Eugene Protest of Electroshock Will Be One of Many Internationally
Update 13 May 2015: *Our Eugene event will be rain or shine. * The Free Speech Plaza is kind of big, so please find us in the Northeast corner up the stairs by the entrance doors to the county, which is also away from the drumming, though it will be noisy so keep your remarks loud and brief!
By David Oaks
On May 16, 2015 there will be several dozen grass roots protest against electroshock, mainly in the US but also in about eight other countries. Below is info about our local protest here in Eugene, Oregon, USA:
You may download a PDF of this news release here: Shockprotestnewsrelease
News — Immediate Release 1 May 2015 — Contact [email protected]
Reviving the spirit of Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest!
When: Saturday, 16 May 2015, 2 pm.
Where: Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza at the northeast corner of 8th and Oak St., across from the Saturday Market.
Speakers in Eugene that day include:
- Fred Abbe, 68, of Reedsport, OR personally experienced electroshock as a teenager. He said, “I survived 40 years of psychiatric oppression, including 15 bilateral electroshock ‘treatments’ totally forced against my will, every other day within a 30 day period in 1964, before I reached the age of 18, in Jackson Park Memorial Hospital in Miami Beach, Florida.”
- Chuck Areford of Eugene, a long-time mental health worker who once gave electroshock.
- Adrienne Bovee, a psychiatric survivor from Eugene and student at the University of Oregon who says, “I feel lucky to have narrowly escaped brutal psychiatric treatment like electroshock.”
- Chrissy Piersol of Eugene, a young adult psychiatric survivor who works as a peer mental health counselor.
- David Rogers of Eugene, folk singer and songwriter, will sing about empowerment and disability. He works as a mental health peer supporter.
- David Oaks of Eugene, psychiatric survivor who has worked as an activist for human rights in mental health for 40 years. He said, “The world today can cause a lot of despair, such as through global warming that threatens life as we know it. We can do better than just responding with jolting people’s brains!”
At the end of the Eugene protest, activists will walk to the statue of Ken Kesey at Broadway and Willamette St. to remember his literary resistance to electroshock.
Co-sponsors of the peaceful protest in Eugene include MindFreedom Lane County, International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment, Network Against Psychiatric Assault, Rethinking Psychiatry, and ectjustice.com, which has more about the protests including a list of planned events. More info can be found on the facebook pages of MindFreedom Lane County and Network Against Psychiatric Assault. May is the annual “National Mental Health Month.
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