Wild Wild People - Part 1
Aug 27 Wild Wild People - Part 1
Netflix has delivered again with a masterpiece of a documentary “Wild Wild Country” that appeals to a diverse viewership allowing them to choose, whether the Sannyasins were just in their approach or the people of Oregon?
The show is narrated by the administration on both sides. On the Sannyasins side, it is by top brass of Rajneesh Foundation, Maa Aanand Sheela, Philip Toelkes and Jane Stork. On the other side, people of Oregon, the localities, Jon Bowerman, John Sivlertooth, the McGreers and representing the government, Robert Weaver.
The reason for this direction primarily was to develop the characters fully, who would be part of this conflict that arose to stage of self-preservation, hate and violence. The incentive being the envisioned way of life.
“Bhagwan was perhaps the first guru, who married the eastern concept of mysticism with western capitalism to create this very attractive message for a lot of people. It was about self-love, self-awareness and learning about humanity. It really attracted a lot of highly successful, intelligent people from the East and the West” - McClain
Story starts from India where Osho, then known as Bhagwan Rajneesh rose to prominence. The reason for that according to the directors of the show is simply the mix of eastern and western philosophies to live a simple and harmonious life.
Rajneesh (originally Chandra Mohain Jain) quickly established an Ashram in Pune and developed a variety of the therapies incorporating methods first developed by the Human Potential Movement. Coupled with dissension with the Indian government and police, over unpaid taxes exceeding in the amount of $6 million, the increasing sympathy from Indian police for disgruntled neighbors of the Ashram and a failed effort to get a larger site in India led them to the greener pastures of Oregon, United States.
Wasco County, Oregon, here the commune purchases 64,000 acres in the form of what was then called Big Muddy Ranch. Trucks, bulldozers and other heavy machinery starts flowing in as the commune started to build housing and other infrastructure, which was necessary for their dream city. This dream city, they called Rajneeshpuram after their master. Rajneesh's secretary Ma Anand Sheela, the CEO of this foundation had an instrumental hand in the purchase of the ranch, the land for this city and the setup of this new commune on it. People were ecstatic to be in Rajneeshpuram and gave it their all to create their dream home in the presence of their Guru. Some people also bought housing in the nearby town called Antelope.
"It was a powerful experience that people were willing to give up their lives and create this oasis in the desert, and it created this energy that really was a force." - Hira Bluestone
Residents of Antelope, 40 in number at the time, start seeing this big activity around their predominantly quiet town and begin to question this advance. People in the commune all wearing the same red color dresses and following this Indian Guru no one had heard of in the county, sent alarm bells in the tone of a Cult to them. People in the US had become weary of cults since, The Jonestown Incident in 1978 when a total of 918 people died in the settlement in a mass suicide under the influence of Jim Jones their leader.
The residents of Antelope took the issue to 1000 Friends of Oregon, which advocates for sustainable communities, protection of farmland and forests, and conservation of natural areas and resources in the U.S. state of Oregon with a focus on land-use planning. It was explained to Ma Anand Sheela that a city on farmland is not permissible under Oregon land use law. Frustrated she threatened the 1000 Friends of Oregon.
“We need a city and if you are going to give us trouble, we will have to beat you.” - Maa Anand Sheela
This is where it started to gets contentious, with people taking a stand to defend their homes. In a bid to quieten the local population of Antelope, Sheela starts buying more and more houses in Antelope. She assumes that doing so, she can get full control of the town and thus less issues with the locals. As the residents start to pressure the local authorities and government members, the matter starts to become more widespread with news agencies starting to cover it nationally.
As this happens, powerful people, running for politics see it as an opportunity to win people over by helping the locals out. Sheela now realizes that she is losing control over the situation and starts gathering homeless from nearby cities in an attempt to build up the population of the commune. Cunningly, on one hand she uses media to ridicule the government in saying that they did not care for the homeless and the indigent and on the other hand she requests these people to register for voting in Wasco County. If succeeded this would have given her majority in the county and some seats in the state government. This plan was however thwart by the voting commission as a potential case of voter fraud.
Due to the over population of the commune and limited resources, they start to face problems with the homeless and resort to drugging them with Haldol a sedative to keep them in control. This is where it starts to become clear that Sheela is on a mission to resolve this confrontation with the authorities by hook or crook. She orchestrates the poisoning of the locals with salmonella by mixing it in the salad bars of few restaurants, causing a lot of the inhabitant illness in an attempt to incapacitate the voting population of the city, in an attempt for their own candidates would win the 1984 Wasco County elections. They also conspire to assassinate Charles Turner, the then-United States Attorney for the District of Oregon.
"Bhagwan has said from the beginning that, ‘I’m not Jesus, I’m not Gandhi,'” “When Jesus says, ‘You turn your other cheek,’ [Bhagwan says] you take both of their cheeks." - Maa Anand Sheela
After a bombing in one of the Commune hotels in Portland, the commune had purchased an arsenal of guns to defend themselves and the compound. A 150-member private security force, full with an armory of .357 Magnum revolvers, semiautomatic Uzi carbines and Galil assault rifles, along with a few more exotic items such as tear gas grenades and barricade-penetrating shells for police riot guns.
Things go downhill from here pretty fast, Immigration, DA and other local authorities start pushing through for an investigation. Immigration finds some fraud where people were deceiving the government by having marriages in different cities and getting a residency and worst of all, it was orchestrated by the top executives of the commune. Government agencies challenge the separation of church and state in the case of Rajneeshpuram where most of the elected officials are actually just appointees by Sheela or the Guru. This all leads to searches into the commune which reveals wiretapping, secret rooms and things of questionable nature going on. Things that the Sannyasins are not aware off. Finally, evidence for the Bio Terrorism is found in the labs, assassination attempt, wiretapping and other charges which led to convictions later. As for the Guru, he was deported from the U.S. and forced out of some 21 countries before finally settling once again in India. Taking the name Osho, he lived there until January of 1990. As for justice, Ma Anand Sheela, Alma Potter, Sally-Anne Croft, Susan Hagan, Ann Phyllis McCarthy, Catherine Jane Stork and few other members face fines and/or time in prison which they carry out in different countries upon fleeing from the United States.
Sources
https://www.oregonlive.com/rajneesh/index.ssf/1985/07/rajneeshees_establish_security.html, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajneesh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Potential_Movement, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morarji_Desai, https://www.vice.com/en_nz/article/kzx3p9/im-obsessed-with-ma-anand-sheela-from-wild-wild-country-even-though-she-poisoned-a-town, https://www.indiewire.com/2018/03/wild-wild-country-sheela-ending-netflix-1201941138/, https://www.hindustantimes.com/tv/how-wild-wild-country-directors-brought-the-controversial-story-of-osho-to-life/story-h496KbSLDkoDkxHXzLE8UM.htm, http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/chapman-and-maclain-way-discuss-wild-wild-country.html, https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/03/read_the_oregonians_original_2.html, https://www.thecut.com/2018/04/9-rajneesh-followers-on-what-wild-wild-country-got-wrong.html http://www.friends.org/latest/rajneeshpuram-and-1000-friends-slice-oregon-history
