Russia bans books by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard

[skollie]

I love this headline from Vanity Fair:


Russia Bans Scientology and Top Dead Scientologist, L. Ron Hubbard

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/da...and-top-dead-scientologist-l-ron-hubbard.html

 

[Spirited]

as alanzo mentioned, I too dont agree on banning the books either. I think its shit, but maybe they see banning the actual books and lectures as a "backdoor" tactic of crippling the organization resulting in a quiet disappearance, after russia's slap on the wrist by the following.:confused2:

The Church of Scientology Moscow v Russia is a European Court of Human Rights case, concerning Article 11 of the Convention. In the case the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg condemned Moscow City Government's refusal to consider the Church of Scientology of Moscow for registration as a religious organisation.[1] And as a result found that Russia had violated the rights of the Church of Scientology under Articles 11 (the right to freedom of association) when "read in the light of Article 9" (the right to freedom of religion). Specifically, the Human Rights Court determined that, in denying consideration of registration to the Church of Scientology of Moscow, the Moscow authorities "did not act in good faith and neglected their duty of neutrality and impartiality vis-à-vis the applicant's religious community". The Court also awarded the Church €10,000 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and €15,000 for costs and expenses.[1]

 

[Winston Smith]

All this makes me think Russia is the sanest place "on the planet." Only wish the USA would recognize the evil intent of the cult. Come to think of it, Russia may yet become a better place to live than America.

 

[namaste]

It sounds like Hubbard and his cult have been declared suppressive, lol.

 

[imcuriousagain]

It sounds like Hubbard and his cult have been declared suppressive, lol.

lol! Thanks. First laugh I've had all week.

 

[AnonKat]

russia itself is a supressive country the russion goverment pesecutes alsoo freezoners there and does it as nasty as the COS.

People should be FREE to read EVERYTHING but NOT to do ANYTHING

 

[imcuriousagain]

I see your point, but the US government also bans books & films. Lets not forget "The Profit" was banned by the US court system simply because Scientology didn't want it to be seen. Who can say the US is that much worse than Russia? And how often has Scientology aggressively silenced others thinking no one would dare pull the same trick on them. Russia is fighting fire with fire. I say good for them.

 

[Zinjifar]

I see your point, but the US government also bans books & films. Lets not forget "The Profit" was banned by the US court system simply because Scientology didn't want it to be seen. Who can say the US is that much worse than Russia? And how often has Scientology aggressively silenced others thinking no one would dare pull the same trick on them. Russia is fighting fire with fire. I say good for them.

That's a pretty loose usage of 'banned'. The injunction against release was supposedly due to an ongoing court case, and, that can be legitimate, although, it can also be disputed in court. Currently, it's not 'banned', but none of the people who *own* the film want it released. They could release it at any time. They won't. Possibly because of agreements with the 'Church' that have nothing to do with 'banning'.

Anyway, I've seen it. Although I'd like to see it legitimately released, I don't see how it could ever recoup the costs of doing so. It's pretty bad.

Zinj

 

[Dulloldfart]

That's a pretty loose usage of 'banned'. The injunction against release was supposedly due to an ongoing court case, and, that can be legitimate, although, it can also be disputed in court. Currently, it's not 'banned', but none of the people who *own* the film want it released. They could release it at any time. They won't. Possibly because of agreements with the 'Church' that have nothing to do with 'banning'.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Profit:

The Profit is a feature film written and directed by Peter N. Alexander. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2001.[2] Distribution of the film was prohibited by an American court order which was a result of a lawsuit brought by the Church of Scientology, although the filmmaker says that the film is not about Scientology. As a result, The Disinformation Book Of Lists and The Times have characterized The Profit as a banned film in the United States.[3][4]​

Paul

 

[Zinjifar]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Profit:

The Profit is a feature film written and directed by Peter N. Alexander. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2001.[2] Distribution of the film was prohibited by an American court order which was a result of a lawsuit brought by the Church of Scientology, although the filmmaker says that the film is not about Scientology. As a result, The Disinformation Book Of Lists and The Times have characterized The Profit as a banned film in the United States.[3][4]​

Paul

It may be 'characterized' that way, but, it's not true. The only reason it's not out now is that the owners of the film don't *want* it out. For whatever reasons. The original injunction was pretty silly in the first place and would have fallen over in a minute, if anyone had wanted to dispute it. They didn't.

Zinj

 

[mnql1]

Subtitled video, Surgut news report, April 27, 2010


Source of map: wikipedia - Khanty-Mansi and Surgut

The Surgut court’s ruling that Scientology literature is extremist was announced on Wed. April 21, 2010 and SurgutInformTV (STV) broadcast a brief news report about this decision on Tues. April 27. A subtitled version of the STV news report is shown below. The source for this video can be found on the STV website.

YouTube - Scientology Literature Declared Extremist and Outlawed in Russia, April 2010

 

[fisherman]

This is the original Anon press release, surprised it wasn't crossposted:

http://wiki.whyweprotest.net/"Don't_Ban_Books"_-_Anonymous_Condemns_Russian_Censorship

22 April 2010

"Don't ban books" -- Anti-Scientology activists speak out against Russian censorship of L. Ron Hubbard's works.

Clearwater, Florida - April 22, 2010 - Anonymous, the internet activist coalition, supports Scientology's right to freedom of speech. Spawned in opposition to Scientology attempts at censorship, Anonymous supports open access to information.

"Because I totally disagree with everything in Dianetics, I fully support Scientology's right to publish it freely and to make it available to everyone" said one member.

"People all over the world should be able to discover the absurdity of Hubbard's phony religion. Scientology is a dangerous cult and a threat to society, but forms the greatest threat to its own members" another commented.

Scientology, now a billion-dollar multinational corporation, was invented in 1952 by Lafayette Hubbard, a science-fiction writer whose works include "Typewriters In The Sky", "Beyond The Black Nebula" and "This Ship Kills!"

Russian authorities have banned 28 of Hubbard's books which they claim call for "crimes motivated by ideological and religious hatred" and contain "ideas justifying violence in general and in particular any methods of resistance against critics of Scientology." The Russians argue "the works have clear as well as hidden calls for social and religious hatred".

Anonymous believes censorship is wrong and will only raise Scientology's profile. All Scientology materials should be freely available for public criticism and debate. This is why we continue to support the online publication of Scientology's secret texts, for which the cult charges its followers up to $500,000.

 

[thefiredragon]

LOL. I just got a magazine "Scientology News" about 60th aniversary of Dianetics and there was lots of pics of Orgs and missions.With a full bunch of people holding "dianetics" and standing by ideal orgs.
Some of them were from Russia. There was pics from Moskow org and some Russian missions. And an article about how well they are expanding.I thought,may be the pics were old,then I called a friend from Russia,she said not all orgs are closed.Some of them are operating.