1995: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- The Phoenix protest (at the Church of Scientology in Mesa) was in some ways similar to the descriptions I've read here of the Boston protest, in that there were some very cordial conversations between protestors and Scientologists. The picketing began shortly after 3 p.m. Andre Taboyoyon was unable to attend due to an injunction or restraining order against him, and another of the picketers from last time was out of town, but we still had a few more people than last time (7 this time; 5 last time). The church is on a fairly busy street and there is virtually no foot traffic on the sidewalk. (Perhaps a dozen pedestrians or cyclists went by during the three hours we were there.) Occasionally cars would honk in support, or people would shout at us. (Most memorable things shouted by passing motorists: "Go home and go to bed!" and "Get a job!" Apparently the latter driver thought we were striking union Scientologists or something.) A few Scientologists stood in the doorway of the center and watched us for a while. They then decided to put a boombox in front of the door and play us a few Scientology songs by the Golden Musicians (? I asked about it but don't remember the exact name). I believe one of the songs may have featured some singing by Hubbard himself. They later told us this was to let us know they weren't angry with us. After a while, a few Scientologists (John DeNero, local director of special affairs, who had spoken with us at the last protest and falsely told a reporter that we had shouted at cars; a clear also named John (I'll call him John X) who was very nice and seemed to have some understanding of the Internet; Jim somebody) came over and discussed the issues with us. Jim came right over to Jeff and said, "Hi, Jeff!", saying that he knew him from a radio show he had been on a few years ago. (How'd he recognize Jeff on sight from a radio show? Perhaps someone had pointed Jeff out...or he had seen photos taken last time.) They agreed that freedom of speech is important and that a.r.s should not be removed. We also agreed that Scientology has a right to defend its copyrights, though we didn't get into a discussion about such details as (a) whether Scientology has valid copyrights on the materials in question or (b) the details of Erlich's case. I made one attempt to discuss fair use, but it didn't seem to get anywhere. They were very curious to know what they could do locally to make us happy regarding the issues that provoked our protest. We suggested that they obtain Internet accounts and join in on a.r.s, and post in support of freedom of speech. They seemed receptive to the idea. At one point, they went inside and called OSA in L.A. to ask about the rmgroup message and Scientology's position on a.r.s. When they came back out, they said that Scientology has no objection to the existence of a.r.s and is a defender of freedom of speech. I think Jeff discussed some of the other net-related happenings with them, such as the invasion of TarlaStar's privacy. The Scientologists also repeatedly raised the idea that our protest was a form of "hate crime." When questioned about this, John X admitted that it was not really a crime, and that he was using the phrase loosely. Jeff expressed that we didn't consider our protest to be motivated by hate. (The fact that a couple of signs said "Scientology hates free speech" also seemed to suggest "hate crime" to the Scientologists. Detecting the flaw in that reasoning is left as an exercise for the reader.) John DeNero took photographs of us again, and photographs of our signs. At one point, John X asked to examine one of our signs, and we resisted the opportunity to photograph him holding an anti-Scientology picket sign. I asked John X about Jonathon's SP declare, and he said that the circumstance of the moment was probably not one in which he could do anything for me (seeing as how I was walking in front of the building with a sign that said "Scientology hates free speech" and "Scientology invades privacy"), but he did say that he would look into it for me. (I explained that I knew Jonathon from many years ago, and that Jonathon had specifically asked me to look into it.) I'll probably follow up on this later this week or next. Russell Shaw showed up briefly, but apparently his only comment to us was to tell Jeff that one of his fellow protestors was smoking, and that made us all look bad. Right, Russ. A blue car with two passengers pulled into the parking lot across the street and drove slowly past our cars, then shortly thereafter turned around and parked. The passenger, who Jeff recognized as one of the PIs who had been near his house earlier this week, videotaped the rest of the protest (probably the last 1.5-2 hours of it). One of the protestors asked a young kid who was listening to some of our conversations (I thought he was one of the Scientologists, but he said that he wasn't) to go ask them what they were doing. When he returned, he said they claimed to be reporters for the Arizona Republic. He asked them if they were going to write a story, and they said "Probably not." The local Scientologists denied any knowledge of who these guys in the car were. We used a cellular phone to call the Republic, who denied having any reporters covering the protest. We videotaped the car's arrival, and also videotaped when a police car pulled up behind them. The police officer spoke with them for a while and then left. At around 6:15 p.m., we walked across the street to our cars, and stopped to chat with (and take some more photographs of) the PIs. They said that they thought the protest was a peaceful one, and that they were there to record any trouble so that restraining orders could be issued against troublemakers. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAwUBL6xvVG9embNmxkBRAQEIDQP/amNFhkGGj729wvquBQRZsCUEaHUkWA1k +7x4BaVlu2X8YtZTyFatoQK2RKJDu1WQTP+HZAYZCoDpuxNtOt0KtQChP6Pt18g1 T7reNLQu7qK5J2WTnt6yweqek+F87esu4SQMQPW1fbYGGP3l4Ob4Mb8OkHjqDyOM HvQ5DNuZojY= =EbwW -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----