JISCMail - COMMUNITYPSYCHUK Archives

Dear UK CP list members,

Our Turkish colleague, Serdar Degirmencioglu has circulated the following appeal via several distribution lists. See below.

I have sent a letter of support myself drawing attention to the ECPA statement and I have pasted that into this message below the coalition letter in case it is useful to anyone.

Serdar would appreciate other letters of support.

This appeal underlines the importance of community psychologists in the UK having a collective voice as, if we had so, we could issue a collective statement of support and emphasisies the importance of Paul's and Carl's Edinburgh conference initiative to move towards a collective voice for UK CP?

From: [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Serdar M. Degirmencioglu [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 05 September 2008 08:42
To: ENCP yahoogroup
Subject: [ENCP] Say no to APA's position on torture - an appeal for support

Dear colleagues;

The head of the APA Ethics Office, Stephen Behnke is in Turkey and we are protesting his visit and his workshop on ethics. Some in the Turkish Psychological Association here consider him an expert on ethics. We consider him an ardent supporter and producer of the APA's shameful position on torture. The protest is initiated by myself and any support would be helpful.

Attached is a letter of support from the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology in USA - drafted upon my request.

Please consider sending a short message or letter of support.

Thanks from now!

Serdar

Serdar M. Degirmencioglu, Ph.D.

Member, Executive Committee, International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development (ISSBD)

Member, Executive Committee, European Community Psychology Association (ECPA)

Secretary, European Sociological Association Youth & Generation Research Network
Chair, International Committee, Society for Community Research & Action (SCRA)

Dear Serdar,

thank you for taking this important stand on this visit to Europe. I have written to you and am sending copies to Kazdin, Anderson and Wilson. In case it is of interest to others on this list, here is what I wrote:

Psychology Department

University of Stirling

Stirling FK9 4LA Scotland

Telephone: +44 (0) 1786 467650

Facsimile: +44 (0) 1786 467641

[log in to unmask]

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Professor Serdar Degirmencioglu

Executive Committee Member

European Community Psychology Association

Dear Serdar,

I understand that a senior spokesperson on ethics for the American Psychological Association, Stephen Behnke, is in Turkey and will be running a workshop on ethics and that you and colleagues are protesting at this visit.

I am writing to you in your role as a highly valued Turkish member of the Executive of the European Community Psychology Association, of which I am currently President Elect, to offer you my personal support in protesting this visit to Europe from someone representing an organisation which is certainly not in a position to run a workshop on ethics.

As you will recall those present at the final plenary session of the International Seminar ("Integrating new migrants in the New Europe: A Challenge for Community Psychology") held in Seville, Spain 19-21 September 2007 unanimously voted to send a message of support from the meeting to Australian colleagues and all those condemning the involvement of psychologists in the practice of torture. I thank Turkish colleagues for doing so.

As colleagues representing the Coalition for an Ethical Psychology have made clear, the policies of the APA in relation to the involvement of psychologists in torture are disingenuous and dishonest and the American Psychological Association has not yet taken any position unambiguously critical of the policies of the US government’s systematic program of abuse and torture.

I wish you and colleagues in Turkey well in taking this important principled stand against the appalling involvement of psychologists in the practice of torture.

Yours sincerely,

David Fryer B.A. M.A. Ph.D. C.Psychol. F.B.Ps.S. F.S.C.R.A.

President Elect: European Community Psychology Association

__._,_.___

From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Newnes [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 04 September 2008 22:59
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: urgent CPUK press release

Is this a joke? Who on earth are "the poor". Enough is enough. Please take me off the list

Craig

----- Original Message -----

From: [log in to unmask]" href="mailto:Paul@home"> Paul@home

To: [log in to unmask]" href="mailto:[log in to unmask]"> [log in to unmask]

Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 9:31 PM

Subject: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] urgent CPUK press release

Dear CPUK list

Some established CPUK list members and I met recently to discuss what action the network needs to take in relation to the crisis in the housing market. Though our views were divergent, our meeting was amicable and we were able to reach consensus through including all of our views on the subject in the following statement which we intend to issue as a statement to the press tomorrow:

"We, as a network of community psychologists, support the criticism made by the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's suspension of the Stamp Duty for properties under £150,000. We believe the poor should not be encouraged to buy properties at a time of such economic uncertainty and should instead be encouraged to rent property from housing associations. Further, we believe all property is theft and that the Chancellor's decision to stimulate the property market makes him an accessory to a social crime and makes estate agents entrepreneurial pimps (though we in no way condone the recent job cuts in the sector). As a network of community psychologists, community activists and users of psychological services we encourage the government to make greater use of public-private enterprise initiatives in the housing sector to ensure the poor have increased opportunities for housing as such opportunities will provide the poor with pathways to full citizenship through legitimate economic activity in their respective communities and this will help regenerate those areas where the underprivileged and criminally minded live." (Press statement released on behalf of the UK Community Psychology Network, Sept 3rd 2008)"

Given the urgency of the issue, we intend to release the statement to the press tomorrow morning unless a significant number of list members raise substantial enough objections to us doing so.We are sending this statement because we wish to show stoicism in the face of the current economic crisis and hope that this will maintain our focus at the CPUK conference in Edinburgh on issues of import.

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___________________________________ COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator Rebekah Pratt on [log in to unmask] or Grant Jeffrey on [log in to unmask]

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