Annie Dawid
speaker
147 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2025
last heard May 2025
Annie Dawid’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
I mean, they're very, you know, in some ways, when you look at these documents, they're like very Soviet. They have lots of reports. from committees about, and then they have an agriculture committee and they have what they call the piggery where they're, you know, they're raising pigs to eat.
And then they also start a little kind of like they build, they make handcrafts, the old people, especially. And then they sell them in Georgetown. That's another source of income.
Yeah, it becomes more severe. But, you know, the major difference... And it's enormous between what happens in the States and what happens in Guyana is that when you're in the States, you could walk out on the street. In Ukiah, you could go put your thumb out on Highway 101 and be gone. And you could not leave the jungle. There was no easy way to leave the jungle.
And so if people tried to escape, and there were some, Then they were very severely punished. And so there was more physical punishment. There was a kind of a sense deprivation area. And they called it the box where you could be sent for a short time or a long time. And eventually they start drugging people. So it's a kind of chemical punishment. They have the largest store of, Is it Depakote?
Not Depakote. I get the names of these drugs confused. You know, one of those zombifying kind of drugs that takes away your will. They start using that towards the end as well. So that people who were resistant would stop being so resistant. So that is, you know, to me, that's pretty evil.
That's a good question. So there's a group that forms called the Concerned Relatives. back in San Francisco. And the concerned relatives are people who still have family in Jonestown or people who have left the church. Well, like that couple I mentioned whose daughter was beaten, they have other family who didn't leave with them.
And so there are still people from their family who are in the temple. And What happens when they're in Guyana is there's very little unmonitored communication. So letters can go back and forth, but they are checked by the leaders. And so people, you can tell when the letter you get from your son isn't really his voice. You know, it's been doctored.
And so there's the communication that's come, you know, and all they're saying is, oh, everything is fantastic here. Everything is wonderful. And so that's part of the suspicion. There's no phone calls. You can't call. Of course, it's pre-internet. They only have a ham radio out there. And that is very, very limited. It's not like you can go get on the ham radio to talk to your family.
It's only for official business.
No, because finally, the abuses are in the headlines. So then, the newspapers, the Chronicle and the Examiner, the two daily papers in San Francisco, you know, they start running articles and then the government gets involved and they start investigating. And like that couple, they had had all this real estate. That was what they did for a living.
They managed properties and they had signed over, I don't know, 20 properties to the people's temple and they want to get them back. And another, Really key issue is that Jones has a child with another woman, and that child is also in Jonestown. And the parents, the mother, and then her husband, who had been like a really big, big wig. He's that lawyer who had been with the temple for a long time.
Is supposedly the father like it's not they never did blood tests, so it's not clear. But anyway, they want their kid back. And so they're going to the courts and they want to make a custody case.
Okay. So he ends up there with an entourage, including media, including government, which is the American embassy people. who have been theoretically keeping an eye on Jonestown for a couple of years now, where they'll go out from time to time to make sure things are okay. And of course, they let Jonestown know ahead of time. So, you know, the visits are announced, which is an important factor.
So there's some of them that are there. And then there's the two lawyers who are sort of competing lawyers, both working for Jim Jones. They're on the plane too. And then they end up with four of the concerned relatives. And because of the size of the plane, those numbers are limited. And many more people have come down to Guyana, but they can't get on the plane.
They want to go see their family, but they end up staying back in Georgetown. So there's only four of the concerned relatives on the plane. And Jones doesn't want them to come, but basically his lawyers say, you really should let them come because if you don't, it'll be worse. There'll be worse media. So on the 17th,
you know, like they have this big banquet and entertainment and everybody's been coached to be on their best behavior and say how wonderful it is. And they do have a good day out there and this amazing performance, which is on video, you can see it, where you would think these people are really happy here. They've always had a band and a choir, which is really terrific. And so
you know, objectively speaking, great singers. And it seems wonderful. And their plan is to spend some more time the next day. And Congressman Ryan has said, you know, if anybody wants to leave, they can come back with me. That doesn't happen. But it turns out somebody passes a piece of paper to one of the reporters and it says, we want to leave. And there's two names on it.
So that happens on Friday the 17th. And the congressman stays over in the compound that night, but all the others go back to Port Kytuma where the airstrip is. And so it seems like everything's gone really well. But then when the reporters come back the next day and the interviewer from NBC is interviewing Jones. He says, I got this piece of paper yesterday and it says, you know, I want to leave.
What do you say to that Jones? And it's a pretty combative interview. You can also see that on video and that's, that's the beginning of the end, because now that it's public, that there are some people who want to leave, then other people start coming forward and saying, I want to leave too. And I want to leave too. And they're almost all white.
There's only one Black person who says she wants to leave, which is interesting. And in that group, now there's only approximately 16 people who say they want to leave, which is really a tiny, tiny percentage of 1,000 people. But to Jones, like I was saying before, being rejected... is absolutely the worst thing. And he's in terrible physical shape, mental shape. He's a drug addict.
Showing 121–140 of 147 · page 7 of 8
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