
Health Communism
A Surplus Manifesto
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Narrated by:
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Sarah Welborn
About this listen
A searing analysis of health and illness under capitalism from hosts of the hit podcast Death Panel
Written by cohosts of the hit Death Panel podcast and longtime disability justice and healthcare activists Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie, Health Communism first examines how capital has instrumentalized health, disability, madness, and illness to create a class seen as "surplus," regarded as a fiscal and social burden. Demarcating the healthy from the surplus, the worker from the "unfit" to work, the authors argue, serves not only to undermine solidarity but to mark whole populations for extraction by the industries that have emerged to manage and contain this "surplus" population. Health Communism then looks to the grave threat capital poses to global public health, and at the rare movements around the world that have successfully challenged the extractive economy of health.
Ultimately, Adler-Bolton and Vierkant argue, we will not succeed in defeating capitalism until we sever health from capital. To do this will require a radical new politics of solidarity that centers the surplus, built on an understanding that we must not base the value of human life on one's willingness or ability to be productive within the current political economy. Capital, it turns out, only fears health.
©2022 Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant (P)2022 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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In this powerful call to action, New York Times bestselling author Mariame Kaba and attorney and organizer Andrea J. Ritchie detail why policing doesn't stop violence, instead perpetuating widespread harm; outline the many failures of contemporary police reforms; and explore demands to defund police, divest from policing, and invest in community resources to create greater safety through a Black feminist lens. No More Police makes a compelling case for a world where the tools required to prevent, interrupt, and transform violence in all its forms are abundant.
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The uprising of 2020 marked a new phase in the unfolding Movement for Black Lives. The brutal killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, and countless other injustices large and small, were the match that lit the spark of the largest protest movement in US history, a historic uprising against racism and the politics of disposability that the Covid-19 pandemic lays bare. In this urgent and incisive collection of new interviews bookended by two new essays, Marc Lamont Hill critically examines the “pre-existing conditions” that have led us to this moment.
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Timely and straight to the point
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What listeners say about Health Communism
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- AJ
- 01-15-25
incisive, foundational ideas for understanding capitalism and fighting back
i have seen no one else articulate this level of mind-expanding revolutionary thought. combining disability justice, anti-capitalist class consciousness, and a deep respect for the reader; this text is deeply under-appreciated and should be lauded as outlining our only way forward in a world which continues to abandon us while extracting profit from our very existence. the reversal of burden to identify capital as the parasite on our disabled and debilitated bodies is a spring of fresh water in a world where victim-blaming and DARVO routinely occur on a global scale. a fantastic text.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-29-23
Excellent
The dive in the American pharmaceutical industry was wild. The entire book was tremendously eye opening
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- Matthew Stooksbury
- 11-10-23
Captivating
I gave 5 stars on all categories as I feel this book gives a compelling but logical thesis and verifies the claims with well sourced and research documentation. I would recommend this book to any healthcare professional who needs to be reminded of their Doctoral Oaths.
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- Anonymous User
- 09-23-23
Important
One of the most important and meaningful books I’ve read in years. I know audible is a capitalism project but at least you can read this sorta thing on here.
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