Social justice for all: Are we there yet?

Are nurses at the point where enough is enough?

“…An entrenched neoliberal world order has few remedies for impending catastrophes and, in any event, is the cause of most of them. Provoked, for example, by Trump in the United States, Bolsanaro in Brazil, and Johnson, and now Truss, in the UK, nurses across the world have called for resistance to this iniquitous form of governance and its negative consequences for vulnerable healthcare systems (see Dillard‐Wright, 2022; Jackson & Usher, 2019; McGibbon & Lukeman, 2019; McKeown, 2019; Montenegro et al, 2020). From Washington to Warsaw nurses have also begun to involve themselves in solidarity activism and political struggles (Korolczuk, 2016), yet neither scholars of employment relations, governments or employers necessarily expect nurses to be militant (Krachler et al, 2021).…”

“…Arguably, the psychological and emotional damage that results is exacerbated by political consciousness if this has no outlet in resistance; political impotence exacerbates moral injuries. Yet, our professional imperative for advocacy means that we must draw attention to the importance of social disadvantage in the clinical context at the level of individual patient care and, simultaneously, concern ourselves with advocacy on a broader political stage (Jackson & Usher, 2019; McKeown, 2022). The latter is best accomplished through our collective organizations, and thus it is incumbent on politically aware nurse advocates to become active within and between these representative organizations such as trade unions.…”

Love and resistance: Re‐inventing radical nurses in everyday struggles

“…A new, radical nursing professionalism would not shy away from activism, but would lean heavily towards a relational politics. The social justice values we already espouse in the present are ready‐made for a more meaningful radical identity for the future (Jackson & Usher, ). The primacy of our love for workmates, service users and fellow human beings can be both heroically radical on a grand stage and gloriously radical in the everyday.…”