Anonymous activists take on Scientology

Hearing about yet another in a recent string of global protests targeting the Church of Scientology, led by an unlikely band of freedom of speech cyberactivists, my curiosity got the better of me. I decided to check out the demo organized here in Vancouver last Saturday âe" one of four Canadian protests that took place on April 12.

At 11 in the morning, I discovered a somewhat sleepy group of 30 members and supporters of an Internet-based network of activists known as "Anonymous" [1] gathering across from the Vancouver office of the Church of Scientology to air their grievances. Wearing the V for Vendetta Guy Fawkes masks [2] ubiquitous in media coverage of their ongoing battle with the Church, I was surprised to find that what has often been dismissed as a quirky group of transients participating in the latest Internet fad was something else entirely.

Instead, the masked men and women with whom I spoke could more aptly be described as concerned citizens disturbed by what they describe to be a hostile organization aggressively pursuing anyone openly critical of its teachings, using an "attack the attacker" policy [3] with impunity to protect its carefully crafted image.

Specifically, protesters told me that at gatherings like this one, the Church of Scientology uses spies, after the protest, to photograph and follow protest participants. Information about protesters is subsequently used, these demonstrators allege, to harass, intimidate, and silence its opponents, and as an example of this, these protesters point to the case of journalist and author Paulette Cooper [4] and Scientology critic Keith Henson [5].

More widely documented are the Church's notorious lawsuits which have been used to control information disseminated about Scientology with some success. On this front, the Church recently attempted to use law to restrict dissemination of a leaked ten-minute video [6], featuring model Scientologist and king of kook Tom Cruise. The Church sent notices alleging copyright infringement [7] to sites hosting the video including Digg, Gawker and Defamer.com.

But these manoeuvres stirred a virtual hornet's nest. Fed up with the Church's aggressive tactics to silence critics, in mid-January Anonymous loosed its digital hounds of hell [8] onto Scientology's websites worldwide. This initial cyber campaign [9] âe" dubbed "Operation Chanology" [10] âe" used distributed denial-of-service attacks [11], black faxes [12] and crank calls [13] in an attempt to derail Scientology's operations.

In addition to these web attacks, Anonymous has made extensive (and, arguably effective) use of video communiqués. In these, Anonymous attempted to raise awareness about its concerns over the purported brainwashing [14] and mysterious deaths [15] of Scientology members, and the alleged harrassment [16] and intimidation [17] of Scientology critics. Most notably, the collective has used video posted on Facebook and YouTube to coordinate [18], build momentum for [19] and spread the word [20] about its real world protests.

Its first such protest, on February 10, attracted thousands of Anonymous supporters. In centres across the world âe" including Toronto [21], Montreal [22], L.A. [23], Boston [24], London [25] and Sydney [26] âe" groups gathered to protest the Church's latest censorship crusade. A second day of action on March 15 âe" planned to coincide with the birthday of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard âe" drew an even larger mass. Though the number of protesters in attendance at the demo in Vancouver was small, they were vocal and passionate, with many planning to rally for five to six hours.

While the discrete goals of this protest âe" namely, raising awareness of the Scientology's "disconnection policy" [27] âe" were serious, the atmosphere of the protest was downright carnivalesque. I met a mother wearing a cartoon yellow happy-face mask and a long blue wig, there to lend support to her daughter's demonstrations. She commented that, in contrast to the protests she remembered from the 60s where flowers would be passed out to convey a message of peace and love, Anonymous' protests often used humour to get their message across. Indeed, among the Guy Fawkes mask-wearing activists, I saw two "Burger Kings," [28] a woman with a beaded masquerade party mask, and others garbed in bright yellow t-shirts that say "Anonymous âe" Volunteer Minister" âe" a spoof on Scientology's "volunteer ministers" [29] program. Later, another protester rolled out the new "Anonymous Canadian flag" that features the group's black suit symbol in the centre with the red maple leaf placed where the head of the figure belongs.

With protests attracting thousands of participants worldwide, and many of its web videos generating millions of hits, Anonymous' own cult-like following seems the only ironic wrench in its efforts to attract a broad-based movement to bring down what it calls the "Cult of Scientology." While some of its tactics appear amateurish, Anonymous' ability to mobilize crowds should not be scoffed at. Its sophisticated uses of social networking sites, distributed video, and other digital tools to educate, organize, and energize interested persons represents a significant breakthrough in moving the hacktivist modus operandi from the virtual to the real-world to produce tangible results.

Regardless of what one might think of their cause, Anonymous will go down in Internet history as one of the first activist campaigns to successfully use web video to generate a ripple in the consciousness of the digerati, mobilizing hundreds of new activists.

And the Church of Scientology has learned from Anonymous. In an interesting turn of events, it created its own video response [30] to Anonymous' many communiqués. And in the wake of continued protests the organization has had rethink its message, as evidenced by the launch of its new official website [31], featuring slick videos explaining the religion's teachings and its community work.

For the first time in its existence, the Church of Scientology has met a formidable PR challenge that cannot be easily squashed in the courts. It will be interesting to watch, here from the sidelines, what happens next.

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