Radical Organizing
Radical Organizing
Black Communities Have Known about Mutual Aid All Along
Vicky Mochama, Image Credit: Blackpowerbarbie
“In the pandemic, “caremongering” has become a new term for an old—and joyous—practice. [...] Despite a proliferation of mutual aid during the Covid-19 pandemic, “mutual aid is not new. [This article discusses how it is] a long-standing practice of Black communities.”
Building Your Abolitionist Toolbox: Everyday Resources for a Punishment-Free World
Project Nia, Image Credit: Laura Chow Reeve
Graphic notes from Laura Chow Reeve alongside videos, workshops, and additional links covering a variety of abolitionist themes.
Bunny Hop Zine Vol I
The West Philly Bunny Hop, compiled, edited, and designed by Charlyn, Magdaline Griffith, and Oro
“Get to know [The West Philly Bunny Hop] via collective essays, historical clippings and origin stories. Mutual Aid is not a new concept in Philadelphia, but we're all here to grow and expand the efforts.”
Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Thought and Practice
Jessica Gordon Nembhard
"Collective Courage [...] chronicles African American cooperative business ownership and its place in the movements for Black civil rights and economic equality."
Community fridges a fresh form of a long Philly tradition
Emily Scott, Image Credit: Emma Lee
During the pandemic, “Community fridges full of free food [popped up in Philly. ...] The fridges are an example of something called “mutual aid,” which is a tradition in Philadelphia stretching back more than a century. [...] WHYY’s Emily Scott digs into that history and explains how the tradition has shifted in response to different crises over the decades from helping free Black people after the Revolutionary War to COVID-19.”
How We Stay Free: Notes on a Black Uprising
Edited by Christopher R. Rogers, Fajr Muhammad, and the Paul Robeson House & Museum
“An anthology-in-action of the culture and politics of Black liberation, rooted in Philadelphia’s Black Radical Tradition. [...] How We Stay Free collects and presents reflections and testimonies, prose and poetry from those on the frontlines to take stock of where the movement started, where it stands, and where we go from here.”
Introduction to Mutual Aid
Mariame Kaba
"This [video] addresses the following 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 now?"
Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis and the Next
Dean Spade
"This book is about mutual aid: why it is so important, what it looks like, and how to do it. It provides a grassroots theory of mutual aid, describes how mutual aid is a crucial part of powerful movements for social justice, and offers concrete tools for organizing."
Op-ed: We Can Build a Better Food System Through Mutual Aid
Antonio Roman-Alcalá
This article proposes that we "imagine if food producers and movements worked together to secure the basic needs of those fighting for a better world for everyone.”
Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Paulo Freire, translated by Myra Bergman Ramos
Paulo Freire's work has helped to empower countless people throughout the world and has taken on special urgency in the United States and Western Europe, where the creation of a permanent underclass among the underprivileged and minorities in cities and urban centers is ongoing.
Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good
adrienne maree brown
"Drawing on the black feminist tradition, [this book] challenges us to rethink the ground rules of activism.” It explores “‘pleasure activism,’ a politics of healing and happiness that explodes the dour myth that changing the world is just another form of work.”
Solidarity Not Charity: Mutual Aid for Mobilization and Survival
Dean Spade
"This article argues that [...] expanding use of mutual aid strategies will be the most effective way to support vulnerable populations to survive, mobilize significant resistance, and build the infrastructure we need for the coming disasters.”
The History and Principles of Mutual Aid
Hosted by Ash-Lee Henderson, Spanish interpretation by Maria Alejandra Salas-Baltuano, Highlander Center
A live-streamed discussion of the history and principles of mutual aid and the struggles it currently supports, from people who have both studied and practiced it. Spanish interpretation provided.
Vessel
Directed by Diana Whitten, Image Credit: Ed Morgan/Empty the Sunrise
"Vessel begins with a young doctor who lived by the sea, and an unlikely idea. Rebecca Gomperts, horrified by the realities created by anti-abortion law around the world, felt compelled to challenge this. Her method: to provide abortions on a ship in offshore waters."