Category Archives: Mutual Aid

Mutual Aid Discourages Colonized Ideas

In the following I try to express why I believe Friends should do our justice work using the Mutual Aid concept.  Mutual Aid is far from a new idea, having been practiced globally for centuries. Christine Nobiss recently wrote truth … Continue reading

Posted in Black Lives, Des Moines Black Lives Matter, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Great Plains Action Society, Indigenous, Mutual Aid, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What are your answers?

I’ve been writing about the many ways “the contemporary political moment is defined by emergency.” Multiple global disasters means there isn’t anyone who doesn’t know this. In the face of these emergencies there is a growing feeling of hopelessness. But … Continue reading

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Urgency for Mutual Aid

My experience has always been how slowly justice related things change, even then the changes are incremental, often don’t persist. A lot of that is the disconnect between a committee (slowly) making decisions, which too often don’t have practical steps … Continue reading

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A Journey to Today

This day means many different things to those of us living in this country called the United States. It is difficult to imagine anyone believes the stories of a gathering where white colonizers expressed their gratitude to the Native peoples. … Continue reading

Posted in #NDAPL, decolonize, Des Moines Mutual Aid, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, First Nations, Indigenous, Mutual Aid, Native Americans, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Truthsgiving Event 11/26/2020

Tomorrow being the colonial version of Thanksgiving with family gatherings you might not be thinking about attending an online Zoom meeting like the one below. If you can make the time, I’d love for you to get to know some … Continue reading

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TRUTHSGIVING

I only recently heard about Truthsgiving, one of many things I learned from my new friends as we walked during the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March in September, 2018. The subject came up as we were eating dinner together in … Continue reading

Posted in Black Lives, decolonize, Des Moines Mutual Aid, First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, Great Plains Action Society, Indigenous, Mutual Aid, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Defending Protestors

Last night Drake University’s National Lawyers Guild held a Zoom panel discussion about Defending Protestors. The panel explored the role the legal community plays in defending activists and their rights to protest and organize. I found out about the event … Continue reading

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The Red Nation Statement on the US Elections 2020

It’s been a stressful year as we’ve experienced the explosion of the COVID-19 pandemic. The consequences of which have provided further evidence of the failure of capitalist economic systems in a dramatic way. Recent years been stressful as politics and … Continue reading

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The web of organizing and organizers

As I’ve been researching the concept of rural mutual aid, I was glad to discover my friend Todd Zimmer is involved. Todd was one of the trainers from the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) who came to Des Moines in the … Continue reading

Posted in civil disobedience, climate change, Des Moines Mutual Aid, Keystone Pledge of Resistance, Keystone XL pipeline (KXL), Mutual Aid, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Rural Mutual Aid

I’m so impressed with the work being done by Des Moines Mutual Aid. Now I’m wondering what Mutual Aid in rural areas looks like. Following are a few things from Appalachian ROAR, Rural Organizing and Resilience. https://www.facebook.com/AppalachianROAR This photo of … Continue reading

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