It was a treat to get to talk to the brilliant makers of the Rebel Steps podcast for their episode on community care. If you haven’t already listened to them, check out all their episodes. They do a great job breaking down the elements of social movement work, lifting up brilliant examples of different tactics, and making it all feel possible. Listen here.
This conversation was very rich and useful for me. I hope you enjoy it! I am grateful to the organizers and my fellow panelists.
“Mutual Aid” is a People’s Movement: Beyond Philanthropy, Charity, and Dependence on the (Police) State
An American Studies Association 2020 Freedom Course recorded on April 22, 2020
Framing questions: * What is “mutual aid,” and how is it different from charity, philanthropy, and state social services? * How is mutual aid part of current and historical freedom, liberation, and self-determination struggles of different peoples? * How are mutual aid efforts responding to the COVID-19 pandemic? * How can people participate in mutual aid projects RIGHT NOW?
Participants: * Rachel Gilmer, Helen Peña, and Dr. Armen Henderson Dream Defenders (https://dreamdefenders.org/) * Amika Tendaji Ujimaa Medics (https://umedics.org/) * Mariame Kaba Project NIA (http://project-nia.org/) * Dean Spade Seattle University School of Law (http://bigdoorbrigade.com/) * facilitated by Dylan Rodríguez Univ of California, Riverside; President-Elect of the American Studies Association (2020-2021)
Roberto Sirvent and I are publishing a series of interviews with mutual aid groups in Black Agenda Report. Check out the second in the series, with Mutual Aid Disaster Relief!
Duke University Press just published a Care for Uncertain Times syllabus making tons of great work free to read! I am so grateful that my book, Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law is included, as is the new issue of Social Text on Radical Care in which I published an article on mutual aid. Check it out!
Roberto Sirvent and I are working on a series of interviews with rad mutual aid organizations and practitioners for Black Agenda Report. The first interview, with Ujimaa Medics, is now out! Have a read and look out for more to come.
Today is a horrifying holiday dedicated to false narratives that attempt to cover over colonialism and genocide, and also a day when many people make an effort to “give back” by volunteering somewhere. Images of friendly upper class people volunteering at soup kitchens to feed homeless people articulate charity narratives that hide the actual causes and consequences of wealth and poverty.
I am sensing, all around me these days, how desperately frustrated, scared, and angry many people are about what is going on in the world around us–climate change, war-induced famine in Yemen, imprisoned children and parents at our borders and across the land, Amazon’s takeover of our food systems and cities, superstorms and disastrous fires, and so much more. I think a lot of people are wishing they knew more about how to plug in to processes of change they can believe in. I am frustrated watching misunderstandings about what change is and how it happens (“Care about poor people? Just volunteer in a soup kitchen once a year!”) circulate widely. I think their circulation is designed to demobilize us and keep us from participating in effective strategies to build the social conditions we want and need. So here is a very rough draft of a chart and some writing about the difference between “having a cause” as it is commonly described (or worse yet, the careerist version, “social justice entrepreneurship”), and living a life focused on our commitments to radical transformation. I hope it helps us imagine more creative, robust ways of being engaged with each other and the conditions we live in as we participate in resistance and transformation.
Continue reading ““Having a Cause” versus Living in a Life Centered in Radical Transformation”
