Community groups and activists wrote that they did much more than our own government to help those in need during a pandemic. Tanuki Tom..

It turns out that it has the qualities of redemption found in global disasters. We are grateful that during the coronavirus pandemic, we have witnessed how people struggled together to organize and build community care opportunities.

I feel this gratitude is deeper for me than the temporary welfare measures that nourished me (before the end) and the breakthroughs in vaccines that have already saved millions. I will. Mutual aid feels more familiar. I would rather celebrate the history of this grassroots struggle than seeing a pandemic through an endless chain of government announcements and restrictions.

In the early days of the pandemic, I remember walking around the neighborhood when it (or Woolworths) was really everything I could do outside the house. There was a rainbow picture of small children in the front window of the house.It Gestures of British origin We have traveled (and still do) around the world via the Internet, our only escape portal. Facebook groups in the local community should document them or encourage people to help small businesses. A small way to negotiate a pandemic at the local level, or at least escape the nasty online drip feed of press conferences and infection aggregation.

But the subtle feelings of buying, exchanging, and selling groups in the middle-class suburbs are not the deep community care I mean, if you can rest assured. From the beginning of the pandemic to the present, we are thinking about the struggle between activists and mutual aid groups. This story is not fully told. Even when a pandemic was imminent, people continued to fight for the safety and livelihood of others. The state’s reaction to them was aggressive, and the media described them as selfish or dangerous. Their fight was malicious and unpopular. But they fought.

Australia needs a dedicated quarantine facility to thwart COVID-19

The government should focus on building appropriate quarantine facilities and stop relying on hotels to eliminate COVID-19.

In April 2020, the government’s detention of refugee hotels exposed hypocrisy in a policy approach to curbing the coronavirus. If these new “social distance” measures were important, were refugees abandoned by the virus given the unsanitary and crowded situation of the hotel?

That was too much for refugee rights activists, in addition to inhumane human rights abuses due to indefinite detention. They already knew that the Australian Government would not act ethically against refugees without activist pressure. But how can they act through new pandemics and blockades? Refugee action group Melbourne activists have found a solution. They had a car convoy.

It wasn’t an ideal protest tactic, but it balanced the needs of a pandemic with the needs of refugees.Still, Victorian police wiped out and prosecuted the organizers Chris Breen With agitation (fee drop (In March) and issued a total of protesters $ 43,000 fine..

Breen Told the activist media At the time:

We knew that the government would do just that. Overwhelmed by the death toll and daily briefings, the masses did not pay attention.

in the meantime, Community Mutual Aid Initiatives It was organized on a scale never seen before. If you’re in trouble, you may have been sent a huge, centralized spreadsheet that was shared at the time. Divided into states, it linked people to a thorough array of services and grassroots support groups.

Australia suffered from the lack of a pandemic plan

The damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic was exacerbated in Australia due to lack of preparation and effective management.

Comrades helped set up an early iteration of one of these groups in Melbourne. People were able to request help and provide any support or product they were in a position to provide. The chef handed out free meals. The plumber provided free emergency work at a social distance. Once upon a time, I helped a woman stuck at home with a chronic illness and crippled anxiety in urgent need of medication. I drove to the pharmacy, received her script, dropped the pills in her mailbox, and later she sent me money. That was it. Such small tasks were done autonomously by people all over Australia for these groups.

Brisbane stepped up to the plate of asylum seekers when Melbourne was forced inside due to a blockade for several months.The· Refugee Solidarity Meanjin “Fight to freeKP120“-A group of asylum seekers previously detained offshore at Kangaroo Point hotel accommodations- Battle During the year. The battle rejuvenated the activist scene in the city.State Prime Minister, Health Minister, Police Commissioner Blame them Advertising nausea.

Court and police measures were taken to curb protests under the guise of COVID-19 restrictions. Activists who participated in this lasting battle had to weigh the risks of infection, police violence, and arrest. They considered it their moral obligation to take all possible precautions and go out anyway. I need courage.

When the country paid close attention to the fighting of these activists, it was always to hurt them, despite an incredible degree of organization.Man Rally across Australia As part of the Black Lives Matter movement last June, 100,000 to 200,000 people hit the streets, especially in Melbourne.

These activist-led rallies continue to be the most coordinated COVID era event I’ve seen.No match for sports that did half the job Aboriginal resistance warrior It was to coordinate a huge rally in Melbourne. All attendees knew not only the risk of the virus, but also the risk posed by the police around them. And I’m looking at the camera in the news media.

The organizer’s efforts to distribute masks, disinfectants and maintain safe measures against COVID were so effective that no one was infected with the virus throughout the huge event. Some comrades in Melbourne told me that I could count the number of people I saw there without a mask with both hands.

Don’t forget KP120

The Australian Government is commemorating our killed soldiers on Anzac Day, turning their backs on those seeking asylum from the war.

This amazing feat provided a really useful starting point for conversations about coronavirus containment. We had never had that conversation.Instead, the rally was used as Punching bag for conservative media He was enthusiastic about making trash about how he was able to spread the virus.

Other activists distributed food, medicine and groceries to people who could not leave the home, such as people with disabilities and the elderly in housing estates.

At some point last year, I transferred a Woolworths gift card from a friend who didn’t need it to one of these people. That is, $ 100 of groceries were sent to a residential complex in western Sydney. We’re not talking about the organization here-I mean a guy who ducked a policeman on the way to stop shopping for someone in desperate need. At that time, community care was not on the list of reasons to leave home, so if he was caught, he would have been arrested.

What I’m talking about is part of the effort I’ve made in Australia: the fall into the ocean. But even these grassroots efforts have created a world of difference. Activists who brought groceries to housing estates nourished those who did not meet their needs and therefore survived the blockade.

The distribution of food, medicine, services and support at the local level meant that mutual aid groups saved lives. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in solidarity with the largest anti-racist mass mobilization in history, and somehow minimized the risk to the extent that no one was infected with a pandemic.

And a tireless struggle Refugee Solidarity Meanjin Activists forced defense minister Peter Dutton Release some asylum seekers in Brisbane and Melbourne hotel detention. (He said it was’Cost reduction measures‘But it’s garbage-the real cost comes by fighting activists who never give up. ) These struggles have paid off.

More than a year later, many mutual aid groups are declining. I’ve never seen a crayon rainbow in the window anymore. However, the remaining activist community continues to fight as much as possible. They crack down on fines and police atrocities because of their troubles. Despite the activist instinct, they always make difficult decisions to stay out of the street. Alternatively, if they do, they do it with a radically different tactic.

These stories are rarely told, as these fighters are usually ignored in mainstream Australia. Instead, we’re drip-feeding press conferences and announcements, instead of the government becoming more and more likely to make all the mistakes. However, the various struggles mentioned above are tied to the core threads of community care and mutual aid, which are part of a much more epic story. Thank you for witnessing these battles during COVID-19. At the end of this pandemic, I think there will be a powerful new grassroots force on the streets.

Tanuki Tom An online satylist, social justice commentator, writer, and comedian. He has worked in anti-racist political comedies, especially through his satirical group Million Flag Patriots and anti-racist groups. Yell at a racist dog (Yard). Follow Tom on Twitter @tom_tanuki.

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