Scientology in South Africa: part 2
Chris Owen
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]
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.
--
| Chris Owen | New Mansion House, Lancaster Gate, London W2 |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| WORLD'S BIGGEST SPECTRUM ARCHIVE -- http://www.nvg.unit.no/sinclair |
| "Piltdown Man was always biting his wife": another gem from L.Ron Hubbard |