Death Panel

Note: This episode was originally released October 11th, 2023. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod. Death Panel podcast host Beatrice Adler-Bolton speaks with Liat Ben-Moshe, Leah Harris and Vesper Moore about increasing calls to "reopen the asylums" and why the dark history and enduring legacy of psychiatric incarceration mean we should never go back. We look at recent statements by politicians Eric Adams, Donald Trump, Matt Gaetz, and Vivek Ramaswamy and discuss how carceral sanism is not exclusively the domain of the right. For more on the second Trump administration's recent attempts to seek an expansion of involuntary commitment and assisted outpatient treatment, see our recent patron episode Empty Rights and Underlying Conditions (08/04/25) - https://www.patreon.com/posts/empty-rights-and-135737340 Transcript: https://www.deathpanel.net/transcripts/reopen-asylum To sign up for resources on psychiatric abolition (collected by Leah Harris) go here: https://bit.ly/psychiatricabolition Health Communism is now out in paperback! Find it here or order at this link to add a donation to Sameer Project: open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/prod…nism Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/138979001 Beatrice speaks with Andrea Ritchie about why it’s now more important than ever for healthcare workers to resist ICE and refuse to participate in all forms of criminalization of the people they care for. We talk through the Beyond Do No Harm Network’s 13 principles for care workers to interrupt criminalization and the many other resources the network has put together so far. Runtime 1:48:57 Find all of the Beyond Do No Harm resources mentioned in this episode here: https://www.interruptingcriminalization.com/beyond-do-no-harm Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

Note: This episode was originally released June 30th for Death Panel patrons and is being unlocked today for the first time. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod Beatrice speaks with Mon Mohapatra of Community Justice Exchange (CJE) about their new resource “If They Build It: Organizing Lessons & Strategies Against Carceral Infrastructure,” a resource looking at the strategies deployed in anti-carceral organizing over the last few decades for strategies to strengthen future campaigns against carceral infrastructure and to strengthen future organizing against all types of cages. Find the resource here: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/en/resources-all/if-they-build-it-organizing-lessons-amp-strategies-against-carceral-infrastructure Health Communism is now out in paperback! Find it here or order at this link to add a donation to Sameer Project: open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/prod…nism Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/138451663 Artie breaks down the Trump administration's latest attacks on covid vaccines, key moments from RFK's heated Senate testimony last week, and why calls to force RFK out of HHS need to include removing many of the figures he's managed to bring in with him. Find the past episode mentioned near the beginning here: RFK, Health Capitalism, and the Myths of Wellness (11/18/24): https://www.patreon.com/posts/rfk-health-and-116273220 Runtime 1:20:00 Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

Note: This episode was originally released August 11th for Death Panel patrons and is being unlocked today for the first time. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod Beatrice speaks with Chanelle Gallant and Elene Lam about their book Not Your Rescue Project: Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice and the solidarities required to organize at the intersection of sex work, migrant justice, and disability justice. Find the book here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2258-not-your-rescue-project Health Communism is now out in paperback! Find it here or order at this link to add a donation to Sameer Project: https://open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/products/w4g-adler-bolton-beatrice-artie-vierkant-health-communism Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: www.patreon.com/posts/137338165 Beatrice, Phil, and Jules speak with Claire Dunning about the complex history of how nonprofit organizations became so pervasive in US political life and the issues with how the non-profit system promises to address big, structural problems while at the same time structurally constraining what these groups are and aren't allowed to do. Note: This episode was originally released for patrons on September 4th, 2023, and is being re-released today for Labor Day. We'll be back with a new episode in the patron feed next week. Runtime 1:31:00 Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod Beatrice and Artie discuss a disturbing set of arguments that evidence of famine in Gaza—and genocide deaths themselves—can be invalidated by showing that the victims had “pre-existing conditions” or “underlying health conditions,” most brazenly demonstrated in a recent Free Press piece called “They Became Symbols for Gazan Starvation. But All 12 Suffer from Other Health Problems.” Donate links for projects mentioned in the episode: Gaza Funds - https://gazafunds.com/ Sameer Project - https://linktr.ee/thesameerproject Medical Campaign x Sameer Project - https://chuffed.org/project/136892-medical-campaign-x-sameer-project South Gaza: Tents, Food & Water (Sameer Project) - https://chuffed.org/project/113222-tent-campaign-the-sameer-project The Refaat Alareer Camp (Sameer Project) - https://chuffed.org/project/113327-refaat-alareer-camp-the-sameer-project North Gaza: Food, Water & Other Distributions (Sameer Project) - https://chuffed.org/project/help-us-deliver-vital-aid-to-gaza-families-in-need Gaza Municipality's Artificial Limbs and Polio Center - https://mogaza.org/campaign/2 Workshops for Gaza - https://www.workshops4gaza.com/workshops Workshops for Gaza Bookstore - https://open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/collections/workshops-4-gaza-bookstore Crips for eSIMs for Gaza - http://cripsforesimsforgaza.org/ Show Links: Health Communism is now out in paperback! Find it here or order at this link to add a donation to Sameer Project: https://open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com/products/w4g-adler-bolton-beatrice-artie-vierkant-health-communism Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Outro by Time Wharp: https://timewharp.bandcamp.com/track/tezeta As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/137338165 Beatrice and Tracy speak with journalist Rebecca Burns about how Trump’s takeover of D.C. and threats to send the National Guard into U.S. cities under the auspices of fighting a “crime emergency” and “endemic” homelessness echo the policy proposals and model bills of the Cicero Institute, a right wing think tank run by a co-founder of Palantir. Runtime 1:14:24 Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Socialism Conference in Chicago, where we collaborated with conference organizers to host four discussions over the first weekend in July. All four recordings are now available for Death Panel patrons at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod For a longer discussion of some of the themes addressed in this session, see our episode Love in a Fucked Up World w/ Dean Spade (04/21/25), available in the patron feed here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/127162993 Dean Spade on Community Care in the Face of Collapse (DP x S25) feat. Beatrice, Dean Spade Session description: In a world unraveling under capitalism, climate catastrophe, and state violence, how do we build real care and solidarity? Dean Spade will discuss approaches to survival and resistance explored in his books Love in a F*cked Up World, Mutual Aid, and Normal Life—breaking through denial, confronting rising fascism, unlearning liberalism’s grip on our politics, rejecting the false promises of reform, and the urgent need to organize outside and against the state in order to cultivate community care in the face of collapse. Editor's Note: Beatrice's audio at the beginning is from backup audio, and gets better partway through the recording. Dean's audio is more clear and his presentation starts around 7 minutes into the recording. Thanks to Han Olliver for our Death Panel x Socialism Conference 2024 poster image, which is being used as the cover image for this episode on platforms that support it. Find and support Han's work at www.hanolliver.com Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Find Phil's new book, Counting Like a State, here: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700639687/ Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/136779075 Beatrice speaks with Kathryn Olivarius about the economy and social structure that emerged around yellow fever in antebellum New Orleans, the ecosystem of deniers, capitalists, and novel theories of "immunity" that shaped it, and her book Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom. Runtime 1:42:12 Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week. Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Socialism Conference in Chicago, where we collaborated with conference organizers to host four discussions over the first weekend in July. All four recordings are now available for Death Panel patrons at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod feat. Beatrice, Sophie Lewis, Melissa Gira Grant Session description: As the state intensifies its assault on gender, sexuality, and reproduction—criminalizing abortion, trans care, and pregnancy outcomes, dismantling government functions to fight "gender ideology," and defining "real women" under the guise of protection—how do we endure and resist? Under the shadow of a second Trump administration, the erosion of rights is not a glitch but a feature of a broader regime of privatization and control. Journalist Melissa Gira Grant, and authors Sophie Lewis and Beatrice Adler-Bolton discuss how today's attacks are part of a longer history of state repression, and how we can build resistance in an era of hyper-austerity and rising fascism. Editor's Note: About 8 minutes in, we had to temporarily switch to our local audio backup to restore a piece of the conversation that is absent in the livestreamed version. The audio quality gets better again around the 16 minute mark. Find our Socialism Conference 2025 sessions that have yet to be unlocked here: Dean Spade on Community Care in the Face of Collapse (DP x S25) — Bea, Dean Spade www.patreon.com/posts/134644217 Thanks to Han Olliver for our Death Panel x Socialism Conference 2024 poster image, which is being used as the cover image for this episode on platforms that support it. Find and support Han's work at www.hanolliver.com Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Find Phil's new book, Counting Like a State, here: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700639687/ Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/136180934 Beatrice speaks with Chanelle Gallant and Elene Lam about their book Not Your Rescue Project: Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice and the solidarities required to organize at the intersection of sex work, migrant justice, and disability justice. Runtime 1:38:37 Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week. Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Socialism Conference in Chicago, where we collaborated with conference organizers to host four discussions over the first weekend in July. All four recordings are now available for Death Panel patrons at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod feat. Beatrice, Tracy Rosenthal, Marques Vestal Session description: Discussions of “surplus populations” often fixate on labor markets; those cast out of work, left idle, or deemed unproductive. This session explores how the state organizes surplus not just through production, but through property and confinement. From land enclosures to the prison-industrial complex, the management of “surplus” has always been a question of containment, racialized abandonment, and carceral exile. Drawing on histories of displacement, abolitionist thought, and housed and unhoused tenant organizing, the discussion will examine surplus not as a demographic misfortune, but as a structural necessity of capital, and as a flashpoint of resistance. What emerges is not a question of productivity but of place—who is allowed to belong, and who must be removed to keep property regimes intact. For a longer discussion of some of the themes addressed in this session, see our episode What We Burn w/ Marques Vestal (06/16/25): https://www.patreon.com/posts/what-we-burn-w-131635837 Find our Socialism Conference 2025 sessions that have yet to be unlocked here: Gender, Sexuality, Reproduction and the State: Fighting Back Against the So-Called Law (DP x S25) — Bea, Melissa Gira Grant, Sophie Lewis www.patreon.com/posts/134643775 Dean Spade on Community Care in the Face of Collapse (DP x S25) — Bea, Dean Spade www.patreon.com/posts/134644217 Thanks to Han Olliver for our Death Panel x Socialism Conference 2024 poster image, which is being used as the cover image for this episode on platforms that support it. Find and support Han's work at www.hanolliver.com Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Find Phil's new book, Counting Like a State, here: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700639687/ Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/135737340 Beatrice, Artie and Tracy discuss the potential impacts of a new Trump executive order called “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets,” which threatens to dramatically expand involuntary psychiatric commitment and make it easier for the government to disappear people off the streets, allegedly in the name of “compassion.” Runtime 1:51:47 Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week. Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

This week marks the 60th anniversary of Medicare. To mark the occasion, even as the Trump administration continues to assail health programs, today we bring you a DP classic: A Death Panel History of Medicare, originally released for patrons on July 5th, 2021. This week we also released a big rundown of the healthcare cuts in Trump's budget bill and what it means for the health struggle ahead. Find that episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/welfare-for-07-135176028 Original description: In today's episode, we survey the extremely messy history that led to the passage of original Medicare, the role private insurers and other industry groups played in its creation, and some of its unintended consequences we live with to this day. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Jules' new book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Find Phil's new book, Counting Like a State, here: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700639687/ Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/135176028 Beatrice, Artie and Phil discuss the effects the recently passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” will have on the healthcare system for years to come, the effects we’re already seeing, and why it’s one of the biggest blows to the US welfare state in modern history. Then we take a look at longtime Death Panel foil Ezekiel Emmanuel’s impressively convoluted proposal for the kind of health policy he thinks Democrats should pursue in response. Runtime 1:30:44 Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week. Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Jules' new book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent

This episode was recorded live at the 2025 Socialism Conference in Chicago, where we collaborated with conference organizers to host four discussions over the first weekend in July. All four recordings are now available for Death Panel patrons at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod feat. Beatrice, Artie, and Vicky Osterweil Session description: With the new administration, the federal government has been actively attacking healthcare funding for the poor and intensified its targeting of trans and disabled people and the immiseration of healthcare workers. In this session, we discuss what the fight for health communism may look like under this new regime, and what strategies and forms of politics may help us move forward. With Death Panel co-hosts and co-authors of Health Communism Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant, joined by writer and organizer Vicky Osterweil. Find a written version of Beatrice and Artie's remarks here: https://blindarchive.substack.com/p/where-is-the-site-of-struggle-in Find our other Socialism Conference 2025 sessions here: Gender, Sexuality, Reproduction and the State: Fighting Back Against the So-Called Law (DP x S25) — Bea, Melissa Gira Grant, Sophie Lewis https://www.patreon.com/posts/134643775 Dean Spade on Community Care in the Face of Collapse (DP x S25) — Bea, Dean Spade https://www.patreon.com/posts/134644217 The Proletariat Has No Homeland: Property and the Surplus Class (DP x S25) — Bea, Tracy Rosenthal, Marques Vestal https://www.patreon.com/posts/134644582 Thanks to Han Olliver for our Death Panel x Socialism Conference 2024 poster image, which is being used as the cover image for this episode on platforms that support it. Find and support Han's work at www.hanolliver.com Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Jules' latest book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Find Phil's new book, Counting Like a State, here: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700639687/ Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/134643287 Today's patron episode is, instead, four episodes: our sessions in collaboration with this year's Socialism Conference. Just over three hours in total, and featuring contributions from Tracy Rosenthal, Melissa Gira Grant, Vicky Osterweil, Sophie Lewis, Marques Vestal and Dean Spade. We are working on transcripts and will be releasing these over the coming weeks in the public feed as well, but patrons get them all today. Today's teaser is the first section of the session titled "Deny, Defend, Depose: Health Struggle After 'Luigi.'" Here are today's new episodes: Deny, Defend, Depose: Health Struggle After "Luigi" (DP x S25) — Bea, Artie, Vicky Osterweil https://www.patreon.com/posts/134643287 (Note: Start here if you want some timely commentary on Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill," which was signed the day we recorded this. We will also be discussing the passage of the bill at length in an upcoming episode, coming soon) Gender, Sexuality, Reproduction and the State: Fighting Back Against the So-Called Law (DP x S25) — Bea, Melissa Gira Grant, Sophie Lewis https://www.patreon.com/posts/134643775 Dean Spade on Community Care in the Face of Collapse (DP x S25) — Bea, Dean Spade https://www.patreon.com/posts/134644217 The Proletariat Has No Homeland: Property and the Surplus Class (DP x S25) — Bea, Tracy Rosenthal, Marques Vestal https://www.patreon.com/posts/134644582 Thanks to Han Olliver for our Death Panel x Socialism Conference 2024 poster image, which is being used as the cover image for this episode on platforms that support it. Find and support Han's work at www.hanolliver.com Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week. Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism

Note: We are back from parental leave! This episode was originally released June 2nd for Death Panel patrons and is being unlocked today for the first time. To support the show and help make episodes like this one possible, become a patron at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod Beatrice speaks with Jane Thomason of National Nurses United (NNU) about the Trump administration’s disbanding of the CDC’s HICPAC committee, the body that oversees infection control practices across the healthcare industry — and a committee that Jane was briefly involved with as part of an advisory workgroup since last summer. We also discuss the Trump administration’s staggering cuts across NIOSH, a key agency for workplace health and safety protections, and their significance within the broader “MAHA” agenda. Find NNU's call to action letter about NIOSH here: https://nnu.org/saveniosh Jane Thomason is NNU’s lead industrial hygienist. She was last on the show in March 2024 and August 2023 to speak about a campaign against proposed infection control cuts being considered by HICPAC, after which she was added to a HICPAC workgroup that May. Jane returns today now that, with HICPAC disbanded, she’s once again able to speak more openly about committee deliberations. Find our book Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Jules' latest book, A Short History of Trans Misogyny, here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny Find Tracy's book, Abolish Rent, here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent Find Phil's new book, Counting Like a State, here: kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700639687/ Death Panel merch here (patrons get a discount code): www.deathpanel.net/merch As always, support Death Panel at www.patreon.com/deathpanelpod

Subscribe on Patreon and hear this week's full patron-exclusive episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/134133903 Beatrice speaks with Melissa Gira Grant about “Alligator Alcatraz,” Trump’s new concentration camp in Florida. We discuss what the site means for the US under new, swelling ICE budgets, how it reflects a fascist fantasy of using the landscape as an arm of carceral enforcement, and the hope we can take from the long history of anti-colonial and anti-supremacist resistance movements on the very same land. Read Melissa's piece, "The Grand Opening of an American Concentration Camp," here: https://newrepublic.com/article/197508/alligator-alcatraz-trump-concentration-camp Runtime 1:37:10 Note: We're back! Thank you to everyone for all the well wishes and many kind messages during our parental leave. We have a lot coming together soon processing current events and reacting to some big developments that happened while we were away. As we ramp production back up we'll be prioritizing the patron feed first to make sure patrons get a full new episode every week. Get Health Communism here: www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism Find Jules' new book here: https://www.versobooks.com/products/3054-a-short-history-of-trans-misogyny Find Tracy's book Abolish Rent here: www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent