Guest guest Posted May 10, 2003 Report Share Posted May 10, 2003 Sandy Mintz <sandym wrote:Fri, 09 May 2003 23:31:33 -0800 Sandy Mintz FW: ACTION ALERT - Psychiatry Protest May 2003 - please forward PLEASE FORWARD! From MindFreedom: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NEWS RELEASE - 9 May 2003 http://www.MindFreedom.org - please forward! More info phone: 1-877-MAD-PRIDE e-mail: office PROTESTING PSYCHIATRY GOES MAINSTREAM? FREE COUNTER-CONFERENCE & PROTEST OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HELD IN SAN FRANCISCO Two free events challenge mental health system on Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18, 2003 Organizers launch cyber-campaign to protest psychiatric abuse: " Please forward this alert! " SAN FRANCISCO: When 19,000 participants arrive next weekend for the huge American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, hundreds are expected to peacefully protest at a free counter-conference on Saturday, May 17, 2003 and a Freedom Rally on Sunday, May 18, 2003. And the public is invited. The two free events are drawing together a wide diversity of disability, youth, anti-globalization and homeless activists, plus legal advocates, family members, wholistic health practitioners, dissident mental health workers and more. The protesters' stated goal: " A peaceful revolution of empowerment and self-determination. " A source of much of this ferment is a 33-year-old social change movement that is uniting more and more of psychiatry's own clients: Mental health consumers and people who say they experienced human rights violations in the mental health system, also known as " psychiatric survivors. " " First psychiatry came for us, " said one survivor, " But now psychiatry is coming after the public. And we're the ones who know what to do. " PSYCHIATRY TARGETING THE PUBLIC? Throughout the Bay Area, organizers have put up posters with four facts to back up their claim that psychiatry is now targeting the general public: Fact 1: From 1990 to 2000, the sale of antidepressant drugs increased 800 percent. Fact 2: Children from the ages of two to four are now given psychiatric drugs only approved by the FDA for ages six and up. Fact 3: In the state of California a person may now be court ordered to take psychiatric drugs against their will in their own home. Fact 4: A key Bush Administration mental health advisor -- psychiatrist Sally Satel -- is campaigning for more forced psychiatric drugging nationally. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BELOW you will find the latest info from event organizers about: (1) Freedom Forum & Festival on Sat., May 17, 2003, 11 am to 7 pm, Everett Middle School, 450 Church St., San Francisco. All events free. (2) Freedom Rally on Sun., May 18, 2003, 1 pm, Moscone Center, 747 Howard St., San Francisco, Calif., directly outside opening of APA Annual Meeting. All events free. (3) How *you* can participate in a free peaceful Cyber Protest of psychiatry from anywhere in the world. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PLEASE COPY & POST TO ALL -- ESPECIALY PEOPLE IN CALIFORNIA WHO SUPPORT HUMAN RIGHTS, NOW!!! You can download a PDF flyer on events with photos of six of the speakers at http://www.MindFreedom.org. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) FREEDOM FORUM & FESTIVAL: An Alternative Mental Health Conference ALL FREE! Saturday, May 17, 2003, 11am to 7 pm Everett Middle School, 450 Church St. (corner of 16th & Church), San Francisco, California, USA. Keynote speakers include: Robert Whitaker, award winning journalist and author of _Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill_ Learn about this ground-breaking expose of mental health by a professional journalist at http://www.madinamerica.com/ Author Bob Whitaker lives in Massachusetts. Celia Brown, President of Support Coalition International, African-American psychiatric survivor, and leader of the first and only psychiatric survivor delegation inside the United Nations. Celia lives & works in New York City. Dr. Loren Mosher, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCSD, former Chief of the Center for Studies of Schizophrenia, and creator of The Soteria Project -- a successful non-medical alternative to psychiatric hospitalization for persons in acute crisis. Organizers encourage participants to get there at the 11 am kick off with live music by the band " Land of the Blind " http://www.landoftheblind.com/ There is free food for about the first 300 participants courtesy of Oasis Community Center. Capacity of event is 1,000 and it's first come first in. Workshops by national and local presenters will be on a wide variety of issues: Ending Forced Treatment, Alternative Humane Treatments, Consumer/Survivor Run Alternatives, Medicalization of Human Suffering, Exploring Madness, Cultural-Diversity Perspectives on Madness, Globalization of Drug Companies, Discrimination & Rights Youth & Madness. Plus: Let your voice be heard: Participate in a Town Hall Forum about changing the mental health system. And enjoy entertainment, share poetry, visit exhibits and make art in a Festival. Kids of all ages will love Queen Radia, a story teller who also claims to channel Ken Kesey. The timeline for events on May 17 will be: 11 am to 12 noon music & exhibits. 12 to 1:15 keynoters. 1:30 to 3:30 Town Hall. 3:45 to 5:15 Workshops. 5:30 to 7 Networking. Then the very next day.... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (2) FREEDOM RALLY Sunday, May 18, 2003 - 1 pm Moscone Center 747 Howard St. (between 3rd & 4th Streets by flagpoles) San Francisco This legal and peaceful protest is directly in front of opening of the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some of the speakers and presenters on May 17 and/or May 18 events include: Singer Ava Chante de L'Esprit... Mike Cornwall... Roy Crew... Michele Curran... Diane Doolan... Al Galves... Diane Kern... Jessie Lorenz... Jay Mahler ... Chance Martin... Terry Messman... Matt Morrissey... Carol Patterson... Bonnie Schell... Ron Schreiber... Performer Nancy Thomas... Alice Washington... Kathy Zatkin... Other speakers and/or workshop presenters include: *** Judi Chamberlin: Psychiatric survivor leader, author of _On Our Own_ from Massachusetts. *** Leah Harris, Youth anti-globalization activist and board member of National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy. *** Katherine Hodges: Youth anti-globalization activist, founder of Chicagoland Alliance for Psychiatric Alternatives. *** Sally Zinman: Director of California Network of Mental Health. *** David Oaks, Director of MindFreedom, a psychiatric survivor from Oregon. *** JUST CONFIRMED! Jim Ward, director of ADA Watch and a national disability activist from Washington, D.C. And more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE MALADJUSTED MAJORITY? Event organizers say their main concern is touching the general public because it is really about freedom and choice, including: " Stop forced psychiatric drugging and the expansion of forced treatment laws. " Stop Bush Administration attacks on our human and civil rights through the mental health system: Our freedom is under siege internationally, nationally, and in California. " Stop the globalization of the drug companies! " Create alternatives that value choice and self-determination. Stop medicalizing us. " Promote unity with other movements including disability, homeless, peace, youth, women, people of color, gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender, and others. " Event organizers are also marking the 30th anniversary of the APA members voting homosexuality out of their diagnostic and statistical manual -- though gender preference still lingers on in the APA official " label bible. " Organizers stated, " It's time to move beyond being on the defensive. The late Justin Dart, hero of the disability movement and psychiatric survivors called for a nonviolent revolution of self-determination. We will make his vision real! " Martin Luther King, Jr., had a favorite saying: 'The salvation of the world lies in the hands of the maladjusted.' " UNITE FOR FREEDOM! " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For more updates and articles about the May events check the web site http://www.mindfreedom.org And join these e-mail lists: For occasional updates, join this dendrite MindFreedom occasional announcement list: http://mailman.efn.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/dendrite For M17/M18 planning, join M18 discussion list: http://mailman.efn.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/m18 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: WHAT ABOUT HOUSING & TRANSPORT? The M18 e-mail list is matching up those who need housing with those who have free housing, for out of town. If you have a couch, spare bedroom, etc. in Bay Area -- or need are arriving from out of town and need housing -- please contact julaville. Julia is now linking up rides for carpooling. ARE THESE EVENTS CONNECTED TO THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY OR THEIR ANTI-PSYCHIATRY GROUP CCHR? No. These two events are independently led by psychiatric survivors, and are in no way connected to the Church of Scientology or their organization Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). CCHR is purposely holding their protest of the APA on a different day: Monday. Psychiatric industry defenders often claim that all criticisms of them must be by CCHR. That's untrue. Our disclaimer here is in no way to criticize advocacy work by CCHR or any other organization, but to simply point out to everyone that the psychiatric profession has many independent critics... and not just one. The public is catching on. WHO ARE THE EVENT SPONSORS, THEN? Some of the leading human rights organizations in mental health, homelessness and globalization, check them out: MindFreedom - Support Coalition International, uniting 100 sponsor groups in a dozen countries. ph: 1-877-MAD-PRIDE http://www.MindFreedom.org California Network of Mental Health Clients, one of the largest democratically-run grassroots networks of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors in the world. ph: 1-800-626-7447 http://www.cnmhc.org Mental Health Consumer Concerns http://www.sonic.net/~mhcc/index.htm Alameda County Network of Mental Health Clients Global Exchange. Oasis Community Center. Plus see the March, April and May issues of the important Bay Area sponsors, _Street Spirit_ and _Street Sheet_, for their three-part series. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (3) CYBER PROTEST! Wherever you are, please inform human rights supporters in California about this event -- copy and forward this announcement. Please copy to your friends, relatives and colleagues throughout California, especially in the Bay Area! Act now! EXTRA CYBER ACTION YOU CAN TAKE: You are invited to e-mail a *civil* note defending human rights in mental health to the winners of the recent American Psychiatric Association elections: President-Elect: Michelle B. Riba, M.D., M.S. Ann Arbor, Michigan Vice-President: Pedro Ruiz, M.D., Houston Secretary: Nada L. Stotland, M.D., M.P.H. Chicago, IL SAMPLE MESSAGE, though your own words are best: , , I encourage you to support human rights, oppose forced psychiatric treatment, and promote a wide range of humane alternatives. I look forward to your response. Thank you. ____ [your name] ___ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cyber-Campaign Already Produces Results -- APA Protest Strategy Revealed! An APA spokesperson accidentally copied the below message to the above APA officers publicly, stating the APA has met with the parents' organization -- National Alliance for the Mentally Ill -- to respond to the protest. " Laurie Oseran of American Psychiatric Association public relations wrote [sic]: 'Nada -- We are well aware of this and tracking their site... These are the Mind Freeedom folks (people who believe they have been victimized or abuse by psychiatry) who are protesting at our meeting. We have met with NAMI on this, and are developing talking points, spokespersons and a local angle. Would you consider being one of our spokespersons if needed? Many tx,' - Laurie " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The APA and NAMI have millions in psychiatric drug industry donations... we have people power: YOU! Please tell people about these events. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ JOIN OR DONATE NOW, PLEASE! Protest events are entirely self-funded by grassroots organizations and individuals, many of them very low-income. Dozens are volunteering hundreds of hours. To donate to and support the Forum and Rally please join MindFreedom, a project of Support Coalition International, a non-profit organization. Join or donate at: http://www.MindFreedom.org. You'll also get a copy of _MindFreedom Journal_ with 64 pages of news and views about winning human rights for your mind. Thank you! - end - ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PLEASE FORWARD THIS ANNOUNCEMENT, NOW! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sandy Mintz http://www.vaccinationnews.com http://www.vaccinationnews.com/Scandals/past_scandals.htm " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. " - Wendell Phillips (1811-1884), paraphrasing John Philpot Curran (1808) http://www.909shot.com http://www.redflagsweekly.com ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER. IN ADDITION, THE FACT THAT THIS EMAIL HAS BEEN FORWARDED IN NO WAY NECESSARILY IMPLIES ENDORSEMENT OF THE POINT OF VIEW OF THE AUTHOR OR AUTHORS OF THE ARTICLE OR EMAIL. Gettingwell- / Vitamins, Herbs, Aminos, etc. To , e-mail to: Gettingwell- Or, go to our group site: Gettingwell The New Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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