WEBVTT - Resistance Through Mutual Aid 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:02.840 I need sports on it. If you don't get out 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:09.000 of here, everybody each other, I'm awful, get out of here. 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:13.840 The first thing that comes to mind is just like 0:00:13.880 --> 0:00:20.079 the power of mutual aid UM. The smaller events really 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:27.280 build the community ties together UM and just it enables 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:30.600 people to like lean on each other for safety and 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:35.680 for any resources and pretty much anything that somebody needs. UM. 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:39.440 These smaller, like well being based kind of events, like 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:44.520 it keeps everybody together, and I think, I mean, there's 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:47.159 so much power. Like mutual aid really is the way 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.640 of the future. So this is basically just a precursor 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:53.120 to what I feel like will be a world like 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:58.760 avoid of police and and like constant state violence. Is 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:01.960 will have these net works in mutual aid communities that 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:08.000 UM will basically make that obsolete. So that's really huge 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:11.840 for us. That's Jedi, a local organizer and musician. As 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:14.320 the protests in Portland and around the nation moved into 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.160 their third month, Governor Kate Brown announced that the FEDS 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.080 were pulling out of the city. With the announcement, the 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:22.240 crowds of thousands that had come out and forced to 0:01:22.280 --> 0:01:25.800 protest the federal presence shrunk By the second week of August, 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:28.720 ongoing protests drew only a few hundred people into the 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:31.440 streets each night. For the people that wanted to defund 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.399 and abolish the Portland police, the federal draw down meant 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:36.399 that it was time to get back to the real fight. 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:39.200 Months of being gassed and beaten together had given this 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:43.000 community of protesters a powerful sense of shared purpose. At 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.480 the same time, the drop off in numbers raised the 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.520 specter of burnout for activists and pointed to a long 0:01:48.600 --> 0:01:51.560 road ahead. Systems of mutual aid began to spring up, 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:53.840 both out of need and out of a desire by 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:56.680 many to finally start building the world they wanted to 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:04.160 live in. To narry the next part of this here's 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.800 Donovan Smith, a local Portland journalist and one of the 0:02:06.800 --> 0:02:09.800 authors of this series. After more than two months in 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.560 the streets, protesters in Portland were exhausted and traumatized, but 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:16.280 ready to return to the real fight of defunding the police. 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:20.359 But the enormous protests of early June were now months passed, 0:02:20.919 --> 0:02:24.640 and after the wild circuits of violence that was fed occupation, 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:27.760 people were tired, and there were questions about how to 0:02:27.800 --> 0:02:30.960 direct the attention of the city back from Trump to 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:34.560 the violence of Portland Police Bureau. Jacob Burrow's of Direct 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:38.519 Action Alliance talks about organizing exhaustion. Well, to be honest 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.600 with you, it doesn't really like everyone. Everyone falls off. 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:43.920 Everyone gets tired and falls off, and it's it's the 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:48.600 solidarity that comes into play at that point. So, I mean, 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.519 I'll take months off where I just can't anymore, where 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.280 I'm I'm just exhausted to the bone, where I I 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:58.280 literally have nothing left to give. And during those times 0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:04.320 is when my comrade come in and do what they 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.280 need to do. And then when they're tired, that's when 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:07.640 I come in and do what I need to do. 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:11.160 And that's how we kind of keep it perpetually going. 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:13.639 Is that you've got to be there for folks. When 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:17.360 you see someone who's you know you people, that's the problem. 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:22.440 It's it's fatiguing, it caused there's a huge toll. Organizing 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.640 takes a huge toll on people. Even just organizing one event, 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:28.840 it takes three days of my life away from my kids, 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.440 from my responsibilities at home, from what I need to do, 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.839 and it's it's exhausting. And that's that's just the organizing part. 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:37.680 You know, you still have to consider the emotional toll 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.120 that it takes to go out and do this and 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:42.120 put yourself on the line. You have to take into 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:44.160 account the threats that you get from the right, You 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.040 have to take into account the threats that you get 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:49.160 from the government. So there's all of these things and 0:03:49.680 --> 0:03:52.680 no one is just a superperson that can go and 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:55.960 power through it. And that's that's a big thing. A 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:59.120 big misconception I think is people think that the faith 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.800 is you know, there's some people who who their face 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:04.160 has become prominent or their name has become prominent, and 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.200 people think that it's all them, and it's not. There's 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:12.520 there's a huge, huge effort behind everything of support of 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.840 mutual aid that keeps everything going. So the reason it's 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.560 been able to go for ten years isn't because there's 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.120 people who have been able to keep going for ten 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.960 years straight. It's because every time someone falls back and 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.599 can't do it and need to break someone else were 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:30.520 we are lucky enough to be in a community and 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.720 that's how it keeps ongoing, is that every time, every 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:36.239 time there's a hole in the line, we have comrades 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:38.120 who are willing to step back in and fill it up. 0:04:38.160 --> 0:04:40.680 And that's how that's how we've been able to kind 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:44.880 of keep this momentum going is because there's always someone 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.920 who's willing to step up when someone has when another 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:51.240 person has kind of reached their limit. And that's that's 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.960 how you keep it going is by building those connections, 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:59.599 those trust bonds, and those those solidarity connections and mutual 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.560 aid can actions where we're all helping each other out. 0:05:02.680 --> 0:05:04.280 We all have to be there for each other, and 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:08.120 using social media and telegram, the community stepped up to 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.960 fill holes in the line. Nightly actions began to be 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:17.520 organized autonomously anonymous calls to action with post locations, mostly 0:05:17.560 --> 0:05:20.919 of different police precincts for the Portland Ice facility, and 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.800 people would show up to the protests. If the police 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:27.320 were going to continue to brutalize people, then protesters planned 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:30.720 on wearing them down and exhausting their budget. Every night 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:33.599 of the week, people assembled at some park around the 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.240 city and would march to a different precincts, yelling, chanting, 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:39.920 and standing in the street for hours until the police 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:43.760 would charge, clearing them out with gas, batons and brute force. 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.800 While these actions were referred to as d a's or 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:52.320 direct actions. The nights often consisted of protesters hurling more 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:56.640 insults than anything else, adding in an occasional dumpster fire 0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:00.320 to mix it up. Despite the nightly actions of getting 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.520 to follow up predictable pattern that usually ended with police 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:07.440 roll rushing people down unlit neighborhood streets for the crimes 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:11.159 of yelling in the road. PPB press releases portrayed each 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:15.560 evening as an intense battle with dangerous radicals. These claims 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:17.719 were not borne out by the arrest that they made. 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:22.039 The charges leveled at protesters arrested were almost all I 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:26.240 p O or interference with the police officer, the charge 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.680 that they could file if you did not move fast 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.839 enough when they bull rushed. I PO was one of 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.400 the charges that d A. Mike Schmidt had announced on 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:38.920 August eighth that his office would decline to prosecute. Thereafter, 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:43.120 nearly all protester charges were dropped, possibly to compensate for 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.520 the loss of legal cloud. Portland police ramped up on 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:50.200 the brutality. Acts of minor vandalism will be answered by 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.760 baton charges, and any protesters are unable to outrun the 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:57.760 bull rush would be knocked to the ground, body slammed, 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.039 or beaten and then often left lying on the pavement 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.960 with no attempt made to arrest. Police made it very 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.320 clear that their intent was to punish protesters whether or 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:12.920 not they had legal recourse. It was an exhausting period, however, 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:17.160 and start contrast to the brutality of the nighttime actions, 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:20.440 by August, protesters were spending the days building on the 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:24.200 mutual aid networks that had already existed in Portland and 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.400 expanding them in new ways to support the community. But 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.000 what is mutual aid? To answer that, I'm going to 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.320 turn this over to activists on the ground who were 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:37.200 implementing it. PDX treat Medics formed during the summer, and 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.200 we'll talk more about their work later. But here's their 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:44.120 definition of mutual aid. It's bringing some amount of equity 0:07:44.240 --> 0:07:46.960 where there is none, you know, in this very small 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.520 sense of like the street max. If someone can't afford repairs, 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:53.200 UM usually they would have to go into debt to 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.880 get that repaired at an auto shop, where um usually 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.520 they would be up sold several thousand dollars in repairs 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.760 they don't need. So where we step in, we are 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.880 saving them that bill and then being able to make 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:10.640 sure they're able to keep other needs ment and through 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.400 that action is a small amount of equity where there 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:16.920 would be none. I was just gonna say, kind of 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:22.280 piggybacking off Cyprusus point. Um I I kind of see, 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.920 you know, what we're doing as a you know, I 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:31.040 think it's it's kind of it. It's trying to challenge 0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:34.679 the current system, you know, and in this system is 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:38.959 a system that has so many, so many flaws, and 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:42.520 I think that mutual Aid is kind of trying to 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:48.240 uh address some of those flaws or try to mitigate 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.920 some of those flaws in the sense that you know, 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:55.200 kind of living this we live under capitalism, you know, 0:08:55.240 --> 0:09:00.640 we live under in a system that tolerates you know, homelessness. Uh, 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:05.000 you know we live under yeah, I mean a system 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:12.760 that oppresses so many minorities and stuff like that. Um 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.679 So I think that just what mutual aid is, and 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:19.880 you know, specifically, maybe our role is kind of at 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.240 least the way I see it, is challenging that system 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.920 of capitals and challenging you know, being like hey, like 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.840 you know, you don't you know, We're going to try 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:35.520 to just help people, not based on you know, gaining 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:38.560 anything out of it. We're just helping people because that's 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.280 what we're supposed to do as humans. I think that's 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:45.240 something that we really need to keep in the center 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.880 of reminds me to thinking about mitchial Aid is that 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:52.480 the people who lose the most in our current system 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:57.440 have the tend to have the least ability to change anything. UM. 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:02.040 And that is one of the or like motivating factors 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:06.520 behind mutually UM. Where it is people who are really 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:10.520 like living truly paycheck to paycheck, or don't even have 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.760 any stable income and are living in a car and 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:17.160 it's like slowly slowly breakaking down and there's just nothing 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.000 to do about it. UM. These are the kind of 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.319 situations in which that little bit of extra help can 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:26.760 really mean that that person can continue to have a life, 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.200 and that life can continue to be good, and that 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:31.440 life can continue to be something that's worth fighting for, 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.599 and that way those people can continue to fight for 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:39.840 their own lives. UM. If community support doesn't really happen, 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.800 and mutually it's really just a fancy word for community support. 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:45.760 If that doesn't actually happen, those people aren't going to 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.559 be able to fight because they're trying to survive. And 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.199 we need to be able to get a little bit 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.000 beyond survival in order to really organize and fight and 0:10:54.160 --> 0:10:57.320 resist on the scale that is necessary for dealing with 0:10:57.360 --> 0:11:01.080 the problem that we're basing. Something that I about a 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:03.720 bunch in this ort, in this group is that I 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:08.960 actually sometimes don't think that organizations can provide mutual aid um. 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:13.240 That instead people have to provide mutualate and that because 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:19.400 that principle isn't about like mutually, it's about seeing activity 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:25.679 and women like acting within the um, whereas charity is 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:29.280 all about like creating this other thing. You're providing business, 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:32.439 and there's like a lot of citying and a lot 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:37.719 of like apologizing that happens in that relationship that mutually. Really. 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:41.920 Some mutual aid groups existed in Portland prior to the 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:46.400 George Floyd uprising. As COVID swept the country in spring, 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:50.400 new mutualay organizations popped up all over the city, and 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:52.959 some groups that were already active look for new ways 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.600 to help rose hips. A medic collective has been around 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:00.440 for eleven years. They began making hands and tides are 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.040 in distributing it around the city at the beginning of 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:07.800 the pandemic. As protests intensified, they were to reverse engineer 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:11.560 chemical wives to help with tear gas and pepper spray. 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.560 Medics loaded with cards filled with water, energy drinks, and 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.200 I cleaning kids were a common sight every night. James 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.280 A rose Hip Street medic describes the early days of 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:26.320 the uprisings. Yeah, I remember the first time that I 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:31.640 went to a protest um after the pandemic uh suprising 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:34.880 began to happen at the same time, I think the 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:38.240 Peninsula Park and like, we just brought a bunch of 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:40.240 hand sanitizer, and we're like, I don't know, let's walk 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.360 around and hands hand sanitizer out to people. And we 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.520 also have these masks, so let's hand these things out, 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.360 and like all of our supply was was gone within 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:52.640 like half an hour, and there was a large, a 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.400 whole park full of people at that time. And so, 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:00.600 you know, initially it was just handing out to people 0:13:00.679 --> 0:13:06.119 before the marching began um. And then once the protests 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.240 really picked up steam and started to be responded to 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.240 with more repression, we started to ask ourselves, like what 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:18.720 else can we distributed? Basically, and one thing that treatmatics 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.200 usually do, or or that streament is a really trained 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:23.440 to do, is to flush out people's eyes if they've 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:28.080 been either pepper sprayed or tear gas. But that necessarily 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:34.000 creates aerosolized particles from people's eyeballs because you're squirting water 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.920 into people's eyes high velocity. And so we're like, this 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.079 doesn't feel like a safe activity anymore. Can we hand 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:47.240 out preportioned bottles of our preferred eye wash solution? Yes, 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:50.520 we have all these bottles lying around, and so like, 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.880 let's do that. And then someone asked, you know, these 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.959 these chemical weapons removing wipes, Like what's in these? Can 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.559 we make our own? And then some very smart people 0:14:01.600 --> 0:14:04.360 who are not me like figured out the recipe and 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:10.240 created a whole manufacturing apparatus to produce and distribute huge 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:15.080 numbers of chemical weapons wipes UM every day and so 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:17.920 and then because the demand kept increasing, particularly as the 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:23.160 violence and increased, UM and people use the products, and 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:25.520 then we're like, we really need these. These are great 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:27.840 and people, you know, they saw us around, maybe who 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.320 we were. We started to put our name on things, 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.320 just that was clear that like it's us building up 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.280 this trust community and not some other random group. UM. 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:39.560 Then people started to UM. So just sort of like 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.680 the demand created the whole chain of events, and because 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.080 people already knew us from distributing hand sanitizer, we had 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.640 a lot of good will with UM. I would say, 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:54.680 community groups who wouldn't ordinarily think to themselves radical leftist 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:59.440 street protesters are our people UM, but like churches and 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:02.760 whatnot who a lot of work with people living outside, 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.520 We're like, okay, you seem to be more or less 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:11.560 on the same page with us. So that's how those networks. 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.440 Other groups that were already on the ground were the 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:19.320 PDX General Defense Committee and Defense Fund PDX, who raised 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.520 bail money and helped make sure that protesters made it 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.760 home and jail support waited outside the central precinct every 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:30.840 night with food, hot drinks, and support. The Witches had 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:34.080 already been present before the summer, handing out water bottles 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:37.920 and supplies. Somebody Else's PDX had begun as a coalition 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:43.440 of mutual aid groups. However, when COVID hit, the work 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:48.000 connecting communities and mutual aid expanded. So yeah, at the 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:53.000 beginning of before COVID hit, UH symbiosis was mostly focused 0:15:53.200 --> 0:15:58.560 on UM. At the time, our our project merk or 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:03.800 Munisipalist Go Resiliency Project, where we were working on kind 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:07.880 of UM connect again and with that dual power lens, 0:16:08.400 --> 0:16:14.520 trying to UM consolidate uh like food access and production 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:19.040 infrastructure for the community UM, as well as like doing 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:24.040 some housing rights work UM. When COVID hit, we're a 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:28.320 really small organization UM and immediately just kind of like 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:34.440 called this sixty sixty organ wide coalition call to be like, hey, 0:16:34.640 --> 0:16:37.840 Radical Left, this is a big fucking deal. What do 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:39.760 we want to do about it? How can we support 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:42.240 each other in doing that? And through that work, we 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.480 were able to kind of UM more succinctly find what 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:49.440 gaps in the radical left infrastructure there was, so that 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.160 we could work on filling that need. Part of that 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:59.040 was UM creating uh hubs around town. UH there there 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:01.760 was a few all the existing and stuff. So that's 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:06.680 where we created SHARE or the Symbiosis Hub and Resource 0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:09.320 Exchange program, where we were able to be some of 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:14.320 the first uh first on the ground responders to making 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.400 sure that our communities have the PPE they needed when 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:20.360 we were being told that we that we shouldn't have 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:24.200 PPE because we should save it for other people. So 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:28.760 we we were distributing PPE. We'd organized the solidarity Stitchers, 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:32.320 which we're both producing their own masks and kind of 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:36.119 teaching each other how to sew and learning basic organizing 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.080 skills and how to interact with one another in this 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:43.680 directly democratic way. But we're also activating the community by 0:17:43.720 --> 0:17:48.080 creating these groups. The Solidarity Stitchers group online that allowed 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:52.639 us to then increase our production to being able to 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:57.359 basically hand make masks that nobody could find anywhere, UH 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:02.480 numbering in the thousands, UM and and getting and partnering. 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:07.880 We also created the Solidarity UH Fund UM this Inbiosis 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:13.640 Solidarity Fund, which basically was not only UM giving individuals 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:17.680 in the Portland area who were experiencing economic hardship and 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:21.880 response to the COVID pandemic UM directly. We were giving 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.359 them funds like people who needed medical expenses, covered, people 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:30.320 who needed transportation needs, covered people, et cetera, but as 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.600 well as well as grassroots organizations that needed money to 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:38.600 continue their vital programming for example UH Portland Action Medics 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:42.439 and UH slash the rose Hip Medic Collective. UH we 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:45.800 were able to make sure to get them multiple thousands 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.800 of dollars to continue the hand sanitizer project that they 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:52.920 were doing. From there, we were able to slowly grow 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:57.280 through our our mutual aid program through share and solidarity stitchers, 0:18:57.280 --> 0:19:02.760 the Solidarity Fund into UM also expanding within ourselves sort 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:05.879 of this education and outreach work that we were doing 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:10.600 to further further within our organization and out in in 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:15.199 the general public, educate about communalism, mutual aid, what it 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:18.320 means to be an accomplice, things about the the radical 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:23.000 left movement that have been forgotten or never learned. This 0:19:23.119 --> 0:19:27.679 group to encompass connections with the Warrant Springs Reservation, distributing 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:32.920 supplies PPE and clean water with fires igniting the spirit. 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:36.840 When the water main for the reservation broke when the 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.879 protests began, Symbios's moved to make sure that PPE and 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.439 resources were available there as well. We were printing zines 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:47.919 and showing up at protests UM. At the protests, we 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.480 were also the first group on the ground essentially to 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:56.320 provide PPE, recognizing that yes, this uprising is going to happen, 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.879 regardless of the risk, because the need is that great. 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:02.520 But we're gonna do that and seed a culture of 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:07.000 taking care of each other. UM. So yeah, in distributing 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:11.520 zines and UH and educational material of other sorts, and 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.880 stuff and getting people plugged into organizing other much way 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:17.440 formed in the early days of the protests, fueled by 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:20.960 the desire to help out however possible. Early on, snack 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:23.639 Mom was realized that they were not interested in running 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:25.840 from the police, but they can make sure that the 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:30.040 people in the streets had food and supplies. Uh, snack 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.720 MoMA number one. I go by Shiba um where I 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:39.240 guess we're mutual A. Yeah. Yeah. We hand out snacks 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:42.040 and waters and things that nature. Anything you know, anybody 0:20:42.040 --> 0:20:47.280 would need, uh soot things like that, stash medical supplies, 0:20:49.640 --> 0:20:53.720 any like extra like mass or gas masks or protective 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:57.399 gear that we can possibly get our hands on. Um, 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:00.000 lots of stuff. I mean there's been a lot of 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:02.679 endom stuff that we put out there is whatever the 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:06.480 needs are, but mainly just snacks and drinks. Um. And 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:09.280 I'm snack Mama too. I've already been docks, so I'm 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.680 not even worried about my name. I go by Amanda, 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:16.600 and yeah, that's pretty much what we do, mutual aid. Yeah. 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:21.040 How did you get started, Like when when did you 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.080 first start coming to the out to the protests? Like 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:25.680 how did you get started coming out to the protests. UM, 0:21:25.880 --> 0:21:29.680 what was thetis for you to come out? Well? UM, 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.960 when the whole George Floyd video was released and I've 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:38.480 seen that it was, it was mortified. I cried because 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:40.600 it was it was definitely just hard to watch UM 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:44.440 again again and again and again and again. And this 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:46.840 was just coming the last off for everyone, you know, 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:50.200 I feel like UM. And then there were protests going 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:53.440 on down town. UM, so we went and checked them out. 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:56.880 And then after that we started going out pretty much 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:01.520 every night after that and just checking them out. UM. 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:04.159 I don't exactly remember when it was, but we have 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:07.680 started up with UM, the next partner of mine, now 0:22:08.000 --> 0:22:10.880 he started I remember it was the beginning of June. 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:13.800 I drugged them with me. We wouldn't check it out, 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:18.480 you know. UM. So then after that we had started 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:22.719 cooking where we're cooking downtown. UM. We did that for 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:26.240 like maybe a month too or two. UM. We're what 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:31.639 we're called Don't Starve PDX. Yeah, don't Start UM. Yeah. 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:35.440 So that was us UM. And then August fifteen, there 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:39.919 was a domestic dispute between me and my partner UM, 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:42.359 who was part of Don't Start. It was part of 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:47.720 Don't Start UM. And then after that, I mean, the 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:51.080 the original snack band. He was supposed to get that. UM. 0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.920 And then after the domestic dispute, UM, the owner of 0:22:54.960 --> 0:22:57.119 the van pulled out from underneath him was like, you know, 0:22:57.160 --> 0:23:01.040 I can't support this. UM. Then he offered me the 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:05.920 van and then me and her UM had this van 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.040 and we're like, okay, what can we do with this? UM? 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:12.600 So then that's when we started doing snack Mamas. It 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:14.040 took us a minute to come up with the name, 0:23:15.000 --> 0:23:17.640 but eventually we did. But at that point people kind 0:23:17.640 --> 0:23:19.960 of already knew who we were. UM. So then we 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:22.919 you know, came out with snack Mamas and that's what 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:27.320 we've been doing ever since. Yeah, I remember seeing you 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:31.280 out when you were doing the adult Starve. UM. What 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:34.920 really was just like to feed people? UM? I think 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:38.400 I think we just want to support the movement. And 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:42.119 I mean, honestly, we're a couple of chunky girls. You know, 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:45.679 we were we were no like match for these you 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.639 know officers that are like fit, you know, trying to 0:23:48.720 --> 0:23:51.040 chase us. We're like trying to find like bushes or 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:53.880 like holes die and or you know what I mean. 0:23:53.920 --> 0:23:56.320 We're just like, man, this is like this is too 0:23:56.400 --> 0:23:58.800 much for us because I cannot run. For yeah, the 0:23:58.840 --> 0:24:01.480 first time I know that that isn't for me. Um, 0:24:01.520 --> 0:24:03.800 I'm standing there and all of a sudden, I see 0:24:03.800 --> 0:24:07.399 this metal objects moving towards me and it's on fire 0:24:07.400 --> 0:24:09.480 and it's spinning, and I'm like oh, and I like, 0:24:09.600 --> 0:24:12.840 you know, instantly start freaking out, and I'm like okay, 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:14.359 so you know, I take off and I start running, 0:24:14.400 --> 0:24:17.320 and I'm like, okay, this isn't for me. You know, 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:19.959 I can't outrun objects, I can't outrun the cops, you know, 0:24:20.040 --> 0:24:23.040 so defend. So I just didn't have any gas master 0:24:23.119 --> 0:24:25.280 or anything yet or at that point for like stuffing 0:24:25.280 --> 0:24:27.680 our faces with stuff, trying to breathe still and try 0:24:27.720 --> 0:24:33.960