mutual aid
N.O. Bonzo on Anarchy, Art, and Mutual Aid
From From Embers
VABF Day 1: Welcome to the Victoria Anarchist Bookfair!
N.O. Bonzo is an anarchist street artist and illustrator whose work is much admired in the activist community. In this interview, Bonzo discusses their beautifully illustrated edition of Peter Kropotkin’s most famous book, Mutual Aid, and the politics of anarchy and art. Check out Bonzo's edition of Mutual Aid:
It Could Happen Here: A Review
from Anathema
While only charlatans confidently predict what will happen, it's always interesting to explore what could happen. This is especially true if the coulds being explored are pertinent to the unfolding of struggles against the State and Capital. In the past couple of years, the podcaster Robert Evans has become known for this kind of exploration in his popular podcast It Could Happen Here. Podcasts, especially non-anarchist podcasts, do not normally get much attention in anarchist newspapers like Anathema. A review of Evans's podcast could seem out of place in these pages.
Louisiana: Disasters on the Horizon
from Crimethinc.
Drawing on interviews with local anarchists, we explore the colonial roots of the ongoing catastrophes Hurricane Ida has exacerbated in Louisiana and discuss how communities can create truly resilient infrastructure for all.
Direct (In)Action
from Bella Caledonia by Luke Campbell
State Suppression of Community Organising
More than twelve years on from the global economic crash, across nations the world over, the state continues to not only abdicate responsibility for the ongoing social ills and economic hardships so many ensure, but, as witnessed this week, a significant proportion of those in positions of power actively suppress community-driven efforts to support those around them.
Kairos: A Mutual Aid Exodus From Empire
from Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
Starting in 2019/2020 and now continuing into the summer of 2021, global civil society is witnessing the biggest neoliberal disaster capitalist shock yet: COVID-19. Millions of people have been and continue to be killed by this unprecedented disaster. Like most catastrophes, those historically oppressed and least responsible for this pandemic are nevertheless those most impacted. The death toll is comparable in magnitude of lives lost to another World War.
Why we’re against “mutual aid”
from Mutiny! An anarchist-communist publication by Black Flag Sydney.
Socialism is not charity: why we’re against “mutual aid”
For Kropotkin, the tendency of humans to co-operate also made possible the realisation of anarchist communism. Humanity, from a scientific perspective, did not need armies, policemen and capitalists to organise a functioning, harmonious society; solidarity would come to replace authority as the glue that binds civilisations together.
It’s Time to Help the Lucy Parsons Center
from Center for a Stateless Society
by Eric Fleischmann
The Lucy Parsons Center—originally opened as the Red Book Store in 1969 in Central Square, Cambridge but later renamed after the famed anarcho-communist and labor-organizer—is a non-profit, independent, cooperative radical bookstore and activist community center located in Jamaica Plain, Boston. As they write on their website: for years, the Center…
Towards a New Federationist Federation Front
from some maintream blog platform self-respecting anarchists wouldn't be caught dead using promptly uploaded to The Anarchist Library
The current state of organizing within leftist spaces is not federated. Many have tried to federate it, of particular note are the platformists who try to focus intensely on federation. However, to date organizing with the left is not organized. Therefore, a new approach must be taken up to combat the lack of federation and general disorganization found within leftist circles. Federationism provides this level of focus and organization necessary.
Mutual aid: Kropotkin’s theory of human capacity
from Roar Mag
Kropotkin’s theory of mutual aid remains cogent as ever, demonstrating the capacity for revolutionary change even in the harshest, most repressive environments.
This is an abridged version of Ruth Kinna’s foreword to Kropotkin’s “Mutual Aid: An Illuminated Factor of Evolution” (PM Press, 2021).
U.K. Anarchist Collective Explains Anti-New Normal Position
Via: The South Essex Heckler
https://thehecklersewca.wordpress.com/2020/06/03/an-explainer-on-our-cha...
We’ve come in for a bit of criticism over the last couple of days for our views on the government response to the COVID-19 crisis. Firstly, we’d like to start off by saying that our position on the response to the crisis has changed since it started to emerge at the end of February. At that point, it felt like a massive unknown and that starting to develop our own response in terms of physical distancing and withdrawing from events we were due to participate in seemed to be the sensible thing to do.
Prioritizing in the face of the social avalanche
via A las barricadas, English translation by Anarchist News
ALB Noticias.- Today the FAGC has briefly reappeared on twitter to summarize its activity during these months of pandemic. We reproduce the tweets that you can see with their interactions here. We are happy to hear from this group which is so combative and indispensable.
Mutual Aid Does Nothing Alone
from The Commoner
Mutual Aid Does Nothing Alone: A Rebuttal to Joanna Wuest
In her article ‘Mutual Aid Can’t Do It Alone,’ The Nation author Joanna Wuest alleges that mutual aid is insufficient to support people in (and out of) crisis. She contends that while mutual aid is a useful tool, its efficacy pales in comparison to state programmes. Yet Wuest fails to engage the arguments of mutual aid’s progenitors and proponents. What results is a confused and potentially harmful perspective on a core anarchist principle that has sustained people for generations.
Rebel Steps from NYC on the current political situation in the USA
On its new website, the Anarchist Radio Berlin presents you an interview with Rebel Steps about the situation in the US after the 2020 elections.
Building Power, Resisting Recuperation
From It's Going Down
Dean Spade on Mutual Aid, COVID-19, and Beyond
On this episode of It’s Going Down, we speak with long-time anarchist and organizer Dean Spade, author of the new book, Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next), published by Verso Press.