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MindFreedom International -- MAD PRIDE 2009 NEWS

http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride - please forward





JULY IS MAD PRIDE MONTH!



MindFreedom reports on Mad Pride '09 celebrations throughout the

world, including Ireland, New York, Toronto, Oregon and others.



Heard of Gay Pride?



MAD PRIDE celebrates everyone's "creative maladjustment" as Martin

Luther King, Jr. so often proudly described his own psychological state.



Every month is Mad Pride Month, but especially July!



The 2009 Mad Pride celebration in Toronto will be a whole week long.

The celebration in Ghana last year had over 6,000 people. But small or

large, all Mad Pride events count!





MEDIA INTEREST IN MAD PRIDE!



This is a perfect time to brainstorm your own Mad Pride event.

National media are more interested than ever in MAD PRIDE. On 15 July,

a national TV news show is interviewing MindFreedom director David

Oaks for a later special segment on MAD PRIDE, stay tuned!



Mad Pride events in 2009 come on the heels of two major media articles

over this past year on Mad Pride: One was in Newsweek in May 2009 -- http://www.newsweek.com/id/195694

. Last May there was even a Mad Pride article in the "Fashion" section

of The New York Times -- http://tinyurl.com/nytimes-madpride. Mad's in

style.



Last month, Canadian radio station CHLY did a four-segment special on

MAD PRIDE, including an interview with Ruth Ruth, chair of the

MindFreedom International Mad Pride Campaign Committee. To listen to

the four interviews, free, click here: http://tinyurl.com/chly-madpride





MAD PRIDE EVENTS THIS JULY '09



OREGON: Mad Pride events continue this July with MindFreedom Mad Pride

at the Oregon Country Fair outside of Eugene, Oregon, USA. You can

participate in MindFreedom Mad Pride skits and talent show every day

at this year's Oregon Country Fair, in the Community Village Stage

Green at 3 pm. Singer/songwriter David Rogers will be one of the

treats. Learn to screen for normality from David Oaks, director of

MFI! Bring your Mad Pride talent to the stage (watch out for the tap

dancing eight year old)! For more info click here: http://tinyurl.com/mad-ocf

(By the way, because of OCF, there will be no MindFreedom Web Radio

on second Sat. of July. Next show on 8 August will have Mad Pride

reports. Watch MindFreedom News for details)



NORTH CAROLINA: The other side of the USA then answers with The Second

Annual Mad Pride Asheville, North Carolina, sponsored by MindFreedom

International and Asheville Homeless Network. The event will be held

on July 11, 2009 from 1 pm to 5 pm at the Old Magnolia Tree in City-

County Plaza. Info: http://tinyurl.com/asheville-madpride09



NEW YORK: In Albany, NY, survivors of electroshock and their allies

sponsor a protest of use of electroshock on children. On Bastille Day,

Tuesday, July 14, 2009, protesters speak out on the East Lawn of the

Capitol Building (at State and Eagle Streets) for most of a 24-hour

period, from 9 AM - 2 PM and 5 PM - 9 AM. (Bastille Day has been a

traditional day of protest by psychiatric survivors for decades, at

the suggestion of MindFreedom member Myra Kovary, thus leading to the

designation of July as Mad Pride month!) Info: http://tinyurl.com/albany-09



TORONTO: Mad Pride is coming to Toronto! Again! The City of Toronto

has officially proclaimed July 13 to 19, 2009 as Mad Pride Week! This

is a week long festival of free arts, education and heritage

activities which engages in community development, raises rights

awareness and celebrates the lives of persons who have been impacted

by the mental health system. The official opening is on Tuesday July

14 at 11 am with The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, The Honourable

David Onley, Ontario Human Rights Chief Commissioner Barbara Hall,

Member of Provincial Parliament Cheri Dinovo, Toronto City Councillor

Gord Perks, and other invited guests. Week long activities will raise

awareness using various forums from panel discussions to theatrical

presentations.



Mad Pride Toronto Organizers have booked Metro Hall Rotunda at 55 John

Street from Tuesday, July 14 to Friday, July 18th to showcase the

great and MAD community. They have a parade permit so we can count on

our traditional BED PUSH Parade on Saturday, July 18th from CAMH to

PARC. This is one of many cultural events, check their web site for

updates. Toronto is the home of Friendly Spike Theater, a sponsor

group in MindFreedom and where Ruth Ruth does much of her culture

work. Info on Toronto Mad Pride see: http://tinyurl.com/toronto-madpride09

If you search for Mad Pride on YouTube, you'll find videos of

Toronto's past Mad Pride events.



EUGENE: In Eugene, Oregon, get some Mad Pride going with the Green

Your Mind Summer Film Series free movies about changing the mental

health system, co-sponsored by MindFreedom International! The next one

is "Take These Broken Wings," about full recovery without psychiatric

drugs after a diagnosis of "schizophrenia." See: http://tinyurl.com/wings-200907





SUCCESSFUL MAD PRIDE EVENTS EARLIER THIS YEAR:



A few of the Mad Pride 2009 events that have been held this year

already include:



IRELAND: Mad Pride Cork, Fitzgerald's Park, June 7th 2009: Mad Pride

Ireland was amazed by the crowds who turned out for the Mad Pride

Ireland event in 2008, and in 2009 organizer/poet John McCarthy kept

the mad vision alive, despite what we hear was some rain. Info: http://madprideireland.ie



SAN FRANCISCO: Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco, a

sponsor group in MindFreedom International, has completed their Mad

Pride Mad Hatter competition. The challenge was to "make a hat -- the

'madder' the better." Mad competitors used whatever they had at your

disposal: found objects, recycled objects, buttons, cloth, paper ...

the limits only existed in their imagination. The only rule was: "HAVE

FUN". Maybe your community group could hold a Mad Hatter competition?

To check out this year's event see: http://tinyurl.com/sf-madhatter



MINDFREEDOM YOUTH COMMITTEE members were featured in an interview

about the mental health system and youth in the new issue of the youth

publication WIRETAP. To read the interview go here: http://tinyurl.com/youth-mental-health



DIRECTORY: Of course, those reading MindFreedom news know that

everyone declaring, on the Fourth of July, Mental Independence from

Inhumane Mental Health Care by launching the MindFreedom Directory of

Alternatives was a Mad Pride event! For info on the new directory,

especially for providers who wish to list their mental health service,

see: http://www.mindfreedom.org/directory



ALBERTA: Another recent event that qualified as "Mad Pride" earlier

this year was a conference titled "ARE WE ALL MAD? Critical

Perspectives on the Canadian Mental Health System" which was held at

the University of Alberta, in Edmonton on March 26 & 27, 2009. The

event was hosted in conjunction with the University of Alberta's

Faculty of Law and Legal Activist Collective. Info: http://tinyurl.com/mad-alberta



~~~~~~~~~~~~~



A MADLY-ASKED QUESTION:



How Can I Get Involved in Mad Pride?



Escape the Mad Closet! Speak your mind! Get close! Go deep! And

celebrate!



Why do YOU think Mad Pride is important? E-mail your quote to news@mindfreedom.org

, and you may be quoted by MindFreedom interns Anne and Katina who are

preparing new Mad Pride literature to distribute internationally.

(Thanks, Anne, for compiling material for this news release!)



Is your MAD PRIDE event missing from this news item? Then e-mail it in

to news@mindfreedom.org.



And everyone, what MAD PRIDE events will YOU hold over this coming

year! When? October and May are called Mental Health Months, those are

nice. But then, so are the other months!



Learn more!



Martin Luther King said repeatedly that the world is in dire need of

an International Association for the Advancement of Creative

Maladjustment (IAACM). Many laughed. But Mad Pride makes MLK's IAACM

vision a reality today! MindFreedom's physician-clown Patch Adams is

chair of the IAACM. Help make Martin Luther King's dream come true!

See many quotes by MLK, and see a video clip of him, about "creative

maladjustment" here:

http://tinyurl.com/mlk-iaacm



The MindFreedom MAD PRIDE Campaign folder is also inspirational at:



http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride



~~~~~~~~~~~~~



MAD CULTURE!



MindFreedom hosts two free, public e-mail lists, open to all, about

MAD PRIDE.



1) NEWS: MindFreedom is re-starting the MAD PRIDE NEWS LIST. This is

for occasional one-way news announcements related to MAD PRIDE. If you

join just one Mad Pride list, this is it! If you get your MAD PRIDE

event to just one place, this is where!



http://www.intenex.net/lists/listinfo/madpride-news



2) TALK: Chat on a Mad Pride Discussion e-mail list with others who

are holding, or who want to hold, MAD PRIDE events. Ruth Ruth from

Canada, John McCarthy from Ireland, Dan from Ghana, they're all there.

Where are you? Join here free:



http://www.intenex.net/lists/listinfo/madpride-talk



~~~~~~~~~~~~



PLEASE FORWARD this MAD PRIDE 2009 NEWS far and wide, to all

interested people on and off Internet!



~~~~~~~~~~~~



IN OTHER MINDFREEDOM NEWS...



On a sad but resilient note, MindFreedom received news today that long-

time member, supporter, dissident psychologist, author, diagnosed

"schizophrenic," and psychiatric survivor Al Siebert, PhD of Portland,

Oregon died after a long illness, at the age of 75. Al was widely

considered, including by many 9/11 survivors, to be a foremost leader

on resiliency. Al considered a diagnosis of "schizophrenia" to be a

sign that one may be more resilient than "normal." It was not well

known that Al had, as a grad student, been diagnosed schizophrenic and

escaped from his psychiatric institution. He went on to a long and

successful career as psychologist, lecturer and author.



To read Al's obituary see, and find a link to a MindFreedom interview

with Al, see:



http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/in-memoriam/al-siebert-obituary



Thank you, Al Siebert!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



MINDFREEDOM 2009 SUMMER SUPPORT DRIVE



Unite to Change Mental Health Care!



Join, renew, donate now to MindFreedom International, click here:



http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate



Show YOUR Mad Pride during MAD PRIDE MONTH!



MindFreedom International is one of the few totally-independent,

activist nonprofits in the mental health field, with zero funding from

the mental health system, governments, drug companies or religions.



That means YOUR membership and donation are CRUCIAL to MindFreedom

International's campaigns for human rights alternatives, act now:



http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate



Times are tough, making it even more important that each gives what he

or she can.



Your MindFreedom member benefits include:



* MindFreedom Journal - new issue is going to print soon!



* Member-only web and e-mail networking



* Discount on http://www.madmarket.org purchases



* Staffed member-services office



* Affiliate and Sponsor Group grassroots community organizing



* MindFreedom Shield issues alert for any member at risk of mental

health human rights violation



* More than two decades of human rights victories



* MOST IMPORTANTLY: *YOU* Build the People Power for a Nonviolent

Revolution in Mental Health!



MindFreedom International: A Home for Unconquerable Minds!



Please donate, join now or renew, NOW, click here:



http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Please forward this important MAD PRIDE news alert to all supportive

people on and off the Internet, now!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



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