#anarchblr

mutual aid means no hierarchy between givers and receivers

a new mutual aid org, Bridge of Solidarity, has been established in the gaza strip by 17 year old poet yazan mohammed in response to the exploitative practices conducted by some charities and encouraged by the existing charity-based model of fundraising for gaza. according to BoS: "the western attention economy and pity economy plays a large role in who lives or dies in gaza." essentially, people need to make themselves marketable in order to receive lifesaving aid; people who are not marketable die. yazan himself wrote about the damage this can do to one's self image, which you can read here.

after trying for a year to respect his own privacy, my friend siraj was also pressured into posting images of his son's emaciated body in order to gain sympathy from westerners.

we cannot keep forcing people to do this anymore.

here's a declaration of their values from bridge of solidarity's most recent post:

Our organization is against the Western gaze. We refuse to humiliate people. We refuse to force people to take photos. We refuse to force people to take photos with our flyer or logo. People will receive aid freely without being forced to pose. We will respect people's privacy completely. Our principles include autonomy, dignity, sovereignty, mutual respect, and mutual aid.

this org will prioritize giving aid to people without phones or social media, who do not speak english, and who do not have outside support or living parents. these are the people who are not palatable to westerners but who deserve to live with as much dignity as everyone else

as of five days ago, BoS are working on a water truck delivery

Do you love trans women?

Do you wish things were easier for trans women?

What about trans women of color?

What about navajo trans women of color?

Do you support trans women in the material and tangible ways you're capable of?

In that case I submit for your for consideration:

My gf

Politics and the news are giving her some extremely justified anxiety and as a trans woman of color she feels the need to stop being patient and rush through the last part of her transition before she loses all access to it being possible.

Right now we're trying to raise money for her to get:

ffs

breast augmentation

These are pretty costly and will require her to miss a lot of work for healing so any reblogs, boosts, tags, or other help sent her way is very much appreciated!

November 8 Update:

She just finished her last round of post-op appointments for the breast augmentation! All of you were able to get that done for her!! Thank you so so so much!!

Next is FFS, its scheduled in February. I've been sharing this gfm since July (4 months) and managed to raise behalf the goal so PLEASE keep spreading this around. With any luck well raise another $2k by February.

I, and many other anarchists, believe that if you are involved in organizing and protesting, that you have a responsibility to your community to refuse to testify as a witness for a grand jury. this almost always means jail time for contempt of court (for up to 18 months max) as a result, which is definitely a large sacrifice, but is something i believe is so fucking important when it comes to keeping our communities safe. this also means that our communities need to be prepared to offer robust support to our comrades who are sacrificing so much to keep our communities safe. we need to never abandon people to fight state repression alone.

i think that it is really important for people to start thinking through what their response would be to getting subpoenaed for a grand jury way before you get in a position where you're taking action or participating in communities where this might be a concern. and if you start learning about grand jury resistance and realize that that the logistics of resistance feel impossible for you to actually be able to do, i don't think that's something that you need to feel shame about. but i do think that then means you need structure your organizing and protesting life in such a way where you are not involved in communities that are taking felony-level risks. i cannot emphasize enough how unacceptable it is to become an informant for the state, and even if you tell yourself you're not going to give away any implicating or private information, any information you give to prosecutors helps them map networks and build cases. i really do think that we all have a moral obligation to keep each other safe, and when people participate in state repression and testify in grand juries, they are throwing their comrades under the bus to save themselves at the expense of their comrades freedom.

i'll link some resources to learn more and share a quote from Katie Yow, a grand jury resistor in 2017.

"The state demeans everything that we hold dear when they threaten us in this way. The most free and wild thing we have in this world is our love for each other, and we know that our health, our safety, and our liberation can only exist in a world without their cops, their courts, and their cages. Our strength lies in knowing that we can provide that for each other, and that nothing they offer or threaten is worth betraying our commitment to our communities.

“As state repression escalates, I know that all of us are struggling with the trauma and the grief that comes from the forces we fight against, and the vulnerability that we feel to the state in its despicable efforts to attack us. What I also know, what I believe with all my heart and everything I have, is that we have the strength we need to take care of each other and to fight back until we win.”- Katie Yow

Resources:

Grand Jury Resistance Project