Seems like the "latest" group to speak out are speaking.

S.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Justice For All Moderator" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, April 16, 2000 9:13 PM
Subject: Highlander 30 Call to Action


>
>                         Justice For All
>
>                         [log in to unmask]
>
>                  Highlander 30 Call to Action
>
> The following is a joint statement from leaders from the psychiatric
> survivor movement following meetings at the Highlander Training and
> Education Center, near Knoxville, Tennessee.  Names of those signing
> the statement are at the bottom.
>
> The Highlander Statement of Concern and Call to Action
> March 25, 2000
>
> In the tradition of Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and
> thousands of men and women concerned about social justice and progressive
> change, thirty people with long histories of fighting for human rights in
> mental health gathered for three days at the Highlander Center in
> Tennessee. We argued, came to consensus, and then quietly shared our pain,
> our concerns, our fears, and our hopes for the future.
>
> We came to understand that our personal stories have power and that they
> must be heard. We must tell them to other people who have been damaged by
> psychiatric treatment, to the public, to lawmakers and to political
> candidates as well. We are compelled to share our collective struggle and
> claim our place as a civil rights movement alongside those who have been
> similarly discounted, disenfranchised, and marginalized: people of color;
> gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people; people with physical or
> cognitive disabilities; women; people belonging to religious, ethnic, and
> linguistic minorities; and people forced to live in poverty amidst the
> great wealth and abundance of the corporate economy.
>
> We are obliged to be vigilant and to help others realize the horrible
> consequences that arise when certain groups are seen as less than fully
> human and less deserving of basic civil rights. We must never forget that
> in Nazi Germany "mercy killings" of mental patients, people with
> disabilities and others labeled asocial preceded the attempted genocide of
> Jews and other oppressed groups during the Holocaust. To prevent similar
> atrocities from occurring we pledge to speak out for equal human rights
> for everyone throughout the world.
>
> In the Highlander tradition, we came away from those three days on the
> mountain determined that we will not allow anyone to do for us, to
> discount us, or to pat us on the head instead of looking us in the eye. We
> came away invigorated and ready to act individually and collectively to
> insure that self-determination, respect, ethical behavior, and humane
> voluntary services and supports become the foundation of a reinvented
> mental health system. This system must first and foremost do no harm. We
> came away ready to make this a reality.
>
> The Highlander Call for Action:
>
> ***We call upon all people committed to human rights to organize and fight
> against the passage and implementation of legislation making it easier to
> lock up, shock, and forcibly drug people labeled with psychiatric
> disorders,legislation that is creating the back-wards of the twenty-first
> century not just in hospitals, but also in our own homes.
>
> ***We call upon all people committed to human rights to work together to
> build a mental health system that is based upon the principle of
> self-determination, on a belief in our ability to recover, and on our
> right to define what recovery is and how best to achieve it.
>
> ***We call upon people who have used mental health services to heal each
> other by telling our stories. We call for the creation of literature and
> other art forms that use our truths to educate, to inform, and to validate
> our culture and our experience.
>
> ***We call upon elected officials, political candidates, and those with
> power over our lives to recognize and honor the legitimacy of our concerns
> through their policy statements, legislative proposals, and their actions;
> and we hereby give notice that we will do whatever it takes to insure that
> we are heard, that our rights are protected, and that we can live freely
> and peacefully in our communities.
>
> --
>
> The Highlander 30: Laurie Ahern, Patricia Deegan, Ken Schlosser, Judi
> Chamberlin, Tom Behrendt, Carla X Cubit, Celia Brown, Anne Krauss. Ron
> Bassman, George Ebert, Mary Ann Ebert, Linda Morrison, Janet Foner, Tom
> Olin, Lawrence Plumlee, Gayle Bluebird, Cookie Gant, Vicki Fox
> Wieselthier, Mickey Weinberg, Beverly Jones, Loren Mosher, Ty Colbert, Jay
> Mahler, Kris Yates, Sally Zinman, Ted Chabasinski, Lynda Wright, Sue
> Parry, Linda Sisson, David Oaks
>
> Comments to: [log in to unmask]
>
> --
> Fred Fay
> Chair, Justice For All
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.jfanow.org
>
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