Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2005, Page 57
addition, the Guardian ruled that Kingston has the right to consent to adoption as well as to
reasonable visitation, unless restricted by the court.
Juvenile Judge Andrew Valdez said he is not opposed to granting the girl‘s request to
become a member of the mainline Mormon church. ―If the girl wants to talk to missionaries,
what‘s the harm?‖ (Leon D‘Souza, AP in Casper Star-Tribune, Internet, 1/25/05)
Lord’s Resistance Army
Escapees Recount Life in Group
Ten young women abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda eight
years ago have returned to St. Mary‘s School to tell their stories at the annual school
ceremony memorializing the raid. They tell how they were each assigned to be wives of
rebel commanders, beaten, tortured, taught to kill, and made to believe that leader Joseph
Kony was a disciple of God, with supernatural power.
There was tension at the ceremony between one of the returnees, Charlotte Awino, and her
mother, Atyam, who had continued to campaign publicly against the Lord‘s Resistance Army
despite an offer to release her daughter if she desisted. Yet Atyam said: I don‘t have much
anger,‖ and she clearly wants to forget the experience. But the former top student no
longer wishes to become a doctor: ―I have seen too much to work in a hospital.‖ She now
also has two unplanned children and no way to independently support them.
Returnees undergo army debriefing and counseling at the Rachele Rehabilitation Center,
where they draw pictures of their horrible memories and become aware that they have been
victims despite the atrocities they were forced to commit. (Marc Lacey, New York Times,
Internet, 10/10/04)
Cease Fire
Representatives of the Uganda Government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)
[known for kidnapping children and indoctrinating them to become soldiers who kill], have
agreed to sign a cease fire to end the 18-year-old conflict. (Alfred Waskie, New Vision,
Uganda, Internet, 12/31/04)
MOVE
Lawsuit Amidst Evolution of Radical Group
Jack Gilbride, father of murdered former MOVE member John Gilbride, Jr., has filed a
wrongful-death suit against his son‘s still unknown killer, thus meeting a two-year deadline
for the filing of such cases and making a future prosecution possible. John Gilbride was
killed a few hours before a planned visit with a son he fathered with Alberta Africa, the
matriarch of the radical anti-establishment group that had deadly confrontations with
Philadelphia police in the 1970s and 1980s.
The suit names Alberta Africa as a suspect in the crime — the County Prosecutor says only
that the murder investigation is ongoing — but she has strenuously denied any involvement,
saying: ―MOVE is having a hard time having people look at reality as opposed to
supposition.‖ (Frank Kummer and Stephen Salisbury, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/28/04)
Recently, Tony and Lori Allen left MOVE after eight years‘ involvement and began to speak
of the shame they feel for what they did before rejecting the group. Once, they posted
Gilbride‘s parent‘s neighborhood with 1,200 flyers that falsely labeled the elderly couple
child molesters. The Allen‘s accounts of life in MOVE brought a chilling phone call from Sue
Africa, MOVE‘s ―minister of confrontation,‖ saying, ―You‘re a traitor. You‘re worse than John
Gilbride.‖

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The Allens, radical idealists who joined the group because of its anti-establishment attitude,
became disenchanted when MOVE tended toward the mainstream. ―It went from a religious
cult to a cult of personality,‖ focusing on founder John Africa. ―It‘s all about self-absorbed
narcissism.‖ MOVE spokesman Ramona Africa said only: ―MOVE people have work to do. We
have our direction. We have been coordinated by [the late] John Africa‖ [killed in a 1985
shootout].
The Allens also report, however, that they never saw a MOVE member with a weapon — this
is a group that at one time stockpiled bombs and had shoot-outs with police. They add that
members live apparently normal lives with a well-kept garden, at peace with neighbors, who
hear the sound of opera coming from the MOVE headquarters rather than the blaring music
of the past. Members now eat junk food, instead of insisting on only ―natural‖ foods and the
back-to-nature lifestyle that brought conflict with neighbors and city agencies. Today,
members go to movies and have birthday parties for the kids with Harry Potter and Dora
the Explorer themes.
The Allens say MOVE is no longer very revolutionary. He was a CVS store manager while a
member, and drove his wife to the group‘s headquarters in Philadelphia daily from their
home in nearby Salem County, NJ. They add that MOVE members live partly off $2.5 million
in settlements paid by the city of Philadelphia in compensation for the deaths of five children
killed during the 1985 police bombing of MOVE headquarters. Some hold jobs in landscaping
and newspaper delivery, while Pam and Ramona Africa earn money from speaking to left-
wing audiences around the world. (Monica Yant Kinney, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/26/04)
National Alliance
Recruiting Teens
Thomas Zibelli was arrested recently in White Plains, NY, for allegedly using alcohol and
pornography to persuade teenagers to place anti-Semitic stickers on a train station and
synagogue. District Attorney Jeanine Pirro says Zibelli is part of an ―organized ring‖ that
takes advantage of ―vulnerable‖ 14- and 15-year-olds to promote white supremacy. The
stickers bore the terms ―White Power,‖ ―Hitler was Right,‖ and ―Stop Non-White
Immigration.‖ Pirro says Zibelli is a member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance and has
attended Ku Klux Klan meetings. (AP, Internet, 9/21/04)
Néo-Phare
Controlling Guru Sentenced to Prison
Arnaud Mussy, guru of the Néo-Phare sect, has been sentenced to a term in prison and
ordered to pay damages — invoking for the first time the French law of 2001 meant to apply
to such cases — for physically and psychologically ―subjugating‖ several people. Mussy has
been sought since one of his followers committed suicide and two others attempted suicide.
A representative of ADFI, a French cult watchdog, was pleased that the court recognized
and ruled on the charge of ―psychological subjugation,‖ a term which is at the heart of the
new law. (L’Express, Internet, 11/25/04)
O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal
Church Can Import Special Tea
The Drug Enforcement Administration, following a Supreme Court refusal to intervene, has
given O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao do Vegetal, of Santa Fe, NM, a permit to
import hoasca, a sacramental tea that induces a dream-like state of mind. The Department
of Justice says that the importation contravenes an international drug enforcement treaty,
but many conservative Christian groups supported the church with friend-of-the-court
briefs, arguing that the threat of criminal prosecution for importing the tea is ―tantamount