"Walking Together" vs. Scientologists

On January 23, the St. Petersburg branch of the youth organization "Walking Together" began an action under the slogan: "Let's break through the sectarian blockade!"

Activists of the organization in the city center at the metro station "Vosstaniya Square" held a round-the-clock indefinite picket (permission received for two weeks, but activists intend to renew it), in addition, the "Going" buildings of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate and the FSB in St. Petersburg and the region, Smolny (city administration), Mariinsky Palace (Legislative Assembly)

The action is directed directly against the St. Petersburg Center for Dianetics and Scientology. Passers-by are given pamphlets explaining the "harmfulness" of Scientologists. However, the booklets also contain attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses and a number of other organizations.

The purpose of the action is to achieve the liquidation of the Center for Dianetics and Scientology, as well as to draw the attention of the authorities and the public to the activities of other "totalitarian sects" in the city.

On January 30, the St. Petersburg community of Scientologists sent a protest to the city authorities against the Marchers' action. At the same time, the head of the Moscow organization of Scientologists, Anton Lychkin, in an interview with Interfax, said that the Church of Scientology "is registered, and those who oppose Scientologists are protesting against the authorities themselves and, possibly, are trying to incite inter-religious hatred."

In response, the Russian Ministry of Justice stated that the Church of Scientology had not received re-registration despite repeated attempts.

On February 4, "Going" reported on the results of the action: "attracting new people to ... the branch of the sect has ceased," and thousands of residents of St. Petersburg put their signatures under an appeal to the city administration demanding "closure of the sect." The participants of the action strengthened the sheets with the appeal and signatures on a stone weighing about 5 tons located at the entrance to the Smolny - "to give the appeals additional weight." On this "Going Together" do not intend to stop. According to them, such actions will continue "until the moment of complete liquidation" of the "Church of Scientology", which, in their opinion, is "a satanic sect with a clearly criminogenic orientation."

In April, Walking Together became active again. They held a conference in St. Petersburg, to which they invited representatives of various faiths, leaders of public, religious, political organizations, doctors, teachers, and lawyers. The conference, in the opinion of the organizers, was supposed to "gather all anti-sectarian forces to deliver a decisive blow to the "Center of Scientology." Those present signed an open letter to V. Yakovlev and V. Matvienko with a request to stop the activities of Scientologists in St. Petersburg.

A curious commentary on the Marching action was published by AiF Petersburg. According to the newspaper, the “youth crusade failed miserably”: the promised round-the-clock duty in front of the Scientologists’ office was not carried out, the office remained in its original place, its inhabitants increased their activity, but the local authorities became interested in the activities of the organizers of the picket and, having discovered a number of violations, evicted the Marching from their premises. The fighters against sects themselves were not embarrassed either by their own forced relocation, or by the growing popularity of Scientologists, which, as in the case of the books of Vladimir Sorokin, was facilitated by the action "Walking Together", since, according to AiF Petersburg, the action was started only for "promotion "St. Petersburg branch of the organization, which the head of the branch did not try to hide, and there was more than enough attention to the" Marching ".

On September 22, a new six-day protest action against the activities of Scientologists in Russia begins, which is carried out by the Marching Together movement together with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. As part of the action, it is planned to hold rallies in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaluga and Yekaterinburg. According to the organizers, the reason for the speech was the attempts by Scientologists to create their own "cells" in Russian schools.

On September 23, Pravoslavnaya Gazeta of Yekaterinburg reported that a picket was held in the city as part of the rally that had begun at the "headquarters of the sect" by activists from the "Walking Together" movement and the Missionary and Youth departments of the Yekaterinburg diocese. It also cites a press release distributed by Aleksey Chereshkov, Chairman of the Board of the Walking Together movement. The document says that "for several years, one of the most active sects of modern Russia has been operating in a number of Russian cities under the harmless name of Scientology. The sect is actively publishing books, promoting the so-called" Dianetics - the science of mental health ", work, the victims of which are many people every day.The activities of the sect received a negative assessment in the Decrees of the State Duma, in the works of its analysts, in the documents of the Ministry of Health of Russia.Despite everything, the work of the sect continues, attempts to infiltrate schools have been noted. what is happening is no longer acceptable - the price for this impassibility is daily human destinies.

On September 24, a message appeared about the upcoming action "Walking Together" in Nizhny Novgorod. Local Scientologists, having learned about the preparation of a public action, turned to the Nizhny Novgorod authorities with a request to ban the action.

From September 22 to September 26, a picket was held outside the Hubbard Humanitarian Center in Moscow as part of the All-Russian anti-Scientology campaign "Walking Together", explaining to the visitors of the Center what a "danger to the individual, family and society" and "criminogenic orientation" is the activity of Scientologists. All those who entered were given booklets "Beware! Scientology. Hubbard. Dianetics." The anti-Scientology slogan "The Walking Ones" was placed on a five-meter-high banner.

Hubbard Center employee Yuri Maksimov reported the action to the prosecutor's office, the police, and the district administration, from which they replied that if the picketers violated public order, measures would be taken. In Kaluga and Nizhny Novgorod, where the "Goers" together with representatives of the Church opposed the Scientologists, the action was stopped as a result of the intervention of local administrations.

A press release from the Moscow Church of Scientology notes that the Marching action indirectly contributes to the popularity of Scientologists by drawing public attention to their activities.

Sources

• "Walking Together" staged an action against Scientologists in St. Petersburg // Portal-credo.ru. 27.01.03
• "Walking Together" calls on the authorities of St. Petersburg to "break through the sectarian blockade" of the city // There.
• Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation claims that the Church of Scientologists has not been re-registered // Newsru.com. 30.01.03
• The Walking Ones Decided to Give the Fight Against Scientology Extra Weight // World of Religions. 2003. February 4.
• "Walking Together" continue the "fight against sectarianism" in St. Petersburg // Portal-credo.ru. April 4, 2003
• A. Kostyukovsky. The Putinmolites left for the sectarian struggle ... // AiF Petersburg. 2003. April 9.
• Walking Together declares war on Scientologists // New region. 2003. September 21.
• The Yekaterinburg diocese supported the all-Russian action of the youth movement "Walking Together", which was aimed at preventing the involvement of people in the sect of Scientologists // Orthodox newspaper (Yekaterinburg). 2003. September 23.
• Nizhny Novgorod "Walking Together" is preparing an anti-Scientology action // Religion in Nizhny Novgorod. 2003. 24 September.
• "Walking Together" held an action against the Church of Scientology right at the entrance to its office // Portal-credo.ru. 2003. September 29. 2003.