Mutual Aid Practices

Allies, Accomplices and other mutual aid networks sharing info

We are going to have to lean on the community now more than ever.
Here are resources for learning how to practice mutual aid.

What is Mutual Aid?

What Mutual Aid IS

  • Getting people together in your community to provide material support to each other

  • Building relationships with your neighbors based on trust and common interest

  • Making decisions by consensus rather than relying on authority or hierarchy

  • Sharing things rather than hoarding things

  • Treating no one as disposable

  • Providing all kinds of support, ranging from food prep to childcare to translation to emotional support, and recognizing the value of all of them

  • A political education opportunity, where we build the relationships and analysis to understand why we are in the conditions that we’re in

  • Preparation for the next disaster (natural or economic). Next time around we’ll already have relationships with each other and know who is vulnerable and needs support

  • A great jumping off point for other kinds of organizing and movement work

What Mutual Aid IS NOT

  • Quid pro quo transactions

  • Only for disasters or crises

  • Charity or a way to “save” people

  • A reason for a social safety net not to exist


(from AOC’s Mutual Aid 101 Toolkit)

DC MUTUAL AID NETWORK

The DC Mutual Aid Network is a multi spherical network of pods made from DC wards. The network released some city demands. ----> bit.ly/DemandsC19