twovests wrote (edited )
I upvoted this post, and I appreciate the sentiment, but I think this post suffers from some Leftist Mistakes. Painting organizing as "throw away your entire way of life and do something" both (1) paints organizing as something destructive and undesirable, but also (2) is vague and not something anyone can do.
(Further, throwing away hobbies is not option. Culture and knowledge is carried through art. This isn't some distanced moral principal-- continuing to make art is an essential part of this. The Republicans know that, that's why they have "God King Trump" childrens books.)
An eight year old migrant girl was put in a cage today. What are you doing to free her?
The thing is, we can't be in every fight. You have to be in some fight, but you can't do anything if you try to be in every fight.
I've not done anything to free her. Do you have any advice? What can I do?
Put your phone down, get off your ass, and start getting involved. This is not a request.
Sure, this is not a request. But it's not actionable, either. "Getting involved" is so vague you might as well not say it.
If you said, "Look up your local tenants union" or "Get a pistol permit" or "Take a first aid class" or "Put money toward mutual aid rather than toward video games", then that might be something.
For me, I'm doing peaceful disruptive protests. I'm also doing data work for my local tenant union specifically in support of homeless people in a nearby city. I'm sysadmining a few places (sry jstpst i'm cheating on you) which enables discussions like these. I'm also doing some things which aren't exactly illegal but I sure won't be talking about here.
This is on top of my day job, which I need to do to get money so I can eat and continue to exist. It's a lot of work. I don't know what I can do for the eight year old girl.
So, if the kids gloves are off, then I'm going to challenge you to be more specific.
An eight year old migrant girl was put in a cage today. What can I do to free her?
rain wrote
Further, throwing away hobbies is not option [..] continuing to make art is an essential part of this
A hundred times this…
If you said, "Look up your local tenants union" or "Get a pistol permit" or "Take a first aid class" or "Put money toward mutual aid rather than toward video games", then that might be something.
…and this
(Though I’m going to interject that while giving money for mutual aid is awesome, spending your time in mutual aid is even cooler)
Not everyone is a front line fighter shock troop, and that’s ok - because other roles are needed too.
I'm also doing some things which aren't exactly illegal but I sure won't be talking about here.
Right?
Though in fairness OP did specify this wasn’t aimed at those who are already “doing what you need to do”. Still, keep your security zones siloed. Don’t break operational security, even for relatively minor things.
twovests wrote
Though I’m going to interject that while giving money for mutual aid is awesome, spending your time in mutual aid is even cooler
Agreed 100%. The only exception would be rather contrived, e.g. someone in the enviable position of making a lot of money, and as a direct output of their labor. (I.e. Not salaried). But "hourly and makes bank" is pretty rare, and those people are usually hustle culture capitalists lol.
cowloom OP wrote (edited )
I addressed some of these points in my reply to twovests, but I wanted to address mutual aid here. I don't know what kind of mutual aid work you're doing, so if it's not what I'm about to describe, feel free to ignore this comment. But a lot of "mutual aid" that I've seen is usually something like giving out free groceries/supplies to hungry people, along with zines. And while it's a good thing to give hungry people food, ultimately it's just charity work, not a genuinely revolutionary activity. There's a really good video that talks about the difference between "red charity" work and organizing. My organization was stuck in the red charity trap for a while, and I tried talking to them about how we weren't actually building towards anything (including showing them the above video), but it took them a while to understand. Once they pivoted to tenant organizing, then they saw the difference between treating the symptoms of capitalism and attacking the disease itself, and they wrote a self criticism of their previous "mutual aid" work.
rain wrote
Alright full confession on one item - I have adhd and video more than a couple minutes long simply does not work for me, so I saw the vid was 20 minutes and stopped right there.
That said, I’m going to try to address this anyway. In my opinion the best mutual aid networks/opportunities are rarely called “mutual aid,” but that doesn’t mean they aren’t. Any group, formal or informal, working to help each other support themselves (or to help people help each other) should be thought of as a form of mutual aid. Once you accept this it really opens up the possibilities of what you can do.
Don’t get me wrong - I’m all for things like tenant organizing. But since I expect the entire system to collapse in the coming years I don't think that will be enough on its own. That’s where having pre-established networks of people willing to help each other may be life saving - both for you and others.
It’s also true that “handing out groceries” tends to lack the mutual aspect of mutual aid, but it doesn’t have to. And some charities are worth doing even if they are only charity. For example, no matter what else they do, Food Not Bombs feeds hungry people, and that is worth doing. At the same time they offer a chance for meeting people with similar values and philosophies. So even if they are dubious on the “mutual aid” part, they can help lead to genuine mutual aid as well as other organizing opportunities. And even if they don’t do that, they fed hungry people. It’s a win.
cowloom OP wrote
For example, no matter what else they do, Food Not Bombs feeds hungry people, and that is worth doing.
The point the video made was that while it is a good thing to do, it isn't toppling the conditions that give rise to starvation or homelessness in the first place, so it's not the most effective thing to do. Our org tried to do red charity and organizing work for a while, but we eventually had to face the fact that the charity work was eating up too much of our limited time, energy, and funding. Since we were such a small group of people, it was sapping most of the energy we could've been putting towards organizing, so we eventually had to make the difficult decision to suspend the program. The decision was delayed for quite a while because some people thought it was too heartless to stop doing grocery handouts.
At the same time they offer a chance for meeting people with similar values and philosophies.
They touched on that, too, and came to the conclusion that a limited grocery distribution could be useful as a stepping stone to connect with the advanced masses. If it's done with that in mind, with the intention of moving on to bigger and better things once you get more people on board, then it can be a good starting tactic.
That’s where having pre-established networks of people willing to help each other may be life saving - both for you and others.
Sure, I agree with this. I have a side project that I run that would fall under your definition of mutual aid (I can't say what it is, due to OpSec). But it's not a massive drain on my time or resources, so it's feasible for me to do. I think mutual aid should be something that the masses do themselves to support each other. The issue I'm talking about is when a self-proclaimed revolutionary org is spending all of its time and energy doing one-sided "mutual" aid work that doesn't get them any closer to revolution.
twovests wrote
I want to add on to this that I think this is a good post, and I hope I don't come off as putting you down. I view this as generative conflict, if it's conflict at all.
I also am very pro JstPst being a more praxis-heavy site, so this fits with my evil leftist agenda,
cowloom OP wrote
Not at all, I understood your intent, and I always appreciate principled criticism!
cowloom OP wrote
I appreciate your response; it seems like there were a couple of misunderstandings here that I want to clear up. I wasn't trying to say people should throw away their hobbies, far from it! Having a way to unwind and relax is healthy and needed. What I meant to say was organizing is more important than doing hobbies; so if a progressive person is spending 100% of their free time doing hobbies and 0% of it organizing, that is what I am saying is a problem. Because nothing will change if they keep hoping someone else will do the work. This post is aimed at those types.
The thing is, we can't be in every fight. You have to be in some fight, but you can't do anything if you try to be in every fight.
I agree with this, too; you can't solve all the world's problems at once. Since the post was aimed at people who aren't doing any organizing, I simply chose one example from the many problems we are facing right now, to illustrate that their "thoughts and prayers" are not materially helping. It was meant to spur them to action. I think it's very good that you are already helping out with several struggles, so don't push yourself too hard and burn out. Since you are doing what you're supposed to, the message wasn't directed at you.
If you said, "Look up your local tenants union" or "Get a pistol permit" or "Take a first aid class" or "Put money toward mutual aid rather than toward video games", then that might be something.
I mean I did say to join their local communist party (and if they're worth their salt, they will probably be doing something like tenant organizing), but I get what you're saying. Talking about what kind of organizing is the right thing to do is a whole other essay though, and I wanted to keep the message of this one simple. I guess I could've linked to this at the end, which does give some actionable first steps.
I also want to say, as far as peaceful protests go, I don't think they accomplish the goal most people think they do (i.e. persuading the government to change its mind on a certain issue). Because as long as it is peaceful, the government can simply ignore your demands. That's not to say they are completely useless, though, as they do bring together like-minded people. So they can be useful as a recruiting tool for an organization.
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