Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. Welcome to another episode of Scientology Stories. Today's episode is live. So if you're listening on the podcast or you're watching on YouTube or X or wherever you're tuning in, we are doing this live. So if you're listening on the podcast or you're watching on YouTube or X or wherever you're tuning in, we are doing this live. It is about five o'clock on a Tuesday here in Colorado. Let's bring on our guest today, my lovely wife Claire, as my co-host.
Speaker 1:And then we have joining us all the way from the United Kingdom. Have apostate alex, hey guys how's it? Going. It's going great. You had a very uh. You had a very busy weekend out there. Actually, you've had a very uh past few months out there in east grest, east grinstead yeah, I it's.
Speaker 3:it's been exhausting, so it's actually been quite nice to have two days off from YouTube and try not to think about all the Scientology stuff Totally.
Speaker 1:We're going to do a giveaway at the end of this video and Alex is actually just going to say when on the drawing little machine and he's going to pick the winners today at the end of the video. So if you guys want to tune in, stick around for that. But also, if you go into the comments and you put hashtag BFG, you will automatically be entered to win today's giveaway. So if you want to do that, you only have to do it once, and once you do it, it's out of the way. And actually I could put up a little there you go we usually like people to tell us where they're watching from and then also put hashtag BFG in there to enter today's giveaways. And then, yeah, other than that, I'll let you sort of run this thing, claire, and yeah, let's, let's get going and find out what Alex has been up to.
Speaker 2:Sure and Alex PTS for life is in the chat and he asks have you caught up on sleep yet?
Speaker 3:I have and he knows because he was here and he saw it firsthand last year, obviously, and he stayed with me for the protest last year, so he, uh, he knows how little sleep I get in the the lead up to the ies protest. So, yeah, I actually this year because I didn't want to overwork myself and I knew that it can be quite overwhelming, I don't want to be burnt out I scheduled two days, yesterday and today, to just like not do anything and just recover, um. So yeah, I'm, I'm definitely, I'm almost there, not completely back to normal, but almost nice, yeah, amazing work.
Speaker 2:So, yes, how about you run us through? The events leading up to it and then a recap of the days of protest.
Speaker 3:I was able to watch a bunch on youtube, but you know I'd love to hear it from you directly yeah, and and it's a lot as well I think I was live streaming for three or four hours, three days in a row, so I don't expect anybody to have watched the whole thing and, to my surprise, there were a handful of people who were there every time I checked into the live chat across all three days.
Speaker 3:So, firstly, thank you to those of you who watched it and were there supporting I think. For me it just felt so amazing. We had 18 protesters on the friday. We had less on the saturday and the sunday, but even though it was a small group, we knew that we had the support of thousands around the world and you know, I think it's it's up to like 14 000 views or something now over the weekend and I don't care so much about views and stuff on my channel, but you know it's a protesting. I count those people as people standing there with us protesting. So that means we have for every maybe four Scientologists at the IES event or sorry, for every one Scientologist we had four protesters about that.
Speaker 1:How many people does that tent that they erected? How many does?
Speaker 3:that hold. So they claim 6,000. But I did some maths last year because I worked out how big the tent was, with some drone footage and aerial shots, and I worked out what the legal health and safety capacity of the tent is and I estimate it to be about 3,000, 3,200 or something if you completely pack it out and there's no way it is completely full. I've seen pictures from inside and there are a lot of empty chairs and just being there on the ground seeing the cars and coaches arriving on the property. It was way smaller than last year.
Speaker 3:Like we noticed over 20 coaches last year because they use a car park at the rugby club opposite, and last year there were about 20 coaches. This year there were eight coaches, and that's for all of the orgs across Europe. So it was way smaller.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. Yeah, when we used to do the events when I worked at Golden Air Productions, I did several events at that. The same event that you protested was the event that we were producing once a year and they used to have it in what's called the Great Hall there. And I want to say that doesn't even fit If it's more than a thousand. It's like you literally would have to cram people into it. And so because I want to say I don't think it's 400.
Speaker 1:Maybe it is, it could be, but we would fill that and then we'd have overflow in the tent. Many people that they then wanted to have the event in the tent and have the overflow in the great hall and then that way they could do their big stages and all that because those big stages wouldn't fit into the great hall and it's a sort of a silly thing. They could have just had it in the great hall and then that's it, and then there could be a video screen outside for any, for all the screaming kids and and people that don't want to be there anyway, which the a large majority of the children that go to these events. They do not want to sit there for three hours and listen to david miscavige drone on.
Speaker 3:Well, I just on the kit. So, firstly, I think it's not long until they're going to have to go back to the great hall because scientology is drinking a rate of knots, and it really wouldn't surprise me if, in a couple of years time, if they do have to resort to that, because it's almost embarrassing to hold the is event in a tent of that size and have it half filled. So we may see that. But just regarding the children, this year I actually uncovered um, a promotional flyer that was sent to scientologists a couple of weeks beforehand, and they had arranged with Greenfield School, which is the Delphi of the UK, as Claire obviously knows because you went there they had childcare at Greenfield, so any parents going to the IES event could drop their kids off at Greenfields and then go pick them up afterwards, which is outrageous.
Speaker 2:That's like a 45-minute drive. No.
Speaker 3:I don't think it's that long, but it's a good 20 minutes, half an hour, I reckon, from memory anyway.
Speaker 2:Yeah, factor in I never had a car. I was always riding on the bus, so that might be distorting my memory.
Speaker 1:When you're a kid that's a lot longer of a drive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but still that's a long way away.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and also considering they. As we discussed last time, we spoke claire about their safeguarding concerns that were raised by the government at greenfields, and also greenfields were providing accommodation for adults staying for the ies event. So we have the situation where complete strangers, adults who have no background checks or anything anyone from europe could pay for a room to stay at Greenfields. At the same time, they're looking after kids whose parents are not there because they're at the IS event. It was a recipe for disaster 100%.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I don't even think about that in Scientology, Like that's like even that you're saying that that is not even a question that would come up internally, that we should double check this. You say that like they had just public, like civilian Scientologists staying at this school and the port captain, the person in charge of the public relations for the international headquarters of Scientology he arranged for the firefighters, which just happened to be prisoners of California prisons. He arranged for them to stay at the same place where the children of the people that worked at the headquarters stayed at. That's what he arranged. Like he offered that up as a possible alternative so that they wouldn't be staying on the mountain that david miscavige stayed on. That was not acceptable, but he could stay where the kids were. That's not a problem. He can do that.
Speaker 3:They can do that so, yeah, outrageous, isn't it? It's just it. It's truly remarkable how they, they just don't think about these things, because they just they think that they are above the law and they have the solution to everything, and their ethics system and so on is better than any. You know, I don't want to use the w word, but any you know non-scientology formula, and it's just that I think this this was the thing that I did a lot this year with the protest, planning and stuff was really giving scientology the opportunity to let themselves make mistakes, and we were talking about the marquee, the tent.
Speaker 3:One of the things that I did beforehand was look up the planning regulations, because you can't just build a building, a structure, without permission, and in the UK there's you're allowed a temporary structure for 28 days, as long as it's less than 100 square meters. So you know, you can put a temporary marquee in your garden, for example, um, but this thing is, like, you know, 4 000 square meters and it's meant to hold 3 000 people. So I've reported it to the council and I said, look, this is, this is clearly bigger than 100 square meters and it's up for 28 days. And they initially said, oh yeah, we know, however it, it's always temporary. It does get taken down after the event. So we're not going to do anything. And I said, yeah, but it's up for a good two months, which is double the period and it's way bigger.
Speaker 3:So I kept pushing and it resulted in Scientology getting a planning contravention notice, which is kind of a warning. It's saying you've broken the rules. You have 21 days to tell us why, or get rid of it, or will there'll be further action. So of course they'll take the tent down, but it puts them on notice, I think. But what's even funnier is when the daily mail covered the whole protest situation, um karen powell, the spokesperson over in la, made a statement that said we grow to go to great lengths to ensure that we cooperate with the council. We don't break any regulations.
Speaker 1:They've only started doing that since you put them on the radar, I bet you for years they haven't even gotten a plan or a approval or because they're going to do the same thing, no matter what they're going to say. Hey, if they notice it, then someone's going to say you guys, put this up, you got to take it down or pay a fine. And then by the time they answer, they'll say here's a picture, there's nothing there, we it's gone.
Speaker 3:So there you go it's kind of like a dirty little secret. Everyone in east grinstead knows that this event goes on. They know they break the rules, they know it causes havoc on the roads, um, but they just kind of put up with it because it's one weekend and I've come into this with the approach of like, look, they can hold their event. I'm not opposed to them. You know, if people want to travel from across europe to sit in a tent in a field in the dark country like the sussex countryside and listen to david miscavige speak for three hours, be my guest, but do it as you're supposed to play by the rules, right? There are regulations there that need to be followed and if they applied for planning permission they would probably get it.
Speaker 1:And that's my point is why aren't they months? They can just say we need it for two months exactly because we're gonna, it's gonna. We need a month to build it and set build the stage and set up all the carpets.
Speaker 3:And then we need three weeks for david miscavige to rehearse in there to make sure he doesn't say one word out of place, and then we have the day for the event and then the next day we take it all down and it's putting a lot of strain on their relationship with the council as well, because another thing that they have a premises license which basically gives them permission to hold large events of up to 7,000 people on the property, but one of the conditions is they have to provide six weeks notice to the council to say, hey, we're doing this, and last year I called them out for it. They didn't provide the six weeks notice and Janet Laveau, who's been the head of OSA in the UK for a couple of decades at least, she replied to the council and said oh, I'm sorry, it's my first time organizing this event. I had no idea. We'll make sure we do it next year. And I I said that's absolute rubbish. But, ok, fair enough, it's the first time they've been reported for it, so I understand the council wanting to be a bit lenient.
Speaker 3:So this year I heard, like a couple of people under the radar, that the event was going to be happening on the first or second weekend of October, so I think it was six weeks exactly beforehand. I emailed the council and said, hey, have they given you six weeks notice? And, through a Freedom of Information Act request, I've now got all the emails that went on in the background and, instead of replying to say no, the council emailed Janet Laveau and said hey, don't forget to hand in your six weeks notice. Oh, come on. And then they did the next day and then replied to me and said yeah, we got the six weeks notice. And then they did the next day and then replied to me and said yeah, we got the six weeks notice.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:You know why? They don't know when the event is? Because of Miscavige, right, exactly? There's two possible reasons that they wouldn't do that because Miscavige won't say this is when it's going to be. If someone says when it's going to be, he will invariably say I didn't want to do it, then I wanted it. Or Tom can't go. It has to be coordinated around Tom Cruise, because if Tom Cruise doesn't come to these things, then no one would come. The reason they can get several hundred or a few thousand people at most is because tom cruise is going to be there and they know. It's sort of an agreement that if you can get to tom and get a picture, he'll take it with you, because this is his one time a year to show hey, I'm a scientologist and look, here I am with run-of-the-mill scientologists so, and that that's why I described tom cruise in the Daily Mail article last week as a fundraising tool, because that's exactly how he's used by Scientology.
Speaker 1:Yes, 100%, you're absolutely right, yeah, the other reason is that they don't want to file these things and they don't want to put in writing these things, because then people like you will know exactly what it's going to be and then you can get all your ducks in a row. Unfortunately for them, it seems like you may have already had all your ducks in a row, no matter which date they picked, so it doesn't. It's sort of silly that they play these games with everybody when we know how they play the game, so you can kind of get around or plan. You know it's going to be in October and you know it's likely going to be on one to three different weekends. They never have done it any other time. There's been a few times where I think it slipped into the beginning of November or it was in the late September, but for the most part it's always in October, because that is the anniversary of the, the forming of the IAS and this whole thing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and again, it's just giving them an opportunity, because I know that's how they operate and I know it's all at the whim of Miscavige. And you know I work in the entertainment events industry, right, so I'm I'm always surrounded by people who organize large events that thousands of people go to, and it's a year in the planning, if not more, every single time, and this thing is just thrown together at the last minute in a matter of weeks, because they know that. You know Scientologists have to go there. They're given the instruction. If you can possibly go, you have to, and if you can't afford the travel, that's OK, because we're putting on a coach from Copenhagen which is like a 20 hour drive. There's literally no escaping it. And so I've been trying to really show that to the council.
Speaker 3:Scientology applied in July for a public spaces protection order, which is basically a ban on protesting outside St Hill.
Speaker 3:It's an exclusion order that would limit the area and say, hey, there's no, you can't hold signs or, you know, shout chants or whatever the conditions are within a certain radius of the property.
Speaker 3:They applied in July and again through FOI I can now see all these emails. The council said OK, well, when is the event happening and Scientology for months couldn't give the answer. They said we know it's in October, it turns out Janet Laveau told the council that they were preparing for it to be the first or second weekend of October because that's what they'd been instructed to prepare for, and then, about three weeks beforehand, she finally emailed into the council and said we've now been given the go ahead from up lines and it's going to be on this weekend, the 23rd or whatever it was. Um, so it just shows it's so last minute and they're just waiting. And it actually worked to their detriment because for them to, they could have potentially got this ban in place and they could have prepared better. They could have closed the road, because you have to apply six weeks beforehand if you want to close the road, but you can't do that if you don't have the date. So it's just showing their disorganization up to the council yeah and they've tried to do this.
Speaker 1:They've done the same sort of thing around the shrine auditorium. They've done the same thing at the international headquarters. They've done the same thing in Los Angeles at what's normally referred to as the complex or the group it'll take, so that they can shut down both sides of the street and then provide a detour around all their stuff, and then that way protesters can't get near where the Scientologists are going to be. And this is a common tactic that they also use in Florida at the Ruth Eckerd Hall or at the Fort Harrison Hotel, where they sometimes do smaller events. So it's amazing that this is the first time that they've actually tried to do it in the UK, but it's not surprising that they failed utterly, because they're very good at that well, you know, it's still sorry.
Speaker 2:You're gonna say something no, I was just gonna ask too. On that note, I heard you talking about in your live, when you're protesting, that they had put up bushes and a fence that's bush tech.
Speaker 1:Bush tech also another very a variation of sprinkler tech and various other. Yeah, speaker, tech, tech bush tech.
Speaker 3:Oh, and what?
Speaker 2:about umbrella tech. Were they doing umbrella tech? They were doing umbrella tech exactly.
Speaker 3:It's actually comical. I can't help but laugh at how much they try. So, for example, what you were talking about is a couple of years ago they erected a fence and planted a hedge directly opposite the St Hill entrance, and that's because protesters used to gather there. That was before I started speaking out and I was like this isn't OK. How come no one's complained about this?
Speaker 3:And so I contacted the highways department because that's not their land, it's the verge opposite their property. And I said look, this is causing an obstruction for the protesters and for any attendees, because last year they they didn't have enough parking space on the property, so they were using the rugby club opposite um and people having to get out the cars and walk along the road. And it's this dark country lane with no pavement, it's muddy, it's quite dangerous. And so I was making the case that it's this dark country lane with no pavement, it's muddy, it's quite dangerous. And so I was making the case that it's unsafe for the attendees, for them to have this here, never mind the protesters.
Speaker 3:And the Highways Agency wrote to Scientology and ordered that they remove both the fence and the hedgerow and gave them 28 days to do so, which would have been the Monday before the protest. Um, obviously they didn't remove it because they know they get a 14 day extension. And they're now claiming uh, they admit to planting it and putting it there, but they're claiming that they did so with the permission of the council. And the council is saying we didn't give you permission. You need to provide evidence of that, otherwise we're going to take it down and send you the bill.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they've also done that exact same thing at the international headquarters. They actually put in no trespassing signs on the easement side of the property the county's property, and not on there to push the road smaller and smaller so that there would be nowhere for protesters to walk. And they've over the years they've sort of engineered this a way of thinning the road and they even have islands in the middle of the road that's in the that goes through the international headquarters, to make the lanes there less room for lanes, so that there's, if you make the shoulder less and the lanes less and then put a big Island in the middle that no one's allowed to protest on, then that this gets rid of. So yeah, it's no surprise to me that they're they basically they have a very limited bag of tricks they pull out of, but that it just it.
Speaker 3:It's comical that they do the same thing everywhere around the world and they don't give up like so. This is another thing that they were doing was, um, on the verge directly outside. The profit like this is right. I have spent hundreds of hours over the last few months looking up by the property boundaries and like looking at their old planning applications to show the layout of the road and all of this stuff is. It's terribly boring, but it's worth it, because then I know my stuff and I can say no, look, when we're there on site. This is their property.
Speaker 3:They accused this official HM, his majesty's land registry copy. They accused me of photoshopping it. Oh my god. I know it's ridiculous, but essentially they put on the verge directly outside. They put these massive plant pots last year and they completely block off the verge and then they park cars all the way down so that there's no where protesters stand, and so I have a couple of local residents who were going past and taking pictures in the days beforehand and thursday night they put out these huge planters, the event being on friday, and so I reported it straight away.
Speaker 3:Highways wrote an email and called saint hill up first thing, friday morning, and ordered they remove the planters, which they did, and then a couple of hours later they put new planters out that was slightly smaller, but it's like like on the edge of the verge, so it's actually in the road. And then I said you know, I reported that again and highways called up again and said we told you, not like you can't block this right of way, get rid of them. And so when we arrived there on the day, they had got rid of all the planters, but then they put a barrier in place to try and separate the area of where we were standing as protests and where they were, and it just goes on and on and on. It's like how many times does the council need to tell them not to do something? And they go, okay, we won't do it, and they just try and do something slightly similar.
Speaker 1:For next year. You have to make sure, you have to say can you? Because they always do this. You have to say in there you cannot place planters, pots, plants, benches, bushes, barricades oh my god, the bagpipes don't, oh, oh my goodness, dude, you were talking.
Speaker 1:I wasn't able to join for all three hours of every single thing, but whenever I popped in and you were speaking with that, it looked like it was almost always the same officer that I saw you speaking with. When you did speak with him, it was the same one that asked you to take down our favorite Davy doll fake.
Speaker 3:Navy Davy, Captain Whack from.
Speaker 1:PGA. When you were talking to that guy, I was so impressed how you were. He basically interacted with you and said, hey, we'd like to take the doll down because it represents their profit, and I like how you just went right into it. You said, hey, we'd like to take the doll down because it represents their profit, and I like how you just went right into it. You said, well, yeah, just so you know, just for your information. And this is all what's going out on the live. And I thought it's so amazing that he weaved all this information into a response to them saying, hey, we don't like the Captain Davey is offensive does. To them saying, hey, we don't like the Captain Davy as offensive does, but then that David Miscavige is not listed on any of their formal documents for the United Kingdom.
Speaker 3:He's not a designer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's not an owner, he's not a representative, he doesn't exist as a person really in this location at this time. He has no rights or benefits as their leader in the united kingdom, because he's not. He's not on a single document and then also he's not their prophet. He's a guy who works at a place in los angeles that really, at the end of the day, shouldn't have anything to do with these guys here yeah, and I'm not even sure if he has the right work visa, because he's definitely working when he's here.
Speaker 3:Does he have a work visa because? He's definitely working when he's here. Does he have?
Speaker 2:a work visa Completely. That's a good point.
Speaker 1:That's a great question.
Speaker 2:And I loved Alex too, that you responded with. Well, it's interesting that you find that offensive. They have hate websites on me and all these other people. I was like exactly Tax exempt dollars paying for hate sites and leveraging people's families against them and so on and so forth. Anyway, it was really good response on your part thank you.
Speaker 3:I mean the, the, the official term that they used, because this is by the law. If for something to be harassment in the uk, it needs to be, it needs to cause alarm and distress. So the words were that the Captain Davy doll caused alarm and distress.
Speaker 2:And this is for Scientologists who can allegedly confront and shatter suppression and who can handle any communication situation, no matter how rough, right.
Speaker 1:Cause over matter energy, space and time, but not dolls, not dolls.
Speaker 3:They cause alarm and distress.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my response was well, I'm sorry, let me just insert one other comment. I love that they see the resemblance, yeah, I was really torn in my mind.
Speaker 3:I had a split second to decide which route am I going to go down here? Because I could admit that it is very clearly captain davey, but or I could go down the route, whereas no, this is just. This is a naval officer that looks like an elf, that's a bit dead behind the eyes.
Speaker 1:Like I could have gone down either route, do you know another guy who's named davy that has a fake navy. Is there such a thing?
Speaker 3:well, yes, that's the thing I mean. I was like, look, it's going to be hard to to argue that it's not david, because it's captain davy. Fair enough, let's be honest about it. Um, but I I was like, like I mentioned, well, I find it alarming and distressing when they sit outside my house with private investigators every day, or when they try and hack into my website a thousand times a day, or when they do this and they do this.
Speaker 3:Or you know, when my friend was abused, or when my friend had this happened, or when this happened to me, when they locked me in a room, like I just listed all the things, and I was like, are you really trying to tell me that this is alarming and distressing? And fortunately the police officer got it and it was like cool, I'm just asking. And I I said I will politely take down the doll, you know, as a gesture of goodwill, because I don't want to antagonize them, but please note that this is ridiculous we're gonna have to get little masks for them so they can be disguised next time um, yeah, and maria in the chat said can we get a bagpipe for that doll?
Speaker 1:yeah you know what?
Speaker 2:I've got.
Speaker 1:I've got a small toy factory that's going on over here at my, at my warehouse. So between we got, we got Bobbles, we got Leah and Mike, which, if you guys didn't know, we just announced these a few days ago. And then we got the Davey dolls. I'm trying to get out of the doll business, not start making accessories for them. If I make a bagpipe for fake Davey, I'm going to be making purses for the Leo bobblehead and the next thing you know, mike's going to get a fedora. It's too much, guys. We got to just take it easy.
Speaker 3:The bagpipes were ridiculously incessant. It was three bagpipe songs on repeat all day, every day, and it was the same three last year and so I'm kind of like programmed to kind of ignore them. So I don't notice it that much now, but I do get that it's irritating on the live stream. But you know, the thing is the volume. So there's if they erect a fence temporarily along the perimeter where we stand so that we can't see into the property or they can't see us, and they put us loud speaker speaker just one, not one both sides for everyone to hear. It's one speaker pointed directly at us as protesters. So it's clearly aimed at just drowning us out and annoying us, that's what's referred to as speaker tech.
Speaker 1:Speaker tech yeah.
Speaker 1:This also started at the International. They actually started doing that when I still worked at the property and I was working in the audiovisual areas and we set up towers of speakers all along the highway with amplifiers and it was a major production to set up these towers and then they would play stuff, but it was just played to annoy them. Now that there's things YouTube and other things now they can play it to ruin your audio or in some locations I think they did this in Hollywood they'll play copyrighted music so that your video will be unmonetized. So even if you do leave it up like some people are like whatever, I'm going to make $3.83 from this video, I'll suck it up and you can put the music on there. But it sounds like in this one it was more meant of an annoyance or an audio ruiner rather than a copyright thing, it's both.
Speaker 3:It is copyrighted. My live stream's got copyright struck, but fortunately Because of the music.
Speaker 3:Yeah, those three bagpipe songs are copyrighted, but fortunately you have an exemption under fair use, because I'm not recording the audio. It's just incidental, it's in the background of something happening in the public. I can appeal it, and last year I appealed it and it was fine. So I got my five bucks or whatever I got from ad revenue. But, um, you know, it's just one of those things that causes a nuisance, because you know that, you know that's going to be delayed, and any ad revenue, they have to review it all and then you have to go through the legal rigmarole of it all and that's exactly what their purpose is.
Speaker 3:Um, and also, with the volume, every time we started chanting, they, they whacked the volume up and so obviously I reported it to the council officers that were there observing the protest and, uh, they were like, yeah, we can see, and they were not taking notes of every time they turned it up and turned it down. Um, and then on the saturday, we actually I'm surprised that the police officer managed to do this, but we managed to negotiate with scientology, because they didn't like the fact that we were standing on both sides of the entrance, because then, whichever direction people are coming from, they see us. So for the Saturday, the Patrons Ball. Um, we agreed, I said I. I will happily agree for us to be on just one side of the road, on the condition you remove the barrier that's blocking us, you don't stand there with umbrellas and you turn the bloody bagpipes down those are my exact words, and the police officer who was in charge, the sergeant, went and negotiated and they came.
Speaker 3:He came back and he said, yeah, they've agreed to it and I was like fantastic yeah, but they still every over maybe half an hour or so.
Speaker 3:The volume just kept creeping up and I kept. I said, guys, if you keep turning the volume up, we're just going to go and stand on the other side as they run back and turn it down again. And the whole day was just constantly like they were trying it and trying it all day. So by the sunday I was like, look, it's not worth us doing that again today. So we're going to be on both sides. You put it as loud as you want, because I know the council aren't going to like it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's another thing like maybe in the future, if this, ever, if a protest takes place like this again, then you could say these are all the things that you did last time that are not acceptable they should be. Or these are all the things Scientology did last time that are not acceptable. These are all the things Scientology did last time that were unacceptable and were basically unchecked or they didn't agree to not do it anymore. The other thing that you got to know, alex, is that if this shows up on David Miscavige's radar and he makes a comment, they're locked in.
Speaker 1:So if he said you know, what would be funny is if you guys play bagpipes while they were protesting, and then there always has to be bagpipes Anytime somebody protests at St Hill, they have to play bagpipes because that's what David Miscavige said. So there could be things in that are happening in and around your protest that scientology has no choice to do. But if he just said play bagpipes and didn't say play it loud, then somebody could interpret that as they were playing the bag types bagpipes, but we had to turn it down so that they couldn't be. You know it's, it's, it's all a mind screw in Scientology where you have to do nonsense and comply to somebody who's ordering you to do nonsense and somehow still live your life and do your job. And this is the thing.
Speaker 3:I'm just like giving them the opportunity to make themselves look like fools, just like giving them the opportunity to make themselves look like fools. So because they turned the volume up every time we chanted and turned it down and then turned up again, they made it clear that the bagpipes were in response to us as protesters, not because they wanted to create an atmosphere for people attending the event. So we're going through this public spaces protection order process at the moment. We're going through this public spaces protection order process at the moment and as part of that, they have to review whether a ban on protesting would be necessary and proportional or whether there are other alternatives, like can we come to an arrangement, for example, standing on one side of the road or the other? And during that point, you know, I can bring up all of these things and say, look, they're clearly doing this to disrupt the protesters, and here's the footage to show it. And they're doing this and doing this. So it's I.
Speaker 3:I deliberately played it cool this year and probably didn't complain as much as I would normally, because I wanted to just gather the evidence to demonstrate all of their tactics. And they're just there to interfere with us. Why are three. They so scared that you know 3 000 attendees are going to be disrupted by 18 protesters. There were 11 of us on Sunday. Like come on guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you could also use as evidence the speaker. Tech and bush tech and plant tech that they've done in countless other locations around the world and you can say Scientology does this everywhere. There's no reason for bushes to be here or plants to be here. This is how they block people from viewing Scientology facilities and try to make it so. There's no place for the protesters to safely and that is a key thing. They try to make it unsafe for the protesters. Among everything, that's the top thing that they do make it unsafe or uncomfortable for the protesters to be there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and one of the things I was trying to point out this year is those precautions or those things they put in place that make it unsafe for us, make it unsafe for everybody, because there's a dark country lane, so on the sunday, for example, um, they didn't turn. They have these big flood lights illuminating the road and they didn't turn them on. They claimed it was because the clocks changed overnight because in the uk we change our clocks a week before and they were automatic and and I was like, no, that's absolutely rubbish, because you know there's, they weren't on automatic. They came on different times, on the friday and on the saturday and the sunday. When they did come on, it wasn't exactly an hour one side or the other, so it's just they didn't want to turn them on until 20 minutes before the event started. But I was making the case that that's making it unsafe for the attendees, for we brought our own lights, so we were clearly illuminated. We had our high-vis jackets and we put them along the verge, so our safety was thought about beforehand.
Speaker 3:Their games that they're playing is only making it unsafe for their own people and that's negligence you know, one of the things the highways department said was, if you park cars along the verge or you obstruct the right of way, that invalidates your public liability insurance. So if someone hurts themselves, you're not covered and by law you can't hold events of that size without having the insurance, and so it's just giving them, like I said, the opportunity, and kindness and compassion is really important as well, and you know, kindness and compassion was really important as well. But when it comes to people walking along the road and such, we were actually like pointing them where to park and we were saying hey guys, you know, don't walk in the road, walk on the verge. And we have hours and hours of footage of us guiding the attendees who didn't realize we were protesters to begin with, because we weren't shouting in their faces or anything. We were saying hey and try and stick to the pavement, don't walk in the road, there's a car coming. And they were like, oh, thank you very much. And then we go look, if you ever need any help, we're here to support you. And they go what? And then we give them an aftermath card or something and then suddenly it clicks in their head and it was actually a really beautiful tactic but, like you know, we were trying to highlight safety was really important and, for example, one of the things they did was stop cars outside the gates to let people out, and then they walk in the road.
Speaker 3:And so I made the point to the police and the council that that's unsafe. They have a huge property with multiple entrances that they could be using. They're not using the coach drop off point down by the stables, and that's because all the staff are probably eating dinner right now. They're not using the manor entrance because that's reserved for L Ron Hubbard, who, by the way, died in 1986. And this is the only other entrance and so they're using that one. And so we were trying to say, guys, if you drop people off in the property, then they don't have to walk past us protesters, so we cause less disruption and they're safer. And Scientology just wouldn't go along with it. And even though that's to our detriment, because we want people walking past us, it shows that we're prioritizing safety and again made them look bad all by their own doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I and I don't understand that, like the many events I attended at St Hill, they would always drive the coach down to the central area at the bottom of the St Hill Green.
Speaker 1:They don't do that anymore because I'm pretty sure I don't know if it's still this way but they had the CMO and that's where Dave hangs out at the manor and that's sort of like where, if Tom is there, that's where Tom might stay or that's where they would keep those kind of folks.
Speaker 3:It's changed now. So CMO and CLO are actually on an off site. They're at a different place now. They bought the Fonthill Lodge which used to be a school on Coombe Hill Road, literally just up the road. They bought that and converted it. That's now CLO and CMO.
Speaker 3:The stables which used to be birthing and, you know, eat food there was, I think the galley was there. That and the new Quoll building are, you know, quoll now. So they don't really use it, other than they built this coach pick up and drop off place where the buses run to the birthing and drop people off in the morning and pick them up in the evening. So it is supposed to be a coach pick up and drop off point but they don't use it because it's the other side of the property and because that's where all the staff are going to be eating their food on, on the RPS or whatever and the like I said. The other entrance is the manor which is, I imagine, where Tom Cruise would be staying or Dave Miscavige, and the only other entrance is the gates where we were.
Speaker 1:Wow, so they won't drop them off at the manor and then they won't drop them off at the drop off point.
Speaker 3:No, and if you look at the property, does it make any sense? No, you're not going to see it very well on this, maybe I should send you if you want to look it up you can look it up.
Speaker 3:But like there is, there is a clear route. Right, I'm, it's all back to front for me, but you could enter on one through one entrance and drive through the property and leave through the other. And I'm not a traffic management expert by any stretch of the imagination. But I was trying to say to the council, surely it makes sense to for everyone to go in, drop them off and then come out. But no, they refused to do. They even hired a traffic management company. This was another thing. It was absurd. They were trying to claim that last year protesters standing in the road was what caused disruption to the local community and long tailbacks and congestions on the on the road and stuff. And I was like no, it's because of the 3 000 scientologists coming from all over Europe trying to cram into this property when they're only using one entrance. And so they were like, okay, this year we're going to have a traffic management company who just stood in the car park and told the coaches where to park.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, that's what they needed, that's what they were missing. It's nuts.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, it's ridiculous so much nonsense.
Speaker 1:I do appreciate that you were following the local laws and regulations and being very cordial with the law enforcement that showed up and that sort of thing. We want to if people are listen. I've been protesting since the early 2000s. Since the early 2000s, like when I got out in 2005,. I was protesting in 2006 and 2007 and 2008 and going forward when we were when we still lived in Los Angeles, so I'm very familiar about how, if you are protesting and you do something that Scientology can misconstrue in any way whatsoever, they will use that until the end of time. They because I attended anonymous protests in 2007 or 2008 or when 2009, whenever I did um, I and myself and claire there's a website that's called mr and mrs anonymous and it talks about how we're part of Anonymous, even though we're not anonymous.
Speaker 2:So we can't be part of Anonymous. We're like go word, clear the definition of anonymous. You know who we are.
Speaker 1:Anyway, you know what's funny?
Speaker 2:What is wrong with you, Actually? I?
Speaker 1:want to show this real quick because in 2000, every year when there would be protests, at least in Los Angeles in the United States, when there is a protest, people take pictures of the protest signs and then they rank the protest signs for the year. And in 2010, this was I don't know if they ever did the final list, but this was the best protest sign of 2010 so far. And it says Conan saved me from Scientology. And someone sent this to me the other day and I thought wouldn't it be funny if we kind of could get some of these going again?
Speaker 1:The person who sent me this asked me if we could track this person down and if you look here, it says Conan saved me from Scientology. And this was during when Conan O'Brien, who's a talk show host in the United States, in May of 2010, he was fired from the show that he was on the one of the networks here, and then there was a big protest. Anyway, I don't need to track the guy down because, um, because I still actually have the sign from that day and, uh, they unfortunately they took off the link to my website that was on there, but, um, I did have the best protest sign in 2012, so I know a thing about that puts my signs to shame, mark, anyway.
Speaker 2:No, you had great signs, Alex. I love them.
Speaker 1:I didn't have a doll back then I could bring over today. I mean just having. I can't. When you sent me that link to the video that you had to put the doll away, I was like you've got to be kidding me. They know about the doll now this is amazing, a doll and distress.
Speaker 2:So for anyone watching, if you don't have your very own Davy doll, head on over to the spshopcom where you can get your own SP paraphernalia.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm tempted to suggest that at the next protest we all dress up as Captain Davy of the fake Space Navy protest. We all dress up as captain davy of the fake space navy. Um, but that's all on hold at the moment because I mentioned earlier about the pspo public space protection order, just to to inform you and your audience like the protest is over. But actually the hard work for me now begins, because what is happening is the council are reviewing. They were there observing the protest.
Speaker 3:Scientology claimed that our protest causes disruption to local community. It's persistent. There are certain criteria that need to be met in order to ban a protest in a certain area, and so the council were observing it. They are now reviewing all of the evidence. All the people that attended the protest can hand in statements, and it's already very one sided because, of course, they are going to supply 3000 statements from Scientology Scientologists saying that we disrupted them and we hurled abuse at them, and this, that and the other, and we're going to supply 18 statements that say we didn't do that.
Speaker 3:That's why it was important to have the police there and the council, and there was a lot of work beforehand. You know, I went down and met with councillors. I went down and met, we did a site visit with the police a week beforehand and we scoped out where we want to stand. There's a lot of planning that goes into it. Now they're reviewing the evidence. They then decide in four weeks time whether to go ahead with public consultation. If they decide to go ahead with that, then it opens it up until I think it's from end of November until the end of December or beginning of January.
Speaker 3:That's when the public will be able to give their views and then it goes to a vote at the council and they will decide at the end of january whether or not to ban the protesting outside saint hill. And it's not any protest group or any protester, it's. It's actually banning certain activities. So they will specify it is now illegal to hold a sign outside saint hill or it's illegal to chant things outside. So it will be a list and that ban will be in place indefinitely and for a minimum of three years.
Speaker 3:And so the pressure a was on over the weekend to show and demonstrate that we are there with kindness and compassion, didn't want to cause disruption. But b now the pressure is on because we now have to go through all this rigmarole and legal loopholes. And if they do implement a PSPO, the appeals process is straight to the high court. So it's certainly not something to joke around about and I'm taking it very, very seriously. But this is the stressful part now. So I've taken my two days off, but I've got my work cut out for me for the next few months.
Speaker 2:And, as I've said, alex, whatever you need, I'm in as, having grown up in the cadet org at St Hill. Whatever testimony I can give, whatever I can do to help, I'm down for that 100%.
Speaker 3:Thank you. I appreciate that and I appreciate got the support of people over in the States and there are other UK people. It does feel like I'm kind of fighting alone sometimes, but it really does mean a lot to know that I've got the support of literally thousands of people online that you know, if it opens up to public consultation. You know, I don't know whether they'll allow statements from people abroad or not, but perhaps they will, perhaps they won't, but there's a community here that are offering support. So it's just about how do we use that, utilize that support, because what this is is this is a potential ban and restriction on free speech, which is a way bigger issue than you know Scientology it's like that's a whole another kettle of fish, totally yeah okay is there anything else we?
Speaker 1:need to cover, or should we do some? Uh, read some comments and do some giveaways?
Speaker 2:yeah, let's go through the comments I highlighted a bunch, so you pull them up, honey. I'll read them and, alex, you can respond. Sure, all right, buck buddy question. Can you apply for temporary no parking on the road in front of your protest for next year?
Speaker 3:yeah, so we did that last year. Actually, I had a temporary road closure in place, um, and it was approved, and then scientology meddled and they got a counselor whose name, I kid you not, is dick sweat man. Um, he's the local councillor that scientology loved. So they they, you know called up dick and he basically tried to stop the temporary road closure, um, and then it got cancelled and then it was reinstated in the morning. So there was a lot of back and forth.
Speaker 3:We ended up having the road closure permit, but we didn't enforce it because what we'd agreed with the police instead was that they would give us a rolling escort down the road so that causes less disruption to the local community. We can't restrict traffic and access to properties, so the road closure all that does is just give us a little bit more space to protect protesters. So we came up with this agreement with the police and that's what we did again this year and if we're allowed to do it, we'll do it again next year, because it's, overall, keeps us safe and we can be on public land. I think ideally there would be maybe an extended space, maybe we can close a small portion of one of the lanes, maybe, um, but that's a discussion for next year okay, sounds good.
Speaker 2:Dr x in the house. Quick hello from paul and I. Real world beckons clinical trials and world first surgery. Well done to alex sp chef and all the protesters involved in the is protest wow, thank you, dr x.
Speaker 3:Dr x is awesome she completely.
Speaker 2:Uh, love food kitchen. I really must join alex next year. It's been 15 years since I last protested saint hill and, although I suspect without the guy fox mask, they'll suddenly stop inviting me to events there yes probably good, good chance of that. Uh, socky mcsockface. The only other things I know hundreds of people go into a tent to see something entertaining is a circus that's not another thing.
Speaker 3:That is that. That is what it is yep, completely kaz.
Speaker 2:Hey, greetings from melbourne, australia. Uh, mary k, london. Hi everyone from new mexico, hello, and bach buddy. Hello from minnesota. Sorry, I tagged a bunch of ones hi from west virginia at the beginning of where we people were joining us from. So there you go. Uh, echoplex media. Alex is just super nice, that's why he's good at talking to people.
Speaker 3:There you go, alex thank you, I appreciate that love it comment.
Speaker 2:impressed with alex skill at talking and debating with everyone. Yes, indeed, great job.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Danielle Chamberlain in the house Question Do you know if they have a PRS license? Alex?
Speaker 3:I got them in trouble for that last year. So PRS is the. I don't know what it exactly stands for. I think it's public record service or something like that. Essentially, if you want to play music in the uk, you have to have a prs license as a business, whether that's playing live music or recorded music over a speaker system. If you are running a shop and you just want to have music playing over, like a radio station or something, you have to have a license for it. It's not expensive and you know it's. It goes towards paying rights for the musicians that made the music and so obviously they're playing copyrighted music over the loudspeakers.
Speaker 3:They play music at these events. They have live performers. Even though the jive aces are their own band, they still have to have a prs license for the jive aces to officially play their own songs on the property and so yeah, looked it up last year, they they did not have a PRS license. I reported them for it. I don't know, off the top of my head, if they had one in place for this year. I would imagine they did. But you can look it up online, wow.
Speaker 2:There you go. Catherine Olson, I think they try to do things in the UK that are easy to get away with in the US and it can backfire big time because the laws are different, exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean the UK is in the Scientology world.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you guys agree with this, but most of the people I've spoken to said that the UK are always known for doing things a little bit differently in terms of the orgs and like not following orders and we're just doing our own thing anyway, because it's St Hill it'son's home, um, and so they are definitely trying that.
Speaker 3:But there are some things that they they've tried all over the world, like we were talking about earlier the obstructions and the bush tech and the sound tech. But, yeah, the I think because I've spent so much time educating counselors and the law enforcement and building relationships with these people, I've been able to educate them and say, hey, this is what they're going to do, this is why they're say, hey, this is what they're going to do, this is why they're going to do it, this is how they're going to justify it. And that kind of prepares them so that when Scientology claim that we're harassing them, I've already got in place to counsel people, to make sure they're there to observe it themselves, to see that we're not harassing them, and I think that work beforehand is really important, and so I think that's why they're not getting away with it so much this year.
Speaker 2:Yep, I 100% agree that that type of work is so, so important. Marla Dillard, all in Neverin 100. There you go.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Yes, we need the support of Neverins. There's not many. X-sign holders so the more help we can get, the better. Danielle's here.
Speaker 2:Thank you, danielle, good to see you here we love danielle danielle's lovely, all right, uh, coffee milk dude, thank you. Thanks for joining us. Salty beach girl, laurie. Alex, my friend, you were built for this. Your temper temperature is on point. I think she meant temper temperament thank you, he's hot, he's doing okay, sure, temperament and temperature they.
Speaker 3:They certainly do try, and this is one thing I will give scientology credit for. This right is doings. Spending so many hours in the course room doing TRs. It does prepare you to be able to deal with stuff that they throw at you in the real world. And so when they're, you know coming up and shouting in my face and you know trying to use words that they know are my buttons to get me to react. You know trying to use words that they know are my buttons to get me to react and where most people would kind of lose their minds a bit when someone comes up to and says you're alarming and distressing, and you know that is funny. But being able to hold it in for a minute and have a sensible conversation about it, I think goes a long way. That's the only thing I'll give them credit for, and that's because of my TRs. But but I would.
Speaker 2:I would counter that because I understand but. But let's just call a spade a spade, what? What Scientologist is out here right now having a having a conversation and answering questions and anything else. So I would beg to differ to say that sure you got some experience in in scientology, but the catalyst of leaving has motivated you to become a stronger person oh, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And if I hadn't have been in scientology, I wouldn't have needed to use those trs in dealing with the police and such. So yes, you know, of course.
Speaker 1:Japan gable says she knows what prs stands for.
Speaker 2:Preclear rundown suck, there you go.
Speaker 3:I think it's Performer's Rights Service. I think, oh, that makes sense, that makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have the same thing here in terms of licensing, like restaurants and things like that. It's a software licensing for music and stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Okay, if you haven't entered, if you're just joining us in the comments and you haven't commented with a hashtag BFG in the comments below, please do so. We are about to do the drawing, we're going to put it up here and then, alex, you just, I'm going to say, you just have to actually just tell me when to push that button. Draw, that's easy. And then okay.
Speaker 2:So if you yeah, put in your hashtag BFG give. We'll give it a couple of minutes. I already see that number bouncing up.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, it's good. There's also there's also a delay. I've I've used this tool before and it's really good, but I've noticed there's a good five, 10 second delay before you showing something on the on the screen and you getting the live chats through. So it's it's good to leave it a second before hit and draw. Okay, perfect, which we've done. Where are we at with numbers now? Do we need to draw?
Speaker 1:60 people have entered, that's 61. There you go, go it's going, it's catching up. Go ahead and do one. How many are we doing claire? Uh, we'll do two okay, good, we'll do two two for uh the leah bubble yeah, and just so everybody knows and I'll riff for just a second here we had a win, we had some winners. In the last video that we did on, which was it was actually yesterday, was on sunday right.
Speaker 2:We did that yesterday two days ago sat this tuesday it's tuesday.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I lost a day somewhere.
Speaker 2:Um, anyway, um, that's what happens when we work too much you're succumbing to messed mark.
Speaker 1:Yes, some of those winners um donated their prize to this prize yes, they paid it forward, so yes, I think it was kp123 that I remember specifically.
Speaker 2:Yes, you did Very good job.
Speaker 3:All right, let's draw, let's do one Perfect, I'm doing it.
Speaker 2:And no, joanna, upper or lowercase does not matter. Right, right, mark.
Speaker 1:It just has to be hashtag BFG.
Speaker 2:Perfect.
Speaker 1:There you go, jean Gal, jean Gal, there we go.
Speaker 2:Well done, well, there you go, jean gal, there we go. Well done, jean gal. Hey send me an email, claire, at blown for goodcom, with your address, and we will get that shipped off to you. Awesome, okay.
Speaker 3:Also, before we do the next one, I wanted to say as well, thank you to to the aftermath foundation for giving I don't know if you can, it's not the best view, the best for you, but we were wearing these t-shirts for the entire protest, um, which have the uk phone number on them, and um, we're giving out cards with qr codes and that sort of thing and um, you know, it's just really good to have those resources. So, thank you to you guys, or thanks to the aftermath, for providing those, because it's really important to make sure those resources are, you know, available yes, very definitely.
Speaker 2:Thank you for sharing and doing the work and and helping us get the message out. We appreciate it.
Speaker 3:Okay, we're ready. Sure Again, let's go Poof.
Speaker 1:I like how it hangs on those last ones.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know, I know oh.
Speaker 3:I know, oh, he makes.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh Awesome.
Speaker 3:Well done Ellen. Yeah, yes.
Speaker 2:Congratulations, ellen. Send me an email, claire, at blown for goodcom with your address, and we will get your Leah bobblehead shipped off to you.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, I think we did good. Thank you very much for joining us today, alex. Thank you. I really appreciate, like we said, all the everything that you're doing, and it really does matter when you've got, you know, multiple Scientology organizations all around the world. It's hard to have somebody in the spot when they're doing it that's able to do it without, you know, causing a lot of nonsense. So you were able to do that and I think it's it's important.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, but, like I said earlier, I couldn't do it without the support of everybody else and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for people like you guys coming before me and doing this for years before I ever even joined Scientology. And you know, people like Bonnie Woods came along for the protest on the Friday to have that experience, and the knowledge and all the groundwork that's been put in place before I came along is is really, really valuable. So I want to throw that back and say thank you to you guys as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, thank you. Thank you, alex, amazing work and, like I said, whatever you need to keep this alive and keep it going, we're in.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Just don't cause alarm and distress. Just be careful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, get your Davy doll, get your TRs in, put your manners back in.
Speaker 1:Somebody said they didn't win because they had too many BTs. No, you want more BTs, more BTs. You don't have enough BTs? Bt powers activate, right. Yeah, there you go. Go get power Thaitans. Thanks everybody who joined. We'll do this again. We wanted to do this because Alex just kind of finished up. Go for it. If you want a Davy doll or Leah bobblehead or a Mike bobblehead or any of those things, it'll tell you how to do all that in the outro. Anyway, thanks again, alex.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Alex. Talk to you soon. Until next time, guys. Bye.
Speaker 1:Thanks for watching. If you'd like to help support the channel, feel free to check out the merch store link in the description. We have Hail Xenu Xenu is my homeboy and BFG branded mouse pads, shirts, mugs, all sorts of other stuff in there that helps us to bring you new content on a regular basis. You can also pick up a copy of my book Blown for Good Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology in hardback, kindle and audible versions as well. There's also a link to our podcast and you can get that on Apple, spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And if you'd like to watch another video, you can click on this link right here, or you can click on this one here, or you can click on the subscribe button right here. Thanks a lot, until next time.
Speaker 2:All right, awesome, that was perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it says we're still live. I did it. I didn't work.