Sticking Together in Tough Times
In a time of ecological collapse, rising fascism, and expanding war, it is crucial to build communities rooted in care and resistance. Mutual aid offers a way to meet immediate survival needs independently of governments and NGOs, while also fostering solidarity and political engagement. In this workshop, Dean Spade, author of Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity in This Crisis (and the Next), will share core principles of mutual aid as an organising tactic, address common obstacles facing mutual aid groups and provide tools for working through them. Dean will discuss the kinds of bold, rule-breaking, risk-taking resistance that people are taking up to care for each other and save lives right now, and what it takes for us to show up for each other in this moment.
19.11.2025, 19:00 CET,
online (click for the Zoom link)
DEAN SPADE
Dean Spade has been working in movements for queer and trans liberation, anti-militarism, and police and prison abolition for the past 25 years. He’s the author of Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law, and Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next), and the director of the documentary Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back!. His new book is Love in a Fucked Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up and Raise Hell Together, and he is the host of a new podcast with the same name.
Secondary sources
Dean Spade. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) (2020)
Pinkwashing Exposed: Seattle Fights Back! (documentary, 2015)
Other study materials used during the lecture
Dean Spade. Workshop Series: Building Capacity for Mutual Aid Groups (2021)
Dean Spade. What is Mutual Aid? (Classroom Version) (video, 2021)
Dean Spade. Organizational Culture Chart (2018)
Dean Spade. Mutual Aid Chart (2019)
Dean Spade. Working Compulsively vs. Working Joyfully Chart
