Whole book: "Mutual Aid"

[sonia]

Mutual Aid by Dean Spade is a whole book available online. Subtitle: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next).

This book provides a concrete guide for building mutual aid groups and networks. Part I explores what mutual aid is, why it is different than charity, and how it relates to other social movement tactics. Part II dives into the nitty-gritty of how to work together in mutual aid groups and how to handle the challenges of group decision-making, conflict, and burnout. It includes charts and lists that can be brought to group meetings to stimulate conversation and build shared analysis and group practices. Ultimately, helps imagine how we can coordinate to collectively take care of ourselves—even in the face of disaster—and mobilize hundreds of millions of people to make deep and lasting change.

I've only read a little bit of this, despite having it open in a tab for months. It feels hopeful, experienced, and direct, so I hope to read the rest eventually.

Comments

That sounds nourishing

[jesse_the_k]

Does Spade elaborate on the particular challenges we're facing now (that is, details of current politics) or is it more generic (how we deal with in a nominal, capitalist democracy)?

If the latter, it could bring me a framework for hope -- the former would break my news wall.

Re: That sounds nourishing

[sonia]

It was published in 2020. It starts with a detailed table of contents (no news) and then a paragraph of brief general “these are the emergencies facing us these days.” A little further down it has a few paragraphs about a political protest movement in Hong Kong and how it affected their COVID-19 response. Later there’s a rant about why charity is bad compared to mutual aid.

So I would say, it definitely has politics, and some old news, and it’s also framed in a positive “here’s how we address that” way.

Re: That sounds nourishing

[jesse_the_k]

I appreciate your insight, and I'm gonna give it a try

Re: That sounds nourishing

[sonia]

I hope it’s helpful! I’ll be interested to hear how it goes.

Re: That sounds nourishing

[jesse_the_k]

...ah, the whole thing is an HTML file, so I can simply save it for offline reading.

(I love appropriate technology.)