Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers.
[Les grands périls ont cela de beau qu’ils mettent en lumière la fraternité des inconnus.]
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French writer
Les Misérables, Part 4 “St. Denis,” Book 12 “Corinth,” ch. 4 (4.12.4) (1862) [tr. Wilbour (1862)]
Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/hugo-victor/76624/
Care to join us for a two part discussion of Robin Wall Kimmerer's "The Serviceberry"? Our Disaster Reading Group, which has been meeting since shortly after Hurricane Helene, has picked this essay-length book on mutuality in nature for the May 12th and June 2nd meetings! This is a perfect chance for new folks to jump in 
As Kimmerer explains, “Serviceberries show us another model, one based upon reciprocity, where wealth comes from the quality of your relationships, not from the illusion of self-sufficiency.”
"The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World" is a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world. This series is co-facilitated by Lauren Miller.
On May 12th, we're discussing pages 1 through 50 but you're welcome to join us even if you can't complete the reading! Learn more and find discounted copies of the book at https://firestorm.coop/events/3392-the-serviceberry-a-disaster-reading-group.html
#AllFlourishingIsMutual #MutualAid #TheServiceberry #HurricaneHelene #GiftEconomy #Mutualism #FeministBookstore #FirestormCoop (- L)
I'm incredibly proud to report that Pryce Millikin, the current master's student in my lab, has been recognized with an Honorable Mention in this year's NSF Graduate Research Fellowship competition, in a year when NSF gave out just 1,000 GRF awards across every field of science nationwide
Free Trade *is* Fair Trade: An Anarchist Look at World Trade
Joe Peacott (2000)
BAD Press Broadside 3
Boston Anarchist Drinking Brigade
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/boston-anarchist-drinking-brigade-free-trade-is-fair-trade @library
Food for thought - “Give help to all, according to thy ability and their fitness..” - Marcus Aurelius, “Meditations” #stoicism #philosophy #mutualism #anarchism
“All land value is rent.”
Happy birthday to our favorite Georgist anarchist @jockox3! 
Yoder Lab grad student Pryce Millikin's work organizing collection of Joshua tree flowering observations through iNaturalist makes the campus news service
CSUN Master’s Student Calls on Public to Help Collect Joshua Tree Data
Nature's Perfect Duo: The Rhinoceros and the Oxpecker! 
Fun Fact: Oxpeckers can also make vocalizations that alert their rhino companions to potential dangers!
When is the best partner not the best choice? Considering a multispecies mutualism in a variable environment, Stevens et al. demonstrate the potential benefits of supporting a diversity of partners equally in spite of differences in quality.
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/733224
Finally, Felix‘ #ecoevo paper is back from #PeerReview:
"…this manuscript is an important contribution that almost uniquely explores the evolutionary transitions between #mutualism through #commensalism and on to #antagonism, and vice versa. […] Not only are the results strong, but some of them are surprising, and in interesting ways that will be worth exploring in future years"
Thank you! 
The #preprint is available here:
MUTUAL AID / LA:
PLEASE amplify/share.
If you find coop links to support, PLEASE reply. Thanks!
️The People’s Struggle functions as a “grassroots 911 dispatch” center, Galper said. Donations totaled more than $2,500, which organizers used to secure materials requested by evacuation shelters, such as toys for children or sanitary products for women.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DEk3nrKyYl2/
️“We’ve already seen how crucially underprepared the city government is in dealing with social service,” said Savannah Boyd, a co-founder of All Power Books, which is based in the West Adams neighborhood. “We knew we were going to have to start organizing for mutual aid."
https://ko-fi.com/allpower
️It’s Bigger Than Us, a Black-led non-profit based in Inglewood, delivers water and resources to first responders while also running a distribution hub.
https://www.itsbiggerthanusla.org/
️The National Day Laborer Organizing Network is raising money for immigrant workers affected by the fires.
https://ndlon.org/
️Lagartijas Climbing Crú, a collective of Black, Latino, Asian and Indigenous rock climbers, created a crowdsourced spreadsheet to connect people with evacuees who need supplies including blankets and clothes.
https://www.lagartijascc.com/
️Pasadena Humane, which is accepting donations, has been evacuating and housing animals injured and displaced by the fires. The shelter has taken in more than 100 animals for emergency boarding.
https://pasadenahumane.org/
️The charity Baby2Baby has provided more than 1m emergency supplies, including diapers and formulas, for displaced children and families.
https://baby2baby.org/
️Malibu Foundation is offering food, shelter and mental health support to vulnerable populations like seniors, low-income families, people with disabilities and uninsured households.
https://www.themalibufoundation.org/january-2025-wildfires
️CORE, Community Organized Relief Effort, is distributing masks, go-kits, hygiene kits and other protective resources to impacted areas.
https://www.coreresponse.org/southern-california-wildfires/
️This Is About Humanity has launched a fund supporting front and second-line migrant farm workers, day laborers, and other essential workers and their families severely impacted by the recent fires in Los Angeles. Through Jan. 31, TIAH is matching up to $50,000 in donations to provide critical relief, housing support, food assistance and essential resources.
https://icfdn.org/donate/?form=FUNDCBAXBVV
️Community Resource Spreadsheet on Google Docs: Over 400 Local Resources from Phone charging to shelter.
Sources: Social Media, TheGuardian, Axios
MSc defence by Léini Vaessen @Mol_Ecol @uniinnsbruck "How carton-nest fungi of the ant Lasius fuliginosus interact with each other and with the root-rot fungus Armillaria mellea"
Congrats to you, MSc Léini, and thanks to examiners Julia Seeber and Martin Kirchmair!
@rowan_johnson @ianb @boffbowsh
The Co-Op does exist. Co-Operative food shops are a set of individual local mutual societies, only loosely federated for branding and some collective power (as @wild1145 recently discovered).
Cruel and ineffective policies and the culture of inaction from neoliberal governments often leave people to fend for themselves.
#FluConf2025 has a dedicated track for Solidarity Networks and Community Health, through which we aim to promote bottom-up efforts to organize our own social safety nets.
We want to hear from people raising awareness about policy vacuums, building coalitions between adjacent camps, and working at the margins to address underserved demographics. Share your stories about public infrastructure, mutual aid, boycotts, unionization, strikes, legal defense, debt-forgiveness, and other forms of collective action.
How are you countering misinformation about public health topics? How do we build resilience in our communities and welcome newcomers? How can we take care of each other in the wake of wars, climate disasters, lgbtq persecution, and unnecessary poverty.
Apply up until midnight, January 19th, 2025 (anywhere on Earth)
Aaron Koek
