This week, Roqayah and Kumars are joined by two members of the NYC Democratic Socialists of America Street Medics, pathology resident Tatyana Zinger and Jacob Clary, an EMT, pre-med student studying structural epidemiology, and program director of the Street Medics’ Opioid Overdose Prevention Program (OOPP). After sharing how they got involved in left politics, Tatyana and Jacob outline the origin and primary functions of the NYC DSA Street Medics, including conducting trainings, first aid and logistical support at protests, and projects in the works like mental health directories for marginalized people. Jacob discusses the Opioid Overdose Prevention Program's distribution of Naloxone, an antidote to opioid overdose that routinely saves the lives heroin addicts. The crew also talks about the history of street medics in radical movements and the NYC DSA Street Medics’ own philosophy as an organization. Finally, we discuss the possibility of scaling up this type of organizing to create permanent health care infrastructure that can give communities real autonomy where government policies fail.

Follow Tatyana on Twitter @sweetbabyruski and Jacob @dirtycollar. You can also follow NYC DSA Street Medics @nycdsamedics and request support at your upcoming action here.

A transcript for this episode will be provided upon request. Please send an email to deleteuracct @ gmail to get a copy sent to you when it is completed.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars welcome back Jessica Raven. Jessica is a mother, community organizer, and Executive Director of Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS), a DC-based grassroots organization working to build safer public spaces using community-based, non-criminal solutions. In this role, she has lead the growth of the Safe Bar Collective, which works to end harassment and discrimination in nightlife.

Jessica joins us to discuss her recent impromptu campaign to become president of her Parent Teacher Association (PTA). She was inspired to run after the then-unopposed PTA presidential candidate, a producer for Fox News, tweeted favorably about Brett Kavanaugh following Senate testimony where he attempted to refute multiple sexual assault allegations. Jessica describes what motivated her to run, and how a viral tweet turned into national coverage of a hyper-local PTA race and nationwide support for her run. We discuss how race and class intersect within Jessica's PTA as well as countless other organizing spaces, with gentrification leading to an influx of wealthier white parents which now dominate the leadership of a PTA made mostly of poor parents of color. We discuss the potential of local organizing in the context of the PTA, including how a radical candidate like Jessica could implement more equitable representation, and bring about better conditions for teachers, parents, and students. Jessica discusses the type of hostile pushback she received after announcing her PTA run and how her opponent relied on solidarity from other fellow white women to help her coast toward victory. Finally, we hear Jessica's thoughts on why it is necessary for everyone to engage in local community politics, and the value of the fight itself even when the odds are stacked against us.

You can follow Jessica on twitter @thejessicaraven.

A transcript for this episode will be provided upon request. Please send an email to deleteuracct @ gmail to get a copy sent to you when it is completed.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!

This week, Roqayah and Kumars discuss one of the ways that people are fighting the rising costs of insulin. The cast is joined by Anthony DiFranco and Yann Huon de Kermadec, of the Open Insulin Project which is developing a cheap, easy, and open-source protocol for insulin production. Anthony, founder of the Open Insulin Project and boardmember of Counter Culture Labs in the Bay Area, explains how deeply the American healthcare apparatus has failed people, and describes his own experience living with Type-1 Diabetes. Yann, a French protein biochemist working on the project, gives listeners the scientific background necessary to understand the basics of what insulin is, and why their project is so important for diabetics and their families around the world.

We talk about horrific cases of people dying while being forced to crowdfund for their supplies and trying to make their insulin last, and how the pharmaceutical industry has taken a life-saving drug—with a patent sold for $1 in 1923—and turned it into a oligopoly dominated by three companies (Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Sanofi) that charges patients hundreds of dollars for what they literally cannot survive without. We discuss the possibilities and limitations of open-source, crowd-funded citizen science for addressing the global healthcare crisis, and give ways for people to get involved in the fight for open-source insulin.

You can follow the project on twitter at @OpenInsulin. You can also read more about the initiative on their website.

A transcript for this episode will be provided upon request. Please send an email to deleteuracct @ gmail to get a copy sent to you when it is completed.

If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!!