social justice

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

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:13:22 -0400

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.

Remembering John Brodie, 1970-2006

admin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:01:35 -0500

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.

Press Coverage of the Poverty Is Not A Crime Campaign

jenna — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:18:56 -0500

Here is some recent coverage of the latest PINAC (*Poverty Is Not A Crime) campaign against the anti-panhandling ordinance put forth by the "Downtown Northampton Business Improvement District". Freedom Center's Caty Simon is referenced in each article. It seems that we actually made a difference on this one!

Check out the Poverty Is Not A Crime campaign page here

Article From the Republican

National Disability Council Recognizes Freedom Center!

admin — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:19:10 -0500

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

admin — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:30:36 -0400

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

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:15:42 -0400

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.

Join The Community Power Kickoff - DATE CHANGE March 28th

admin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 09:34:50 -0500

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.

Jim Gottstein Comes to Hampshire College Oct 22

heather — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:04:04 -0400

Download flyer here.

Sunday July 29th Escape from Psychiatry Protest!

admin — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:07:15 -0400

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

lee — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:47:43 -0400

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.