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| 38th Annual Bastille Day Vigil/ Celebration 2018 |
(THE ALLIANCE): FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: GEORGE EBERT 315-947-5888, georgeebert@yahoo.com
A CALL TO PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY
AT HUTCHINGS PSYCHIATRIC CENTER
FROM JULY 14 – JULY 20, 2018
(SPECIAL FOCUS ON CHILDREN'S ISSUES)
Syracuse, New York – June 18, 2018 (9:00 AM)
As midnight breaks to International Bastille Day (July 14), The Alliance will commence a week-long vigil to call attention to maltreatment in the name of “mental health”. The vigil will be held by permit on the grounds of Hutchings Psychiatric Center, 620 Madison Street, in Syracuse, NY and run from 12:01 AM EDT on Saturday July 14 to Midnight EDT on Friday, July 20, 2018. The Annual Meeting for Members of The Alliance will be held on Sunday, July 15 at 12 noon. All events and meetings are open to the public and, technology permitting, will be broadcast online.
About the Vigil
The vigil this year marks the 38th Annual Bastille Day Demonstration to celebrate the human spirit and break the silence about psychiatric oppression. It harkens back to the French Revolution when ordinary Parisians stormed the Bastille (a mammoth prison fortress that served as a symbol of government hypocrisy, corruption and arbitrary power). In 1980, Alliance members recognized the parallels to the psychiatric system. We claimed this as our day to storm the institutional walls and break down the barriers created by discriminatory labeling. Bastille Day offers an opportunity for solidarity, advocacy, comaraderie, networking, authentic peer support, dignity, recognition of personhood, healing and a forum for vital issues.
Some participants will be fasting and praying for the end of medical and pharmaceutical tyranny. This call to action hopes to draw public attention to industry practices that market, promote, push and often force invasive dehumanizing, disabling, and potentially deadly drugs and procedures in the name of “health” and “care”. While everyone is vulnerable, the industry especially targets and feeds on people who are poor, powerless, institutionalized, imprisoned, unemployed, elderly, women, children or sexual, racial or ethnic minorities.
In respect to people who are fasting and praying, the vigil will be food-free, smoke-free and scent-sensitive. Teach-ins, round table discussions, guest speakers, memorials, music, dance, drumming, healing arts and multiple forms of creative expression (song, poetry, costumes, posters) are encouraged. Proposals for pre-scheduled activities are welcome. Nourishment, shelter and shared facilities will be provided to people who participate on an as-needed basis.
Join us for a moment, a minute, a day -- all week. Find or create your own niche. Be involved with vital issues concerning young people – mental health screenings, discrimination, prejudice, stigma, culture, pharmaceuticals, aversive “therapies”, shock treatments, restraints, seclusion, removal from schools and communities, forced adoption, foster care and institutional warehousing. Families, children, young people and adults who have experienced psychiatric treatment are invited to attend and give voice to their experience. There is room, space and a place for everyone in this human rights movement. Visit the vigil site or call The Alliance at 315-947-5888 for more information. Humankind needs what you came here to offer.
Why Children?
Children who are labeled “mentally ill” in New York State, nationwide and worldwide face egregious harm. In addition to issues listed above, lifelong impacts include the trauma of separation from friends and family, the physical and mental anguish occasioned by the drugs and procedures themselves, being deprived of customary developmental opportunities, having to explain gaps in life experience, rampant discrimination, and being robbed of access to one’s own feelings, memories, ideas, intuition and sense of self as a direct result of “treatment”. Many people who have been subjected to psychiatric intervention later describe such “help” as torture.
Most families who are referred for "mental health" or "behavioral health" services are convinced or compelled to undergo invasive assessment and accept psychiatric labeling and “recommended treatment”, including pharmaceuticals and “safety plans”. When children are do not respond “appropriately”, parents are often pressured to “consent” to aggressive interventions like institutional confinement, seclusion, restraint, electric shock and/or electroconvulsive treatment. The damage to family relationships is often irreparable.
Why We Are Here
“These kids deserve love, kindness and care. They deserve access and adaptions that enable them to participate in community events and activities of their choosing”, says one event organizer, Sarah Knutson, a former therapist and attorney. “Natural supports like these take time, interest and getting to know a child deeply and well. They also require relationships that are ongoing and real in children’s real lives”.
“It is not something the healthcare industry is willing to do. They’d rather use power and control. That’s what gets them the quick ‘evidence-based’ results their profit depends on”, says George Ebert, a long-time activist. “The problem is what is done to the human spirit. It’s something you pay for for a life time”, says Ebert. He should know. Ebert has been active in The Alliance since 1978. Says Ebert: “We are determined. Our demands for human rights for all people will not be compromised”.
About The Alliance
The Alliance – established in 1972 – is a self-help, mutual support, and human rights advocacy organization of, by, and for people labeled as “mentally ill”. The Alliance was incorporated in 1982 as a not-for-profit organization. Any type of support or contribution is appreciated and will be used to the best of our cooperative effort. The Alliance can be contacted at 1-315-947-5888.
Yes - please! It would be great to see you! Also, please come to Hannibal - it's incredible what George is pulling together there!
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