1. “more aid to ireland during the famine than britain” okay let’s clear this up, again– there was no famine, it was a genocide, commited specifically by the british. ireland was literally packed with food. the only crop that failed was the potato crop. the british had no problem with ships FULL OF FOOD leaving british ports on british ships from ireland to other places to make money. IT. WAS. NOT. A. FAMINE. IT. WAS. A. GENOCIDE. and that probably explains why britain didn’t “send aid”. britain was literally using the “famine” they manufactured to clear the land of indigenous irish people.
2. which lends poignancy and power to the attempt by the choctaw nation to send food to starving irish people.
3. there was much fanfair about this in the british press at the time, because of course the british government was lying to its own people about what they were doing. it’s convenient to blame natural disasters like “famine” when in fact it is mass murder– kinda like what’s going on in yemen right now. but to conclude, what didn’t receive a lot of fanfair in the british press is the fact that much of the corn and other food the choctaw nation attempted to send did not go to starving irish people, it was essentially hijacked and went to feed british pigs and livestock.
4. which is why every saint patrick’s day we remember the genocide (one of many the british attempted in ireland) of black ‘47. and we always remember the native americans who responded in such good will and with such generosity to starving people an ocean away from them.
And - all through primary school (until age 12) it was taught as a famine; only in secondary school did we learn that the British caused it deliberately. There’s a fair amount of Irish YA novels about the Famine (can’t remember titles off the top of my head), and they’re all pretty brutal with the facts of what happened. Not to mention most people’s great-grandparents probably lived through it - it’s not that far back.
Also there’s a monument to the Choctaw nation somewhere up the country for the help.
It’s by Alex Pentek, it’s in Bailick Park, Midleton, Co. Cork, and it’s called “Kindred Spirits”.
“The English never remember and the Irish never forget.”
(Chesterton)
Not forgetting is why there are so many Irish names here.
(The link above is to donate to
the Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund - definitely contribute if you can! I could not find a website to donate to a Choctaw relief fund.)
So, this isn’t the first post ever made like this, but I’m trying to do something a little different than just posting a bunch of links. I’m only gonna include resources that are international, common, displayed either as a map or as a geographically-sorted list, and easy to participate in, to make this masterpost as accessible as I possibly can. If you’re reading this post you’re probably an English-speaker with an internet connection, and so with that in mind my goal here is that any given link you click will have a decent chance of having something near you, and there will almost certainly be at least one link on this list with something you can plug into
Groups
Mutual Aid Wiki - A map of mutual aid groups of all kinds, largely (but not exclusively) ones started in response to the pandemic
Food Not Bombs - A map of free public meals from rescued food waste. Can be a little outdated
Intentional Community Directory - A map of communes, housing coops, land trusts, eco-villages, and similar communal living projects
Repair Cafés - A map of spaces where you can show up and have your broken items repaired for free (or volunteer to do so for others)
Sharing Spaces
Little Free Library’s Sharing Box Map - A map of little free libraries that have been converted into sharing spaces for food, personal care, or hygiene items
Freedges - A map of community refrigerators for sharing food
None of these lists are comprehensive, and these aren’t the only resources available either. Try using a search engine or looking on social media with keywords like “[your location] mutual aid”
If you’ve looked everywhere you can think of but are still coming up short, you can DM me (not on anon) with the rough area where you live and I’ll try to find some stuff for you
If you don’t have even a single accomplice to start an affinity group with, there are still actions you can take on your own! Check out my #practical tag for ideas
