Hi everyone.
I have just received a very wierd mailout from an organisation calling
itself the 'Marian Intelligence Advisor'. It raises a number of issues that
are quite interesting (I think - apologies to those who don't think so!).
The first paragraph of this message ran as follows:
"Please take a look at the information which is online at
www.marynet.com/advisor. The information here is well-documented, and is
from prominent and credible sources. It indicates with unusual
persuasiveness that the United States, and perhaps other nations, may soon
receive a devastating attack from a united communist bloc. It is very
unusual for such a seemingly unlikely claim to be as well supported as this
is. If you download the first 28 pages of the report at this web site, you
will see what I mean."
If you go to the website and examine who is behind all this, you find lots
of references to the prophecies of Fatima etc.; the organisation appears to
be a right-wing eschatological Catholic body. I was intrigued by this, as
many of the ideas they appear to be promoting actually tie in with many of
the concerns expressed previously on this list about certain groups
attempting to engineer a new Cold War with China. This group actually
appears to believe that the whole post-Cold War history of the former
Soviet Union is a carefully engineered deception on the part of 'world
Communism'! It is also quite keen to stress that it ISN'T an organissation
- saying that the webiste 'just happened'.
It is also representative an expected renewed wave of activity by millenial
cults - for example, recent reports indicate that the Japanese Aum
Shinrikyo cult is now larger than it was before its Sarin gas bombings of
the Tokyo Underground a few years back.
This kind of group has also appeared in the research I am doing on
Intelligence Sites - it seems that for every Civil Liberties groups worried
about privacy and surveillance, there is a (usually) Christian organisation
claiming that state espionage is actually part of a Satanic plot foretold
by prophecy or the Book of Revelations. It would be easy to ignore such
groups on the grounds that there ideas are too far outside what could be
defined as 'rational' reponses to state surveillance, but I think that this
would unbalance the reseach and give a false picture of public ideas about
Intelligence Sites (as much as would completely ignoring the ideas of the
UFO groups).
I would be quite interested in a discussion of some of the geographic
aspects of these kind of groupings, specific or general, especially where
they relate to attitudes to the state. I am particularly interested in how
such groups derive their notions of government, military force and the
state, and also in when and how state organisations chose to oppose or
support such groups (covertly or overtly) and why. For example the
activities of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Brazil - he is currently
involved with the government in a plan to build the tallest building in the
world - why?
...any thoughts?
David.
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David Wood
PhD Research Student ('Intelligence Sites in Rural North Yorkshire')
Centre for Rural Economy
Department of Agricultural Economics and Food Marketing
University of Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
0191 222 5305
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