Mary Tudor Queen of England
From: Andrew Phelps <no-action@cwnet.com>
Sender: s-acc@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sun, 23 May 2010 14:13:56 -0700
Subject: Re: [s-acc] cutting a deal
Moq:
You wrote:
I agree. Our empowerment may not be a proper goal in the sense that it's measurable within an exact timeframe. Perhaps we need either another goal or we need to establish a way to measure our empowerment that sets a timely goal.
Thank you for helping with this point.
My sense is that this "deal" is not contingent upon empowerment; rather it should respect the ongoing process of struggle for empowerment and it should engage the client/survivors in respectful manner. PsySR - and Ethical APA - are networks with minimal funding and a focus on advocacy for peace and against torture. They are in fact in an "empowerment struggle" of their own in regards the entanglement of the APA (psychology) in the military/torture agenda(s) of our time. The "new social role" will help us struggle for empowerment in different contexts, as mainstream activist groups will be less able to dismiss us as "the mentally ill" and the like, and refuse to take our insight and contributions seriously. But the direct matter of concern is that the coalition arrangement be made in the manner of respect shown between the two groups, rather than one 'dominant' group in a 'nominal' coalition [that's community organizing talk]. The presented position of PsySR OpCom regarding the "two year" provision does not yet meet that criterion, I'd say.
Hopefully they will see that shifting this 'gaslighting' dynamic is to our mutual interest in struggling to overcome the torture dynamics that obtain when there is insufficient engagement with ethics.
I'm very sorry to hear about Sue.
I have not spoken yet of this tragic event to this list. Darrellyn Sue Poole was a longtime member of S-ACC; she presented two times at PsySR conferences.
Sue passed away, probably on Friday, May 14, in what appears to be an act of violence, thought to involve an intruder into her home in North Charleston, SC. Police are investigating. According to her family, she will be cremated and buried Tuesday - between her parents at Carolina Memorial in North Charleston. This was their choice; I can't say that it would have been hers.
In grief
Andrew