Jessica Kantrowitz 📚🎨🪴 Profile picture
May 13, 2023 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Hi folks! I thought I'd do a quick thread on mutual aid, its origins, how it differs from charity, and how it is used on Twitter. I'm by no means an expert in this field, but it's something I've been learning about both in theory and practice, and I think it's really cool!
You may have seen fundraisers shared as "mutual aid opportunities." Or maybe you've seen #SettlerSaturday where folks share the needs of Indigenous families or individuals. Or maybe you give to @togetherrising or have received help from them. These are all forms of mutual aid.
Mutual aid differs from charity in a few ways. First, it happens within community, whether defined geographically, by marginalized identity, or otherwise. Second, there aren't givers & receivers, rather everyone rallies around the community member who currently needs support.
Third, it is political and revolutionary. Mutual aid is an understanding within a community that the current political and social structures do not provide for our survival and thriving, and that we need to step in to support each other as well as work for change.
The term "mutual aid" was popularized by the anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin as a social/evolutionary theory that posited, contrary to social Darwinism, that it is cooperation rather than competition that helps a species survive.
Twitter is one of the places where mutual aid is practiced. Because of this, among other reasons, the possibility of Twitter falling apart is particularly distressing to marginalized peoples such as the disabled community. slate.com/technology/202…
The thing that I find so beautiful and fascinating about mutual aid is that it's...magic? It's not, primarily, wealthy people giving huge amounts of money. It's the same $10 passed back and forth from person to person, and somehow, against all the rules of mathematics, it works!
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More from @jfkantrowitz

Nov 12, 2022
🧵You know how I'm always like, "Please, no unsolicited advice"? Here's a time I would like advice. I have a physical therapy appointment next week and I've been having small panic attacks about it for two weeks now, for this reason:
He asked me last time about my work and how I sit for it, and gave me a disapproving look at my answer and told me we'd talk about ergonomics next time. (Note, I've had this physical therapist before and had the exact same conversation, which is why this is so triggering to me.)
Part of the issue is that I have a hard time explaining my routine, because I feel like he's not really listening or interested, and because I don't have a 9-5 office job and, despite being a writer, I'm not actually typing more than half an hour a day. I move around a lot...
Read 9 tweets
Jun 7, 2022
Well at least I had a six-day stretch without a migraine, but I wish this one hadn’t come on a day I have to drive three hours in Boston-rush-hour traffic.
In other news, @d_l_mayfield’s newsletter about autism continues to rock my world and tell my story in ways I never could before. I want to send these paragraphs to everyone I’ve ever worked with and for. When access to medical care...
Sorry the full text wouldn’t fit in the alt text, but you can read it all here: dlmayfield.substack.com/p/the-problem-…
Read 4 tweets
Jun 4, 2022
Listen, if my, “You are not alone, and this will not last forever” tweet bothers you, just mute me. I am doing my best to survive, just like you. It doesn’t do anyone any good to tell me that I’m lying. Take that energy to your therapist, that’s what she’s trained for—I’m not.
I don’t mind if people tell me they’re having a hard time believing it—that’s fine, me too! If it was easy to believe I wouldn’t post it every day. And I totally get if the words aren’t helpful to you. No offense taken if you have to mute me, or add that phrase to your mute list.
All I can offer you is my own story and my own experience, which is that the moments I felt my lowest, with depression and migraines and broken relationships, felt like they would last forever, but they didn't. Something eventually shifted. Something always shifts.
Read 4 tweets
Nov 25, 2021
If anyone is alone today and feeling lonely, you are invited to my Thanksgiving dinner. I made lemon rosemary turkey. Tell me your hair and eye color and what you’re bringing, and I’ll draw you in.
I won’t be able to draw everyone, but everybody’s in: If you’re not in the picture you’re just off-screen mingling in the kitchen, or in the basement hunting for that extra card table, or helping me to pile coats on my bed. But we’re all here, together.
@K8plusK9’s here with her pup Riggs (he’s in the kitchen making friends) and @HalfPintCarrie brought green bean casserole!
Read 38 tweets
Nov 23, 2021
Thread: I think I am going to do another Thanksgiving stick-figure gathering on Thursday, but to be honest, I'm kind of sad because I know I won't be able to include everyone and people will be sad that they're left out.
I'm a slow drawer, and it takes time and energy to write down everyone's details and their handle, draw them and the food they're bringing, take a picture of my updated drawing, and tweet it with the correct handle(s) and a personal comment.
At best I can do ~10 people per hour, so even with four hours concentrated work (which is about all I'm up for) that's only 40 or so people who get their own drawing. I do my best to included people by replying and "liking" but I know having your picture drawn is the most fun.
Read 8 tweets
Jun 9, 2021
Peace to everyone in the first shock of grief tonight.
Peace to everyone waking up this morning sad and bewildered.
Peace to those whose grief is morphing into anger, into fear, and back to bewilderment.
Read 12 tweets

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