1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media book Club book Club book Club. Hello 2 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:12,959 Speaker 1: and welcome to coolels On Media book Club, the only 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 1: book club where you don't have to do the reading 4 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: because I do it for you. Normally, on here we 5 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 1: read fiction, but we've been talking about doing some nonfiction, 6 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: and so we're going to do it. We're going to 7 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: do nonfiction. This story isn't made up. It's factual. I 8 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 1: don't know if it's factual. I don't know if it's 9 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,880 Speaker 1: built out of facts. Whatever, it is my absolute honor 10 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: and delight to bring you some excerpts from Dean spades 11 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: book Mutual Aid. The whole book is absolutely worth reading. 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: If you don't want to read a book called mutual 13 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 1: Aid that's from nineteen hundred, you can read a book 14 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: called mutual Aid that's from this very decade that we 15 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: live in. It's a short, accessible, practical book full of 16 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: really good advice for how to organize just about anything. 17 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 1: Dean Spades Mutual Aid. And I know we're a little 18 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 1: late for New Year's resolutions, but if your resolution this 19 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:06,880 Speaker 1: year was to get involved in an activist project, this 20 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: book is a great guide. And we're not reading the 21 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: whole thing. You still have to go out and get it, 22 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: but we'll read useful parts of it. And it just 23 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: so happened that the schedule landed this way. But it 24 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: feels particularly poignant to do these episodes this week as 25 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: we're watching people effectively fight off a full scale invasion 26 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: of the Twin Cities at the hands of ice agents, 27 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: like people are using underground networks of mutual aid to 28 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: minimize the damage and fight back against this stuff. And 29 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 1: so this reading that we're doing today speaks to you, 30 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,759 Speaker 1: and you haven't yet, you should check out our coverage 31 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: of the rapid response of mutual aid networks that are 32 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:44,559 Speaker 1: coming out of Minneapolis, and Saint Paul me and James 33 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 1: Stout went up there last week to cover those things, 34 00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: and so both it could happen here and cool people 35 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: who did cool stuff have content about that. Today I 36 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: will be reading some excerpts from part one of Dean 37 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,560 Speaker 1: Spadeses mutual Aid, which mostly covers what mutual aid is 38 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: and some examples of how it has manifested within social movements. 39 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: We'll do some excerpts from part two next week, which 40 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 1: has more just general good advice for organizing, and obviously 41 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: we can't read the whole book. Here by. You should 42 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: go pick up a copy if you can. But also 43 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,640 Speaker 1: the PDF is up on the Anarchist Library, which is 44 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: a free site full of more reading than you'll ever 45 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: be able to do in your life, honestly, but it 46 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: has Dean Spades's Mutual Aid without further ado. Excerpts from 47 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: Mutual Aid by Dean Spade introduction. Crisis conditions require bold tactics. 48 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: The contemporary political moment is defined by emergency acute crises 49 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: like the COVID nineteen pandemic and climate change induced fires, floods, 50 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:53,919 Speaker 1: and storms, as well as the ongoing crises of racist criminalization, 51 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:59,519 Speaker 1: brutal immigration enforcement, endemic gender violence, and severe wealth in 52 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,960 Speaker 1: a quality threaten the survival of people around the globe. 53 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 1: Government policies actively produce and exacerbate the harm, inadequately respond 54 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,440 Speaker 1: to crises, and ensure that certain populations bear the brunt 55 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: of pollution, poverty, disease, and violence. In the face of this, 56 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,639 Speaker 1: more and more ordinary people are feeling called to respond 57 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,680 Speaker 1: in their communities, creating bold and innative ways to share 58 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 1: resources and support vulnerable neighbors. This survival work when done 59 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: in conjunction with social movements making transformative change is called 60 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: mutual aid. Mutual aid has been part of all large, 61 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: powerful social movements, and it has a particularly important role 62 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: to play right now as we face unprecedented dangers and 63 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: opportunities for mobilization. Mutual aid gives people a way to 64 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 1: plug into movements based on their immediate concerns, and it 65 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: produces social spaces where people grow new solidarities. At its best, 66 00:04:00,280 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: mutual aid actually produces new ways of living where people 67 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: get to create systems of care and generosity that address 68 00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:11,520 Speaker 1: harm and foster well being. This book is about mutual aid. 69 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 1: It explains why it is so important, what it looks like, 70 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,359 Speaker 1: and how to do it. It provides a grassroot theory 71 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,240 Speaker 1: of mutual aid, as well as concrete tools for addressing 72 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: some of the most difficult questions facing mutual aid groups, 73 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,360 Speaker 1: such as how to work in groups and make decisions together, 74 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: how to prevent and address conflict, and how to deal 75 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: with burnout so that we can build a lasting mobilization 76 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:40,640 Speaker 1: that can win Liberation. Movements have two big jobs right now. First, 77 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,960 Speaker 1: we need to organize to help people survive the devastating 78 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: conditions unfolding every day. Second, we need to mobilize hundreds 79 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,840 Speaker 1: of millions of people for resistance so we can tackle 80 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:56,320 Speaker 1: the underlying causes of these crises. In this pivotal moment, 81 00:04:56,800 --> 00:05:02,600 Speaker 1: movements can strengthen mobilizing new people to fight back against cops, immigration, enforcement, 82 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:10,039 Speaker 1: welfare authorities, landlords, budget cuts, polluters, the defence industry, prison profiteers, 83 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: and right wing groups. The way to tackle these two 84 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 1: big tasks, meeting people's needs and mobilizing them for resistance 85 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: is to create mutual aid projects and get lots of 86 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,839 Speaker 1: people to participate in them. Social movements that have built 87 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:28,000 Speaker 1: power and one major change have all included mutual aid, 88 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:30,359 Speaker 1: yet it is often a part of movement work that 89 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: is less visible and less valued. In this moment, our 90 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: ability to build mutual aid will determine whether we win 91 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: the world we long for or dive further into crisis. 92 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:44,559 Speaker 1: We can imagine what is possible when we come together 93 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,720 Speaker 1: in this way by examining the response of Hong Kong's 94 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: protest movement to COVID nineteen. In twenty nineteen, a massive 95 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: anti government mobilization swept Hong Kong, with people opposing police 96 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,880 Speaker 1: and seeking greater control over their lives. By the time 97 00:06:00,920 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen pandemic emerged, Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lamb, 98 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: had an eighty percent disapproval rating. Hong Kong's protest movement 99 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: had escalated significantly, with protesters coordinating sophisticated mass mobilizations, including 100 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: the use of bold tactics like fighting police with poles, projectiles, 101 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:25,520 Speaker 1: laser pointers, and petrol bombs. Lamb was remarkably non responsive 102 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,479 Speaker 1: to the pandemic, despite the vulnerable position of Hong Kong, 103 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: a densely packed city with a history of epidemics and 104 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,160 Speaker 1: a high speed railway connection to Wuhan, where the COVID 105 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 1: nineteen pandemics started. Hong Kong residents criticized Lamb for her 106 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: delay in closing the city's borders and her order barring 107 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 1: city workers from wearing masks. But despite the government's failures, 108 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:52,000 Speaker 1: the people of Hong Kong, mobilized by the protest movement, 109 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,720 Speaker 1: launched a response that suppressed the original wave of COVID 110 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:59,839 Speaker 1: nineteen and mitigated its resurgence. On the day the first 111 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: over A nineteen case in Hong Kong was confirmed, people 112 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,120 Speaker 1: from the protest movement created a website that tracked cases, 113 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: monitored hot spots, reported hospital wait times and warned about 114 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: places selling fake personal protective equipment PPE. The protesters defied 115 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:19,080 Speaker 1: the government's ban on masks and countered misinformation from the 116 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 1: World Health Organization discouraging their use. They set up brigades 117 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: that made and distributed masks, especially making sure they reached 118 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 1: poor people and old people. They created a system of 119 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: volunteers to set up hand sanitizer stations throughout crowded tenement 120 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: housing and maintain the supply of sanitizer at the stations. 121 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,520 Speaker 1: They also created digital maps to identify the station sites. 122 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: This essential mutual aid work was complemented by boulder strategies. 123 00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: When the government refused to close the border with China, 124 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: seven thousand medical workers as part of labor unions that 125 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:56,920 Speaker 1: had been formed during the protest movement, went on strike, 126 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:00,480 Speaker 1: demanding ppe in that the border be closed. Members of 127 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: the protest movement threatened the government with stronger action if 128 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: steps were not taken to address the epidemic and explosives 129 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: were found at the border with China, possibly for this purpose, 130 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: The Hong Kong government then created quarantine centers and dense neighbourhoods, 131 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: but never consulted the people in those neighborhoods, and the 132 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: protest movement responded by throwing explosives into the quarantine centers 133 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:24,760 Speaker 1: before they were used, causing the government to change the 134 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,600 Speaker 1: location of the facilities to less densely populated holiday villages. 135 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: As a result of these efforts by a mobilized and 136 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: coordinated movement and no thanks to the government, Hong Kong 137 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: had an immensely successful response to the first wave of 138 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: COVID nineteen. Through the combination of mutual aid and direct 139 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: action to force concessions, the protesters did what the government 140 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: would not do on its own, saving untold numbers of lives. 141 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 1: This book provides a concrete guide for building mutual aid 142 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: groups and networks. Part one explores what mutual aid is, 143 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: why it is different than charity, and how it relates 144 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: to other social movement tactics. Part two dives into the 145 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: nitty gritty of how to work together in mutual aid 146 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,600 Speaker 1: groups and how to handle the challenges of group decision making, conflict, 147 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:15,200 Speaker 1: and burnout. It includes charts and lists that can be 148 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,440 Speaker 1: brought to group meetings to stimulate conversation and build shared 149 00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:23,080 Speaker 1: analysis and group practices. Ultimately, I hope this book helps 150 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: readers imagine how we can coordinate to collectively take care 151 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,960 Speaker 1: of ourselves even in the face of disaster, and mobilize 152 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of people to make deep and lasting change. 153 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: Part one. What is mutual aid. Mutual aid is collective 154 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: coordination to meet each other's needs, usually from an awareness 155 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:49,800 Speaker 1: that the systems we have in place are not going 156 00:09:49,840 --> 00:09:53,160 Speaker 1: to meet them. Those systems, in fact, have often created 157 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: the crisis or are making things worse. We see examples 158 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: of mutual aid in every single social movement, whether it's 159 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: people raising money for workers on strike, setting up a 160 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:06,559 Speaker 1: ride sharing system during the Montgomery bus boycott, putting drinking 161 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: water in the desert for migrants crossing the border, training 162 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: each other in emergency medicine because ambulance responds time in 163 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,760 Speaker 1: poor neighborhoods is too slow, raising money to pay for 164 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:20,680 Speaker 1: abortions for those who can't afford them, or coordinating letter 165 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: writing to prisoners. These are mutual aid projects. They directly 166 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,440 Speaker 1: meet people's survival needs and are based on a shared 167 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:30,840 Speaker 1: understanding that the conditions in which we are made to 168 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:35,920 Speaker 1: live are unjust. There is nothing new about mutual aid. 169 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,319 Speaker 1: People have worked together to survive for all of human history, 170 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:43,959 Speaker 1: but capitalism and colonialism created structures that have disrupted how 171 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:47,319 Speaker 1: people have historically connected with each other and shared everything 172 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:50,959 Speaker 1: they needed to survive. As people were forced into systems 173 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:55,439 Speaker 1: of wage labor and private property and wealth became increasingly concentrated, 174 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:58,280 Speaker 1: our ways of caring for each other have become more 175 00:10:58,280 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: and more tenuous. Today, many of us live in the 176 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: most adomized societies in human history, which makes our lives 177 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: less secure and undermines our ability to organize together to 178 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: change unjust conditions. On a large scale, we are put 179 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,719 Speaker 1: in competition with each other for survival, and we are 180 00:11:15,720 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: forced to rely on hostile systems like health care systems 181 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,760 Speaker 1: designed around profit, not keeping people healthy, or food or 182 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 1: transportation systems that pollute the earth and poison people for 183 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,720 Speaker 1: the things we need. More and more people report that 184 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:31,679 Speaker 1: they have no one they can confide in when they 185 00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 1: are in trouble. This means many of us do not 186 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 1: get help with mental health, drug use, family violence, or 187 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: abuse until the police or courts are involved, which tends 188 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:45,440 Speaker 1: to escalate rather than resolve harm. In this context of 189 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: social isolation and forced dependency on hostile systems, mutual aid, 190 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: where we choose to help each other out, share things, 191 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:54,839 Speaker 1: and put time and resources into caring for the most 192 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:59,760 Speaker 1: vulnerable is a radical act, and we can see again 193 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: an again how mutual aid is a primary on ramp 194 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:06,640 Speaker 1: for people into resistance movements. Mutual aid tables and tents 195 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:10,160 Speaker 1: at protests and occupations of public space are the places 196 00:12:10,160 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 1: where new people out in the streets for the first 197 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:16,120 Speaker 1: time seeking to join with others often make their first contact. 198 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: People in crisis who find support through a mutual aid 199 00:12:19,559 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 1: project break through the isolation and stigma to connect with 200 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,679 Speaker 1: others who imagine that collective action is the solution. As 201 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 1: more and more people become outraged by the compounding disasters, 202 00:12:30,520 --> 00:12:34,680 Speaker 1: we need millions of entry points into resistance movements, and 203 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 1: mutual aid is so frequently where people build those initial 204 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:42,560 Speaker 1: relationships and find a connection to the work. And nothing, 205 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:46,280 Speaker 1: by the way, connects me to the work, like these 206 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,960 Speaker 1: goods and services, that's right, they just bring you right 207 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:55,680 Speaker 1: in to Now that's not true, Well, they're here anyway. 208 00:12:56,400 --> 00:13:14,920 Speaker 1: Here's Ads and Rebecca Chapter one. Three key elements of 209 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:21,079 Speaker 1: mutual aid One. Mutual aid projects work to meet survival 210 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:24,440 Speaker 1: needs and build shared understanding about why people do not 211 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:29,400 Speaker 1: have what they need. Mutual aid projects expose the reality 212 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: that people do not have what they need and propose 213 00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:35,439 Speaker 1: that we can address this injustice together. The most famous 214 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:38,080 Speaker 1: example in the United States is the Black Panther Party's 215 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:42,439 Speaker 1: Survival programs, which ran throughout the nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies, 216 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 1: including a free breakfast program, free ambulance program, free medical clinics, 217 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:51,720 Speaker 1: a service offering rides to elderly people doing errands, and 218 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: a school aimed at providing a rigorous liberation curriculum to children. 219 00:13:56,720 --> 00:14:00,000 Speaker 1: The Black Panther programs welcome people into the liberation strung 220 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,480 Speaker 1: by creating spaces and build a shared analysis about the 221 00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 1: conditions they were facing. Instead of feeling ashamed about not 222 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:09,480 Speaker 1: being able to feed their kids in a culture that 223 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: blames poor people, especially poor Black people, for their poverty, 224 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:16,800 Speaker 1: people attending the Panther's Free Breakfast program got food and 225 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: a chance to build shared analysis about black poverty. It 226 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: broke stigma and isolation, met material needs, and got people 227 00:14:25,440 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: fired up to work together for change. Recognizing the program's 228 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:35,360 Speaker 1: early success, FBI director j Edgar Hoover famously wrote in 229 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:38,320 Speaker 1: a nineteen sixty nine memo sent to all field offices 230 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:43,760 Speaker 1: that quote. The BCP Breakfast for Children program represents the 231 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 1: best and most influential activity going for the BPP Black 232 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: Panther Party, and as such is potentially the greatest threat 233 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: to efforts by authorities to neutralize the BPP and destroy 234 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:59,480 Speaker 1: what it stands for. The night before the Chicago program 235 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: was supposed to open, police broke into the church that 236 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: was hosting it and urinated on all the food. The 237 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: government's attacks on the Black Panther Party are evidence of 238 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: mutual aid's power, as is the government's co optation of 239 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,480 Speaker 1: the program. In the early nineteen seventies, the US Department 240 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:19,240 Speaker 1: of Agriculture expanded its federal free breakfast program, built on 241 00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: a charity not liberation model that still feeds millions of 242 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:27,240 Speaker 1: children today. The Black Panthers provided a striking vision of liberation, 243 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:30,360 Speaker 1: asserting that black people had to defend themselves against a 244 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: violent and racist government, and that they could organize to 245 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:37,360 Speaker 1: give each other what a racist society withheld. During the 246 00:15:37,400 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: same period, the Young Lord's Party undertook similar and related 247 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 1: mutual aid projects in their work towards Puerto Rican liberation. 248 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,240 Speaker 1: The Young Lords brought people into the movement by starting 249 00:15:48,240 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: with the Everyday needs of Puerto Ricans and impoverished communities. 250 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: They protested the lack of garbage pickups in Puerto Rican neighborhoods, 251 00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: hijacked a city mobile X ray truck to bring greater 252 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:03,000 Speaker 1: tuberculosis tests in to Puerto Rican communities, took over part 253 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: of a hospital to provide healthcare, and provided food and 254 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:11,120 Speaker 1: youth programs for Puerto Rican communities. Their vision for decolonizing 255 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: Puerto Rico and liberating Puerto Ricans in the United States 256 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:18,880 Speaker 1: from racism, poverty, and police terror was put into practice 257 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: through mutual aid. Throughout the nineteen sixties and seventies, many 258 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: overlapping movements undertook mutual aid efforts, such as feminist health 259 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: clinics and activist run abortion providers, emerging volunteer run gay 260 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: health clinics, childcare collectives, tenants, unions, and community food projects. 261 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:42,720 Speaker 1: Although this moment is an important reference point for the 262 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:46,720 Speaker 1: contemporary left, mutual aid didn't start in the sixties, but 263 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:52,200 Speaker 1: is an ongoing feature of movements seeking transformative change. Klebanali, 264 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: project coordinator and Indigenous Media Action argues that mutual aid 265 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:01,080 Speaker 1: is an unbroken tradition among Indigenous people across many cycles 266 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 1: of colonialism maintained through the traditional teachings that contemporary Indigenous 267 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:10,400 Speaker 1: mutual aid projects are working to restore and amplify. Settlers 268 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:14,160 Speaker 1: have long work to undermine Indigenous people's self sustaining practices 269 00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:18,439 Speaker 1: by first destroying food systems and then forcing dependency on 270 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 1: rations given at forts and missions and now by sedtler nonprofits. 271 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: Indigenous mutual aid efforts are both a matter of survival 272 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: and a powerful form of resistance to the force dependence 273 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: on settler systems. The long tradition of mutual aid societies 274 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:38,000 Speaker 1: and other forms of quote self help and black communities, 275 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: which as early as the seventeen eighties sought to pool 276 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:44,520 Speaker 1: resources to provide health and life insurance, care for the sick, 277 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,919 Speaker 1: aid for burials, support for widows and orphans, and public 278 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:53,639 Speaker 1: education efforts is another important example. These efforts have addressed 279 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 1: black exclusion from white infrastructures by creating black alternatives. Long 280 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: traditions of mutual aid are also visible in working class 281 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: communities that have long supported workers on strike so that 282 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,639 Speaker 1: they could pay rent and buy food while confronting their bosses. 283 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,680 Speaker 1: Perhaps most of all, the pervasive presence of mutual aid 284 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:19,640 Speaker 1: during sudden disasters of all kinds, storms, floods, fires, and earthquakes. 285 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: Demonstrates how people come together to care for each other 286 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: and share resources when inevitably the government is not there 287 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: to help, offers relief that does not reach the most 288 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: vulnerable people, and deploys law enforcement against displaced disaster survivors. 289 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:42,400 Speaker 1: Mutual aid is a powerful force. Two Mutual aid projects 290 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:49,480 Speaker 1: mobilize people, expand solidarity, and build movements. Mutual aid is 291 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:53,639 Speaker 1: essential to building social movements. People often come to social 292 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:59,000 Speaker 1: movement groups because they need something eviction defense, childcare, social connection, 293 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:02,159 Speaker 1: health care, or help in a fight with a government 294 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:06,879 Speaker 1: about something like welfare benefits, disability services, immigration status, or 295 00:19:06,920 --> 00:19:10,119 Speaker 1: custody of their children. Being able to get help in 296 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: a crisis is often a condition for being politically active, 297 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: because it's very difficult to organize when you are also 298 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: struggling to survive. Getting support through a mutual aid project 299 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:22,840 Speaker 1: that has a political analysis of the conditions that produce 300 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: your crisis also helps break stigma, shame, and isolation. Under capitalism, 301 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:33,160 Speaker 1: social problems resulting from exploitation in the maldistribution of resources 302 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:38,679 Speaker 1: are understood as individual moral failings, not systemic problems. Getting 303 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 1: support at a place that sees the systems, not the 304 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: people suffering in them, as the problem can help people 305 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: move from shame to anger and defiance. Mutual aid exposes 306 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,600 Speaker 1: the failures of the current system and shows an alternative. 307 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:54,639 Speaker 1: This work is based in a belief that those on 308 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:57,480 Speaker 1: the front lines of a crisis have the best wisdom 309 00:19:57,520 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: to solve the problems, and that collective act is the 310 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: way forward. Mutual aid projects also build solidarity. I have 311 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 1: seen this at the Silvia Rivera Law Project SRLP, a 312 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 1: law collective that provides free legal help to trans and 313 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,439 Speaker 1: gender non conforming people who are low income and or 314 00:20:16,440 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: people of color. I worked with the group from two 315 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: thousand and two to twenty nineteen. Again and again I 316 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:26,840 Speaker 1: saw people come to SRLP for help because something bad 317 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,600 Speaker 1: had happened to them in a shelter, in prison, or 318 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 1: in interaction with cops, immigration authorities, the foster care system, or 319 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:38,000 Speaker 1: public schools. People seeking legal services for these problems would 320 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:42,520 Speaker 1: be invited to participate in organizing and become part of SRLP, 321 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: working on changing the conditions that had brought them to 322 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: the group. As people joined, things were often bumpy. Members 323 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: may have had some things in common, being trans or 324 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,800 Speaker 1: gender non conforming, for example, but also differed from one 325 00:20:55,840 --> 00:21:01,840 Speaker 1: another in terms of race, immigration status, ability, HIV status, age, housing, access, 326 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: sexual orientation, language, and more. By working together and participating 327 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:11,360 Speaker 1: in shared political education programs, members could learn about experiences 328 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,440 Speaker 1: different from theirs and build solidarity across those differences. This 329 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,879 Speaker 1: changed and continues to change, not only the individuals in 330 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: the group, but the kind of politics the group practices. 331 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: Solidarity is what builds and connects large scale movements. In 332 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: the context of professionalized nonprofit organizations, groups are urged to 333 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: be single issue oriented, framing their message around quote deserving 334 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,040 Speaker 1: people within the population they serve, and using tactics palatable 335 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:43,399 Speaker 1: to elites. Prison oriented groups are supposed to fight for 336 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:47,080 Speaker 1: only the quote innocent or the quote non violent, for example, 337 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:50,879 Speaker 1: and do their work by lobbying politicians about how some people, 338 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: not all people, don't belong in prison. This is the 339 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 1: opposite of solidarity because it means the most vulnerable people 340 00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 1: are left behind, those who are upcharged by cops and prosecutors, 341 00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:05,160 Speaker 1: those who do not have the means to prove their innocence, 342 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: those who do not match cultural tropes of innocence and deservedness. 343 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:15,840 Speaker 1: This narrow focus actually strengthens the system's legitimacy by advocating 344 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:18,959 Speaker 1: that the targeting of those more stigmatized people is okay. 345 00:22:20,320 --> 00:22:23,920 Speaker 1: This pattern of anti solidarity incentives and practices has been 346 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: devastating for movements. As in the next chapter, solidarity across 347 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,320 Speaker 1: issues and populations is what makes movements big and powerful. 348 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: Without that connection, we end up with disconnected groups working 349 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: in their issue silos, undermining each other, competing for attention 350 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: and funding, not backing each other up, and not building power. 351 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,000 Speaker 1: Mutual aid projects, by creating spaces where people come together 352 00:22:47,119 --> 00:22:49,439 Speaker 1: on the basis of some shared need or concern in 353 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: spite of their different lived experience, cultivate solidarity. Groups doing 354 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 1: mutual aid to directly address real problems and real people's 355 00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:01,880 Speaker 1: lives tend to develop a multie and solidarity based approach 356 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:05,520 Speaker 1: because their members' lives are cross cut by many different 357 00:23:05,520 --> 00:23:09,359 Speaker 1: experiences of vulnerability. Sometimes, even groups that start out with 358 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:13,199 Speaker 1: a narrow goal adopt a wider horizon of solidarity and 359 00:23:13,240 --> 00:23:15,760 Speaker 1: a wider vision of political possibility if they use the 360 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:19,640 Speaker 1: mutual aid model. An initial goal of serving people impacted 361 00:23:19,640 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 1: by homelessness quickly reveals that racism, colonialism, immigration, enforcement, ableism, 362 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: police violence, the foster care system, the healthcare system, transphobia, 363 00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: and more are all causes of homelessness or causes of 364 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:37,840 Speaker 1: further harm to homeless people. Solidarity in an ever expanding 365 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:41,919 Speaker 1: commitment to justice emerge from contact with the complex realities 366 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: of injustice. This is exactly how movements are built, as 367 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:48,920 Speaker 1: people become connected to each other and as one urgent 368 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:53,879 Speaker 1: issue unspools into a broader vision of social transformation. But 369 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:57,120 Speaker 1: do you know how podcasts are built? Dear listeners? Do 370 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,720 Speaker 1: you know that some of them, including the very podcast 371 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,800 Speaker 1: you are listening to now, are built on the dollars 372 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:09,840 Speaker 1: of advertisers? For better and for worse? And here they 373 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 1: are and we're back. Three. Mutual aid projects are participatory, 374 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,280 Speaker 1: solving problems through collective action rather than waiting for saviors. 375 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:38,600 Speaker 1: Mutual aid projects help people develop skills for collaboration, participation, 376 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,159 Speaker 1: and decision making. For example, people engaged in a project 377 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,400 Speaker 1: to help one another through housing court proceedings will learn 378 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,000 Speaker 1: the details of how the system harms people and how 379 00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:52,360 Speaker 1: to fight it. But they will also learn about meeting facilitation, 380 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:59,760 Speaker 1: working across differences, retaining volunteers, addressing conflict, giving and receiving feedback, 381 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:05,640 Speaker 1: following through and coordinating schedules and transportation. They may also 382 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:07,760 Speaker 1: learn that it is not just lawyers who can do 383 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:11,360 Speaker 1: this kind of work, and that many people, including themselves, 384 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:15,720 Speaker 1: have something to offer. This departs from expertise based social 385 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: services that tell us we need to have a social worker, 386 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: licensed therapist, lawyer, or some other person with an advanced 387 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: degree to get things done. Mutual Aid projects always include 388 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:29,480 Speaker 1: an invitation to participate in any offer of support. People 389 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: are invited to take a tent or water or food, 390 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: but also to become part of the project. Getting material 391 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: support from the Mutual Aid group isn't conditional on participating. 392 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:41,560 Speaker 1: You can have what we're giving out whether or not 393 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:43,600 Speaker 1: you come to our next meeting and join our protest 394 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:47,160 Speaker 1: at the Landlord's office on Tuesday. But because mutual Aid 395 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,440 Speaker 1: is based on an understanding that we won't solve the 396 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: crises we are facing through just giving things to each other, 397 00:25:52,560 --> 00:25:55,160 Speaker 1: we must organize as many people as possible to care 398 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 1: for each other and fight back. Any aide shared includes 399 00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:01,119 Speaker 1: an invitation to become part of the world work. Every 400 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:03,560 Speaker 1: person in crisis or need is also a person who 401 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:08,040 Speaker 1: can be part of transforming the conditions with others. Mutual 402 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:12,080 Speaker 1: Aid is inherently anti authoritarian, demonstrating how we can do 403 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:15,240 Speaker 1: things together in ways we were told not to imagine, 404 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,359 Speaker 1: and that we can organize human activity without coercion. Most 405 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 1: people have never been to a meeting where there is 406 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:24,119 Speaker 1: not a boss or an authority figure with decision making power. 407 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,440 Speaker 1: Most people work or go to school inside hierarchies where 408 00:26:28,480 --> 00:26:32,919 Speaker 1: disobedience leads to punishment or exclusion. We bring our learned 409 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,119 Speaker 1: practices of hierarchy with us even when no paycheck or 410 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:40,600 Speaker 1: punishment enforces our participation, or even in volunteer groups where 411 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:44,520 Speaker 1: we often find ourselves in conflicts stemming from learned dominance behaviors. 412 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: But collective spaces like mutual Aid organizing can give us 413 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,760 Speaker 1: opportunities to unlearned conditioning and build new skills and capacities. 414 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: By participating in groups and new ways, and practicing new 415 00:26:56,520 --> 00:26:59,440 Speaker 1: ways of being together, we are both building the world 416 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: we want and becoming the kind of people who could 417 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:06,679 Speaker 1: live in such a world together. For example, in the 418 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:11,120 Speaker 1: occupy encampments that emerged in twenty eleven to protest economic inequality, 419 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,879 Speaker 1: people shared ideas about how to resolve conflict without calling 420 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:18,360 Speaker 1: the police. Occupying brought out many people who had never 421 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:22,960 Speaker 1: participated in political resistance before, introducing them to practices like 422 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: consensus decision making, occupying public space, distributing free food, and 423 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:33,360 Speaker 1: engaging in free political education workshops. Many who joined occupy 424 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 1: did not yet have a developed critique of policing. Participants 425 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:41,760 Speaker 1: committed to police abolition and anti racism cultivated conversations about 426 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,440 Speaker 1: why activists should not call the police on each other. 427 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,960 Speaker 1: This process was inconsistent and imperfect, but it introduced many 428 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,280 Speaker 1: people to new skills and ideas that they took with 429 00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:55,920 Speaker 1: them long after occupying encampments were dismantled by the police. 430 00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,159 Speaker 1: Mutual aid can also generate boldness and a willingness to 431 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:03,240 Speaker 1: defy illegit jitimate authority. Taking risks with a group for 432 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: a shared purpose can be a reparative experience when we 433 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:10,679 Speaker 1: have been trained to follow rules. Organizers from mutual a 434 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:15,160 Speaker 1: disaster relief MADR share the following story in their twenty 435 00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:19,640 Speaker 1: eighteen workshop facilitation guide to illustrate their argument that quote 436 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:26,280 Speaker 1: audacity is our capacity quote. When a crew of MADR 437 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:30,800 Speaker 1: organizers after Hurricane Maria traveled to Puerto Rico, some visiting 438 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 1: their families others bringing medical skills. They found out about 439 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 1: a government warehouse that was neglecting to distribute huge stockpiles 440 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: of supplies. They showed their MADR badges to the guards 441 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: and said, we are here for the eight am pickup. 442 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:47,840 Speaker 1: When guards replied that their names were not on the list, 443 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:50,840 Speaker 1: they just insisted again, we are here for the eight 444 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: am pickup. They were eventually allowed in told to take 445 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: whatever they needed after being led in. Once aid workers 446 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,400 Speaker 1: were able to return, Repeatedly they made more badges for 447 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:05,600 Speaker 1: local organizers and this source continued to benefit local communities 448 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:11,640 Speaker 1: for months. MADR asserts that by taking bold actions together quote, 449 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: we can imagine new ways of interacting with the world. 450 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: When dominant ways of living have been suspended, people discover 451 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:22,640 Speaker 1: that they can break norms and even laws that enable individualism, passivity, 452 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 1: and respect for private property. Madr asserts that quote saving lives, homes, 453 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 1: and communities in the event and aftermath of disaster may 454 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,640 Speaker 1: require taking bold action without waiting for permission from authorities. 455 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:40,760 Speaker 1: Disaster survivors themselves are the most important authority ONUS action. 456 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,880 Speaker 1: Mutual aid projects providing relief to survivors of storms, floods, 457 00:29:46,960 --> 00:29:50,200 Speaker 1: earthquakes and fires, as well as those developed to support 458 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 1: people living through the crises caused by poverty, racism, criminalization, 459 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:57,960 Speaker 1: gender violence, and other quote ordinary conditions produce new systems 460 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:01,200 Speaker 1: that can prevent harm and improve preparedness for the coming disasters. 461 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,719 Speaker 1: When Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico in twenty seventeen, it 462 00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,160 Speaker 1: was the existence of food justice efforts that made it 463 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: possible for many people to eat when the corporate food system, 464 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:14,320 Speaker 1: which brings ninety percent of the island's food from off 465 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: island sources, was halted by the storm. Similarly, it was 466 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,080 Speaker 1: local solar panels that allowed people to charge medical devices 467 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: when the electrical grid went down. By looking at what 468 00:30:25,320 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: still works in the face of disaster, we can learn 469 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,400 Speaker 1: what we want to build to prepare for the next 470 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:35,960 Speaker 1: storm or fire. In the Battle for Paradise, Naomi Klein 471 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:40,560 Speaker 1: authors that locally controlled microgrids are more desirable for delivering 472 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:44,719 Speaker 1: sustainable energy given the failures of energy monopolies that currently 473 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:48,720 Speaker 1: dominate energy delivery. In the wake of the devastating twenty 474 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,400 Speaker 1: eighteen California fires, the public learned that the fires were 475 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:56,760 Speaker 1: caused by Pacific gas and electric companies mismanagement, and then 476 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: watched as California's government immediately offered the company, meanwhile failing 477 00:31:01,880 --> 00:31:05,880 Speaker 1: to support people displaced by the disaster. Klein describes how 478 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:09,640 Speaker 1: large energy companies work to prevent local and sustainable energy efforts, 479 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,560 Speaker 1: and argues that in energy, as in other areas of survival, 480 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:18,480 Speaker 1: we should be working toward locally controlled, participatory, transparent structures 481 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:23,760 Speaker 1: that replace our crumbling and harmful infrastructure. Doing so helps 482 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: us imagine getting rid of the undemocratic infrastructure of our lives, 483 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:32,160 Speaker 1: the extractive and unjust energy, food, healthcare, and transportation systems, 484 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:36,920 Speaker 1: and replacing it with people's infrastructure for social movements working 485 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: to imagine and build a transition from quote dig burn 486 00:31:40,280 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 1: dump economies to sustainable, regenerative ways of living. Mutual aid 487 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:50,760 Speaker 1: offers a way forward, and that's chapter one. The author 488 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 1: Dean Spaede continues in chapter two, which is called Solidarity 489 00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:56,880 Speaker 1: not Charity, and contrasts the ways that mutual aid is 490 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: different to charity work. Actually, it's not called solidarity not charity. 491 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,240 Speaker 1: It's called solidarity not charity because there's an exclamation mark 492 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:07,960 Speaker 1: in the chapter I'm sorry for Ivan misread that. I'm 493 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,600 Speaker 1: terribly sorry quote This is me reading from the book 494 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: for a quote, because yeah, we're only doing excerpts, but 495 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 1: we're doing excerpts from part one today, and we're going 496 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:19,920 Speaker 1: to do excerpts from part two next week anyway. From 497 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,680 Speaker 1: chapter two, quote, mutual aid projects in many ways are 498 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 1: defined in opposition to the charity model and its current 499 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:31,440 Speaker 1: iteration in the nonprofit sector. Mutual aid projects mobilize lots 500 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,360 Speaker 1: of people rather than a few experts, resist the use 501 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:38,239 Speaker 1: of eligibility criteria that cut out more stigmatized people, are 502 00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: an integrated part of our lives rather than a pet cause, 503 00:32:41,640 --> 00:32:44,480 Speaker 1: and cultivate a shared analysis of the root causes of 504 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:46,840 Speaker 1: the problem, and connect people to social movements that can 505 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:52,120 Speaker 1: address these causes. And then in chapter three, we're all 506 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: We've got where all we need. There's no exclamation mark there, 507 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: but there could be. You could imagine one. This chapter three, 508 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,200 Speaker 1: it's about a lot of different things, but mostly different 509 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,160 Speaker 1: examples demonstrating that the state isn't going to save us, 510 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:06,960 Speaker 1: and we need to be brave enough to rely on 511 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 1: each other if we want to make it through the 512 00:33:08,880 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: many crises at hand. Quote. Mutual aid is only one 513 00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:18,880 Speaker 1: tactic in the social movement ecosystem. It operates alongside direct action, 514 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,960 Speaker 1: political education, and many other tactics, but it is the 515 00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:26,360 Speaker 1: one that most successfully helps us grow our movements and 516 00:33:26,400 --> 00:33:29,640 Speaker 1: build our people power because it brings people into coordinated 517 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: action to change things Right now. As mutual Aid expands 518 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,800 Speaker 1: in the context of the COVID nineteen crisis, in climate change, 519 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:40,840 Speaker 1: cause disaster zones, and during economic crises, we have a 520 00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: chance to cultivate millions of new resistance fighters, to teach 521 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,440 Speaker 1: ourselves to work together in long term ways, and to 522 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:51,440 Speaker 1: develop our ability to practice solidarity based co stewardship in 523 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:56,120 Speaker 1: all areas of collective life. Yeah, and so next week 524 00:33:56,200 --> 00:33:58,680 Speaker 1: we'll get into part two and Dean Spade's advice for 525 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: organizing on your own, whether that's a Mutual Aid project 526 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:03,440 Speaker 1: or something else. And I want to end on this 527 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:06,440 Speaker 1: last quote though, because it's just one of many beautifully 528 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:11,279 Speaker 1: succinct and motivational tidbits in this book. Quote. What we 529 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,440 Speaker 1: build now and whether we can sustain it will determine 530 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,240 Speaker 1: how prepared we are for the next pandemic, the climate 531 00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: induced disasters to come, the ongoing disasters of white supremacy 532 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:27,680 Speaker 1: and capitalism, and the beautifully disruptive rebellions that will transform them. Yeah, 533 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:31,600 Speaker 1: and Dean Spade's bio. Dean Spade is an organizer, writer, 534 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:33,960 Speaker 1: and teacher. He has been working to build queer and 535 00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,560 Speaker 1: transliberation based in racial and economic justice for the past 536 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:40,760 Speaker 1: two decades. He is a professor at the Seattle University 537 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,799 Speaker 1: School of Law. He's the author of Love in a 538 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,399 Speaker 1: Fucked Up World. Well, actually it's in an f asterisk 539 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:52,719 Speaker 1: cked Upworld, but I think it's pronounced fucked another book 540 00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 1: called Normal Life, and this book Mutual Aid, which is 541 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:59,760 Speaker 1: getting an updated reissue from Versa with new chapters, updated 542 00:34:59,800 --> 00:35:03,360 Speaker 1: k studies, and retooled writing for a new political context. 543 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,200 Speaker 1: Dean is also the host of the Love and a 544 00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,040 Speaker 1: Fucked Up World podcast. You can keep up with his 545 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:12,800 Speaker 1: projects online at Deanspade dot net, d E A n 546 00:35:13,200 --> 00:35:17,319 Speaker 1: SPA d e dot net, or by following him on 547 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:23,480 Speaker 1: Instagram at Spade dot Dean or Blue Sky at Dean Spade. 548 00:35:24,280 --> 00:35:26,279 Speaker 1: If you like this reading, let me know that you 549 00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,320 Speaker 1: want more like it, because you know we mostly do fiction. 550 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 1: You can find me Margaret on Blue Sky at Margaret. 551 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:37,960 Speaker 1: Because I got Margaret because I was an early adopter, 552 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:39,920 Speaker 1: I didn't actually use it for a very long time, 553 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,360 Speaker 1: but I got Margaret dot b Sky dot app or 554 00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:46,600 Speaker 1: whatever the fuck it is. You can find this book 555 00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:48,799 Speaker 1: club on the feeds for it could Happen here and 556 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,239 Speaker 1: cool people who did cool stuff, or you can find 557 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 1: it on its own feed with its own art if 558 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 1: you like Dean. I did an interview with him on 559 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:59,640 Speaker 1: mutual aid and disaster preparedness on another podcast that I 560 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:01,960 Speaker 1: work on called Live Like the World Is Dying, which 561 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:04,600 Speaker 1: you should also listen to. Hazel helps me with the 562 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: scripts and research. Eva does our audio editing, and that's 563 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:10,120 Speaker 1: it for us tonight. There's so much I want to 564 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 1: say about this, but the episode is already running along 565 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:13,520 Speaker 1: because I wanted to get as much of Dean Spades 566 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,200 Speaker 1: writing in. Honestly, mostly I want to just like underline 567 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:20,680 Speaker 1: things and say like, yes, but stay safe, stay dangerous. 568 00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:28,719 Speaker 1: Fuck Ice, I love you some of you maybe probably Bye. 569 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:32,360 Speaker 1: It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 570 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,200 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 571 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:37,480 Speaker 1: cool Zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the 572 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:41,080 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 573 00:36:41,520 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: You can find sources where it could happen here, updated 574 00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:47,760 Speaker 1: monthly at coolzonemedia dot com, Slash sources, Thanks for listening.