The Forum of Psychoanalysts in Belgium, part of the Cause freudienne, has organised a petition against a new legislative proposal in the country put forward by Maggie De Block, Belgian Minister of Social Affairs and Public Health. The bill aims to bring uniformity to the psy- field, but with the effect of ignoring the enormous difference in clinical and theoretical orientations, depriving those seeking help of choice and variety, and leading – it is feared – to the exclusive promotion of only certain practices in the mental health sphere. This latest proposal follows similar attempts in Britain and France over recent years, where the governments of the day have attempted to effectively render illegal certain forms of psychoanalytic practice. However in Belgium this debate is even more recent: this proposed new bill would overturn an act passed only in 2014 which recognised the distinctiveness of different talking therapies and the complexity of the psy- field. Prominent Belgian Lacanians have weighed into the debate generated around the proposal. Brussels analyst Gil Caroz gave an interview to Lacan Quotidien on the subject last month, and wrote a response to a recent interview by the President of the Belgian Federation of Psychologists, which can be read (in French) here. Similarly, Yves Vanderveken, President of the NLS, contributed this piece on the fundamental revision of laws governing psychotherapeutic practice that the bill would constitute. A number of Belgian Lacanian and non-Lacanian organisations have already signed the petition, which at time of writing has over 6,000 signatories. View the statement and sign the petition here.

The NLS Congress on Discreet Signs in Ordinary Psychoses took place in Dublin at the start of July, but you can already find some of the addresses on Radio Lacan. These include the congress’s opening presentations by Florencia F.C. Shanahan and Yves Vanderveken. Spanish speakers may also be interested in interviews conducted with some of the attendees here. Keep an eye on the Congress’s site and Facebook page as well for further updates, where you can also find preparatory material leading to the Congress. An archive of material from previous years’ Congresses can be found here.

NYFLAG, the New York Freud Lacan Analytic Group, has published its schedule of public seminars for July. The programme alternates between reading seminars and clinical seminars, and this month features ‘Echoes from Dublin – Ordinary Psychosis’ with John Burton Wallace V & Maria Cristina Aguirre, a clinical seminar on obsessional neurosis, and a session on Jacques-Alain Miller’s ‘Spare Parts’ from L’orientation lacanienne III. (You can read an extract from ‘Spare Parts’, concerning the difference between the symptom and the sinthome, here). Meetings are free and open to all. Additionally, the group’s blog has a report on Dr Ruth Gorenberg’s talk there from May on ‘’The Body at the End of Analysis: The Voice’.

The Freud Museum London has announced a major conference to celebrate the 160th anniversary of Freud’s birth, and the Freud Museum’s 30th anniversary. Running Friday 23rd-Sunday 25th September, the conference programme features contributions from several major Lacanian names including Bruce Fink and Darian Leader. Early bird tickets are now available here until 15th July.

Interviews with some of the participants in April’s 10th WAP conference in Rio were published last month on the NLS’s site. Dominique Holvoet and François Ansermet discuss its theme, ‘The Speaking Body – On the Unconscious in the 21st Century’. Meanwhile, the text of Jacques-Alain Miller’s address at the conference – Habeas corpus – is now available here.

LCExpress, the online journal of Lacanian Compass, published issue 3 of volume 3 in June. It features a contribution from Marie-Hélène Brousse entitled ‘OH MY GOD(S)!: Religions: Laughing Under Control or Nothing Funny Here’, on psychoanalysis and religious discourse, adapted from her talk delivered in April 2015 at the Culture & Psychoanalysis Seminar held in New York. Read it here.

The London Society of the New Lacanian School will be concluding its seminar series ‘9 Lacanian Lessons’ on Tuesday 12th July with Bogdan Wolf’s presentation on ‘The Logic of Love and of Sexuation’. Tickets are £10 in advance and can be booked from the London Society’s site, or £15 on the door.

Lacan School, the San Francisco Bay Area Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis, has announced a workshop on Lacan’s notoriously difficult L’Étourdit for 25th March 2017. The workshop will conduct a close reading of the text with Marcus Coelen, Patricia Gherovici, Jamieson Webster, Fernando Castrillón, Benjamin Davidson and Raul Moncayo. Details and tickets are available here.

A reminder that Lacan Salon’s 14th APW Conference, ‘On Love’, will take place 30th July-1st August. Veronique Voruz and Anne Dufourmantelle will be the keynote speakers at the event which takes place in Vancouver, Canada. The Lacan Salon site has details of how to register, accommodation, the conference programme, and satellite events.

A new edition of Lacanian Ink – Porno – was published last month. The journal of Lacan.com includes articles by Jacques-Alain Miller, Miquel Bassols, and Francois Regnault among others.

In France, the 46th Journées of the ECF have been announced for 5th and 6th November in Paris under the title L’objet Regard. In the meantime, a call for contributions has gone out for clinical submissions on the theme of the gaze. More information is on the event’s site and Facebook page.

For French speakers, the 34th edition of the journal MENTAL, Revue Internationale de Psychanalyse, was published in June with the subject Identités en Crise [Identities in Crisis]. It is available at the ECF’s shop here.

Finally, Karnac Books, the specialist psychoanalytical bookstore, is offering an extra 10% off all Karnac titles for orders placed before midnight (UK time) on Sunday 10th July. Enter code Ten4Ten4Ten in the discount code box at checkout to get the additional discount. Worldwide postage is also free.

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