A thing I meant to say during the talk but forgot to is that I think a lot of people who identify as libertarians but have a heart and a conscience are actually anarchists who just don't know it yet.
Your mutual aid discussion got me thinking not just about showing up in moments of crisis like ICE actions, but also about the everyday forms too: WooFridge, sharing a snowblower, lending a skill or a hand. The quiet, neighborly ways a community takes care of itself. Perfect that you gave the talk in a library.
Probably the single biggest advantage I have found to mutual aid as a basis for organizing is it's done more than anything else I've ever seen to extend the connections and resolve people have to realize that what we can do is a million small bites at a continuous collective of people who want to help. We can't win if we have to rebuild a whole new network of assistance and relationships and trust every time there is a crisis.
Also, skill-sharing and stuff-sharing is such an easy thing we can do. We don't all need a snowblower or a table saw or whatever, if we shared things in a way that really wouldn't even hold up anyone's work or access, we could all have access to a wide range of really nice useful things and toys. This is why I love libraries having Libraries of Things. I also think back to when I had my house on the East Side, and I had this great thing going with my neighbor. They needed a place to store a plow, I needed someone to plow. They needed help with their dog when they were out plowing for two straight days, I needed access to landscaping equipment they had. I needed someone who could check on my house when I was away, and so did they. We could've both been paying a lot of money to third parties for all of that, but we just figured out we could help each other out and no money need change hands.
You’re so right about this, especially the part about not having to rebuild trust from scratch every time there’s a crisis. That’s a hidden power of it.
What strikes me is how much “sleeping capacity” we already have. Worcester has 200,000+ neighbors and only two thousand city workers. 200,000: 2,000 is 100 to 1.. Even a tiny bit of shared time and skill from regular people adds up big time. A few hours here, a favor there -- suddenly it’s enormous.
And I love your examples — the plow, the dog, the tools. That’s exactly it. Not big programs. Just neighbors saying, “I’ve got this. What do you need?”
I also think about how many folks over 65 in Worcester have time, wisdom, patience — not a burden but an untapped resource. Reading to kids, helping out in schools/after-school programs, cooking. There’s untapped wealth sitting right next all our doors.
I think that together we’re richer than we think, richer than we are individually. Mutual aid helps us notice that.
about the judge's instructions to the jury, I heard from someone else that he instructed them after closing arguments to consider the literal meaning of the law. So I was wrong about the judge -- no literalist judge is a fair judge.
I was right though about my uneasiness over how things were going when I left the court day 1
I talked about juries splitting the baby and that's what we saw happen today. I wish I was wrong. When I talked about it, I talked about how it happens because juries are weird and they have to reach a unanimous decision but also there's hours more I would've said and another thing is they have to reach a unanimous decision and so when people are divided on the charges, people horse-trade I'll give you an acquit on this if you give me a guilty on this because ALL THESE PEOPLE WANT TO GO HOME, and there is tremendous pressure on anyone preventing that from happening.
Jurors are also on unpaid time off from work and only getting the what, $30 a day we pay jurors? Literally people have to worry about deliberating so long they can't put food on the table.
Yes, there's so many things like that but they are given very specific instructions about this is how you're to interpret the law and you are not to decide any other way (except also you can, and people should look up jury nullification!)
Members of the jury seemed fascinated by the footage; skeptical of police claims, with one exception. One member looked skeptical we could hear neighbors yelling "Where's the warrant?!" I was worried about here.
Also, although Duffy was not allowed to testify, Etel's lawyer did a good job of setting up the political context--noting that police reports after the event did not mention Etel; her assaults on police, and more, which is why I'm really curious about closing arguments.
I'll also say I thought the judge was decent & committed to fairness. I don't think he was familiar with the bodycam footage or knew about the Duffy/ Chief confrontation, so his ruling seemed in accordance with the law, which is really the problem, not the judge. The judge's instructions to the jury emphasized, emphatically emphasized, that the defendant was innocent unless proved beyond a doubt to be guilty.
A thing I meant to say during the talk but forgot to is that I think a lot of people who identify as libertarians but have a heart and a conscience are actually anarchists who just don't know it yet.
Your mutual aid discussion got me thinking not just about showing up in moments of crisis like ICE actions, but also about the everyday forms too: WooFridge, sharing a snowblower, lending a skill or a hand. The quiet, neighborly ways a community takes care of itself. Perfect that you gave the talk in a library.
Yup in crisis or out it’s all part of the same project
Probably the single biggest advantage I have found to mutual aid as a basis for organizing is it's done more than anything else I've ever seen to extend the connections and resolve people have to realize that what we can do is a million small bites at a continuous collective of people who want to help. We can't win if we have to rebuild a whole new network of assistance and relationships and trust every time there is a crisis.
Also, skill-sharing and stuff-sharing is such an easy thing we can do. We don't all need a snowblower or a table saw or whatever, if we shared things in a way that really wouldn't even hold up anyone's work or access, we could all have access to a wide range of really nice useful things and toys. This is why I love libraries having Libraries of Things. I also think back to when I had my house on the East Side, and I had this great thing going with my neighbor. They needed a place to store a plow, I needed someone to plow. They needed help with their dog when they were out plowing for two straight days, I needed access to landscaping equipment they had. I needed someone who could check on my house when I was away, and so did they. We could've both been paying a lot of money to third parties for all of that, but we just figured out we could help each other out and no money need change hands.
You’re so right about this, especially the part about not having to rebuild trust from scratch every time there’s a crisis. That’s a hidden power of it.
What strikes me is how much “sleeping capacity” we already have. Worcester has 200,000+ neighbors and only two thousand city workers. 200,000: 2,000 is 100 to 1.. Even a tiny bit of shared time and skill from regular people adds up big time. A few hours here, a favor there -- suddenly it’s enormous.
And I love your examples — the plow, the dog, the tools. That’s exactly it. Not big programs. Just neighbors saying, “I’ve got this. What do you need?”
I also think about how many folks over 65 in Worcester have time, wisdom, patience — not a burden but an untapped resource. Reading to kids, helping out in schools/after-school programs, cooking. There’s untapped wealth sitting right next all our doors.
I think that together we’re richer than we think, richer than we are individually. Mutual aid helps us notice that.
lots of spelling errors in my message below
about the judge's instructions to the jury, I heard from someone else that he instructed them after closing arguments to consider the literal meaning of the law. So I was wrong about the judge -- no literalist judge is a fair judge.
I was right though about my uneasiness over how things were going when I left the court day 1
I talked about juries splitting the baby and that's what we saw happen today. I wish I was wrong. When I talked about it, I talked about how it happens because juries are weird and they have to reach a unanimous decision but also there's hours more I would've said and another thing is they have to reach a unanimous decision and so when people are divided on the charges, people horse-trade I'll give you an acquit on this if you give me a guilty on this because ALL THESE PEOPLE WANT TO GO HOME, and there is tremendous pressure on anyone preventing that from happening.
Split decisions like this make no sense unless you think about them that way.
Jurors are also on unpaid time off from work and only getting the what, $30 a day we pay jurors? Literally people have to worry about deliberating so long they can't put food on the table.
Yes, there's so many things like that but they are given very specific instructions about this is how you're to interpret the law and you are not to decide any other way (except also you can, and people should look up jury nullification!)
Members of the jury seemed fascinated by the footage; skeptical of police claims, with one exception. One member looked skeptical we could hear neighbors yelling "Where's the warrant?!" I was worried about here.
Also, although Duffy was not allowed to testify, Etel's lawyer did a good job of setting up the political context--noting that police reports after the event did not mention Etel; her assaults on police, and more, which is why I'm really curious about closing arguments.
I'll also say I thought the judge was decent & committed to fairness. I don't think he was familiar with the bodycam footage or knew about the Duffy/ Chief confrontation, so his ruling seemed in accordance with the law, which is really the problem, not the judge. The judge's instructions to the jury emphasized, emphatically emphasized, that the defendant was innocent unless proved beyond a doubt to be guilty.
Great listen, as always. Chris, I'm in need of about 30 Narcan if possible.
I pushed out almost everything I had right before I moved, but now is as good a time as any to re-establish supply. Hit me up.
uneffin believable & I can't focus