Declaration of the Freedom of Mind

This statement originated from a meeting with citizen organizers in New York City on President’s Day, February 17, 2020, when we noted a public not lacking in resources or will but gripped with disappointment, demoralization, and despair at a government’s unconcern for its citizens. Its failure to grasp a problem of mental health had resulted in its failure even of a political process (impeachment and removal), and the psychological oppression of a populace was proving to be the most pernicious form of oppression of all. The phenomenon of oppression is no different from what our Founders experienced at the time of the Revolutionary War, but our understanding of it needs updating, taking into account the psychological weapons that have developed over the centuries and the psychological warfare that is now being waged. To help protect the most sacred right to freedom of mind, along with the nurturance and societal support that make it possible, we offer a tool for citizen groups to identify correctly and target precisely the problem, by drafting the following.

We at the World Mental Health Coalition believe that freedom of mind is a basic human right. It is at the core of all other freedoms and is fundamental to a working democracy. It is a primary sign of a healthy society, without which all rational systems break down. It is a right that is derived from the Declaration of the Rights of Man (1789) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). We declare that the ignorance, neglect, or contempt of the human right to freedom of mind are the principal cause and product…