“Not Going Quietly”: Paralyzed with ALS, Ady Barkan Continues Fighting for Medicare for All

Tears. Powerful! This program from two days ago is deeply moving, important, illuminating, disturbing, and inspiring. And we can all begin to grasp the power of this interview and documentary when Amy Goodman tells Ady Barkan that it is one of the great honors of her life to speak with Ady just prior to the film’s premiere. I’m hoping that people everywhere will spread the word about Ady Barkan and watch the documentary as it becomes available. There is so much that has long, long been in dire and urgent need of radical change and transformation. The brutality, inhumanity, and greed at the core of the predatory capitalist American healthcare system is certainly up there at the top of the list with other critical crises facing our nation. ― Molly

We speak with healthcare activist Ady Barkan, the 37-year-old lawyer and father who, since his ALS diagnosis in 2016, has devoted his life to campaigning for universal healthcare. He has continued to speak out even after losing his voice and now uses a computerized system that converts his eye movements to speech. Barkan is the subject of “Not Going Quietly,” a new documentary following his cross-country activism. “Only a truly radical departure from our exploitative, for-profit model to one that guarantees healthcare as a right for all will ensure that we no longer live in a nation where people go bankrupt on account of their medical bills,” Barkan tells Democracy Now! “We need Medicare for All now.” We also speak with the film’s director, Nicholas Bruckman, who says he immediately saw a “spark” in Barkan after meeting him in 2018.

Please go here for the original interview and full transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2021/8/13/not_going_quietly_documentary_film