What Can Free Nursing Schools Do for Anarchism? A Reflection on "What Can Anarchism Do for Nursing" by Martin and...

This is a response on the interesting read "What can anarchism do for nursing" by Martin and Laurin (2023), published in a previous issue of this journal. My foremost point is congratulating the authors on emphasizing the urgent need for a deviant voice or movement within nursing. It is a needed and necessary plea. Without such a voice or movement, which deviates from the current discourse(s) in healthcare, the future of our healthcare systems are looking grim and perhaps even more authoritarian than their current state. Rather than providing a comment to their work, I deemed it useful to make two additions and one suggestion to their essay. I would like to elaborate on (1) why alternative education is crucial in installing this type of thinking and action in nursing and (2) why, next to the concept of mutual aid, the concept of individual deviant action by nurses can be crucial in installing a new paradigm in nursing. I argue that both alternative education and individual action cannot be fostered by the traditional nursing education and common career paths and propose the reinvention of the concept of free (nursing) schools. Such free school could empower nurses, throughout their career, to acquire a general culture in which critical reflection and political awareness are cornerstones to identify the balances of power which affects them. This could enhance the solidarity between nurses and unity in the nursing profession. At the end of this reflection, I outline the principles of these free nursing schools.