Mad Pride

Mad Pride is an idea which came out of the 1997 Gay Pride Festival in London. A few survivors of the mental health system said “We could do with a festival like this”. And so a collection of individuals got together and slowly started organising themselves to put on events, and eventually develop Mad Pride, which it is hoped will really take off in the year 2000.

The objectives are to promote positive images of mental health, to counteract discrimination and prejudice towards people who have experienced mental distress, to educate the public in mental health issues, to campaign for better mental health provision, to campaign for less oppressive and more enabling legislation and practice guidelines, and to promote economic, social, environmental and cultural integration of users/survivors into mainstream society and their active participation and integration into community life.

In terms of the politics of the Mental Health user movement, there has been a rapid disillusionment with New Labour’s Mental Health policies. New Labour’s early statement of intent, ‘No argument with Compulsory Treatment’, has really pissed everybody off. How can you put ‘Compulsory’ and ‘Treatment’ together? Shouldn’t ‘Treatment’ involve a degree of choice? What they really mean is ‘Forcibly Medicate’, even when people are well. Using this fancy style of language, no doubt we will see New Labour renaming prisons as ‘Compulsory Hostels’!

To fight against these coercive measures, people need to fight back by having fun, madness, benefit gigs etc. Hence, Mad Pride has been launched.

A voice in the darkness, or just some ‘mad sense’? Tel: 0958 907357

mark@ctono.freeserve.co.uk

http://www.ctono.freeserve.co.uk