Submitted by lettuceLeafer in CritiqueThis
Now, most mutual aid doesn't make actavists money via, gold, currency or crypto but they still profit form it. For example food not bombs, food is given out for free but people who organize it have some fairly obvious profits. They gain social relationship with people they may have never met before, often they gain new people who will run the food not bombs for free (resulting in the initial founders gaining food they didn't work to get), they gain more people who will possibly do favors for them in the future as they cultivated a relationship. i.e. A carpenter goes to the food not bombs, they meet one of the founders and they become friends. The carpenter later then helps the founder replace the flooring in their home since they are friends who help each other.
These benefits are all things that end up resulting in something that has an ambiguous monetary value. Food is gained, work from laborers is gained, emotional energy from new friends is gained. These are all things that can be bought from grocery stores, carpentry firms and therapy sessions respectively. The founders did not make this gain for free, it is a resulting profit from their food not bombs work.
I'm really starting to become cognizant of how mutual aid clearly seems to profit activists. Unintentionally I have profited greatly from some of the small amount of work I have done. I can't imagine how immense the profits could be as I get better at doing mutual aid.
For instance I've done work helping disabled people and giving food away. While I didn't charge people I helped at all I have profited from these activities. Unlike traditional economic activities where you do work for a boss or consumer and the boss or consumer pays u my actives have causes me to profit nothing if very little from my customers. My profit seems to come from like minded individuals I meet.
Now, I don't go bragging about my actives but they mean a lot to me as a person. So when I meet people eventually my actives come up in conversation. These conversations result in many positive events for me. For example I was meeting two other people, when I mentioned my mutual aid projects they realized I was cool and felt it was appropriate to rope me into the consumer base for their mutual aid projects. I received free food, consultation/ lots of advice for a future project I was thinking of and the possibility that they would provide free labor for my new project.
I doubt I would have gained these benefits if they didn't know of my desire to do mutual aid. This wasn't conscious profit but just a result of my activity. It seems almost unavoidable to not eventually profit in some way for doing mutual aid.
Another big profit I've been considering is how mutual aid clearly benefits me in romantic relationships. I have met people and dated people who probably would have picked someone else if it weren't for my passion for mutual aid. Lets face facts, publicly giving away food inherently makes many people trust you more and more interested in being around u. I know this is true for me, I am far more likely to be friends with or date someone who does mutual aid.
Now, is that not a clear profit? Often times in relationships people will help each other cleaning, moving, making food and other such things. I gain those benefits from that person largely in part from my mutual aid efforts.
Now, I think this is somewhat talked about in mutual aid but I have never seen it stated openly as a profitable thing for people to do. My experience and theoretically it seems clear that mutual aid causes profit. I'm not saying this is inherently bad, but I think its important to be cognizant of how it is profitable. Maybe there is something to be gained from this realization of a power dynamic or something else. Maybe there is nothing useful from this realization. But its neat to think about in the least
moonlune wrote
life isn't a zero sum game. You can get stuff while sill helping others. You aren't jesus, there's no need of sacrificing your life to save others.
Also, people doing other activites instead of mutual ad, eg dances classes, will also build a network and via these activities and get similar "profits". The difference is that you'll also be helping other people at the same time.
I'm not sure if the things you're describing are because of mutual aid, or just because you're a social person in social context, and that people feel good with you and want "more of you". It's just life.