MAD PRIDE CAPE TOWN REPORT : IMC-SA

MAD PRIDE CAPE TOWN REPORT
by Mindfreedom South Africa Monday, Jul. 16, 2007 at 6:16 AM
PO Box 4398, Cape Town 8000

Cape Town 14-07-2007: A small crowd gathered to celebrate Cape Town and South Africa's first Mad Pride near District Six, site of forced removals during the apartheid era. Although few in number, and overwhelmed by the irony of the situation, there is a sense of achievement in the face of great odds.

This despite the detention of David Stolper, an activist associated with Mindfreedom International and the International Centre for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (ICSPP), who has been in the system for some time.

Other problems experienced were the fact that most of us are under threat of forced commitment, and the survivor movement in South Africa is particularly weak. Then there's the problem that most consumers have been marginalised by the apartheid system, and further abused by coercive psychiatry, and psychiatric "prescription posing as treatment".

The even also saw the launch of the International Association for the Advancement of the Creatively Maladjusted (IAACM), so named after a call made by Martin Luther King, shortly before his assasination.

Flyers demanding treatment alternatives and the right to be different were handed out.

Good weather and an excellent winter sunrise, helped to keep us all in good spirits, and we sat and talked about resistance to psychiatry and future mobilisation efforts, before marching to Parliament and staging a vigil & picket for the victims of coercive psychiatric abuses/ detentions without trial, and psych-labeling. Placards spoke out against Electro-Shock Therapy, Forced Treatment and Involuntary Commitment Laws and a memorandum is on its way to parliamentarians.

Public reaction, though a little shocked, was generally positive -- but one could tell by the look on people's faces that there were dismay at the exposure of a darker-side of our democratic system. Mad Pride has supporters from students and artists/designers but there was no media exposure and some reticence from the broader public, perhaps out of fear of the coercive system.

South Africa's so-called mental health system is particularly notorious for committing anti-apartheid activists and continues to incarcarate people accused of "mental illness", despite regulations outlawing politically-motivated admissions.

Moosa Salie, World Network of Users & Survivors of Psychiatry (WNUSP) co-chair donated flyers, took photographs, and handed out cooldrinks and "french fries" afterwards as part of the organisations outreach. Hopefully future events will be much larger and with more support, anything could happen. The vision of a cross-disability, psych rights platform in South Africa is definitely on the horizon, but there are very real obstacles in terms of capacity and organisation that need to be addressed first.

Mindfreedom Ghana activists also held their event, and various other organisations and groups celebrated mind freedom on Bastille Day.

A second "Mad Pride" might happen on October 10 to coincide with Australia's celebrations, but nothing definite as yet.

Let's reclaim madness and insanity and proclaim a free world.