2025 Nurses’ Declaration of Solidarity and Resistance
Nurses worldwide share a deep concern, even horror, as we witness the violent and unjust assaults the Trump administration is committing against the health and well-being of people who reside within the borders of the United States. In March, Sally Thorne, Editor of Nursing Inquiry, published an editorial calling for acts of courage that nurses worldwide bring to the challenges before us. On April 7th, nurse scholar Jane Georges posted a call to action in response to the firing of the Director of the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). Three of our Canadian nurse colleagues published an article in the Halifax Examiner , and on April 23rd posted on Nursology.net their concern about the U.S. state of affairs.
Members of the NurseManifest team have issued a call for nurses to join together in signing a 2025 Declaration of Solidarity and Resistance, affirming our commitment to stand together, act to resist that which harms health and well-being, protect those who are harmed, and build coalitions that move toward the ideals we seek. Nurses stand on a long and strong legacy of political activism that arises from our moral imperative to actively promote public policy and action that assures social/health equity. Nursing’s extensive theoretical foundation, and our knowledge derived from ethical, aesthetic, personal and emancipatory knowing leads us to take action, and provides the substance that constitutes our purpose in taking action.
Nursing theories and philosophies are sometimes viewed as idealistic and removed from the realities of practice. But the fact is that we need these visions of possibility to inspire our purpose and to sharpen our focus in order to bring to life the ideals we seek. At this critical point when these ideals are under threat, our theories and philosophies provide the foundation for our commitment and deepen our determination to act on behalf of those we serve. The 2025 Nurses’ Declaration of Solidarity and Resistance expresses the foundational ideals of our discipline, and calls for nurses to stand together, to act, to resist that which harms individual and societal health and well-being, to protect those who are harmed, and to build coalitions that move toward the ideals we seek.
Peggy, Thank you so very much for bringing so many of us together in our commitment to what is right and just for all persons worldwide.
To all nursologists, Now is the time for action. Let those for whom you care (i.e., patients) and those who we have the privilege of teaching (our nursology students) know where we stand and offer them the opportunity to stand with us in solidarity to the end that everyone experiences a high quality of life.
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Just perused the Nursology site and what a resource of information and means and places to participate in producing meaningful change in this dark time! I’m going to share it widely !