In the mutualista movement of the late 1800s, aid was sometimes referred to as mutual protection. “It’s power to protect what you value, to pool information,” Pycior explains. “Today, it would be pooling information vis-à-vis ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], for example. And that was true in these early ones.”
The challenge for mutual aid projects that form in the depths of a crisis can often come later, when momentum dwindles, opportunities diminish, and a sense of normalcy returns. But Mutual Aid Disaster Relief has managed to maintain a sense of continuity between crises, particularly as these increase in frequency.