After neighbors took care of neighbors during the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of mutual aid suddenly catapulted into the national spotlight. The speed and nimbleness with which mutual aid projects emerged was a strength, but it also meant many participants did not have preexisting relationships, trust, or shared political commitments. What has happened to the mutual aid movement since…
Source
In late April, the humanitarian aid organization Anera received a peculiar donation of 250 3D-printed tourniquets. Even more unusual was the fact they were manufactured by a small non-hierarchical collective using an open-source design on the other end of the world, in Tucson, Arizona. The shipment arrived in Lebanon after more than 100 Israeli strikes wounded at least 1,000…
Source
Even before Donald Trump launched a war on Iran, his presidency had heightened the strain on millions of people in the United States struggling with high prices and precarious work. Now, as the U.S. and Israel escalate their violence in the Middle East, pressures at home are intensifying. Higher prices at the gas pump make the war-related surge in energy costs visible to all.
Source
When federal immigration enforcement escalated in Minneapolis this winter, under what officials described as Operation Metro Surge, communities across Minnesota were forced to respond quickly. As businesses in immigrant corridors shuttered, families sheltered in place, and ICE activity intensified, organizers, faith groups, mutual aid networks, and everyday residents began building new forms of…
Source
For years, PM Press operated out of Ramsey Kanaan’s cozy apartment, and Dan Fedorenko’s ramshackle garden shed. From these humble headquarters in Oakland, California, they packed and shipped books exploring anarchist, Marxist, and abolitionist ideas. Much like anarchist punks who distributed zines at shows throughout the ’90s, the publishers sold many copies through tabling, setting up at book…
Source
My partner, an immigrant from Brazil, shows love through acts of service. At first, I was confused. I had been raised to see romantic love, partner love, as centered on acts of adoration, big and intense actions designed to make me, the beloved, feel exceptional. My partner, who is romantic but not in that way, finds this focus on exceptional love confusing. She bonds with other immigrants on the…
Source