Mutual aid (organization theory)
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Mutual aid is an organizational model where voluntary, collaborative exchanges of resources and services for common benefit take place amongst community members to overcome social, economic, and political barriers to meeting common needs. This can include resources like food, clothing, to medicine and services like breakfast programs to education. These groups are often built for the daily needs of their communities, but mutual aid groups are also found throughout relief efforts, such as in natural disasters or pandemics like COVID-19.
Resources are shared unconditionally, contrasting this model from charity where conditions for gaining access to help are often set, such as means testing or grant stipulations. These groups often go beyond material or service exchange and are set up as a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions.
Mutual aid groups are distinct in their drive to flatten the hierarchy, searching for collective consensus decision-making across participating people rather than placing leadership within a closed executive team. With this joint decision-making, all participating members are empowered to enact change and take responsibility for the group.
History
The term "mutual aid" was popularized by the
Practice
Mutual aid participants work together to figure out strategies and resources to meet each other's needs, such as food, housing, medical care, and disaster relief while organizing themselves against the system that created the shortage in the first place.[4]
Typically, mutual-aid groups are member-led, member-organized, and open to all to participate in. They often have
Mutual aid vs. charity
As defined by radical activist and writer Dean Spade and explored in his University of Chicago course "Queer and Trans Mutual Aid for Survival and Mobilization", mutual aid is distinct from charity.[6] Radical activist, social welfare scholar, and social worker Benjamin Shepard defines mutual aid as "people giv[ing] what they can and get[ting] what they need."[7] Mutual aid projects are often critical of the charity model, and may use the motto "solidarity, not charity" to differentiate themselves from charities.
Challenges to mutual aid
This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2021) |
- Lack of technical experts, funding, and legitimization by the public[8]
- Lack of full-time staff may limit the volume of work that can be completed, especially work that must be done during traditional operating hours
- Informal status may disqualify eligibility for government grants and tax benefits
- Development of concentrated social hierarchies may lead to discrimination and a movement away from mutual aid principles[9]
- Burnout by those that are able to help maintain mutual aid projects
- Participants draining resources faster than they are replenished
Examples
The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (August 2020) |
In the 1800s and early 1900s, mutual aid organizations included unions, the
Food, medical care, and supplies
In 1969, the Black Panthers created the Free Breakfast for Children program to serve families in Oakland, California. By the end of 1969, the program fed 20,000 children across 19 cities. Other survival programs included clothing distribution, classes on politics and economics, free medical clinics, lessons on self-defense and first aid, transportation to upstate prisons for family members of inmates, an emergency-response ambulance program, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and testing for sickle-cell disease.[18]
In the 1970s, the Young Lords, an organization devoted to neighborhood empowerment and self-determination of Puerto Ricans, Latinos, and colonized people in the United States, operated multiple community programs, including free breakfast for children, the Emeterio Betances free health clinic, free dental clinic, community testing for tuberculosis and lead-poisoning, community day care center, free clothing drives, and "Garbage Offensive" to clean up garbage in Puerto Rican neighborhoods neglected by city sanitation.[citation needed]
Food Not Bombs was founded in the United States in 1980 by anti-nuclear activists to share free vegetarian food with hungry people and protest war, poverty, and destruction of the environment. Food Not Bombs continues to recover food that would otherwise be discarded and shares free food in over 1,000 cities in 65 countries.[19]
Disaster relief
Occupy Sandy
In 2012 in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in the NYC area, mutual aid efforts called Occupy Sandy helped facilitate aid faster and with more efficacy than federal government efforts at the time.
Hurricane Katrina
In 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, mutual aid efforts in New Orleans began through the Common Ground Collective. Efforts included aid distribution centers, opening seven medical clinics, house-gutting, roof-tarping, building neighborhood computer centers, debris removal, a tree planting service, establishing 90+ community gardens, and legal counselling services. In 2012 after Hurricane Sandy, people formerly associated with Occupy Wall Street formed Occupy Sandy to provide mutual aid to those affected by the storm. Occupy Sandy distributed clothes, blankets and food through various neighborhood hubs.[20]
2017 Puebla earthquake
Due to mistrust of the federal government of Mexico and its corruption, a number of organizations and volunteers were prepared to meet the needs of the people of Mexico City immediately after the Tuesday, 19 September 2017 earthquake. This included removing debris from collapsed buildings, searching for survivors, providing medical attention, disseminating news and information, donating and distributing food, etc.[22]
COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, local mutual aid groups and tools were established to help share resources and run errands.[23][24][25][26][27]
In the Philippines
Practical bottom–up efforts rooted in the traditional and precolonial spirit of
The
In the United Kingdom
The first COVID-19 mutual aid groups in the United Kingdom were founded in Lewisham, Battersea and Hackney on Thursday, 12 March 2020. The pandemic came shortly after the 2019 general election, and relationships formed by young activists as well as a growing political awareness during the Labour Party leadership of Jeremy Corbyn were important to the building of these groups.[35][36]
The UK mutual aid groups have a wide variety of politics. The first groups took inspiration from anarchistic models of community organisation. For example, the
After the first few groups were set up, a website called "Covid-19 Mutual Aid" was created to help develop an organisational model for the mutual aid groups and facilitate the sharing of resources. It was frequently misreported as coordinating the groups.[40]
COVID-19 mutual aid groups in the UK undertake a broadly similar range of activities: offering support around shopping, collecting prescriptions, dog walking, and offering a chat to those who are lonely due to self-isolation. Groups tend to organise themselves by initially setting up a Facebook group corresponding to a local authority area, and then from there linking to a WhatsApp group corresponding to a council ward. From there the way that groups organise themselves vary greatly but they usually involve producing leaflets with the phone number of one or several volunteers and then trying to reach as many people in the neighbourhood as possible.[35] Other tools commonly used for organising include Slack, Google Docs, and Zoom.[41]
In the context of the rapid growth of mutual aid groups across the UK, the government attempted to create a centralised effort with the NHS Volunteer Responders scheme. Almost 750,000 people signed up to it, although most of these people were not called upon due to organisational issues.[42]
Academics from the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge found that the density of COVID-19 mutual aid groups in the United Kingdom was positively correlated with social capital (that is, areas which are already wealthy are more likely to benefit from the presence of mutual aid groups).[43] In deprived areas like Wolverhampton, mutual aid groups were hampered by the legacy of the United Kingdom government austerity programme.[44]
A report by the
Technology
Academic and author Joseph M. Reagle Jr. has described contributing to Wikipedia as a form of mutual aid.[46]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-1-5287-9015-4.
- ^ a b Kropotkin, Petr (1902). Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
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:|website=
ignored (help) - ^ Bertram, Christopher (2020), "Jean Jacques Rousseau", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2020 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2020-12-11
- ^ H, Katie (27 April 2020). "From Mutual Aid To Dual Power: How Do We Build A New World In The Shell Of The Old?". Plan C. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ISBN 0-88920-436-5.
- S2CID 216351581. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
- )
- doi:10.1037/h0091061. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- S2CID 211453572.
- ISBN 0-8014-8734-X.)
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ISBN 978-1-60680-071-3.
- ISBN 0-8078-4841-7.
- ISBN 978-0-7546-5148-2.
- JSTOR 10.5325/j.ctv14gpc5r.
- S2CID 144385631.
- S2CID 155040089.
- JSTOR 23721354.
- ^ "A Huey P. Newton Story – Actions – Survival Programs | PBS". www.pbs.org. Retrieved 2020-08-24.
- ^ "FOODNOTBOMBS.NET". foodnotbombs.net. Retrieved 2020-05-07.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
- ^ "Home". Mutual Aid Disaster Relief. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
- ^ Campoy, Ana (20 September 2017). "Photos: Mexicans show the world how to work together when an earthquake hits". Quartz. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
- ISBN 978-0-7453-4316-7.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location (link - ^ "'The way we get through this is together': mutual aid under coronavirus | Rebecca Solnit". the Guardian. 2020-05-14. Retrieved 2020-06-14.
- ^ "Gig workers have created a tool to offer mutual aid during COVID-19 pandemic". TechCrunch. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
- It's Going Down. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
- ^ Tolentino, Jia (11 May 2020). "What Mutual Aid Can Do During a Pandemic". The New Yorker. United States: Condé Nast. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ a b Del Mundo, R. (2021, April 21). Mutual aid, community pantries bring out the best in Filipinos and the worst in Duterte's inhumane regime. Philippine Revolution Web Central.
- ^ Sadongdong, M. (2021, April 20). "Parladé: Community pantry could be used to urge public to revolt vs gov't". Manila Bulletin.
- ^ Chúa, A. (2021, April 21). "Communist" tag halts community pantry for a day. Manila Standard.
- ^ Yuvallos, A. (2021, April 20). The gov't's response to the community pantry movement? Policing and bureaucracy. Philippine Daily Inquirer. https://nolisoli.ph/96642/opinion-maginhawa-community-pantry-ayuvallos-20210420/
- ^ a b Cayabyab, M. J., Mateo, J., Tupas, E., Hallare, K., Macaíran, E., & Romero, A. (2021, April 21). Palace, DILG, PNP, DOJ, mayors say community pantries should continue as NTF–ELCAC red-tags, profiles organizers. One News. https://www.onenews.ph/palace-dilg-pnp-doj-mayors-say-community-pantries-should-continue-as-ntf-elcac-red-tags-profiles-organizers
- ^ Karapatan. (2021, April 20). Karapatan hits red-tagging of community pantries. https://www.karapatan.org/karapatan+hits+red+tagging+of+community+pantries
- ^ Torregoza, H. (2021, April 18). Community pantries a sign of people's desperation amid COVID-19 pandemic —Lacson. Manila Bulletin. https://mb.com.ph/2021/04/18/community-pantries-a-sign-of-peoples-desperation-amid-covid-19-pandemic-lacson/
- ^ a b c Butler, James (26 March 2020). "THE BURNER 204: After Corbyn + Mutual Aid" (Podcast). Novara Media. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ O'Dwyer, Emma (23 June 2020). "COVID-19 mutual aid groups have the potential to increase intergroup solidarity – but can they actually do so?". London School of Economics. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Grayson, Deborah (28 April 2020). "Mutual aid and radical neighbourliness". Lawrence & Wishart. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Spender, Carl (16 March 2020). "Local councils are already trying to sabotage the mutual aid networks". Freedom News. Freedom Press. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Dhillon, Amardeep Singh (4 May 2020). "The politics of Covid-19: the frictions and promises of mutual aid". Red Pepper. London, England. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ "COVID-19 Mutual Aid UK". Mutual Aid UK. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ Kavada, Anastasia (12 June 2020). "Creating a hyperlocal infrastructure of care: COVID-19 Mutual Aid Groups". openDemocracy. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Moritz, Judith (24 April 2020). "Coronavirus: Volunteers 'not being called upon' to help NHS". BBC News. United Kingdom. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Felici, Marco (21 April 2020). "Social capital and the response to Covid-19". University of Cambridge. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Heppenstall-West, Luke (29 April 2020). "How Austerity Is Undermining Mutual Aid". Tribune. London, England: Bhaskar Sunkara. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- New Local Government Network. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
- ^ Reagle, Joseph M. (2005-07-28). "A Case of Mutual Aid: Wikipedia, Politeness, and Perspective Taking". reagle.org. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
Bibliography
- Amaro Hernández, José (1983). Mutual Aid for Survival: The Case of the Mexican American. Krieger. ISBN 9780898745467.
- Awry, Wren, ed. (2023). Nourishing Resistance: Stories of Food, Protest, and Mutual Aid. LCCN 2022943234.
- Bacharach, Samuel B.; Bamberger, Peter; Sonnenstuhl, William J. (2001). Mutual Aid and Union Renewal: Cycles of Logics of Action. LCCN 00-012151.
- Baylouny, Anne Marie (2010). Privatizing Welfare in the Middle East: Kin Mutual Aid Associations in Jordan and Lebanon. LCCN 2009045228.
- Beito, David T. (2000). From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social Services, 1890-1967. LCCN 99-41895.
- Borkman, Thomasina (1999). Understanding Self-help/mutual Aid: Experiential Learning in the Commons. LCCN 98-50649.
- Borsay, Anne; Shapely, Pete, eds. (2016) [2007]. Medicine, Charity and Mutual Aid: The Consumption of Health and Welfare in Britain, c.1550–1950. LCCN 2006030263.
- Bridgen, Paul; Harris, Bernard, eds. (2007). Charity and Mutual Aid in Europe and North America since 1800. LCCN 2007031877.
- Delalande, Nicolas (2023). Struggle and Mutual Aid: The Age of Worker Solidarity. LCCN 2022027364.
- Firth, Rhiannon (2022). Disaster Anarchy: Mutual Aid and Radical Action. OCLC 1288196115.
- Gitterman, Alex; Shulman, Lawrence, eds. (2005). Mutual Aid Groups, Vulnerable and Resilient Populations, and the Life Cycle. LCCN 2005056035.
- LCCN 2015036704.
- Midgley, James; Hosaka, Mitsuhiko, eds. (2011). Grassroots Social Security in Asia: Mutual Aid, Microinsurance and Social Welfare. LCCN 2010031554.
- Moyse Steinberg, Dominique (2009) [2004]. The Mutual-aid Approach to Working with Groups: Helping People Help One Another (2nd ed.). LCCN 2004007025.
- Preston, John; Firth, Rhiannon (2020). Coronavirus, Class and Mutual Aid in the United Kingdom. ISBN 9783030577131.
- Servigne, Pablo; Chapelle, Gauthier (2022). Mutual Aid: The Other Law of the Jungle. ISBN 978-1509547920.
- Rebecca, Solnit (2020). Sitrin, Marina; Sembrar, Colectiva (eds.). Pandemic Solidarity: Mutual Aid During the Covid-19 Crisis. S2CID 240768553.
- Swain, Dan; Urban, Petr; Malabou, Catherine; Kouba, Petr, eds. (2021). Unchaining Solidarity: On Mutual Aid and Anarchism with Catherine Malabou. LCCN 2021034081.
- Winfield Fretz, Joseph (2020). Christian Mutual Aid: A Handbook of Brotherhood Economics. ISBN 9781725283695.
Further reading
- Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution, Peter Kropotkin, 1902
- Hossein, Caroline Shenaz. 2018. The Black Social Economy. NY:Palgrave Macmillan
- Syllabus, "Queer and Trans Mutual Aid for Survival and Mobilization" course at University of Chicago with professor Dean Spade
- What Is Mutual Aid, and How Can It Help With Coronavirus?
- For All The People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America, PM Press, by John Curl, 2009
- "Help! Gegenseitig behindern oder helfen. Eine politische Skizze zur Wahrnehmung heute", Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2012