Red Medicine

In this episode James Wilt explains how alcohol corporations have caused and profited from a health crisis relating to drinking. He explains how capitalist accumulation and expansion has caused a health crisis that disproportionally effects working class, racialized and colonized communities internationally. We also discuss how the left need to balance the complex harms caused by the corporate alcohol industry with people’s real desire for collective pleasure. James Wilt is a freelance journalist, PhD student, and the author of two books, firstly Do Androids Dream of Electric Cars? Public Transit in the Age of Google, Uber, and Elon Musk published in 2020. And more recently Drinking Up the Revolution: How to Smash Big Alcohol and Reclaim Working-Class Joy which was published by Repeater Books in the summer of last year. Twitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.xyzSoundtrack by Mark Pilkington SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Founded by friend of the show, Hannah Zeavin, Parapraxis is a new magazine about psychoanalysis with a commitment to uncovering the psychosocial dimensions of life. In this conversation Alex Colston and M.E. O'Brien discuss what it means to think psychoanalytically about politics and politically about psychoanalysis. As well as their experiences of putting together the magazine.  M. E. O’Brien writes and speaks on gender freedom and capitalism. She has two books: a co-authored speculative novel, Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072, published with Common Notions in 2022 and Family Abolition: Capitalism and the Communizing of Care which is forthcoming from Pluto Books June of this year. She is one of the Associate Editors of Parapraxis magazine.Alex Colston is a PhD student in clinical psychology at doo kayn University, as well as a writer, and editor. He is the deputy editor of Parapraxis and codirector of the Psychosocial Foundation. Twitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.xyzSoundtrack by Mark Pilkingtonwww.parapraxismagazine.com/ SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Lara Sheehi and Stephen Sheehi discuss what it means to practice psychoanalysis in Palestine under constant attack from the settler colonial project of the Israeli state. They explain how Palestinian clinicians see their role in the liberation struggle and what their work teach us about the relationship between the psychic and the political. Soundtrack by Mark Pilkington www.redmedicine.xyz SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

In the second in a two-part interview with Beatrice Adler-Bolton, she discusses the work and legacy of the Socialist Patients Collective. 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.www.redmedicine.xyzTwitter: @Red_Medicine__Soundtrack by Mark Pilkington  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

In this, the first of a two-part interview, Beatrice Adler-Bolton explains how capitalism shapes what we think of as health. 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.  www.redmedicine.xyzTwitter: @Red_Medicine__Soundtrack by Mark Pilkington  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Chelsea A Jackson is an academic, activist and member of Cradle Community which is a collective of organizers committed to radical education and building understanding of prison abolition and transformative justice. Last year the collective published their first book with Hajar Press. Titled Brick by Brick, the book provides an introduction to abolitionist theory and a manifesto for those of us who want to build a society free from prisons and police.In this episode we discuss abolitionism and what an abolitionist critique entails in relationship to how we think about healthcare. Chelsea explains how prisons and police shape healthcare provisions in the UK, how austerity has made access to healthcare more predatory and dangerous, and the importance of mutual aid as a tool for building a better system.Subscribe to the podcast on Twitter at @red_medicine__Sign up to the newsletter at www.redmedicine.xyz/supplementAnd donate to keep the podcast going at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicine SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

In this episode Dr Rita Issa discusses the forthcoming strikes in the NHS. She explains the ongoing pressures faced by healthcare workers including austerity, privatization and poor working conditions and pay. Rita also explains how the COVID-19 pandemic has made all of these things worse and how workers are organizing ahead of unprecedented strike action in an attempt to turn things around for the benefit of workers and patients.  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Sophie Lewis explains how the family shapes care in capitalist societies and what health might look like in a society that is no longer structured around the institution of the family. Drawing on the works of Marx, Alexandra Kollontai, Charles Fourier and the gay liberationists, she presents us with a radically different approach to healing and care.Sophie is a freelance writer living in Philadelphia and the author of Full Surrogacy Now and Abolish the Family, both published by Verso Books. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Harper’s, Boston Review, n+1, the London Review of Books and Salvage.www.redmedicine.xyz @red_medicine__  SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

Joe Glenton reflects on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu’s complex and intimate relationship with various currents of right-wing politics.He explores the dominant cultures within BJJ including the prevalence of reactionary conspiracy theories and how Brazilian fascism continues to shape the upper echelons of the sport. We also discuss Comunidade Jiu Jitsu, an invitation only gym founded to create a welcoming and inclusive space built on commitments to anti-racism, LGBTQ+ inclusion and gender equality.Joe is a journalist, film-maker and award-winning writer. He is the author of Veteranhood, which was published by Repeater books in 2021, a book about the political world of veterans and militarism in Britain. Joe is a veteran turned conscientious objector and anti-war campaigner who served in Afghanistan before going AWOL and using the ensuing legal case to mount a critique of The War on Terror and British Imperialism.www.redmedicine.xyz@red_medicine__ SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/

In this episode James Schneider outlines a strategy for the left in Britain drawing on his new book OUR BLOC: How We Win. He argues that the left must organize an alliance of socialists in Parliament, the Labour grassroots, the trade unions and social movements.Specifically, Schneider reflects on the severity of our current crisis, the tentative confidence of the British left and why demands around health and care are central to a 21st century socialist project.James Schneider co-founded Momentum in 2015 and went on to serve as Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesperson and Head of Strategic Communications. He is Communications Director for Progressive International and a regular voice in the UK media. SUPPORT: www.buymeacoffee.com/redmedicineSoundtrack by Mark PilkingtonTwitter: @red_medicine__www.redmedicine.substack.com/