It HAS been mentioned recently on Global family chat as Kenneth Kuanda was lamenting that he was not quicker and more decisive in implementing Maharishi's programs.
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Michael Jackson <mjackson74@...> wrote: > > Funny how you never read such things in the Global Country Good News > > International > Zambia: > TM Scheme Chased from Zambia. > ATranscendental Meditation (TM) scheme to turn Zambia into "heaven on > earth" appears to have collapsed > in the wake of the electoral defeat late last year of the scheme's chief > patron, long-time Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda. > > The devoutly > Christian president's interest in mystical matters - he already had an > Indian spiritualist as an advisor - was well known when TM > representatives sold him on a plan to take over one quarter of the > country on which to develop ideal communities by sowing unused land and > creating new villages while teaching Zambians TM techniques. This in a > once prosperous country with its economy now in tatters, food and > medicine in short supply, and a decaying infrastructure. > > The Maharishi > Heaven on Earth Project - "crazy, isn't it," said opposition politician > Derrick Chitala - had managed to establish a training center where > hundreds of Zambians studied meditation via videotape, farming, solar > energy, holistic medicine, "conversion of gasoline engine cars to > pollution-free electric technology," and other skills needed for the new > world. The school was run and promoted by Humphrey Mumba, a 34-year-old > devotee who says TM cured his asthma. He sees TM as a scientifically > proved life-improvement technique used successfully around the world. > > President Kaunda, > who denied any personal involvement in TM - "That is not in my line" - > said the project was merely an experiment, an attempt to try something > radical and new to solve Zambia's endemic problems. He said it was a > development scheme, not a religious one, and that no one would be forced to > join a cult or meditate. > > A local newspaper > editor explained: "The gurus came to him with this idea to put up this > funny project of theirs and found the president very receptive to the > idea. They are very clever. They see the psychology of the man and they > exploit it." > > During the run up > to the election, an opposition spokes-man told a rally, "They are going > to give our land to the gurus of India! We say, when we are elected, we > will send them home!" (From "Heaven's strange bedfellows," by Rick > Lyman, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/16/91, 1A, 14A; "Kaunda Swept From > Office in Lopsided Zambian Vote," by Karl Maier, Washington Post, > 11/2/91, A1, A19) > > The night before > the election, TM had a half-hour TV ad about how the TM scheme would > make Zambia invincible among its neighbors and a world leader. The day > after the election, which saw Kaunda get only 20% of the vote, TM > officials reportedly fled the country. (Cult Observer Report) >
