mutual aid assistance

520 new term?<div>
</div><div>An alternative path to public safety: mutual aidA common justification for authoritarian actions during times of crisis is that the public is prone to panicking and losing control, but social scientists agree that in emergency situations,<a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1016/S1479-3709(06)09002-9/full/html?skipTracking=true" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> people actually “tend to be more cooperative and more generous toward others than they may normally be.”</a> In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, for example, it wasn’t the police who protected people from <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/post-katrina-white-vigilantes-shot-african-americans-with-impunity" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">roving white militias</a>. It wasn’t FEMA or NGOs who provided food and medical care after Harvey and Sandy. It was <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2006/03/common-ground/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">networks of neighbors</a> and volunteers who calmly <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/09/07/antifa-and-leftists-organize-mutual-aid-and-rescue-networks-in-houston_partner/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">took matters into their own hands</a>. People cooperated, not competed. They made decisions democratically, not unilaterally. They provided mutual aid, not policing.<a href="https://www.anarchistagency.com/commentary/five-ways-you-can-engage-in-mutual-aid-now/?fbclid=IwAR2KXOi5xJ3hpYPWfyEiXlTRQu7ofY0OcJJofBmQrvPxTDDQrfYKD_oKzz4" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Mutual aid</a> is a foundational concept of anarchist political philosophy. It’s the idea that helping each other is crucial to our survival and intrinsic to our humanity. It’s understanding that an individual’s happiness and wellbeing is linked to the happiness and wellbeing of others. In the midst of the pandemic, people all over America are proving it true.An antifascist group in Portland has <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/portland-anti-fascists-are-making-hand-sanitizer-for-essential-workers-homeless-residents.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">made 225 gallons of hand sanitizer</a> for frontline workers and people without homes. An antiracist group in New York City has <a href="https://citylimits.org/2020/04/03/mutual-aid-movement-playing-huge-role-in-covid-19-crisis/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">made and delivered</a> over 3,000 meals to families in the Bronx and East Harlem. Food Not Bombs in Philadelphia is <a href="https://www.workers.org/2020/04/47763/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">delivering thousands of masks</a> to essential workers. Professionals across the country are<a href="https://thenewinquiry.com/rent-strike-2020/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> offering legal aid </a>for rent strikers. This isn’t charity meted out from above, but ordinary people helping their neighbors and peers in need.</div>