One famous example dates back to November 18th, 1978, when 918 Americans decided to die in the Peoples Temple, led by Jim Jones. The Peoples Temple was founded in Indianapolis in the mid-1950s. After criticisms of its ideas, the Temple moved to Redwood Valley, California, and in the early 1970s it opened other centers in San Fernando and San Francisco. In the fall of 1973, after a series of articles and the defection of eight members from the Temple, Jones prepared an “immediate action” plan that listed various options, including the flight to Canada or a mission to the Caribbean, to Barbados or Trinidad. The Temple chose Guyana and in 1974, after visiting northwestern Guyana, Jones negotiated a lease for over 15.4 square kilometers of land, located 240 kms west of the capital of Guyana, Georgetown.

Members of the Temple began building Jonestown and Jones encouraged people to move to what was called the Peoples Agricultural Project.

The relatively large number of Americans who arrived in Guyana tested the government’s small but severe immigration infrastructure in a country where most people wanted to leave. Jones reached an agreement to ensure that Guyana would allow mass migration of Temple members, in exchange for investing most of the church’s assets in Guyana. Immigration was asked to inhibit the departure of the deserters of the Temple and to reduce visas to opponents.

In the summer of 1976, Jones and several hundred members of the Temple moved to Jonestown to escape media investigations. After the mass migration, Jonestown had a population of just under a thousand people. Temple members attended study activities in a pavilion, including lectures on revolution and enemies. Entertainment activities were prohibited. Jones released long monologues about how his people had to “read” events. No TV and no films, no matter how harmless or seemingly politically neutral, were allowed. Jonestown’s only means of communication with the outside world was a shortwave radio.

Although Jonestown did not have prisons, various forms of punishment were used against members considered unruly. The methods included torture and beatings, and this became the subject of rumors that spread among the locals in Guyana. Members who tried to escape were administered Thorazine, Pentathol, Demerol and Valium in “care units”. Armed guards patrolled the area day and night to enforce the rules.

Children were delivered to the care of the community and turned to Jones as “Dad” and could only see their parents during the night. Jones was called “Father” or “Dad” even by adults.

Money that arrived every month as payment for pensions ended up in the Temple coffer, and the Temple’s wealth was estimated at 26 million US dollars.

Jones often spoke of the risk that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were preparing plans to destroy Jonestown and eliminate its inhabitants. Mass suicide was regularly simulated: “Everyone, including children, was told to queue up to get a glass of red drinking liquid. We were told that the liquid contained poison and that we would die within 45 minutes. We did everything we were told.

The Temple received half a kilo of cyanide per month for the jewelry workshop. In May 1978, a Temple doctor wrote to Jones asking for permission to test cyanide on Jonestown pigs, as their metabolism was similar to that of humans.

Jones was becoming increasingly paranoid and kept long monologues on the drastic escalation of repression.

According to Odell Rhodes, one of the escaped members of the Temple, the first to take the poison was Ruletta Paul and her one-year-old child. A syringe with the needle removed was used to spray the poison into the baby’s mouth and then Ruletta took her dose. Mothers with their children approached the table and Jones encouraged them to take the poison. The poison caused death within five minutes. After ingesting the poison, people were escorted along a wooden walkway that led out of the pavilion. Jones repeated: “Die with dignity, do not die with tears and anguish … death is a million times better than ten other days of this life. If only you knew what they are preparing, you’d be glad to die tonight.

Odell Rhodes stated that while the poison was being sprayed into the children’s mouth, he did not observe panic, people seemed in a trance.

Jones was found dead lying in his chair between two other bodies, his head sprawled on a pillow.

The mass suicide of Jonestown shows how far people can come to be accepted by the group and how they can become temporarily blind, in a state of trance, and commit otherwise unthinkable acts.

The Vital Needs Theory - page 15

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