Well, things are pretty bleak out there.
Between the war in Sudan, the serious threat of ethnic cleansing in Palestine across Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem by the US and Israel, the continued rise of far-right governments around the world, the government-sanctioned theft by the billionaire class, and the attempted erasure of non-conforming genders and bodily autonomy oh and the mass deportation of our friends and neighbors, the criminalization of dissent, and so much more, it’s hard not to just curl up and pretend like it’s not happening.
As Dean Spade put it, it’s no coincidence that we’re experiencing the golden age of television as the world burns…
And yet, as David Byrne and his brethren would say, there are still reasons to be cheerful.
For me, it’s learning about the myriad ways that people are stepping up to care for each other, resist the onslaught that is coming at them, and build the social and physical infrastructure necessary to protect, sustain, and grow their communities.
What is even more encouraging is the sheer number of new people who are showing up and showing out.
Last week, we were blown away by the 2,200 people who registered for our new Mutual Aid 101 Series!
We were fortunate to have Dean Spade, organizer, teacher, and the author of Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis (and the Next)” and “Love in a Fucked Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together” lead the first session.
Dean dropped some serious knowledge for nearly 90 minutes straight. All the while, the Zoom chat was on fire while a new learning community was being formed.
The series continues tomorrow, Wednesday, February 26th, with Julian Rose from the New Economy Coalition and Endstate ATL and Stephanie Rearick from Human’s United in Mutual Aid Networks, a previous guest on The Response. They’ll focus on how to build and sustain mutual aid projects without burning out.
The first phase of this series runs through the end of March, and several more trainings are scheduled throughout the rest of the year.
There’s also the Mutual Aid 101 Community Canvas, where we post recordings, resources, and session updates.
There are links to everything mentioned in the show notes below.
Throughout this season of The Response, we’ll share a mix of original interviews, dispatches from the front lines of disasters, and excerpts from Mutual Aid 101 (like this one).
In this episode of The Response, we’re sharing the full recording of Dean’s training. We’ve shared the transcript, slides, links for the chat, and more in the resources section below.
Resources:
- Mutual Aid 101 Learning Series
- Mutual Aid 101 Community Canvas
- Mutual Aid 101 w/ Dean Spade (Video)
- Mutual Aid 101 w/ Dean Spade (Transcript)
- Mutual Aid 101 w/ Dean Spade (Slides)
- Mutual Aid 101 w/ Dean Spade (Links from Dean + chat)
- Dean’s Books
- Donate to The Response
Episode credits:
- Hosted and executive produced by Tom Llewellyn
- Produced and edited by Paige Kelly
- Theme Music by Cultivate Beats
Follow The Response on Twitter and Instagram for updates, memes, and more. Our entire catalog of documentaries and interviews can be found at theresponsepodcast.org — or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Response is an award-winning podcast series produced by Shareable exploring how communities respond to disaster — from hurricanes to wildfires to reactionary politics and more.
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