TRANSCRIPT OF SPANISH TV DOC 12 TRIBES 2015

0:09

They scream when the police tries to rescue them from their own parents.

0:15

They are the forty children from a religious community called the Twelve Tribes.

0:22

They keep their children unschooled, isolated, not allowing them to come out of the community.

0:29

This is why the agents do not hesitate.

0:34

All have seen this video

0:37

You can see a mother with her daughter go up the punishment room

0:43

I am not tired

0:45

-Say: I am tired

0:47

-No

0:50

-What?….to the ground!….Say: I’m tired

0:55

…to the ground!

0:56

She beats the child with a wooden rod until the girl says what she wants her to say.

1:04

It doesn’t come into your heart

1:06

I want you to be a strong tree.

1:10

Say: “I’m tired”

1:11

[little girl] -I’m tired

1:13

….what?

1:14

- I’m tired

1:15

The German state takes their custody because they are endangering the mental wellbeing of their children.

1:27

We have found a 12 T. Community in Spain.

1:34

-It’s around here!

1:37

We look for their refuge,…

1:39

-Look, there is their house!

1:43

…the place where they live like the first Christians,…

1:53

…following the Bible and waiting for the return of the Messiah.

1:59

We confirm that they are children in the Spanish community.

2:06

Every man has to wear a ponytail.

2:11

To come into the group all had to give up

2:14

Their jobs and turn over their possessions.

2:18

- Let’s have a look!

2:21

You’re from the community!?

2:22

- Sure

2:24

- Can we ask you a few questions?

2:25

- They have asked us too many questions already and have twisted everything!..so,…

2:30

Each to their own conscience….

2:31

- If you don’t show up, an important part is missing,

2:34

The people we are talking about.

2:37

- I’m not saying you are not decent people, nor that journalism is bad,

2:41

But we’ve had such an overall bad experience.

2:49

They do not want contact with journalists,

2:53

But their neighbours might.

2:58

The 12 T. have been in the area for already 16 years.

3:03

How are the neighbors?

3:03

-Well, I can’t complain

3:05

We hardly see them, just walking around.

3:07

They have sheep, chickens and other animals.

3:12

They have vegetable gardens, greenhouses. I do not get involved with them.

3:20

But some of the neighbours have been inside the community.

3:25

When they are born until 4 months of age the parents have their babies totally tied up, completly tied up, immobilized.

3:31

- Why is that?

3:32

Because they say the kids become more docile later, more humble.

3:34

You can see the education is at home.

3:39

- They don’t go to school!?

3:40

- No, nothing, nothing until 14 years of age.

3:41

And when they reach 14 they put them to work. It’s a disaster…

3:47

Poor kids, they educate them their own way nd the kids do not have any opportunities aside from that.

3:51

- How many people are there?

3:54

- Don’t know, maybe 70 or 80 of them.

3:59

His report is surprising.

4:08

We are travelling to another one of the communities in San Sebastian.

4:25

Did you notice the sign?: a picture of a pilgrim. This is intentional.

4:32

We are right in the middle of the Pilgrims Walk to St James of Compostela.

4:37

Hello, I’m a journalist for “La Sexta”

4:39

- Can you turn off your machine!

4:41

He called it a machine. Seems like they live in another era.

4:46

- I would like to talk to someone.

4:48

- No, we don’t want any documentaries

4:50

- He can come then over here….not the camera!

4:53

- I’ll take my mics off otherwise they won’t want to see us.

4:58

They only allow us for one minute, they refuse to give us an interview

5:03

But we manage to speak with some of the members of the tribe.

5:07

Of the tribes people I’ve met there’s a couple whose grandchildren have been taken from the parents over in Germany, these 2 kids are included in the 40 taken by the state.

5:29

We get closer to one of the houses they have in the area.

5:36

The Basque police arrives.

5:41

Hello Sir -Hello -Hello, what are you doing?

5:49

- Looking into the 12 T., do you know them?

5:52

- No

5:54

Just then someone sticks their head out the gate….maybe someone is going to come and talk to us, well I don’t know

6:06

- Did they call you?

6:10

- Yes, they called us saying they were people outside filming into the inside of their house.

6:14

But you guys are just here, that’s not a problem, it’s just the outside.

6:23

The 12 T. make it clear that they want us to leave.

6:29

But we have an appointment

6:36

with the president of an association

6:39

That has been reporting for years the isolation in which the children live.

6:45

Hello, good afternoon, is this the Child Family Services?

6:50

I want to report child abuse in a community here in San Sebastian called the 12 T.,

6:58

Here in Monte Ulia, there are 2 houses.

7:00

I have very precise information on child abuse and I think justice needs to come into some actions about certain situations.

7:10

Until now no one has given a damn!

7:14

He informs us that all communities of the 12 T. are under the exact sameregulations.

7:20

Juantxo Dominguez President of a Network for Cultic Prevention

7:23

This group is the same group that is in France, Germany, Belgium.

7:26

In those countries the concerned authorities have rescued the boys and girls but here,in Spain, nothing of the sort.

7:34

- What child abuse is there?

7:36

- They beat their children with a strong, long stick on the bottom, and this is not the occasional spanking.

7:40

And they hit them hard and long.

7:42

And so some of the kids still have scars quite a while later.

7:47

- Do they go to school? – No, they don’t go to school, school is in the community,

7:52

But their education is strict and narrow.

7:54

The group interprets the Bible sort of Taliban style.

8:00

We know youths who have come out of there and show insufficient levels of education.

8:05

And on top of that if they don’t want to stay in the community, it’s a problem.

8:08

It’s the perfect blackmail because if you come out of the community

8:10

You don’t have an education, you lack the tools to live outside your day to day life.

8:17

What do you do?….you could end up in the streets. So you think: I’d better go back.

8:20

For them their goal is to produce 12,000 children we could say,

8:25

Based on their peculiar way of interpreting the Bible and the Gospel,

8:32

For them to be the liberators of let’s say their own paranoia…

8:35

- …of their Messiah – yes, their Messiah, that’s it.

8:40

But what is happening here? In order to obtain what they desire the children have to be very docile;

8:44

And so we are not talking about education here, nor of pedagogy.

8:46

And most importantly…what they are trying to do with these kids is that from the most tender age all the way into adult life

8:51

They will be like authentic robots.

8:55

We are not talking about members who come in as adults, that is yet another story.

8:59

At the very heart of their pseudo religious paranoia are the minors.

9:03

- What do they do, how do they live?

9:05

- The sale of homecrafted goods and food products.

9:09

- Thank you very much – My pleasure

9:11

Their businesses are the exception in their isolation.

9:19

From their warehouse they distribute their health food products across Spain.

9:28

On their door is a sign saying they accept credit cards.

9:32

They’re taking photos of us

9:36

The religious organization operates in our country through 5 cooperative enterprises

9:46

But their businesses spread across the globe.

9:48

Spain 5 France 1 UK 1 Germany 2 Czech Republic 1

9:52

USA 20 Canada 4 Brazil 1 Argentina 1 Australia 2 Coffee-shops, restaurants, shops, bakeries

9:57

It is a multinational holding with its views on Spain.

10:09

In a few months they are opening another shop right in front of their health food shop.

10:20

Do you know this store..”Sentido comun”(Common sense) ?

10:22

- Yes,Only been there once, I live around here….they all dress the same, with the part in the middle and a ponytail.Don’t know much else.

10:33

-they keep everything tidy and beautiful.

10:38

- Do you know who runs this store?

10:39

- No

10:40

- Never been in there?

10:42

- Yes,yes I’ve been in there 2,3 times but don’t know who runs it.

10:46

- 12 T….have you heard that name before?

10:51

- I felt something strange about this place.

11:00

One of the persons in charge of the store comes out

11:04

- You guys can’t express what we feel in our hearts…no it’s delicate…you understand?…

11:07

We want to appreciate everyone, and you too but you should also understand…

11:12

Leave your cameras aside and come as a person…

11:16

So you can give yourself a chance to understand something.

11:18

- But you have to see from our side [journalist speaking] in one of your communities…

11:21

40 kids have been taken from their parents…

11:23

And that creates an unease in the community at large.

11:24

- But I’m not not in Germany, I’m here

11:26

- But there are people here whose grandchildren have been taken from them.

11:33

- But they’re not here

11:35

- Yes but it’s their grandchildren in Germany, they are the granparents

11:39

- Yes, hard to talk…it’s delicate.

11:40

I know you are not under obligation to defend yourself, but you surely have an opinion and a stance on this matter.

11:46

- They will come back, the kids

11:50

- you think they will come back?

11:51

- Yes, for sure