Disaster capitalism, although still currently dominant, is no longer the only powerful force when disasters occur. There is a growing movement of movements engaged in decentralized, liberatory disaster relief, rooted in the values of mutual aid and solidarity. These efforts, grounded in radical social movement organizing, offer a direct action alternative: meeting the survival needs of the people and building power from below, while challenging the forces of Money and Power. This mutual aid disaster relief movement is a broad ecosystem, with diverse organizations, positions, and practices. As hurricanes, fires, pandemics, and other disasters increase in intensity and frequency, the insights, visions, and experiences the authors in this book share offer a valuable road map to meet the climate crisis head on, struggle for a just recovery when disasters do hit, reimagine our relationships to each other and the planet, and as the Zapatistas taught civil society, “Don’t seize power, exercise it.”
Listen to an interview with the editor on the Time Talks podcast here.
Table of Contents
CRACKS AND SEEDS
Jimmy Dunson
LOVE LETTERS TO THE FUTURE
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief
CLIMATE CRISIS AND THE STATE OF DISARRAY
William C. Anderson
MUTUAL AID AND ANTI-RACIST ORGANIZING IN RURAL APPALACHIA
Rural Organizing and Resilience
COVID-19 AND HOUSING STRUGGLES: THE (RE)MAKINGS OF AUSTERITY, DISASTER CAPITALISM, AND THE NO RETURN TO NORMAL
The Radical Housing Journal Editorial Collective
LOVE MY PEOPLE: FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE PANTHERS
Suncere Ali Shakur
MUTUAL AID IS KIN(ETIC): TEN THINGS I FEEL ABOUT MUTUAL AID
carla bergman
MUTUAL FIRE BRIGADE
Cindy Milstein
SURVIVAL PROGRAMS: THEN AND NOW
Malik Rahim
OCCUPY SANDY AND THE ETHICS OF MUTUAL AID: A NEW FETISH FOR THE FUTURE?
Siobhan Watters
MANY WAYS TO HUMAN
Eleanor Goldfield
MONTH TWO: FROM MUTUAL AID TO DISASTER CONFEDERALISM
Woodbine
POST-DISASTER ORGANIZING: BUILDING TOWARDS COLLECTIVE LIBERATION
scott crow
GROWING COMMUNITY POWER, SKILLS, AND CAPACITY THROUGH RECOVERY
West Street Recovery and Northeast Action Collective
THE S.W.A.T. RAID
Greg Cruz, Donna Davis, and Dezeray Lyn
KROPOTKIN-19: A MUTUAL AID RESPONSE TO COVID-19 IN ATHENS
Penny Travlou
DISASTER ANARCHY: THE COMMON GROUND HEALTH CLINIC
chris time steele
ON MUTUAL AID AND CONFRONTING STATE POWER IN DISASTER
Brigadistas and Solidarity Adherents and Supporters of The Sixth
THE LEGACY OF ABUSE, EXPLOITATION, AND ENDANGERMENT OF PRISONERS IN DISASTER
Dezeray Lyn
COVID-19, RESOURCE COLONIALISM, AND INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE
Klee Benally
LESSONS LEARNED
Mutual Aid Disaster Relief