MAD PRIDE 2006 EVENT LISTING

FROM VANCOUVER, CANADA

WORLD MAD PRIDE HUMAN RIGHTS + PSYCHIATRY ARTS FESTIVAL!

Mad Pride is a growing international movement which asks the question:
Could madness be a sane response to an insane world?

World Mad Pride Vision:
** Build awareness of the connection between war, human rights, and
health. Promote awareness of social determinants of mental health,
linking with impacts of militarism, conflict, economic, and social
insecurity.

** Profile the work of the UN and World Health Organization on mental
health and human rights

** Create links to worldwide campaigns for rights of individuals for
health and security

** Challenge stigmas of people living with mental health issues

** Contribute to dialogue on mental health human rights through the
sharing and showcasing of artistic expression on these themes

Mad Pride events in Vancouver have acomplished these goals and much
more!

30 June 2006

Statement for Mad Pride Participants in British Columbia, Canada
by David Oaks, director, MindFreedom International

Congratulations to everyone for your huge array of awe-inspiring Mad
Pride events! Thank you Cherise for your work, and for networking
with other Mad Pride events in other nations.

This year there are events in at least four nations. Certainly, it
seems like because of all the events there you folks up in Vancouver
ought to win some kind of Mad Pride Amazing Lunatics Award!

We all know grassroots activism, particularly in our difficult field,
can be challenging. After seven years, especially because of Mad
Pride activities by MindFreedom Ghana places in Africa, our movement
seems poised to finally move to a new level of international Mad
Pride organizing. The Vancouver events and the way art and
celebration have been woven so well with activism and human rights
show this is a movement waiting to happen. We send our appreciation
to all the participants in all the many Mad Pride events in the
Vancouver, Canada area!…. May many more countries join in the fun.
Thank you!

~~~~~~~~~~

FROM GHANA, AFRICA

MindFreedom Ghana celebrates Mad Pride!

Theme: Free Minds at Ease!

July 2, 2006 — TV Discussion

July 5, 2006 — Radio Discussion

July 6, 2006 — Cultural Event & Symposium

July 8, 2006 — Presentation To Accra Psychiatric Hospital

July 14, 2006 — Street March

Dan Taylor, who is the Secretary of MindFreedom Ghana based in Accra,
Ghana, announced, “Our Theme for our Mad Pride event is ‘Free Minds At
Ease.'”

Dan explained that, “MindFreedom Ghana is poised to take Ghana and
indeed Africa by storm in July 2006 to highlight the problems and human
rights of users and survivors of the mental health system.”

Dan said that bigotry against people diagnosed with psychiatric
labels is common in Ghana: “Our friends and relations have long been
stigmatized for living with or surviving psychosocial disabilities
and so we MindFreedom Ghana will do what it takes to reverse this.”

MindFreedom Ghana has joined the MindFreedom Mad Pride International
Coordinating Committee. Dan hopes this will inspire other groups to
participate this year. Dan said, “Let all MindFreedom Groups in the
USA and other parts of the world join in this event to accentuate our
cause in diverse forms!”

You may e-mail your best wishes to MindFreedom Ghana, a leader of Mad
Pride events in Africa and internationally, via their e-mail address
mindfreedomghana@yahoo.co.uk

~~~~~~~~

FROM IRELAND:

July 14:
As part of the international MindFreedom Mad Pride events on July 14,
MindFreedom Ireland will organise a petition gathering event in Cork
City in support of the campaign being run by Nuria O’Mahony ,
Holistic Action Group, entitled “WE DESERVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT
OUR PRESCRIPTION DRUGS’.

The petition, when completed, will form part of her submission to the
Irish Government’s subcommittee for health which is examining the
influence of the pharmaceutical industry on the island of Ireland.

July 16:
Mad Pride Party in Leeds, Yorkshire

Sunday 16th July at the Commonplace Centre

There will be a party with the title ‘Madness Is The Strategy’. This
is to coincide with the launch of a ‘Mental Health Strategy’ for
Leeds. We’ll be having poetry, music, food and film – the first
public showing of the film of An Untimely Death On Paschendale Ward
as performed by the Orphans of Beulah.

FROM ENGLAND — August 6 to 10, 2006

For the second year, psychiatric survivors and allies in England will
be celebrating Mad Pride by conducting a “Bed Push.” They will start in
Brighton, UK and in pajamas push a bed with a manequin tied down in it
in “restraints” for 50 miles over five days. This creative approach
gains widespread media attention, and the 2005 Bed Push was even
featured in a documentary shown on UK television. The Mad Pride Bed
Push 2006 will end up at the ex-site for infamous Bedlam psychiatric
institution where all are invited to a “mad hatters’ tea party.” For
more information and photos of Bed Push 2005 see:

http://www.kissit.org

~~~~~~~~~~

USA

IN THE UNITED NATIONS, New York City

August 14 to 25, 2006

MindFreedom’s United Nations delegation, led by Celia Brown, will be
participating for a third year inside the UN in the continuing
international negotiations surrounding a proposed treaty on the rights
of people with disabilities, especially focused on trying to keep
language in favor of forced treatment out of the document.

You are urged to call on the USA and other nations to support strong
human rights proposals in this effort, which is formally entitled the
“Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International
Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of
Persons with Disabilities.” This is the fifth year that MindFreedom is
the only group of its kind with United Nations accreditation as a Non
Governmental Organization (NGO) with Consultative Roster Status. For
more information see this UN web site:

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc8.htm

~~~~~~~~~~

FROM OREGON, USA — Saturday July 8, 2006 – 1:00 PM

The Oregon Country Fair (OCF) will include MindFreedom Director David
Oaks as part of its popular “Spoken Word” program. You may hear David
at “Chez Ray’s Next Stage” discuss Mad Pride in a talk entitled, “Free
Minds, Madness & Frivolity.”

David will also give a brief workshop each day at OCF at 5 pm at the
Doors of Expression booth in the Community Village, which is where
you’ll also find MindFreedom material throughout the fair.

These events will include Normality Screenings. Learn to do
screenings for normality wherever you live. For tips about this easy
guerilla theater, see the MFI Mad Pride web site. 

For information about OCF, which draws tens of thousands into
Oregon’s woods each July, see:

http://www.oregoncountryfair.org

~~~~~~~~~~

FROM NEW YORK STATE, USA

MENTAL PATIENTS TO SET UPTEMPORARY ASYLUM ON STATE CAPITOL LAWN
TO FOCUS ON CHILDREN’S ISSUES

A group of people who have been labeled mentally ill is camping out
on the East Lawn of the State Capitol Building in downtown Albany,
New York from 7:00 PM Saturday, July 8 to 7:00 PM Sunday, July 16,
2006. For the first time, this 26th annual demonstration will focus
on the concerns of young people.

HELP! Break the Silence About Psychiatric Oppression

HELP! Celebrate the Human Spirit

Activities will include a vigil, memorials, round table discussions,
teach-ins, guest speakers, and much more
– Join us for an hour…or a week!

Support (or participate in) a FAST to oppose the use of shock
treatment on children in New York State.

Be involved with vital issues concerning young people – mental health
screenings, stigma, discrimination, prejudice, culture,
pharmaceuticals, aversive therapies, shock treatments, restraints and
seclusion. Last year’s event ended with the New York State Office of
Mental Health release of an ECT Position Statement that significantly
restricts the ability and sets rigid conditions for court-ordered
electroconvulsive treatment.

Bastille Days have always been and will be legal and peaceful.

Activities will be educational and informative to highlight human
rights in mental health and to create a vision of what needs to be
done for our future.

This event marks the 26th Annual Bastille Day Celebration/
Demonstration of the Mental Patients Liberation Alliance.

The Alliance is a statewide self-help, peer support, and advocacy
human rights organization of, by, and for people labeled with
psychiatric disabilities. The Alliance offers a peer support and
advocacy center in downtown Utica and a 24-hour peer support line at
1-800-654-7227.

~~~~~~~~~~

FROM CHICAGO, USA

The 2006 Disability Pride Parade presents

An Open Mic Night

In the spirit of the 2006 Parade Theme,”Celebrating Disability Arts
and Culture,” join parade participants, organizers, friends and
supporters on the eve of the parade for an informal evening of
poetry, rap, music, stories and essays.

Friday, July 21 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The University of Illinois at Chicago
1640 West Roosevelt Road, Auditorium

Attendance is open to everyone, but if you wish to participate,
registration is required. For more information, contact Gary at:
garnold at accessliving.org
or 312-253-7000 ext 199 (voice), or 312-253-7002 (tty).

Saturday, July 22, 2006

DISABLED AND PROUD 2006: Celebrating Disability Arts and Culture

Disability Pride Parade

Join the MindFreedom Mad Pride contingent as we march in the Third
Annual Disability Pride Parade. This year, the Parade will have a
highly visible, prominent route through Chicago’s loop ending in
Daley Plaza with a post-parade celebration. Since its inception in
2004, the internationally recognized Disability Pride Parade has
actively engaged in its mission of a) changing the way people think
about and define disability; b) breaking down and ending the
internalized shame among people with disabilities; and c) promoting
the belief in society that disability is a natural and beautiful part
of human diversity in which people living with disabilities take
pride. The Disability Pride Parade celebrates and strengthens the
pride, power, and unity of people with disabilities. If you’re
interested in being in the MindFreedom Parade contingent please contact
krista at intenex.net

For information about the Disability Pride Parade see:
http://www.disabilityprideparade.com
For information on Disability Pride see:
www.disabledandproud.com

~~~~~~~~~~

FROM OHIO, USA

There are all kinds of creative ways to support Mad Pride, small or
large, as an individual or in a group! Of course, there are all kinds
of creative ways… this is about Mad Pride!

Long-time psychiatric survivor activist PAT RISSER of Ohio, USA has
published a new essay today on his web site about the importance of Mad
Pride in his personal recovery from the harm of psychiatric labeling
and segregation. Pat calls on people to support Mad Pride, and is
joining the Mad Pride International Coordinating Committee. See his
essay here:

http://home.att.net/~LetFreedomRing/updates/MadPride.html

~~~~~~~~~~

FROM TORONTO, CANADA

Friday, July 14, 2006 has been proclaimed Psychiatric Survivor Pride
Day in the City of Toronto. To celebrate we are coordinating The Mad
Pride 2006 Weekend September 14th to 17th 2006.

In 1993, Toronto Psychiatric Survivors, a burgeoning political and
cultural movement of people whose autonomy had survived the
psychiatric system, and local organizations, primarily West End
Survivors (a peer support group), and Parkdale Community Legal
Services began holding a yearly event to educate each other, and the
public about who they were, and the issues that impacted them. Issues
like poverty, psychiatric abuse and assault, and lack of safe,
affordable housing.

Beginning in the year 2000, Pride Day, as this day was known by many
survivor communities in Toronto, aligned itself with its global
counterpart, Mad Pride Worldwide Day, celebrated on July 14th.

Today, the issues of poverty, psychiatric abuse and assault, and lack
of safe, affordable housing are still here, but SO ARE WE!.
Therefore, with true survivor spirit, The Mad Pride Toronto 2006
Organizing Committee and The Friendly Spike Theatre Band, a company
dedicated to producing theatre with marginalized individuals and
communities, Parkdale Community Legal Services, and Parkdale Activity
and Recreation Center announce the official proclamation of July 14,
2006 as Psychiatric Survivor Pride Day in the City of Toronto and
encourage everyone to support Psychiatric Survivors in their work for
equal rights!

In celebration and recognition of Psychiatric Survivor Pride we will
present THE MAD PRIDE TORONTO 2006 WEEKEND:

** Opening and Awards Ceremony and Rights Forum: 12 noon – 3pm on
Thursday, September 14th at Parkdale Activity and Recreation Centre,
1499 Queen St. West, hosted by Parkdale Activity and Recreation
Center, and Parkdale Community Legal Services.

** Community Treatment Orders: Imprisoning With Drugs in the 21st
Century: 4pm – 5pm on Friday September 15th at The Peace Lounge, 7th
floor, OISE Ontario Institute for Studies in Education 252 Bloor St.
West (accessible from St. George Subway). Presented by Erick Fabris.

In the last few years, psychiatry has brought its commitment powers
out into the community. This research presentation brings forward how
psychiatric inmates have dealt with forced treatment outside of
psychiatric facilities. New psychiatric laws across the US and 3
Canadian provinces, including Ontario have introduced a law to
enforce treatments, monitoring, and appointments for people released
from hospital, supposedly with their consent. This new legal power is
named the “Community Treatment Order” or “CTO” (or “Involuntary
Outpatient Committal” in the US). Many of the myths about CTO’s are
discussed in this presentation. Survivors and allies continue to
struggle against these laws, and have even prevented them >from being
passed in New Mexico this year. Horrible experiences by CTO inmates
shed light on how mandatory treatment beyond psychiatric facilities
are being used and abused in Ontario. Treatment orders may be a cheap
new form of institutionalization by use of chemical restraint.

** CAPA Reception 5pm – 7pm Friday September 15th at The Peace
Lounge, 7th floor OISE Ontario Institute for Studies in Education 252
Bloor St. West (accessible from St. George Subway)

Come and join CAPA (Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault) on Friday
evening to schmooze and enjoy refreshments. CAPA members will be
present to share information of Toronto’s antipsychiatry organization
and to answer any questions.

** The Places We Share, a new play by The Friendly Spike Theatre
Band, 8pm to 9:30 pm Friday September 15th and Saturday September
16th at The Alchemy Theatre, 133 Tecumseth St. (one block west of
Bathurst ,south of Queen St. West). A lighthearted and thoughtful
story examining the nature of our shared existence on the margin of
society.

** Scenes from The House on Lippincott: 2pm – 3pm Saturday, September
16th at The Alchemy Theatre 133 Tecumseth St. (one block west of
Bathurst, south of Queen St. West)

A reading from The House on Lippincott by Bonnie Burstow especially
for Psychiatric Survivors.

** Reception and Open House 4pm – 6pm Saturday September 16th, at
CAMH (Center For Addiction and Mental Health), The Empowerment
Office, 1001 Queen St. West. hosted by The Empowerment Council and
featuring the work of PSAT (Psychiatric Survivor Archives Toronto).

** Now, Who’s Crazy Now? 10pm – 11pm Saturday September 16th, Alchemy
Theatre, 133 Tecumseth St (one block west of Bathurst and South of
Queen St. West) Written and presented by Elly Litvak. This one woman
show from Vancouver, Canada chronicles Elly’s journey from chaos to a
fulfilled life of balance and recovery.

** Writer’s Open Stage 2pm – 4pm Sunday September 17th, The Alchemy
Theatre 133 Tecumseth St. (one block west of Bathurst and South of
Queen St. West)

An open stage will be offered to writers of every ilk whose work uses
experiences of psychiatric survivors, and or madness. Featuring Mel
Starkman – Hope For Change, Lorretta Clark – 3 Rivers of Blood and
Destiny, and Caroline Fei-Yeng Kwok – The Tormented Mind, and many
more!.

** Patient Built Wall Tour 6pm – 8pm Sunday September 17th, The
Ground of CAMH Center for Addiction and Mental Health 1001 Queen
Street West.

Guided by Geoff Reaume. The purpose of this tour is to remember the
contributions of the men and women who lived, worked and died in the
Toronto Insane Asylum, as is represented by the boundary walls that
they built which stand as enduring testament to their abilities and
to use the past to challenge discrimination experienced today by
people who have a psychiatric history.

** Remembering Patients Past = The Last Harrah – closing reception
hosted by Angel Queen – 8pm – Sunday September 17th, The Garden, The
Grounds of CAMH Center for Addiction and Mental Health, 1001 Queen
Street West. We will gather in the Garden by the wall in remembrance
of patient past with the hope of growing.

~~~~~~~~~~