{"id":151030,"date":"2024-03-09T20:07:32","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T20:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=151030"},"modified":"2024-03-09T20:07:32","modified_gmt":"2024-03-09T20:07:32","slug":"the-police-raids-against-misa-in-france-november-28-2023-1-conflicting-narratives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/the-police-raids-against-misa-in-france-november-28-2023-1-conflicting-narratives\/","title":{"rendered":"The Police Raids Against MISA in France, November 28, 2023. 1. Conflicting Narratives"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Susan J. Palmer<\/em><\/p>\n

The authorities claim \u201cwomen\u201d have been \u201cliberated\u201d from a \u201csex cult.\u201d A well-known Canadian scholar interviewed the \u201cvictims\u201d and was told a different story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Part 1 of 5.<\/p>\n

On November 28, 2023, there was a militarized police raid on a yoga school in France known as \u201cMISA\u201d in Romania and \u201cAtman\u201d in Europe. \u201cMISA\u201d stands for \u201cMovement for Spiritual Integration into the Absolute\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A French SWAT team entering suspects\u2019 residence (exercise)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just after 6 a.m., a SWAT team of around 175 police, wearing black masks, Kevlar helmets, and bullet proof vests, descended on eight separate houses, five in Paris and three located in the same yard in Nice, brandishing semi-automatic rifles. They smashed in the doors and ran up and down the stairs, shouting orders. Their targets were neither terrorists nor drug dealers. What the police were searching for were members of a \u201csecte<\/em>\u201d (\u201ccult\u201d in English). They found some 95 vegetarian, non-smoking, alcohol-abstaining yoga practitioners.<\/p>\n

On that fateful morning, most of these yogis were still in bed. A few were in the kitchen boiling water for tisane. The masked police handcuffed them, made them stand outside the house without coats or shoes in the freezing courtyard, then bussed them to the police station of Nanterre, in the Paris suburbs, and other police stations, where they were held for questioning (\u201cgarde \u00e0 vue<\/em>\u201d) for up to 48 hours (there is no habeas corpus<\/em> in France).<\/p>\n

As co-author with Stuart Wright of a book called Storming Zion: Government Raids on Religious Communities<\/em> (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), I was curious about this raid. So, I contacted MISA\u2019s administrators and arranged to visit their yoga school in Bucharest, where several of those released with no charges had returned (others went to their respective countries, other than Romania, and some remained in France). Among the six who are being detained in different prisons of the Paris area on charges related to \u201cabuse of weakness<\/em>,\u201d rape, kidnapping, and human trafficking, is Gregorian Bivolaru (b.1952), MISA\u2019s co-founder and spiritual teacher.<\/p>\n

I flew to Bucharest on January 7, 2024, and interviewed twenty-five Romanian yogis, all students of MISA, 14 of whom were caught in the French raids, over nine days. The interviews were conducted in English and occasionally in French, with the help of an interpreter for those who spoke only Romanian. Their ages ranged from 27 to 72, and their professions and occupations were quite varied.<\/p>\n

There are two aspects of the raid on MISA that I found significant. First, the masked police team belonged to a special unit called CAIMADES. They are specially trained to deal with crimes and misdemeanors perpetrated by the \u201cgourous<\/em>\u201d of \u201cles sectes<\/em>\u201d (\u201ccult leaders\u201d) and to \u201crescue the victims<\/em>.\u201d Second, Gregorian Bivolaru teaches a form of sacred eroticism and he has been incorporating ancient Tantric erotic philosophy and techniques into MISA\u2019s yogic practice for decades. From the perspective of the \u201ccult watchers\u201d in France\u2019s state-sponsored anti-cult movement, these would be considered as \u201cd\u00e9rives sectaires<\/em>\u201d (cultic deviances), which must inevitably result in the \u201cabus de faiblesse<\/em>\u201d (abuse of weakness) of Bivolaru\u2019s \u201cvictims<\/em>.\u201d Moreover, for France\u2019s anti-cult activists, Tantra yoga and ancient Hindu erotic practices in a \u201ccult setting<\/em>\u201d could hardly be considered consensual. \u201cBrainwashing<\/em>,\u201d rape, kidnapping, and human trafficking must somehow be involved.<\/p>\n

The story of how Bivolaru, a Romanian spiritual leader and erotic mystic, came to be captured and put on trial by France\u2019s government-sponsored anti-cult movement is complicated but fascinating. One finds three fiercely conflicting perspectives in the case.<\/p>\n

From a feminist #MeToo perspective, one sees a powerful male leader imposing Hindu patriarchal dogma on Western female disciples to facilitate sexual exploitation and maintain a rigid gender-based hierarchy.<\/p>\n

From the French anti-cult perspective, one sees a \u201cguru\u201d relying on techniques of consciousness manipulation to enslave his female followers in a vast, international human trafficking ring that funds his \u201csecte<\/em>.\u201d In France a \u201csecte<\/em>\u201d is not a \u201creligion.\u201d Rather, it is regarded as a kind of \u201cbande organis\u00e9e<\/em>\u201d (criminal gang).<\/p>\n

Finally, there is the third perspective on the case shared by MISA\u2019s 30,000-odd yoga students who view \u201cGrieg\u201d (Gregorian Bivolaru) as an enlightened spiritual master who has devised the spiritual path of \u201cmystical eroticism\u201d based on his studies of Tantra yoga in ancient Indian sources, filtered through the writings of his correspondent and source of inspiration, Mircea Eliade, one of the great scholars in the Chicago school of comparative religion.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Experiencing the kundalini\u2019s awakening<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From MISA students\u2019 perspective, Bivolaru\u2019s 2010 book The Secret Tantric Path of Love to Happiness and Fulfillment in a Couple Relationship<\/em> is a practical guide for a harmonious and long-term heterosexual couple relationship. For Bivolaru\u2019s women disciples, since his Tantric teachings are centered on the Mother Goddess, every woman on this path can become the incarnation of the goddess Shakti<\/a>. MISA women explained in our interviews how through \u201cmystical eroticism\u201d their minds became liberated from patriarchy and their bodies exalted as feminine symbols of the Divine.<\/p>\n

There is no time or space in this series to discuss these conflicting views on Bivolaru\u2019s case. For those interested in this \u201ccult controversy\u201d and for MISA members awaiting trial, the \u201cdenouement<\/em>\u201d to this story is impossible to predict. Therefore, I will limit my efforts to exploring this complex situation within the context of France\u2019s government-sponsored anti-cult movement and \u201canti-sect wars.\u201d To this end, I will follow three steps:<\/p>\n

1. I will present an anatomy of the raid and its aftermath. Based on the data gleaned from interviews with MISA students, I will argue that the Judicial Police violated France\u2019s legal regime for the \u201cgarde \u00e0 vue<\/em>\u201d (the detention and interrogation of suspects in police custody).<\/p>\n

2. I will examine the role of MIVILUDES (Mission interminist\u00e9rielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les d\u00e9rives sectaires, Inter-ministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances) in Bivolaru\u2019s arrest and will discuss MIVILUDES\u2019 concept of \u201cd\u00e9rives sectaires<\/em>\u201d and its mission to control France\u2019s \u201csectes<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. I will explain the charges of \u201cabus de faiblesse<\/em>\u201d against Bivolaru and five MISA members within the context of France\u2019s 2001 About-Picard law. The modus operandi of \u201cabus de faiblesse<\/em>\u201d allegations as a \u201cweapon\u201d for controlling \u201cgourous<\/em>\u201d will be explored and its implications for Bivolaru\u2019s legal situation will be discussed.<\/p>\n

The accounts I will present in this series of the 2023 raids on MISA and the Romanian detainees\u2019 experiences with the French police are gleaned from the interviews that I conducted in Bucharest in January 2024 at MISA\u2019s Yoga School. My research participants described blatantly illegal treatment by the police and a general disregard for their rights and well-being while they were being held in police custody for questioning.<\/p>\n

Law professor Jaqueline Hodgson describes the proper procedures of \u201cgarde \u00e0 vue\u201d<\/a>: \u201cUnder art 63 of the CPP (Code de proc\u00e9dure p\u00e9nale) a police officer may place a person in \u2018garde \u00e0 vue\u2019 where there is reasonable suspicion that she has committed or attempted to commit an offence and the officer considers detention necessary to the investigation. The public prosecutor (the procureur) must be informed at the start of the \u2018garde \u00e0 vue,\u2019 which lasts initially for 24 hours, and her authority is required to extend the period of detention for a further 24 hours. This is the primary guarantee for the proper treatment of the suspect (\u2026). Under art 63-1 CPP, the detainee must be informed, in a language that she understands, of the nature of the offence for which she is being held and of her rights to inform someone of her detention (under art 63-2 CPP), to be examined by a doctor (art 63-3 CPP) and to see a lawyer (art 63-4 CPP). The right to custodial legal advice was first introduced in 1993; the suspect was allowed a 30- minute meeting with her lawyer, 20 hours after the start of the \u2018garde \u00e0 vue.\u2019 In 2000, this was amended to allow access to legal advice from the start of detention, but still only for 30 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source:<\/em> bitterwinter.org\/the-police-raids-against-misa-in-france-november-28-2023-1-conflicting-narratives\/<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

**********<\/p>\n

About the author<\/strong><\/p>\n

Susan J. Palmer is an Affiliate Professor in the Religions and Cultures Department at Concordia University in Montreal. She is also directing the Children on Sectarian Religions and State Control project at McGill University, supported by the Social Sciences and the Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). She is the author of twelve books, notably The New Heretics of France<\/em> (Oxford University Press, 2012).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nMarch 9, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

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by Susan J. Palmer The authorities claim \u201cwomen\u201d have been \u201cliberated\u201d from a \u201csex cult.\u201d A well-known Canadian scholar interviewed the \u201cvictims\u201d and was told a different story. Part 1 of 5. On November 28, 2023, there was a militarized police raid on a yoga school in France known as \u201cMISA\u201d in Romania and \u201cAtman\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":150268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-flagrant-violation-of-the-human-rights-1602-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151040,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151030\/revisions\/151040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}