Mutual Aid: Relationships and Radicalism
The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and not necessarily those of others involved in Ward 4 Mutual Aid/Unhoused Advocacy
A certain joy exudes from a motley crew of DC residents at a mutual aid meeting. Some are seated on metal fold-out chairs, some are sitting cross-legged on the carpet, and all are creating packs of various toiletries, socks, and sanitizers to distribute the coming Saturday. The group reaches a flow state, with packs created seamlessly and discussion evolving with both laughter and an acknowledgment of the seriousness for the work being done. An organizer is using the whiteboard in the back to guide a discussion on the group’s budget and long-term goals. The room is warm on this Thursday night in the unassuming church we just got the key to work out of. Someone brought homemade macaroni.
The joy turns to a slight frustration as the question of long-term goals gets lost in logistic minutia, then conflicting ideas and political ideologies. Sensing things spinning out of control, someone brings the group back to the question of why we got involved in the first place. The person who poses the question answers first — he starts by discussing the anger and frustration of seeing those in need in the community go without support, but soon, he admits the most driving desire comes from not knowing his neighbors, wanting to feel a part of the community he seeks to change.
Though tonight’s meeting only has about 10 of the group’s members, it includes a variety of identities and experiences. There are DC natives and transplants. There are 20-somethings and 60-somethings, as well as those in between. There are anti-capitalists of all flavors. And there are those who have been housed their whole lives and those who are currently unhoused, all sitting in the church mulling over this question: What brought us together? Why are we sitting here, assembling toiletries for neighbors in need?
When other members answered, their response reflected their diversity. But amidst the drive to enact beliefs and politics, a simpler, common theme emerged: the need to feel connected to others, to build and experience community.
That’s what I hear, at least, and maybe because that’s my answer. I have a strong belief in leftist liberation politics, but most importantly, a pull to feel involved and engrained in a community, a factor that has led me to similar involvements, and even to a career in teaching. This is the drive that led me to Ward 4 Mutual Aid, where I started delivering groceries around Brightwood and Petworth at the start of the pandemic. While I found this fulfilling and useful, selfishly, it did not provide that connection to community that I was seeking. So, I stopped on the side of Georgia Avenue one Saturday to speak to the Unhoused Advocacy branch. They had just begun operating food and supply distributions across from Yes Organic at Georgia Avenue and Upshur Street every weekend.
Here I met Gee, emxa, Jay, Sonia, and Kiara standing around a folding table with thermals, masks, hats, hygiene supplies, tents, and food. Jay was loading up the wagon attached to his bike to ride up and down Georgia Avenue and find those who might need supplies but can’t make it to the distribution location. emxa spoke to me about the set-up, goals, and meeting times of the group, and got me started making the hygiene supply kits for the following week. Very soon I was attending meetings regularly. Because of the focus on a horizontal organizational style, where decisions are reached democratically and leadership is rotational, I consistently felt heard and able to dive into whatever task.
I learned that the Unhoused Advocacy group started with Gee, an experienced radical and Occupy Wall Street participant, and their wagon which they would pull around the city in order to distribute necessities and build relationships with those on the streets. Jay, emxa, and Sonia later joined this effort, connecting through the Ward 4 Mutual Aid group and creating a distribution station on Georgia Avenue.
Since my first days of involvement with Unhoused Advocacy, we have grown significantly and moved from Georgia Avenue to a church used by multiple community groups in 16th Street Heights. At the church we have use of multiple rooms, outside areas, and a kitchen. We hold both mobile and stationary distributions at least weekly in order to provide food, clothing, and other supplies to our neighbors, as well as simply check in and build relationships. We have been able to partner with Remora House, HIPS, Metro DSA, I Support the Girls DC, Unity Health Care, and others to provide resources such as vaccinations, health check-ups, harm reduction supplies, and more. We are starting a community garden. We have supported camp protections when the government attempts to clear encampments or when aggressors come to the city. We educate ourselves and others politically through discussions on economics, privatization, and the many systems of displacement in our city. We have even helped secure housing for previously unhoused neighbors and fellow organizers.
All this, as an eclectic bunch of neighbors wanting to connect with each other and build. How do we do it?
The events and tactics have changed with time, as we learn and experience more and more. We have had events that have felt like block parties, with go-go, dancing, and cook-out food. We have had events that have felt like chaos, with neighbors yelling over supplies and crowds becoming disgruntled. We have had incredibly productive meetings where we have felt a true sense of camaraderie while planning out difficult logistics and learning each other’s values. We have also had tense meetings where we feel stuck and even fall into political in-fighting. So the real answer to how we do it? Together.
Throughout it all, we have had community as the focus, involving and centering the voices of those in DC who are most impacted by the issues we attempt to address. We have been able to adapt with new ideas and bring in new organizers from all different walks of life. And through this, I think we have felt the fulfillment and connection many have been looking for, even in the face of hostile economic structures that sometimes feel insurmountable.
These connections are not merely a side product of mutual aid or radical visions, but an integral and necessary part of any movement that attempts to work beyond current systems and build more humane structures. Radicalism lives through the relationships between people within communities, even as it is constantly under siege in a system that benefits from alienation in both labor and consumption practices. The drive to be connected to community is just as important to social movements as the political ideals that direct them, and, luckily for us, this drive for connection comes naturally to us as human beings. That is not to say that everyone needs to be an extroverted social butterfly, but we all must push beyond the alienating tendencies of our world to build something beneficial for all. This is what is at the heart of mutual aid.
I wanted to revisit the question that was asked that Thursday night, so I asked some of the organizers again: Why are you involved and what does mutual aid mean to you?
emxa provided both a technical and emotional answer:
Mutual aid is a political framework for care and reproductive labor. When we imagine what a classless and stateless society might look like, mutual aid says it looks like this. There need to be systems in place to facilitate that care, that rest, that re-education, that transformation necessary for the organizing effort to take on a life of its own. Mutual aid is sustenance. It is soul food.
Andrew shared the connection between mutualism and relationships:
I think the primary reason I got involved in mutual aid is to meet people, specifically my neighbors. At a higher level, I view mutualism as sharing resources and sharing knowledge and as the foundation of a healthy world, the foundation of meaningful relationships.
Walt responded succinctly about his motivations:
I know how much I didn’t have, and I hate thinking of someone in the same ordeal, so I want to help others with the way out.
Valbert discussed very personal reasons for involvement:
Mutual aid has been the driving force of me getting on my feet after my mother’s passing. I was involved with IMPACT DMV church, and a friend in the neighborhood told me about mutual aid and got me involved on Saturday. I was able to take up my time and connect with others in the city. Now that I am a part of mutual aid, I am able to help people on and off the street.
Debbie expressed the need for mutualism in our communities:
I got involved because it is needed more than ever in these uncertain times in the COVID era. It might be housing, or it just might be that someone needs someone to listen to with a friendly ear and no judgement. I am happy to be a part of mutual aid.
Ellen mentioned the learning process in mutualism:
To be honest, I was unfamiliar with the concept of mutual aid at the time I got involved. Another neighbor, emxa, took the time to have numerous talks with me, to help me understand more about race, systemic issues, power and how inaction can result in harm we cause others. They, and other organizers I have met over the past year, are examples of people who live their lives through mutual aid practice. They have a vision for how communities can be built in a different way, one in which everyone can get their basic needs met and feel supported by the community around them.
Sam mentioned the connection between mutual aid and hope:
I got involved in mutual aid pretty simply because I knew I needed to do something with my time that would help other people. From there, I knew I wanted to do something local, where I was meaningfully in the community with the folks I was working with. During this time, as my politics moved closer and closer to the idea that relations of power, including those based in charity, ultimately served to uphold the existing powers structure, I knew that I was being drawn towards mutualism, and mutual aid specifically. To me, the idea that we are what keep us safe is a powerful message of hope because it’s a kind of hope you exercise through action — -coming out for your community — -not in belief, which can be so hard to find in the larger world around us right now.
Bri focused on the challenging work of balancing material needs with relationship building:
I got involved with mutual aid at the beginning of the pandemic. By the end of 2020, the adrenaline of urgency was wearing off for me, and what I found myself lacking was relationships that were not based on transactions or emergency. This was a result of structural issues of the group, but also my own comfort with focusing on urgency over relationships. I still feel that tension between urgent need for resources, and the slower work of building relationships within the unhoused advocacy team. Stopping to consider that question, ‘why are we here?’ has been a source of restoration, motivation, and expansion for me. Hearing what we mean to each other as a group, what brought us here, what we dream of doing together is powerful stuff.
Mutual aid groups will not revolutionize the world on their own. At their worst, they can turn into poorly funded charities that simply support a failing state structure. They can stray far from the anarchist roots and foster a nonprofit-mindset, further cementing current power structures. But at their best, they can be hubs for community, places of resistance and creation, an answer to alienation, and a way to occupy public space that draws attention to capitalism’s failures and show potential solutions built on resilient relationship-based communities. Mutual aid is a tactic for change in a world that needs a variety of coordinated tactics.
Leaving the meeting that Thursday night, I reflected on how leaning into that desire for connection has created so many beautiful things, even when connection sometimes brings conflict. This mutual aid group is one example of that beauty. I am truly hopeful and excited to see how our city will continue to change as more people lean into this wonderful human drive to do better with one another.
Interested in supporting mutual aid around the city?
Ward 4 Mutual Aid Unhoused Advocacy (from this article):
Ward 4 Mutual Aid (General Body):
Ward 1 Mutual Aid:
Ward 2 Mutual Aid:
Ward 3 Mutual Aid:
Ward 5 Mutual Aid:
Ward 6 Mutual Aid:
DC Black Lives Matter — East of the River Mutual Aid (Ward 7+8):
Remora House:
