Karen#1
Well-known member
[Alex and Zoe at the MP’s office.]
Another amazing Alex Barnes-Ross update, and with breaking news…
Earlier this week, I brought you an update about my work in Westminster. On Monday, I was invited to attend a screening of a BBC documentary about the Jesus Army cult, hosted by the National Working Group on Spiritual and Ritual Abuse and Tuesday saw me speaking at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Safeguarding in Faith Communities as they announced important updates on their mandated reporting legislation and officially opened an inquiry into child safeguarding in religious groups.
Well now I can share that I ended the week on Friday by meeting the former Chair of the party currently in power, Labour, and had the opportunity to enlighten him on Scientology’s harms here in the UK.
Ian Lavery has been sitting as an MP for 16 years and is considered a political heavyweight. His heart is in representing underprivileged and often under-represented people and was also the president of the National Union of Mineworkers for close to a decade — and one of his constituents happens to be an ex-Scientologist.
Zoe Hancock recently shared her heartbreaking story of being raised in Scientology. She was sent from her home in the North of England to join the Sea Org at Saint Hill at the tender age of 14 and described her first task on the Estates Project Force (EPF) being to single-handedly flatten the Juhring Field — which Scientology are now trying to turn into a mega car park — with a pickaxe in preparation for the forthcoming IAS event. Soon after, she was groomed and described how she entered into a relationship with one of the Jive Aces — who was 30 years old at the time
In speaking out, Zoe decided she wanted to do something to prevent others from experiencing the same forms of psychological manipulation and emotional abuse she had suffered. She also wrote to her MP requesting a meeting to discuss how our current legislation does not recognise coercive control as a standalone offence unless it occurs within a specific setting. And so on Friday I woke up at 4am — which I wouldn’t recommend, by the way — and jumped on a train that took me almost as far north as you can get before you hit Scotland in order to support her at the meeting.
“I am now 46 and it has taken me until now, over 30 years later to step out from the shadows of fear which have silenced me for so long,” she told Lavery. “Cult and high-control group survivors live in fear of speaking out against their abusers because of the coercive control tactics that these groups are founded on. These are the very same patterns of behaviour which have been recognised as unlawful under section 76 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. But this legislation falls short of protecting people from this abuse when it is occurring outside of a domestic setting.
“If my husband or partner held my silence with the threat of private information being publicly disclosed, or actively isolated me from my family and friends, if he threatened to discredit or destroy me if I left and spoke negatively about him, then I would be protected from this behaviour by law. The same cannot be said for victims and survivors of high control groups. As a country, we have rightly and proudly identified that coercive control is wrong and legislated against it. But by limiting the law’s application to domestic settings only, there are thousands of people in the UK who are not being protected from this form of abuse. How can we say it is illegal in one setting, but not in another? When you really stop to think about it this way, it is actually unconscionable and should not be allowed to continue.”
Before Zoe started speaking, Lavery told us we only had thirty minutes — but we ended up being there for close to an hour. We went through Zoe’s story in great detail and together, we highlighted how the criminal justice system currently doesn’t provide an avenue for cult survivors to seek justice. To say he was shocked would be an understatement.
I have met with many MPs over the last year and you can usually gauge their level of interest fairly early on in the meeting based on how many questions they ask, and Ian Lavery wanted to know everything. What do Scientologists actually believe? How do people get in? What’s the difference between a Mission, an Org and Saint Hill? How many people do you think are affected by this issue? Why don’t more people come forward with their stories? He was clearly moved by Zoe’s testimony and offered comfort as she fought back the tears recounting how Scientology treats children as ‘adults in small bodies’.
I can only imagine how hard this must have been for Zoe. Not only is she revisiting a traumatic and painful experience in her past, but she sat in front of someone who has real political sway — and who clearly hadn’t the slightest clue what Scientology is. But I can assure you, thanks to the courage Zoe showed in arranging this meeting and sharing her story, Ian Lavery is now fully informed.
In Wednesday’s article for the Bunker, I briefly mentioned the legislative work I have been doing with the Family Survival Trust. The law currently only recognises coercive control as an offence when it occurs within a domestic setting and by broadening its scope to include groups, cult survivors would be able to seek justice in a way that currently isn’t possible. The amendment is simple: we’re asking MPs to take out just four words. But even so, it would require cross-party support and approval from both the House of Commons and House of Lords in order to receive Royal Assent.
Meeting MPs has been a fantastic way of drumming up support and I will of course continue doing this over the coming months. But the next big step will be happening on 9th June, three days after survivors gather in East Grinstead to share their stories at an event I have organised called ‘Fame, Fortune and Fear’. The Underground Bunker can now break the news that I have managed to secure a lobbying room at the Houses of Parliament — something often used by grassroots movements and can only be arranged with backing from a Member of Parliament. Supported by both the Family Survival Trust and the Michael J. Rinder Aftermath Foundation, we will be hosting a drop-in session for elected officials to learn more about this important legislative change, hear from survivors and take away some printed materials — including personal stories from those who grew up in Scientology — that I hope will firmly put this issue on the mainstream political agenda.
Lobbying rooms have in the past led to significant pieces of legislation and this marks an important milestone in this campaign. It’s a sign our message is starting to get through to those at the top and the interest we have seen recently in the media and from MPs like Ian Lavery and Sam Carling suggests this has the potential to lead us to the amendment being finally tabled for debate.
And to top it off, yesterday I was invited back to Parliament to speak at a meeting at the end of May. Change is happening and it has only been made possible thanks to the bravery, courage, and determination of survivors and concerned citizens who have written in to their MPs.
If you experienced or witnessed harm, abuse, or neglect in Scientology here in the UK, I encourage you to share your story — anonymously if you wish — using this online form. Submissions are printed out and I hand a copy to every Member of Parliament I meet. Together, they demonstrate the power of our community. Every voice matters, and every story counts.
— Alex Barnes-Ross
An MP shows keen interest in Scientology's abuses — and more breaking news
Another amazing Alex Barnes-Ross update, and with breaking news…
tonyortega.substack.com
