As we look forward, we must not despair, we must commit to mutual aid
Panels taken from a longer comic by Ellen O'Grady
By Maggie Block
I’d like to start this off with a quote from a local trans liberation visionary Dean Spade “I’m hearing a lot of people struggling with hopelessness right now. And I think it may be the moment to shift what we have hope and faith in. It’s actually appropriate to be letting go of the false promises of liberalism. The idea that billionaires, or tech solutions, or legislation, or court cases, or elected officials will save us. Instead of recognizing that no one’s coming to save us. That it’s on us. That we really only have each other and our ability to care for one another.”
As we’re less then a week away from Trump’s second inauguration, it’s hard not to despair for our futures. As Los Angeles burns the idea of a climate denier, who wants to defund vital social services, make bodily autonomy illegal, and roll back civil rights, seems like a sign that the end is nigh. Trust me, I am right there with you. This. Is. Scary.
However, the only way out of this is through it. And I believe the only way through the next 4 years, and beyond, is together. We will survive this if we can commit to taking care of each other, that is, if we can commit to mutual aid.
While many cultures across the globe have practiced what we would now call mutual aid, in the late 1800’s the anarchist philosopher, naturalist and owner of an impressively fluffy beard, Peter Kropotkin coined the term. Kropotkin wrote a series of articles in the magazine The Nineteenth Century that were published from 1890 to 1896. Through these writings Kropotkin challenged the Darwinian assumption that it was through survival of the fittest that species thrived and continued on in evolution. Instead Kropotkin illustrated through observations of the natural world and historical European cultures, that survival was not due to who won competitions, but instead how well communities and eco systems cooperated to create structures that helped everyone survive. In 1902 the essays were published as a collection called Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, which you can still read today.
It turns out whether you’re looking at colonies of insects, packs and pods of wolves and dolphins, or medieval European communities; survival is not based on which individual is best able to dominate the others, survival is instead based on how well all members of these groups could cooperate to take care of one another.
It is important to note that Kropotkin was not only trying to disprove the theory of necessary competition that came from darwinism, but also the romantic notion that cooperation happened due to a “universal love,” as Jean-Jacques Rousseau argued. Mutual aid is not something that you should be doing out of the goodness of your heart, it’s not something you should do to help the less fortunate; you should do mutual aid because you also need support and help to survive.
Capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism are violent systems that force the dominance of one small group of people above all others. These same systems have destroyed cooperative structures, and told us that individualism is natural, and that brutal competition is the only system that works.
Yet, here we stand at the end game of these systems, with a planet so far off balance we are experiencing more and more unprecedented “natural” disasters every year. With more and more people working back breaking hours without being able to have the dignity of their basic needs being met. We need to stop believing the lie that we as individuals are in this alone, we must start collectivizing, building coalitions, and creating a critical mass that can force a redistribution of wealth and power.
If you agree with what you read above, but aren’t sure where to start, I made a 7 point how to get started guide below:
1) Evaluate how much support you are capable of giving
Can you commit to doing something weekly? Monthly? Could you be available to respond to emergency calls to action? Do you not have any time, but could give some money (even $5 monthly).
2) Figure out what risks you’re willing to take
Maybe you can’t risk a covid exposure. Maybe you can’t risk going to jail. Maybe your anxiety makes calling your representative impossible. Figure out what your boundaries are around resistance, and make plans that are aligned with the risks you’re willing to take.
3) Identify what you most want to work on
What are you most passionate about? Housing justice? Immigrant’s rights? LGBTQIA2S+ liberation? Intellectual freedom in schools and libraries? Defunding the police? Environmental justice? You can of course be passionate about more than one issue, but thinking back to point 1, how much capacity do you have to organize? With that in mind choose causes that you are most passionate about while being realistic about how much you can personally commit to.
4) Work with your community
Ideally find a group of people that you know well and trust, and NOT someone who has just reappeared in your life after a period of distance. Make sure you’re all on the same page about what risks you are and are not willing to take. Make sure you’re on the same page about what your priorities are in terms of liberatory work. Work together, this is a good way to make movement work social and connective, and a good way to work safely.
5) Find who is already doing the work
Whatever you are most passionate about there are people and organizations that are already working on solving those issues, find them. Google, search social media, ask at your local library, find who is doing the work, and reach out to them. If they have a website with donation and volunteer information laid out, follow the prompts. If they’re less formal and maybe just have a social media account, look at what they’ve posted lately and see if they’ve already provided the public with ways to get involved, if not dm them and ask how you can help. Don’t try and come in and take over, see what their needs are and give them the help they ask for. Once you’ve spent time working with a group and have an understanding of how and why they do what they do, then you can make suggestions.
6) Work on your conflict resolution skills
One of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of collective liberation is our inability to deal with conflict. Sometimes we treat interpersonal problems as political issues, when really it’s just a couple of people who don’t get along. Sometimes a group member who’s blind to their own privilege is unable to work with people who don’t share their cultural norms and expectations. Sometimes group members will push so hard for perfection that work becomes impossible in a world that doesn’t allow perfection. We need to have robust restorative and transformative skills to help us navigate and move beyond conflict.
7) Have patience
The world we want cannot be built in a day, a month, or even a year. It’s a long road to get where we want to go. Create realistic goals that lead towards unrealistic/necessary ones. Celebrate small victories, do not be discouraged by defeats. Wrap your mind around this work being part of the rest of your life, and do what you can to remain connected to the work.
I’d like to end with a quote from local trans liberation visionary, Dean Spade: “It’s really sober and accurate to be with how rough things are and how much rougher they’re about to get; And then ask ourselves, do I want to be in the fight until I die, even though I don’t know how it’s going to turn out? Because that’s how everyone whose fought for liberation had to be. Instead of needing certainty to be part of the struggle. It’s being with the uncertainty. Part of that, for me, is shifting our sense of ourselves from some good outcome that can definitely happen, towards just the pleasure of being with each other in the struggle, and doing what we can to reduce suffering with each other.”