Indie Scientologists go on the attack: Victoria Palmer plans Sep 23 protest at Big Blue

[Victoria Palmer at the Reno gathering last month]

From the very beginning, in the early 1950s, there have always been adherents of L. Ron Hubbard’s “technology” who broke away from his official movement to practice his ideas on their own.

These independent Scientologists, or Freezoners, have come and gone, with an occasional attempt to organize actual brick-and-mortar churches of their own. (There’s the former Haifa mission that thrives there under former Church of Scientology members Dani and Tami Lemberger, for example.)

But we told Victoria Palmer that we don’t recall independent Scientologists planning what she’s organizing later this month: A direct protest of the Church of Scientology and its leader David Miscavige by practicing Freezoners at Scientology’s Los Angeles headquarters, known as ‘Pacific Area Command’ to Scientologists, and ‘Big Blue’ to the public.

“I decided that it was time for us to unite and stand for the truth about Scientology,” she tells us.

Palmer is a very interesting figure we have begun to pay attention to recently. A lifelong Scientologist from Seattle, she’s an OT 3 and a Class IV auditor, and her profile in the Pacific Northwest went up when she became part of anti-mask mandate rallies in the area during the pandemic.

Trying to capitalize on that notoriety, she ran this summer for Seattle City Council, but lost her district’s primary on August 1.

Ten days later, an independent Scientology conference began in Reno, Nevada, organized by Rey Robles, a gathering he calls the “Theta Alliance.”

At that gathering, Palmer announced her intentions for a rally against Miscavige at Big Blue.

“The attendees at the Freezone Convention were very inspired by my presentation,” she says. “Our plan is to walk along L. Ron Hubbard Way and carry signs of truth that will inspire our friends inside the church to do the right thing: To take whatever actions are necessary to restore LRH tech, correct injustices, and end abuse. This will just be the first event. We’ll continue as long as necessary.”

Um, wow. Freezoners, carrying signs, walking down L. Ron Hubbard Way? That should be a shitshow of Scientology security guard freakouts.

Palmer is calling it the “Crusade to Restore Scientology,” and we thought we’d reproduce a few of the answers to the FAQ at the crusade’s website.

WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?

If you take an honest look at statistics since Ron left his body in 1986 the church has been shrinking. David Miscavige was NOT selected by Ron to take control of managing the church. David Miscavige has altered the tech (such as re-defining an F/N) and implemented suppressive policies that have resulted in the suppression of Scientologists and Scientology. A quick web search on David Miscavige will show his history of physical abuse against Sea Org members as well as allegations of serious crimes that should be thoroughly investigated. David Miscavige is the SP. It’s time to confront and handle this situation.

WHAT ABOUT CONTROVERSIES SURROUNDING L. RON HUBBARD?

We are well aware of the controversies surrounding L. Ron Hubbard himself. He never claimed to be a saint. Yet we recognize L. Ron Hubbard as the founder of Scientology and it is to him that we owe our respect and acknowledge the wins and abilities restored by using the technology of Scientology. Old-time Scientologists have countless stories of their interactions with Ron and how churches and missions around the world flourished into the 70s and even the 80s while Ron was still alive. It was the encroachment of suppressive management and the takeover by David Miscavige that throttled wins and the expansion of Scientology.

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP?

We are asking current staff, public, and Sea Org members to take whatever action they can to restore standard tech as developed by L. Ron Hubbard. Take any action possible to correct the application of ethics and justice, to restore it to the original intention of Ron, such as using ethics gradients rather than extreme measures like expulsion and disconnection. The proper use of disconnection is to remove enturbulation from the environment, not to censor the truth. Join one of our demonstrations or bring the movement to your city. Contact Victoria for help.

We’d really like to hear what you think. We’ve heard from plenty of former Scientologists who told us they went through an “indie” phase on their way out of Hubbardism. They said that initially they held on to their affinity for Hubbard and his ideas, but then came to believe that Hubbard had set up a deceptive system of doublethink from the beginning.

But could a concerted effort by Hubbard fans, still attached to his “tech,” cause a dent in what is certainly a weakened post-pandemic Church of Scientology under David Miscavige with public protests?

We don’t know, but we think it’s going to be really fun to find out.

Here’s Victoria’s flyer for the event…

---

Want to help?

You can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail).

---

Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:

Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history

Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea

Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time

Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology

Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain

Here’s the link for today’s post at tonyortega.org

And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning.

Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week…

Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology”

Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news