History of health activism and civil disobedience

Suffragettes holding medicine banner photo credit LSE Women’s Library Collection

Articles and publications:

Jones L. Sorry for the Inconvenience But This Is an Emergency: The Nonviolent Struggle for Our Planet’s Future. Hurst Publishers; 2024 Mar 7. HXR member Lynne Jones draws on her journey from Greenham Common in the 1980s to her involvement in HXR today to offer a compelling, ground-level account of the last five years of UK protests, exploring how and why ordinary citizens have adopted extraordinary methods to confront the climate and nature crises. 

The Lancet Doctors and civil disobedience 2020 Jan 25;395(10220):248. link

Podolsky S & Jones D. Medical activists as agents of change. The authors discuss some of the many physicians who have been called to activism over the years, for example in response to poverty and racism – and how this has changed medicine and society. They argue this needs to continue, for example in response to the climate crisis. BMJ 2022;379:o3049

Moore W. The medical suffragettes. The Lancet. 2018 Feb 3;391(10119):422-3.

Geddes JF. The doctors’ dilemma: Medical women and the British suffrage movement. Women’s History Review. 2009 Apr 1;18(2):203-18.

City Magazine. The nurse who kept Emmeline Pankhurst alive link

Chapman S. Civil disobedience and tobacco control: the case of BUGA UP. Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions. Tobacco Control. 1996 Sep;5(3):179. Billboard Bandits on YOUTube

Paul,Gregire Australia has a long history of fighting harm minimzation drug policies (describes how Dr Alex Wodak estabished illegal needle exchange programmes in repsonse to the imminent threat of HIV). The Vice

Doctors of the World. 5 people who made healthcare history and challenged black race discrimination link

GLADD. Closet, crisis and conscience: the untold journey of LGBTQ+ doctors and dentists link

A Caring Mind Mental health activitists YouTube