fuck wages as a concept entirely. I want to do things because they need to be done, because they help the people around me, and because I enjoy them
I don’t want people to tell me I’m better than someone else just because I decided to focus on my special interest or fix something that was annoying me or some shit
I don’t want to exist anywhere near any system or ideology where they try and measure and pay “hard work”, I want to freely do shit I want to do without people trying to measure and dissect it and apply it to their own idea of “value”.
I hate it when people refuse to accept help because they feel like they don’t “deserve” it. That just wastes everyone’s time, so stop calling people leeches. The point of mutual aid is building structures that help everyone involved, and if you did that right people “using it” and not “giving back” don’t exist, because using it is “giving back”. Every bit of dependence any of us rip away from the capitalists undermines their power for all of us.
I love mutual aid. I’ve started organizations, and participated in others, including orgs that have faced extreme repression in the past, and/or have other chapters currently experiencing repression.
But one of the orgs, which has faced significant repression in the past (before my time), is still going strong. Not at the level it would have been if there had been no repression, but still strong.
However, these mutual aid organizations do accomplish what they set out to do, whether it is feeding their communities, keeping them warm or cool, providing hygenic supplies, harm reduction, and so on. Sure, if they had more resources, they’d accomplish more, but it’s surprising what can be done with what can be taken solely from donation, or surplus produce that will go bad if not used immediately.
I think saying “look what happened last time” in the sense that you should not do something because reactionaries reacted in a specific way is stupid, since you can learn from what went wrong, and build more resilient movements.
Mutual aid probably won’t overthrow capitalism (alone), but it is critical for providing the ability to build a better world under capitalism, and after it. And the solidarity fostered by participating in these movements? Priceless.