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something i get asked a lot is, if there's no real organizing body/licensure/etc for street medics and just anyone can slap on a red duct tape cross, how do you actually KNOW if someone is a Real Street Medic? and like... you don't! (1/?)
i'm not here to gatekeep anyone's street medic credentials. and street medics are not about to start a hierarchy just so that we can gatekeep them for you! we aren't about that life. (2/?)
if you're at a protest and someone with or without markings on runs up to you to offer care, you can ask them whatever you feel comfortable asking them to get a feel for what that person's experience is and why they're in your space. (3/?)
what i WILL tell you is that "street medic" is a term with a deep history that means a LOT more than simply, "person who gives first aid in the streets". a LOT more. (4/?)
and LOTS of people can give you first aid in the streets! i fully encourage all people, all the time, to equip themselves with as much knowledge as they can get to take care of themselves and their communities. if you have the knowhow to take care of each other, EXCELLENT. (5/?)
but "street medics" AS A MOVEMENT, come with history/philosophy/guiding principle that cover far more than simply the first aid that we give -- when i train people to be medics i teach first aid, but i teach way more than that too. imo, that separates us from e.g. emts etc. (6/?)
street medics have a commitment to anti-oppression. our movement was FOUNDED in liberatory struggle. street medics EXIST because there has always been a need in justice movements for medical care where mainstream systems fail to care for people. (7/?)
we were BORN among groups like the black panthers & american indian movement caring for and protecting and fighting for their people.
resisting systems of oppression is as much our work as the first aid we provide. (8/?)
resisting systems of oppression is as much our work as the first aid we provide. (8/?)
street medics believe in radical consent & the autonomy of our patients.
in my experience and opinion as both a medic and a chronically ill, multiply disabled, mentally ill person, this sets us apart more than anything from mainstream health systems. (9/?)
in my experience and opinion as both a medic and a chronically ill, multiply disabled, mentally ill person, this sets us apart more than anything from mainstream health systems. (9/?)
in my trainings i try above all to emphasize the respect for/autonomy of my patients above all. try to teach seeing our patients as COLLABORATORS in the decisionmaking, not like we are the gatekeepers of their health somehow. (10/?)
and that's respect at EVERY stage, not just "consent to touch". consent to be treating them at all, respect for their identities, conscientiousness about the WAYS that we approach people, introduce ourselves, WHY ppl might not want treatment even if WE think they need it. (11/)
street medics operate under the principle of "do no harm". the rest of the principles i'mm'a lay out follow from this one, but it is what it says on the tin. think about what you're doing before you do it, think about the outcomes. (12/)
by the way, people ALWAYS ask me in trainings "do we treat [cops/fash]".
friends, enabling fascists (in or out of uniform) to keep doing violence is harmful behavior. if you're thinking "should i help this murderer continue murdering?" think back to 'first, do no harm'. (13/)
friends, enabling fascists (in or out of uniform) to keep doing violence is harmful behavior. if you're thinking "should i help this murderer continue murdering?" think back to 'first, do no harm'. (13/)
tactical neutrality: this one always gets a lot of confusion because people are like "wait we're not neutral?"
but what we mean by this is that when we go to an action AS visibly marked medics, we do not participate in that action in OTHER tactical roles. (14/)
but what we mean by this is that when we go to an action AS visibly marked medics, we do not participate in that action in OTHER tactical roles. (14/)
we don't mean that we are PASSIVE -- we're not. medicking is a tactic all to itself. when we decide to mark ourselves as medics we have chosen that as our role for the action. (15/)
we ALSO mean that as medics IT IS NOT OUR JOB to police how other activists decide to take action. we support a diversity of tactics, we don't go there to quibble about the right or wrong way to protest. (16/)
on the flip side of TACTICAL neutrality --
street medics ARE NOT politically neutral.
we're activists, too. medics are there because we are committed to justice, and have skills we can lend to strengthen our movement. showing up as a medic is making a statement. (17/)
street medics ARE NOT politically neutral.
we're activists, too. medics are there because we are committed to justice, and have skills we can lend to strengthen our movement. showing up as a medic is making a statement. (17/)
i would, personally, be a lot more comfortable with a street medic who is connected to and involved in mutual aid/activism/etc WITHIN their own community than someone who ONLY picks up their first aid kid during large protests and no other time. but that's me. (18/)
hmm hmm
-do no harm
-anti-oppression
-radical consent/autonomy
-tactical neutrality
-political... non-neutrality? need a better word for this!
what am i forgetting in terms of Street Medic Principles
-do no harm
-anti-oppression
-radical consent/autonomy
-tactical neutrality
-political... non-neutrality? need a better word for this!
what am i forgetting in terms of Street Medic Principles
heres me subtweeting myself to think aloud
i ruined the threading by this line of musing lol so this is just a tweet to say that if you are reading this & you only got to #18 in the original thread there were 30 tweets about street medic ethics. i broke the twitter threading at #18, the rest are under that one SORRY
