Anarchism in Action
Intersections, Vol. 1, Issue 5
By Brooke Stepp
On May 21st, the Olympia branch of Common Action hosted a forum on health care with the hopes of someday establishing a free or affordable medical clinic in the downtown Olympia area. This forum came at a much needed time when the only other free clinic in the area, the Neighborhood Free Medical Clinic in Lacey, had shut its doors, and other clinics that serve low-income populations had so many patients that they were forced to turn people away.
The economic crisis and the trajectory of global capitalism in the last 40 years has affected access to health care. Traditionally, many people in the United States had health insurance coverage through their employers. However, with the changing economy of the post-WWII era as well as the exporting of manufacturing jobs overseas, this has become less and less true. The economic crisis has affected even the middle class, which previously survived booms and busts of the business cycle. As it deepens, more and more Americans lack jobs and health insurance.
Fundamentally, we believe that everyone has the right to affordable and accessible health care, and the knowledge it takes to prevent illness and disease. However, the economic events of the last year and the failed promises of politicians including Barack Obama have shown us that in order to make this a reality, we need to come together as a community, and do it ourselves from the bottom up. Because of this need, a group has been working toward developing a vision for a free clinic in Olympia. The project is an example of creating the world we want to see in the here and now: a world based on cooperation, mutual aid, solidarity, and direct democracy.
To make this a reality, we must create spaces for people to meet their needs for health, safety, and a sense of belonging and empowerment. We will need to focus on health at every level, from the individual to the societal level. To achieve a healthy world, we must also heal ourselves and our communities, and we must challenge corporate and state power over our lives.
From its inception, the free clinic project has been an exercise in grassroots and direct democracy, uniting diverse groups of people from
throughout the Olympia community. As the project evolves and grows, Common Action members will continue to be involved and push for a clinic that not only meets immediate needs, but also helps people to empower themselves and others.
What is the Common Action vision for the clinic? First and foremost, the clinic must be accessible to all members of our community. This means that it must have evening and weekend hours for people balancing the demands of work and family. The clinic must also be accessible to marginalized groups such as the houseless, women, people of color and those who identify as LGBTQQ.
Oftentimes, the allopathic medical paradigm disempowers people and separates us from our bodies, giving us the idea that only highly trained
and educated professionals know how to treat our ailments. This paradigm has disproportionately affected marginalized groups. Two examples are forced sterilization and a refusal to treat transgendered folks among many practicioners.
Therefore we must recognize the value of allopathic medicine, but we must also move beyond its limitations, and give people the knowledge to listen to their bodies and prevent future disease and illness. There is talk of nutritional workshops and counseling, a lending library, and a community garden as approaches to broadening the scope of services beyond traditional allopathy.
Also, if we want the clinic to be a truly democratic institution, there must be widespread community involvement and support in the project with an emphasis on building connections between existing community institutions and groups. Furthermore, those who use the clinic must have a stake in decision-making. In the traditional hierarchical non-profit structure, educated professionals determine services and people in need passively receive them. However, Common Action wants people who use the clinic to be active members of this project who have a say in what happens at the clinic.
One way of doing that is to encourage clinic users to volunteer as "payment" for their treatment. Volunteering could include many different activities such as doing street outreach, speaking about the clinic at a church or community group, doing paperwork, sending out mailings, answering phones, or cleaning up at the clinic. This type of work would help people to feel like they are fundamentally part of the day-to-day operations of the clinic and that they have a stake in its existence beyond their own individual needs.
Furthermore, it is evidence that when we come together, we can find real and lasting solutions to our problems that work better than those imposed from the top by politicians, bosses or corporations. In an era when we have seen an upsurge in faith in these top-down solutions with the promise of "real change" from Obama and his supporters, projects like the Olympia free clinic are particularly powerful in demonstrating the importance and necessity of collective action.
To get involved, or to learn more, contact olyfreehealthcare@riseup.net.
