I had an opportunity Saturday to attend an Anonymous vs. Scientology protest in Clearwater. For those readers who aren’t familiar with the string of global protests occurring in the last few months, here’s a quick primer:
Anonymous is a loosely organized group of people from the internet who are protesting what they believe are Scientology’s human rights violations. Anonymous members also believe Scientology is run like a business and therefore shouldn’t qualify as a church for governmental purposes.
The church’s spokespeople have said Anonymous is a group of cyber terrorists and only one member stepping out of line could cause a religious war. They consider Anonymous to be more or less a group of religious bigots trying to take away Scientology members’ constitutional rights.
Tied in to all this is a video of Tom Cruise talking about the church, lawsuits, bomb scares and veiled threats from both sides. Type the phrase “Anonymous vs. Scientology” into any search engine, and you’ll come up with results ranging from pictures of protests to newspaper articles to YouTube videos. Anonymous has a large base of net savvy members to create content; one of the more publicized sites is Xenu.net, home of Operation Clambake. The church relies on spokespeople to release statements to the press when trouble arises and directs people to Scientology.org to learn more about the church and claim Anonymous is a terrorist organization in Anonymous Exposed, a documentary available online.
Anonymous organized a full day of activities Saturday, from ex-Scientologists speaking out about the church to pizza and cake at Coachman Park. I arrived around 2 p.m., just in time to watch the picketing and speak with a few Anonymous members. On an interesting side note, the street leading to Coachman Park was blocked off, which protesters assured me was a common tactic Scientologists use against them.
Anonymous members were constantly on the move during the protest, because it is illegal to block Clearwater sidewalks. They carried signs with slogans like “Religion is Free, Scientology Isn’t” and chanted as individuals and a group. At least one protester told various people “Don’t worry, we’re from the internet.”
Many picketers wore masks or bandanas across their faces, because they said they were afraid of Scientology’s retaliation. The crowd was composed largely of college-aged men and women in their late teens to mid 20s, with a few older protesters scattered among them. As a whole, they seemed to have a healthy sense of humor; one of the publicized goals of their campaign is to make the world laugh at Scientology.
Protesters were quick to point out that they weren’t protesting Scientology as a religion but were instead protesting the leaders who dictate church rules, practices and doctrine. The practice they focused on Saturday was “disconnect,” a practice Anonymous says the church uses to separate families.
Pat Harney, a Scientology spokeswoman, emailed me a prepared statement that says in part:
The Church encourages and helps its members to have excellent family relationships, whether their relatives are Scientologists or not. In fact, relationships between a Scientologist and the rest of his family routinely improve after his involvement in Scientology, because through Scientology one acquires the means to increase communication and resolve any problems that might have existed before.
Over the phone, Harney assured me that Scientology builds connections between families instead of destroying them and reiterated that she was worried a few Anonymous members might take matters into their own hands and ignore directives for peaceful protest by group organizers. She stated that the church has received bomb threats, death threats and harassing phone calls over the last few months and will not stand idly by if it comes under attack.
The statement she provided also says
For the past 3 months, members of Anonymous have been conducting a hate campaign against Scientology churches and their members.
Behind their self-serving statements, they are perpetuating criminal acts.
Why this matters to Tampa residents:
The future is here, and it’s right in our own backyard. The group Anonymous is an internet based group that has no real leaders and no central organization. It is a group of individuals who will do whatever they can to achieve a common goal. While the number of protesters in Clearwater has gone down with each protest, they still drew in approximately 170 people from across the state on Saturday. Take into account this was a global protest, and the numbers jump exponentially.
Some members are looking into nonprofit status for the group and are starting an advertising campaign. Often, members who are in constant contact with each other online do not know the identities of their comrades in real life.
Also, Scientology has some major resources at its disposal. They aren’t afraid of getting their legal team and the police involved when problems arise and are adamant about protecting their rights and members.
Both sides have their own PR campaign to paint the other side as ugly as possible. And, because Anonymous has no central authority to call a halt to the campaign against the church, it could potentially go on forever.
Since protesters are anonymous and loosely affiliated, the church can work to stop individuals who break the law, whether it be through vandalism or threats, but they can’t do anything against the group as a whole.
What happens with Anonymous now could influence the way groups organize well into the future.
before it was imploded on his A&E television show. 
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