# DENDRITE Psychiatric Rights
Protest Action -- May 1997

> ### Contents

> > Introduction
> > Press Release
> > Action Call
> > Protest Announcement
> > About DENDRITE and Subscriptions, Web Site

> From: Support Coalition - David Oaks dendron@efn.org
> Newsgroups: alt.mindcontrol
> Subject: Say, how about protesting some real mind control!
> Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997
> Dear folks,

> I love reading all the various speculative theories, and I know many of them have more than a grain of truth.

> But there comes a time for more than reading ... and more than speculation.

> There comes a time to stand up and protest the documented abuses of real, above-board, forced mind control.

> See the below human rights announcement. To get these and other human rights announcements, you can sign up on the DENDRITE list (see how to at bottom). It's not a discussion list, only a human rights alert about every week or so, so it's not too much e-mail.

> Contents

> ### DENDRITE alert on human rights in psychiatry

> ####

> Protest American Psychiatric Assn. 5/18/97 San Diego

> March 23, 1997 -- please redistribute
> from Support Coalition dendron@efn.org

> NEWS RELEASE

> "CALLING ALL BRAINS!"

> Psychiatric survivors plan colorful public protest of American Psychiatric Association 150th Annual Meeting!

> Everyone is invited to attend and "Let your brains shine!"

> Can art, street theatre, music and speaking out break the silence and "heal the normality" of the American Psychiatric Association? You can find out on May 18, 1997, Noon, at the San Diego Convention Center.

> That's when thousands of psychiatrists begin to stream into the huge San Diego Convention Center for the American Psychiatric Association 150th Annual Meeting. Once more they will see a nearby protest. Support Coalition International has sponsored or co-sponsored protests at APA Annual Meetings for most of the past seven years.

> This time the protest of human rights violations in psychiatry will be even more creative. Protesters promise to have a "Mad Art" show, music and guerilla theatre to "heal normality." Poetry, drama, and personal experiences will be encouraged on an open microphone. Led by psychiatric survivors and open to the public, the protest hopes to "break the silence" about such practices as forced electroshock, and forced psychiatric drugging.

> "Empowering alternatives" such as consumer-run mutual peer support will be discussed and promoted.

> A special target of the protest will be the APA's increased use of forced outpatient psychiatric drugging out in the community. Using techniques such as "involuntary outpatient commitment," the APA and the government are forcing an increasing number of people living out in the community to take powerful psychiatric drugs against their will. More than half of USA states already have these laws. African Americans and homeless are especially at risk. On March 5, 1997, psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey testified to U.S. Congress that U.S. housing funds should be diverted to more forced outpatient drugs.

> This protest is organized by Support Coalition - Southern California Branch. It is endorsed by California Network of Mental Health Clients (CNMHC). Support Coalition is one of more than 50 groups in six countries which make up Support Coalition International.

> Contents

> ## Action

> Please copy and forward the above news release and the below announcement to others on the Internet. Please also print out and distribute. If you can help distribute posters with this information -- especially if you hope to attend the event -- please e-mail Support Coalition: dendron@efn.org To receive updates about this protest, and other alerts about human rights in psychiatry, subscribe to the free Internet "read only" mailing list DENDRITE (see bottom).

> Contents

> ## Protest Announcement

> Protest the 150th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association!
> When: Sunday, May 18, 1997, 12 noon to 4:30 pm.
> Where: San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California, USA.

> Directions: Harbor & First Ave. Next to Children Park & MLK Jr. Walkway. Take Bayside trolley from downtown.

> Why:

> - Break the silence about psychiatric human rights violations!
> - Promote empowering alternatives in the mental health system, such as consumer-run mutual support programs.
> - Expose the APA's use of force & fraud in electroshock!
> - Stop the growing use of forced outpatient psychiatric drugs out in the community!

> What:

> This is a legal, free, fun protest! There will be an art show, music, poetry, comedy, drama. Speak out on the open-microphone! Street theatre will heal the "normality" of the American Psychiatric Association! Bring your musical instruments, poems, costumes. Bring lunch (and food to share). You're also encouraged to make & bring big clear signs!

> Featuring a free Mad Art Show! Bring art & easels (some easels provided).

> Who:

> Everyone's welcome! Psychiatric survivors, mental health consumers, mental health workers, psychiatrists, media, friends, relatives, and the general public. Bring folks along! Sponsored by Support Coalition Southern California Branch, one of 50 groups in Support Coalition International. Protest endorsed by California Network of Mental Health Clients.

> Southern California phone contact information for protest:

> - Vernon Montoya, 8 am to 11 am, or 7 pm to 9 pm ph: (619) 560-7135, San Diego.
> - Maxine Hayden, ph: (909) 654-4042, fax (909) 654-6700, Santa Jacinto, Calif.
> - Felicia McCarty, ph: (909) 360-0677, Mira Loma, Calif.

> Info For Out-of-Towners: Ask about car-pooling!

> Inexpensive housing options during the protest:

> - Hostel International ph: (619) 525-1531, dormitory, new location: 521 Market St., $14 for Hostel members, $17 non-members, try to reserve a month in advance.
> - YMCA, 500 W. Broadway ph: (619) 234-5252 (also has floor for women) $24.95, reserve at least a week in advance.
> - Harborside Inn; 1505 Pacific Hwy, San Diego, CA 92101. Ph: 619-239-9185 Fax: (619) 234-0736. Double: $43.08 ($22.54 each), clean, 24-unit motel on troley line to Convention Center.

> For more info about housing options for out-of-towners, call Vernon Montoya. Felicia McCarty has info on camping. (See So. Calif. contact info above.)

> Co-sponsored by:

> Support Coalition International 454 Willamette, Suite 216 P.O. Box 11284 Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

> Tax-deductible donations encouraged. Phone: (541) 345-9106 Fax: (541) 345-3737

> [Note in the interests of clarity, and not to criticize any organization: This protest is totally independent and organized by psychiatric survivors in Support Coalition. This protest and Support Coalition have absolutely zero connection to a different group critical of psychiatry -- the Church of Scientology and their group CCHR -- which sometimes holds its own, separate protests of the APA.]

> Contents

> ### About DENDRITE and Subscriptions

> DENDRITE is a free read-only low-volume Internet mailing list of announcements about human rights in psychiatry which now directly reaches more than 700 concerned people. Everyone who receives a DENDRITE is encouraged to quickly copy this message to other appropriate places on and off the Internet, reaching thousands more. Please snowball your DENDRITE!

> DENDRITE is a project of Support Coalition, an independent non-profit which also publishes a print-based newspaper called Dendron News. Support Coalition also sponsors a discussion mailing list HEALNORM. Join Support Coalition, and ask about Internet member services. For more information, e-mail to dendron@efn.org or visit web site: http://www.efn.org/~dendron

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> Contents