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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

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to banning the wine served at a Roman Catholic mass.‖ (Scott Sandlin. Santa Fe Journal,
Internet, 12/11/04)
Opus Dei
Government Minister Should Quit
Former MP Tom Sackville, now chair of the Family Action and Information Resource [FAIR],
a support group that helps families with cult involvements, has called upon the new
Education secretary, Ruth Kelly, to resign because she has attended meetings of the
Catholic organization Opus Dei.
Sackville says ―Opus Dei brainwashes, isolates and dominates the lives of its members to
the point of removing their self-determination. That our children and young people, who
urgently need protection from recruiters of such organizations, should be faced with one of
their number in charge of the education system, is the last straw.‖ (Yahoo News-England &
Ireland, Internet, 1/21/05)
Life in Opus Dei
Former Opus Dei member John Roche, detailing his many years‘ experience in the
organization, says that ―the ethos of its higher levels is deeply secretive, often dishonest,
oppressive and psychologically damaging to its members and families.‖ (John Roche, The
Mail on Sunday [UK], Internet, 1/23/05)
People’s Temple
Jim Jones May Have Died the Next Day
A tape apparently made some hours, perhaps as much as a day, after the mass murder-
suicides of People’s Temple members at Jonestown, suggests that Jim Jones and other
leaders were still alive and that they discussed the tragic event and the murder of Rep. Leo
Ryan. This is the claim of Fielding McGehee, co-head with his wife of the Jonestown
Institute, who got the tape from the FBI following a Freedom of Information Act request.
The tape was included in McGehee‘s Sixth Jonestown Report, which also contains much new
information, including many victims‘ biographical details. It was published on the eve of the
annual memorial service at Evergreen Cemetery, in Oakland.
As to the sequence of deaths, McGeehe now thinks that the children were killed first. And
with no reason any longer to live, their mothers died next. Then came the fathers, now with
even less reason to live. ―By that time, he'd knocked off over 700 people. The rest realized .
..‗What‘s left for me.‘ Really, only two or three people made a decision not to die,‖
McGeehee says. (William Brand, Oakland Tribune, Internet, 10/31/04)
Polygamy
Governor Avoiding Issue
Arizona governor Janet Napolitano, a rising Democratic ―starlet‖ and self-described defender
of women‘s rights, said nothing about the problem of polygamy in Arizona and Utah during
her recent official visit to Utah. ―Napolitano would rather appease conservative Mormons in
the state legislature than courageously fight to free thousands of young men and women
from the shackles of a practice condemned by every civilized nation on earth.‖
In her discussion with Utah officials, ―Napolitano never once objected to a practice that is
costing Arizona millions of dollars a year and wrecking thousands of lives — a practice the
men sitting across the table from her [members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints (LDS), the Mormons] still embrace in their religious scriptures.‖