• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • ABOUT CHINA
    • NEWS
    • TESTIMONIES
    • OP-EDS
    • FEATURED
    • GLOSSARY
    • CHINA PERSECUTION MAP
  • FROM THE WORLD
    • NEWS GLOBAL
    • TESTIMONIES GLOBAL
    • OP-EDS GLOBAL
    • FEATURED GLOBAL
  • INTERVIEWS
  • DOCUMENTS AND TRANSLATIONS
    • DOCUMENTS
    • THE TAI JI MEN CASE
    • TRANSLATIONS
    • EVENTS
  • ABOUT
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • TOPICS

Bitter Winter

A magazine on religious liberty and human rights

three friends of winter
Home / From the World / News Global

Detroit: Anti-Cult Pro-Russia-and-China Activist Arrested After She Assaulted a Scientology Church and a Synagogue

05/10/2023Massimo Introvigne |

The interesting story of Randi Nord opens a window on the American and international ramifications of bigotry.

by Massimo Introvigne

Randi Nord (left) and the swastika she depicted on a baby stroller belonging to a Jewish family. Royal Oak Police photos.

On May 3, 2023, Royal Oak, Michigan, 44th District Magistrate Donald Chisholm charged a woman called Randi Nord with ethnic intimidation and vandalism. Royal Oak is a suburb of Detroit, and is where Nord defaced a synagogue by painting a Nazi swastika on its wall. She also painted swastikas on a baby stroller and a car belonging to Jewish families, and was arrested on May 1 with the cooperation of the FBI.

Randi Nord is a woman with a very interesting story. According to media reports, she is the founder of Geopolitics Alert Independent World News. The pompously named media outlet deals often with Yemen and publishes anti-Israeli and pro-Venezuelan articles. Nord has also echoed Russian positions on issues such as Internet governance, and routinely republished Chinese propaganda on various subjects. She even claims that Cuba’s medicine is so advanced that they have developed a cancer vaccine.

Nord is also an anti-cult activist. Her website published an article (since taken down) calling Falun Gong a “Scientology-like cult” and accusing it of having invented the organ harvesting narrative for its own anti-Chinese purposes.

She also attacked “the criminal and cult-like aspects” of Scientology, although just to be ecumenical she added that, “Most Christian mega-churches are not that far off from the Church of Scientology—they are companies in the business of ripping people off based on fear. The mega-churches are just a little less cult-y.”

Attacked by Nord: the Church of Scientology in Farmington Hills. Screenshot.
Attacked by Nord: the Church of Scientology in Farmington Hills. Screenshot.

The problem with Randi Nord is that she does not limit herself to writing. She also acts upon her bigotry. Before assaulting the synagogue, in March 2023 she was involved in an arson attack against the Church of Scientology of Farmington Hills, another suburb of Detroit. According to Chief Jeff King of Farmington Hills police, Nord “was charged with two different felonies and given bond that included a tether” for the anti-Scientology attack. She had cut her tether since.

And there is more. She painted together with a swastika the word “Azov” on the wall of the Royal Oak synagogue. The immediate interpretation of the media was that she wanted to glorify Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, often referred to as “neo-Nazi” (although, as readers of Bitter Winter know, its story is much more complicated). This looked strange, given Nord’s political inclinations.

Nord wrote “Azov” to try to blame her crimes to pro-Ukrainian activists. Royal Oak Police photo.
Nord wrote “Azov” to try to blame her crimes on pro-Ukrainian activists. Royal Oak Police photo.

Eventually, she confessed to the police that it was the other way around. She hoped that her crimes would be attributed to pro-Ukrainian activists, and wanted to generate anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian feelings. According to the Royal Oaks detective who received her confession, “She said she planned to do as many hate crimes as possible and blame them on AZOV [Battalion].”

When she tried to set fire to the Church of Scientology in Farmington Hills, she had just returned from Serbia, where she spent two years. What she did there is unknown, but certainly the country hosts very active pro-Russian (and anti-cult) organizations.

“Visit the USSR”: Nord’s Twitter account.
“Visit the USSR”: Nord’s Twitter account.

Nord deleted her Twitter account in 2022. She opened a new one in May 2022, with no posts but an old Soviet poster “Visit the USSR.”

Tagged With: Anti-Cult, Church of Scientology, United States of America

Massimo Introvigne
Massimo Introvigne

Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio.  From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.

www.cesnur.org/

Related articles

  • U.S. Sikh Marines Can Keep Their Turbans and Beards

    U.S. Sikh Marines Can Keep Their Turbans and Beards

  • Another Scandal: France’s Cultural (and Anti-Cult) Diplomacy Is Financed by the Chinese Communist Party

    Another Scandal: France’s Cultural (and Anti-Cult) Diplomacy Is Financed by the Chinese Communist Party

  • L’anti-sectarisme à la mode de Caen : Pour éviter un procès, la MIVILUDES s’exécute face à la Scientology

    L’anti-sectarisme à la mode de Caen : Pour éviter un procès, la MIVILUDES s’exécute face à la Scientology

  • Argentina: Cómo los Jesus Christians Derrotaron a Pablo Salum y PROTEX

    Argentina: Cómo los Jesus Christians Derrotaron a Pablo Salum y PROTEX

Keep Reading

  • The U.S. Department of State 2023 Religious Freedom Report: Excellent on Enemies, Soft on Allies
    The U.S. Department of State 2023 Religious Freedom Report: Excellent on Enemies, Soft on Allies

    A masterful description of the wrongdoings of China, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan is accompanied by some understatements on FoRB violations by U.S. political allies.

  • Anthroposophy: French State Television Censored for Its Anti-Cult Bias
    Anthroposophy: French State Television Censored for Its Anti-Cult Bias

    The French Council of Journalistic Ethic and Mediation found that France 2 relied excessively on apostate ex-members, and presented a distorted view of Steiner schools.

  • 米国務省の信教の自由に関する2023年版報告書:敵に厳しく、味方に甘い
    米国務省の信教の自由に関する2023年版報告書:敵に厳しく、味方に甘い

    中国、ロシア、イラン、パキスタンの悪行に関しては素晴らしい記述、米国の政治的同盟国による信教の自由侵害に関しては控えめな表現

  • Anti-Cultism à la Mode de Caen: To Avoid a Court Hearing, MIVILUDES Humors Scientology
    Anti-Cultism à la Mode de Caen: To Avoid a Court Hearing, MIVILUDES Humors Scientology

    Faced with a lawsuit, the French governmental anti-cult mission republishes its yearly report including an answer by the Church of Scientology

Primary Sidebar

Support Bitter Winter

Learn More

Follow us

Newsletter

Most Read

  • Chinese Muslims Told Mosques Should Preach Communism Too by Ma Wenyan
  • Hebei: Friends Pray in Your Home, the CCP Cuts Off Your Water and Electricity by Lai Mingxia
  • China’s “Query System for Islamic, Catholic, and Christian Clergy,” Another Tool for Repression by He Yuyan
  • Christian Students Asked to Study 20th Congress and Celebrate “Heroes” Who Betrayed the Church by Zhang Chunhua
  • Russia: Two Evangelical Pastors Prosecuted, Falsely Accused of Raising Money for the Ukrainian Army by Massimo Introvigne
  • Filipino Catholic Priest Arrested for Slandering Unrecognized Marian Apparitions by Massimo Introvigne
  • Pakistan, Young Christian Sentenced to Death for Blasphemy by Massimo Introvigne

CHINA PERSECUTION MAP -SEARCH NEWS BY REGION

clickable geographical map of china, with regions

Footer

EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief

MASSIMO INTROVIGNE

Director-in-Charge

MARCO RESPINTI

ADDRESS

CESNUR

Via Confienza 19,

10121 Turin, Italy,

Phone: 39-011-541950

E-MAIL

We welcome submission of unpublished contributions, news, and photographs. Each submission implies the authorization for us to edit and publish texts and photographs. We reserve the right to decide which submissions are suitable for publication. Please, write to INFO@BITTERWINTER.ORG Thank you.

Newsletter

LINKS

orlir-logo hrwf-logo cesnur-logo

Copyright © 2023 · Bitter Winter · PRIVACY POLICY· COOKIE POLICY