This debate needs more nuance, instead of more black and white thinking
CW: assisted suicide, death
The German newspaper taz last week published an article about a planned liberalisation in the practice of assisted suicide in Germany. The article in large parts seems to be inspired by recent articles in the guardian and the baffler. Both these article looked at horrifying outcomes of such a liberalised practice in Canada. The article in the German newspaper also lists many examples from Canada. There is no doubt, all of the listed cases in these articles are examples of such a procedure going wrong and showing a strong ableist, even eugenic bent.
While i fully agree with the basic premise of all three of these articles, when the state encourages assisted suicide, then we do have a problem and disability justice activists are right to point this out. But if i look at this problem as an anarchist, the main issue here might well be the involvement of the state.
States are problematic. In many ways. But since, for some strange reason, we keep maintaining such an absurd, top-down and often corrupt construct as a state, then the state really SHOULD take care of the disabled, the chronically ill, and all other folks, who are most in need of support in this society.
The reality on the ground look different however. In reality the state often does not take care of marginalised people (and anarchists would argue here, that this BECAUSE it is a state).
We really should strive for a world, where there is “all care for all people”. But the question may well be, who provides the care and under what circumstances. And states, especially in these days, can not be trusted to keep providing care.
States are going to do state things
States will always look for ways to save money and stop their support for marginalised groups. The alternative we (the anarchist community) should strive for then, is that we focus our efforts on building robust mutual aid projects and communal care collectives. But until we have done so, assisted suicide has to be available as an option, one that needs to be defended, even fought for, one that remains easily and cheaply available, accessible. An option that is freed from all stigma.
Because until we have robust communal care structures, the reality on the ground will be unliveable for far too many. Life under neoliberal, late stage capitalism can be unbearable. The daily humiliation we disabled experience on a daily basis can get too much.
So assisted suicide has to be defended as one possible option, that will allow people to keep at least some sense of dignity and self-determination. As you’ll read bellow, this concerns me personally, but for now, some more general thoughts.
At any rate, if someone is determined to end their life, they will find a way to do so. And if someone is truly fed up with living under these circumstances, what does the alternative to look like? Think about it. Should people, whose pain has gotten too much to handle, have to resort to butchering themselves, often using unsafe methods in the process?
If we as leftists start to fight against assisted suicide without a lot of nuance we might as well align ourselves with the ultra-right, with the reactionary christians and what have you, who argue against it in the same vain, albeit for different reasons. The outcome is the same. If assisted suicide gets stigmatised, restricted or even outlawed, people who want to end their lives will get treated like criminals again.
And this cannot stand.
But let’s back up a little here
Of course everyone is in agreement here. No one should be encouraged to choose assisted suicide, if they still have a will to live. If states start to actively encourage or even promote assisted suicide, our alarm bells must go off. Can there even still be talk of assisted suicide in such a case? Or has it transformed itself into an encouraged suicide?
And if, as some disability activists seem to suggest, the intention behind the liberalisation in assisted suicide practices is indeed for states to get rid of disabled people, in order to save money, a part of their austerity programs, then that would indeed be a huge outrage.
If all this is correct, then such a liberalisation would indeed open up a dark, new chapter in neoliberalism.
If all this is the case, the outrage of disability justice would be more than understandable.
But does such a eugenic plan actually exist? Is the liberalisation actually part of a plan to eliminate disabled people?
Until we find prove that such a devious plan exists, we have to be careful not to sound like conspiracy theorists. Up until then it’s a theory, in need of proof (this is how all conspiracy theories should be treated).
To deduct such an aim is still a stretch. A liberalisation can also be just that, to make the procedure easier, to remove administrative burdens, to maybe make it cheaper and more accessible. And this can, depending on the circumstances, be a good thing.
All care for all people
Looked at from the other angle, there is no doubt. Clearly everything should be done to make the lives of the disabled and chronically ill more bearable.
All care for all people.
Yes.
100%.
Obviously this should be our goal.
But the key word here is should.
We should of course keep fighting for a world, where all people receive the care that they need. But it is just as important to remember, that the way things are going this is becoming utopian in front of our very eyes. Sure, let’s keep fighting that the fucking state takes better care of the disabled and the chronically ill. That is, if we still have the energy to do so. And that is, if we actually believe that states can do such a thing (they can’t).
But in the meantime reality looks very very different.
Disabled and chronically ill people are NOT receiving the care that they need. Quite the opposite. Crucial health care programs are being cut. Health insurance cost keeps going up. Administrative burdens are getting higher. And—this is the most crucial part—solidarity in all parts of society on decline—even among the radical left!
EVEN AMONG THE RADICAL LEFT!!!!!!1! FFS.
Wow.
And it should be so clear, looking at history. When ableism is on the rise, we are moving into fascism.
Ableism first isolates, then it kills
The increase in ableism we have been experiencing during this pandemic has created shit tons of real life suffering.
When the difference between what should be—all care for all people—and what actually is—an ever more ableist, individualistic and ultimately fascistic culture—becomes simply unbearable, what then?
What about the people who truly are fed up with life, who can’t take it anymore, for whom an assisted suicide feels like a relief, a way to regain some dignified self-determination?
Yes, it is important to call out the states, when they start to encourage assisted suicide. But it is even more important to not create a climate where assisted suicide gets frowned upon, turned into a taboo again, loaded with stigma, guilt and shame and maybe other religious crap.
Wanting to end ones life is not a crime.
It should be a basic human right. It should be easily accessible. It should not, however, be promoted or administered by the state. Or by for profit companies. Eww.
The world is a fucked up place and it is not looking as if things might soon improve.
There are many reasons why someone might want to opt for an assisted suicide. Increases in fascism, homo- and transphobia. The ecological crisis. Social isolation due to the pandemic. Disheartening situations without any family or friend support. And many many more.
All of these reasons can make some of us suffer to the point where we lose all hope. And while this may be a tragedy in one sense, mostly when looked at from the outside, assisted suicide can also feel like a fantastic opportunity in such moments.
As hinted at above, i do speak from experience
Look at my personal dilemma. Sorry. I’ll try to make this brief.
Almost every day i contemplate suicide. The state of the world, with the move towards fascism on one hand and the slow progress we are making towards building robust alternatives on the other hand, drives me into deep, dark despair. I have not had a job for 15 years. I have been sitting at home twiddling my thumbs for all these years. My friends and family have abandoned me. I was even kicked out of the Death Panel Discord.
Plus for the last three and a half years there has been my illness, chronic by now, my depression, my insomnia. Almost daily i reach the point, where either the pain or my social isolation get to be too much to bear. When i notice how my so-called friends and family are nowhere to be seen.
I thankfully have one person helping me, but that’s it. This fucked up situation is such a burden on her as well.
What bothers me the most in my day to day life is the noise. And you can’t get away from noise in this world, less and less so while hyper-individualism is accelerating into a mad frenzy. Noisy neighbours, cars, motorbikes, airplanes, construction sites, screaming kids, cow bells, drones, screaming babies on balconies, Bluetooth speakers everywhere etc etc.
Noise dominates my life. I experience noise like a pain. Maybe it’s a case of hyperacusis (but this is hard to establish). The pain drives me up the walls. Not to mention smells, because those are in the process of becoming equally invasive.
For all these reasons i am really pleased to know that there is easy access to assisted suicide in this shitty country. In all other ways i hate Switzerland with a passion, but at least that part is okay-ish here (it’s fucking expensive though, you guessed it).
I am still hanging on for now, but if i decide i want to die, i demand to have easy access. If i decide to go, i want my decision to be respected, even celebrated (yeah, keep dreaming). One less person in pain should be a good thing. And most importantly, i want to do this with a safe, cheap and pain free method.
I have already tried to kill myself (many years ago) using unsafe methods. It was a hack job, that disabled me.
What would i need in order to change my mind?
Oh, that’s an easy one. I know exactly, what i would need to be able to enjoy my life again.
To begin with, i would have to live in a country where people are willing to wear masks in order to protect the people most endangered from infections or re-infections. I would need to live in a society that shows me it is motivated to fight against the climate crisis or even a pandemic. I would need to have a community of supportive friends, who don’t disappear once i started to feel like shit.
And to protected myself from the noise, i would need to live in a small detached house surrounded, and protected, by a garden, with some trees, shrubs and bushes (for noise-cancelling), with respectful neighbours, located in a place where there are no cow bells and no farmers with their fucking loud machines, no construction sites, no freeways, no air traffic corridors, no shooting ranges …
Sounds easy enough, no?
I guess you get my point.
This is of course impossible on so many levels. First of all, why would i deserve to live in a house like that, what makes my situation so special? But also, just take a look at the housing situation in this fucked up expensive country. We have been looking for just such a place for over 20 years, and it does not seem to exist. Or only for rich assholes. On top of that there are huge ecological concerns and class issues to consider here. And i do want to check my privilege. From an ecological standpoint no situation is worse than to live in a detached house. Except maybe with the so-called earthship houses. But guess what. Yup, those are against the law in Switzerland.
And on top of all that, there are politics to consider. The countryside in Switzerland, where most detached houses with gardens are located, is populated by the ultra conservative assholes of the so-called Swiss People’s Party. They are my enemies. They want me dead. They are ableist and eugenic proto-fascists.
That is why, i am forced to live in or near the city. But that’s where all the noise is. Catch 22.
It drives me crazy.
End personal dilemma.
While i am not sure that there are other people stuck in similar predicaments, i do guess so.
And that is why we have to be extra careful not to shame people who opt for assisted suicide.
Maybe there is another way to look at the issue
Maybe the problem all along has been the state. As soon as states propagate assisted suicides the situation receives a suspicious stench. When assisted suicide services are offered or promoted by a state or by a for profit company, then ableism and eugenics indeed can’t be far (still in need of proof).
But if we think about this from an anarchistic viewpoint assisted suicide could easily be organised as a community service, maybe by a non-profit organisation with a cooperative structure. As we keep building our communal care structures, assisted suicide could well be one area to get active.
I have read several utopian feminist science fiction books, where people were granted a right to choose the time of their own death. Even if i somehow wasn’t able to remember which books they were. Ursula K. Le Guin in several of her books proposed models, with the clear implication that assisted suicide is a respected, individual choice, sometimes even a celebrated one, a joyous part of life (The ones who walk away from Omelas, Always Coming Home).
But on a much more practical level some utopian models do already exist. In his seminal book bolo’bolo the author p.m. suggests that every adult person in the community is given a small metal capsule containing a pill to be used in case they want to end their life.
“The nugo is a metallic capsule an inch-and-a-half long and half-an-inch in diameter, secured by a twist-combination lock whose seven-digit number is known only by its bearer (and maybe his or her best friend):
This metallic container encloses a pill of an immediately deadly substance. Every ibu [=individual] gets its nugo from its bolo [=community], as is the case for taku [=box of personal belongings]. […]
If the ibu is sick of bolo’bolo’, of itself, […] it can always feel free to quit the game definitely and escape from its (improved, reformed) nightmare. Life shouldn’t be a pretext to justify its responsibility towards bolo’bolo, society, the future, or other illusions.
[…] Every ibu comes outfitted with a return ticket.”
His suggestion may sound a little naive, but also beautiful. What i love about it is that it reverses the situation. Any stigma is totally removed from wanting to end ones life. Every individual is given the means to end it, whenever they see fit. For me that is an empowering vision, precisely because, at the same time, within bolo’bolo the world is getting improved.
In short
Assisted suicide can never be looked at as a black and white issue. It is one of those issue in need of a lot more nuance.
Each story needs to be examined and studied in detail, on a case to case basis and with as much nuance as possible. Also with realism. A fundamental critique of the neoliberal capitalist system needs to be a part of such an examination.
But maybe other options do exist to organise it from the bottom up. Maybe, if we accept the fact that life can become unbearable for some people among us, this not only motivates us to work harder to improve their situation, but also to give them an easy option to end their lives, and to frame this as a choice that is beautiful and respected and cause for a celebration (we need lots of parties).
Now. I don’t have the solutions here. As i am sure you have noticed, my proposal as well as my thinking on this topic is not fully fleshed out. But I do hope, that we can have a nuanced discussion and that we can invent beautiful rituals for assisted suicide in communal settings. Assisted suicide would also need a better name. What i hope for is, that we can make it just the right kind of easy to access such a free death (from the German Freitod).
Edited for some more clarity on 21.8.2023