Mutual Aid Disaster Relief sees itself as a swiss army knife within the larger toolbox of the autonomous, mutual aid-based disaster response movement. Our network includes multiple projects, including on-the-ground response work, networking and relationship building across the movement, and educational programs that seek to grow the use of mutual aid as a framework for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. But we also recognize and strive to support other initiatives and projects with similar aims as we believe that only a movement of movements can help us survive the spectre of climate devastation looming on the horizon.
We recognize and celebrate that the movement of grassroots, liberatory, solidarity-based, autonomous disaster response is so much larger than Mutual Aid Disaster Relief and is made up of many diverse individuals, collectives, organizations, and networks with their own identities. Part of our mission is to support this interlocking web of people who are inspired to act during disaster, regardless of what they call themselves.
Additionally, we don’t see ourselves as a vanguard or central authority on disaster response. Other groups with varying beliefs and structures have and will continue to respond to crisis. People all over the world are engaging in disaster relief from a mutual aid perspective every day, and we want to encourage and learn from this important and affirming work. We did not choose the name Mutual Aid Disaster Relief because we want to co-opt these movements, but because we want to constantly uplift this tactic and this perspective, and to provide a home for any others who, like us, find profound meaning in orienting their lives around community disaster preparedness and DIY crisis response.