What Is My Role?

I was never much of an RPGer. I did have a D&D game for my old C-64, and I learned that an effective party has a little bit of everything; fighters, magic-users, thieves, clerics, etc.

My role in the networks of mutual aid that I see being necessary as the rollback of decades of American social progress soon begins is a little easier to figure out. Let me start by saying that my concept of mutual aid goes a bit beyond just providing food and clothing. That's what I call "mutual assistance".

My model also adds education, giving people in affected communities the knowledge they'll need to survive through community-based, community-led and community specific training. It involves mutual defense, these communities being equipped and able to defend themselves and the others in their community against threats; be them from the state, reactionary elements of society or even self-destructive elements of their own community.

The final component of this model is mutual communication. Members of communities being able to exchange information, including intelligence, securely. Whether this information is among members of that community or between communities, keeping it safe both at rest, like on a secure drive, or in transit, by using a Virtual Private Network, will be paramount.

So where do I fit into my own model? I see myself in two roles, educator and communicator. To be specific, I see myself educating activists about communicating. I can see advising activists of useful smartphone apps, or showing them how to set up and use TAILS, a privacy-enhanced distribution of LINUX. I could even see showing activists how to build secure Raspberry Pi or use a Pi to make a more anonymous access point.

The only limits to what I can teach, is what I can learn and what I feel comfortable teaching. Maybe some activists will return the favor; I teach them how to secure their e-mail, they show me how to use Kali sticks.