The Waco Tragedy: Anatomy of Anti-Cult Terror

"The Waco Tragedy: Anatomy of Anti-Cult Terror" combines journalistic fact-finding, historical reconstruction, and human rights analysis to demonstrate how the same technology of persecution operates across different countries and eras. At its core lies the mechanism of anti-cultism: labeling ("destructive cult") switches off empathy, "guilt by association" simplifies reality, the fabrication of "victims" creates an emotional backdrop, while media and "experts" legitimize state violence. The culmination is Waco: blockade, gas, fire. From postwar Europe to contemporary Russia, one can trace the institutionalization of these practices and their adaptation to local conditions. The Russian section of the study examines the structures and actors shaping the discourse — in particular, RACIRS (the "Russian Association of Centers for the Study of Religions and Sects"). Within this field, Alexander Dvorkin plays a significant role as one of the key architects of the anti-cult agenda. Documentary case studies show how the "Roman Formula" — intolerance, discrimination, persecution — is reproduced in law enforcement and public rhetoric. This book is not about "sects" as such; it is a study of how anti-cult advocates teach society to hate, how they designate enemies, and why the tragedy of Waco continues to haunt our present — including through local anti-cult institutions and their influence on public opinion and state mechanisms.