Those thinking about or approaching mutual aid for the first time should be mindful that mutual aid is a practice with a history all its own that is distinct from other forms of charity or collaboration. Understanding the qualities and characteristics of mutual aid can help organizers or recipients of mutual aid build solidarity and protect themselves from co-optation and hierarchical power structures that may otherwise undermine successful efforts. Activist and organizer Dean Spade provides helpful guidance for individuals looking to recognize and mitigate the practices that compromise collective attempts at mutual aid. The lists below are adapted from Spade's "Mutual Aid Chart," which contains fifteen characteristics of successful and unsuccessful projects to help organizers recognize early warning signs.
Survival work rooted in deep and wide principles of anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, racial justice, gender justice, disability justice.
Efforts to support people facing the most dire conditions.
Give things away without expectations or criteria, with the only criteria being conditions of need.
People participate in mutual aid work voluntarily because of passion about injustice.
Direct aid work is connected to other tactics, including disruptive tactics aimed at root causes of the distress the aid addresses.
Siloed single-issue work, serving a particular population or working on one area of policy reform, disconnected from other "issues."
Conditions and eligibility criteria for participation or help. Imposing eligibility criteria for services that divide people into "deserving" and "undeserving."
Conditions for getting help or participating in something—you have to be sober, have a certain family status, have a certain immigration status, not have outstanding warrants, not have certain convictions, etc.
People come to the work looking for a job, wanting to climb a hierarchy or become "important."
Direct aid work disconnected from other tactics, depoliticized, and organization distances itself from disruptive or root causes-oriented tactics in order to retain legitimacy with government or funders.
The section above provides a simple, non-exhaustive description of mutual aid. The authors encourage you to do some research, reading/watching/listening on your own, to contextualize and deepen your understanding. A list of resources is included in Resources on Mutual Aid.