1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to it could happen here a podcast about well, 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:09,399 Speaker 1: mostly it's about how things are bad, but it is 3 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: also sometimes about what you can do about it. And 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: today we have two people who are in fact doing 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 1: things about it. So with me we have a bar 6 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: and Shanine who are part of the Common Humanity Collective, 7 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: which is a mutual a group out of California, um 8 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:28,520 Speaker 1: clogen B. How how are how are you tally doing today? 9 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:35,279 Speaker 1: Doing well? Thank you? Doing pretty good? Thank you? So yeah, 10 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: we wanted to have you two on to talk about 11 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 1: basically your mutual aid work and then also the sort 12 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: of political aspect of that because I know about something 13 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: YouTube and wanting to talk about that. I've read the 14 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:49,279 Speaker 1: media coverage of it in it does not ever make 15 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: it into the interviews. So yeah, and I guess I 16 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: guess to start. So you two started doing mutual aid 17 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: stuff with with this group, specifically around the beginning of 18 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:01,920 Speaker 1: the pandemic, as I understand you know what, can you 19 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: walk us through how it started and what you guys 20 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: are up to? Absolutely, and I think it's interesting to 21 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:10,720 Speaker 1: trace out the different stages of this work because it's 22 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 1: very much been a kind of evolution. So let me 23 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: go back to the very very early days, and this 24 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: is really the first day of lockdown UM in the 25 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:22,400 Speaker 1: Bay Area where we live. I'm a PhD student at 26 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: UC Berkeley and UM. As COVID was spreading from the 27 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: east coast to the west, we knew that things would 28 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:33,480 Speaker 1: quickly get shut down in California. UM. And there was 29 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: someone in my lab, a good friend named Yvonne, and 30 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: she and I just quickly realized that this pandemic was 31 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 1: going to hit UM. Given the sort of crumbling public 32 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: health infrastructure, the poorest among us, the elderly dispossessed UM, 33 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: these people would be vulnerable. And as p PPE just 34 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: completely disappeared from store shelves, these people UM, especially those 35 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:06,840 Speaker 1: living in cramped housing conditions, those with essential work UH, 36 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: those in nursing homes just would not have access to 37 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: UM the tools they needed to protect themselves from this disease. UM. 38 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: And in the very early days, when we thought that 39 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: the stuff was transmitted via surfaces, UM, all of the 40 00:02:21,440 --> 00:02:25,079 Speaker 1: attention was focused on hand washing, hand sanitizer. The problem 41 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:28,399 Speaker 1: was you couldn't even find hand sanitizer anywhere. So here 42 00:02:28,440 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: we were in our labs and UM, you know, our 43 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:34,920 Speaker 1: few months weren't being used and everyone was getting sent home. 44 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:41,399 Speaker 1: UM and uh, we realized that we could pull ethanol 45 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: from the scientific re agent supply chains and stir up 46 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: some hand sanitizer ourselves in lab and distribute it UM 47 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: just to homeless shelters, to people who needed it in 48 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: the city, etcetera. UM. So this began as a very 49 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,840 Speaker 1: sort of low key, quiet under the cover UM effort. 50 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: And UM. You know, we didn't have a name. We 51 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: didn't even know what mutual aid was. I think we 52 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: were just following our basic instincts UM. And fast forward 53 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: a week or two and suddenly a whole lot of 54 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:21,160 Speaker 1: people got involved. UM. We had this elaborate distribution infrastructure 55 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: which started sort of self assembling. UM. Lots of people 56 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,359 Speaker 1: came to find ways of getting the sanitizer to everyone 57 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: who needed it. In the meantime, we realized that as 58 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: the demand was enormous, we need to come up with 59 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: ways of procuring the supplies UM and mixing it at 60 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: scales that we didn't have to turn anyone down. So 61 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: we called upon lots of different labs on campus and 62 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: asked them if they could do this, if they could 63 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: shift some of their discretionary funds towards getting these chemicals. UM. 64 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: And you know again, within a few weeks after that, 65 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: we were mixing hundreds of gallons of hand sanitizer and 66 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,520 Speaker 1: delivering it to absolutely everyone who needed it. My phone 67 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 1: was just getting UH called NonStop from the moment I 68 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:09,840 Speaker 1: woke up to when I went to sleep, I was 69 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,480 Speaker 1: forgetting to eat, I was barely sleeping. UM. Just responding 70 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: to these cries for help from all over the Bay area. UM. 71 00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: And in that time we met so many people UM 72 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: and we figured out how to do this work efficiently 73 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: and effectively. But also UM, as the attention shifted from 74 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:34,480 Speaker 1: surface transmission to aerosol transmission UM, everyone started realizing that, 75 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: in fact, masks were probably the primary way in which 76 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: we protect ourselves from the coronavirus UM. And that's when 77 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: a good friend of ours, Chris, who was a PhD 78 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: student and he's now a post do brilliant, brilliant creative guy, 79 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:53,040 Speaker 1: came up with ways of actually making sub micron masks 80 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: out of just UH supply chains that weren't getting tapped UM. 81 00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:00,719 Speaker 1: So initially these were shop towels. Then he started looking 82 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:04,279 Speaker 1: at Nani fiber material UM and he found ways of 83 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: for around sixty cents making a mass that was basically 84 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:10,039 Speaker 1: the quality of an N ninety five mass that could 85 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: be made in just a few minutes at home. UM. 86 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:17,040 Speaker 1: And so we suddenly just integrated that whole effort into 87 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,360 Speaker 1: our own and started just recruiting volunteers, sharing all of 88 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:27,200 Speaker 1: our resources, and UM this large assembly network of these 89 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: little pods situated all across the Bay Area, each of 90 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,599 Speaker 1: them with a team lead, with a little army, a 91 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 1: battalion of assembly volunteers and dedicated drivers were just making 92 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 1: thousands of these mass every week, which we were then 93 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: distributing through the the distribution infrastructure that we had UH 94 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,040 Speaker 1: sort of put together earlier on in the pandemic. And 95 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:52,280 Speaker 1: so we found ourselves and this was still very much 96 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:54,799 Speaker 1: in a time when you couldn't even find cloth masks 97 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: or surgical masks and shops, we found ourselves astonishingly being 98 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: the primary source of this essential ppe for tens and 99 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,480 Speaker 1: tens of thousands of people in the Bay Area. And 100 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: as we were covered in the early days by the 101 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:12,760 Speaker 1: Chronicle in the l A Times, loads of people started 102 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: joining the volunteer network. We started getting donations, and UH 103 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:20,800 Speaker 1: that was the earlier stage of what we did, and 104 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: I'll pass it on to Jinine to talk about what 105 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:27,279 Speaker 1: we did next. Yeah. So, kind of as UM Common 106 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: Humanity Collective was working on this project, UM up Bar, 107 00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: myself and a couple other folks started adopting kind of 108 00:06:34,680 --> 00:06:37,279 Speaker 1: a Democratic Socialists of America or East by d S 109 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: a side of what was happening UM and through this project, 110 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: our intent was to UM have a little bit more 111 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,560 Speaker 1: political education and think really critically about how we could 112 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,359 Speaker 1: make this true mutual aid, which a Bar and I 113 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: have learned is really really difficult to do of actually 114 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 1: under capitalism. UM. And so because we started this project 115 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:00,560 Speaker 1: around December, so kind of the height of the pandemic, 116 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:03,279 Speaker 1: we wanted to make it accessible for people who were 117 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,679 Speaker 1: really COVID cautious UM. And so we would assemble kits 118 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 1: of masks in a park with a couple of folks outside, 119 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:13,200 Speaker 1: and then we would drive these kits to people's homes 120 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 1: and get on zoom UM and we would have a 121 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: breakout room for people to learn how to make masks. UM. 122 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: People oftentimes people who had only come to the build 123 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: a couple of times started teaching new folks how to 124 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,000 Speaker 1: build these masks, and in the other room we were 125 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 1: doing readings. UM. We were reading you know, Panna Cook 126 00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: and Jane mclewy b side by side talking about you know, 127 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: trade unions and solidarity unionism. We were reading about tenant 128 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: organizing UM aboard. Do you want to talk about Rosa 129 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: Luxemburg a little bit? Yeah? I mean it was an 130 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 1: amazing thing. We were trying to sort of expand our 131 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: own political consciousness and we did things like host to 132 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: three part series just discussing, examining, analyzing the political theory 133 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: of Rose of Luxembourg. UM. And we had huge participation. 134 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: And this was at a time where in our d 135 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: SA chapter UM and many of the different committees people 136 00:08:08,560 --> 00:08:12,120 Speaker 1: were panicking because no one was showing up UM. And 137 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 1: yet we found an enormous number of people joining our 138 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: effort in these discussions were so energetic and so enthusiastic UM. 139 00:08:22,120 --> 00:08:24,000 Speaker 1: And you know, this was a lonely time. It was 140 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 1: a difficult time, and people seemed to find something and 141 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 1: what we were doing. What do you think about that, Jennie, Yeah, 142 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: and I think you know, not only were people coming 143 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: and participating, right, we had high school students, We had 144 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 1: people who had dedicated the pandemic to reading political theory right, 145 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: and so we have this huge breath of knowledge. We 146 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: have more liberal people joining, We have like anarchists and 147 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 1: communists right like, all in this space that are actually 148 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: talking together. And what was so empowering to me was 149 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:52,959 Speaker 1: everyone felt like they could speak. We had people that 150 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,839 Speaker 1: were really introverted um then in the beginning didn't talk 151 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 1: at all, slowly start to open up. We had high 152 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: schoolers asking really incredible questions, is right, like is revolution 153 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: even possible right now? Um? And kind of getting into 154 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: some of this. And I think one of the most 155 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:09,600 Speaker 1: impactful things was that we had these calls from seven 156 00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:11,920 Speaker 1: to nine at night, and after that we had what 157 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,800 Speaker 1: we called late night, where folks would stay on till 158 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: like twelve at night and talk to each other. And 159 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: in this time of like isolation and depression, I don't 160 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 1: think anyone that I know at least was having a 161 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:27,280 Speaker 1: good time in December, January, February, right people were coming 162 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,559 Speaker 1: together on Zoom and actually staying on Zoom after what 163 00:09:30,600 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: we were doing to feel some type of camaraderie, to 164 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 1: feel like they were part of a community. UM. And 165 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: we were able to actually create that space and I 166 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,599 Speaker 1: think that that was something that to me was really incredible. 167 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,440 Speaker 1: UM And I think, you know, framing this also from 168 00:09:44,520 --> 00:09:46,840 Speaker 1: the George Floyd protests that happened over the summer and 169 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: thinking you know more about abolition, right, thinking more about 170 00:09:49,640 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 1: community building. I don't think you can truly or I 171 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: can't imagine the future without the prison industrial complex, that 172 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,080 Speaker 1: doesn't involve communities of care, that doesn't involve give and 173 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:03,559 Speaker 1: people both the resources and the like love that they 174 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:05,920 Speaker 1: need to be able to not be pushed into situations 175 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:08,760 Speaker 1: where they have to commit crimes and also having accountability 176 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:11,920 Speaker 1: amongst each other. Um. Not to mention right, this work 177 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: is really really hard. People burn out, Like we are 178 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:17,440 Speaker 1: exhausted to be able to create a space where everyone 179 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 1: cares for each other or we're checking in with each 180 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: other where you know, in the beginning of this virtual 181 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:25,839 Speaker 1: mask builds, I think, you know, a bar, myself and 182 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:28,280 Speaker 1: a couple other folks were doing the majority of the work, 183 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:30,440 Speaker 1: and by the end we were doing none of it. 184 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 1: We had like been able to reallocate those tasks, we 185 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 1: had been able to develop leaders, and we had essentially 186 00:10:35,559 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 1: organized ourselves out of a job, which to me is 187 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: like the organizer's dream, right, Like, that's what you really 188 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,960 Speaker 1: want to see happen. UM. And so that's kind of 189 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:46,960 Speaker 1: what was happening on the production side of the mask builds. 190 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: On the distribution side again, we're thinking, how can we 191 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: actually make this true mutual aid UM And so we 192 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: started to partner with Tank Tenant and Neighborhood Councils, which 193 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: is one of the main tenant groups in the Bay Area, 194 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 1: UM and working with them to go to food banks, right, 195 00:11:01,200 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: places where people are generally low income, where they might 196 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:07,080 Speaker 1: not be able to have the resources to get masks, 197 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,560 Speaker 1: and we're distributing masks asking them are you having trouble 198 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:12,400 Speaker 1: with your rent or your landlord? Right? The goal in 199 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:15,480 Speaker 1: this is to give people the tools to organize around 200 00:11:15,559 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: issues that are deeply pertinent and urgent to them, especially 201 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:23,559 Speaker 1: with an impending fiction moratorium, right. And so UM we 202 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:25,960 Speaker 1: learned a lot through this. We went to a lot 203 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,040 Speaker 1: of different food banks we found, um you know, some 204 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,680 Speaker 1: of them were places where people primarily spoke Cantonese and Mandarin, 205 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: and so we you know, used our networks again that 206 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:37,800 Speaker 1: we had created through this project, these relationships of trust 207 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: to find people that spoke Mandarin and we're willing to 208 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: come out, UM and talk with folks. UM. We found 209 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: people that spoke Spanish that we're willing to come out 210 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,679 Speaker 1: and talk with folks. And we started to develop relationships 211 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:51,000 Speaker 1: at these food banks where we were able to distribute 212 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:54,240 Speaker 1: masks to people, talk to them, understand what issues they 213 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: were having, UM, and invite them to come to meetings 214 00:11:57,280 --> 00:11:59,280 Speaker 1: where they could actually get their resources to try and 215 00:11:59,320 --> 00:12:11,560 Speaker 1: tackle some of the issues that they're facing. I brought 216 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: you have more to add on the MASS project. Yeah, 217 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: I think it's worth saying that. UM, we're all very busy. 218 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:22,439 Speaker 1: I'm a PhD student. While we were doing this work. UM, 219 00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:26,199 Speaker 1: you know, in d s A, I was teaching a 220 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:30,199 Speaker 1: class and I was doing research. Janine is a extremely 221 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,559 Speaker 1: busy union organizer. UM. And normally, you know, we'd come 222 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:37,559 Speaker 1: home after work and be absolutely exhausted. UM. And this 223 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: was very tiring, but we felt somehow energized. We felt 224 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:43,560 Speaker 1: driven to do this, and we found that lots of 225 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:46,760 Speaker 1: the other people who participated were also busy with their 226 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,640 Speaker 1: jobs and yet would make time to do this. And UM. 227 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:53,560 Speaker 1: In terms of our actual practice, in terms of trying 228 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:58,200 Speaker 1: to develop the political dimension of the distribution aspect of 229 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:02,120 Speaker 1: our mutual aid. There was a constant interplay between what 230 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: we were reading and what we were practicing. So as 231 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 1: we began working with this radical Tenant Organizing group TANK 232 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: that Jinin mentioned, whose aim is to give tenants the 233 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: tools to form tenant councils and tenant unions in order 234 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: to use tools such as rent strikes to rebalance power 235 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:25,240 Speaker 1: between themselves and their landlords and real estate companies, etcetera. UM. 236 00:13:25,320 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: During that time, during our mask builds, we would then 237 00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: go and read articles in newspaper clippings from you know, 238 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: early twentieth century when there were examples of twenty year 239 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:41,319 Speaker 1: old factory girls in Lower Manhattan organizing groups of apartment 240 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: buildings to go on rent strike, you know, ten thousand 241 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: families in one case, to go on rent strike. These incredible, 242 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:54,680 Speaker 1: deeply inspiring stories UM where people uh suddenly became uh 243 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: subjects of history and not merely objects. And I think 244 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,160 Speaker 1: part of what sustained our own work in this group 245 00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: was some similar feeling and UM At the same time, 246 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:12,120 Speaker 1: when we were trying to imagine future beyond capitalism, we 247 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:16,679 Speaker 1: were looking at moments when that future seemed within reach, 248 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:20,600 Speaker 1: and so we were studying, for example, Paris in ninety, 249 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: which is a moment within many people's living memory, all 250 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: although not our own, um and studying how it was 251 00:14:27,680 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: that these protests began with the student movement and then 252 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 1: spilled out into these massive strikes and all the sort 253 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,320 Speaker 1: of self activity that emerged from that. And there was 254 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: such a wide, wide breath of people who came to 255 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:43,520 Speaker 1: these builds. There were people as young as high schoolers, 256 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: were also much older, people in their seventies and eighties. 257 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: And when we were having this discussion, someone who lived 258 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: through the sixties and witnessed these things very up close 259 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 1: came to talk about Paris in nine six and shared 260 00:14:56,560 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: the wealth of his own experience. And again, all of 261 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: the was driving what we were actually doing with our hands, 262 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 1: what we were doing on the streets, what we were 263 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:09,600 Speaker 1: doing at these food bank lines, um and so it 264 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:12,480 Speaker 1: was very critical that everything we were reading was somehow 265 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:16,760 Speaker 1: feeding into our practice. Yeah, and I think, you know, 266 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,320 Speaker 1: we had over a hundred people participate in these masks builds, 267 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 1: and I think one of the things that I really 268 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: took away from this is again, people were craving that community, 269 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: They were craving relationships, and people came back because they 270 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 1: felt that in this group UM, and that translated also 271 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: as we transitioned right, we had built a culture of 272 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: friendship and of caring for each other that people wanted 273 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 1: to continue working on this. They wanted to continue to 274 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: be a part of this project. As we transitioned UM 275 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: to building air purifiers, right as the UM you know, 276 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,640 Speaker 1: vaccines became more prevalent, masks were still being worn, but 277 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:55,360 Speaker 1: to a lesser degree UM and we started turning to 278 00:15:55,440 --> 00:15:59,880 Speaker 1: fire season UM as these disasters right continued to strike, 279 00:16:00,200 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: especially with climate change only getting worse and worse. One 280 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: of the things that I think is really powerful about 281 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: mutual aid and is really powerful about communities is that 282 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: these disasters have been happening and continue to happen at 283 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: a greater and greater frequency. And I think what I've 284 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: learned from looking at you know, the heat waves that 285 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 1: recently took many lives across the Pacific Northwest, the um 286 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: really really freezing temperatures that happened in Texas about a 287 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: year ago, and especially COVID, is that you know, the government, 288 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: local or federal is not stepping in to help people. 289 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: Billionaires are not really stepping in to help people. It's 290 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,280 Speaker 1: really only communities and networks of relationships that are keeping 291 00:16:38,280 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: people alive. And the only way you know that we're 292 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: going to get through this is through having those relationships, 293 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: through understanding where people need support. And we started to 294 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: do this with the distribution of masks, right is build 295 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: relationships with community members in you know, fruit Vale in Oakland, 296 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: which is not a large, not a place that many 297 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:02,000 Speaker 1: people from d s A or from TANK are living currently, right, 298 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: and starting to build relationships with people that do need 299 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,239 Speaker 1: these resources in times of crisis, UM, so that we 300 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:11,960 Speaker 1: know where we can plug in and also build relationships 301 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:14,480 Speaker 1: amongst our fellow organizers so that we can support each 302 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,800 Speaker 1: other through these disasters. UM. And so as we transitioned 303 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,480 Speaker 1: to the air purifiers, we started you know, thinking about 304 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,160 Speaker 1: everything we have learned from the mass project and kind 305 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,120 Speaker 1: of making that even bigger and better. And how can 306 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: we you know, continue to take what we've learned and 307 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,920 Speaker 1: change it and turn it into something really really incredible. 308 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:39,879 Speaker 1: And UM, we you know Chris who Abar mentioned before, 309 00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:41,879 Speaker 1: who came up with the masks, came up with a 310 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:47,600 Speaker 1: really incredible way to make air purifiers that like ridiculously efficient. 311 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:52,639 Speaker 1: UM is really really useful, especially for wildfire smoke, but 312 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:55,439 Speaker 1: also for just people with asthma. There's a lot of 313 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,000 Speaker 1: environmental pollution in the Bay area right These things can 314 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 1: be used UM year round. And we began to build 315 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,280 Speaker 1: these air purifiers out of you know, box fans and 316 00:18:05,320 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: help a filters UM with a shroud with weather stripping 317 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,480 Speaker 1: right to make the air like only go through the fan, 318 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 1: to make it extremely efficient. And UM started to think 319 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,920 Speaker 1: about how can we make this like community aspect even 320 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 1: bigger at least this is what I was thinking of 321 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:23,359 Speaker 1: because I had started to realize, right, I think the 322 00:18:23,400 --> 00:18:25,120 Speaker 1: only thing that we can rely on is each other 323 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 1: right now, especially UM. And so we started bringing in 324 00:18:28,720 --> 00:18:31,439 Speaker 1: a bunch of different groups to come to these builds 325 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: we have, you know, East Bay d s A. We 326 00:18:33,119 --> 00:18:36,000 Speaker 1: started working really closely with Sunrise and developed a level 327 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 1: of trust and reciprocity in that relationship that has you know, 328 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: continued to be really beneficial to us UM and really helpful. 329 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: We met amazing people that came out. You know, they've 330 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: helped fundraise for US as our funding has gotten really 331 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: really low because these air purifiers are not cheap, though 332 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,719 Speaker 1: they're much cheaper than commercially available, but we're you know, 333 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:57,919 Speaker 1: giving them to folks for free because we want this 334 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 1: to be mutual aid UM and so working with Sunrise, 335 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: we're working with Asians for Black Lives UM Berkeley, Mutual 336 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:12,240 Speaker 1: Aid MASK Oakland UM who both came out to our 337 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: builds but also helped us distribute air purifiers to Reno 338 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:17,440 Speaker 1: and to places that had you know a qu i 339 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 1: s of five hundred right when fire season was so bad, 340 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 1: when the smoke there was just like unlivable. UM. We 341 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: were able to work with them to distribute these air 342 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,680 Speaker 1: purifiers where people really needed them most. UM. We were 343 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: able to you know, continue to work with tank UM. 344 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:36,959 Speaker 1: Some folks from the i w W came out. We 345 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:40,560 Speaker 1: were able to distribute these air purifiers to the Sagorata 346 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:43,960 Speaker 1: Land Trust, which is UM a land trust that is 347 00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: run by Indigenous women UM and is working on essentially 348 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: giving UM indigenous land back to Indigenous people. We were 349 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: able to distribute with critical resistance and amazing abolitionist groups 350 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,600 Speaker 1: started by Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Angela Davis in Oakland, 351 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: we were able to distribute UM to s r oh UM, 352 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:06,719 Speaker 1: a group that is working with UM Low income, Chinese 353 00:20:06,760 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: immigrants in San Francisco who are generally living in single 354 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:14,160 Speaker 1: family homes right with really bad air quality, um, and 355 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,080 Speaker 1: work with like all of these different groups. You know, 356 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: Berkeley Mutual Aid were pulling in people from just countless 357 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,479 Speaker 1: networks to come and build air purifiers together. Um. And 358 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: we had you know, an ex black panther talking to 359 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,600 Speaker 1: someone from Sunrise from San Francisco. Right Like these just 360 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: wild connections, um, that are happening at these builds of 361 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:41,199 Speaker 1: people who are deeply political and people who are barely understanding, 362 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,439 Speaker 1: um you know what socialism means, but are wanting to 363 00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 1: come out and do something for their community. Um. And 364 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,960 Speaker 1: through these relationships and networks again, like we're able to 365 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: hang out after the builds, people are able to enjoy themselves. 366 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: Everyone said they were having a really fun time. Even 367 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: though we were like literally doing work on a Saturday. 368 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,960 Speaker 1: People were still like, this is so fun. We had 369 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,359 Speaker 1: you know, people baking bread and like fruit tarts and 370 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: cheesecakes and bringing it. Uh. We had so we had music. 371 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:12,919 Speaker 1: It was like a very fun atmosphere and environment. And 372 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,600 Speaker 1: despite the fact that you know, it was physical labor 373 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: and it was taxing and a lot of times it 374 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:20,439 Speaker 1: was on hot days. UM. People stayed for you know, 375 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:23,880 Speaker 1: four hours to help do this and to do this 376 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,480 Speaker 1: work because they cared, because they wanted to see, um, 377 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:29,880 Speaker 1: you know, what they could be able to do. And 378 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,000 Speaker 1: they also I think started to build relationships. UM. I know, 379 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 1: you know, countless people talked to a Bra and I 380 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,280 Speaker 1: and had no idea. You know, we've known each other 381 00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:39,359 Speaker 1: for less than a year now, UM, and they thought 382 00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,200 Speaker 1: we'd known each other our whole lives. And I think 383 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:44,600 Speaker 1: that really speaks, right. I think that speaks so much 384 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: to the relationships that we've been able to build through this. 385 00:21:47,880 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: And you know, I think a Bra and I have 386 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: met countless people and have developed like an incredible community 387 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: through this work. UM. That definitely helps me keep going. 388 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:00,040 Speaker 1: I would definitely not be able to continue to do 389 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:02,680 Speaker 1: this work if I couldn't you know, call Librara. But 390 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,480 Speaker 1: nine pm and we talked for three hours, and we complain, 391 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:07,600 Speaker 1: but we also talked through like what are we doing 392 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: and how can it be better? And how can we 393 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,520 Speaker 1: you know, get through this roadblock? UM? And I saw 394 00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: that in countless places. UM. As we moved to our 395 00:22:16,359 --> 00:22:19,480 Speaker 1: own distribution, so we're partnering with these organizations, but we're 396 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,399 Speaker 1: also doing our own distribution UM, which I think is 397 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,400 Speaker 1: like a huge experiment and how to actually do mutual aid, 398 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:28,320 Speaker 1: which UM is something that you know, when we talked 399 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:31,239 Speaker 1: to the organizers in our circles, we weren't finding answers too, 400 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 1: and so we kind of realized, like we just have 401 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,000 Speaker 1: to kind of try and figure this out. But we 402 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: would go out and do these distributions and afterwards, you know, 403 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:39,720 Speaker 1: have lunch with people and talk to each other, like 404 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,120 Speaker 1: what could we do better? What are we doing wrong? 405 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:44,640 Speaker 1: Is this mutual aid? Like these are questions we're having 406 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: right after we've been standing in the sun talking to 407 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: people for three hours. Like the dedication of the people 408 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: involved in this, like a Oar said, most of us 409 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 1: are working forty fifty sixty hour weeks and yet we're 410 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,480 Speaker 1: dedicating constant time during the week and at least one 411 00:22:58,560 --> 00:23:02,280 Speaker 1: day every weekend to either distribution or a build UM 412 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,120 Speaker 1: is incredible. I feel like incredibly honored to be able 413 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: to work with the people that we've been working with UM. 414 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: But in our distribution, we started thinking about, you know, 415 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,360 Speaker 1: how can we invite some of these people to come 416 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,120 Speaker 1: to our builds. Maybe that's the reciprocity. I think true 417 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 1: mutual aid is really about believing that the people that 418 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: were distributing to can also give back to us, rather 419 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: than seeing them as like helpless UM. And so we 420 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:31,360 Speaker 1: continue to do some of our distributions with tank UM 421 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,720 Speaker 1: and actually we were able to do some of these 422 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: distributions in a way that helped new buildings who were 423 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: just starting to form tenant councils. UM. You know, use 424 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:42,960 Speaker 1: the air purifiers as a way to open up conversation 425 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:44,800 Speaker 1: with some of these people and say, hey, you're building 426 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 1: is being organized. Remember how the fire season was last year, right, Like, 427 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: this is something that you can use, and let's talk 428 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,399 Speaker 1: more about other tools that we can use, coming together 429 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,160 Speaker 1: to really fight for changes that we can't necessarily make 430 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: on our own. UM. So that was happening, and then 431 00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: we also decided to look at data around where in 432 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 1: Oakland or asthma rates really high, Where in Oakland is 433 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,159 Speaker 1: air pollution really bad, and where in Oakland is it 434 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:11,760 Speaker 1: primarily lower income folks? Right, we want to be giving 435 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: these air purifiers to people who can't generally afford a 436 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,280 Speaker 1: hundred to two hundred dollar air purifier. UM and so 437 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,360 Speaker 1: East Oakland was one of those places. And again through 438 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: this network that we had built through the Mask build, 439 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 1: we had a connection in East Oakland someone that had 440 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:28,959 Speaker 1: UM that is part of East by ds A right, 441 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,800 Speaker 1: that had done a lot of community organizing, and someone 442 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,040 Speaker 1: that was actually able to, you know, send out an 443 00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 1: email to her neighborhood and say, hey, we have air purifiers. 444 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:41,440 Speaker 1: And so we had people posting up at her house. UM. 445 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: So you know, we were coming into a neighborhood that 446 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:46,159 Speaker 1: was not our own, which in some ways UM, you know, 447 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:48,520 Speaker 1: there's a lot of complications to that, UM, but we 448 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: were also able to do it at someone's house that 449 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:52,920 Speaker 1: we knew UM. And our goal in this was to 450 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,680 Speaker 1: get people to come to our builds to make air 451 00:24:55,720 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 1: purifiers for themselves and for their family, their community, their friends, 452 00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:02,679 Speaker 1: so that we then don't have to go into those neighborhoods, right, 453 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,000 Speaker 1: so that they can then start to own that distribution 454 00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:09,320 Speaker 1: and own this project and like feel an autonomy over it. UM. 455 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,879 Speaker 1: And so we also kind of door knocked around the 456 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: neighborhood talking to people about the air purifiers, about wildfire smoke, 457 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,359 Speaker 1: about coming out to a build, you know, about why 458 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,119 Speaker 1: this is really important, um, why we need people to 459 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: engage in this project. UM. And we distributed almost a 460 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:32,679 Speaker 1: hundred air purifiers that day, I think folks in that community. 461 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:36,439 Speaker 1: And after that that week, UM, so we distributed on 462 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,639 Speaker 1: Sunday and then um a week later on Saturday, we 463 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 1: would have a build. So within that week, right, we're 464 00:25:41,800 --> 00:25:44,639 Speaker 1: calling everyone that we distributed to saying, hey, how is 465 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: your air porifier working? Can you come out to a build. 466 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 1: It's really really valuable that you come out to a 467 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:51,800 Speaker 1: build so that you can make sure that your community 468 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: has clean air to breathe, especially during fire season. Um. 469 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: And through these calls, right, I talked to someone who 470 00:25:57,680 --> 00:26:00,639 Speaker 1: lived in East Oakland for an hour and this person 471 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,080 Speaker 1: just started opening up and was so touched that we 472 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,360 Speaker 1: had done this and basically said, you know, no one 473 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: has ever cared for my community like this, No one 474 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,119 Speaker 1: has ever even thought about us. Right. And you see, 475 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:14,160 Speaker 1: like there are nonprofits right California was giving out air 476 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:18,160 Speaker 1: purifiers to certain people, like there's a semblance of the structure. 477 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,720 Speaker 1: And yet we were actually interfacing with these people who 478 00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: seemed to have no idea that any of this was 479 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:24,399 Speaker 1: happening right there, saying you know, no one else has 480 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:26,399 Speaker 1: been able to do this UM, and we're starting to 481 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:30,239 Speaker 1: form relationships and develop connections in these neighborhoods and make 482 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:34,199 Speaker 1: people feel cared for and follow up UM And despite 483 00:26:34,240 --> 00:26:36,199 Speaker 1: all of this work, right, no one shows up to 484 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 1: our bill that week UM, and I think Obra and 485 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: I both felt pretty defeated, right, Like is mutually possible? 486 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: What are we doing wrong? Clearly? Like class and racial 487 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,360 Speaker 1: barriers are really hard to overcome in this UM. And 488 00:26:49,440 --> 00:26:52,520 Speaker 1: you know, we're talking to our ex black panther friend 489 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,520 Speaker 1: that has continued to be a huge part of this project, 490 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: and he was like, you're you know, you have to 491 00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:00,520 Speaker 1: keep trying. You're doing the right things. And so we 492 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:04,000 Speaker 1: went to West Oakland again where we had a connection 493 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:07,960 Speaker 1: from our mass project that helped us set up in 494 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:12,200 Speaker 1: front of this corner next to UM, a vegan cafe 495 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:16,680 Speaker 1: that serves trans poc for free UM and has really 496 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,080 Speaker 1: wonderful food. We're able to talk with them, give them 497 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: air purifier as they allowed us to UM kind of 498 00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 1: set up shop in front of their store. And there's 499 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:26,960 Speaker 1: also like a liquor store on this corner. It's like 500 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,440 Speaker 1: a very busy corner in West Oakland. UM and kind 501 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:33,240 Speaker 1: of did the same thing. We're handing out air purifiers, 502 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: talking to people about the build, talking to people about UM, 503 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: you know why this is important. And we're also door 504 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: knocking in the neighborhood, talking to folks UM at their homes, 505 00:27:42,560 --> 00:27:45,720 Speaker 1: UM asking people, you know, who needs an air purifier? Right, Like, 506 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:48,440 Speaker 1: these communities generally know each other really well, and we're 507 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 1: able to talk to people who are like, oh, my gosh, 508 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:51,639 Speaker 1: you know, like my aunt lives over there and her 509 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: kid has asthma, and like you should go talk with her. UM. 510 00:27:54,960 --> 00:27:57,600 Speaker 1: And so we start to develop these connections and kind 511 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:01,359 Speaker 1: of map out the neighborhood and UM, you know, again 512 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:03,920 Speaker 1: we're following up. We're talking to these people on the phone, 513 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:06,719 Speaker 1: we're asking them to come out to the build. And 514 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: we went out to this neighborhood again. So the second 515 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: time we went out, UM, I started to recognize people, right, 516 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:14,480 Speaker 1: and I started to be able to talk with people 517 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,120 Speaker 1: and UM. Through I was kind of like door knocking, 518 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:19,960 Speaker 1: UM while people were posted up by the liquor store 519 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:23,080 Speaker 1: and this Beacon cafe and UH there was like a 520 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:25,520 Speaker 1: church service going on and I recognized one of the 521 00:28:25,560 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: people there, and he recognized me, and we were able 522 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 1: to talk, and he was really grateful for the work 523 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:31,800 Speaker 1: that we were doing. And he started calling his friends 524 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:33,919 Speaker 1: over and be like, hey, you know, do you all 525 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,760 Speaker 1: need an air purifier? Remember how a bad fire season 526 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,320 Speaker 1: was last year, And also like we should all go 527 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: to this build next time. UM, you know, we should 528 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: actually be showing up and helping out um. And words 529 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:49,360 Speaker 1: spread so quickly, like these communities are so deeply connected, UM, 530 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:53,479 Speaker 1: at least from what I like witnessed and UM that 531 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:56,000 Speaker 1: week again, right, we called everyone. We said, like, you know, 532 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,160 Speaker 1: we really think it's valuable for you all to come 533 00:28:58,160 --> 00:28:59,720 Speaker 1: out to a build. We want to give you like 534 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: ownership and autonomy over this in a world where I 535 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: think so often you feel so little autonomy UM, and 536 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: so little power when everything feels like it's crumbling. Right, 537 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: to have some semblance of ownership and autonomy, to be 538 00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: able to um do something that is immediately like visible 539 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:20,040 Speaker 1: and real UM feels really powerful. Right when sometimes you know, uh, 540 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:24,080 Speaker 1: talking to elected officials is moving too slowly because disasters 541 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: are happening so quickly. There is a need to balance 542 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: immediate need and system change, right, And I think you 543 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,320 Speaker 1: have to constantly hold both, um, but you know, we're 544 00:29:33,360 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: talking to these folks, were asking them to come to 545 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: the build, and um, we actually had a couple of 546 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: people come out to our build from our distribution, people 547 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,000 Speaker 1: that had a really amazing time, People that you know 548 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: said that they enjoyed being there um and took air 549 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,200 Speaker 1: purifiers back and gave them out to their friends and family. UM. 550 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 1: And we're able to say, you know, I made this right, 551 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: Like this is something valuable, but also I understand how 552 00:29:57,600 --> 00:29:59,920 Speaker 1: it works. And I talked to one of these people. 553 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: Our next build is actually on his birthday, and he 554 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:06,040 Speaker 1: was like, I really want to come out on my birthday. 555 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: I really want to come out and help people and 556 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,800 Speaker 1: do this thing that has been enjoyable. Um. And it 557 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 1: is also like helping people, And that to me was right, 558 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 1: Like that someone wants to come on their birthday to 559 00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:22,960 Speaker 1: like build air purifiers on a Saturday when most of 560 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 1: these people are you know, working forty two however many 561 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:29,480 Speaker 1: hours a week that they're willing to continue to even 562 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: work on a Saturday, I think is a huge feat um. 563 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: And it's something that's definitely felt really really powerful in 564 00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 1: this Yeah, I think something that Jannine brings out is 565 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 1: really important, which is that UM, at every stage we've 566 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:57,560 Speaker 1: been sort of interrogating and examining the work we're doing 567 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,120 Speaker 1: and asking whether we are truly drawing out the full 568 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:05,160 Speaker 1: political potential of our work. So in the earlier days, 569 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:08,680 Speaker 1: when we were just stirring up that sanitizer and getting 570 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:12,360 Speaker 1: out these masks, you know, we did a lot, and 571 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: you know, this network of volunteers comprised well over two 572 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:21,480 Speaker 1: hundred people, and it was sort of consuming all of 573 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: our time. But eventually we realized that to a large degree, 574 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:28,840 Speaker 1: we were basically just acting as a stopgap measure for 575 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:33,320 Speaker 1: government austerity, for the big gaps left behind by this 576 00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:39,680 Speaker 1: extremely problematic nonprofit industrial complex, and the work we were 577 00:31:39,680 --> 00:31:42,960 Speaker 1: doing then we realized was sort of susceptible to co 578 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:47,080 Speaker 1: optation UM and it didn't necessarily represent too much of 579 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:54,080 Speaker 1: a threat to capitalist hegemony and UM. At that point, 580 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:57,360 Speaker 1: you know, we shifted into DSA, and we started bringing 581 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:01,760 Speaker 1: in a very sort of explicit uh political education component 582 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 1: and started associating with an organization like Tank which is 583 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:10,560 Speaker 1: already been doing UM really incredible radical organizing in the 584 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:14,000 Speaker 1: Bay Area. But eventually ran up against the limits of 585 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:16,200 Speaker 1: that as well, and you know, d Essay is an 586 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:20,080 Speaker 1: organization where a lot of us initially learned our politics, 587 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 1: but you know, and its current sort of stage, it's 588 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 1: characterized by a strong degree in our chapter of sort 589 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 1: of democratic centralism, and most of the effort is being 590 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 1: put towards electoral work and reform work, and everything that 591 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,640 Speaker 1: we were reading about seemed to point towards the extreme 592 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:40,200 Speaker 1: limits of that form of organizing, and how these forms 593 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: of organizing in fact represented sometimes the more reactionary elements 594 00:32:45,080 --> 00:32:47,560 Speaker 1: of the left in earlier moments in history, and we 595 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,160 Speaker 1: wanted to go beyond that. And so we realized that 596 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: we were spending a lot of time having to just 597 00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:53,959 Speaker 1: sort of defend the work that we were doing. So 598 00:32:54,040 --> 00:32:58,160 Speaker 1: eventually we just decided to uh sort of reassert our autonomy. 599 00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:01,240 Speaker 1: And as we shifted into the Air Purifier chapter of 600 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:05,400 Speaker 1: our work, that's what we were doing, and um our 601 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:10,840 Speaker 1: inspirations are manifold. And as we were reading about these 602 00:33:10,840 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 1: earlier moments in history, something which UM had an extraordinary 603 00:33:16,640 --> 00:33:20,080 Speaker 1: effect on me was studying the example of the Spanish 604 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:25,680 Speaker 1: Revolution in and suddenly I was reading about this moment 605 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 1: in history that's been more or less erased from most 606 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:32,600 Speaker 1: of our textbooks are presented UM in a very kind 607 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: of dishonest form UM. And what these workers and peasants 608 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:41,479 Speaker 1: had done in the midst of fascist takeover was create 609 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: on an enormous scale, UM, the perhaps the most egalitarian 610 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: society that I've ever read about, which truly represented UM 611 00:33:54,880 --> 00:33:59,920 Speaker 1: a sort of liberatory, radical, early form of anti if 612 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:04,560 Speaker 1: oraitarian socialism that stands in tremendous contrast to the much 613 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:10,040 Speaker 1: uglier h forms of so called socialism that we've seen 614 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: appear in the twentieth century. And what I noticed was 615 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:18,480 Speaker 1: that this society in Spain in n six was absolutely 616 00:34:18,520 --> 00:34:23,600 Speaker 1: replete with mutual aid, and these kind of anarchist tendencies 617 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,600 Speaker 1: had UM sort of penetrated the consciousness of many of 618 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:31,680 Speaker 1: the workers and peasants in Spain, you know, sixty years 619 00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 1: before the revolution. After UM Bakunin in the First International 620 00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:39,719 Speaker 1: sent out an emissary to start spreading these ideas, and 621 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:43,720 Speaker 1: they took whole like wildfire and spread across the country. 622 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:45,120 Speaker 1: I think I think one of one of the most 623 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,279 Speaker 1: incredible things about that story is the the guy they 624 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,080 Speaker 1: gets sent from Italy like from as as the representative 625 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,719 Speaker 1: and now again because yeah, he doesn't speak Spanish, right, 626 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: he only speaks Italian, and he he he should stif 627 00:34:56,520 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: at this place, right, and he's he's, he's such a 628 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:02,480 Speaker 1: sort of brilliant order and and the sort of like 629 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,000 Speaker 1: the power of the ideas that he has is so 630 00:35:05,080 --> 00:35:08,440 Speaker 1: strong that you know it it breaks through the language barrier, 631 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:10,799 Speaker 1: and it's it's this sort of I think, it's just 632 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,239 Speaker 1: this incredible moments that you know, I think, I think 633 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:14,840 Speaker 1: times into a lot of a lot of what you 634 00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:17,080 Speaker 1: two are running into with, you know, I mean, we 635 00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: still live in a place that's you know, incredibly defined 636 00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:22,000 Speaker 1: by language bears, and just the ability to break through 637 00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 1: that becomes it gives you this just incredible potential of 638 00:35:26,719 --> 00:35:29,600 Speaker 1: power and organization. Yeah, Chrise, you don't know how much 639 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,759 Speaker 1: it means to me to hear someone who's as familiar 640 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,000 Speaker 1: with this as you. Most of the time when I 641 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:38,160 Speaker 1: talk about it's just total blank faces, even among my 642 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:41,959 Speaker 1: friends and comrades on the left. And unfortunately, but yeah, 643 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,840 Speaker 1: I mean reading about Finelli, who didn't speak a word 644 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,760 Speaker 1: of Spanish and he just went and with his wild 645 00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:53,799 Speaker 1: gesticulations and his passionate rhetoric was able to basically inspire 646 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:58,759 Speaker 1: people with the radical politics that he came there to represent. 647 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:01,520 Speaker 1: And it's somehow then took on a life of its own. 648 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 1: Is kind of an extraordinary thing. And what I would 649 00:36:03,680 --> 00:36:06,160 Speaker 1: do to take a time machine back and just see 650 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:08,799 Speaker 1: what this guy. You know, he slept on trains and 651 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:11,560 Speaker 1: basically lived as a tramp as he went from village 652 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 1: to village, spreading the word what what this looked like? 653 00:36:14,600 --> 00:36:17,600 Speaker 1: What was he doing? Um? And yet these ideas took 654 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:24,080 Speaker 1: hold in aw only deep way and UM. These notions 655 00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 1: of solidarity, mutual aid, cooperation, free association existed by the 656 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,359 Speaker 1: time of the Spanish Revolution in ninety six. So these 657 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:37,359 Speaker 1: sort of dual power counter institutions were more or less 658 00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:41,759 Speaker 1: in place. And these are the things which UM were 659 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:47,719 Speaker 1: the basis the precondition for this sweeping egalitarian social revolution 660 00:36:47,840 --> 00:36:51,920 Speaker 1: that then unfolded, which was unfortunately destroyed by force. UM. 661 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,320 Speaker 1: But this was the sort of society that I imagined 662 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:59,160 Speaker 1: I might actually want to live UM and and UH. 663 00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:02,399 Speaker 1: And what you see is that there is a deep 664 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:07,839 Speaker 1: element to UM, a sort of shared consciousness that existed 665 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:10,400 Speaker 1: at that time. And it was quite an effort for 666 00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:13,919 Speaker 1: people to bring that consciousness from sort of the countryside 667 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: where it took hold more nash naturally into sort of 668 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:22,840 Speaker 1: the industrial um centers, the metropolitan areas where people working 669 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,319 Speaker 1: in factories were um, you know, found it a lot 670 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:29,360 Speaker 1: more difficult to sort of exercise these um values because 671 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,360 Speaker 1: these things are effectively bled out of them as a 672 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:37,360 Speaker 1: work on the factory floor. And um that brought a 673 00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:40,439 Speaker 1: whole different meaning to the work that we were doing now, 674 00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:44,239 Speaker 1: and we wondered, what can we do to uh inculcate, 675 00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:48,040 Speaker 1: to nurture this kind of consciousness among the people with 676 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:51,399 Speaker 1: whom we're interacting as we do our mutual aid, as 677 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:54,160 Speaker 1: we do our distributions, as we hold these builds that 678 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:57,040 Speaker 1: you know, even though we had trouble getting initially a 679 00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:59,120 Speaker 1: few of the people from our distributions to show up, 680 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:03,040 Speaker 1: there were still sixties seventy people showing up every other weekend. 681 00:38:03,080 --> 00:38:05,719 Speaker 1: And now we finally started having the people that were 682 00:38:05,760 --> 00:38:12,600 Speaker 1: distributing extraordinarily surprising and exciting and yeah, this has been 683 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:15,160 Speaker 1: it could happen here. Join us tomorrow for part two 684 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:17,560 Speaker 1: of this interview. Well, we'll go more in death in 685 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:21,239 Speaker 1: the political side, common humanity collectives work. Meanwhile, you can 686 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:23,799 Speaker 1: find us on Twitter that happened here pod and also 687 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:26,360 Speaker 1: on Instagram the same place, and you can find the 688 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:28,160 Speaker 1: rest of her work your cool Zone Media in the 689 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:34,360 Speaker 1: same places. It could happen here as a production of 690 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:37,320 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media, but more podcasts from cool Zone Media. 691 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:39,879 Speaker 1: Visit our website cool zone media dot com, or check 692 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:42,239 Speaker 1: us out on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 693 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,280 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources 694 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:47,919 Speaker 1: for It could Happen here, updated monthly at cool zone 695 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,720 Speaker 1: Media dot com slash sources. Thanks for listening.