social justice

Remembering John Brodie, 1970-2006

Submitted by admin on Mon, 01/26/2009 - 12:01

John Brodie was a Vermont man who died in an encounter with Brattleboro police in 2006 after neighbors called 9-11. At 36, John was a Princeton PhD and already a world-reknowned physicist widely published in scientific journals. He was also a psychiatric abuse survivor, whose non-ordinary mental states were repeatedly met with force in hospitals. On the night of his death, he was not violent or suicidal, but was behaving in a strange way -- knocking on doors at 11pm. Confused neighbors called the police, which escalated a harmless situation into a tragedy. John ran away, terrified of the police, and went into the freezing river.

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National Disability Council Recognizes Freedom Center!

Submitted by admin on Thu, 11/27/2008 - 19:19

The prestigious federal National Council on Disability report Inclusive Livable Communities for People with Psychiatric Disabilities March 17, 2008 included a section on Freedom Center that interviews Oryx!

Gazette Covers Panhandling Campaign

Submitted by admin on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 13:30

The Hampshire Daily Gazette just did a 10-17-08 story on the proposed panhandling law in Northampton that Freedom Center opposes, and quotes Caty Simon from Freedom Center speaking at a recent protest and City Council meeting:

"It's clear that this legislation does, de facto, criminalize panhandling, if not in the letter of the law, then in the spirit," said Catherine Simon, reading from a prepared statement at a recent council meeting....

Simon, meanwhile, said the homeless and the poor are already the victims of economic violence.

Poverty Is Not A Crime - Local Campaign

Submitted by admin on Fri, 10/03/2008 - 16:15

Caty Simon of Freedom Center is coordinating Freedom Center's involvement with the Poverty Is Not A Crime campaign, to stop the city from adopting anti-panhandling laws.

Get latest info at the Povery Is Not A Crime Blog here.

Listen to the recent WXOJ Madness Radio show on the campaign.

Freedom Center and USNUSP collaborate on "Human Rights for ALL" Tour

Submitted by admin on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 17:13

I'm Leah Harris, co-coordinator of the U.S. Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry (USNUSP), a newly-formed network seeking to use the language, framework, and principles of international human rights to end violations against users and survivors of psychiatry and to promote voluntary and compassionate alternatives to the traditional mental health system.

Join The Community Power Kickoff - DATE CHANGE March 28th

Submitted by admin on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 10:34

Freedom Center organizer Caty Simon is attending the Community Activation Network's Community Power Kickoff to represent us and would like other Freedom Center members & people interested in the mad movement to join her. The event is on DATE CHANGE March 28th at Hampshire College. 12-6PM--you'll be
directed by signs as soon as you get there showing you specifically where to go.

Here's a quick summary of the event.

Sunday July 29th Escape from Psychiatry Protest!

Submitted by admin on Sun, 07/29/2007 - 18:07

For Immediate Release: Escape From Psychiatry: A Protest and Bed Push Against Abuse in the Mental
Health System
July 29, 2pm Cooley Dickinson Hospital

 



Download Flier here.

 

Freedom Center presents at the U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta

Submitted by lee on Mon, 07/02/2007 - 22:47

This past weekend, two Freedom Center organizers did a presentation called "Who's Calling Who Crazy? Psychiatry and the Oppressed" in a packed standing room-only hotel room in Atlanta, Georgia as part of the U.S Social Forum. The U.S Social forum was a large gathering of approximately 20,000 grassroots activists from around the country (and some internationals) who were gathering to educate, motivate, and envision a more just world.

June 24 Facilitation Training [note new time]

Submitted by admin on Sun, 06/24/2007 - 07:40

June 24 Facilitation Training

June 24th in Northampton the Recovery Learning Center and Freedom Center are offering a 3-hour Facilitation Training, led by Freedom Center organizer and Icarus Project staff Will Hall.

Emergency Room Abuse Testimony for Legislation

Submitted by admin on Thu, 06/21/2007 - 19:13

from Cathy Levin of MPOWER:

 

Buddhist Magazine Publishes on Retreat Discrimination

Submitted by admin on Wed, 06/20/2007 - 12:03

Download scanned version here.

 

Freedom To Sit: Welcoming People Labeled with Psychiatric Disabilities at Buddhist Retreats
by Will Hall


Turning Wheel: A Journal of Socially Engaged Buddhism, Publication of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship Summer 2007

(download pdf scanned version)

Buenos Aires, Argentina 11-07: Convocatoria de Usuarios Salud Mental

Invitation to the first Argentina meeting of the newly formed Asamblea de Usuarios Salud Mental, the country's mental health user and patient controlled advocacy organization, read by Agustina Vidal. You can also listen to the entire interview with three founding activists of the group.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina 11-07: Interview with Asamblea de Usuarios Salud Mental

Will Hall did this interview with three mental health service user activists in Buenos Aires Argentina who recently were part of the founding of the first user's group in the country's history, the Asamblea de Usuarios Salud Mental. The group's historic organizing efforts were supported by the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales  (www.cels.org.ar) and Mental Disability Rights International (www.mdri.org). You can also listen to the Convocatorio calling for the founding assembly of the group in December.

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Freedom Center Audio: Drugging Distress? Global Big Pharma colonialism w/Phil Thomas at Mt. Holyoke College 11-13-05

UK radical psychiatrist Phil Thomas' talk at Mt. Holyoke College "Drugging Our Distress?" event. http://www.critpsynet.freeuk.com/phil.htm