest is used for projects that guarantee the future of the Scientology religion on this planet and which advance Scientology through broad dissemination." Mail & Guardian investigations have determined that Businesswise earlier shared an address with Corbett, and that U-Man South Africa, also franchised by Scientology, still shares an office with Businesswise - a clear indication that Businesswise is the "Wise group" Corbett is quoted to have helped establish. Meanwhile, in a recent International Association of Scientologists video transmitted via satellite to all Scientology "orgs" -- jargon for organisations -- David Miscavige, successor to Hubbard, boasts that "we have been working in South Africa with Minister Buthelezi to get LRH (L Ron Hubbard) tech (jargon for the Scientology philosophy) in", said a Scientology source. Miscavige stated that "as a result of this, Buthelezi has now made calls for investigations into mental institutions, and the war against the psychs (jargon for psychology and psychiatry) in South Africa has begun", the source said. The IFP last month called for a commission of inquiry into mental institutions, and for the 1976 Mental Health Act, which prohibits transparency in mental institutions, to be scrapped. Scientologists are avid opponents of traditional psychiatry and psychology practices. A Scientology document states: "Germany is the birthplace of psychiatry and psychology, practices diametrically opposed to that of Scientology." It says a 1973 mental health programme in Germany was "countered" by Scientologists "with the exposure of inhumane activities and psychiatric crimes". Both Anthony and Murray denied the push for an inquiry into mental institutions had originated with them, saying it had come from IFP branches." [Weekly Mail and Guardian, Johannesburg, Nov 4 1994] This was not by any means the first contact which the IFP had with Scientology. Chief Buthelezi appears to have sustained contacts between his organisation and the Church of Scientology over a period of at least 16 years - and not just with Scientology entities, but with the Church itself. An intriguing article entitled "Inroads into Africa" appeared in issue 10 of the internal magazine The Winner. Published in 1980, it describes an Inkatha rally which a senior Scientology official was invited to address. (Its description of Inkatha as "an African tribe" doesn't say much for the quality of the magazine's writers!) "The Assistant Guardian for Johannesburg was invited to attend a rally addressed by the Chief of the Zulus, Chief Buthelezi. The rally was held in the main Soweto stadium on the 1st of February [1980], and was attended by between 20,000 - 30,000 people. At the head of the stadium sat the dignitaries which included a number of members of the Kwazulu Cabinet; the Mayor of Soweto; members of the Inkatha (an African tribe) executive and AG [Assistant Guardian] Jo'burg with an umbrella above her for shade! Chief Buthelezi discussed the role of the Zulu in South African affairs, and the need for Blacks to continue to demand their rights. It was announced at the rally that the Church of Scientology was in attendance and applause rose from the audience. Quite a spine-tingling experience! [...] A black Volunteer Minister who is also a Herbalist, was inaugurated into a Zulu tribal assembly, which controls over 6,000 Zulus, and is directly under the Zulu leader Chief Buthelezi. At the inaugural speech the Volunteer Minister told the audience of 6000 of the value of Ron's study technology and that he had lots of knowledge from Ron to bring to them! And he sure was telling the truth! There is a lot of Ron's knowledge to be shared with the societies of this world!" [The Winner, issue 10, page 7] The Scientology representatives at that rally did not, presumably, tell the crowd that only a few years previously their organisation had actively worked for the suppression of black rights. I do not know what became of the Volunteer Minister, Lyman Msibi - said to have been the Chairman of the South African Herbalist Association - but considering Inkatha's later sang froid about using Scientology "management technology", it seems entirely possible that Scientologists have indeed influenced party management. One thing which Msibi appears to have attempted is to Scientologize the sangomas, or traditional healers, of South Africa. Issue 12 of The Winner contains a full-page report on a conference of sangomas, convened by Msibi, at which he and senior Scientologists apparently tried to convince the delegates to convert en masse to Scientology. The result is not reported. [------------------------------] "Introvert such agencies. Control such agencies." A little earlier in this article, I mentioned Hubbard's 1981/82 "Birthday Game", "Operation Fourth Dynamic". Internal Scientology publications and documents refer to those responsible for "OP 4D" as creating "special zones" and "zones of control". The use of these terms is almost certainly not accidental - Scientolology emphasises the importance of the precise use of language. Significantly, Hubbard too referred to "special zones" in the context of Scientological social outreach. OP 4D appears to be a revival of a policy which Hubbard devised 35 years ago for use in South Africa: the Special Zone Plan. The essence of the Special Zone Plan was simple. Individual Scientologists were to enter groups and organisations, introduce Scientological methods and effectively take them over -without telling anyone of their links with Scientology. The plan was proposed by Hubbard in 1960 in a bulletin (HCO Bulletin, 23 June 1960) addressed to executives in the South African offices of Scientology, and was subsequently reprinted for the benefit of South African Scientologists in general in issue 27 of their magazine Understanding. It was also printed in worldwide Scientology magazines such as Ability. Hubbard gave detailed instructions on how to infiltrate and convert groups and organisations to Scientological methods without their knowledge - a very different thing from normal missionary-style proselytising. It seems certain that the Special Zone Plan has been used. Whether it is still in use is unknown, though evidence suggests that Scientology entities have adopted tactics similar to those laid down in Hubbard's plan. The Special Zone Plan divides life into eight zones, corresponding to the eight "dynamics" of Scientology: self, family, people, Mankind and so on. In his bulletin, Hubbard announced that Scientology had triumphed in zones one, two, five, six, seven and eight; for instance, regarding number six, the physical universe, "we have for some time stood well above what they know in physics". Zones three and four - people and Mankind - still remained a major problem, as society was hurtling towards imminent catastrophe (then nuclear war, now crime and drugs) which only Scientology could avert. Society, in short, is sick. But Scientologists, said Hubbard, "should, I feel, consider themselves as "doctors" on the third and fourth dynamics". Scientology should therefore make efforts to "cure" society, even though society was so "aberrated" that it didn't recognise the need for Scientology. It appears that even as long ago as 1960, Scientology's reputation was sufficiently tarnished that Hubbard had to instruct his supporters to spread its doctrines in secret: "The cue in all this is, don't seek the co-operation of groups. Don't ask for permission. Just enter them and start functioning to make the group win through effectiveness and sanity." [LRH, "The Special Zone Plan", Understanding issue 27, 1960] This brings irresistably to mind one of the "Affirmations" quoted earlier - "All mankind shall grovel at my feet and not know why!". It also raises an interesting question: as the Church of Scientology is vehemently opposed to the involuntary treatment of mental patients, why was its founder apparently in favour of the involuntary "treatment" of society in general? Hubbard goes on to give an example of how disseminating Scientology in secret worked rather better than trying actively to sell it: "Take the case of a police officer who ... tried to "sell" his chief on Scientology and was given a heavy loss... we [should] have made this police officer get professional training before letting him "sell Scientology" to the force, and then would have advised him to sell it by action, not words. Handling the familial problems of the Commissioner as his driver, or making the rookies gasp at how fast he could train them would be selling by action only. And no other kind of selling would be needed ... How long before he had altered the whole character, ability and effectiveness of the police force?" [LRH, "The Special Zone Plan", Understanding issue 27, 1960] Similarly, for a company: "A Scientologist ... trains as a professional auditor and, seeing where the company is heading, begins to pick up its loose end by straightening its communication lines or its personnel abilities. Without "selling" anybody Scientology, just studies out the bogs [sic] and remedies them. If only as "an able person" he would rapidly expand a zone of control." [LRH, "The Special Zone Plan", Understanding issue 27, 1960] And likewise for a political party or government organisation: "A race is staggering along making difficulties for itself. Locate its leaders. Get a paid post as a sercetary [sic] or officer of the staff of the leaders of that race ... Don't bother to get elected. Get a job on the secretarial staff or the bodyguard, use any talent one has to get close in, go to work on the environment and make it function better." [LRH, "The Special Zone Plan", Understanding issue 27, 1960] There is no doubt that Hubbard meant this seriously. A few weeks after promulgating the plan, he assigned control of it to a new "Department of Government Affairs" (later absorbed into the Guardian's Office, then into the current Office of Special Affairs). In the Policy Letter announcing this move Hubbard wrote: "The goal of the Department is to bring the government and hostile philosophies or societies into a state of complete compliance with the goals of Scientology. This is done by high level ability to control, and in its absence, by low level ability to overwhelm. Introvert such agencies. Control such agencies." [LRH, HCO Policy Letter, 15 August 1960] This policy letter is listed in What Is Scientology (1992 edition) as still being in use. Nor is there any doubt that Hubbard's followers took it seriously. I have come across no records of the response of South African Scientologists to the plan, but events in Australia may serve as a useful parallel. The Enquiry into Scientology conducted in 1965 in the Australian state of Victoria heard evidence on how Australian Scientologists responded to Hubbard's proposals: "Whatever may be Hubbard's aspirations in his special Zone Plan, it is evident that many scientologists believed that it was some sort of plan to dominate, by political means, countries and eventually the whole Earth. One preclear [Scientology student] who had affiliations with the Australian Labour Party saw the Zone Plan as "a very able plan for infiltration and subversion of the key institutions of the country," the intention of the plan being "to create by those subversive means a scientology government"; and he was so enthusiastic about the possibilities which scientology offered for political domination that he concocted a plan to scientologize the Australian Labor Party. In a letter to Williams dated the 16th January, 1961, he wrote: "My goals for the Zone Plan are to make my organization a Scientology Organization with all executives [being] HPA graduates, to use our publications to improve administration, management and communication in the Labor movement and interest the Australian Labor Party and Trade Union officials in taking scientology training. The Australian Labor Party as an organization using scientology principles would soon win a Government as soon as the next Federal election. With Australia led by a government employing scientology principles we should soon have a civilization which can extend influence overseas." He submitted his plan to Hubbard and obtained his approval. Mrs. Williams, who, according to Communication. Magazine Vol. 2, No. 1 of January, 1960, "once vowed Australia will be the first scientology continent", approved of this preclear's ambition to scientologize the Australian Labor Party. His Zone Plan was not implemented. By a queer twist, this preclear sustained an "ARC break" [falling out - ed.] with the Australian Labor Party, and while still in scientology he changed his political affiliations. Whether it was scientology which changed his politics does not appear. Another executive had the ambition to take control of a large company and then to have as executives only those who were scientologists. A police constable who resigned from the Victoria Police Force and occupied the post of "Director of Zoning" at the HASI, described the Zone Plan as a means of disseminating scientology in the various "zones" in which preclears moved, and he kept a card index to show the various zones - industrial, social, professional, &c, in which preclears moved." [Report of the Board of Inquiry into Scientology, Victoria (Australia) 1965), pp. 154-5] Hubbard appears to have been well aware that his plan bordered on the illegal - "if we were revolutionaries, this bulletin would be a very dangerous document". He swept aside such concerns, declaring with typical compassion that: "Only the very criminal would object and they are relatively ineffectual when you know and can spot them. And there are no criminals except the mentally disabled." [LRH, "The Special Zone Plan", Understanding issue 27, 1960] The references to "special zones" being a part of "Operation Fourth Dynamic" - still being used in practice if not in name - mean that it is quite likely that "OP 4D" was a partial revival of the earlier Special Zone Plan. If this is so, it would mean that the tactics prescribed in the Special Zone Plan may still be in use. It is perhaps significant that the 1992 edition of What Is Scientology shows Hubbard's original 1960 bulletin as being included in current Scientology teaching materials. [------------------------------] Winning in South Africa Just as "OP 4D" appears to be a development of the earlier Special Zone Plan, the latter appears to be a development of a strategy developed in the early days of apartheid. The envisaged goal was to spread Scientology through white society, allow the whites to settle the "native problem" and use the "natives" as manual labour for "understanding employers". The strategy was laid out in issue 2 of the Scientology magazine Ability, under the heading of "How It Is Going In South Africa". Hubbard did not write it - its author was a South African Scientologist, U. Keith Gerry. He certainly would have approved it, though: Gerry was in good standing with Hubbard (he was one of the few people whom Hubbard allowed to write a book about Scientology), the magazine was copyrighted under Hubbard's name and the particular issue was edited in Hubbard's London headquarters, probably by Hubbard himself. Gerry's words can therefore be taken to represent Hubbard's own thoughts. The aims of the plan were simple and are undoubtedly still in force for South African Scientology. The plan, Gerry wrote, "is to get Scientology known throughout the white population of South Africa in another four years; to have it established in that period in the schools; in the Universities; in industry; in the Mines; and in the Government and government departments and services." [Ability issue 2, p. 5] Of course, there were a number of problems to be overcome: "The first is not the native problem. It is the Afrikaans-English problem ... the English feel guilty at having been conquerors and the Afrikaans people are resentful at having been conquered, and from this has arisen all the factors present today. Before South Africa can be a happy country this division will have to be reconciled." [Ability issue 2, p. 5] This provides a convenient, non-racial justification for Scientology to concentrate on recruiting whites, a policy pursued apparently until very recently. Gerry continues: "After this comes the native problem and Scientology offers the only route to its solution. False sentiment, ignorance, utterances from pulpit and editorial desk by people who should know better, continually impede progress. When we can get the white people properly straightened out this problem will be nine-tenths solved, evolution and mass processing will then settle the rest." [Ability issue 2, p. 5] A few years later, Hubbard was to propose the use of "E-Meters" - quasi-lie detectors used in Scientology processing - to screen the entire black population and root out "communist agitators". But what can Gerry mean by "evolution" solving the problem, unless he is implying that black South Africans are low on the evolutionary scale? Gerry concludes by describing the future of a Scientology-controlled South Africa: "We are not trying to patch up an old order but we are going to create a new one in a land with vast natural resources, with an active people who still retain that streak of courage and enthusiasm which lead the voortrekkers into the unknown, with a vast number of natives who would be happy working with their hands for understanding employers, with an ideal climate and with the geographical position which can lead the whole of Africa to a happy and united future. We're busy getting cracking - care to join us?" [Ability issue 2, p. 5] [------------------------------] Conclusions Scientology may not have achieved its goal of putting the white population of South Africa in charge of the "natives", but on each of the objectives laid out by Gerry - "to get Scientology known throughout the white population of South Africa in another four years; to have it established in that period in the schools; in the Universities; in industry; in the Mines; and in the Government and government departments and services" - it has succeeded, if only to a lmiited extent. In countries such as Germany, Britain and the USA, organisations have had to take drastic action against Scientologist infiltration. Two out of the three main South African parties are already probably infiltrated, as are an unknown number of businesses and schools. In the end, the only people who know the full facts behind Scientology's involvement in South African life are the Scientologists themselves. They are not likely to reveal those facts voluntarily. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- v1.0 - Last updated 12-4-96 by Chris Owen [Image] co@nvg.unit.no This page has not been endorsed, produced or commissioned by the Church of Scientology and does not represent the opinions of the Church. All quotations from copyrighted works are made under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.