Envision that world our ancestors want for us

The country is in turmoil as a second Donald Trump administration began yesterday. Which came about from the culmination of years of assault on the truth and delegitimizing the institutions that once provided checks and balances, the US Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Administration.

As the Trump administration cuts funding for social safety nets, I’m led to believe we must focus on local community building, and that Mutual Aid provides a framework for doing that.

What triggered these reflections were some things my good friend Ronnie James said. “Once we envision that world our ancestors want for us, finding our role is natural.” I once wrote about this in Envision the world our ancestors want for us.

The Present Distracted and Broken Nation

In 1659, (Quaker) Edward Burrough wrote, “To the Present Distracted and Broken Nation of England, And to all her Inhabitants: A Presentation and Declaration from the Seed of God, and from the People called Quakers; with their Sense and Knowledge published, concerning the present Divisions and Confusions come to pass in the Land; with Mourning and Lamentation over it because of its Breaches, and the Causes thereof laid down, and discovered.”

He wrote about England, but his words are true in this country today. He declared that Quakers focused on justice, mercy, truth, peace and true freedom, not the secular political system.

We are not for Names, nor Men, nor Titles of Government, nor are we for this Party, nor against the other, because of its Name and Pretence; but we are for Justice and Mercy, and Truth and Peace, and true Freedom, that these may be exalted in our Nation.
~ Edward Burrough, 1634-1663

Mutual Aid

Working to change the world is extremely hard because the conditions we are up against are severe. We cannot blame ourselves for having a difficult relationship to our work, even though we understand that learning to work differently is vital for our movements and for our own well-being and survival. We must be compassionate to ourselves and each other as we practice transforming our ways of working together.

We need each other badly to share what is hard about the overwhelming suffering in the world and the challenge of doing work for change in dangerous conditions. Even in the face of the pain that being awakened to contemporary conditions causes, all of our work for change can be rooted in the comfort and joy of being connected to one another, accompanying one another, and sometimes being inspired by each other. Reflecting deeply about our own orientations toward work— what it feels like to participate in groups, what ideas we are carrying around about leadership and productivity— is crucial to building a practice of working from a place of connection, inspiration, and joy. This means intentionally creating ways to practice a new relationship to work, and diving into the psychic structures underlying our wounds from living and working in brutal, coercive hierarchies.

Dean Spade. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next), Verso

I was led to Des Moines Mutual Aid (DMMA) in 2018. I wrote My Mutual Aid Story to share my experiences with DMMA. The Des Moines Mutual Aid Points of Unity articulate DMMA’s concepts (See below). Two points of emphasis are:

Mutual Aid works to prevent hierarchies, which represent power structures, and
Mutual Aid is NOT charity. With charity, there is usually no engagement between those offering money, and those in need. Charity is also a power relationship. Mutual Aid is based upon MUTUAL engagement, not ‘us’ versus ‘them’.

In his book, Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) Dean Spade says there are three key elements of mutual aid.

Mutual aid projects work to meet survival needs and build shared understanding about why people do not have what they need.
Mutual aid projects mobilize people, expand solidarity, and build movements.
Mutual aid projects are participatory, solving problems through collective action rather than waiting for saviors

My experience with DMMA showed me a different way for a community to take care of itself, rather than relying on the government, which hasn’t served oppressed communities well at all in the past. And will do much less under the new administration.

People are often confused when they hear about Mutual Aid, because it is the way our ancestors lived, by helping one another, rather than the present day’s reliance on money from government programs and charities. Which is obviously relevant now as the Trump administration has indicated it will cut funding for such programs.

Ronnie James was my DMMA mentor. Most of the quotes that follow are from him. Ronnie is an Indigenous organizer, and a member of the Great Plains Action Society (GPAS), which supports Ronnie’s work. GPAS’s initiatives and theory of change includes MUTUAL AID.

When I asked Ronnie how DMMA started, he said, “It started as group of my friends working with the houseless camps some years back. It has now grown into a solid crew that runs a free food store started by the Black Panthers, still work with the camps, we organzied a bail fund that has gotten every protester out of jail the last few months, and we just started an eviction relief fund to try to get a head of the coming crisis, in cooperation with Des Moines BLM. We have raised $13,000 since Wednesday and the application to apply for the grants goes live this week.”

The Free Food Store that I became involved with is a continuation of the work of the Black Panther Party.

Happy 54th Birthday to the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. The Panthers have been a lifelong inspiration and one of the major influences on how I act in this world. The Free Food Store that Des Moines Mutual Aid helps coordinate was founded by the Des Moines chapter of the Panthers and has continued to this day.
I deeply value that we get to carry on that legacy.
All Power To The People.

So I work with a dope crew called Des Moines Mutual Aid, and on Saturday mornings we do a food giveaway program that was started by the Panthers as their free breakfast program and has carried on to this day. Anyways, brag, brag, blah, blah.
So I get to work and I need to call my boss, who is also a very good old friend, because there is network issues. He remembers and asks about the food giveaway which is cool and I tell him blah blah it went really well. And then he’s like, “hey, if no one tells you, I’m very proud of what you do for the community” and I’m like “hold on hold on. Just realize that everything I do is to further the replacing of the state and destroying western civilization and any remnants of it for future generations.” He says “I know and love that. Carry on.”

Ronnie James

Black Liberation

mutual aid is the new economy. mutual aid is community. it is making sure your elderly neighbor down the street has a ride to their doctor’s appointment. mutual aid is making sure the children in your neighborhood have dinner, or a warm coat for the upcoming winter. mutual aid is planting community gardens.

capitalism has violated the communities of marginalized folks. capitalism is about the value of people, property and the people who own property. those who have wealth and property control the decisions that are made. the government comes second to capitalism when it comes to power.

in the name of liberation, capitalism must be reversed and dismantled. meaning that capitalistic practices must be reprogrammed with mutual aid practices.

Des Moines Black Liberation

By participating in groups in new ways and practicing new ways of being together, we are both building the world we want and becoming the kind of people who could live in such a world together.
Dean Spade. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next), Verso