Mutual Aid, Building Solidarity During this Crisis (And the Next) by Dean Spade

File Under: How To Manuals

If the phrases “No one’s coming to save us” or Alice Walker’s “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for” are resonant to you right now, Dean Spade’s Mutual Aid, Building Solidarity During This Crisis (And the Next) will be a fine $15.95 well spent towards both your mental health and strategies for moving forward. I bought this book yesterday for a bestie because I will not be loaning my copy out.

I stumbled upon this one quite by accident while thumbing through the marketing pamphlet at the entryway of Elliott Bay Books last week. The leaflet featured Spade’s newest book which I’ll probably talk about soon. (I picked it up yesterday when I got this one for my friend.) I was not at the bookstore looking for a new read; I was there looking for calendars. So when this one caught my eye before the new one did,  I snuck it into a small pile accumulating in my arms that included Robin Wall Kimmerer’s bound essay The Serviceberry but did not include the calendar that is supposed to organize my 2025. I cannot be trusted to go to EBB.

Living in colonial, capitalistic, and patriarchal contexts my whole life, and without living ancestors to inspire and teach me otherwise, has required me to make conscious efforts to curb the individualistic habits and patterns I’ve acquired to survive in order to make new ways forward to thrive. So far I’ve added reflective listening, airport pickups, and doctor-visit accompaniment to my repertoire of community offerings that I hope contributes to greater liberation in my social circles.  I’m always looking for new ideas and liberated ways of being that I haven't learned yet. This tiny volume (152 pages of 5X7 paperback) offers exactly that: concentrated inspiration, practices, and practical implementation ideas to live creatively, compassionately, and into increasing personal and community liberation.

It is a mess out there, and yet, the change I want to see in the world must happen inside of myself first. I must meet myself where I am and begin there. I’m not necessarily gearing up to organize a community mutual aid effort, but I can all apply the tools to myself, my own internal dialog, and inside my immediate circles of connection. I can mutual aid myself and witness as these tendencies replace the outdated authorities in my life. It is in this way that I can live into a new world. Won’t you join me? 

See Also:

How We Show Up by Mia Birdsong

The Art of Receiving and Giving, The Wheel of Consent by Betty Martin, D.C.

Your Resonant Self by Sarah Peyton