The Destonian Sovereign Citizen

[Update June 2017: Ken Cousens and Andrea Teale are no longer associated with Desteni. The following article serves as a record of events.]

Several hour-long YouTube videos entitled Walking The World System, which are of talks given by Desteni / Equal Life Foundation champion, Ken Cousens, and hosted by Anna Brix Thomsen and Marlen Del Razo, were recently posted at the Desteni leadership forum along with detailed notes. They are supposed to be unlisted but currently are listed.

Cousens is the author of the Desteni Equal Life Foundation Bill of Rights and has written other articles for the group such as 'The Starting Point'.

In these videos, Ken Cousens discusses money, the law, history, the 'hidden elite', esotericism, mythology, 'the mind', arcane symbols found in corporate logos and the Bible, 'interdimensional reality' etc.; his own brand of New Age conspiracism. But the main part of his discussion consists of a repetition of the typical pseudo-legal arguments of the Sovereign Citizen Movement.

Cousens has often been a guest on Morning Liberty radio with right wing broadcaster, Robert A. Hender Jr. He appears in videos posted in 2011 as Chief Jury Foreman of the Republic for the united States of America (RuSA), which is the largest organisation in the world of 'sovereign citizens'. 

Civil rights law firm, Southern Poverty Law reports:

The strange subculture of the sovereign citizens movement, whose adherents hold truly bizarre, complex antigovernment beliefs, has been growing at a fast pace since the late 2000s. Sovereigns believe that they — not judges, juries, law enforcement or elected officials — get to decide which laws to obey and which to ignore, and they don't think they should have to pay taxes.

The RuSA has been plagued by violence and criminality and its former leader, James Timothy Turner was sentenced to 18 years in federal custody in July 2013 for tax fraud.

The FBI regards the Sovereign Citizen Movement as a form of terrorism.

It has been widely reported that the 'sovereign citizen movement' is run by con artists who engage in scams and frauds by charging money to coach people in how to eliminate debts or mortgage fees, create fake currency, drivers plates or licenses, dodge taxes, etc.

Cousens has written a so-called Affidavit of Truth which gives some background on his involvement with the RuSA in relation to his company, PanTerra PCA.

He previously wrote a pseudo-historical 'esoteric' narrative (before Desteni, in which he suggests Andrea Teale who is now a Destonian 'channeled' Maitreya for eight years): Holographic History and the End of a Great Cycle.

His name appears in connection with a company called 'Universal Legal Network' (which has offered help with foreclosures as have many 'Sovereign Citizen' gurus) at compaintsboard.com, at pissedconsumer.com, in connection with another group called Divine Province, and at Ripoff Report he replies to certain accusations. 

Cousens' videos for Desteni / Equal Life Foundation show that he is a strong proponent of beliefs of the Sovereign Citizen Movement, and although the movement is mainly based in the USA and Canada, he now takes a more global perspective.

In the Walking the World System videos Cousens formally extends an invitation to the Destonians to join his companies, Panterra PCA and Gemstone University, the websites for which are made up of pseudo-historical and pseudo-legal notions, grand conspiracy theories, New Age word salad and sovereign citizen beliefs.

Sunette Spies and the core Desteni / Equal Life Foundation group in South Africa appear to have given Ken Cousens the official go ahead to coach Destonians in how to apply his version of sovereign citizen ideology in whichever country they happen to live.

Related posts:

Equal Life Foundation Trojan Horse: Living Income Guaranteed (LIG)

Equal Life Foundation: NPO for Equal Rights -- or Money & Food for Destonians?

Equal Money System Reptilian Channeling Cult

New Age Occultism of Desteni Equal Money System

Living Income Guaranteed: Nonsense Politics of the Destonians Equal Life Foundation

An online platform

The Living Income Guaranteed (LIG) is presented by the Equal Life Foundation (ELF) as an initiative towards global equality, political and economic stability and a decent standard of living for all. Its Facebook page has over 27,000 'likes' but few details about the LIG are on Facebook, so let's have a closer look...

The South Africa-based ELF is a 'non-profit' company that runs a recruitment scheme for an income plan and an affiliate sales programme selling online products and courses for a group of people 'exploring oneness and equality principles' called 'Desteni'. The ELF states its focus is 'human rights'. It owns copyright of material produced by the Desteni group, including the Equal Money System and audio files of 'self-perfection interviews' with reptilians and dead people.

Publicity for both the ELF and the LIG often omits to mention Desteni, but the LIG is only ever promoted by less than about 100 people affiliated with the group who call themselves 'Destonians'. Their support for the LIG could possibly give the impression that the Destonians are activists but they say that activism has never achieved anything and they are 'practivists'.

The LIG could appear to be a variation of the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) but is a very different concept altogether. Its policies are completely unrelated to the BIG.

The main LIG document wrongly asserts, 'There has never been a plan that would consider how to live harmoniously on this planet so far'. It states 'we don't need leaders' while its supporters take part in a leadership forum.

The LIG document is described as a 'draft proposal' for global political and economic change. Since its inception over a year ago, the LIG does not appear to have been proposed to any politicians, legislators, political groups or organisations, journalists from mainstream or alternative media, governments, state departments, universities, etc. Despite their repeated use of the phrase, 'best for all' to refer to the LIG as all things to all people, there have been no public meetings on the subject and the LIG has only ever been proposed as a topic of discussion amongst the Destonians and at their own web pages. 

The Destonians say the LIG 'solution' is towards Perfecting Capitalism. It is described as an 'economic model' for a 'living income' welfare 'net' to cover basic necessities and equalling half the 'minimum wage', which would be double what it is now. The LIG would not be universally guaranteed, as it would only be available to those who are 'eligible'. Children might be deemed 'eligible' but the unemployed would first have to pass an unspecified 'means test'.

The term, 'nationalization', is used incorrectly by the Destonians to suggest that in a 'LIG system' each citizen of a nation would be obliged to operate as both owner and shareholder of all major corporations and resources. There would be a very limited role for government but somehow the LIG 'solution' would mean prices would adjust to wages and vice versa, personal tax would be abolished and corporate profits and the redirection of military funds would finance public services and the LIG.

Destonians seem to view the erosion of civil liberties as beneficial to society, and a purely digital economy a way of significantly reducing illegal trade. They recommend automation, digital ID cards, digital money / banking and no privacy, and claim all this will deter 'illicit financial transactions', protests, and what they call social dissidence.

In a LIG system teachers would not protest?

Teachers' salaries in a LIG system would be at half the minimum wage. This would be to stop people from entering the teaching profession simply to make money, but why the same rule should not also apply to other fields of work is unclear.

The LIG includes policies to make PR and advertising agencies focus 'on educating the consumer and/or population in a factual manner' and a 'Bureau of Standards' to ensure products and services are always of the highest possible quality. It seems that the regulations pertaining to the service, manufacturing and advertising industries would be far more strict and complex than at present.

Apparently, the LIG 'solution' would be 'implemented' by 'the people', who would make collective decisions about a nation, its businesses, natural resources and banks through 'direct democracy' facilitated via 'online platforms for political participation'. Creation or management of these platforms is not explained, but a LIG supporter represented as economist (with no credentials) suggests that the 'like' buttons on Facebook prove it can be done, and 'coming together' does not have to be a 'physical event'.

The Destonians' articles on the LIG indicate that they are of the view that political change begins on a subjective level and can be engineered from within, for which they usually imply the ELF 'Desteni I Process' courses and 'Eqafe' products provide the necessary guidance to facilitate 'self-responsibility'.

These are most of the main points covered by the LIG, but the Destonians have failed to communicate any actual ideas. The very few reasonable statements they make are about things which are already being dealt with in far more articulate and effective ways by numerous other more well-established and respected groups and individuals (such as the Basic Income Earth Network). 

The Destonians' 'plan' lacks any coherent understanding or awareness of economics, politics or political theory. The LIG is made up of misconceived, vague, half-baked, irrational notions, pseudo-political slogans, empty clichés and sub-New Age psychobabble. It does not provide any 'practical solution' and offers no strategies or actions to help bring about social equality or political or economic change. In short, the LIG is inconsequential drivel. 

The reason why the LIG is such nonsense is because it is a vain attempt to resemble a political movement in order to try to solve the problem of how to guarantee income and recruit for a quasi-religious cult business which has been doomed from the start, exposed for what it is many times over, and is finally going down the drain. 

It is curious to note that although there are over 27,000 'likes' for the LIG on Facebook, the number of Destonians remains the same as it was circa 2010: about 100-150 world-wide.

Related posts:

Equal Life Foundation Trojan Horse: Living Income Guaranteed (LIG)

Equal Life Foundation: NPO for Equal Rights -- or Money & Food for Destonians?

Equal Money System: spreading the FAQ?

Desteni Doomed - 1

Desteni 'Going Down the Drain'

15 Oct 2013, a journalist from international arts, culture and news magazine, Vice, posted at the Desteni forum. 

4 March 2014, the same journalist posted at the Cult Education Institute Forum and implied that 'Destonians' had been unwilling to arrange interviews with him. He asked for anyone with direct experience of 'Desteni' to send him an email, and whether the group 'is evolving, or just withering away'. 

The next day, the Destenigossip blog expressed the view that Desteni is 'pretty much done for'.

Since its founder, Bernard Poolman, died in August 2013, Desteni appears to be far less active than it was back in 2007-12. Several members no longer seem to have the prominent online presence they once had.

On 20 May 2014, long-time 'Destonian', Viktor Persson, published an article entitled, Day 139: Look At What They Are Doing!, discussing how he became emotionally distraught at seeing Desteni fall apart. It began:

Recently some reactions have come up within me wherein I’ve experienced irritation, annoyance, as well as fear and anxiety towards the point of seeing the Desteni-group fall apart and not anymore walking together. 

I have for example been observing some individuals that in the past were avid spokespersons for Desteni and the principle of ‘What is best for all’ slowly fade away – and towards this I’ve then had the backchat come up within me: ‘But don’t they understand how important this is? Don’t they understand that walking in a group is the only things that will make a difference?’ 

This irritation have been accompanied with worry, as well as blame – blaming those that are not walking anymore as being the cause for the group not moving as I want it to move, and for me becoming worried that ‘Everything is going down the drain’.

Within hours, Persson's 'Day 139' post was deleted (the complete cached article can be read here) from both his website and the Desteni forum. The following day, Persson changed his title for 'Day 139' to Emotion as Divergence Tactic.

Related posts:
The Voice of a Sane Organization? - Desteni Doomed - 1

Desteni Process Exposed as a Game

Monty Jonson reports:

To break away from Desteni for most Destonians would also be a loss of self-empowerment because their starting point for breath was not themselves but rather the very predictable subtle intention of 'belonging in a group and believing I am doing the right thing.' 

'Intention' in Desteni was simply put - Starting Point. 

Magick, well, magic is Self-Correction, Self-Empowerment, Self-Honesty. 

Self-forgiveness is a way of removing guilt, 'cause guilt is unnecessary and can get in the way of so much. 

Once enough self-forgiveness is done the brain gets used to the idea of forgiving itself for everything and from that point on all self-forgiveness may as well be masturbation. 

It's nice, it makes you feel good. That's the way Bernard intended it to be used. 

What I am trying to make you senior Destonians understand is that this was a planned structure from the start. 

Bernard said himself, after visiting the masters and discovering the state of the bullshit reality and the lack of willingness for anyone in actual powerful ability to do anything about it, driven by anger, he desired to be and create the biggest demon imaginable. 

He has spoken many things that are incongruent with the Desteni teachings, but because you were under his spell/hypnosis (not specifically directly, mainly indirectly due to your desire to achieve 'gnosis' (whatever that whiz bang definition is for you!) and unwillingness to do it on your own steam looking for the closest thing that will do to ease the pain you feel when you think of all the children that are dieing all over the world) you never saw what he was actually teaching YOUR BODIES. 

Maybe now you will.

Full Story: Day 3 -What is left to do on a blog then if the external process has been exposed as 'the game'