Good Work, CCHR!
Keshet
Prior to the demise of apartheid in South Africa, the government
contracted mental health care to a private corporation, Smith
Mitchell and Co. SM upheld the principles of the racist regime by
providing separate facilities for white and non-white patients.
Non-white facilities frequently became nothing more than
"warehouses", where patients' health care (both physical and
mental) was practically non-existent. Patients lacked proper food,
sanitation, clothing, and shelter. Staff were underpaid and
inadequately trained, with patients often performing some duties,
thus saving SM the cost of salaries. In the 1970s, evidence of
patient mistreatment began to surface and investigations were
undertaken, which led ultimately to the exposure of the appalling
conditions in these psychiatric facilities.
For years, I've read CCHR's claims that they were originally
responsible for the discovery of these conditions and for bringing
the details to light. For years, I had never come across a mention
of CCHR when reading the history of South Africa and the Smith
Mitchell facilities. And for years, I had assumed that this was
"just another fabrication", like so many before it. Why should I
(or anyone) believe them when they lied about teaching 2 million
South African children to read? Or that the King of Sweden
endorsed Narconon? Or that the Norwegian minister of defense
distributed thousands of copies of The Way To Happiness booklet
to his troops? These were not little fibs, they were whopping BIG
lies. So what's the harm in another fabrication about uncovering
the conditions of of blacks in South African psychiatric
hospitals?
(Read Scientology's story of how a member stumbled across one of
these facilities housed in an abandoned mining compound:
<http://www.whatisscientology.org/html/part08/chp29/pg0464.html>.)
Well, now I'm forced to admit this isn't such a whopper after all.
I have my first bit of evidence that CCHR *did* initiate
investigations that led to international publicity and further
investigations by the Red Cross, the World Health Organization,
and the American Psychiatric Association (Scientology's favorite
whipping boy:-).
"These [series of international] articles originated from
investigations and articles written by the Church of
Scientology's Citizen's Commission of Human Rights (CCHR),
established in 1969, that staunchly opposed psychiatry and
psychiatric drugs in general.
...
"Although much of the CCHR's evidence cannot be substantiated, it
was known for its ability to obtain information, albeit at times
unreliable. The CCHR even broke into government offices and
stole files. Despite its self-promoting reasons for attacking
the psychiatric field, the CCHR played an important role in
publicizing the overall substandard conditions in the hospitals
and began a succession of investigations that would ultimately
enable some staff to force changes in the institutions."
-Tiffany F. Jones, "Monopoly on Madness? Private Long-Term Black
Mental Institutions in South Africa between 1963 and 1989",
Presentation to North Eastern Workshop on Southern Africa, 2003
<http://solitarytrees.net/pubs/smithmit.htm#investigations>
If you follow that link to read that section of the paper, be sure
to check out endnote [20]:
"The CCHR also quoted psychiatrists, although not always with
their permission." ...
"Many practitioners and government members mentioned that the
CCHR regularly contacted them or attempted to gain information
from them, but few took them up on the offer."
Now there's the Scientology we love and admire. Further hints about
how Scientology conducted investigations (also from that endnote):
"In 1969, Dr. E.L. Fisher M.P. of Johannesburg claimed that the
Church of Scientology harassed him and he filed a damages claim
against Hubbard Scientology Organisations in South Africa (Pty)
Ltd. The case was settled out of court."
Dr. Fisher was the subject of Scientology harassment and dirty
tricks and as a result, not only did Scientology have to pay a
subtantial amount to him, they also had to issue a public apology!
The members of the Commission of Enquiry into Scientology for
1972 (authors of the "Kotze Report"), had harsh words for Hubbard
and "the fierceness with which the fair game law has been applied
and the willingness to trick and destroy...". You can read about the
incident in the Kotze report, section 9.5, pp. 117-122:
<http://solitarytrees.net/pubs/kotze/pages/pg117.htm>
Now that I've gotten the requisite potshots out of the way, honesty
compels me to praise the Church of Scientology (as much as I loathe
doing so), at least in this one instance. CCHR apparently *was*
responsible for uncovering the atrocities committed by truly evil
psychs and CCHR's actions ultimately led to the correction of
appalling institutional racism. Good Work, CCHR!
Keshet
--
Keshet(at)despammed.com * http://thingy.apana.org.au/~fun/scn/racism/
Where prejudice exists it always discolors our thoughts. -Mark Twain
Fear Not
Who actually submitted the first report.
The American Psychiatric Association
Check out the dates!!!
http://www.psych.org/pnews/97-11-21/africa.html
South Africa Apologizes to APA for Ignoring 1978 Report on Psychiatric
Care
The South African government has apologized to APA for disparaging and
then dismissing a 1978 report written by an APA delegation that
identified abusive practices, substandard care, and violations of
medical ethics in that country's psychiatric system.
The apology is part of a self-examination by South Africa's
Department of Health conducted for the country's Truth and
Reconciliation Commission. The controversial commission is forcing
various segments of South African society to confront their complicity
with the abusive, sometimes lethal, racial policies of the
long-entrenched, government-sanctioned apartheid system.
In its unvarnished mea culpa, the Department of Health admits that
during the decades when apartheid was the law of the land, it routinely
functioned as "an important arm of the State. . .acting in ways which
contributed to making Apartheid the system of inequity and oppression
which it was. . . leading to much ill health and unnecessary deaths."
It also acknowledged that it regularly made decisions that "put
political considerations above health and health care."
In 1978 APA was invited by the Smith-Mitchell Corporation, which had a
contract with the South African government to run its private mental
health services, and by the country's health secretary to observe a
number of treatment facilities, both private and public. The South
Africans hoped that the 17 days of site visits by American
psychiatrists would dispel allegations by a United Nations committee,
the World Health Organization, and sources within South Africa that the
government was using the psychiatric system to punish political
dissidents, much as the Soviet Union was doing at the same time.
Once they arrived in South Africa, however, the American psychiatrists
learned that they were to be denied access to the public facilities.
The results of the visit were not at all what the South African health
officials had expected. The American delegation found substantial
evidence to confirm reports that black South Africans were the victims
of a pervasive pattern of abuse by employees and officials of the
country's mental health system.
In a report that pulled no punches, the APA representatives wrote,
"There is good reason for international concern about black psychiatric
patients in South Africa. We found unacceptable medical practices that
resulted in needless deaths of South Africans. Medical and psychiatric
care for blacks was grossly inferior to that for whites."
Most of the patients they interviewed said they had never received a
medical examination while hospitalized, a claim borne out by
patients' medical records. Other examples of substandard care
included psychiatrists routinely assigned to black patients who did not
speak the patients' language, part-time psychiatrists who were
unfamiliar with tardive dyskinesia, results of mental status
examinations that were incompatible with the recorded diagnoses, the
absence of toilet paper and washbasins in bathrooms, and a policy to
not provide sheets for beds in which black patients slept. Only two
hospitals the APA delegation visited had full-time physicians on staff,
and the Americans concluded that the part-time medical staff was
"grossly inadequate to provide decent rehabilitation or treatment."
Contrary to reports received prior to their visit, the Americans saw no
evidence of inappropriate use of drugs or electroconvulsive therapy or
confinement of political dissidents in the facilities they were allowed
to visit.
On receiving the report, the Department of Health wasted no time in
labeling it "completely unacceptable" and characterized it as
"prejudiced, biased, and a masterpiece of malicious misrepresentation
of facts."
In the department's recent report to the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, however, it admits that upon reexamining the observations
and recommendations in the APA report, "most of the contents of this
investigation were, in all likelihood, correct."
Jeanne Spurlock, M.D., a former deputy medical director of APA and head
of its Office of Minority and National Affairs, was one of the American
psychiatrists on the 1978 visit. "I can't help but wonder what took
them so long," she told Psychiatric News. "I question, however, how
much things have really changed when it comes to health services in
South Africa. The amount of money the government is now spending on
health care hasn't increased much at all over the years since we
visited."
In addition to admitting that the American psychiatrists had accurately
described the serious deficiencies in the provision of mental health
services to South Africans, the authors of the recent report state that
"APA deserves an apology from the Health Department for, in essence,
calling them liars."
During a visit to APA headquarters in Washington, D.C., on July 29,
Professor Melvyn Freeman, the director of the South African
government's mental health and substance abuse agency, said that APA
soon would be receiving a written apology for his government's
unjustified response to the 1978 report, according to Ellen Mercer,
director of APA's Office of International Affairs, who was present at
the July meeting. By late October, APA had not yet received that
apology.
Spurlock added that if the South African government had taken APA's
report to heart when it was delivered, an apology would not have been
necessary, and the country would by now be experiencing some
significant improvement in the state of health care delivered to its
huge majority of nonwhite citizens.
In the health department's report, the officials charged with
examining the department's past practices also conclude that it is
time for South Africa to do away with laws that "prohibit the public
and the international community from knowing what is happening in our
[psychiatric] institutions. While the confidentiality of the patients
should be protected, this can be done without prohibition on the
reporting on institutions."
In his meeting at APA in July, Freeman indicated that the Department of
Health has instituted a multifaceted plan to improve conditions in
South Africa's psychiatric hospitals. Among its goals are to move
patients from institutional to community care, pass legislation
guarding the rights of psychiatric patients, improve hospital
management, conduct research on quality of hospital care, and develop
standards for treating patients with severe psychiatric disorders.
Taken from the scientology report
With the fall of apartheid in 1994, CCHR brought the psychiatric camps
to the attention of officials in the new Government of National Unity
with a submission calling for a public inquiry into psychiatry's
apartheid crimes. In 1995, the Minister of Health ordered a government
inquiry to "investigate and report on any malpractices or violation
of human rights in psychiatric hospitals."
Orkeltatte aka Ulf Brettstam
Ulf Brettstam
a member of the alien evil psych invasion force.
The standards of human conduct embodied in such practices represent no
less than the absolute perversion of any known ethical value system.
-US v Kember,Budlong -1981( Operation Snow white participants)p32-34-
Keshet wrote:
> Prior to the demise of apartheid in South Africa, the government
> contracted mental health care to a private corporation, Smith
> Mitchell and Co. SM upheld the principles of the racist regime by
> providing separate facilities for white and non-white patients.
> Non-white facilities frequently became nothing more than
> "warehouses", where patients' health care (both physical and
> mental) was practically non-existent. Patients lacked proper food,
> sanitation, clothing, and shelter. Staff were underpaid and
> inadequately trained, with patients often performing some duties,
> thus saving SM the cost of salaries. In the 1970s, evidence of
> patient mistreatment began to surface and investigations were
> undertaken, which led ultimately to the exposure of the appalling
> conditions in these psychiatric facilities.
>
> For years, I've read CCHR's claims that they were originally
> responsible for the discovery of these conditions and for bringing
> the details to light. For years, I had never come across a mention
> of CCHR when reading the history of South Africa and the Smith
> Mitchell facilities. And for years, I had assumed that this was
> "just another fabrication", like so many before it. Why should I
> (or anyone) beieve them when they lied about teaching 2 million
Fear Not
American Psychiatric Associtation (APA) gets wind of it.
roger gonnet
"Fear Not" <tpl...@msn.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
1123815196....@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> No wrong, they lied.
as usual...
scientology, the church with its second best sacrament: Lie.
The first best sacrament there being the Extreme Punction.
r
>
> Who actually submitted the first report.
>
> The American Psychiatric Association
I love to see that. It would be quite interesting to see how many times the scam
cult did pick into the APA, AMA, WFMH etc reports to pretend later that
scientology had found the evidences!!
r
Keshet
<1123815196....@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>:
> No wrong, they lied.
Yes, of course they did, that is what Scientology does.
> Who actually submitted the first report.
>
> The American Psychiatric Association
>
> Check out the dates!!!
Please do check the dates.
> http://www.psych.org/pnews/97-11-21/africa.html
>
> South Africa Apologizes to APA for Ignoring 1978 Report on Psychiatric
> Care
<snip APA article>
Articles critical of Smith Mitchell (SM) began appearing in
international publications in 1975. The World Health Organization
(WHO) authored a critical report in 1977. In 1978, SM invited the
American Psychiatric Association (APA) to inspect its facilities
in an attempt to divert attention from the abuse accusations
raised in the WHO report.
What started all the international publicity? Scientology (noisy)
investigations and publications in the early-mid *1970s*.
> Taken from the scientology report
>
> With the fall of apartheid in 1994, CCHR brought the psychiatric camps
> to the attention of officials in the new Government of National Unity
> with a submission calling for a public inquiry into psychiatry's
> apartheid crimes. In 1995, the Minister of Health ordered a government
> inquiry to "investigate and report on any malpractices or violation
> of human rights in psychiatric hospitals."
This was just their first opportunity to submit their anti-psych
agenda to the *new* government. They make it sound as if they
brought about an inquiry, but that almost certainly happened quite
independently of any CCHR input.
It may be referring to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(TRC), which was established after the fall of the apartheir regime
to "bear witness to, record and in some cases grant amnesty to the
perpetrators of crimes relating to human rights violations,
reparation and rehabilitation". CCHR representative Paul
Saunderguard gave testimony before TRC's Mental Health Workshop
(20-21 November 1997). I can provide a transcript if you're
interested.