Fibromyalgia Action Day

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Category: General

Created on Wednesday, 18 February 2009 20:59

Published on Wednesday, 18 February 2009 20:46

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We have been asked to contribute to a day of action organised by the European Network of Fibromyalgia Associations (ENFA).  The information below gives some idea of the action planned on 7th March.  We have been asked to provide at least an hour's demonstration in London.  If any of you feel that you would like to contribute please let us know.  We have applied to hold the demonstration at Parliament Square and wait confirmation of this.  We are hoping for about 20 people and the demonstration will only be for an hour, with a half hour set up time beforehand. If you can bring a fold up chair you can do it sitting down and if we get enough people we can arrange a shift system.  We realise this is short notice but we have given as much notice as possible once we had all the information needed. 

The aim is to keep fibromyalgia in the public eye and provide the media with an activity that means they are likely to print our story.  Even politicians and medical professionals read newspapers and watch tv.

Please contact Pam Stewart for any questions or if you are able to help.

Below is some information from ENFA about how the demonstrations should proceed. More information can be found about ENFA and the Action Day on the enfa website. 

Prior to the Demonstration

• Early in the day ENFA- BRUSSELS will contact and remind reports, which had agreed to attend, the time and location of the demonstration.

• On the day of the demonstration all participants of each group should make sure to be at the location of the demonstration one hour ahead of time. Remember we want this action day to occur simultaneously so timing is critical.

• If a group is facing delays please contact ENFA-BRUSSELS. In the highly unlikely event that occurs we would have to attempt to postpone everybody else’s demonstration till the specific group is ready. This of course would be worse case scenario and very hard to achieve.  Thus it would be a good idea that each group meets up ahead of time and together head for the demonstration location.

• 10 minutes prior to the designated time of the demonstrations a designated member from each demonstration group will receive a call from ENFA-BRUSSELS so as to verify everything will be going as schedule and to proceed as planned.

Demonstration

• We have decided to go with the simple theme to attract attention. A group of volunteers will stand closely together and wrap a big net around them. Additionally all or most of the volunteers should be holding posters.  The posters should have a simple slogan on it which will state: “Trapped in Pain”. (Wearing similar outfits is not compulsory)

• Additionally, if possible, a separate volunteer should be near by passing out flyers. The flyers should include the following text: Please view page 4.  On the flyers please make sure that our website, email, and Facebook address is depicted clearly.  It would be a good idea for those passing out the flyers to politely remind those interested in the flyer that they can be better informed by contacting our sites.
• We are going to attempt to invite journalists to cover our demonstrations. With or without a journalist a member from the demonstration should have a camera to take pictures, so that we can have a personal archive of the event, which we will later on post online.

• The demonstration should not take longer than one hour. If the demonstrations are held in busy locations that amount of time should grab substantial attention.

Additionally demonstrators that will be wrapped with the net should be briefed on what to say when approached by the public.  I recommend that they have a clear 3 to 4 sentence to remember and then refer the public to the demonstrator passing out the flyers for more detailed information.

Other Demonstrations being held.

Country	City	Location	Time /local time
Belgium	Brussels	Rue de Arts	16: 00
Germany	Berlin		16: 00
Sweden	Stockholm		16: 00
Spain	Madrid		16: 00
United Kingdom	London		15: 00
Italy	Rome		16: 00
Netherlands	Amsterdam		16: 00
France	Paris	Champs-Elysées	16: 00
Portugal	Lisbon		15: 00
Israel	Tel Aviv		17: 00 (Friday)
Denmark	Copenhagen		16: 00