European Yoga Porn 'Cult' Establishes a U.S. Beachhead: Where Is the Outrage?

Posted: 10/30/2012 12:00 pm

It calls itself the "Movement for Spiritual Integration in Absolute" -- or MISA -- and is reputedly the largest "yoga" movement in Europe, claiming some 40,000 members in more than a dozen countries. But it's actually a dangerous personality cult whose "supreme spiritual leader," Gregorian Bivolaru, has been accused of coercing or seducing hundreds of vulnerable women into producing hard-core porn videos, abandoning their spouses, and in some cases, becoming strippers and prostitutes -- all in the name of "liberating" the female body and bringing MISA members into intimate communion with the "Divine Goddess."

On its face, the group might sound like an obvious fraud, even a criminal one. But it has escaped prosecution to date, in part because Bivolaru, who first founded MISA in his native Romania in 1990, was persecuted under communist rule. For years many of his countrymen, including influential members of the Romanian elite, as well as human rights groups like Amnesty International, have treated Bivolaru as a "victim" worth defending. Thousands of Romanians have marched and protested on MISA's behalf, and after the communist regime fell, and the new authorities still decided to arrest him -- this time, on sex crime charges -- Bivolaru somehow escaped from prison and wound up in Sweden. There, after what most independent observers consider a sham investigation, the Swedish government granted him political asylum.

The full extent of MISA's alleged criminal activities may never be known. However, based on testimony from group defectors -- first presented on the website, exmisa.org -- MISA's development parallels that of other, more notorious yoga cults. One obvious forerunner is the movement surrounding the Indian mystic Bhagwan Rajneesh (aka "Osho") that flourished in the late 1980s, just as MISA was getting started. Bivolaru, like Rajneesh, has claimed a special channel to the Divine Source that endows him with God-like powers, including the ability to channel spiritual energy and telepathic insights to his followers viamass gatherings and virtual "hook ups" that appear intended to induce MISA followers to surrender their will and identity -- and in some cases, their life savings -- to their beloved "guru."

Why Child Welfare Committees need to be overhauled

Foster care: It’s time to think out of the box

Being blind followers of the West, even in matters of child care, may lead us down a dark alley, writes Suranya Aiyar

The images of little Aishwarya driving away from New Delhi airport showing her unmistakeable resemblance to her mother Sagarika, made an eloquent proclamation of where she came from and whom she ought to be with. The footage of the radiant smiles of the mother and grandmother, when they were finally able to meet the children in India were a testament, if any was needed, to their great joy at their return. Watching them, we smiled with them and felt their happiness. Admittedly, some of us did not smile, and rather felt our impatience at the media over-kill. Nevertheless, such public empathy for the family as was generated by the free media access to them was of no small value to the Bhattacharyas. In the situation in which the Bhattacharyas found themselves, cornered by a widely respected and powerful bureaucracy that was deeply invested in justifying its drastic action, the impersonality of faceless and nameless reporting was perhaps the opposite of what they needed. The mother certainly gained something in having out there the images of her holding Aishwarya in her lap and pushing Abhigyan’s hair off his forehead in an everyday mom-like gesture, belying the extreme allegations about her mental and parenting competence.

As with journalistic convention, so with child care: the West doesn’t have all the answers and racism is not its only failing. It was interesting how much public support in India for the Bhattacharyas thinned out when the Norwegian Child Welfare Service (CWS) produced reasons other than their racist evaluation (and it was racist) of Sagarika Bhattacharya and her child rearing practices to justify their actions. It is almost as if the Indian imagination cannot go beyond racism when opposing the West. It is the obverse of the standard Western response to objections from our part of the world to its actions: “these are people of immense pride”.

Questo è l’appello che ci giunge dalla Repubblica Democratica del Congo.

Si lavora freneticamente e contro il tempo per tentare di dare una famiglia al maggior numero possibile di bambini abbandonati, ma la situazione è veramente drammatica. Gli orfanotrofi nella sola città di Kinshasa, monitorati dalle équipe locali di Ai.Bi., sono più di 100 e, quasi ogni mese, ne spuntano di nuovi.

L’adozione internazionale non può essere la soluzione per l’enorme problema dell’infanzia abbandonata della Repubblica Democratica del Congo, ma è comunque una chance, che può essere data a qualche centinaia di minori, specialmente per i casi più urgenti.

D’altra parte, l’adozione nazionale non è ancora sviluppata e nonostante gli sforzi che le organizzazioni internazionali stanno compiendo in tale direzione, rimangono ancora troppi minori senza alcun futuro, se non la dura strada.

Ai.Bi., che opera nel paese africano da pochissimo tempo, sta impegnando molte energie per tentare di dare risposte concrete all’emergenza abbandono: nel 2012 le adozioni internazionali curate da Ai.Bi. sono aumentate quasi del 90%, passando dalle 17 coppie del 2011 alle 32 di quest’anno, ma non bastano!

Indians join Slovaks in protesting against UK child snatchers

Protesters outside the British Embassy in BratislavaPicture: THEDAILY.SK

By Christopher Booker

27/10/2012

The behaviour of our 'child protection' system is a growing international scandalConcerned by my reporting on how our “child protection” system has gone off the rails, one of my readers, David Phipps of Witney, wrote about it to his MP, David Cameron. As Mr Phipps records on his Witterings of Witney blog, the PM replied that he was aware of my articles but that they give “a very misleading picture” of our care system. I may occasionally single out a case where “a wrong decision” was taken, but he wanted to assure his disbelieving constituent that such mistakes are “exceptionally rare”.Among those rather better informed, and far less complacent, about what our social workers and courts get up to than Mr Cameron are a growing number of shocked foreign observers.

Mali: bloccate le adozioni internazionali

Un’importante notizia, che ci arriva dal Mali in merito alle adozioni internazionali, rappresenta un duro colpo alla drammatica condizione dell’infanzia abbandonata.

L’Autorità preposta alle adozioni in Mali “Direction Nationale de l’Enfant et de la Famille Ministère de la Promotion de la Femme, de l’Enfant et de la Famille”, ha comunicato, in data 25 Ottobre, l’entrata in vigore della legge n ° 2011-087, promulgata il 30 dicembre 2011.

For pregnant children nezdvihli officials of ass or phone

I have information that the bearers of famous names and functions visited orphanages and the children chosen for intercountry adoption. These children then a very interesting circumstances went beyond the boundaries of our country. Most of them have never been contacted with domestic applicants for adoption. Although the law commands. The following children from Slovakia no longer interested. Although the law prescribes.

Well someone - specifically journal is interested in practices relating to the financing of these transactions.

opaque apparatus consisting of the right people in the right places ensure that they did not see the fingers. Coverage everywhere reigning injustice and justice sales have never been held accountable, although it probably should rot in jail. Can you imagine that in U.S. ports were sold black slaves. But you can not imagine that in the middle of the twenty-first century Europe someone selling small children. So read.

It was in the year 2008. Two little girls were deported beyond our state. No, not exaggerating. They were packed and relegated. Not entitled to any contact with people who love and care for them.

10 Reasons To Adopt From Bulgaria

10/22/2012

Michele L. Jackson, J.D.

During my time in the Bulgarian orphanages and working in Bulgaria, I was able to observe many benefits in the Bulgarian adoption process. While Bulgaria has not seen the popularity of international adoption like Russian adoptions and Ukrainian adoptions, I find that it has numerous benefits that are often overlooked.

Top 10 benefits to adopting from Bulgaria:

France delays debate on gay
marriage and adoption, amid mounting opposition

me > News > 2012 > €1 million grant to benefit babies in Bulgaria

€1 million grant to benefit babies in Bulgaria

"We are extremely proud to support Hope and Homes for Children, as a respected and qualified partner in helping vulnerable children across the globe.”

Jens-Jørgen Pedersen, Senior Advisor, VELUX Foundations

19 October 12