Schools and Colleges
Tvind’s social education empire under Danish media spotlight
An investigation by the Danish newspaper Kommunen has revealed that municipalities in Denmark pay millions to send troubled youths and vulnerable adults to group homes, private schools and other facilities with strong ties to Tvind.
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BBC exposé of Tvind’s UK school for aid workers
Ex CICD student: “There’s nothing. There’s no information ― nothing. You’re constantly kept busy, and then you’re sent out on the streets ― in Hull or northern towns ― to fund-raise. By that I mean selling magazines. And literally begging in the streets.”
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An ‘alternative’ education system that is also a business
The Teachers Group began as an alternative education system, so it’s no surprise that it runs literally hundreds of schools, colleges and educational institutes all over the world.
The schools are of various types and follow an education ‘programme’. But in the light of the Teachers Group’s huge offshore financial network, perhaps these schools and colleges serve a another purpose too.
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Tvind’s ‘Travelling Folk High Schools’ worldwide
Tvind’s ‘travelling folk high schools’ were created in the 1970s to send teachers and students together to Third World countries, hoping to help the poor. Known as the ‘DRH Movement’ (Den Rejsende Højskole in Danish), the schools have elicited many complaints from former students, with allegations ranging from low standards of ‘training’ to dire living conditions, unreasonable work hours, bullying and even a ‘cult-like’ atmosphere.
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Planet Aid “plagiarizing educational blogs”
Planet Aid is plagiarizing educational blogs. Planet Aid is a large used-clothing enterprise that says it ‘supports international development’ by collecting old clothes thrown out by American families and, among other things, promoting children’s ‘education’.
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Teachers Group fooled Danish state to pay for China expansion
The Danish Business Authority was duped by the TG’s foundation in Denmark when in 2007 it donated $333,000 to a TG expansion project in China. The DBA was told the money was for 25 people to “improve their skills in the Chinese language, society and culture” in order to oversee “development projects in China.”
We’ve obtained a letter, allegedly by two TG leaders, who reveal the project’s true purpose.
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Court orders Tvind school to compensate exploited employees
The Danish High Court has ordered a Tvind school to pay 1.1 million Danish kroner (nearly $200,000) for severe exploitation of four former employees, who say they were paid to work 37 hours a week, but often worked 70 hours, sometimes even longer.
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Alive & Kicking …
From the Editor: We are pleased to report that a great deal of work has been done to improve the website. Here’s the story:
SHOPPING WITH AMDI. Finally, our summary of BT’s article series on Tvind, from last month, which began with new video footage of Amdi Petersen and two top aides shopping at a Costco supermarket in Ensenada, on Mexico’s Baja coast.
Sorry to have taken so long with this. But the translation of seven of BT’s nine articles took a few weeks. Then came the task of boiling down and summarising. Then we contributed many further details for a more complete perspective. We were also waiting to see whether we could get a copy of an internal Tvind ‘vision statement’ document that BT obtained and reported precious little about. So far, no luck.
Tvind’s fugitive kingpin filmed while shopping in Mexico - Tvind Alert
www.tvindalert.com
New video of fugitive Tvind leader, Amdi Petersen, and 2 of his aides shopp...BY THOR’S HAMMER, WHAT A SAVINGS. This week, the Danish newspaper B.T. published a story with video footage of alleged cult kingpin, Mogens Amdi Petersen, and two high-ranking aides shopping at a Costco in Ensenada, Mexico.
The video was shot by Thomas Vann Altheimer in October 2019.
Petersen is founder and leader of the Tvind Teachers Group, and for the past 14 years he and four of his top aides have been wanted by the judicial authority of their native Denmark for serious financial crimes. Since August 2013, the five have been listed on the Interpol website's 'Red Notices' database for wanted persons.
The two women shown with ‘Amdi’ are Ruth Sejerø-Olsen and Marlene Gunst, who — since 1992 and as far as we know, still — form the cult's 2nd-level management, 'TG Finance', directly below Amdi and his girlfriend, Kirsten Larsen.
Amdi, Gunst, and Larsen are three of the five TG leaders who are Interpol-listed fugitives.
Ensenada is a 145 km/90 mile drive south of San Diego. Tvind's high-security, luxurious headquarters, 'TG Pacifico', lies 72 km/45 miles further south on the Baja coast. Amdi and several senior TG members are known to have been living there at least part-time for several years.
B.T. has also posted several follow-up stories this week, and we’re now working on a summary article in English. For the time being, non-Danes can at least watch the video!
THE GOOD FIGHT. After three years, Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting finally speaks out: “Planet Aid’s actions in its lawsuit against Reveal are a manifest example of what deep-pocketed interests can do to a news organization even when the facts are on the journalists’ side.”
Reveal is to be commended for standing up to corporate bully Planet Aid, which is Tvind’s largest used clothing collector in the United States. Clearly, Planet Aid’s frivolous libel lawsuit is a desperate attempt to use litigation to silence the legitimate criticisms in Reveal’s excellent reporting.
Reveal isn’t alone. In the past, TvindAlert’s editors, too, have endured libel lawsuits brought against them by different Tvind companies. But Tvind lost all of those cases.
We hope Reveal will soon have the same outcome.
Reveal has been fighting a lawsuit for three years. Now we’re speaking up about it
www.revealnews.org
After our reporting raised serious questions about an organization that has...WEEK IN 'UTOPIA'. Interesting account by British writer who as a young man spent a week in 1975 with the Tvind collective near Ulfborg in western Denmark. The writer, Ken Worpole, is currently a Senior Professor at The Cities Institute, London Metropolitan University.
We need to correct one glaring inaccuracy in Prof. Worpole’s account: He writes that “The Danish government has never managed to successfully prosecute any of the individuals associated with Tvind …“
Actually, two senior Tvind members have been convicted, although they got off quite lightly. The highly publicised Tvind trial began in March 2003 at the district court in Ringkøbing, Denmark. Three years later, in August 2006, Tvind leader Mogens Amdi Petersen, spokesman Poul Jørgensen, top aides Kirsten Larsen and Ruth Sejerøe-Olsen, former chairperson for Tvind's 'Humanitarian Foundation' Bodil Ross Sørensen, financial director Marlene Gunst, and lawyer Kirsten Fuglsbjerg (aka 'Christie Pipps') were all acquitted of charges. However, another former chairperson of Tvind's 'Humanitarian Foundation,' Sten Byrner, was found guilty of fraud and given a one-year conditional sentence [i.e. slap on wrist].
The Danish Public Prosecutor immediately appealed the verdict to a higher court. But the appeal is still pending for Petersen and four of the accused, all of whom fled Denmark shortly after being acquitted by the lower court.
Poul Jørgensen, who had remained in Denmark for the appeal trial, was found guilty of tax fraud and embezzlement in January 2009, and sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment. According to Danish prosecutors, Jørgensen diverted millions of dollars earmarked for charitable use into private businesses owned by Tvind leaders. Jørgensen is thought to have served only half of his sentence.
newhumanist.org.uk
Was the Danish radical schooling project known as Tvind a liberating new fr...‘WE WENT THROUGH HELL’. A UK newspaper has uncovered new allegations of abuse at a Tvind-run school for troubled children in England, which operated from 1984 until 1998, when it was shut down by the authorities after the UK’s Charity Commission found 'serious financial impropriety' and investigated 'serious concerns about the safety and welfare of children.'
Pt. 1: tinyurl.com/y3drl7xz / Pt. 2: tinyurl.com/y6t44nda
Revealed: Fresh abuse allegations at children's 'home of horrors' with links to 'cult-like' group
tinyurl.com
Former pupils at a Norfolk school have today called for a fresh police inve...