Bartholomew's Notes

Police also considered prosecution under Public Order Act

A press release from the UK Crown Prosecution Service (link added):

West Midlands Police have completed their investigation into the Channel 4 Dispatches programme ‘Undercover Mosque‘ broadcast in January 2007.

The police investigation initially looked at whether there had been any criminal offences committed by those featured in the programme and following careful consideration by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), West Midlands Police have been advised that there is insufficient evidence to bring charges against those individuals featured within the programme.

However:

[Assistant Chief Constable] Anil Patani for West Midlands Police said: “As a result of our initial findings, the investigation was then extended to include issues relating to the editing and portrayal of the documentary.

“The priority for West Midlands Police has been to investigate the documentary and it’s making with as much rigour as the extremism the programme sought to portray”.

A lawyer for the CPS, Bethan David, reviewed 56 hours of footage and concluded that the programme had supposedly “distorted” material gathered for the programme from Birmingham’s Green Lane Mosque, which has a public reputation for moderation but which has come under the baneful influence of Saudi Arabia:

The CPS was also asked by the police to consider whether a prosecution under the Public Order Act 1986 should be brought against Channel 4 for broadcasting a programme including material likely to stir up racial hatred. Miss David advised West Midlands Police that on the evidence available, there was insufficient evidence that racial hatred had been stirred up as a direct consequence of the programme. It would also be necessary to identify a key individual responsible for doing this together with an intent to stir up racial hatred, which was not possible.

So instead, the police have decided to complain about the programme to Ofcom, the UK television regulator. The commissioning editor from Channel 4, though, is bullish:

Kevin Sutcliffe, commissioning editor for Dispatches, said West Midlands police had produced no evidence to support their claims.

“We find it extraordinary that they have gone public on these concerns without discussing them with us first,” he said…”All the speakers featured in the film were offered a right to reply and none denied making these comments, nor have any of them complained to Ofcom to our knowledge.”

Indeed. There have been some dodgy programmes on Islam on British TV – last November Newsnight ran a piece on Hizb ut Tahrir that relied heavily (as I blogged at the time) on a weird and secretive group that had an anti-Islamic agenda – but the Dispatches programme was responsible and balanced. Of course it brought joy to the anti-Muslim right, but the blame for that lies with the extremists, not those who filmed and exposed them.

This is not the first time that the UK police have responded to a TV documentary with an investigation, only to turn on the documentary-maker instead. In 1999 Donal MacIntyre went undercover for a programme about the abuse of adults with learning disabilities in care homes in Kent; when the subsequent police investigation floundered, they accused McIntyre of wasting police time. MacIntyre sued for libel, and won.

(Hat tip: MediaWatchWatch)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Arabic Josh McDowell Book Given to Soldiers

Max Blumenthal introduces us to Jonathan Spinks, kickboxing champion and evangelist who (helped by Stephen Baldwin) runs “Operation Straight Up“, which provides entertainment for serving US soldiers. Blumenthal directs us to an American Forces Press Service report:

OSU Tour is one of the newest members of the Defense Department’s America Supports You program, which connects citizens and corporations with members of the military and their families at home and abroad. Spinks said he expects to include the America Supports You banner on stage during performances.

…The entertainment provided by OSU Tour is diverse and includes sports personalities, comedians, actors, and even the Flying Wallendas and their death-defying feats on the high wire. Those appearing on behalf of OSU Tour present wholesome, family-oriented entertainment that’s also of interest to single men and women, Spinks said.

…”We obviously are very interested in going to Iraq,” Spinks said. “They’ve been encouraging us to go to Germany, which we’re also working on.”

That was back in April; Spinks’ website now boasts of an upcoming “Military Crusade in Iraq”, and various initiatives including the mailing of “Freedom Packets” of religious materials to soldiers serving in the country. These include, as Blumenthal notes, Josh McDowell’s More than a Carpenter – although it seems that more than just soldiers are being targeted here:

…We can only hope that since the book is double printed on the reverse side in the Arabic language that it will indeed influence the nations overseas as well.

Also in the packets is a video game: none other than the controversial Left Behind: Eternal Forces, based on Tim LaHaye’s apocalyptic novels in which the anti-Christ takes over the United Nations. The game has been accused of containing a level of violence unbecoming in a Christian product.

Blumenthal’s report comes days after the release of a report by the Defense Department’s inspector general that recommends disciplinary action against several members of the military for appearing in uniform in a promotional video for an evangelical organisation.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

A press release from the website of UK law firm Kendall Freeman:

…Saudi businessman Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz has accepted a comprehensive apology together with substantial damages from well known publishers Cambridge University Press in settlement of a libel action following publication of a 2006 book Alms for Jihad, it was announced in the High Court in London today.

Sheikh Khalid, for many years Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank, commenced libel proceedings against the Cambridge University Press following the publication of Alms for Jihad, which made a series of allegations including that Sheikh Khalid and his family had supported Osama Bin Laden and funded terrorist activities. In today’s hearing at the High Court before Mr Justice Eady, the company accepted that there was no truth whatsoever in any of these allegations…Cambridge University Press is taking the almost unprecedented step of pulping all unsold copies of the Book and writing to over 200 libraries worldwide which carry the book telling them of the settlement and asking them to withdraw the book from their shelves. The company will be publishing a detailed apology on its website, and paying substantial damages as well as making a contribution to Sheikh Khalid’s legal costs…

Bin Mahfouz has won several cases along these lines recently; US conservative author Rachel Ehrenfeld was sued in the UK, and her publisher Bonus Books has produced a press release of its own denouncing the CUP’s capitulation:

…In a similar attempt to halt the distribution of such claims, Bin Mahfouz also filed a libel action in British courts against Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, after Bonus Books published her 2003 book FUNDING EVIL: How Terrorism is Financed and How to Stop It. Ehrenfeld, director of the American Center for Democracy, also alleged Bin Mahfouz of backing organizations with alleged ties to terrorism, a charge that Mahfouz, formerly president of the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, continues to deny. But Ehrenfeld stands behind her research, and publisher Stern stands by his author.

“I find it utterly appalling that any publisher—let alone one with the history and perceived credibility of Cambridge University Press—would allow themselves to be bullied into making such a decision,” Stern said.

Ehrenfeld’s right-wing supporters – such one quoted at Hot Air – claim that progressives have ignored the case because she takes a tough line against jihadists; however, bin Mahfouz’s previous targets in the UK include the left-wing Pluto Press, which agreed to drop Michael Griffin’s Reaping the Whirlwind. UK and Swiss courts were also recently used by bin Mahfouz against the French authors of a book entitled The Forbidden Truth. The Arab News reported the reaction of Saudi businessmen:

“Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, Saudi and Muslim businessmen have been under intense attack from upstart Western writers who, passing themselves off as international terrorism financing experts, have been dishing out all kinds of nonsense in the name of journalism. This verdict will serve as a kind of deterrent to would-be mudslingers and character-assassins,” said an ecstatic Jeddah-based businessman. “We can fight back and we should.”

Some businessmen interviewed yesterday by Arab News said Saudis usually avoid going to court for fear of inviting negative publicity — even when grave allegations are leveled against them. The perception is that court proceedings can be lengthy and invite the scrutiny of the media, which often is prone to mudslinging. In such cases truth becomes the first casualty.

In 2004, Random House subsidiary Secker and Warburg decided to act pre-emptively and declined to publish a UK edition of Craig Unger’s House of Bush, House of Saud.

The CUP’s decision is not the first time that a UK academic press has decided to withdraw a book from circulation as a result of legal threats. Ten years ago the SPCK published a book of sociological essays entitled Harmful Religion: Studies in Religious Abuse. One of the groups included in the book was an Amish-like Christian community called the Bruderhof, which threatened to sue – the SPCK agreed to sell all copies of the book to them, and not to reprint it. That story is told here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 5 Comments »

I’m a few days late with this; from Dutch News (link added)

Religious TV station EO on Monday defended its editing of wildlife documentaries to remove references to evolution.

Director Henk Hagoort told Trouw that editing was normal in bought-in programmes. ‘That also happens in drama series if, for example, there is a lot of swearing’.

On Saturday it emerged that the BBC documentary Life of Mammals by David Attenborough had been edited, and one entire programme scrapped because of its focus on evolution.

EO is “Evangelische Omroep”, or “Evangelical Broadcast“; although a religious TV station, it is also the country’s largest public broadcaster. Details in English are scarce, but blog Greene’s Insite gives us a window on some of the reports:

What a let-down, then, to read in my favourite morning paper, that the EO has admitted to editing out from their radio and TV offerings – especially nature films and documentaries – any material that might be construed as supporting the notion of evolution. In fact, the mere mention of the word may set the censor’s scissors a-snippin’. This came to light when a lecturer at Utrecht University (subject: evolutionary biology) compared a series of nature films by David Attenborough in versions shown by the BBC, the Belgian TV station Canvas and the EO. The lecturer in question, Gerdien de Jong, found that, while the others broadcast the films in their entirety, the EO consistently removed any footage that might cast doubt on the biblical conviction that man was created by god. Also, the texts of voice-overs sometimes differed from those in the original version. Not very ethical, you’d say, but EO director Henk Hagoort is unrepentant: “We’ve been ‘adapting’ nature films since we started”, he says, “It’s no secret. We don’t believe that man descends from monkeys.” But is it right to deny viewers access to evolutionary theories? “I had to laugh when I heard that”, Hagoort says, “We don’t shirk the debate on evolution. We once broadcast a panel discussion on the subject of ‘Adam Or Ape?’ But we’re certainly not going to champion evolution theories in nature films.”

According to Hagoort in Dutch News,

“the decision not to buy the one episode which focused on evolution had been discussed with the BBC”

But what about the other editing? The Hague Online offers a clue, but its report lacks clarity:

…He said that the changes had been agreed with the BBC. The BBC was not aware of this, but said that cuts were permissible as long as the essential character of the programme remained unchanged.

Dropping references to evolution not only undermines the integrity of Attenborough’s documentaries – it helps to promote fundamentalist claims that there is no real evidence for evolutionary biology. If the BBC has agreed to this, it is a gross betrayal of its remit. The blog Waffle adds the point that

by selling exclusive rights to the series to a broadcaster that cuts out references to evolution, they have effectively prevented the uncut series being shown by another broadcaster. That way, the EO can effectively censor the series for the general public.

The author also suggests that EO has been attempting to become more professional in recent years (“they have come a long way since the days when they classed dinosaurs with fairytale animals in their quiz shows”), and that many of those within the organisation will be less than pleased with Hagoort’s explanation.

(Hat tip: The Pagan Prattle. Comparative clips of the British original and the Dutch censored version can be seen at Cloggie)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The Taipei Times reports on an honour bestowed on Kevin Lin, the Taiwanese long-distance (7,500km) runner and a national hero:

Vice President Annette Lu…conferred an “Ambassador of Peace” title on Lin, as well as other outstanding locals, yesterday at a ceremony hosted by the Taiwan chapter of the Universal Peace Federation, a UN-affiliated nongovernmental organization (NGO).

“In an age of increasing troubles and conflict, ambassadors of peace, such as those feted here today, are as important to us as ever,” Lu said in a keynote speech at the ceremony.

…As of yesterday, there were some 145 newly inaugurated Taiwanese Ambassadors of Peace in a global organization boasting 250,000 such “ambassadors,” said Chang Bo-ya,…chairwoman of the Women’s Federation for World Peace, Taiwan — an NGO with close ties to the Universal Peace Federation.

And the Universal Peace Federation, of course, is an initiative of Rev Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church. Vice President Annette Lu was also present at Moon’s 2005 address in Taipei, where he revealed plans to build a bridge or tunnel across the Bering Strait. Again from the Taipei Times:

Annette Lu rapt as Moonies icon preaches about peace

…Moon declared that “spirits” have arrived on Earth to watch human beings’ every move.

“Those who stray away from the heavenly way will be punished,” he said.

Some 3,000 people, including Vice President Annette Lu,…US President George W. Bush’s younger brother Neil Bush and Washington Times president Joo Dong Moon, listened to Reverend Moon’s speech at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei.

Lu spoke in praise of Moon’s effort to promote world harmony and “ideal families.”

Various prominent political figures have chosen to associate with Moon in recent years; I listed a few here in April, and in May, I noted that Lord Hameed, a prominent member of the UK House of Lords, had also become an “Ambassador for Peace”. The “250,000” figure, though, is exaggerated – according to the organisation’s website, there are “50,000”.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

UPDATE: Folger has now amended her piece, with a note repudiating Fields. Apparently these words of support from Gen J.C. Christian failed to make a positive impression.

From the website of Janet Folger, WND columnist and President of Christian-right lobby group Faith2Action:

Right now, people in powerful places want nothing less than to eradicate Christian faith from American society…SPEAK OUT. MAKE A DIFFERENCE. BUT FIRST GET THE FACTS in Janet Folger’s The Criminalization of Christianity.

But from where does this tireless activist “GET THE FACTS” herself? Ed Brayton recently pulled apart one of her WorldNetDaily columns and noticed, among much else, the following quote:

…Dr. E. Fields, in his book “Is Homosexual Activity Normal?”, reveals “41 percent of homosexuals say they have had sex with strangers in public restrooms.”

Alas, “Dr E. Fields” is Edward Fields, a notorious aged neo-Nazi and KKK supporter. Ed emailed Folger with this, and got the following response from her communication director, Ross Conley:

The reference to Dr. E. Fields was found on an internet search for statistics on public sex. Such a reference can be found on a number of websites, including this FreeRepublic article. We honestly had no idea that this E. Fields was the same man who holds such racist views. A Google or Yahoo search on “Dr. E. Fields” shows nothing…

So, Folger pulled a reference off the net without bothering to check out anything about where it came from (let alone consulting the actual source itself). And in fact, if you do Google “Dr. E Fields” you actually get a page of results, including the following:

Chaper Two: The Movements: 1960 -1975

24) The BM also sent delegates to the Belgian nationalist congress at Dixmuide, and hosted Dr.E.Fields of the extreme anti-semitic National State’s Rights …

home.alphalink.com.au/~radnat/britfascism/chapter2.html – 64k

Conley’s FreeRepublic reference is also rather underwhelming, being taken from Catholic Apologetics International. Ed initiates us:

CAI is a weird little offshoot of the Catholic Church run by Robert Sungenis. Sungenis is an uber-Catholic who acts like some of the more idiotic Protestants – in particular, with his support for geocentrism. Yes, that’s right kids, he thinks Galileo and Copernicus were wrong.

But Conley (and, we must assume, Folger herself) doesn’t have a problem with using a neo-Nazi for getting information about homosexuality. As he explains to Ed:

…However, if we are going to use such a standard to reject any research by a person who holds racist views, we had better all stop quoting men such as Charles Darwin and Karl Marx. Both held extremely racist views…

And how do we know this?

…as any internet search with their names and the word “racist” will show.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Max Blumenthal reports from the recent Christians United for Israel (CUFI) conference: see here.

(Via Talk to Action)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

From Interfax-Religion (again):

The People’s Council [“Narodny Sobor”], an Orthodox public movement, has appealed to the Moscow public prosecutor to try well-known scientist Vitaly Ginzburg for stirring up religious strife.

Ginzburg, a Nobel Prize winner who is in his nineties, had complained publicly about the influence of the resurgent Orthodox Church in Russian schools, and he argued that

‘by teaching religion in school, these… would like to ensnare children’s souls’

Ginzburg also recently co-signed a letter on the subject; Reuters reports:

The Orthodox church’s growing influence in Russia threatens to erode the separation of church and state and upset other officially-recognised religions, leading academics warned President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

“We are becoming increasingly concerned by the growing role of clerics in Russian society, by the Church’s penetration into all facets of social life,” several scientists, including two Nobel prize winners, said in an open letter to Putin.

(Indeed; on the academic front we’ve recently seen Orthodox nationalism corrupting standards in sociology and psychology)

…the letter, text of which was published in several national newspapers, implied criticism of the Kremlin chief for his overt sponsorship of church activities.

…The signatories included Zhores Alferov and Vitaly Ginzburg, who have won Nobel Prizes for science, and eight other distinguished scientists who are senior members of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Further details appear in English in the Russian press review section of the International Herald Tribune:

The never ending war between science and religion got kick start recently as Russian academics wrote an open letter to President Putin to protest against the interference of the Russian Orthodox Church in “all spheres of social life.” Vitaly Ginzburg, a Nobel Prize winner and coauthor of the letter, expressed revulsion at the Church’s forays into education, saying that this could have fatal consequences for young generations. “The Russian Orthodox Church persistently tries to make incursions into our schools. In some regions, they have already started teaching Theology,” he remarked indignantly in a telephone interview with the paper.

For the Orthodox activists of Narodny Sobor, the best way to deal with this is to have Ginzburg prosecuted. Back to Interfax:

‘I believe that through such statements in the press Vitaly Ginzburg incites religious enmity and insults dozens of millions of Christians in Russia’, Oleg Kassin, People’s Council coordinator, told the agency.

In this connection, he believes, the academician should be ‘tried for inciting religious enmity’.

This is a familiar rhetorical strategy in Russia these days; the Orthodox interpretation of “human rights” means the right of Orthodox believers not to be criticized or challenged; blasphemous artists should be imprisoned; gay rights protestors should be suppressed; and now critics of the church should be arrested.

This is not the only issue on which Ginzburg has spoken out in support of science; in May he complained that:

The pursuit of science in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia is driven by profit alone and there was less government interference even under Josef Stalin…

Putin had proposed bringing in a supervisory council of officials to oversee the Academy of Sciences, as a way “to reverse the continuing brain drain from Russia,” and “make research work lucrative”. Use of the academy assets was also a factor.

Ginzburg won the Nobel prize for physics in 2003; Alferov in 2000. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Ginzburg is an “ardent atheist”, and a strong supporter of both secular Jewish identity and the state of Israel. He has also attacked Alexander Solzhenitsyn over his views on the role of Jews in Russian history. This 1997 essay in Physics World describes his life under communism, and his slow disillusionment with the ideology.

Oleg Kassin of Narodny Sobor, meanwhile, is a rather less accomplished figure, with a background in far-right political activism. A 2000 report has some interesting details:

Russia’s neo-Nazi movement Russian National Unity (RNE) on Saturday officially announced the sacking of its long-time leader Aleksandr Barkashov and renamed itself in a bid to achieve political respectability.

Russian Revival, as the former black-shirted group is now known, is looking for representation in parliament, Russian NTV reported on Saturday.

Despite dropping Barkashov, who was pushed out on 21st September, and shedding Hitlerite trappings such as a swastika-like symbol, the organization continues to see as its main enemies “non-Russians and…Western civilization in the person of NATO”, the TV’s correspondent said.

A meeting of RNE regional representatives took the decision to reform on Saturday. They replaced Barkashov, who was accused of “Oriental occultism”, with Oleg Kassin, who told delegates that the movement had veered towards a personailty cult and was now turning to the Russian Orthodox Church for guidance.

Since then, Kassin has popped up in support of various Orthodox causes, such as a campaign to rebuild a monastery in Pushkin Square and against an art exhibition at the Sakharov Museum. According to a report from March Narodny Sobor represents “over 200 Orthodox Christian associations across Russia”.

Name variations: Vitaly Ginsburg; Vitaly Ginzburg; Vitaly Ginsberg; Vitaly Ginzberg; Vitali Ginsburg; Vitali Ginzburg; Vitali Ginsberg; Vitali Ginzberg

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Married Priests Now, which lobbies for the Vatican to allow priests to marry, is planning a pilgrimage to Rome. Priests who have married will arrive in December:

There will be the renewal of marriage vows, as well as of priestly vows. Those who will not afford to have their wives with them let them have photos of their spouses, even those whose wives died.

However, this bit seems a bit optimistic:

We expect to be presented blessings by the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, True Father and Mother, Rev. Moon. The married priests need the blessing of both of them. This expected presence of the two important figures will mean a lot in the world in which we are living.

May God Bless our endeavors.

Archbishop E. Milingo

Milingo’s bizarre and tortuous journey from controversial Roman Catholic exorcist-archbishop to Unification Church supporter has been fascinating to watch – I’ve blogged a few times on it in the past (here, here, and here).

(Hat tip to a reader)

Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

Warn on Satanism, Anne Rice

Following on from my entry of a few days ago on Satanic panic in Russia, Interfax comes up with yet another example:

14-year old Muscovite Tatiana’s passion for Satanism has ended in a tragedy in her family.

Another family row in which Tatiana threatened to cut her veins if her parents did not let her go to meet her friends drove her mother Lyubov Ivanovna to a stroke.

The mother died; Tatiana says she has since left the Satanists. However:

‘…Now I am a Goth vampire. I don’t need death any more. What I need is blood’, Tatiana said in an interview…and showed scars on her wrists, saying ‘ours cut them with a razor to lick off blood’.

The report also notes that she is a fan of Anne Rice, and that she has been admitted to a psychiatric clinic:

This, according to Dr. Izyaslav Adlivankin of the St. John of Kronstadt Soul-caring Center at the Krutitsy House in Moscow, is a ‘natural result of the mentally destructive impact of Ann Rice’s books and the Gothic ideology’.

‘The only way to salvation for such teenagers is through faith. I do not see any other alternative in today’s life or mass culture. Psychiatry is helpless here’, the psychologist asserted.

Adlivankin appears to have little interest in using his professional psychological training to help those who are mentally troubled to make decisions for themselves; instead, he appears more focused on getting converts to Orthodox Christianity. A 2005 Moscow Times report on a new religious movement thar promises access to some mysterious kind of “energy” featured this analysis from Adlivankin:

“This training course is one of the hundreds psychocults based on occultism acting in Moscow. People sank into psychoses and depressions after such studies and apply to us for help regularly,” Izyaslav Adlivankin, psychologist of the Russian Orthodox Rehabilitation Center for sects victims, claims. “Leaders of such organizations try to create “new people” with super abilities. It’s not hard to notice that their conception corresponds with the Nazi idea of “the sixth human race”

…”We must admit that occultism reveals knowledge of some secrets of the invisible world that people are eager to discover. They really help the newcomers to feel a burst of energy. Its gurus stress their noble aims and spirituality but we should remember that evil is often hidden under a sanctity dress,” Adlivankin says.

The report adds:

This Orthodox Center was created about 7 years ago. In the meantime more than 15,000 people have applied for help…To relieve Muscovites from the psycho-evil, the Orthodox Center hired a number of Christian psychologists and psychiatrists but the main cures are still confession, repentance and prayer. There is no civil alternative for such treatment in Moscow: no state rehabilitation center has been established yet.

…although, as we saw a few days ago, the Sebski Institute, which locked up dissidents during the Communist era, is now devoted to “analyzing” Jehovah’s Witnesses and other non-Orthodox religious groups. Back in 1995, shortly after the Tokyo gas attack, former Russian members of Aum were admitted to the Orthodox Center, which was “eager to bring them to Christianity”.

Other psychologists also take the Adlivankin line. Here’s Yuri Polischuk of the Moscow Institute of Psychiatry, in 2003:

“Most sectarian organization are of the U.S. origin”… He said the inflow of sects was a “well-planned and coordinated action, funded from abroad” and aimed at “subverting our state.”

Polischuk has also pronounced on the nature of “psychocults”:

“So-called psychocult is usually a mixture of occultism, eastern healing methods and even psychiatric techniques. The initial euphoria of the studies is connected with applied hypnoses and self-hypnoses (meditation)…Such a seance can cause changes in endocrine, vegetative and nervous systems of the participants. Under this effect a person does not perceive the environment, does not feel any pain. It is almost impossible to achieve such a result from individual practice. So emotional and physical dependence on the training are inevitable. People pay more and more to touch “the never ending source of energy” or whatever it is called”.

Polischuk has been studying sects victims for ten years. According to him, despite cults’ transformation from religious to psychological organizations their victims are the same: people in crisis, youngsters eager to find new “spiritual values”, mentally unhealthy people or those predisposed to mental illnesses.

A 1996 report from Zavtra gives a bit more context, from an Orthodox-nationalist perspective:

There have been court trials of Aum Sinrikyo, the White Brotherhood, Jehovah’s Witnesses, in Petersburg and in Surgut, and on the Society of Krishna Consciousness in Rostov. Despite all these efforts of society, the state has not worked out countermeasures to the destructive energy of sects.

…But reality is such that the authorities are hindering the action of programs of rehabilitation of victims of sects. Without the testimony of specialists accusations against the sects seem to be unproven. At the Serbsky Center and in the Moscow Institute of Psychiatry the creation of a scientific basis for a program of rehabilitation is frozen because it is not financed. Besides there is open pressure on specialists by foreign organizations, in particular from the American Psychiatric Association, which crudely declared that in Russia there are psychiatrists who are trying to use psychiatry for limiting freedom of religion.

Russia now has a number of laws against “sects” – and leaders of religious groups who want to avoid trouble with the state are sure to express nationalist and pro-Putin sentiments (Pentecostal leader Sergei Ryakhovsky comes to mind).

Psychology is not the only academic discipline in Russia that has been put at the service of nationalism – back in March I noted that sociology students at Moscow State University had risen up against a dean who is more interested in nationalist indoctrination than scholarly development.

Meanwhile, there is one place in Russia where young people are being heavily indoctrinated, although somehow I doubt Polischuk or Adlivankin will be worried. Reuters reports:

At a lakeside camp, 10,000 young Russians are learning why President Vladimir Putin is such a brilliant leader.

…The only exceptions to the general picture of neatness are two mucky, wooden shacks surrounded by broken glass—a mock settlement reserved for Other Russia supporters, vocal Kremlin opponents who accuse Putin of destroying democracy.

…Other Russia’s three male leaders, including world Chess champion Garry Kasparov, are portrayed as prostitutes. In lurid colors they pout and pose in stockings, their faces frozen into feline grins.

“I didn’t know who those people were until I came here,” 20-year-old Lena from St Petersburg said as she walked past.

“Now I know they are fascists.”

This is training camp for Nashi (“Us”), a nationalist youth group, which, according to critics, “appears aimed at giving the Kremlin a ready made mass movement to call on in times of trouble”. I blogged it a couple of years ago.

(Nashi story hat-tip: Bulldada Newsblog)

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »