CODE PINK demo Berkeley
From: Andrew Phelps <math_anxiety@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [withholdapadues] Psychoanalysis and Gandhi
To: withholdapadues@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, January 9, 2009, 6:00 PM
Hi
The Div. 56 people had an insight into this matter which I found rather supportive. In the Sept. 06 IVAT Conference San Diego (where Div. 56 was being put on its feet), they had two keynote speakers. One was Jacki McKinney a national "client/survivor" activist, the other was Arun Ghandi, grandson of the Mahatma, who is a peace activist.
Some of the "magic" that would empower a kind of healing of the dialogical breakdown here involves "working the trauma/psychoanalysis boundary" and developing mutual and productive relations with the "client/survivor" activists.
Phil Cushman is the psychologist who has helped me with that in the past.
Right now the Israeli and — I imagine — the Hamas "intelligence" services use a disguised and toxic psychology to help keep the dialogue breakdown on a "go" status.
As I've written before (
is anybody taking notice?) Ariel Merari, the Ph.D. rat psychologist who was head of the Israeli psychological warfare, promotes the perspective of "rat behavior management" in regards the Palestinians. Our marginalized activists know that "treatment can be torture" and are inclined to make a distance from the above attitude, which has its proponents in U.S behavioral circles. The psychology of 'respect' is a challenge.In "Torture after Dark" it was cited that there is a "strategic helplessness" of the APA. Maybe the insight above of Div. 56 (one of the 'social justice' divisions) can help with the design of a strategic alternative. I'd say that's a "path forward" in reconstructing the APA so that the "soul of psychology" will heal.
Andrew Phelps
Berkeley, CA