Germany: "Freedom" mag, premier issue

With a print-run of 1 million copies (claim) the first german issue of "Freedom" magazine (Freiheit) was released on July 17, 1995. The 52-page pamphlet targets psychiatry as Co$'s main enemy, and even tries to link psychiatry to Nazi crimes.

In order to attack their critics, Co$ claims to show "revealing documents that shall prove that psychiatrists initiated the attacks" on Co$. However, those documents aren't included in the article.

"Freiheit #1" takes the usual course of naming and discrediting those people, who are the most prominent critics (in Germany).

One article praises the CCHR and the KVPM (Kommission gegen Verstoesse der Psychiatrie gegen die Menschenrechte; Commission against abuses of psychiatry regarding human rights), which are both front groups of the Co$. (Interestingly, the KVPM, Hamburg, is still listed in the "Oeckl", which is a printed register of all kinds of government, non-government and public organisations in Germany; 1994 edition)

Another article gives details on Narconon, its (alleged) history; yet another one describes the (alleged) goals of WISE.

From the Editorial (written by Franz Riedl, spokesperson of Co$, Germany): "Mark Twain points out that we should not be lured into accepting something as the truth, just because it was published somewehere". - Now, that's a good advice, especially when reading "Freiheit".

According to a spokeswoman, Co$ is planning to publish "Freiheit" on a regular basis - as part of a nationwide PR-campaign. The budget, however, that is reserved for the campaign, remains a secret. Reliable sources from outside the organisation indicate figures of "more than ten million Marks".

flas@cube.net