#donate to local mutual aid groups if/when you can.

[kiisuuumii]

remember that it's them today and you tomorrow. the machine doesn't see color, class, or political affiliation, just fodder for it to keep running.

[counterintuitivecomics]

MASK UP FOR GLOBAL LIBERATION

Protect your community by wearing N95s and KN95s when meeting indoors or in crowds! The more of us mask up, the less we get sick, the harder it is for police to surveil us, and the safer we make our shared spaces for our disabled and immuno-compromised comrades and loved ones.

Get started by finding local mask resources on the global COVID Action Map (you can also submit groups to be added). If you have the means, donate masks and tests to your local orgs and encourage accessibility so we can ALL join the fight (bringing in interpreters/translators and medics, ensuring accessibility for wheelchairs/mobility devices, offering child care, filtering the air indoors, setting up virtual options etc).

UPDATE: Download this 8.5"x11" poster for free on itch.io to print and distribute! Includes files suitable for color, black and white, and risograph printing. Any donations will go to printing costs, or buying masks for my local mutual aid groups.

Pandemics have no borders, and all our struggles are united!

[ID: A poster declaring “MASK UP” in red above 3 figures from the waist up, each wearing a different respirator mask. The top figure is an Arab person wearing a fluttering red and white kufiyah over a black hijab and red dress, as well as an Aura 9210+ N95 mask. They steady themselves with one hand on the lower left figure, and raise the other one up triumphantly. The left person is a fat Asian teenager wearing a black hoodie with a genderqueer symbol on the shoulder, and a black Laianzhi HYX1002 KN100 mask. They are holding a box labeled FREE that’s full of COVID-19 Rapid Tests, and two different kinds of plastic-wrapped N95s. The last figure is a middle aged Black person in a power chair, wearing a Flo Mask with a customised rainbow cover, a dark blue winter hat with a Disability pin on it, and a blue shirt featuring 6 countries flags from R to L: Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Palestine, Haiti, Puerto Rico, and Tigray, Ethiopia. Underneath reads: “RESPIRATOR MASKS PROTECT: your health, your identity, and your community. Find resources near you at COVIDActionMap.org”]

[reasonsforhope]

The loss of life and impact on the communities in Helene’s path is unfathomable — and both the immediate and long-term needs are vast. 

If you’re reading this, it’s likely because you want to help and care about making a difference for those who’ve been impacted by Hurricane Helene.

You’re in the right place. When we see tragedy like this happen in the news, it’s important to not tune it out. Instead, pay attention and truly feel the heartbreak of it — t​​hen, look for and be inspired by the people stepping in to help, and use that energy to make a difference ourselves.

Looking for the helpers

Instead of turning away from tragic events like the devastation from Hurricane Helene — we look closer for people stepping in using what they have, where they are, to make a difference for others.

Inspired by Mister Rogers’ famous quote, we call them the “helpers,” — and they’re usually found wherever there’s bad news in the world. Hurricane Helene is no different. Here are some people, businesses, and organizations helping right now:

Chef José Andrés and ​World Central Kitchen teams are serving thousands of meals to communities in need — from Mexico, and the Big Bend of Florida, and into Appalachia.

Volunteer pilots with the Port City Aviators Flying Club are flying supplies to storm victims in western North Carolina.

The national Disaster Distress Helpline is providing free multilingual crisis counseling to those in need.

Southern Smoke Foundation, an organization that supports food & beverage workers in crisis, is providing financial support for groceries, medical bills, lost wages, and more.

Volunteers with veteran-led disaster response organization Team Rubicon are on the ground in Greenwood, South Carolina clearing roads of trees and debris.

A local library branch in Asheville, North Carolina served as a hub for community members in need of internet service.

Workers at Waffle House were “unlikely heroes” providing food to people in need.

A local Fox News correspondent stopped his live broadcast to help rescue a woman trapped in her car in rising floodwaters.

Emergency response teams rescued more than 50 staff, patients, and caregivers from the roof of a hospital in Erwin, Tennessee.

The SPCA of Brevard rescued 20 animals from Hurricane Helene’s path — and it’s now helping them get adopted.

‍

How to make a difference

After we’ve allowed ourselves to feel the weight of the pain and heartbreak associated with bad news, and look for hope and helpers in the midst of it — we always have the opportunity to join in and make a difference, too. 

Here are some ways to help — whether you’re local or far away:

Donate to national organizations 

Here are just a few large-scale organizations that have helpers on the ground in the region.

American Red Cross

World Central Kitchen

Feeding America

United Way

Salvation Army

CARE

Donate to local organizations

Local organizations, recovery funds, and mutual aid groups have been deployed across the states impacted by Helene. Find donation links and updates below:

All States:

GoFundMe Hub for Hurricane Helene Relief

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief

Southeast Climate & Energy Network

Convoy of Hope

Appalachia Funders Network

Americares

Organizing Resilience

The National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster

Tennessee:

East Tennessee Foundation

First Aid Collective Knoxville

RISE Erwin

Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee

North Carolina:

North Carolina Community Foundation

Hearts With Hands

Manna Foodbank

BeLoved Asheville

Foothills Food Hub

Haywood Christian Ministry

Samaritan’s Purse

Forsyth Humane Society

Hope Mill

‍

Volunteer locally

Organizations in the affected area are seeking volunteers to help distribute resources and support crucial aid efforts. While many of us are not local to the region, those who are nearby are encouraged to join in a myriad of volunteer opportunities.

(Note: If you aren't in the area, the best way you can help is by supporting local efforts with a donation. Keeping roads clear for rescue crews and local relief agents is vital in maintaining safety in these already devastated regions).

For local volunteers, check out:

World Central Kitchen

Operation BBQ Relief

Marco Patriots

Operation Airdrop

Baptists on Mission

‍

Contact your elected officials and ask them to take climate action

Climate scientists agree, the intensity and extent of the devastation brought by Hurricane Helene was made worse by climate change. 

While we can’t go back in time and burn less fossil fuels — we can make a difference now to secure a safer future and prevent future climate disasters. 

In addition to talking about how this disaster is connected to climate change in our own conversations and holding media outlets accountable for how they talk about climate change — this is a great time to tell your elected officials that you want them to take meaningful climate action.

We’re making incredible progress in the U.S. and globally in reducing emissions, but we need to work even faster — and incorporate climate mitigation efforts into our plans — to limit the most severe impacts of global warming.

[justalittlesolarpunk]

Hey, so, if you didn’t know, there are legit racist pogroms happening in the UK, primarily targeting Muslim and South Asian communities especially refugees and immigrants. So for those of you who, like me, have the misfortune to live on rainy fascist island, and might want to help, here’s my list of advice. If any of this is unhelpful, POC please feel free to correct me as I want to be as accurate and useful as possible.

Disclaimer: this is written from my perspective as a white person with full citizenship. Asylum seekers and communities of colour don’t need my advice, and know best what they need and how to practice their own care and mutual aid. This is for people not directly targeted by the riots who want to show solidarity. So,

1) listen to those most impacted and be led by their needs and wants.

2) if there’s disorder going on in your local area, mobilise with other anti-fascists to outnumber and counterprotest the rioters so they can’t attack individuals or institutions trying to help migrants or local minority communities

3) similarly, volunteer on local cleanup and donations if places like Mosques, libraries, advice bureaus or refugee housing is targeted where you live

4) join a local mutual aid network to build cohesion and solidarity in your community and be able to respond rapidly to evolving emergency situations

5) donate money to charities or organisations that work to protect and care for immigrants, refugees, religious minorities and people of colour in the UK

6) learn street first aid, including how to help someone after an acid attack

7) write to your MP, mayor and councillors and ask them to stand up vocally against racism and to take action to stamp out fascism in your community. Arrange a meeting to discuss your concerns if possible

8) donate blood in anticipation of further violence

9) don’t be a bystander if you see individual hate incidents, there have been repeated cases of lone POC being cornered by racist mobs. Be ready to step in or seek help but don’t make stupid decisions that will just put the person (or you!) in further danger

10) make an effort to educate yourself more on other cultures and spend time with neighbours who come from a different background than you

11) learn about systemic racism and the legacy of fascism and colonialism that has made the UK the kind of place where this happens

12) this is also about your own safety, but put together a go bag and have an evacuation plan for you and your family/friends/neighbours in case of local violence

13) organise a solidarity rally in your town

14) argue with your racist relatives, have difficult conversations, hold them to account and make it crystal clear that these attitudes and behaviours are absolutely unacceptable

15) send complaints in to media outlets when they refer inaccurately to ‘protests’, ‘anti-immigration rallies’, ‘pro-British groups’ and ‘legitimate concerns’, when discussing fascist pogroms, or when they imply communities of colour organising in self-defence is equally dangerous and violent

16) check in with your friends who are more likely to be targeted and offer to help in any way that’s useful, but understand they might just want time and space to process and for you to leave them alone

17) donate money to the effort to rebuild Spellow library

18) carry a spare scarf or jumper to offer to any hijabis who might have their hijab torn off

That’s everything I can think of. Let me know if you can think of anything else or if any of these suggestions aren’t useful. Stay safe out there folks, solidarity with POC and as ever, fuck the fash.

[colorisbyshe]

Why do you keep saying the "but both sides are the same, right?" Sarcastic bit. Are you trying to say people should have voted for harris??

Yeah, I am.

I am saying that people shouldn't have conceded all electoral politics to the far right. I am saying that electoral politics dictates our entire lives and remaining silent on the subject does even less than voting. I am saying I acknowledge the parties aren't different enough, that both parties are evil, and that... the difference in evilness... matters.

Mutual aid, organizing, donating, educational posting cannot replace $43 BILLION in aid to populations facing famine, disease, and other crises. In fact, all of those things are HARDER to do under this presidency than they would've been under Kamala.

I think saying this absolutely destroys my personal integrity and it does go against my own ideology--I shouldn't be vouching for the lesser evil. It's wrong.

And yet millions and MILLIONS of lived relied on my lack of integrity to not suffer, to not die, to not get infected or starve. I will be the worse person if it means more people get to live--to live better lives or just live, period.

Electoral politics happen with or without us. Taking the most far left voices out of the ring or throwing them at scam artists like Jill Stein does not help people. It does not legitimize or empower our perspective.

People need to be voting in every primary, every federal election, every state election, every local election, every single fucfking special election, every referendum.

Because those are the people, those are the laws and policies our work on the ground exists in reaction to. The path of least resistance means more people fed, more people housed, more people alive.

"But X choice is still bad." And the difference between and worse is hundreds, thousands, millions of people getting an education or vaccinated.

REmember when people stalled boats shipping weapons to Israel? it didn't change much but it gave people in Palestine even just one more day--to evacuate, to move to safer ground, to make more clothing. The stalled boats didn't FIX the problem, didn't solve 100% or even 5% of the issue, but it gave peopel time and space to figure out survival.

You need to view electoral politics with the same, grim practicality. Your local, state, federal choices are your guard rails or your executioner. Don't like your options? Turn to primaries, turn to smaller levels of government who ar gaining experience for bigger government, turn local to form survival groups.

Or run yourself. Sell your soul, destroy your integrity, and then do what you can to improve or save handful of lives. Go on a school board. Attend a local town council meeting and object to resources being moved away from affordable housing.

There is a reason why gerrymanderig exists, why things are so fucking rigged, and it's because voting actually does matter and these rigged forms ALWAYS exist to silence the marginalized, those on the left, those who advocate for the marginalized. Why the fuck are you doin gtheir work for them by sitting it out voluntarily?

Genuinely, fuck Kamala. Fuck every democrat. But they move to the right when the right wins. There is no opposition party anymore.

You do need to actually keep them from moving to the right. You do actually need to primary out the dems who aren't doing shit.

Or vote local and actually help out third parties in the few places they can actually win (local, MAYBE state) so they can work towards legitimacy.

I don't like saying this. I don't like throwing my integrity out the door.

But it does... or did mean the difference between life and death for people more vulnerable for myself. And that mattered.

OBJECTIVE REALITY is democrats are better for more people. More people live, more people live better lives under democrats. Why wouldn't I endorse that?

What is the alternative? Provide me with an alternative that actually works. "Oh, I don't owe you that!" Okay, well someone is owed teh billions of dollars of USAID that just got put out of commission (at least for now).

"Oh, that'll be challenged and stopped!" By who? Oh, is it elected officials? Or people appointed by elected officials? Are those the guard rails?

Are the people who respond to the protests, to the strikes, to the rare Luigis... elected officials?

Yeah, they are. Why wouldn't I want the people responding to be even marginally better?

Ideologically, waht I am saying is heinous. I'm not blind to that.

I don't care about ideology when it gets halted by... literal reality. Reality is we had two choices. One choice was worse in literally every single way (yes EVERY SINGLE WAY and if you think anything is better right now yo uare not thinking long term). Why would I want everyone's lives to be made worse just to feel like I still had dignity? Fuck my dignity.

This isn't complicated. There is a reason why the bulk of activists and scholars and people on the ground still endorsed Kamala, even knowing they'd likely be betrayed.

It's simple big picture shit.

[marlshroom]

guys... start buy-nothing groups with your friends... im so serious its such a great way to start local community and this shit will be needed. its not even that hard i started one with my friends on discord maybe 2 months ago now and it started with literally 3 people and now its up to 18 people(doesn't sound much but there should be more on the way!)

its so gratifying to get rid of stuff knowing that there are people your stuff is actually going to. and also, it doesn't just have to be fore things you need to get rid of!

you can offer services like being somebodies ride, offering help with car repair(I'm literally getting my car repaired tomorrow in exchange for books), offer to clean for somebody, etc!

mutual aid is so important and its extremely important to remember that while you may not FEEL like you have anything to offer, you are helping by RECIEVING. it HELPS when you are able to relieve someone of something they don't need anymore, cause not only do they not have to worry about it anymore, you are preventing it from potentially just ending up in the landfill!(not to say that donations will always lead to that, but if like ur closest donation drop off is goodwill, like in my case, there's a high chance that shit will not make it to somebody)

[starlightswordfight]

UHH REMINDER ALSO SINCE I HAVE BEEN SHARING A LOT MORE NEGATIVE THINGS LATELY that amid literally everything that's been going on, there are still things that you can do to retain control in your life in at least some areas!! not everyone can actively protest right now, not everyone has the means and that is OKAY! do what you can when you can!!

this post is a wall of text of me rambling about things you can do Right Now in your community or to keep yourself happy and motivated and going. it's a long one so it's going under read more. I also talk a lot more in the tags

i also use terms like Current Events a lot so I also apologize for the vagueness in some places!! I do not know if this will get flagged if I get more specific and my account has tried to go down twice now

#1: BONDING WITH YOUR COMMUNITY (WITH PERSONAL SAFETY IN MIND)

getting involved in your local community is a big big big thing I've seen talked about lately and I agree with that entirely!! the #1 best thing I feel like anyone can do right now is either volunteering at local support groups or getting involved in local activism

if you have a local community you can connect with for whatever reason then that's absolutely a good idea for both practical and emotional reasons. it can be for anything really, actually. reach out to friends, reach out to family, keep talking to people if you have the energy! it really does make a difference!

^ related to the above, if you can involve yourself in volunteer work, or mutual aid, or just helping others out in some other way, then absolutely do that! you can start with asking around, or searching up aid or other groups that may need extra help in your area, and go from there!!

I see a lot of people have been saying for months to organize and then absolutely no one ever explains how to organize, and if you don't plan on starting something up Yourself that is how you get involved. you find like minded people and you lend your hands. I just looked up "volunteers needed/mutual aid [insert town here]" and went off of that

and there are a lot of different places people might need assistance for. one example being food banks, pantries, are basically always accepting new donations -- if you have produce, not all of them will accept it due to safety regulations, but a local community garden might! libraries also will exchange more than books, and protecting libraries by showing involvement and interest in them is important now more than ever

local businesses, emergency aid if you have the certification, environmental work and disaster cleanup, assisted living areas, shelters, a lot of other specific areas I can't name right now. if you are physically able to seek out support and give back in turn (and if you aren't able to do one or both of these that's also okay!!) i highly highly recommend it. mutual aid especially goes both ways. do not be afraid to reach out for help, that is what they're there for

speaking of libraries!

#2: KEEP INFORMED

this can refer to a lot of different things, but on a federal and local level it is never ever ever a bad thing to keep up to date with what's going on. anyone trying to do bad things on a government level is relying on you not noticing or staying uninformed in the invent that you do notice. keep track of what's going on in your area and plan accordingly!!

keeping up with the news (and fact checking, always, because journalism isn't always ethically practiced), finding where your local city hall or equivalent is and staying up to date on local legislation, has always been important for safety and especially is right now. know how to determine a reliable source from an unreliable one, and know how to pick apart the difference between fact and misconstrued ideas spoken as fact. I'll probably make a post on that too at some point and link it here when I'm done

it is overwhelming to hear just how much is getting worse so quickly, but it's crucial that you don't allow yourself to become unaware, because that makes you easier to lie to. you do not have to work yourself to burnout or to a breakdown, please take breaks whenever you need to and put your own health first!!

but don't do yourself the disservice of not knowing what's happening around you. I want everyone to be as safe as they can, and to be safe you have to be informed

#3: FIND SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO (AND ALSO KEEP CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE EVEN IF IT'S IN SMALL WAYS)

staying up to date on current events has been overwhelming for me, but it also has helped me to maintain a sense of control in my life. and there are a lot of other ways to do that, too, and also give you sources of happiness and things to still look forward to! I'm listing what works for me but I'm sure there's infinitely more ways to pull that off

taking up or getting back into hobbies or interests is a very effective way to keep joy in your life, and this goes double if you're sort of stuck in your house like I am most days. you should get to do things that make you happy!! you deserve to still have things to look forward to!!!

I've also been personally using my interests to try to learn how to do more practical things that might help me and the people I live with; I'm a gardener so I've been working on trying to grow food, starting with sweet peppers. don't know if I'll end up needing that one day (or if my neighbors might, but as the economy completely fucks itself it could get very useful very fast), but having the knowledge and the means helps me feel more in control of what happens in my personal life, and it really has made me feel better and have a source of hope

I really hope that everyone who sees this is doing as well as they're able right now. saying all of this because I don't want to contribute to any ideas of complete hopelessness, if that makes sense. there are things worth getting up in the morning for and every one of you matters and you deserve to be happy. and I love you /p

even if you aren't utilizing your hobbies in that way (again, PERFECTLY fine, do what you need to forever), something like that might be useful for you, too! you can learn new skills or read up on all those things you already wanted to look into but kept putting off, you can carve out a little space in your world for Joy and for Whimsy if you don't have one already! it's good for you!! it's incredible in fact!!

[icaruskey]

this is a potential bear to poke but for people who are sour on those pushing for folks to actually vote and to vote for Biden:

The US is functionally a 2 party state at a federal level. This will not change until we abolish the electoral college and/or support 3rd parties on a local and state level.

The electoral college is literally the only way for Trump and Republicans to win as it gives disproportionate power to red states. Voting for a 3rd party on a federal level, particularly for president, is the same as voting for Trump. Voting for Biden, even in a red state, is a tiny chip at the potential votes Trump may earn, especially if young folks turn out en masse and challenge older citizens' stranglehold on the polls.

Trump has literally said that Israel should "finish the problem" re: the Palestine genocide.

Project 2025 doesn't just strip protections of one or two minority groups. It hits pretty much anyone that isn't part of a tiny circle of privileged folks. If you're not rich, white, cishet, neurotypical, etc, you are gonna get fucked.

I am sorry that I as an individual can do nothing more than provide a small amount of direct mutual aid through gfm and click to donate sites. I am sorry that I reached out to my representatives of both Alabama and Pennsylvania and that's not enough to stem the both sides ness and implicit thumbs up that the US government is giving Israel while it pats itself on the back for withholding a single shipment of 2k pound bombs. I have tried, and I continue to share what I can.

Who do you think are donating the most often to the gfms that constantly circulate tumblr? What do you think is going to happen to that direct, actionable aid if Trump is elected and starts making life hell as he turns the US into a fascist state? How do you think the world stage will react to the US getting actively worse? I've seen posts from Canadians about how Canadian equivalent of Republicans have gotten bolder after Trump's first term.

The left has a tendency to cannibalize itself and that makes us incredibly ineffective as an uniting force. If talking about what's gonna happen to the US convinces people to vote blue then let us fucking talk about it. Writing your guilt trippy posts right now of all times is just a good way to convince people to not vote at all, and you can't treat an election like a boycott.

A boycott only works when you can remove money from the problem. The average American is not going to have that power.

We have a duty to vote, to protect those who can't in our country, people tumblr purportedly cares about. And we have a duty to vote for, yes, the lesser of two evils.

One side is committing a genocide.

The other side promises two. They have the history to back up their promise.

If talking about what will happen here convinces people to vote blue, then let us talk about it. When we get through this chapter of world history we can start picking apart how to be better people. But we gotta fucking get there first.

[cosette-is-brunette]

📢📢📢 HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT 🗣🎉🗣🎉🗣🎉

We're doing a collaborative fundraiser!

Alongside 12+ mutual aid groups across the West Coast and Southwest, we're collaboratively raising funds to take advantage of a VERY rare opportunity to purchase over a hundred thousand government surplus masks at a huge discount! These masks will go to mask blocs in Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico, where they will be distributed for free within our local communities ⛑

This has been an amazing project to be a small part of, and we're so grateful to everyone who has been working hard to handle the logistics of getting these necessary supplies in-hand so blocs all over the West Coast and Southwest can provide free masks to their communities 🫂💓

If you're in a position to, we'd greatly appreciate any donation you're able to make, and please help us get the word out by sharing this post, commenting, and telling your friends! Tell your cat, that influencer whose DMs you won't stay out of, that "friend" your aunt still talks to 30 years later, the stoic bus driver who never acknowledges when you say hi... we're going to be telling everyone we can about this and if you know of any way to help this reach more people, we'd be forever grateful for your help!

[spoonwizardd]

🚨 URGENT ACTION NEEDED 🚨

Please take a moment to read and help free Emanuel from police custody! (Dec 4 2024)

Emanuel is a community organizer in Tampa who has been recently arrested by local police. His sibling has reached out to other community organizing groups to get help freeing him from their custody.

How can you help?

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT YOU MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE THE CASE NUMBERS WHEN YOU CONTACT ANY OF THESE INDIVIDUALS/OFFICES!!!

You can:

Call the State Attorney's office at (813) - 272 - 5400 or contact them through their website here.

Call the 13th Judicial Circuit Public Defender's office at (813) 272 - 5980 or contact her through her website here.

Call the 13th Judicial Circuit Judicial Assistant's office at (813) 276 - 8100.

Write a letter in support of Emanuel and mail it to: Clerk of Circuit Court, County Criminal, PO Box #3360, Tampa Florida 33601. Physical letters can be referred to on his court date.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT YOU MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE THE CASE NUMBERS WHEN YOU CONTACT ANY OF THESE INDIVIDUALS/OFFICES!!!

You can also donate to the Tampa Mutual Aid Hub or Emanuel's sibling with "Free Him" in the tagline to help his family pay bail.

If you cant donate or contact any of these offices, please share!

[r7-b7]

ID: tweet by @/oodhamboi: "All these ⚪ [White] ppl making a big deal of Project 2025 as if Black & Indigenous communities haven't been dealing with Project 1942 for centuries."

"What about Project 2025!"

Y'all look ridiculous 🤣

Fuckin ass. You think they aren't already circulating their "Project 2028" agenda around their little empirical circle jerks?

You seriously think you can "vote blue no matter who" and be absolved of being a settler? A gentrifier? A beneficiary and upholder of white supremacy?

Please wake up and pay attention to your neighbors who actually do the work in your community to shelter, give food and water to people, and keep track of your government officials--because it's definitely not those bluey elected officials who are ensuring peoples' basic needs are being met. Find the mutual aid groups, figure out whose fucking land you are on, local BLM or BPP chapters, donate to or go to the events of these groups when you can. Give to the people doing active good and making immediate and long term changes in your community.

And for fuck's sake: listen to those of us who actually are more affected by quite literally everything that goes down in the council chambers. Listen to the people most affected and do what they say. Not what you think is best for them. They know what's best for them. We know what's best for us. We don't need a White Knight. We need you to stop making it so fucking difficult for us to survive.

Don't tell us how to behave within a system built to eradicate us.

Anyways please continue to educate yourself outside of a government or religiously overseen curriculum.

Books recs to start with:

Stolen Continents by Ronald Wright

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad

White Tears/Brown Scars: How White Feminism Betrays Women of Color by Ruby Hamad

Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else) by Olúfémi O. Táíwò

Be a Revolution: How Everyday People are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World - And How You Can Too by Ijeoma Oluo

And anything by bell hooks, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, Malcolm X.

[weepingpussywillowtree]

petty rant about the state of discourse around USA politics under the cut. I'm pretty sure this is a hot take so I'm prepared to delete later

this is very niche and petty but USA online leftists who think voting is bad and that if you can't find the most morally pure candidate that aligns with all of your values you shouldn't vote, or that voting is a waste of time and we should all just mutual aid and revolution more instead just seem incredibly short-sighted and terminally online to boot.

what mutual aid and revolution, I ask you??? Is it here in the room with us??? hate to break it to y'all, but the people who are actually out there volunteering or doing charity drives or whatever are mostly conservative christian grandmas and *gasp* the dreaded libs, at least from my experience in the northeastern USA. vermont, where my extended family lives, flooded this summer and guess who was out there wearing PPE and helping people recover their stuff, clean up, and distribute supplies?? my TERF ass mother and a bunch of other older white ladies. I'm sure there were other groups doing it too, but you know who wasn't out there?? my terminally online leftist cousin, who also lived in vermont but would rather post angry stuff that makes them look clever and cool all day than doing something boring like hand out essentials to people who had their homes destroyed by climate change.

also, an actual revolution would most likely just kill a lot of people and make the material conditions in this country worse, at least in the short term. y'all just sit inside and tweet and post discourse and be mad online and then get mad at other people for spending a few hours voting to try and at least stave off full blown authoritarian fascism in this country for another few years. you don't know that they aren't also organized in other ways. you are getting mad about something that takes less than one day every two years.

not to mention, the vast majority of your country is not nearly as left wing as you are. a third of americans are Christian nationalists or Christian nationalist sympathizers and that's about as right wing as it gets. you are living in an online bubble.

Idk what kind of history education y'all got, but the USA has been a warmongering genocidal shitstain for pretty much its entire history. not that what's currently happening isn't incredibly awful, inhumane, and disgusting. It absolutely is and we should try to do everything we can to help, including donating, boosting, protesting, and harassing the hell out of your representatives.. But this is far from the first time the USA has participated in and funded horrific acts of cruelty. and no, I am not saying "vote blue no matter who". especially when it comes to local elections, do a bit of fucking research and voting could actually affect your life for the better.

it's just frustrating when I feel like people can't have any nuance about this. voting is harm reduction, not moral posturing. even when I vote for obscure local candidates or for a third party candidate I usually disagree with them on at least one major issue. this is a problem that comes up with representative governments (and also the diversity of human opinion, to be quite frank. I promise you agree with your progressive friends on fewer issues than you think), but that's what we've got so maybe it'd be more productive for everyone if you stopped throwing a hissy fit about it.

[ace-of-bass]

Also: Building community is not just an outreach tool. It is a tool of keeping ourselves safe and keeping resources available to all. Offering things on social media like rides to abortion clinics, or diy hrt, or anything else that is perhaps not-totally-legal in all places, is not a great strategy. For one, you shouldn't trust strangers on the internet with information that sensitive, so those you are offering those services to would do well not to trust you. If you want to meaningfully contribute to providing things such as the above, or even more legal-but-logistically-complex things like feeding a large number of people, handing out narcan, etc, you need to organize in person. How do you organize in person? By meeting people in person, aka building community.

If this is your goal, you can start with people who are very similar to you! You don't have to start by reaching out to Alt Right David or even Annoying Uncle Bill - you can start by going to a local show or a group that meets at the library or hanging out with your D&D group when you're not actively playing D&D. Then, you have friends that you can rely on to take care of you, and who you might be able to plan some cool mutual aid shit with. I've been working on building community for awhile, at first not intentionally and lately very intentionally, and here's how I met the group of friends I started a monthly free store with:

1. Met Friend A at a choir thing since I like to sing and was looking for friends after moving somewhere new. Friend A ultimately left choir but we stayed friends, and at one point I told Friend A I'm ace.

2. Friend A said, "oh you'd love my friend B, who's also ace! She's doing a comedy show, let's go see her perform together and then you can meet her!"

3. Friend B and I become friends, and start a local peer support group for aspec people, based mostly on Friend B's existing communities and our sheer determination.

4. Fast forward a year and a half, Friend C comes to our aspec peer support group and I become friends with her.

5. Friend C and I are talking about activism, and Friend C says a lot of the things I'm interested in aligns with what Friend D has talked to her about. Friend C introduces me to Friend D.

6. Independently, I have been building a community space on my street, in the rough neighborhood of where Friend C, Friend D, and I live.

7. Friend D and I want to create a solarpunk future but decide to start small. Friend D ropes in several of his friends, one of whom I happen to know from the community space mentioned in 6.

8. This group of friends runs a free store once a month in the community space, open for all to donate to and all to attend. As we find out about others who are doing/want to do similar things, we try to join forces. In this way we've expanded from just a free store to a free store + clothing swap, and we're only on our third time hosting it.

All of these friends are lefty, and all of them are queer in some way or another. The free store friends are explicitly anarchist, like me. I think OP's point is useful for deradicalization and for growing the movement, but if you are alone and you are scared, encouragement to build community is just as much about finding your people in person as it is about forming coalitions with those different in you.

Another important note is that finding people like you should be a starting point, not an ending point. The goal of this is not to find friends, though that's a good start. The goal is to build dual power, which is done by working together with others and having open doors to join the movement. Once you've found some friends or communities, work to ensure that they are open to all, that you are reaching the people who most need the work you are doing, and that you are not simply making yourself feel good or just having a good time with your friends.

Activism is not cold-calling.

Activism is not cold-calling, and this is critically important to understand.

I'm seeing a lot of posts on here about 'building bridges' and 'finding community,' and then (extremely valid) response posts saying "BUT HOW??" And I'm going to explain something that can be very counter-intuitive: there is strategy involved in community.

As a longtime volunteer labour organizer, I’ve taken and taught many trainings on the strategy of talking. Something that surprises a lot of people is the very first thing you do in a union campaign. You sit down with your organizing committee, take out pen and paper, and literally map it out. You draw a physical map of the workplace: where are the entrances, exits, break rooms, supervisor offices. Essentially, ‘where is it safe to have a union conversation.’ Then you draw another physical chart of your coworkers. You sort out who is union-friendly, openly hostile to unions, or somewhere in the middle, and then you plan out very deliberately and carefully who talks to whom and in what order.

Consider: If Vocally Leftist Jane walks up to Conservative David and says "hey what do you think about unions," David is going to shut down immediately. He's not inclined to listen to Jane. But if Jane talks to Moderate Jason and brings him into the fold, then Jason is a far more effective strategic choice to talk to David, and David may actually hear him out without an instant reaction.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT: If Conservative David turns out to be Alt-Right David, and could be dangerous to follow organizers, we write him off. We are not trying to reach Alt-Right David. We are trying to reach Conservative David, who may actually be persuaded to find solidarity with other employees as fellow workers. Jason is a safe scout to find out which one he is. It does no one any good if Leftist Jane (or even Moderate Jane who is a visible minority) talks to Alt-Right David and puts herself on his radar. Not only has she done nothing to convince Alt-Right David to join a union - she's probably actively turned him against the idea - but now she's also in danger and the entire campaign is at risk. NOBODY WANTS THIS. Jane was NOT a hero for doing this. The organizing committee was foolish and enacted a terrible strategy to everyone's detriment.

Where you can make a difference is with people who will listen to you. You having a conversation with your well-meaning but clueless Centrist Democrat Auntie, and maybe gently helping her understand some things the media has been glossing over, is way more strategically useful than you marching up to MAGA Neighbour You've Met Once and trying to "build community" or "understand" them. They don't care. They're impervious, dangerous, and cruel. But maybe your beloved auntie will think about what you said, and then talk to her friend Anna who IDs as "fiscally conservative" but didn't vote because she can't bring herself to get on board with Trump. Then perhaps Anna talks to her brother Nic who has MAGA leanings but isn't all the way there yet. Proto-MAGA Nic would not have listened to you, nor would he have listened to Centrist Democrat Auntie, but he might absorb some of what his sister is saying.

This is not a cop-out or an echo chamber. This is you spending your time and energy strategically and safely. You are not a useful activist to anyone if you’re dead. Anyone who is telling you to hurl yourself directly at MAGA assholes like cannon fodder has no understanding of the strategy behind community building, and you should feel comfortable writing them off.

Last point: If you are tired, emotionally devastated, and/or in danger: take a break. This post is for people who would feel better jumping into action, not for people who are too overwhelmed to even think about it right now. You are worth so much even if you’re not actively Doing Activism, and your rest is worth more than “a break period so you can recharge and Do More Activism.” We all deserve the individual dignity of being worthy of comfort, rest & safety just on the basis of being human, outside of whatever we're doing for others' benefit. To deny ourselves that dignity is to devalue ourselves, and that’s the absolute last thing any of us should be doing right now.

[atimeofmonsters]

billionaires are playing in our faces.

this shit requires more than one set of tactics and strategies in this moment for our collective survival.

this isn’t a budget proposal. it’s eugenics. and it also isn’t a done deal yet- but it has a lot of intent and power behind it.

for some people, this means we should call and send emails to reps to stop this bullshit from killing our neighbors who are elders, people with disabilities and poor folks.

but if things where you are are like where i am, your neighbors are going to need food, herbs and seeds.

now is the time to plug into your local food bank or house of faith food drive to find out what they need, whether they have enough volunteers and when they do donation drop offs.

check in on your community garden. they probably need volunteers.

if you don’t have a local mutual aid group, now is the time for us to help out neighbor to neighbor, right where we are.

i might grow extra free food-producing plants for free distribution this spring or summer. it’s so easy to grow tomatoes and cucumbers and peppers.

we can build what should always have been there.

[returntothewilderness]

there are a lot of fundraisers circulating, and if you're like me you are having a hard time staying organized and on top of consistent donations. so!! here are some things i've found that have helped ease the overwhelming amount of information.

Weekly budgets

Set aside a feasible amount to donate weekly.

If you don’t have much disposable income, consider between $1-$5. If you have more disposable income and aren’t wanting for any basic necessities, consider between $10-$50.

Set an alarm to go off once a week to remind you to stop and pay. Figure out which payment apps work best for you and choose funds accordingly (if they ask for venmo & you’re outside of the US, choose funds that have paypal

Staying organized

There are many wonderful accounts dedicated to posting fundraising efforts. Stick to a handful that you will save posts from as to not get overwhelmed.

Make a folder somewhere and save only as many as you want to donate to that week. Decide how you want to split up your week’s donation: are you giving it all to one fundraiser or splitting it over more?

Once you have donated to a fund, you can keep it in your folder (if you’re watching to see when they reach their goal) or you can save new posts.

If it helps, keep a record of your donations with the links (if able) and fund name. Can be more in depth, written or typed.

If you’re a visual person, instead of a written record, save your receipts and screenshots. Share the posts you donate to on your accounts so it can circulate more.

See if a small group of friends want to donate together once a month to the same fund to increase impact.

It may be a good idea to have a folder for funds by cause. For example: a folder for Congo, a folder for local mutual aid, etc.

[jackawful]

So we all know that Grocery Stores Bad, right? Like second maybe to housing, food is one of the basic things people need to live that currently costs money, and sometimes a lot of money, and that's pretty ethically fucked up. But there are plenty of ways around this, both through the state and outside of it, and I think it's worth talking about. I've especially noticed that folks raised middle-class & folks who have leftist sympathies but currently lucrative jobs have trouble with this, so I put together a handy guide.

Ways to Fight The Commodification Of Food And Also Eat For Free:

Research, utilize, and support your local food banks! Plenty of food banks get funding based on how many people use them, so by getting what you can from a food bank, you're usually helping them stay afloat. Some food banks are means-tested, especially the ones that get federal funding, but often the coolest volunteers will help you wiggle around a way to present your household finances that'll let you qualify (not fraud, mind - just different ways to present the same situation) or not require paystubs/proof of (no) income. Plenty of food banks are not means-tested. Try to find secular food banks, and failing that, low-pressure religious food banks can be great too. Often the "shopping" experience feels a little bit like a food scavenger hunt & they often get fun weird stuff that grocery stores couldn't sell enough of. Consider donating the money you would've budgeted for groceries if you have spare cash, or volunteering if you have spare time.

Check to see if you qualify for food stamps, and apply. Each state administers EBT differently, and will have different rules, but actually taking the step of signing up and de-stigmatizing the use of EBT when you talk to others is important. I've seen too many people assume they made too much money to qualify, miss out on benefits for months, and then get a fair amount when they do. If you wind up consistently having extra SNAP dollars, consider using them on shelf-stable emergency food or (and you're technically not supposed to do this) giving away staples to projects under number 4 based on community need. If you're in a state where benefits don't roll over month-to-month, do a big shopping trip or go to a take-and-bake restaurant like Papa Murphy's on the last day of the month so your excess dollars don't disappear.

Dumpster dive! Every city and state has different laws and regulations on this, and you'll have to decide how to engage with those. Sometimes just asking employees is good - oftentimes especially places that have ready-made food, like pizza and donut shops, differ on both corporate policy on end-of-day disposal and individual employee convictions. Be mindful of padlocks and "no trespassing" signs. For grocery stores, be mindful of expiration dates and packaging conditions. Dumpster diving for food is a thing that takes a lot of personal risk assessment, and especially if you intend to distribute the food to other people, it's important to know what condition that food is in and what risks may come with eating it, BUT generally you're pretty likely to find good quality stuff. Which, speaking of distributing to others, brings me to:

Other free food projects! Food Not Bombs is the big notorious one, but plenty of cities have similar projects that work on similar models (PDX, for example, has a group that broke off so they could serve non-vegan dumpster'd food). Freeboxes and Little Free Libraries often have food pantries for shelf-stable food, and part of the pandemic mutual aid boom was the Free Fridge project. As with food banks, if no secular projects exist in your area, finding the lowest-pressure religious option in your area is a solid route (Sikh Gurdwaras are usually best, Salvation Army worst, imo). Stuff like this is often lowest barrier to entry of the things on this list, and also easiest to be both a contributor and a recipent of the free food. Google is your friend here, but also, these are things that are comparatively easy to start if you don't have resources in your area - don't be afraid to reach out to more established projects nearby to ask about how they got started!

Grow or forage your own food! As opposed to the last thing, this one is pretty high barrier IMO, involving either having land to tend (owned by you, used with permission, or guerilla gardened) or becoming good at plant identification. Honestly, though, you'd be surprised at how many of thr plants around us are edible and tasty - I just had my first acorn muffins this year and they're great! Checking into native plants and low-effort gardening and compost systems and foraging laws and processing what you get can be labor-intensive, so usually I reccomend people pick one familiar thing to start: blackberries, walnuts, acorns, dandelion, even urban fruit trees. This is another thing where knowing your local laws and assessing risk becomes important, but on top of that, connect with local indigenous groups and learn how to respect the land you're engaging with

I'm not mentioning buying local or CSAs or farmers markets here because while a lot of that stuff can be good, it still costs money, and I firmly believe food should be free. That said, you don't have to become a full freegan overnight, or ever, to take these steps. Each thing I've listed is its whole own rabbit hole of research for you to do, especially because all of them will look different in different places.

Ultimately, though, every bit of free food you get or help others get is a load off your wallet and helps build an alternative food system. No one person is going to be able to abolish grocery stores and institute universal free food, but if everyone does what they can to get less money involved in their own food consumption, that makes our non-monetary food systems more robust and resilient. Everything I've mentioned here is also what people turn to during natural disasters or supply chain collapse, and it's worth building these systems up ahead of time so that they're more able to handle the shock of increased demand.

Eat free food. Help other people eat free food. Fight the idea that this should be tied to your income, give back where and when you can, and encourage the people in your life to reduce their dependance on the grocery system.