WEBVTT - CZM Book Club: Mutual Aid by Dean Spade, Part One 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:10.360 Cool Zone Media book Club book Club book Club. Hello 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:12.959 and welcome to coolels On Media book Club, the only 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:14.640 book club where you don't have to do the reading 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.200 because I do it for you. Normally, on here we 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.440 read fiction, but we've been talking about doing some nonfiction, 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:23.520 and so we're going to do it. We're going to 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:30.560 do nonfiction. This story isn't made up. It's factual. I 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:32.199 don't know if it's factual. I don't know if it's 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.880 built out of facts. Whatever, it is my absolute honor 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:39.080 and delight to bring you some excerpts from Dean spades 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:43.360 book Mutual Aid. The whole book is absolutely worth reading. 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:45.160 If you don't want to read a book called mutual 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:47.800 Aid that's from nineteen hundred, you can read a book 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:50.680 called mutual Aid that's from this very decade that we 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:54.720 live in. It's a short, accessible, practical book full of 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.400 really good advice for how to organize just about anything. 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:00.920 Dean Spades Mutual Aid. And I know we're a little 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:03.960 late for New Year's resolutions, but if your resolution this 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:06.880 year was to get involved in an activist project, this 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.520 book is a great guide. And we're not reading the 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:11.160 whole thing. You still have to go out and get it, 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:14.120 but we'll read useful parts of it. And it just 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:16.200 so happened that the schedule landed this way. But it 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:20.560 feels particularly poignant to do these episodes this week as 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.920 we're watching people effectively fight off a full scale invasion 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:25.800 of the Twin Cities at the hands of ice agents, 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:30.720 like people are using underground networks of mutual aid to 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:34.360 minimize the damage and fight back against this stuff. And 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:36.760 so this reading that we're doing today speaks to you, 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.759 and you haven't yet, you should check out our coverage 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:42.200 of the rapid response of mutual aid networks that are 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.559 coming out of Minneapolis, and Saint Paul me and James 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.760 Stout went up there last week to cover those things, 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:50.520 and so both it could happen here and cool people 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:55.320 who did cool stuff have content about that. Today I 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:58.160 will be reading some excerpts from part one of Dean 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:01.560 Spadeses mutual Aid, which mostly covers what mutual aid is 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:05.000 and some examples of how it has manifested within social movements. 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:08.160 We'll do some excerpts from part two next week, which 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:12.000 has more just general good advice for organizing, and obviously 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:13.960 we can't read the whole book. Here by. You should 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:16.560 go pick up a copy if you can. But also 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.640 the PDF is up on the Anarchist Library, which is 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:24.000 a free site full of more reading than you'll ever 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:26.920 be able to do in your life, honestly, but it 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:31.200 has Dean Spades's Mutual Aid without further ado. Excerpts from 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:38.760 Mutual Aid by Dean Spade introduction. Crisis conditions require bold tactics. 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:45.240 The contemporary political moment is defined by emergency acute crises 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.720 like the COVID nineteen pandemic and climate change induced fires, floods, 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.919 and storms, as well as the ongoing crises of racist criminalization, 0:02:54.520 --> 0:02:59.519 brutal immigration enforcement, endemic gender violence, and severe wealth in 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.960 a quality threaten the survival of people around the globe. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:08.960 Government policies actively produce and exacerbate the harm, inadequately respond 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.440 to crises, and ensure that certain populations bear the brunt 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:17.960 of pollution, poverty, disease, and violence. In the face of this, 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.639 more and more ordinary people are feeling called to respond 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:25.680 in their communities, creating bold and innative ways to share 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:30.639 resources and support vulnerable neighbors. This survival work when done 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:35.080 in conjunction with social movements making transformative change is called 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:40.440 mutual aid. Mutual aid has been part of all large, 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:44.320 powerful social movements, and it has a particularly important role 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.480 to play right now as we face unprecedented dangers and 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:51.680 opportunities for mobilization. Mutual aid gives people a way to 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:55.040 plug into movements based on their immediate concerns, and it 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:59.880 produces social spaces where people grow new solidarities. At its best, 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.560 mutual aid actually produces new ways of living where people 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:07.040 get to create systems of care and generosity that address 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:11.520 harm and foster well being. This book is about mutual aid. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:15.000 It explains why it is so important, what it looks like, 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:18.359 and how to do it. It provides a grassroot theory 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.240 of mutual aid, as well as concrete tools for addressing 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.719 some of the most difficult questions facing mutual aid groups, 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.360 such as how to work in groups and make decisions together, 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.800 how to prevent and address conflict, and how to deal 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:34.760 with burnout so that we can build a lasting mobilization 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:40.640 that can win Liberation. Movements have two big jobs right now. First, 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.960 we need to organize to help people survive the devastating 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:48.760 conditions unfolding every day. Second, we need to mobilize hundreds 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.840 of millions of people for resistance so we can tackle 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:56.320 the underlying causes of these crises. In this pivotal moment, 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:02.600 movements can strengthen mobilizing new people to fight back against cops, immigration, enforcement, 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:10.039 welfare authorities, landlords, budget cuts, polluters, the defence industry, prison profiteers, 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:13.680 and right wing groups. The way to tackle these two 0:05:13.760 --> 0:05:17.720 big tasks, meeting people's needs and mobilizing them for resistance 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.280 is to create mutual aid projects and get lots of 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:24.839 people to participate in them. Social movements that have built 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.000 power and one major change have all included mutual aid, 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:30.359 yet it is often a part of movement work that 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:34.280 is less visible and less valued. In this moment, our 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.200 ability to build mutual aid will determine whether we win 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.760 the world we long for or dive further into crisis. 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:44.559 We can imagine what is possible when we come together 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.720 in this way by examining the response of Hong Kong's 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:52.560 protest movement to COVID nineteen. In twenty nineteen, a massive 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:57.400 anti government mobilization swept Hong Kong, with people opposing police 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:00.880 and seeking greater control over their lives. By the time 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:05.760 the COVID nineteen pandemic emerged, Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lamb, 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:10.279 had an eighty percent disapproval rating. Hong Kong's protest movement 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:16.360 had escalated significantly, with protesters coordinating sophisticated mass mobilizations, including 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:20.000 the use of bold tactics like fighting police with poles, projectiles, 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:25.520 laser pointers, and petrol bombs. Lamb was remarkably non responsive 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.479 to the pandemic, despite the vulnerable position of Hong Kong, 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.839 a densely packed city with a history of epidemics and 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:35.160 a high speed railway connection to Wuhan, where the COVID 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:39.960 nineteen pandemics started. Hong Kong residents criticized Lamb for her 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.159 delay in closing the city's borders and her order barring 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:48.400 city workers from wearing masks. But despite the government's failures, 0:06:48.800 --> 0:06:52.000 the people of Hong Kong, mobilized by the protest movement, 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.720 launched a response that suppressed the original wave of COVID 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:59.839 nineteen and mitigated its resurgence. On the day the first 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.960 over A nineteen case in Hong Kong was confirmed, people 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.120 from the protest movement created a website that tracked cases, 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:10.640 monitored hot spots, reported hospital wait times and warned about 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:15.840 places selling fake personal protective equipment PPE. The protesters defied 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.080 the government's ban on masks and countered misinformation from the 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:23.600 World Health Organization discouraging their use. They set up brigades 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:27.200 that made and distributed masks, especially making sure they reached 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:30.880 poor people and old people. They created a system of 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:34.800 volunteers to set up hand sanitizer stations throughout crowded tenement 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:38.560 housing and maintain the supply of sanitizer at the stations. 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.520 They also created digital maps to identify the station sites. 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.080 This essential mutual aid work was complemented by boulder strategies. 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:50.280 When the government refused to close the border with China, 0:07:50.840 --> 0:07:54.040 seven thousand medical workers as part of labor unions that 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.920 had been formed during the protest movement, went on strike, 0:07:57.000 --> 0:08:00.480 demanding ppe in that the border be closed. Members of 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.800 the protest movement threatened the government with stronger action if 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.320 steps were not taken to address the epidemic and explosives 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.440 were found at the border with China, possibly for this purpose, 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:15.080 The Hong Kong government then created quarantine centers and dense neighbourhoods, 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:17.880 but never consulted the people in those neighborhoods, and the 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:21.920 protest movement responded by throwing explosives into the quarantine centers 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.760 before they were used, causing the government to change the 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:28.600 location of the facilities to less densely populated holiday villages. 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:31.960 As a result of these efforts by a mobilized and 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.520 coordinated movement and no thanks to the government, Hong Kong 0:08:35.600 --> 0:08:38.400 had an immensely successful response to the first wave of 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:42.400 COVID nineteen. Through the combination of mutual aid and direct 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:46.080 action to force concessions, the protesters did what the government 0:08:46.200 --> 0:08:50.040 would not do on its own, saving untold numbers of lives. 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:54.240 This book provides a concrete guide for building mutual aid 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:57.840 groups and networks. Part one explores what mutual aid is, 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:01.280 why it is different than charity, and how it relates 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:05.360 to other social movement tactics. Part two dives into the 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:07.720 nitty gritty of how to work together in mutual aid 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:11.600 groups and how to handle the challenges of group decision making, conflict, 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.200 and burnout. It includes charts and lists that can be 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.440 brought to group meetings to stimulate conversation and build shared 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:23.080 analysis and group practices. Ultimately, I hope this book helps 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.840 readers imagine how we can coordinate to collectively take care 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:30.960 of ourselves even in the face of disaster, and mobilize 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:36.040 hundreds of millions of people to make deep and lasting change. 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:43.640 Part one. What is mutual aid. Mutual aid is collective 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.800 coordination to meet each other's needs, usually from an awareness 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:49.800 that the systems we have in place are not going 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:53.160 to meet them. Those systems, in fact, have often created 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:56.760 the crisis or are making things worse. We see examples 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.400 of mutual aid in every single social movement, whether it's 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.640 people raising money for workers on strike, setting up a 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:06.559 ride sharing system during the Montgomery bus boycott, putting drinking 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.920 water in the desert for migrants crossing the border, training 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.320 each other in emergency medicine because ambulance responds time in 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.760 poor neighborhoods is too slow, raising money to pay for 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:20.680 abortions for those who can't afford them, or coordinating letter 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:25.600 writing to prisoners. These are mutual aid projects. They directly 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:28.440 meet people's survival needs and are based on a shared 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:30.840 understanding that the conditions in which we are made to 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:35.920 live are unjust. There is nothing new about mutual aid. 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.319 People have worked together to survive for all of human history, 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.959 but capitalism and colonialism created structures that have disrupted how 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.319 people have historically connected with each other and shared everything 0:10:47.360 --> 0:10:50.959 they needed to survive. As people were forced into systems 0:10:50.960 --> 0:10:55.439 of wage labor and private property and wealth became increasingly concentrated, 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.280 our ways of caring for each other have become more 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:02.280 and more tenuous. Today, many of us live in the 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:06.160 most adomized societies in human history, which makes our lives 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.640 less secure and undermines our ability to organize together to 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.880 change unjust conditions. On a large scale, we are put 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.719 in competition with each other for survival, and we are 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.000 forced to rely on hostile systems like health care systems 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:22.760 designed around profit, not keeping people healthy, or food or 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:26.520 transportation systems that pollute the earth and poison people for 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.720 the things we need. More and more people report that 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:31.679 they have no one they can confide in when they 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.320 are in trouble. This means many of us do not 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.880 get help with mental health, drug use, family violence, or 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:41.680 abuse until the police or courts are involved, which tends 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:45.440 to escalate rather than resolve harm. In this context of 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:49.800 social isolation and forced dependency on hostile systems, mutual aid, 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.520 where we choose to help each other out, share things, 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:54.839 and put time and resources into caring for the most 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:59.760 vulnerable is a radical act, and we can see again 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.560 an again how mutual aid is a primary on ramp 0:12:02.559 --> 0:12:06.640 for people into resistance movements. Mutual aid tables and tents 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.160 at protests and occupations of public space are the places 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:12.400 where new people out in the streets for the first 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:16.120 time seeking to join with others often make their first contact. 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:19.520 People in crisis who find support through a mutual aid 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:22.920 project break through the isolation and stigma to connect with 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.679 others who imagine that collective action is the solution. As 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:30.080 more and more people become outraged by the compounding disasters, 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.680 we need millions of entry points into resistance movements, and 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:38.120 mutual aid is so frequently where people build those initial 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.560 relationships and find a connection to the work. And nothing, 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:46.280 by the way, connects me to the work, like these 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:50.960 goods and services, that's right, they just bring you right 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:55.680 in to Now that's not true, Well, they're here anyway. 0:12:56.400 --> 0:13:14.920 Here's Ads and Rebecca Chapter one. Three key elements of 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:21.079 mutual aid One. Mutual aid projects work to meet survival 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.440 needs and build shared understanding about why people do not 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:29.400 have what they need. Mutual aid projects expose the reality 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.640 that people do not have what they need and propose 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:35.439 that we can address this injustice together. The most famous 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.080 example in the United States is the Black Panther Party's 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:42.439 Survival programs, which ran throughout the nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies, 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:47.800 including a free breakfast program, free ambulance program, free medical clinics, 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.720 a service offering rides to elderly people doing errands, and 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:55.800 a school aimed at providing a rigorous liberation curriculum to children. 0:13:56.720 --> 0:14:00.000 The Black Panther programs welcome people into the liberation strung 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.480 by creating spaces and build a shared analysis about the 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.520 conditions they were facing. Instead of feeling ashamed about not 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:09.480 being able to feed their kids in a culture that 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:12.840 blames poor people, especially poor Black people, for their poverty, 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.800 people attending the Panther's Free Breakfast program got food and 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:20.960 a chance to build shared analysis about black poverty. It 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:25.360 broke stigma and isolation, met material needs, and got people 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:30.760 fired up to work together for change. Recognizing the program's 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:35.360 early success, FBI director j Edgar Hoover famously wrote in 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.320 a nineteen sixty nine memo sent to all field offices 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:43.760 that quote. The BCP Breakfast for Children program represents the 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:47.520 best and most influential activity going for the BPP Black 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.360 Panther Party, and as such is potentially the greatest threat 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:55.040 to efforts by authorities to neutralize the BPP and destroy 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:59.480 what it stands for. The night before the Chicago program 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:02.000 was supposed to open, police broke into the church that 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:05.600 was hosting it and urinated on all the food. The 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.640 government's attacks on the Black Panther Party are evidence of 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:12.000 mutual aid's power, as is the government's co optation of 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:15.480 the program. In the early nineteen seventies, the US Department 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:19.240 of Agriculture expanded its federal free breakfast program, built on 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.800 a charity not liberation model that still feeds millions of 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:27.240 children today. The Black Panthers provided a striking vision of liberation, 0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:30.360 asserting that black people had to defend themselves against a 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:33.360 violent and racist government, and that they could organize to 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.360 give each other what a racist society withheld. During the 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:41.200 same period, the Young Lord's Party undertook similar and related 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:44.280 mutual aid projects in their work towards Puerto Rican liberation. 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:48.240 The Young Lords brought people into the movement by starting 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.320 with the Everyday needs of Puerto Ricans and impoverished communities. 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:55.400 They protested the lack of garbage pickups in Puerto Rican neighborhoods, 0:15:55.960 --> 0:15:58.840 hijacked a city mobile X ray truck to bring greater 0:15:58.880 --> 0:16:03.000 tuberculosis tests in to Puerto Rican communities, took over part 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:06.240 of a hospital to provide healthcare, and provided food and 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:11.120 youth programs for Puerto Rican communities. Their vision for decolonizing 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.320 Puerto Rico and liberating Puerto Ricans in the United States 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:18.880 from racism, poverty, and police terror was put into practice 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:25.400 through mutual aid. Throughout the nineteen sixties and seventies, many 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:29.560 overlapping movements undertook mutual aid efforts, such as feminist health 0:16:29.600 --> 0:16:34.200 clinics and activist run abortion providers, emerging volunteer run gay 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:39.720 health clinics, childcare collectives, tenants, unions, and community food projects. 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:42.720 Although this moment is an important reference point for the 0:16:42.720 --> 0:16:46.720 contemporary left, mutual aid didn't start in the sixties, but 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:52.200 is an ongoing feature of movements seeking transformative change. Klebanali, 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.920 project coordinator and Indigenous Media Action argues that mutual aid 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:01.080 is an unbroken tradition among Indigenous people across many cycles 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:05.760 of colonialism maintained through the traditional teachings that contemporary Indigenous 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:10.400 mutual aid projects are working to restore and amplify. Settlers 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:14.160 have long work to undermine Indigenous people's self sustaining practices 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.439 by first destroying food systems and then forcing dependency on 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:23.520 rations given at forts and missions and now by sedtler nonprofits. 0:17:24.240 --> 0:17:27.240 Indigenous mutual aid efforts are both a matter of survival 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.800 and a powerful form of resistance to the force dependence 0:17:30.880 --> 0:17:35.320 on settler systems. The long tradition of mutual aid societies 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.000 and other forms of quote self help and black communities, 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.000 which as early as the seventeen eighties sought to pool 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.520 resources to provide health and life insurance, care for the sick, 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.919 aid for burials, support for widows and orphans, and public 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:53.639 education efforts is another important example. These efforts have addressed 0:17:53.720 --> 0:17:59.240 black exclusion from white infrastructures by creating black alternatives. Long 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:03.600 traditions of mutual aid are also visible in working class 0:18:03.640 --> 0:18:06.960 communities that have long supported workers on strike so that 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:10.639 they could pay rent and buy food while confronting their bosses. 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.680 Perhaps most of all, the pervasive presence of mutual aid 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:19.640 during sudden disasters of all kinds, storms, floods, fires, and earthquakes. 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.840 Demonstrates how people come together to care for each other 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.800 and share resources when inevitably the government is not there 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.320 to help, offers relief that does not reach the most 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:34.160 vulnerable people, and deploys law enforcement against displaced disaster survivors. 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:42.400 Mutual aid is a powerful force. Two Mutual aid projects 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:49.480 mobilize people, expand solidarity, and build movements. Mutual aid is 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.639 essential to building social movements. People often come to social 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:59.000 movement groups because they need something eviction defense, childcare, social connection, 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:02.159 health care, or help in a fight with a government 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:06.879 about something like welfare benefits, disability services, immigration status, or 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:10.119 custody of their children. Being able to get help in 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.040 a crisis is often a condition for being politically active, 0:19:13.520 --> 0:19:16.000 because it's very difficult to organize when you are also 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:20.240 struggling to survive. Getting support through a mutual aid project 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:22.840 that has a political analysis of the conditions that produce 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:28.760 your crisis also helps break stigma, shame, and isolation. Under capitalism, 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:33.160 social problems resulting from exploitation in the maldistribution of resources 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:38.679 are understood as individual moral failings, not systemic problems. Getting 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:40.960 support at a place that sees the systems, not the 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.320 people suffering in them, as the problem can help people 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:48.840 move from shame to anger and defiance. Mutual aid exposes 0:19:48.880 --> 0:19:51.600 the failures of the current system and shows an alternative. 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:54.639 This work is based in a belief that those on 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:57.480 the front lines of a crisis have the best wisdom 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.439 to solve the problems, and that collective act is the 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:05.760 way forward. Mutual aid projects also build solidarity. I have 0:20:05.840 --> 0:20:10.240 seen this at the Silvia Rivera Law Project SRLP, a 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:13.000 law collective that provides free legal help to trans and 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.439 gender non conforming people who are low income and or 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:19.320 people of color. I worked with the group from two 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:23.040 thousand and two to twenty nineteen. Again and again I 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:26.840 saw people come to SRLP for help because something bad 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:29.600 had happened to them in a shelter, in prison, or 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.600 in interaction with cops, immigration authorities, the foster care system, or 0:20:33.640 --> 0:20:38.000 public schools. People seeking legal services for these problems would 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:42.520 be invited to participate in organizing and become part of SRLP, 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:45.639 working on changing the conditions that had brought them to 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:50.159 the group. As people joined, things were often bumpy. Members 0:20:50.240 --> 0:20:52.440 may have had some things in common, being trans or 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:55.800 gender non conforming, for example, but also differed from one 0:20:55.840 --> 0:21:01.840 another in terms of race, immigration status, ability, HIV status, age, housing, access, 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:07.080 sexual orientation, language, and more. By working together and participating 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:11.360 in shared political education programs, members could learn about experiences 0:21:11.400 --> 0:21:15.440 different from theirs and build solidarity across those differences. This 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.879 changed and continues to change, not only the individuals in 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:22.040 the group, but the kind of politics the group practices. 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:27.240 Solidarity is what builds and connects large scale movements. In 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:31.960 the context of professionalized nonprofit organizations, groups are urged to 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:36.080 be single issue oriented, framing their message around quote deserving 0:21:36.160 --> 0:21:40.040 people within the population they serve, and using tactics palatable 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.399 to elites. Prison oriented groups are supposed to fight for 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:47.080 only the quote innocent or the quote non violent, for example, 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:50.879 and do their work by lobbying politicians about how some people, 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:54.840 not all people, don't belong in prison. This is the 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:58.080 opposite of solidarity because it means the most vulnerable people 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:02.520 are left behind, those who are upcharged by cops and prosecutors, 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:05.160 those who do not have the means to prove their innocence, 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:09.280 those who do not match cultural tropes of innocence and deservedness. 0:22:11.440 --> 0:22:15.840 This narrow focus actually strengthens the system's legitimacy by advocating 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:18.959 that the targeting of those more stigmatized people is okay. 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:23.920 This pattern of anti solidarity incentives and practices has been 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:28.040 devastating for movements. As in the next chapter, solidarity across 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:31.320 issues and populations is what makes movements big and powerful. 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:35.280 Without that connection, we end up with disconnected groups working 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:39.280 in their issue silos, undermining each other, competing for attention 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:43.040 and funding, not backing each other up, and not building power. 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:47.000 Mutual aid projects, by creating spaces where people come together 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:49.439 on the basis of some shared need or concern in 0:22:49.440 --> 0:22:55.040 spite of their different lived experience, cultivate solidarity. Groups doing 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:58.320 mutual aid to directly address real problems and real people's 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:01.880 lives tend to develop a multie and solidarity based approach 0:23:02.640 --> 0:23:05.520 because their members' lives are cross cut by many different 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:09.359 experiences of vulnerability. Sometimes, even groups that start out with 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:13.199 a narrow goal adopt a wider horizon of solidarity and 0:23:13.240 --> 0:23:15.760 a wider vision of political possibility if they use the 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:19.640 mutual aid model. An initial goal of serving people impacted 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:25.080 by homelessness quickly reveals that racism, colonialism, immigration, enforcement, ableism, 0:23:25.119 --> 0:23:29.080 police violence, the foster care system, the healthcare system, transphobia, 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:33.520 and more are all causes of homelessness or causes of 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:37.840 further harm to homeless people. Solidarity in an ever expanding 0:23:37.880 --> 0:23:41.919 commitment to justice emerge from contact with the complex realities 0:23:41.920 --> 0:23:46.000 of injustice. This is exactly how movements are built, as 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:48.920 people become connected to each other and as one urgent 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:53.879 issue unspools into a broader vision of social transformation. But 0:23:54.000 --> 0:23:57.120 do you know how podcasts are built? Dear listeners? Do 0:23:57.200 --> 0:24:00.720 you know that some of them, including the very podcast 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:04.800 you are listening to now, are built on the dollars 0:24:04.840 --> 0:24:09.840 of advertisers? For better and for worse? And here they 0:24:09.840 --> 0:24:27.480 are and we're back. Three. Mutual aid projects are participatory, 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:32.280 solving problems through collective action rather than waiting for saviors. 0:24:34.200 --> 0:24:38.600 Mutual aid projects help people develop skills for collaboration, participation, 0:24:38.960 --> 0:24:43.159 and decision making. For example, people engaged in a project 0:24:43.200 --> 0:24:46.400 to help one another through housing court proceedings will learn 0:24:46.440 --> 0:24:49.000 the details of how the system harms people and how 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:52.360 to fight it. But they will also learn about meeting facilitation, 0:24:52.960 --> 0:24:59.760 working across differences, retaining volunteers, addressing conflict, giving and receiving feedback, 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:05.640 following through and coordinating schedules and transportation. They may also 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:07.760 learn that it is not just lawyers who can do 0:25:07.800 --> 0:25:11.360 this kind of work, and that many people, including themselves, 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:15.720 have something to offer. This departs from expertise based social 0:25:15.760 --> 0:25:18.399 services that tell us we need to have a social worker, 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:21.760 licensed therapist, lawyer, or some other person with an advanced 0:25:21.800 --> 0:25:25.800 degree to get things done. Mutual Aid projects always include 0:25:25.800 --> 0:25:29.480 an invitation to participate in any offer of support. People 0:25:29.520 --> 0:25:32.000 are invited to take a tent or water or food, 0:25:32.400 --> 0:25:35.840 but also to become part of the project. Getting material 0:25:35.880 --> 0:25:39.240 support from the Mutual Aid group isn't conditional on participating. 0:25:39.760 --> 0:25:41.560 You can have what we're giving out whether or not 0:25:41.600 --> 0:25:43.600 you come to our next meeting and join our protest 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:47.160 at the Landlord's office on Tuesday. But because mutual Aid 0:25:47.200 --> 0:25:49.440 is based on an understanding that we won't solve the 0:25:49.480 --> 0:25:52.240 crises we are facing through just giving things to each other, 0:25:52.560 --> 0:25:55.160 we must organize as many people as possible to care 0:25:55.200 --> 0:25:58.320 for each other and fight back. Any aide shared includes 0:25:58.359 --> 0:26:01.119 an invitation to become part of the world work. Every 0:26:01.119 --> 0:26:03.560 person in crisis or need is also a person who 0:26:03.640 --> 0:26:08.040