InfoRIES Bulletin: New Acropolis (School of Sport with Heart and censorship of critical information)
- The School of Sport with Heart, the latest
screen of the New Acropolis sect.
SOURCE:
Various media
In some parts of Spain sports and cultural activities are being organized
under the label of the "School of Sport with Heart." According to what this entity publishes on its social networks,
it is a non-profit organization whose objectives are
"to offer the possibility of practicing sport (healthy in itself)
imbued with a healthy philosophical and humanistic spirit," "to promote
personal improvement" and "to rescue from time the spirit of classical
education (music and gymnastics), where both the
intellectual and physical training are part of a
philosophical way of life in search of personal
perfection."
As can be seen, fine words that frame sporting activity in a humanistic setting with the aim of
"embodying human values and thereby contributing to achieving
a slightly better world every day." This entity would have been
founded in 2010 in Spain, although it is present in several countries
around the world.
Some Olympics now in August
These days several media outlets have reported on
the celebration in Chinchilla de Montearagón (Albacete), from August 17
to 26, of the I International Volunteer Olympics, organized by the Center for Olympic Studies of
Chinchilla and the School of Sport with Heart. It has been announced
that Vicente del Bosque, former national football coach, will attend its closing. Even the Spanish Olympic Committee
is collaborating on this event.
According to reports, more than 400 people (athletes and
volunteers) from Brazil, Bolivia, Russia, Israel,
Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Spain will participate. The
Chinchilla Town Hall and the International Organization New Acropolis will grant the use of the cloister of the Santo
Domingo convent and the Palace of San Jorge, respectively, to accommodate
all attendees, as we read in
Objetivo Castilla-La Mancha.
In the time prior to the sporting competitions (the so-called
Olympic preseason, from August 17 to 21), preparation work for the Olympics will be carried out, general and
specific training, rehearsals of the performances that will take
place during the Olympics, debates and classes on topics such as: "Olympic spirit," "Music and gymnastics," "Ethics and morality
in sport," "Current Olympic values" and "The relationship
between dignity and Areté."
Who is behind it?
It is not hard to find out that the School of Sport with Heart
is a new front used by the International Organization New Acropolis (NA), an esoteric group originating from
Theosophy. As Manuel Guerra explains in his
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Sects, it is an "esoteric,
neopagan, paramilitary sect with a Theosophical imprint,
founded in 1957 in Argentina by Jorge Ángel Livraga Rizzi (JAL) and by his first wife,
Ada Albrecht."
Guerra recalls that "in a document about current neo-fascist
movements the European Parliament has classified NA as a 'neo-fascist movement' more than as a 'religious' one. This is confirmed by a series of convergent facts in the same direction:
the salute to the World Commander, the standards, the symbols and
emblems, the uniform of members of the Security Corps
coincides with that of the Nazi SS, the harshness of the training
of all adherents."
In its proselytizing strategy, the sect's activities are
sometimes carried out directly, presenting themselves as the
New Acropolis cultural association (conveniently legalized in each country where they operate, as happens in Spain), and other
times under various names of centers, spaces, associations,
etc.
Thus they use denominations such as Espacio Victoria (Madrid),
Espacio Atenea (Córdoba), Espacio Da Vinci (Zaragoza), etc., and
thematic groupings such as the environmental volunteer group
GEA, the Hygea association around medicine or
the Tristán Arts Institute. In particular, the person appearing as
director of the School of Sport with Heart, Francisco
Iglesias Buendía, is a leader of the New Acropolis sect,
as can be seen, for example, in the public information
about it available at the Zaragoza Town Hall.
Involvement of Spanish Olympic institutions
On May 8, the Royal Spanish Olympic Academy (RAOE),
the Chinchilla de Montearagón Town Hall and the School of Sport with Heart signed an agreement for the creation, in
this Albacete municipality, of the Center for Olympic Studies of
Chinchilla de Montearagón. In this way, the New Acropolis sect achieves greater presence and the possibility to act and
reach, above all, young people.
Among the divulgation and promotion activities of Olympism
carried out by the School of Sport are the I Pierre de Coubertin Cycle
in Madrid, Córdoba, Barcelona, Almería,
Jaén, Valencia and Alicante, counting in Madrid with the
participation of the president of the RAOE,
Conrado Durante;
the secretary of the RAOE and member of the Spanish Pierre de
Coubertin Committee, Pablo Galán; the director of the CEO of the UAM and
member of the RAOE, Mª Eugenia Martínez Gorroño, among
others.
As can be seen on the official website of the Spanish Olympic Committee, the activities
organized by the sect through the front of the School of Sport with Heart with a sports theme have been widely publicized: both the signing
of the agreement in Chinchilla and the conferences held in
Madrid, at the New Acropolis headquarters (Espacio Victoria), about
the figure of Pierre de Coubertin.
UP
- New Acropolis managed to censor for a few hours information that
reveals its sectarian reality.
SOURCE:
Various media
On August 6, the Spanish association RedUNE (Network for the
Prevention of Sectarianism and Abuse of Weakness) published on its
web a compilation of critical documents
about the esoteric sect New Acropolis, which has been classified by the European Parliament
as a "neo-fascist movement" and was included in the report
of the French National Assembly on sects (year 1995).
A sect that "gags freedom of
expression"
However, yesterday, August 8, that section of the website disappeared
suddenly. When RedUNE contacted Webnode, the company where the page is hosted, its
responsibles replied that they did so at the request of the
representatives of the official New Acropolis website.
In this way, RedUNE points out, "New Acropolis gags freedom of expression, attempting
to hide from Spanish society its true origins and
flirtations with Neo-Fascism." Because what the association
did was publish documentation "in which these
relationships are demonstrated, under the guise of a legally constituted cultural entity."
The president of RedUNE, Juantxo Domínguez, clarifies that "these documents
circulate freely on the Web and are also materials to which
the European Parliament had access at the time to declare New Acropolis a sectarian group. Likewise, on other pages
in Latin America and by experts in sectarian matters the same texts appear."
The right to inform
Thus, "our credibility as an entity defending the Human Rights of victims
of intolerant groups with sectarian drift has been seriously damaged. And on the other hand
freedom of expression and information, which has been
recognized to RedUNE by the Supreme Court, has been trampled
to the detriment of truthful information," says Domínguez.
The president of RedUNE refers to a recent
ruling of the Spanish Supreme Court, in which it overturned
the conviction imposed on the anti-sect association (as well as on a
television channel) for having reported on a
pseudo-therapist. According to the ruling, there was no unlawful intrusion in this case into the rights of the plaintiff,
as the freedoms of expression and information prevailed over the
public interest of information about people who claim curative powers and profit from their activity.
New Acropolis and its activity in Spain
On August 7, the blog of the Ibero-American Network for the Study of Sects (RIES) published
an article showing how the esoteric sect New Acropolis, through one of its fronts, the School of
Sport with Heart, has organized the I International Volunteer
Olympics, which are scheduled to be held from August 17 to 26 in Chinchilla de Montearagón (Albacete),
with the support of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) and the Royal
Spanish Olympic Academy (RAOE).
It was precisely one day after RedUNE published the
critical information, thus coinciding in unmasking the sect and its sporting and
cultural activities in Spain. In fact, RedUNE disseminated on its own website
the article published by RIES, thus echoing information that, at the moment, has not been covered by
any media outlet.
The censored documentation
The publication that was offline for a few hours is titled "New
Acropolis: from appearance to reality" and, after an
introduction in which its sectarian character is affirmed despite a front of cultural associations, it offers links
to several documents of interest, which we reproduce below.
Not only does material that the sect may consider "critical"
or from its enemies appear, but also the group's own documentation, such as
extracts from the Leader's Manual scanned. It is a book written
by the founder of the sect, Jorge Ángel Livraga Rizzi,
entirely internal in nature, as can be read in its
introduction: "this Manual is not intended to be published
externally, and not even among the members of New Acropolis
who do not have managerial responsibilities." Alongside the
Leader's Manual, RedUNE also offers a scanned
Regulations for members, typed, which is clarified as "confidential."
In addition, an excerpt is published of
the Judgment of the Provincial Court of Madrid (year 2000), in
which it reads that New Acropolis "is endowed with a rigid
system of organization and discipline of a military nature, has
adopted the Roman salute, practices training
in the handling of the sword and other weapons and makes use of
uniforms and paraphernalia similar to those of well-known
totalitarian organizations."
Another document is titled
The destructive sect New Acropolis. Manual, and its authorship
is under the pseudonym of Lancelot. Over 22 pages the
operation of the movement is described, and the author assures
that it is a sect, also pointing out that society must "be more informed about reality, to prevent New
Acropolis from continuing to be perceived as a caste with the right to
predominance."
Also under a pseudonym, this time that of Julian the
Apostate, is the author of the book
The great deception. The truth of New Acropolis and Lidia Pérez López.
Its objective is "to warn about an organization that today in Mexico
even has sections for children aged 10," and that
comes to "destroy their families and their private lives." For
this it offers detailed information over more than 130
pages.
The documentation is completed by a report translated from the
Dutch press ("The fascist aristocracy of New Acropolis"), a report from the
Spanish weekly Tiempo ("The Community of Madrid subsidizes a Nazi sect"), an
article from the newspaper La Vanguardia ("The Police believe they will not be able to find evidence against New
Acropolis, a Nazi sect according to a former adherent") and the
complaint of journalist Pepe Rodríguez against the leaders of the sect
for illegal possession of weapons.
UP