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Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Jammeh

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia, Yaya Jammeh.

Gambia News Online: Scientologically speaking

http://gambianewsonline.com/scientologically-speaking-2/

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The purpose of this blog is not to cast aspersions on a religion that most people know every little about. Our purpose is to raise concern about the regime of Yaya Jammeh’s fray into the unknown, led by a band of inexperienced group of individuals who use Gambian Embassies abroad in the guise of courting foreign investors.

But before we do so, we’d like to say a word or two about the Church of Scientology that has recently co-sponsored a gathering in Washington DC in conjunction with Black History Month. Gambian citizens resident in Washington who were RSVPed to attend but later dis-invited when it was discovered that they belonged to a group of activists opposed to the tyrannical regime of Yaya Jammeh, the dictator who’d recently changed the name of his country to the Islamic Republic of The Gambia.

Scientology was recently ruled a religion in U.K. courts but in some parts of Germany, Scientology is banned. In the U.S., its status is unclear but it has gained a significant foothold among the Hollywood class with many big name stars like Tom Cruise, Issac Hayes and John Trivolta are claimed to be members of the Church of Scientology.

According to the Church’s literature, “Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature…” It also teaches that “man is an immortal spiritual being” whose “experience extends well beyond a single lifetime.”

The Gambia’s 21-year dictatorial rule under one of Africa’s most brutal and corrupt has managed to sullied the image of a once respected democratic enclave in a sea of strong-man rule that prevailed in earlier years. As a result of the horrendous human rights record of Yaya Jammeh, development assistance from the European Union has been frozen and funds held in escrow until certain demands are met – demands relating to the continued tortures, forced exiles, disappearances and false imprisonments of dissidents and opponents, real and perceived.

The regime is essentially financially insolvent and thus schemes are being concocted, on the fly, in desperate attempts at looking for “prospective investors” to invest in a country that is at the bottom of the table of The World Bank’s “Doing Business” in Africa and around the world. In a country where the investment climate is not bad but hostile to foreign investors.

As we speak, there are two arbitration cases pending before the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and one judgement against the regime involving a mining concession which they’ve asked the ICSID to review. Some of these unsavory characters who pose as government investment promoters have gone to the extent of adopting fictitious royal titles (like Prince Ebrahim) using the Embassy of The Gambia in Washington as cover with the intention of targeting the unsuspecting and gullible investors in the United States. Buyers beware.

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Same article:

Scientologically speaking

http://sidisanneh.blogspot.com/2016/02/scientologically-speaking.html

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Some background:

President Yahya Jammeh: The Worst Dictator You've Never Heard Of

http://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/-pr...the-worst-dictator-youve-never-heard-of/39802


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Gambia now an Islamic republic, says President Yahya Jammeh

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/12/gambia-now-an-islamic-republic-says-president-yahya-jammeh

EDITED TO ADD:

The link to the U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2014 for The Gambia is set forth below. Go to the link to read the entire report. I will excerpt only the Executive Summary.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2014&dlid=236362

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The Gambia is a multi-party democratic republic. In 2011 voters re-elected President Alhaji Yahya Jammeh to a fourth term in a peaceful, orderly election; however, international observers considered it neither free nor fair. President Jammeh’s party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), continued to dominate the political landscape, winning an overwhelming majority of National Assembly seats in the parliamentary elections in 2012 and in the local government elections held in April 2013. Six of the seven opposition parties boycotted or otherwise did not participate in both the national assembly and local government elections to protest government intervention and intimidation of opponents. Authorities at times failed to maintain effective control over the security forces.

A failed coup on December 30 resulted in the arrest of individuals suspected of participating in the coup as well as family members of alleged coup plotters. Security forces reportedly killed three coup plotters during the coup attempt.

The most serious human rights problems in the country included torture, arrest, detention, and sometimes enforced disappearance of citizens, and government harassment and abuse of its critics. Government officials routinely used various methods of intimidation to retain power.

Other reported human rights problems included poor prison conditions; denial of due process; prolonged pretrial and incommunicado detention; restrictions on privacy and freedoms of speech, press, and assembly; government interference in the practice of religion; corruption; violence against women and girls, including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C); forced child marriage; trafficking in persons, including child prostitution; discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals; and child labor.

While the government took steps to prosecute or punish some individuals who committed abuses, impunity and lack of sustained enforcement remained problems.

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CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Members of DUGA being kicked out of Scientology Gambia Embassy Event

Members of DUGA being kicked out of Scientology Gambia Embassy Event.

[video=youtube;4DFxdxAVmso]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DFxdxAVmso[/video]

DUGA at Gambia Embassy/Scientology Event

Published on Feb 13, 2016

Members of DUGA being kicked out of event

*********************************************

DUGA = Democratic Union of Gambian Activists

http://dugaglobal.org/site/
 

BunnySkull

Silver Meritorious Patron
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

[

The regime is essentially financially insolvent and thus schemes are being concocted, on the fly, in desperate attempts at looking for “prospective investors” to invest in a country that is at the bottom of the table of The World Bank’s “Doing Business” in Africa and around the world. In a country where the investment climate is not bad but hostile to foreign investors.

..... Some of these unsavory characters who pose as government investment promoters have gone to the extent of adopting fictitious royal titles (like Prince Ebrahim) using the Embassy of The Gambia in Washington as cover with the intention of targeting the unsuspecting and gullible investors in the United States. Buyers beware.

A country run by a brutal fanatic who will resort to any unsavory scheme or con to get his hands on other people's money? Gambia and Scientology a match made in heaven! It's almost sounds like a country custom made by Hubbard. No wonder the CoS is hot to get into bed with such a bunch of criminals and thugs - birds of a feather.

Let's just be grateful Hubbard went to Rhodesia instead of Gambia decades ago.
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
DUGA Gambia anti-dictator activists after being expelled from Scientology event

DUGA Gambia anti-dictator activists after being expelled from Scientology event.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=505611976308367

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MrNobody

Who needs merits?
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

<snip>Scientology was recently ruled a religion in U.K. courts but in some parts of Germany, Scientology is banned. <snip>

Will this manipulative bullshit (which is usually spread by Scilons working the religious angle) ever die? Scientology isn't banned in Germany and never was. It just is not an officially recognized religion in Germany.
 

CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

EDITED TO ADD:

The link to the U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2014 for The Gambia is set forth below. Go to the link to read the entire report. I will excerpt only the Executive Summary.

http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2014&dlid=236362

* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

The Gambia is a multi-party democratic republic. In 2011 voters re-elected President Alhaji Yahya Jammeh to a fourth term in a peaceful, orderly election; however, international observers considered it neither free nor fair. President Jammeh’s party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), continued to dominate the political landscape, winning an overwhelming majority of National Assembly seats in the parliamentary elections in 2012 and in the local government elections held in April 2013. Six of the seven opposition parties boycotted or otherwise did not participate in both the national assembly and local government elections to protest government intervention and intimidation of opponents. Authorities at times failed to maintain effective control over the security forces.

A failed coup on December 30 resulted in the arrest of individuals suspected of participating in the coup as well as family members of alleged coup plotters. Security forces reportedly killed three coup plotters during the coup attempt.

The most serious human rights problems in the country included torture, arrest, detention, and sometimes enforced disappearance of citizens, and government harassment and abuse of its critics. Government officials routinely used various methods of intimidation to retain power.

Other reported human rights problems included poor prison conditions; denial of due process; prolonged pretrial and incommunicado detention; restrictions on privacy and freedoms of speech, press, and assembly; government interference in the practice of religion; corruption; violence against women and girls, including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C); forced child marriage; trafficking in persons, including child prostitution; discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals; and child labor.

While the government took steps to prosecute or punish some individuals who committed abuses, impunity and lack of sustained enforcement remained problems.

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CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

From Disambiguation on WWP:

https://whyweprotest.net/threads/ch...or-of-gambia-yaya-jammeh.131191/#post-2574354

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http://www.economist.com/news/middl...ia_fashions_itself_as_a_kind_of_islamic_state

On January 4th an executive order, leaked to the press, banned all female civil servants from leaving their hair uncovered during working hours. The national broadcaster has taken to referring to the Gambia as an “Islamic Republic” and the Supreme Islamic Council, a group of scholars, is to go around the country stirring up popular support for the decision.


Jammeh’s government already has one of the worst human-rights records on the continent. Gay people are persecuted: Mr Jammeh has publicly vowed to slit their throats. Dissidents are brutalised in inventive ways in torture chambers not far from The Gambia’s tourist beaches. On one occasion the security forces rounded up hundreds of villagers suspected of witchcraft after the president’s aunt grew sick. During interrogations, many of the female witches were raped..

But there is likely more than just caprice behind Mr Jammeh’s decision. The economy is in dire straits, especially in the aftermath of west Africa’s Ebola epidemic, which has crippled the tourist industry. The Treasury is all but empty. Mr Jammeh’s Islamic gestures seem aimed at winning the support of Arab Gulf states, most notably Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain, whose cash and investment the president is thought to crave.


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CommunicatorIC

@IndieScieNews on Twitter
For some unknown reason, the Gambia One Radio story does not mention any of the pro-democracy activists who were dis-inivted and expelled from the Church of Scientology Black History Month Event.

HON. BENJAMIN .A. ROBERTS WITNESSES BLACK-HISTORY MONTH EVENTS IN WASHINGTON DC.

http://gambiaoneradio.com/?article=2890

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The Church of Scientology in Washington DC USA, was the venue for a very successful Roots Homecoming event on Friday 12th February 2016.

The event which was organized by Mr. Eric Shepherd- CEO of the Diversity restoration Company in collaboration with the Church of scientology as part of activities marking the Black History month, attracted a huge number of Slave descendants and descendants of Slave Masters.

Addressing the gathering, the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Benjamin Roberts expressed his gratitude to see African-Americans connecting with their roots in The Gambia. Hon. Roberts emphasized that The Gambia is one of the most important places in Africa where African-Americans can find their roots.

His Excellency Ambassador Sheikh Omar Faye who was also in attendance, expressed similar sentiments, adding that the peaceful nature and rich culture in The Gambia, make it a conducive environment for visiting Tourists and Business-oriented people.

[SNIP]

The Occasion enabled the two sides to establish a great foundation where all future activities start from.

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Churchill

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

So, let's see...what is Miscavige's humanitarian interest in Gambia?
Gambia is a country where the average citizen earns $1.67 a day, where journalists are routinely arrested, sometimes killed, and where 78% of the female population is subjected to female genital mutilation.

Gambia is ruled, unsurprisingly, by a dictator who compares gay people with mosquitos to be eradicated, and has announced to the world his herbal cure for AIDS.

I wonder how long it will be before Miscavige announces to his ever shrinking deluded throngs the incredible wins in education, drug treatment, and the eradication of all psychiatric abuse in Gambia, which has long been the cause of all their suffering?
 

Enthetan

Master of Disaster
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

A country run by a brutal fanatic who will resort to any unsavory scheme or con to get his hands on other people's money? Gambia and Scientology a match made in heaven! It's almost sounds like a country custom made by Hubbard. No wonder the CoS is hot to get into bed with such a bunch of criminals and thugs - birds of a feather.

Let's just be grateful Hubbard went to Rhodesia instead of Gambia decades ago.

Hubbard went to Rhodesia because (back then) Rhodesia was a place where you could securely enjoy a First World environment. While I'm sure the Demented Midget might think Gambia to be an attractive place to put The Hole, I doubt he would seriously want to move Int there, even if he thought he could be in control of the government there.
 

Helena Handbasket

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

It's always Black History this, Black History that. Why all this emphasis on Black History? Where's the Black Mathematics?

Helena :)
 

AngeloV

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

It's always Black History this, Black History that. Why all this emphasis on Black History? Where's the Black Mathematics?

Helena :)

Next time you hang out with your black friends, ask them. I'm sure they will be able to explain it to you.
 

Lone Star

Crusader
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

Never mind.

Video comedy skits just ain't an ESMB thang anymore.
 
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Helena Handbasket

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

It's always Black History this, Black History that. Why all this emphasis on Black History? Where's the Black Mathematics?

Helena :)
Next time you hang out with your black friends, ask them. I'm sure they will be able to explain it to you.
Yes, but what if they're Science majors? :biggrin:

Helena
 

AnonyMary

Formerly Fooled - Finally Free
Re: Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia Yaya Ja

Makes perfect sense that the church of Scientology, Miscavige, and Farrakhan would embrace Gambia's President Jammeh. It's like flies to sh*t.



Gambia's president declares Islamic statehood

Al Jazeera Media Network 12 Dec 2015 18:17 GMT
Leader Yahya Jammeh says his nation must reflect its Muslim majority and needs to break away from its colonial past.

[..] Gambia's government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses [AFP]

Gambia's president has declared the West African country an Islamic republic saying the decision was made because Islam is the religion of most citizens and the nation must break away from its colonial past. [..]
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/...clares-islamic-statehood-151212153025585.html


The Final Call WEB POSTED 07-13-1999
SPECIAL COVERAGE
A Dream Fulfilled
Alex Haley Mosque opens

by Dionne Muhammad

[..]The delegation, headed by Mother Khadijah Farrakhan, wife of Min. Farrakhan, and Leonard F. Muhammad, Nation of Islam chief of staff, also included Mustapha Farrakhan, assistant Supreme Captain of the Nation of Islam and son of Min. Farrakhan; Min. Akbar Muhammad, international rep-resentative of the Nation of Islam; [..]

[..]Before the program began, there was 20 minutes of songs and praise in honor of Min. Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam for this gift being bestowed upon this tiny village.

"We are honored to be here today with our brother and friend, President Yahya Jammeh, members of government, religious leaders, visitors from the U.S., others, and the wonderful people of the village of Juffureh to dedicate this humble mosque to the memory of Alex Haley who found his roots in this village," began Mustapha Farrakhan, who delivered the keynote address on behalf of his father. [..]
http://finalcall.com/international/1999/haley-mosque7-13-99.htm

IMHO, I'm sure the church officials in DC ( OSA ops Sylvia and John Stanard included ) think D.U.G.A. is the Gambian equivalent to that "terrorist" group of protesters, Anonymous & should be treated as such :eyeroll:

This is probably some of what thee church is distancing itself from:

Protesters attacked on streets of D.C. by foreign security guards at Africa Summit
By Robert Lyles, ABC 7 News, Stephen Tschida Thursday, August 7th 2014

WASHINGTON (WJLA) - Protesters were attacked on the streets of D.C. after the conclusion of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, ABC 7 News has learned.

It happened Wednesday evening outside the Hay Adams Hotel, not far from the White House.

Witnesses said the attack began when members of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh's security detail charged at the group made up of mostly Gambian exiles.

"We were here protesting, telling this guy he is nothing but a criminal" when the violence broke out, said protester Saul Mbenga of Jammeh - who was one was one of the summit contingent's longest-ruling leaders....[..]
http://wjla.com/news/local/proteste...reign-security-guards-at-africa-summit-105871


From the D.U.G.A. website:

DEMOCRATIC UNION OF GAMBIAN ACTIVISTS (DUGA) is an umbrella movement to unite Gambians around the world. DUGA has gone global and our ideology of civil disabedience (sic) to bring about Democratic Changes in the Gambia has resonated with many democratically principled! As the acronym suggests, our mission is to penetrate the core of the Gambian society to sensitize and mobilize its citizens in the quest to achieve a true and sustainable democracy in The Gambia.

It is only through being ORGANIZED, PROACTIVE and UNIFIED, can we be successful in achieving our goals.

Interesting read... Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides information on the philosophy and history of the use of Civil Disobedience http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/
 
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