Barbara
Bonneau's statement
I
am the mother of a youth, captivated by the Larouche Organisation,
in August 2005 when he was only sixteen. I was with him for the initial
encounter. I am here today to explain not only what happened, but
how it happened so fast, as well as what my understanding of this
Organisation and the Schiller Centre is today. The youth of this organisation
will probably say, as they have been taught to do, that we are calling
for a censure. However any legitimate political or cultural organisation
will and must stand up to scrutiny.
Needless to say that I wouldn’t be here had not this adventure
turned out to be a disaster. Everyday, for the last 4 years, the Larouche
Organisation has come more and more a part of our lives. My son is
now 20. Instead of accomplishing all the things that young people
are able to accomplish in a short time, my son has become sort of
a shadow. In joining the Larouche Organisation and in coming to The
Schiller Centre our youth expects to be enlightened. Instead, after
being lied to and manipulated to accept totalitarian goals, they are
indoctrinated to propagate Larouche’s principals through disguised
language.
The creation of new totalitarian groups takes place today out of cultural
centres like the Schiller Centre all over the world. From the outside,
these centres sometimes seem to have been founded to insure peace
and fraternity, to renew culture and sometimes even place themselves
outside of the political domain. This was the case for the Zayed Centre
in Abu Dhabi in the Arab Emirates, closed at the end of the summer
of 2003 because of its acquired reputation of having become a haven
for fanatical anti-Semite conferences and press. Lyndon Larouche,
Helga-Zepp-Larouche, Jacques Cheminade, as well as many other occidentals
known for their anti-Semitic or revisionist’s viewpoints, were
regularly invited to participate in these conferences after 2002.
Larouche expressed his regrets at its closing in texts still available
on the Internet today. Wasn’t Jeremiah was right to be terrorised
by what he discovered here in Hessen? A totalitarian group has an
absolute or total vision of the truth. Those that are not in the group
or oppose it are rejected by it and don’t even have a right
to exist.
In France the Larouche Organisation is listed on page 23 of the Prime
Minister’s 2005 report for having cult deviancies. In the US
there are numerous documents available, many written by Larouche himself,
which expose in detail the extremist ideology and potential violence
of this group. Indeed, the extreme changes in the personality of the
members of this group makes the organisation seem more like a political
cult than a party, with all of the characteristics of these groups.
Nevertheless, like many totalitarian groups in the past, the difference
between a cult and a full- fledged party is mostly a question of numbers
and mandates.
This group acts and gains influence quickly without any form of incentive
or constraint. They use recognized methods of captivating and manipulating.
One small contact in the street is enough to get the youth to participate
in a self–indoctrinating process or conference that will follow
rapidly. One conference at the Schiller centre is enough, not only
to insure an indefinite participation, but also to train the youth
to track and to “capture” others.
The Question that we must ask ourselves is: To what point is the
Schiller Institute, the European Headquarters for this Organisation,
another Zayed Center, for example? They held an international conference
here just recently in February 2009 in Russelsheim (Hessen) where
for the French youth alone there were at least ninety participants,
including one of the 1995 French presidential candidates, Jacques
Cheminade. On their program Larouche calls for nothing less than immediate
reconstruction of the world! How many of the world’s youth will
be programmed by Larouche’s army of elite tomorrow?
I am relating all this because I hope to convince you that it is
necessary to investigate further in order to unveil the possible crimes
of the Larouche Organisation and to stop its financing rather than
simply to feel sorry for the parents or for its members. I appeal
to you to contact your political representatives, your cult advisors,
and your religious spokespersons to alert them to this situation here
in your own community, and to request a new and full investigation
into the death of Jeremiah Duggan. Even if it might be concluded,
after proper investigation, that Jeremiah ran into traffic on a weekend
trip more than a thousand kilometres from his home, we mustn’t
ignore the reasons for this ultimate act. Indeed, if he was running
in terror to escape an even greater danger, this mustn’t be
ignored. Any complete and legitimate investigation will stand up to
scrutiny.
I hope that my own son will understand that I am making this statement
out of love and respect for him as well. I wouldn’t be able
to look at him straight in the eyes without requesting a proper investigation
and commemoration of the death of another youth who, like my son,
believed that he was selflessly embracing the adventure of life by
joining with the Larouche Organisation. Justice for Jeremiah is Justice
for us all.
Thank you for listening.
Barbara Bonneau
French Family Participant
