This session will explore the history and present of mutual aid. It will be focused on how we can combine lessons from the past with examples from across the world today to inform our mutual aid efforts. It will address the limitations of the forms of ‘mutual aid’ we have seen in response to the coronavirus crisis, and will provide concrete examples of how truly radical and community-based mutual aid work can be sustained and created as we move out of this socio-political moment.
Louise Delmege has been working in mutual aid based food and community organisations for the last 5 years. During the lockdown she was one of a small team who delivered over 40,000 free meals across Bristol. She is a director of National Food Service Bristol and a lead organiser of the National Food Service Network.
Anna Vickerstaff is an organiser with Covid-19 Mutual Aid UK, an early mutual aid response group that acted as a platform to support the formation of new groups.
SWARM is a collective founded and led by sex workers who believe in self-determination, solidarity and co-operation.