The Global Campaign to Defund and Disestablish the Church of Rome
The Global Campaign to Defund and Disestablish the Church of Rome
Issued by the Republic Alliance and its allied indigenous nations
September 1, 2022
The coming month is what Napoleon called “the favorable moment” in a battle. The Church of Rome is teetering on the brink of a crisis that makes the resignation of Pope Benedict in February 2013 pale in comparison.
The public admission of genocide by Pope Francis (Jorge Bergoglio) on July 29 has triggered not only Banishment Orders against the church by indigenous nations but a move to expel the Vatican from the United Nations. It has also prompted local governments in Canada and America to nullify tax exemptions for the church and endorse the indigenous banishments.
In response, the papacy has ordered all church funds to be deposited in the Vatican Bank no later than September 30.
At first glance, this sudden move appears to be the usual “hide the assets” ploy of any institution facing litigation and threats to their revenues. But in fact, the papal order was instigated by China to ensure that the $780 billion credit and financing agreement signed between Beijing and Rome on July 23 would not be jeopardized. And that fact has activated the anti-Bergoglio faction among catholic Cardinals to move against him this month.
The best time to strike at a big enemy like the Vatican is when it is divided and besieged: especially now that indigenous nations and their allies are seizing catholic church wealth and buildings, and reclaiming stolen lands.
Accordingly, our Alliance has launched a global campaign to broaden those actions and link them to our general movement to unseat the Corporatocracy and its COVID police state. This campaign includes a global lien of $1 trillion that will be imposed on the Vatican Bank.
To make this all a reality, we urge our affiliated Republic groups and individuals to undertake the following actions during these dates in September, and beyond:
September 1-10: Educating and Mobilizing
a) Educate your network about the crimes of the Vatican and the lawful necessity to defund and disestablish it. Use the attached flyers and other resources, especially the booklet “Dethroning a Rogue Power”.
b) Begin selective picketing, protests, and occupations of Catholic churches and offices in your community. Distribute the attached flyer “PUBLIC NOTICE”.
c) Present the attached “Resolution to nullify tax exemptions for the Roman Catholic church” to your local rural or municipal town council, and ask that they adopt it.
Sunday, September 11: International Day of Prayer, Fasting, and Action
Indigenous elders will be gathered at the United Nations in New York City on this day. Through prayers, fasting, and occupations, they will begin a move to permanently reclaim church properties, lands, and wealth, and to expel the genocidal Vatican from the UN General Assembly.
The elders’ presence will begin at 12:01 am on September 11 (Eastern time), or 6 am Paris/Holland time, and 2 pm in Sydney Australia. They ask that people do similar actions beginning then and continuing throughout the day.
September 12-30: Expanding the Actions
You are encouraged to continue these actions throughout September and beyond, especially at Sunday church services and official church functions. A guide to holding church protests, occupations, and reclamations follows. We urge you to share it with everyone who will participate in your local actions.
More updates are forthcoming.
With our thanks,
Kevin Annett Eagle Strong Voice on behalf of the Alliance and its indigenous allies
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Toppling the Temple: A Guide for church protests, occupations, and reclamations
by Kevin Annett
September 1, 2022
Form the ground of any battle and your opponent must respond on your terms.– Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Once we all took over their church, I lost my fear of those priests. I wasn’t a victim anymore; I was a threat. – William Combes, Vancouver, October 2009
Power isn’t just what you have; it’s also what your enemy thinks you have. – Joe Hendsbee, community organizer, Vancouver, 1998
I remember with undiminished joy when fifty of us occupied Holy Rosary church during its Sunday service and forced its priests to run out the back door. Our group of mostly poor and indigenous people stood as conquerors in that once-imposing church sanctuary, laughing and embracing, as the sullen cops and Catholic goons stood around impotently, and the TV cameras whirred.
In our elation, we all knew that we had struck a telling blow against Goliath; for soon after our audacious action had made the national news, the Canadian government quickly announced a “missing residential school children inquiry”. But we had also learned an invaluable lesson that day.
Twenty-five centuries ago, a general named Sun Tzu summed up that lesson thus:
Strike at and hold what your enemy loves and he will lose his power, no matter how small your forces are.
It was no accident that the Church of Rome continued to crumble after that moment in the spring of 2007 when we seized its property in Vancouver. For we also struck at its guiding spirit and sent it fleeing like we did its priests. And our same power subsequently forced one pope out of office in February 2013, and last July 29 made another one admit to his church’s centuries-long, genocidal butchering of children.
That genocide that now threatens to engulf all humanity can be rolled back by the same force that has sacked the papacy and pulled back its mask. But to do so, we must overcome the criminal Corporatocracy that has been established by the Vatican and China. That requires that we apply the important, hard-won lessons gained by our campaigns and the sacrifice of many people.
That is the purpose of this Guide. It is designed for those of you who have moved from words to actions, and who are active in our Republic Alliance movement to disestablish the Church of Rome and its partners in crime.
First Steps: Using your three Senses to know what to do
My old buddy Joe Hendsbee was a blacklisted union organizer and community hellraiser in Vancouver. He had many victories but even more defeats, which is why he was so smart. Joe taught me a lot, especially how to stay idealistic yet realistic when taking on any system of power.
Joe was like an Everyman’s Sun Tzu. He said that whenever you’re dealing with a bunch of wealthy crooks, you automatically have the high ground because they know they’re as guilty as hell, which makes them afraid, defensive, paranoid, and clumsy. Their instability allows even a few forceful people to knock them down, as we have learned time and again dealing with the child killing churches.
That said, we can’t have an overinflated sense of what we can achieve before we actually try something. We must always base our actions on a ruthlessly honest assessment of our own forces and situation.
Joe summed it up this way:
“If you have a lot of people, appeal to the eyes: have big protests and actions. If you have a smaller group, appeal to the ears: make a big noise. If there’s only you, or one or two others, appeal to the nose: make an even bigger stink.”
Some of you reading this are operating on your own or in the company of a few others, which places you in the “making a stink” category. You have the knowledge and means to do so, provided you aren’t held back by your own fears and doubts.
The simplest way to make a stink is to put the truth of church crimes in the face of the perpetrators and their followers. Churches are extremely vulnerable because they can’t hide. In particular, the Church of Rome’s massive size and its weekly and daily church services make them an easy and vulnerable target. Their local services are both their source of apparent public power, and their biggest Achilles Heel.
Making a stink starts with a simple leaflet, a placard, and a megaphone. Position yourself and your helpers right outside a church as its people are filing in to their service. It’s always good to hit people going into church rather than coming out, since your leaflet will then circulate in the pews and spark discussion and controversy. Also, you can talk to people coming out later about its contents.
Make your leaflet simple, punchy, and to the point. (A sample is attached) State the facts of the crime and the churchgoers’ complicity in it without preaching or moralizing. But emphasize to the reader that by funding or attending their church, they are partaking in a Crime against Humanity and can face legal and personal consequences.
Your placards need to have the same simplicity and power. “All the Children Need a Proper Burial” was the slogan on our banner during our church actions in Canada. Its message was picked up by the media because it was so evocative and strong.
A megaphone is your best weapon because it transforms one person into a crowd. Your voice will reach passersby and people behind closed church doors. One especially effective tactic is to have someone drive you around as you proclaim your message or read your leaflet to entire crowds outside churches, from the safety of your car. You can reach more people that way without the risk of being assaulted or arrested, which are always possibilities when your forces are small.
A more discreet but equally effective tactic is church infiltration, which is something that only a few of you should do, lest you draw attention to yourselves.
Before or during the church service, infiltrate the building by posing as a newcomer worshipper. Inconspicuously spread your leaflets around the inner sanctuary and in bathrooms and lounges. Carefully put them in the pews, Bibles, hymnals, and prayer books. This not only gets the word out but instills fear and paranoia among our adversaries, who will start watching for “intruders” and thereby create an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and fear that will estrange the regular churchgoers.
In short, this tactic is a form of psychological warfare designed to provoke the enemy to overreact and do stupid things.
I remember from our Canadian genocide campaign in Vancouver how powerful a weapon was this infiltration tactic.
On one occasion, after I had salted the downtown Anglican cathedral with leaflets about their indigenous death camps, the local Bishop issued a hysterical press release about “terrorists” sneaking into his church, and he hired private security guards to start frisking churchgoers attending the Sunday services. The attendees were livid, and all hell broke loose, resulting in more than fifty people quitting their church!
This is the kind of psychological weakening and confusing of our bigger adversary that we deliberately undertake by all our church actions. We, too, can play the divide and conquer game!
Think of your actions not as one-shot events but part of a living movement and a continuum of experience. Where you can and when your numbers allow, extend your protests to become all day events, especially outside churches with a park or public space nearby where you can set up tables, display your material, and hold picnics and public rallies.
In general, when you are acting on your own or with small numbers of people, never announce your church action before you do it. Surprise is your best weapon. But when you have bigger numbers, do the opposite: let everyone know, starting with the media and the cops.
You need to establish the legal and moral high ground with the police right away. Let them see for themselves that it’s the church that is the wrongdoer, and it’s we who are upholding the law and the safety of children. You can rest assured that there will be enough rabid, outraged church people on hand who will go ballistic and prove your point. Besides, being cops, they will likely know all the local inside dirt and corruption even more than you do. Get to know them and they will quite possibly share with you some incredible information.
Keep in mind that all these methods can also be attempted by larger numbers of people. For example, a big protest outside the church can distract and decoy the church security while your infiltrators work the congregation on the inside. And every larger church protest should employ leafleting and megaphoned speeches to disrupt the church service and pressure and incite our adversaries.
As Sun Tzu reminds us,
“Your enemy, properly provoked and guided by you, can be your best ally.”
Your purpose in doing these initial protest or infiltration actions at churches is not so much to convince the churchgoers or clergy – who are rarely convinced by our evidence – as to scope out the situation at the church prior to its occupation and reclamation by our movement.
You are in effect doing a reconnaissance by your first efforts, and probing and testing the enemy to learn its strengths and weaknesses. You are also letting the wider community know about the issue and our campaign, which is how we plant the seeds for future recruitment and bigger actions.
Raising the Stakes: Church Occupations and Reclamations
The power of a sit-in is both material and psychological. It declares that the location is under new ownership and that a shift in power has occurred. The occupiers are not merely protesting or even negotiating; they are claiming the land and property as their own and evicting the former owners. In other words, they are launching a revolution. – Reflections on a Radical Life, Norm Stainsby, 1981
The first time we ever occupied a church, in the spring of 2006, we did so to get in out of the rain. Then one of the local indigenous elders in our protest suggested we take over the place and not budge. From out of such sudden, spontaneous decisions have mountains been moved, in a series of events unforeseen by us or our enemies.
However, the key to transforming such random events into purposeful victory always lies in organized leadership, planning, and training. This is especially true when we take the momentous step required by international law and conscience of seizing and reclaiming the buildings, lands, and wealth of genocidal churches.
Occupying church properties is not an end in itself but is part of a bigger reclamation of what has been wrongfully stolen through mass murder. Under international law, the wealth of any criminal enterprise is automatically forfeited and can be reclaimed by the public, to prevent it from being used to further crime. This is especially the case with a proven, ongoing criminal actor like the Vatican. Put simply, the Church of Rome has no legal or moral right to operate and must be shut down.
In this light, our seizing and reclaiming of churches and their assets constitutes an act of justice and lawful necessity because our failure to do so will, for one thing, allow children to be trafficked, tortured, and killed. That is how we present our actions to the police and to the world: a higher necessity of public safety requires that we stop genocidal churches when the courts and governments refuse to do so. And it also requires that the police and public assist us in our lawful actions.
Armed with such legitimacy and right, the scope of what we can do is almost limitless. Anything belonging to the Church of Rome and its associates can be seized: from the money in its collection plates to its moveable goods to its church buildings, offices, banks, corporate operations, and lands. Its total wealth is almost beyond estimation, although a survey of Vatican wealth in 2019 put the figure at well over $200 trillion, or enough to abolish world debt and poverty!
So how do we begin? Obviously, occupations and reclamations must be conducted by large, well-organized groups of people who are educated and trained beforehand. Participants must be willing to act under a collective discipline and not be prone to panic. Experience shows that whenever spontaneous or random seizures of churches occur, they never last long, and the occupiers give way when the police show up.
Any occupation is a step towards the permanent reclaiming of the building, property, or land, and so by definition this action is a public, community endeavor. But secrecy and diversions are essential leading up to the action, to decoy your adversaries.
To create such a fog, your group holding the action must be led by a small, tight leadership core who can plant false stories for the infiltrators in your group to report. Then your enemies will be watching the wrong location.
For example, at one of our Toronto church occupations in 2008, we issued a leak that we planned to sit in at the downtown Catholic cathedral, even though we always intended to hit Metropolitan United. We seized the latter church easily, since all the cops were camped out and waiting for us at the Catholic church!
Such a decoy action is crucial, since once a large group of people are inside a church or church office, it is very hard to get them out without damaging the property, which is something the church people don’t want. But first, you must get inside the building by maneuvering past the church ushers and security and doing the unexpected.
The minimum number of people to take part in a successful occupation is initially at least twenty-five. This is an impressive looking number that is small enough to train. But standing by to exploit the breach made by this first wedge of people must be at least fifty or one hundred others from the community who quickly move in and settle down inside the occupied space.
These extra people bring food, bedding, children, music instruments, and anything else needed to transform the occupied space into a working community center, day care, or soup kitchen. At that point the cops and church officials won’t dare to try to evict any of you, especially if you’ve organized media exposure and are broadcasting your action everywhere.
When you first occupy the space, declare to the people working there who you are and why you are reclaiming the building or land. Then order them to leave. Hanging a sign or banner outside the building or space you have seized is always powerful, and a great photo op for the media; something like “This church is under the control of the people” or “Child killers have no right to operate”. It must be clear that the space is now permanently reclaimed under the law.
A powerful weapon you have is the involvement or endorsement of local indigenous elders who are present with you, and who can reclaim the space on their traditional territory. Find some sympathetic native people and involve them from the start, but make sure they aren’t tied to government money or state-funded puppets.
Also, be sure to have a division of labor and work teams organized before you start the occupation: for example, a media liaison person, someone to speak to the police, and individuals to organize security, food, water, bedding, and other essentials. The church may pressure the town council to turn off the electricity and water in the building once you’ve seized it, so be sure to precede your action by getting local politicians on your side, like by asking them to nullify tax exemptions for the church.
The more you can educate people about your cause and lawful, peaceful intentions, the more protection you will have.
Most importantly, start using the occupied space in new, practical ways that benefit the community so that more people will have a stake in your action and will support it. Be creative in how you do so.
For example, in your new space, hold community forums on not just Vatican Crimes but any topic of interest to people. Hold free musical concerts. Set up a local exchange and trading network for people to post and find jobs. Use the kitchen to make food for people and ask the community to bring donations and get involved. Churches are already taxpayer funded, public spaces, so why shouldn’t they be opened to all the people and used for their benefit?
In short, keep and hold the moral high ground, for that is the power behind your occupation: you are directly transforming a place of crime into the opposite, and showing by your example how people can change the world. Doing that will be incredibly inspiring and activating for many people, and those people will fill your ranks and bring you even more legitimacy, strength, and protection.
You will need that kind of support, especially, once you occupy not only churches but their administrative offices. The latter hold secret records and confidential material, which are often incriminating, and so their seizure always terrifies church officials. So be prepared for more of a backlash when you hit the business offices. But know, too, that your seizing what they love gives you real power over your adversary.
Occupying buildings is always easier to do than land occupations, which is one of the more difficult but rewarding actions to take. Land reclamations are the final stage in the continuum of these actions, and the one where you will encounter the most pushback by the churches and their corporate partners since the lands and their resources are very lucrative. Indigenous activists are the best teachers in this regard.
Finally, always remember that all that you do needs to be celebratory, lifegiving, and fun! As gloomy a topic as genocide and child murder is, we are rising above the despair that allows criminals to stay in power by creating our own alternative to their corrupt system.
People are longing for an example of how to move beyond words to deeds, from complaining about life to changing their circumstances; and you are providing them with that by your actions. And I know from experience that in turn, if you persist and stay united and strong, you will receive back a hundredfold.
Joe Hendsbee once said to me,
“It doesn’t matter what you do to yank the dragon’s tail, just do it, and learn from what happens. Then one day you’ll learn how to slay the beast.”
Your occupations and seizures of the wealth of murderous churches will teach you vital lessons in how to battle and overcome the global tyranny that is threatening the lives of all of us. That is a sacred and a joyous responsibility for you to hold, and it will help all of us in our long struggle into the sunlight!
There is more to say and do, but for now, stand up, raise your hearts and resolve, and prepare! The world has great need of what you do next!
Kevin Annett Eagle Strong Voice
Global Republic Alliance