Shortly after my previous post about the Aftermath Foundation, they announced new board members, and people working on the short-lived billboard project have spoken out.
The new board members include British apostate Jon Atack, who left Scientology in 1983 and wrote one of the must-reads about Scientology, A Piece of Blue Sky and interviews people on his YouTube channel, "jon atack, family and friends," Phil Jones, whose self-funded "Call Me" billboard campaign, inspired this year's billboard, and Stefani Hutchinson a "never-in," (a term coined by YouTube commentators when the SPTV movement gained momentum), who has been actively fighting Scientology online since 2017, according to her profile. You can read her blog posts here.
You can learn more about Phil in an interview with Mark Fisher and Janis Gillham-Grady on their Scientology - Peeling the Onion channel. He is 70 years old and hasn't given up hope that he'll reunite with his two children one day. After this week's billboard take-down, he was interviewed by journalist Tony Ortega on his Underground Bunker podcast.
A few ex-scientologists who were featured on Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath have set up a foundation to raise funds for the work they were already doing to help Sea Organization members (the equivalent of priests and monks) to escape the cult. For those in the main facilities, life is extremely circumscribed: they have no access to the internet or libraries, many have no high school diplomas (or have even gone to high school), they live and eat communally, and they are paid a very tiny stipend as "religious volunteers." They have almost no ability to live on the outside. Most don't even have driver's licenses, and their passports are held by their organization. Many younger members are the children of Sea Org members and so have no contacts on the outside, and they have been forced to "disconnect" (shun or cease all contact) with anybody who has left or spoken against the organization.
To complicate things, those at the secretive compound near Hemet, California, are kept behind locked gates and fences topped with razor wire, and they risk being chased down and retrieved if they leave without permission ("blow"). One of the stories featured in the Aftermath series described the harrowing escapes of Mark Headley and his wife Claire. (Headley expands on this in his book, Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology).
Many ex-members worked under the radar for years helping people with the practicalities of starting a new life from scratch: escaping, taking a bus or plane to a safe space with family or an ex-member, getting a social security card, driver's license, passport, GED, job, and eventually an apartment. Their network was informal, much like the networks that helped Jews escape Nazis or enslaved American Blacks escape to freedom. It's difficult, scary, and expensive work, all paid out of pocket.
The Aftermath Foundation formalized the work in 2017, naming the new organization after the TV series. The main focus is raising money for the many expenses incurred when people leave. Their website has a link for people to apply for aid, expanding the reach of the group beyond the friends-network that's been operating since the 1960s. They also maintain a database of people willing to help. Can you pick people up from the airport? Give someone a job? Leave Aftermath Foundation cards at a Scientology facility? Offer someone a place to stay? Let them know!
Their latest effort was quashed by Scientology within three days! They collaborated with a distraught father who has been trying for years to contact his children to post contact information on a billboard within sight of the Hollywood building where members and potential members could see it. Clear Channel Communications, owner of the billboard, removed the billboard after being pressured by Scientology. Their official statement on Facebook reads in part:
In December 2023, we approached former Scientologist Phil Jones because of his successful 2016 Call Me billboard campaign that exposed Scientology’s destructive practice of “disconnection”, which tears families apart. Disconnection is the forced separation of a current Scientologist from anyone (including immediate family) who has been declared an enemy of Scientology.
Phil and his wife, Willie, suffered through disconnection when their adult children, Mike and Emily Jones, refused to communicate with them in any way after being ordered to cut off all contact by Scientology. Phil Jones joined the board of The Aftermath Foundation in March 2024.
We located the perfect billboard site close to and visible from Scientology’s buildings in Los Angeles and signed a one-year contract with Clear Channel Outdoor, including the First Right of Refusal at the end of the contract term. We developed a simple billboard design with our message and established a toll-free 24/7 helpline: 888-FREE-002.
The billboard was installed on March 11, 2024 at 9:00 AM.
Initially, Clear Channel Outdoor was very supportive of our campaign. The manager told us that their office staff thought we were doing a great thing.
By 10:00 AM, Scientology had erected a cherry picker in front of the billboard, intending to block our toll-free helpline from the view of their members. By that afternoon, they had also erected a scissor lift.
The next day, March 12, we were contacted by our Clear Channel Outdoor account representative, who told us they were under extreme pressure to remove the billboard and relocate it because Scientology claimed the message was “controversial”.
Today, Clear Channel Outdoor removed the billboard. We learned of this news when a supporter sent us a photo; we did not receive a notification from Clear Channel Outdoor in advance.
The Foundation's "Survivor Stories" page shows the lengths they are willing to go to help others. One touching story was turned into a film and shared on several YouTube channels. Serge Obelenskey was ejected from Scientology after an accident destroyed his hands. With nowhere to go, he become a beggar on Hollywood streets known as "No-Hands Man" until a social worker and the Aftermath Foundation helped him move forward with his life.
Warren Jeffs's imprisoned Mormons and the Amish who want a life on the outside need help just as much as Scientology's slave laborers. I hope they're able to find that help.
