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Unity is asking the oppressed to fight for the privileged.

Solidarity is asking the privileged to fight for the oppressed.

The problem with unity is that fighting for the privileged does not result in privilege for the oppressed, even if they get what they ask for.

This is because the needs of the oppressed (which are sacrificed by the group in order to present a singular, unified front) are not addressed by what is gained.

Solidarity, on the other hand, values the needs and struggles of the whole group and fights for things that will address those needs.

Biden voters say to Bernie voters, "We need to unite the party. You need to join us in voting for Joe Biden."

But how exactly does that address the needs of Bernie voters? Medicare For All? No. A Green New Deal? No. Access to higher education? No. Transformative criminal justice and immigration reform? No.

What we should be doing is asking for solidarity.

I have thousands of dollars of student loan debt. Are you willing to fight for me?

I lost my insurance when I was laid off from my job. Are you willing to fight for me?

Last winter, my city reached -25 degrees. Are you willing to fight for me?

Solidarity doesn't leave anyone behind. Solidarity does not sacrifice those most in need. Solidarity is the hard work of valuing those around you enough to give a damn and do what you can to help.

Biden calls for unity.

Bernie calls for solidarity.

You know why?? Because I’m fucking living with it here in Ireland, and it’s horrific and it’s killing people.

Here’s the thing – if you have a robust, comprehensive, patient-centred, healthcare worker positive PUBLIC single-payer healthcare system that’s free at the point of access, why would you choose to pay money for a private option?

And the answer to that is…

🎺🎺YOU FUCKING WOULDN’T🎺🎺

And as long as private healthcare insurance companies are allowed to scavenge profits off of the misery and illnesses of people, they will use those profits to buy influence in government to create laws and budgets that systematically dismantle and cannibalise the public option into desolation so that paying for private insurance is attractive!!!

And do you know what that looks like? That looks like hospitals getting downgraded from full 24-hour healthcare centres to 12 hour centres, to injury clinics and then closed altogether as services get shifted to one hospital as has happened to Nenagh, St. Johns, and Ennis hospitals, making University Hospital Limerick dangerously overcrowded with ~70 people on trollies in hallways every day with people dying on these trollies because there’s no room to check them into the hospital.

It looks like outsourcing cervical cancer testing to private labs an ocean away for cheap (shout-out to Quest Diagnostics the absolute carrion scum) that return incredibly delayed results (434 tests expired before even being run) during which the cancer has progressed – if they return the correct results at all resulting in 206 women who had developed cervical cancer after having a misdiagnosed CervicalCheck smear test. Of these, 162 had not been told that the initial results were incorrect. 20 of these patients have died. So far.

It looks like doctors taking on mixed payment practises and prioritising private patients over public patients. It looks like a 14-year-old with a broken arm being sent to three different medical centres in three different counties over two days before finally getting her arm set.

This is the result of a “public option” system or a “medicare for those who want it” system. When the private insurance companies are allowed to work alongside the public option, they see every public patient as a potential customer, and in order to compete, they have to work within the government system to promote austerity budgets to the public option so that people choose their product out of desperation.

hey buddy! well I’m very happy we finally managed to drag you into watching the show, feel free to scream to me about it once you start!!! 

the links to watch have been getting deleted lately but here’s what I have:

season 1 

season 2: part 1, part 2

season 3

this link has the first three seasons but in lower quality

season 4, currently airing: this tumblr, and this twitter account usually upload updates shortly after they’re posted. and you can find the texts here.

+ and finally here’s a tutorial in case the videos on gd don’t play