<\/a>BB-31-a-38 \u00ad\u2013 a-39<\/p>\n25 May 1978<\/p>\n
From: Peoples Temple Agricultural Project
\nPO Box 893 Georgetown<\/p>\n
To: Ministers of Government<\/p>\n
Dear Comrade Minister:<\/p>\n
As you are probably aware from previous correspondence, there is a small but vociferous element of Nazi-like thugs that has been attacking Guyana and our organization. They are press headline seekers, and they have held demonstrations to attract publicity. Recently, they even shoved a black woman, which was witnessed by an officer who warned them to straighten up or they would have to leave.<\/p>\n
A man by the name of Timothy Stoen heads this bunch (Stoen was once a member of Peoples Temple \u2013 undoubtedly an agent-provocateur as he attempted to put our organization on a violent course). He hasn\u2019t been able to get much attention in the press, particularly as of late. The last demonstration attracted no coverage to speak up. (It is the little papers \u2013 such as the Ukiah Daily Journal \u2013 which this type of element controls, and these papers don\u2019t mean much.) It is not so popular to attack us anymore, since much of the punch has been lost.<\/p>\n
One of the press owners \u2013 Rupert Murdoch \u2013 has aligned himself with reactionary forces in attacking all socialists. It is a return to McCarthy-type (\u201cred-baiting\u201d) politics. One group \u2013 Synanon, which is known and respected for its rehabilitative work \u2013 was not even socialist. But they were too progressive and they were closed down by the same type of reactionary force, working in league with a segment of the press. (We can provide other examples of socialists and progressives who have been victimized by press smears, if you are interested for any reason.)<\/p>\n
We pose no political significance to them, other than that we were socialists and we were popular (something which evidently couldn\u2019t be tolerated.) But the expressed attempt to destroy our organization has failed, though the attempt apparently continues. Recently our detractors issued a wordy statement filled with lies, distortions, innuendo, and hypocritical piousness. It was issued under the banner of \u201cconcerned relatives\u201d and contained the signatures of a few dozen persons, most of whom have no relatives here. Among the persons who signed it are several known convicted criminals.<\/p>\n
We filed thousands of signatures in support of our organization and against the insidious bigots who only could muster a meager 30 signatures. We sent copies of our support petition to the US State Department and the International Human Rights Commission. It was signed by our supporters from all over the Eastern, Midwestern, Southern, and Northern US. Should you be bothered with the outlandish document sent out by our detractors, we will have on file for anyone to see, copies of our petition (over 160 pages of signatures as well as telegrams of support and good wishes), statements of relatives of Jonestown residents (these are relatives who visited the project, all of whom loved it), and a point-by-point answer to the outrageous lies and falsities and against us, which are clearly exposed. (The ministries of Home Affairs and National Development have already been sent these materials.)<\/p>\n
A friendly editor-reporter of one of the large newspapers in San Francisco, who is familiar with our work, told us that the true story will never get printed in the establishment press where we come from in California, because when a story climate is created, the press doesn\u2019t want to change it. She said it would hurt the media\u2019s reputation to reverse itself by printing the truth, after a false climate has been established. She said once the press has created an image of something, it is too arrogant to admit it errored in making that (false) image, even though one day they will be caught. This journal is called a reactionary conspiracy against us and said that if she were to print the truth about our good work, she would be fired. We would give her name, but we\u2019re reluctant to spread it around, because if she is quoted, it could cost her job. However, we will provide it on an individual basis, if someone feels they need it for any good reason.<\/p>\n
To paraphrase what many who have stood through the years for social justice have said \u2013 this is an insidious campaign to destroy a progressive organization that has been effective in helping many thousands of people in need of all kinds of assistance. We are an open book and have nothing to hide, and we will be happy to answer any questions that our friends and comrades may wish to ask. So please don\u2019t hesitate if there is anything about our organization or work here in Guyana that you wish to clarify.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your time and consideration of the issues that I\u2019ve posed.<\/p>\n
Cooperatively yours,
\n\/s\/ Mike Prokes
\nCde. Mike Prokes
\nAssociate Minister<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BB-31-a-5 January 6, 1978 Peoples Temple Agricultural Project PO Box 893 Georgetown Dear Comrade Minister: We are sending you the enclosed article as a forewarning that Tim Stoen has indicated he has plans to come to Guyana very soon. Stoen has been quoted in the US press, having made statements that reflect negatively on Guyana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":88315,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-126233","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/126233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126233"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/126233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126250,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/126233\/revisions\/126250"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/88315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}