Mutual aid: Resources and examples
July 2, 2024 3:56 AM Subscribe
Scholar Jessica Gordon Nembhard says in her book, Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice, that mutual aid societies were a cornerstone of African-American communities. A notable one is the Free African Society, formed in Philadelphia a decade after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. By 1830, more than a hundred mutual aid societies existed in Philadelphia alone. So drawing from existing knowledge instead of reinventing the wheel, this article is a guide to starting or increasing the capacity of, a mutual aid network. Start small and start anywhere with a core team. It’s OK to not have a grand plan to save the world when starting a mutual aid network. In fact, it’s better if you don’t—mutual aid is a complex, emergent process where each member’s abilities and ideas are respected. It also operates on a local scale. Not knowing all the answers—and being able to admit that—is a good start. From Aaron Fernando writing in Shareable.
Around the world, people are faced with crisis after crisis, from the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change-induced fires, floods, and storms to the ongoing horrors of mass incarceration, brutal immigration enforcement, endemic gender violence, and severe wealth inequality. As governments fail to respond to—or actively engineer—each crisis, ordinary people are finding bold and innovative ways to share resources and support vulnerable members of their communities. This survival work, when done alongside social movement demands for transformative change, is called mutual aid. From Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade.
Hajooj Kuka, External communications officer for the Khartoum State Emergency Response Room, writes about their experiences in The New Humanitarian. One year into a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly nine million, there is one thing flourishing in Sudan: mutual aid. ... millions of Sudanese have remained in war-torn areas outside the reach of international aid agencies, finding ways to support each other using local resources and diaspora aid. Others like myself have found a way of helping from afar. Together, we have formed mutual aid groups known as Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) that have provided food, health, and other critical services, all while building partnerships, raising funding, and getting recognition as frontline humanitarian aid workers.
From the free Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit:
Mutual Aid is not…
Quid pro quo transactions
Only for disasters or crises
Charity or a way to “save” people
A reason for a social safety net not to exist.
Neighbourhood Pods How-To from Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville in Massachusetts (Facebook link).
Finally, Solidarity in the Rural South, an excerpt from an interview with a minister who grew up in, left, and then returned to Alabama written by Mitchell Atencio and published in Sojourners.
People always ask, “How did you convince your town to do this?” A lot of it is dependent on the relational aspect of building relationships with people who are in leadership. But it’s also just asking — especially in rural areas. The town has a lot of property, but not a lot of money to do anything with it so it’s just sitting there vacant. [We build] those relationships in my town with our town leaders and council people, and work with them to revitalize and breathe life into things and invite them to participate in new ways.
We’re setting up a free “vending machine” for Narcan, which is the first one of those, maybe in Alabama, but definitely in this part of Alabama. Our county commission has all this money from opioid settlements and they’re refusing to use it for anything good. So, we’re saying, “Okay, we’re not going to wait around on you. We’re going to figure out a way to do it.” And that vending machine is, again, in partnership with our local town. The county won’t do anything, but the town says “Sure, we love this idea. You can put the vending machine on town property.” Our communities are being burned alive by opioids, so anything we can do to help keep people alive, we want to do it.
Around the world, people are faced with crisis after crisis, from the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change-induced fires, floods, and storms to the ongoing horrors of mass incarceration, brutal immigration enforcement, endemic gender violence, and severe wealth inequality. As governments fail to respond to—or actively engineer—each crisis, ordinary people are finding bold and innovative ways to share resources and support vulnerable members of their communities. This survival work, when done alongside social movement demands for transformative change, is called mutual aid. From Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade.
Hajooj Kuka, External communications officer for the Khartoum State Emergency Response Room, writes about their experiences in The New Humanitarian. One year into a devastating war that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly nine million, there is one thing flourishing in Sudan: mutual aid. ... millions of Sudanese have remained in war-torn areas outside the reach of international aid agencies, finding ways to support each other using local resources and diaspora aid. Others like myself have found a way of helping from afar. Together, we have formed mutual aid groups known as Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) that have provided food, health, and other critical services, all while building partnerships, raising funding, and getting recognition as frontline humanitarian aid workers.
From the free Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit:
Mutual Aid is not…
Quid pro quo transactions
Only for disasters or crises
Charity or a way to “save” people
A reason for a social safety net not to exist.
Neighbourhood Pods How-To from Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville in Massachusetts (Facebook link).
Finally, Solidarity in the Rural South, an excerpt from an interview with a minister who grew up in, left, and then returned to Alabama written by Mitchell Atencio and published in Sojourners.
People always ask, “How did you convince your town to do this?” A lot of it is dependent on the relational aspect of building relationships with people who are in leadership. But it’s also just asking — especially in rural areas. The town has a lot of property, but not a lot of money to do anything with it so it’s just sitting there vacant. [We build] those relationships in my town with our town leaders and council people, and work with them to revitalize and breathe life into things and invite them to participate in new ways.
We’re setting up a free “vending machine” for Narcan, which is the first one of those, maybe in Alabama, but definitely in this part of Alabama. Our county commission has all this money from opioid settlements and they’re refusing to use it for anything good. So, we’re saying, “Okay, we’re not going to wait around on you. We’re going to figure out a way to do it.” And that vending machine is, again, in partnership with our local town. The county won’t do anything, but the town says “Sure, we love this idea. You can put the vending machine on town property.” Our communities are being burned alive by opioids, so anything we can do to help keep people alive, we want to do it.
Thanks, HereHere!
posted by Bella Donna at 4:41 AM on July 2 [2 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 4:41 AM on July 2 [2 favorites]
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