Quote from: p334his radical and unqualified will to create was[..] its own justification. His sense of primary responsibility towards his work did not cut him off from his fellows, from his society, as he had thought. It engaged him with them absolutely.

uhh what the fuck

Quote from: p333, read today[..] the real mutuality and reciprocity of society and the individual became clear.
[..] though only the society could give security and stability, only the individual, the person, had the power of moral choice--the power of change, the essential function of life.

Quote from: a text document i wrote yesterdayOnly humans are capable of morality.

Only the individual, the person, has the power of moral choice.

Quote from: p295"Do you know what your society has meant, here, to us, these last hundred and fifty years? Do you know that when people here want to wish each other luck they say, 'May you get reborn on Anarres!' To know that it exists, to know that there is a society without government, without police, without economic exploitation, that they can never say again that it's just a mirage, an idealist's dream!"

Quote from: droqen on August 05, 2022, 03:23:25 PMRight now, I should record that my thinking is along these lines: the systems which Spade claims mutual aid combats, the systems which create the need for mutual aid began, themselves, as mutual aid of a sort: social systems get put into place to meet people's needs, from an awareness that existing systems are not meeting them and are not going to meet them. But to place the blame for these problems on those faulty systems is folly.

Looking back on my thought record from earlier I happened upon a good example in the book of a system that I agree is causing harm. It comes from a place of alienation:

Quote from: p58the systems that are supposed to guarantee safety--the cops, prosecutors, and courts--fail to do so and actually make things worse. These mutual aid projects work to build a new world, where people create safety through community building and support each other to stop harmful behaviour through connection rather than through caging.

Quote from: p280He had been groping and grabbing after certainty, as if it were something he could possess. He had been demanding a security, a guarantee, which is not granted, and which, if granted, would become a prison. By simply assuming the validity of [his theory, his goal] he was left free to use the lovely [devices of his craft]; and then it would be possible to go ahead.

I feel a remarkable kinship to this for undertaking larger, more aspirational projects. When I find myself demanding "a security, a guarantee" from the medium itself -- say, a promise that something will be fun, especially that it lives up to certain expectations I might have -- it is rarely granted, and "if granted, [becomes] a prison". When driven to find that rare guarantee, that unlikely spark, it creates a great blocker (I will not continue until I happen upon something wonderful) and then a great restriction (Now that I have found something wonderful, I cannot do anything but serve it).

Structures are inherently amoral.

Instead... follow your own goals. By "simply assuming the validity" of your goals you're free to do work on something you believe in, using tools in the best way you know how.

Quote from: p261[..] he had a right to [it], but he was damned if he would explain. Existence is its own justification, need is right. He was an Odonian, he left guilt to profiteers.

Quote from: p118Conflict

There is so much in this book. I think I need to stop note-taking so that I can actually read it all with intentionality. This note-taking habit I have is useful when it supports my habit of skimming -- I love skimming books that are light on content, but these pages of Mutual Aid are dense with content that I am desperate to truly absorb.

Quote from: p115-116What Individuals Experiencing
Overwork and Burnout Need

[..] we must take a gentle approach to ourselves, avoid judgement[..] and patiently and humbly experiment with new ways of being.

The compulsive worker, over-worker, or control freak might come to understand their needs in the following ways:

• I need trusted friends who I can talk to about what is going on, who I can ask for honest feedback about my behaviour, and who can help support me and soothe me when I feel afraid of doing something in a new way. [..] even though someone else [might] do this task differently, it is better to let them do it so they can build their own skills[..] These friends can help give me love to the wounds underneath my compulsive, competitive, or controlling behaviour, reminding me that my value does not hang on what the group does, how much work I do, or what other people think of me.
• When I get feedback from friends or collaborators about concerns they have, I need to resist the impulse to defend myself or critique the way they delivered the message. [..] no matter how it is delivered, this feedback is an investment in me and in our work, and an act of love. [..]
• If I hate everyone I'm working with or feel like I am going to die or like I have to stay up all night working, this is probably about something older and deeper in my life, not about the current work/workplace/group/coworker. If my heart is racing, if I feel threatened, if I feel like I can't get out of bed, if I feel like I can't speak to my coworker or I'll explode, I am probably experiencing pain deeply rooted in my life history. To get out of this reactive space, I need to devote resources to uncovering the roots of my painful reactions and building ways of being in those feelings that don't involve acting out harm to myself or others (including the harm of overworking). [..]

Okay there are more points than just these three but I think they just have to be read. These points in particular gave me some very strong feels.

Quote from: p111-115, quotes snippedHow Mutual Aid Groups Can Prevent
and Address Overwork and Burnout

1. Make internal problems a top priority
"Training in meeting facilitation.."
"Collective planning of the group's work.. work plans.."
"..transparency in the group so that people know what each other are doing.."
"Regularly schedule conversations where people can hear from each other about what is going well and what needs work in the group's dynamics, or can discuss issues or concerns about their own role and ask for the group's assistance"

2. Make sure that new people are welcomed and trained to co-lead

3. Establish mechanisms to assess the workload and scale back
"How many hours is each member working?" "Did they.. track their hours for a week to make sure they are aware of how much they are working? Assess the workload and scale back projects until the workload is under control."
[ I know this might sound silly but this is radical to me -- that you would track hours in order to scale down the workload until it is under control. I love it. ]

4. Build a culture of connection

5. Make sure that the facilitation of meetings rotates, including agenda-making and other key leadership tasks.

6. As a group, recognize the conditions creating a culture of overwork.
"It is not one person's fault,.." "Create a shared language for the pressures.. so they are easier to identify and address.."

Quote from: p107-109Burnout

[..] Burnout [causes us to / is when we] lose connection to pleasure and passion in the work and instead encounter difficult feelings like avoidance, compulsion, control, and anxiety. [..] people who feel burnt out often feel that they cannot return to the work, or that the group or work they were part of is toxic.

[..] Burnout is created or worsened when we feel [

• disconnected from others
• mistreated
• misunderstood
• ashamed
• overburdened
• obsessed with outcomes
• perfectionist
• controlling

]. Burnout is prevented or lessened when [

• we feel connected to others
• there is transparency in how we work together
• we can rest as needed
• we feel appreciated by the group
• we have skills for giving and receiving feedback

].

Quote from: p104-105Handling Money

[..] Because most people in our society have a tangled, painful relationship with money that includes feelings and behaviours of secrecy, shame, and desperation, a lot of otherwise awesome people will misbehave when money is around or get suspicious of others' behaviour.

Quote from: p106[A] pitfall of hiring paid staff is that when groups become staffed, unpaid volunteers in the group sometimes expect that staff person or few staff people to suddenly do all the work, and volunteers sometimes check out (especially if they felt overworked before the group started paying staff).

Quote from: p103Rather than a fantasy of being rich and famous[..] we cultivate a fantasy of everyone having what they need and being able to creatively express the beauty of their lives.

I wrote down this quote while walking past the police station, ignoring a man shouting about God and his penis and about how I'm laughing at him. He was calling me names for reading a book.

It's not healthy to have a society where I do things like ignore people... but I have adopted, become comfortable with, maintaining a Still Face attitude towards people in need for the sake of... my own comfort, I suppose.

Okay, this entire section is about how to organize and how consensus decision-making works, and it fucking rules. 5th chapter "No Masters No Flakes," starting at p65.

[pingback: CONSENSUS games]

Quote from: p68-69This chapter will cover three organizational tendencies that often emerge in mutual aid groups that can cause problems, and provide ideas for how to avoid them:

One. Secrecy, hierarchy, and lack of clarity. [..]
- participants not knowing what is going on
- participants not knowing who is making decisions
- having all the decision-making concentrate in one person or clique (lack of delegation is a major cause of burnout)
- risk the group being torn apart by conflict because of these dynamics

combat by:
+ clear decision-making structures
+ caring, emancipatory cultures

Two. Over-promising and under-delivering, non-responsiveness, and elitism. [..]
- promising to help more people than they can help
- making it seem like they have a community need covered when they don't actually have the capacity to address it
- exacerbated when groups receive grants for specific projects, so there is money at stake in falsely claiming..
- when people are not making decisions together, someone may make a promise for the whole group without consulting others about whether it is a priority or a possibility

Three. Scarcity, urgency, competition. [..]
- culture of scarcity (money, time, attention, labour)
- closely related to previous point (over-promising)

may lead to...
- getting competitive with other groups or within
- not taking the necessary steps to do our task well, due to urgency/rush
- forgetting to be kind to each other

Quote from: p67Clear structures help us stick to our values under pressure

Right now my wallpaper is a simple statement: "STRUCTURES ARE INHERENTLY AMORAL." If you need structures to stick to your values... I'm concerned.