For Your Information - What Is Mutual Aid?

mutual: reciprocal, interactive, connected, communal, joint, shared, two-way, back and forth.

aid: advocacy, assistance, attention, backup, care, cooperation, sustenance, service, a hand, a favor, a gift, a lift.

mutual aid: (1) giving something and getting something else back, barter, trade, exchange, win-win situation, good deal, swap; (2) a way to create an economy without money where we can all contribute what we have and get what we need in return; (3) a system that values human beings and our talents more than cash and coins, and that knows we may be poor in money but we’re rich in other ways; (4) a great way to get a massage, furnish your house, have your dog walked, get free child care, get help with school, or eat a free home-cooked meal; (5) a founding principle of the rock dove collective.

Some Examples

• I walk your dog for a week and you give me two hours of acupuncture.
• You give me a massage and I bake you a chocolate cake.
• You teach me Spanish and I baby-sit your kids.
• I teach you about Chinese medicine and you build me a bookshelf.
• We all bring a little food to a pot luck and end up with a feast.

Mutual Aid and Rock Dove

The Rock Dove Collective strongly encourages mutual aid between our service seekers and providers, friends and comrades, allies and neighbors, and believes that incorporating mutual aid into more instances in our lives will help to set the foundation for a freer and more just world.  We are available to coordinate 3, 4, or 10-way exchanges, to offer up some aid of our own so you can get what you need for free, to accept donations of work or things that we can offer to our providers so they can care for folks who need it, and to making these practices part of our daily lives as we get and stay well together.  It only works if you join in.  Consider yourself invited.