Well, I live in the U.S. and I've never heard of mutual aid, nor have I ever heard anyone I know mention it. So it may be partly that folks like myself just don't know about it.
this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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Australia here. Also never heard of it.
There arn't really specific mutual aid programs here in aus but a lot our community services are built on mutual aid principles. Our egalitarian values actually sort of go well with mutual aid as well i think. But technically our community legal centres are a form of mutual aid, even though they're government funded. So are community centres that do community pantries and stuff like that. Certain communities were also somewhat forced into mutual aid set ups during recent flooding and bushfire events.
Exactly. You are not alone!
I really don't know what a mutual aid group is.
How do I find them?
What are some examples?
How would they help?
Because people are generally unaware of what help there is for them out there.
So if most of these people decided to stop working at their current job and instead bring that those skills to a mutual aid network wouldn't they still get most of the resources they need because other specialists would be there to help them and also live a generally more happy life?
We don't live in small self sustaining villages though. That shear amount of manpower needs layers of managing (planning, distribution, logistics) to make it even remotely work. (Otherwise it would already "just happen" all by itself. But it doesn't because it's more complex than it looks). Those with the skill and wherewithal to fill those management type functions are not generally working poor in the first place because of the power (and compensation) those skills are able to obtain in the regular jobs market. So.. a chicken and egg type problem.
I think alot of the reason why it doesn't "just happen" is not because it can't but because of A) A lack of people that know it is an alternative and B) The cultural norms that make us think that the world is "all or nothing"
For the first part the only way that can change is through people telling other people about mutual aid and the second part is something that can change. A good example of how that can be done through game theory is shown through this site: The Evolution of Trust
I have noticed this bottleneck too, and wondered if there might be some way to build a website or app to help facilitate people trading labor, but I have no clue about the feasibility or where to even start. I wear thinking something that enabled people to match skills with needs, to act as a portfolio for samples of their work, to list local endorsements or mutual connections for some level of trust, but that sounds pretty daunting.
That's actually a really good question. I suspect that many feel mutual aid groups are scamming for assistance when they don't really need it. Personally, I'd rather provide direct assistance than go through a charity when I see what charities like Good Will pay their CEOs. It's obscene.
At least for the US, I know it has to do with the American Individualism bs. Also, the car-centric nature of the US doesn't help
Who leading this groups? One of the most famous, catholic church, that isn't only charity but a government raise in Vatican with millions of budget. The church with this money why dont cover the needs? Because they operate even futher that basic human needs, they invest on build churchs and restorate the old ones. Why? Because they organization believe in God, souls, saint spirit, so their direction will be not focused on helping as you wish for. You can apply this example to all others organization by exchange god with others believes, mostly material, not always linked to moneys, sometimes leaders are full racists, everyone are blend by their believes.
The Catholic Church runs some hospitals too, does that mean we should give up on secular hospitals?
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