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faythofdragons@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

Define mutual aid. My local group has been recently focused on bolstering the local food bank, since we found out the state funding was getting stuck in the urban area and not making it to the (largely immigrant) communities of people who cant afford to live in the city.

The local food bank is entirely volunteer driven, they only have a facebook page, and no way to accept donations online. It directs people to mail a check, but most people just venmo the urban food bank and assume the money will come our way eventually.

Due to lack of funding, they don’t even have refrigeration, and thus can’t accept fresh produce donations from the local farms or community gardens.

Here in a few weeks, we’re planning a big donation drive and awareness campaign about the lopsided funding structure, and county council has been invited to hear us talk about implementing a more decentralized food distribution system.

Opinions on the fediverse seem to think this is just more ineffective shitlib harm reduction nonsense, and we shouldn’t be wasting our time on it. I want to know why they don’t want us delivering food boxes to neighbors targeted by ICE.

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Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
I’m not saying that your plan is bad or wrong but it’s not necessarily mutual aid.

What you are describing is one way aid, unless I am jumping to conclusions about the people who are organizing it. The problem with one way aid or charity is that it doesn’t build parallel systems to protect people when the state takes away things they depend on. This is why it’s not an effective support for direct action. If the people supplying the aid get scared or they lose their privilege, the aid stops.

I’m going to use strike support as an example. Striking workers may get strike pay, but it’s not enough to live off. They depend on the support of friends, family and other workers who are not on strike to meet their needs so that they can continue to strike until a fair(er?) deal is made. The idea is that when these people are back at work they can support another group who is striking.

In a more general example, I am a gardener. I can take my time to teach others how to garden. I can share my seeds and my produce. Maybe my neighbor can put aside his raked leaves for me to mulch my beds with? It might be easier to think of mutual aid as an informal economy where the goal is to distribute resources and knowledge for the purpose of making sure people are taken care of vs profiting. IRL my neighbor has offered his front lawn for more growing space, but I haven’t been able to take him up on it because poor health has stopped me from using all the land I have already. He can’t spare the time or labour to help rn but I know our produce delights him so I’m not going withholding it because I’m not getting anything in exchange.

Seettu is another example although it’s not a static thing and different applications may be closer or further from mutual aid than others.

I hope this helps.

Good luck with your food drive.

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- faythofdragons@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  
  It might be easier to think of mutual aid as an informal economy where the goal is to distribute resources and knowledge for the purpose of making sure people are taken care of vs profiting.
  
  How is that not what I’m describing though? We want to break away from the formal system, that has failed us, and set up a parallel system of localized support.
  
  I fail to see how bidding on a pot of money is more closely aligned with mutual aid than helping your neighbors distribute produce from the community garden.
  
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  - Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    
    How is that not what I’m describing though? We want to break away from the formal system, that has failed us, and set up a parallel system of localized support.
    
    Again, maybe I am not understanding the details.
    
    Are the people who are providing the food/funding/organization realistically likely to depend on this system in the future? I think it’s more important that they understand that they are building a system they will also rely on vs any “there but for the grace of god I go” type thought.
    
    If so, then it’s mutual aid. If instead the parallel system depends on people with no connection to the need, it’s charity.
    
    I fail to see how bidding on a pot of mone
    
    I knew that wasn’t the best article but I didn’t want to depend on my own second hand experience to describe it because I am not Tamil.
    
    The bid example didn’t include uses like the author describes in the beginning:
    
    He depended on Seettu to meet emergency needs: when his wife and children arrived after he sponsored them, he used the money from Seettu to fund their settlement expenses.
    
    It’s pooling money to be dispersed for the good of the community in the manner the community decides. It’s not perfect of course.
    
    I’m getting too wordy here I think but the key idea is that in order for it to be mutual aid, all involved must be building a system they themselves rely on. That removes the power of the state to cut it off by threatening the most privileged.
    
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    faythofdragons@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    
    Are the people who are providing the food/funding/organization realistically likely to depend on this system in the future?
    
    Yes? Who else would care enough?
    
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