Introvigne tries to silence
his critics
During these months of aggression against Kelebek, no stone has been left unturned; yet all that CESNUR has been able to come up with was that we allegedly infringed their copyright by publishing a press release from the CESNUR press release page, or that we had once taken material from a "prophetic" website such as Watch Unto Prayer. Introvigne boasts how his lawyer managed to have Kelebek suppressed in Italy, through what he euphemistically calls a "settlement" with the frightened provider. He assures us that threats alone were sufficient and that he did not pay to silence us. When we put the news of this censorship on an Islamic mailing list, the Islamic site Ummah Net, though knowing nothing about us, immediately offered to host us, as they generally do with any controversial or banned content, especially when Muslims are involved. Introvigne, far from ignoring us, went systematically through everything else hosted on Ummah Net, which he himself calls a "megasite", and finally came up with the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. He carefully avoids mentioning the extravagantly pro-Israeli site of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community, also hosted on Ummah Net. Introvigne tries to show that Kelebek is anti-Catholic: an article is carefully quoted out of context: the article actually is a reply to two anti-Islamic texts which had been published by Italian cult critics. This is a typical example of deliberate deception, but only somebody who had followed every step of our polemic with him would understand it. Kelebek, "this fringe" of "anti-cultism", we are told, has all the main features of "information terrorism", including "distortions", "conspiracy theories", hit lists of individuals and occasional "copyright infringement." As Introvigne has provided no evidence of any but the last, we must gather that "copyright infringement", is "terrorism", as much as throwing a bomb into a crowded marketplace. I am no patent lawyer, but I think this some ethical considerations are in order. Copyright prevents an author's words being distorted, or quoted totally out of context; and also it protects the right to a legitimate financial reward for good style or research. However, Kelebek, has been accused of having picked up a "press release" from CESNUR's website. Of course, if Introvigne's definition of a "terrorist" is, somebody who publishes press releases, one may ask what his definition of a press release is. In my idea of English, a press release is something with "please pick me up and publish me!" written across it. Kelebek also quoted from past writings by Introvigne, in magazines long out of date, writing which was not private, was not quoted out of context or modified, had no literary pretensions and had already had its financial reward. This material needs to be in the public domain since it makes the nature of CESNUR much clearer; and CESNUR is the beneficiary of public funds, while CESNUR leaders are regularly invited to speak at public events and on the media. Prosecution of Kelebek on this basis is simply legal harassment, not protection of any legitimate right. After having spoken for ten pages (on my
print-out) of "anti-cult terrorism", Introvigne tells us that some "new
religious movements" also "react" to terrorism, though we are not offered
any spicy details about these attacks.
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