Beatrice Adler-Bolton (Part 1): All Care for All People
In this, the first of a two-part interview, Beatrice Adler-Bolton explains how capitalism shapes what we think of as health. Beatrice is a writer, artist & co-host of Death Panel, a podcast about the political economy of health. She is a co-author, (along with Artie Vierkant) of the recently published Health Communism from Verso Books. In their book, Health Communism, Beatrice and her co-author Artie provide a horizon for the left to orient themselves towards. That horizon is the demand for all care for all people. Building on the work they do over on Death Panel, the podcast they host with Phil Rocco, Jules Gill-Peterson, and Abby Cartus, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants a serious analysis of how capitalism shapes what we think of as health. In part 1 Beatrice explains how health communism provides us with the tools to critique the National Health Service from the left. Specifically, we discuss the the long history of healthcare being used as a way to discipline and punish the working class and why we shouldn’t be afraid to demand more from the NHS despite the establishments enforced austerity. In the second part of this interview, which will be publishing next week (Jan17,) we talk about the Socialist Patients Collective (or SPK for short), to whom Health Communism is dedicated. SPK were a group of patients that came together in post war Germany to produce one of the most valuable critiques of capitalism and health in the 20th century. They were subsequently repressed by the state and pushed into obscurity. Make sure to subscribe to hear why their work remains essential.