ABSTRACT
Medicine’s social justice agenda is an expression of resistance against injustices arising from exercises of sovereign power or unethical flows of capillary power. But patient advocacy is a key role for healthcare workers too, and education in advocacy as a form of resistance to cultural and social inequities and inequalities is often missing or poorly represented in medical education. Dissensus, dissension or disagreement is the essence of resistance, but this is not just cussedness, perverse resistance or uninformed prejudice. Resistance in health arenas can come directly from the public body. Globally, what might have been called “cottage industries” sprung up as resistance markers to various governments’ fumbling of the coronavirus crisis – reacting too late with poorly developed strategies such as failing to carry out widespread testing and tracing. Doctors too are notoriously resistant to seeking help for their own symptoms, ailments and debilitating conditions, especially with mental health issues.
