United States
I write feature articles and blog posts that highlight innovative projects doing good in their communities and serving as praxes of radical leftist political ideas. My coverage of these stories is informed by my extensive experience with grassroots activism, mutual aid, and community gardening. I have a certificate in permaculture design and have worked on several organic farms. Since earning a BA in English - Professional Writing, I have worked mostly in nonprofit development, utilizing my writing and editing skills to help advance the work of several NGOs. I have also worked in a direct-service position for a mental health program and believe in promoting alternative approaches to health and wellness, a topic I have also explored in my writing.
The CAHOOTS team in Eugene and Springfield, OR, USA. Credit: Todd Cooper/Eugene Weekly The 2020 uprising in response to the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has made the average US American aware of the movement to abolish police and prisons.
Recent social movements led by young people have shown Gen Z to be more progressive than any generation before, and more likely to embrace alternatives to the oppressive systems that previous generations have accepted as a given.
Throughout the tumultuous year of 2020, people in many parts of the world were jolted into rediscovering the importance of relying on one another. The people of Puerto Rico, however, have long understood the power of mutual aid as a means of both survival and resistance.
The Zapatistas have said the best solidarity anyone can offer is to start their own social centers, projects, movements, and revolutions wherever they are based. In Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the state of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil, a collective called Kasa Invisível (Portuguese for "Invisible House") has heeded that proposal, and hopes to inspire you to do the same.
When Filip Zulewski got home from work on March 11, 2020, the idea he had seemed simple enough. He had just learned that the university in Warsaw at which he taught would be closed for the duration of Poland's nationwide coronavirus lockdown; he was concerned about the heavy restrictions the government had suddenly placed on everyday life.
In 2007, The Transformation Center began to open resource centers known as Recovery Learning Communities with funding from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. These included the Central MA RLC, which is now called Kiva Centers and operates out of four main support centers.
With politicians such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling for the people to engage in mutual aid in order to survive the COVID-19 crisis, those not previously familiar with the term might never guess it was coined by an anarchist scientist who advocated against central government.