The UKSPs picketed for the first time Birmingham, England. Present were Dave, Roland, Jens, Hartley, John, Peter, MartinP, the Big Fellah, and two local women with relatives in the culy. The Big Fellah diverted off to scout the rag market for two large 5-foot silver inflatable space aliens. The bOrg is located off the High Street (actually a minsnomer as the real North-South main street is corporation street to the west of it).
>::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::'. > ':::' M6 ::J6(spaghetti) '.'. > ::: ::expressway '.'. > | .''. '.'. > \|/ ~~ .. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ '.'. > Bristol __ '' ______________ \ \ > '. .' __ \ \ _\| > | | \ \ \ \ London > | | | | \ \ > | | stairs.: | \ \ > _| |___________::|_|___\ \ > - --Priory Queensway-- \ > ~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~|~~~~~\ \ > |Corporation | |Toys~:\ \ <===== > |street | |R'Us_:_| \ masshouse > | | /~ | |multi | r |circus carpark > | | :-O+-Fish&| |story/|| i |(below elevated > | | \| Chips| |____/ /| n |ringroad) and > | | | AlbertSt| g |walk through > | | HIGH|~~/ /##| r | > | | STREET| | bORG| o | > _| |_____________| | || | a | > Bull St ::::::::| d | > ~| |~~~~~~~~~~~~~| | ||"" | | > | | | |_||___/ / > | | | _____ / > | | | |Pallisades shopping ctr > | | | | .' .' > ___| |_____________| |/ /____________________ > New Street + > ~~/ |~~~~/~~~~~~~~| /~~~~/ \~~~~~~~~~~~~COACH > ___/ /||:-O+Pizza|KFC| |open|_|StMartins STATION >_______________/_|| \| hut_|~~~| |market__________ .--. > precint _ .| _________| | |INDOOR MKT| . \OO/ . > BIRMINGHAM~~|.:'| : fore | | ^^^^^^^^^^ \_::_/ > NEW STREET :'_||____: court | |########'. \LONDON || > @|______________||_____________| | '. _\| ./\. >___precint________|
We met up in a pub near the bOrg, then popped out from about 11:55--12:10 to see the calms come out of the clambed. There were perhaps a dozen people, staff and students combined. One or two of them were quite snappy and came over to confront us. At 12:55 through 15:05 we resumed the demo. Charges had been brought against CoS over the death of Lisa MacPherson the day before and we weren't slow to announce it. We had some hassles over the sound system, after it had been on for an hour, but we simply made up for it with big lungs. After that we went to another pub and had a sitdown for a while.
Dave Bird wrote: > > The UKSPs picketed for the first time Birmingham, England.
For picketing in his home town Duke the dog was sporting a new waterproof overcoat.
Birmingham org is in a somewhat frustrating position for pickets, in a side street just off the much busier High Street. So it's either irritate the churchies or go for maximum leafleting. Also the org does not have a shopfront, just a doorway (to upper floors?) with a 'Hubbard Dianetics Foundation' plaque outside, so it isn't clear who they are. Still, I did like the equally attractive permanent 'Staff Wanted' plaque!
What's the Tone Level for 'Hiding' again, my secretive OSA friends? Compared to London, a very down stat effort - no counter leafleting, no plan.
Went to Birmingham for the demo to picket the bOrg. What a dump. And the bOrg headquarters was just as bad if not worse.
The main effect was in spreading doubt in the minds of the staffers. One guy spoke intelligently and I told him about body thetans. He said that there was no such thing as body thetans. I played him the part with Hubbard talking to hos body thetans. He said that Hubbard must have meant "theta bodies". I told him about the Xemu story and gave him a Xemu flyers. he said something like "This is all science-fiction. It has nothing to do with Scientology". I reminded him that Hubbard was a science-fiction writer. He said that that was true, but his science fiction writings were completely separate from Scientology.
That guy has a shock in store for him when he gets to OT III.
The flyers will do their rounds in that org. Xemu/Xenu will be discussed. The truth will dawn on them in the next few days. It should buggar that org for good.
The public were not very responsive to our picket. They had never heard of Scientology and did not know it existed in their city. All except for one woman and her daughter. The woman's son had been caught up in Scientology there and so she helped give out flyers.
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