Wednesday 8/7 /2019
PsySR suite; 5:00 PM Welcome to the members and friends of PsySR. Come for reconnection, discussion, and award presentations.The Anthony J. Marsella Prize for the Psychology of Peace and Social Justice will be presented to two winners this year. This year the Andreina Blua award was given to three people who provided assistance to refugees in Greece. Dr. Judy Roth will introduce the award and share the stories.

Thursday 8/8/19: APA 10:00 – 11:50AM 

Alice LoCicero; Surveillance, Junk Science, and Islamophobia—Deconstructing Countering Violent Extremism Programs McCormick Place Room W191

PsySR Suite: 10:30AM – 12:00PM : Steering Committee meeting; PsySR members welcome APA 1:00 – 1:50 pm Daniela Kantorova Maya Florsheim, Kelsey Shogren, Eliot Tang-Smith, and Virginia Borges. Poster Presentation; “Structural Competency: Collaborative Learning About Impacts of Mass Incarceration” McCormick Place, Hall F

APA: 02:00 PM – 02:50 PM:  Stephen Soldz Dan Aalbers Philip Cushman Symposium; On the Participation of Psychologists in the “Enhanced Interrogation” Torture Program; CIA Office of Medical Services, Ethics, and Torture McCormick Place Room W475a

PsySR Suite: 4:00- 6 PM: Necessity; Oil Water and Climate Resistance “Necessity” traces the fight in Minnesota against the expansion of pipelines carrying toxic tar sands oil through North America. Indigenous activists and non-indigenous allies make use of the necessity defense in making a moral case for acts of civil disobedience. Many of these activists were part of the Standing Rock [awakening and] resistance in North Dakota. “The film calls into question whether legal strategies are sufficient in responding to the scale of the global climate crisis.” By Film Independent, and Directed by Jan Haakin.

Discussion led by Mary Pelton Cooper and Mark Kane.
You are welcome to join us for grief-sharing, story-telling, and information sharing about water protection movements.

PsySR Suite; evening social time 

Friday 8/9/2019

On this day in 1945 the U.S. bombed Nagasaki, in Southern Japan; Please take a moment to honor the lives lost and the work of anti-nuclear groups.

APA: 9:00 AM – 10:50 AM: Alice LoCicero, Mary Pelton-Cooper, Jessica N.Wofford, Symposium Session ID: 677: Solidarity in Protecting the Earth (and Ourselves) Against Government/Corporate Violence; McCormick Place Room W187a

PsySR suite: 9:30 AM –12:00:  Racial Justice Action Group gathering. Anyone can join, Hana Masud is the Suite Host

PsySR Suite: 1:00 – 4:00 PM:  The PsySR Suite presentation for Friday afternoon is a screening of Double Bound: The Dual Loyalty Dilemmas of Prison Health Professionals made by Martha Davis, Ian Hansen and Alice LoCicero. Alice LoCicero, PhD will lead a discussion on the issues and implications for activism that it raises.  Double Bound presents examples of very difficult conflicts between ones ethical obligations and the security and disciplinary procedures of prison authorities.  After reviewing how traditional ethics codes offer little guidance for resolving such conflicts, more specialized guidelines are reviewed. A comparison of their strengths and limitations clarifies what prison health professionals need in order to protect prisoners and provide good care.  There is growing prison reform movement today and the film shows how it must include strong supports for prison health professionals such as whistleblower protections and the active backing of their health professional associations.

Part II : Organizational psychologist Dutch Franz, PhD will join us to discuss the environmental factors and structure of military/intelligence operational settings. Dutch served in the Iraq War as an army Special Forces commander, where he interacted with CIA teams. There will also be discussion of how superior agenda-driven behavior during the PENS period could influence and control APA functions for a critical period, with the help of aligned stakeholders networked within APA and externally. The PENS saga presents a cautionary tale for the APA and all professional associations. 

APA: 04:00 PM – 05:50 PM:  Stephen Soldz, Dan Aalbers Monisha Symposium: Veterans and Activists Speak Out on Warfare, Interrogations, and Torture—A Mini-History of PSYOPS, the APA, and the Hoffman Report. Location: McCormick Place Room W185bc

Div48 Suite: Evening: Peace Psychology social hour with Div 27 and PsySR

Saturday 8/10/19
PsySR suite: 10:00-12:00 noon; Suite host, Daniela Kantorova; Addressing Torture on US Soil: Ending Mass Incarceration and Solitary Confinement.Psychologists and mental health professionals have a unique role to play when addressing the issue of mass incarceration in the United States. US prisons and jails have become substitute for mental hospitals. Some have indicated that mass incarceration breeds conditions for torture and has effectively become a public health issue. How can we address these human rights violations and build movement within our field? Please come brainstorm with us. 

APA 11:00 – 11:50:  Serdar Degirmencioglu; Div 48 Presidential Address : My Mind Has Been Under Occupation – Tales of Engaged Scholarship in Turbulent Times. McCormick Place Room W187a

PsySR suite: 1:00-4:00 PM  Co-sponsored with Division 48What happened after 9/11? Emerging Solidarities after Urban Violence, Destruction, and Trauma We will focus on solidarities that emerged in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City. We analyze the fraught and complex process of recovery after this mass emergency and disaster. Taking 17 years afterward as our timeframe – an extended period rarely studied historically or psychologically – we examine human, structural and environmental challenges attentive to solidarities in: the emergence and experience of Islamophobia; health challenges from toxic exposure after the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers’ collapse; and the process of developing memorial places. These talks offer insight into the emergence, experience, and role of solidarities as individuals and collectives at all levels (e.g., neighborhood and professional groups, agencies at local and federal levels, etc.) grappled with recovery after collective trauma.Patrick Sweeney, PhD Candidate. The ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Controversy: Solidarity and Inclusion in the Face of Islamophobia, Cristina Onea, PhD Student. Collaborative Mobilization for Health in Response to 9/11, Brian Davis, PhD. Solidarity in the Wake of Shared Trauma: Memorial Space Planning in Hiroshima and New York CitySusan Opotow, PhD. The Extended Aftermath of 9/11 in New York City: Lessons for the Future , Ronna Milo Haglili, M.A., PsyD candidate. “The Intersectionality of Trauma and Social Activism – a qualitative study.This talk will explore the potential links between social action and trauma by considering the meanings social activists have made out of these domains of experiences. It closely examines the individual journeys toward having a positive social impact and creating social change in the face of trauma. The mutual influences of social action and trauma reveal the intricate ways in which social action has facilitated personal healing and transformation of trauma. Grappling to find a fine line that balances contrasting needs and passions, the talk will also speak to the risks of re-traumatization and emotional pain, manifested in activists’ burnout and other difficult psychological states.

APA: 4:00 – 5:50PM:  Jack O’Brien Co-Chair From Aspirational to Actionable: Changing APA Ethical Practices in the Post Hoffman Report Era Stephen Soldz: Weaponizing Ethics. Location McCormick Place Room W471a

Sunday: Check Out