Has Mutual Aid Lost its Meaning?

Historically, Mutual Aid has been practised by communities who are structurally excluded from state support. During the first UK lockdown there was an explosion of Mutual Aid groups setting themselves up to plug the gaps left by a willfully unprepared and negligent government. Many of these groups had little or no relationship to the anarchist principles of Mutual Aid and seem to have been co-opted by the state. What does that mean for mutual aid work now? Has it lost its meaning? Can it be a useful tool for radical change?

Further reading suggestions from contributors:

Ciarán Parsons: Building a Poor People's Survival Movement (half hour podcast)